Amy Heckerling grew up in New York City where at one time she lived in a neighborhood of holocaust survivors. She attended New York University Tisch School of the Arts and later the American Film Institute. After working on several projects as an editor and other functions, she was selected to head up "Fast Times at Ridgemont High".
The studio did not have high expectations for the film especially under the helm of a fledgling director. However, a bevy of young actors were recruited for the film including Phoebe Cates, Judge Reinhold, Jennifer Jason Leigh, Nicolas Cage, Forest Whitaker, Eric Stoltz, Anthony Edwards and Sean Penn.
The film had mixed critical reviews but collected six times its cost in box office. Penn, Whitaker, and Cage would later win Academy Awards for Best Actor.
Heckerling would later direct the "Look Who's Talking" franchise (1989-1993) and "Clueless" (1995).
Rotten Tomatoes: 78%
2. Big (1988)
Answer: Penny Marshall
Penny Marshall grew up in the Bronx where Neil Simon, Paddy Chayefsky, Calvin Klein, and Ralph Lauren also resided. She achieved fame as the Laverne of "Laverne and Shirley" (1976-1983) and then focused her career on directing as did her brother, Garry Marshall. Her second film ("Big") was the first film directed by a woman to gross over $100 million.
She has divided her career into both directing and producing and still accepts short time acting roles. Other well regarded films are "Awakening" (1993), "A League of Their Own" (1990), and "Riding in Cars with Boys" (2001).
Rotten Tomatoes: 97%
3. The Hitch-Hiker (1953)
Answer: Ida Lupino
The history of film would be incomplete without an acknowledgement of the contributions of Ida Lupino - not only as a fine actress but for paving a way into the director's chair for women. The major studios simply did not entrust the funds needed for production to a woman. Lupino got around this by forming her own production company.
Her most successful film was "Hitch-Hiker" (1953), a film noir that was not filmed on an urban landscape but on the Arizona desert. Edmond O'Brien and Frank Lovejoy play fishermen who come to the aid of William Tallman, a psychopathic killer.
Rotten Tomatoes: 100%
4. A Tale of Love and Darkness (2016)
Answer: Natalie Portman
Oscar winning actress Natalie Portman ventured into the directing field with this film. Reviewers were quick to compare the film with book and to take her inexperience into evaluation. Critic Brent Marchant said:
"A gorgeously filmed, sincerely related story of love, hope, despair and disappointment set against the backdrop of the birth of Israel as an independent state. While the film gets many aspects of this story right, there are times when the writing comes up short, not always pulling things together as effectively as it could. Still, there's enough genuine, heartfelt emotion here to move the audience and overcome the film's failings."
The film tanked at the box office. Rotten Tomatoes: 67%
5. Lost in Translation (2003)
Answer: Sofia Coppola
What's in a name? In show business it might get you an opening but after that talent must carry you. Sofia has shown merits in acting, producing, writing, and direction. Her father, Francis Ford Coppola, found minor roles for her as a child actress. One of her earliest feature films was "Lost in Translation". It was critically acclaimed as an artistic triumph. It tells the platonic relationship between a washed-up actor (Bill Murray) and a young woman (Scarlett Johansson) who is disillusioned by life. It led to Academy Award nominations for Best Picture, Best Actor (Murray), and Best Director. Sofia won for Best Screenplay.
Sofia Coppola also directed "Marie Antoinette" (2006) and "The Beguiled" (2017).
Rotten Tomatoes: 95%
6. The Piano (1993)
Answer: Jane Campion
A native New Zealander, Jane Campion's interest in the arts was encouraged by her parents. She also developed a passion for writing. In "The Piano" Holly Hunter is forced into a marriage with Sam Neill bringing her daughter, Anna Paquin, with her. Hunter is a mute and the piano is her means of expression. Neill sells the piano to Harvey Keitel and Hunter must find a way to get it back. This sparks an affair between Hunter and Keitel where we see more of Keitel than we really need to see. What was most interesting to me were the struggles of settlers in a strange land that somewhat mirrors the American West.
The film won the Palme d'Or at the Cannes Film Festival. It won three Academy Awards out of eight nominations in Best Actress for Hunter, Best Supporting Actress for Paquin, and Best Original Screenplay for Campion.
In addison, she directed "Portrait of a Lady" (1996) and two excellent mini-series "Top of the Lake" (2013 and 2017)
Rotten Tomatoes: 90%
7. Olympia (1938)
Answer: Leni Riefenstahl
Leni Riefenstahl heard Adolf Hitler speak at a rally and was mesmerized by his talent as a orator. She was a silent screen actress with a yen to direct. She became a part of Hitler's inner circle and was rumored to have been his mistress in the early 1930s. Her directing achievements were centered on propaganda films supporting the Nazi agenda where she was supervised by Joseph Goebbels and Heinrich Himmler for any lapse in judgement.
"Olympia" was filmed creatively using many techniques that she developed. "Olympia" was released world wide in German, French, and English with subtle editing. Adolf Hitler is painted as a Wagnerian deity. The athletes are demi-gods. In its time it was one of the most honored and acclaimed with international stature. But when Reifenstahl was touring the United States to promote her film, news of pogrom at Kristallnacht against the Jews of Germany led the government to cancel her visa and send her back to Germany.
Through the years she was never able to overcome her associations and had many film projects fall through. Hollywood attempts to tell her story were rejected fearing backlash from holocaust memories.
Rotten Tomatoes: 88%
8. The Prince of Tides (1992)
Answer: Barbra Streisand
The awards and nominations that Barbra Streisand has received during her long career would fill a museum. But she has been selective in her roles in film and candid regarding development of the projects. This film based on a novel by Pat Conroy describes a man's struggle to overcome the psychological damage inflicted by his dysfunctional childhood in South Carolina. The film was nominated in most of the major categories at the Academy Awards but won none, although Streisand did win Best Director from the Golden Globes.
Streisand took over directing duties on "Yentl" (1983) after fighting for a decade to bring it to the screen. She also directed "The Mirror Has Two Faces" (1996).
Rotten Tomatoes: 73%
9. Private Parts (1997)
Answer: Betty Thomas
Howard Stern with his expansive ego and who calls himself "The king of all media" would probably claim that he hosted the catering truck on set. However, he did not direct this film; it was Betty Thomas. "Private Parts" is billed as an autobiography of Stern and it tries as honestly as possible to cover his colorful life and received mostly positive reviews from critics.
Betty Thomas was well known to television audiences for her six year run as Sgt. Lucy Bates on "Hill Street Blues" (1981-1987) where she won an Emmy for her role. After attempts to have "Fartman" (a Stern concieved super-hero) failed, attention was turned to "Private Parts". Over 20 script versions were rejected until one was selected and Thomas was brought in to direct.
Thomas has also directed other films including "The Brady Bunch Movie" (1995) that had the highest gross of any movie directed by a woman up to that time. "Alvin and the Chipmunks" grossed over 400 million at the box office.
Rotten Tomatoes: 78%
10. The Hurt Locker (2009)
Answer: Kathryn Bigelow
Trivia question: Who was the first woman director to be voted Best Director by the Academy Award voters? Kathryn Bigelow. Ironically, she won the award over her ex-husband James Cameron for "Avatar". An explosive ordnance disposal team is targeted by insurgents. The film explores the psychological reactions to stress while intolerable to some and addictive to others.
Bigelow has also directed "Point Break" (1991) and "Zero Dark Thirty" (2012). Roger Ebert ranked her as one of his favorite directors.
This quiz was reviewed by FunTrivia editor jmorrow before going online.
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