The Directors: Match Game Three Quiz

Answer: Stanley Kubrick

Kubrick chose to divide "Full Metal Jacket" into two distinct parts. One follows a group of recruits through the tribulations of marine basic training; the second section deals with Vietnam. Often the preparation does not meet the reality as in this case.

Other credits to Kubrick include "Paths of Glory" (1957), "Spartacus" (1960) and "Dr. Strangelove" (1964).

Rotten Tomatoes: 93%

Answer: Robert Altman

Robert Altman's directorial style requires some focus. Ensemble casts, multitrack recording, overlapping dialogue produces a more natural, more dynamic complex experience for the viewer. "Nashville" is a classic example. Rather than a plot the film is a fast moving mosaic of the struggles of music performers and an underlying political theme.

A few of Altman's other films are "M.A.S.H." (1975), "The Player" (1990), and "Gosford Park" (2001).

Rotten Tomatoes: 94%

Answer: Francis Ford Coppola

The first thing you must accept is sound technology was still in its infancy even though Gene Hackman's equipment is portrayed as 'cutting edge'. Hackman has a moral dilemma when as a surveillance expert his recordings reveal a potential murder. Hackman's performance as the eccentric technician carries the picture.

"The Conversation" was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Picture. Ironically, it lost to "Godfather II" (1974), also directed by Francis Ford Coppola.

Rotten Tomatoes: 98%.

Answer: Woody Allen

"Midnight in Paris" is one of Woody Allen's better films. A writer (Owen Wilson) is on the cusp of making decisions about his career as a writer and his relationship to his fiance. While vacationing in Paris, he boards a magical taxi that transports him to the age of the expatriates of the 1920s where he meets Cole Porter, Zelda and Scott Fitzgerald, Ernest Hemingway, Josephine Baker, Alice B. Toklas, Gertrude Stein, Pablo Picasso and others.

Woody Allen has been a prolific director so there is some inconsistency in his films. "Annie Hall" (1977), "Hannah and Her Sisters" (1986), and "Radio Days" (1987) are some of the better ones.

Rotten Tomatoes: 93%

Answer: Ingmar Bergman

Victor Sjöström, a reknown Swedish actor, plays Professor Isak Borg who is traveling to Stockholm to receive an award for his contributions to biology. On the way he meets a number of people who remind of his past and forces him to reevaluate his life. The strawberries are used symbolically as an underrated gem of a place with personal and sentimental value.

Those not familar with Bergman's films should be forewarmed that many are dark, gloomy, and experimental. One might try "The Seventh Seal" (1957), "Smiles on a Summer Night" (1955) and "Fanny and Alexander" (1992).

Rotten Tomatoes: 95%

Answer: Coen Brothers

Frances McDormand won the Best Actress Award as a pregnant sheriff, Marge Gunderson, in this black comedy directed by her husband (Joel) and brother-in-law (Ethan). An inept car salesman hires two inept crooks to kidnap his wife so he can collect the ransom money from his father-in-law. Little goes as planned.

Joel and Ethan work as a two man team on writing, directing, producing, and editing films. It is hard to go wrong with a Coen Brothers film. Check out "The Big Lebowski" (1998), "Blood Simple"(1984), or the much underrated "Burn After Reading" (2008).

Rotten Tomatoes: 93%

Answer: Clint Eastwood

This marked Clint Eastwood's first directing endeavor and in which he also stars. Eastwood plays a disc jockey terrorized by an obsessed fan (Jessica Walter).

Eastwood has never stuck to a single genre but directs a variety of films. "Bridges of Madison County" (1995) is of a lost romance; "Million Dollar Baby" is a boxing film; and "Letters from Iwo Jima" is World War Two film from the Japanese perspective.

Rotten Tomatoes: 83%

Answer: Akira Kurosawa

Akira Kurosawa is regarded as one of the most influential film makers not only in Japan but the world. In "Seven Samurai" a village hires a group of seven unemployed samurai to protect them from marauding gangs of bandits. This was re-filmed in English and called "The Magnificent Seven" (1960).

Kurosawa's notable films include "Ran" (1985), "Roshomon" (1950), and "Drunken Angel" (1948).

Rotten Tomatoes: 100%

Answer: Mike Nichols

Dustin Hoffman had a break-through role in "The Graduate" (1967). At his graduation party Benjamin is pulled aside by his father's business friend who whispers in his ear "plastics" as a career choice. He has an affair with an older woman but falls in love with her daughter.

Nichols was an actor's' director with skill to coax peak performances. Other films include "Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf" (1966), "Working Girl" (1988), and "Carnal Knowledge" (1973).

Rotten Tomatoes: 89%

Answer: George Lucas

George Lucas takes a snapshot of the youth of the early 1960s. Many new faces were brought to the screen who later built long entertainment careers. Roger Ebert commented "not only a great movie but a brilliant work of historical fiction; no sociological treatise could duplicate the movie's success in remembering exactly how it was to be alive at that cultural instant".

George Lucas would go on to be the father of the "Star Wars" franchise. His directorial resume is slim as he concentrates on producing.

Rotten Tomatoes: 95%

Answer: Fredrico Fellini

"Satyricon" is divided into nine episodes. Encolpius and Ascyltus try to win the love of the young Gitón, set against a surreal and dreamlike Roman landscape and culture. Symbolically the film is interpreted as pairing the debauchery of Roman times to modern youth.

Fellini was known for his films that blend fantasy, baroque images, and earthiness. Fellini is an acquired taste but revered by most other film makers. To get the full favor of Fellini check out "La Strada" (1954), "La Dolce Vita" (1960), and "8½" (1963).

Rotten Tomatoes: 78%

Answer: Spike Lee

The action revolves around a neighborhood pizza parlor. Located in a largely black neighborhood, Sal the owner (Danny Aiello) has only pictures of white people on the walls. This, along with the heat wave, spur hostilities and a riot that destroys the store. Aiello was nominated for an Academy Award for his performance.

Spike Lee's films frequently have an exploration of racism. This is certainly true of "Malcolm X" (1992), "Jungle Fever" (1991), and "Crooklyn" (1994).

Rotten Tomatoes: 93%

Answer: Jules White

White was head of the comedy short films section at Columbia Pictures from about 1933 to 1957. During that time he directed, it is estimated, over 500 short comedies most of which were 15 minutes or less. Of those about 200 featured the slapstick trio of the Three Stooges.

In addition to the Stooges, White directed shorts for Buster Keaton, Andy Clyde, Harry Langdon, Hugh Herbert, Vera Vague, and El Brendel. There was never a gag too old to not be repeated nor a sin to patch together outtakes from other films to new ones.

Answer: Sergio Leone

The long running black and white westerns had pretty much ran its course by the late 1940s with cowboys that were one-dimensional. Television then began to dominate westerns with leads that were more human and vulnerable. But Sergio Leone developed the so-called 'spaghetti western'. They were filmed in Italy but had American stars but the rest of the cast were Italian. They were devoid of romantic love and were violent and bloody. In this film the 'Good' is Clint Eastwood (mostly); Lee Van Cleef the 'Bad', and Eli Wallach as the 'Ugly', probably because he didn't have the Hollywood good looks of Eastwood or Van Cleef.

This film is part three of Leone's trilogy, the others being "A Fistful of Dollars" (1964) and "A Few Dollars More" (1965).

Rotten Tomatoes: 97%

Answer: Otto Preminger

The Upper Peninsula of Michigan is the setting for this murder trial. An army lieutenant is accused of murder and James Stewart is hired to defend him and George C. Scott is the prosecuting attorney. The film has also been used as a teaching tool in law schools as it demonstrates the basic stages of the criminal justice system.

Otto Preminger also deserves credit for defying the production code and weakening its power over films. The picture was "The Moon Is Blue" (1953) - a rather subdued romantic comedy film by modern standards. Other Preminger pictures that are highly regarded are "Laura" (1944), "Stalag 17" (1953), and "Advise and Consent" (1962).

Rotten Tomatoes: 100%