The Greatest Director of All Time: William Wyler
July 8, 2008
Love ya, Cleveland. This blog entry is about who I feel is the greatest motion picture director of all time. There have been some unbelievable directors such as John Huston who directed such movies as The Treasure of the Sierra Madre, The Asphalt Jungle, The African Queen, Prizzi's Honor, and The Night of the Iguana. Joseph Mankiewicz who gave us A Letter to Three Wives, All About Eve, 5 Fingers, and Sleuth. Billy Wilder, who did Double Indemnity, The Lost Weekend with Ray Milland, Sunset Blvd., Stalag 17, Sabrina, Some Like It Hot, and the best picture of 1960, The Apartment. Roman Polanski, known for Chinatown with Jack Nicholson, Tess, and The Pianist with Adrien Brody. Frank Capra, a director who dazzled us with such movies as It Happened One Night with Clark Gable and Claudette Colbert, Mr. Smith Goes to Washington, and It's a Wonderful Life. Robert Wise who directed I Want to Live!, the great West Side Story in 1961, and The Sound of Music. Robert Altman who directed MASH, Nashville, Short Cuts, and Gosford Park. Francis Ford Coppola who directed the memorable Godfather in 1972, The Godfather: Part II, Godfather: Part III, and Apocalypse Now. Sidney Lumet, known for Dog Day Afternoon, Network, and The Verdict. Oliver Stone who created such profound movies as Platoon, the Oscar winning movie from 1986, Born on the Fourth of July, and JFK. The great Stanley Kramer who did The Defiant Ones, Judgment at Nuremberg, a great movie in 1961, and Guess Who's Coming to Dinner. Sydney Pollack who we paid tribute to in my last entry, directed They Shoot Horses, Don't They?, Tootsie, and Out of Africa. David Lean who did The Bridge on the River Kwai, Lawrence of Arabia, and Doctor Zhivago. Stanley Kubrick who did Dr. Strangelove, 2001: A Space Odessy, A Clockwork Orange. George Stevens who gave us A Place in the Sun, Shane, Giant, and The Diary of Anne Frank. Elia Kazan, who directed Gentleman's Agreement, A Streetcar Named Desire, On the Waterfront, East of Eden, and America, America. John Ford who gave us The Informer, Stagecoach, The Grapes of Wrath, How Green Was My Valley, and The Queit Man. Fred Zinnemann who created High Noon, From Here to Eternity, The Nun's Story, The Sundowners, and A Man for All Seasons. George Cukor who did Little Women, Philadelphia Story, A Double Life, Born Yesterday, and My Fair Lady. Woody Allen, a director with a knack for comedy represented through such works as Annie Hall, Interiors, Hannah and Her Sisters, Bullets Over Broadway, and Crimes and Misdemeanors. Mike Nichols who gave us Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?, The Graduate, Working Girl, and Silkwood. Clint Eastwood who has made a profound impact in the film industry with such movies as Unforgiven, Mystic River, Million Dollar Baby, Flags of Our Fathers, and Letters From Iwo Jima. Martin Scorsese, a director who within recent years has finally been recognized by the Academy for his work which includes Raging Bull, The Last Temptation of Christ, Goodfellas, Gangs of New York, The Aviator, and The Departed. And last but not least, Steven Speilberg, an incredible and immensely talented director who gave us Close Encounters of the Third Kind, Raiders of the Lost Ark, The Color Purple, Schindler's List, Saving Private Ryan, and Munich. All of these directors are the greatest of all time, and their movies are among the greatest movies of all time. But none of them can claim the accomplishments of who I consider the greatest director ever, and that is William Wyler.
William Wyler was born on the Franco-German border. He moved to the United States in 1920. He worked his way from an errand boy in Hollywood at Universal Studio to an assistant director. Working on epics such as the Hunchback of Notre Dame as a silent movie in 1923, and the original Ben-Hur a silent movie in 1925. He was soon promoted to director, and he built a body of work that swiftly grew from short westerns to prestigious "A" pictures. He actually made a combination of 41 silent films and talkies before he broke out as one of the greatest story-telling directors of all time.
In 1935, he gave us the Barbary Coast, a western starring Edward G. Robinson. The very next year Wyler emerged as one of the top in his field delivering with Dodsworth. Dodsworth starred Walter Huston. The picture earned six Oscar nominations and won one for art direction. Wyler received his first Oscar nomination for picture and director. Two years later he directed Jezabelle in 1938, starring Bette Davis and Fay Bainter who both won Oscars. Davis for best actress, and Bainter for best supporting actress. Wyler did not get nominated for best director, but the movie did get nominated for best picture.
In 1940, Wyler did The Westerner starring Gary Cooper and Walter Brennan. A great western about Judge Roy Bean. In 1940, Wyler also gave us The Letter, again starring Bette Davis which earned seven nominations including best picture and another best director nomination for Wyler. But still no win. A year later in 1941, he gave us The Little Foxes again with Bette Davis and introducing Teresa Wright along with Dan Duryea. The movie received nine nominations which included another best picture nomination for Wyler and another best director nomination. And finally in 1942, Mrs. Miniver, the great story of the real Mrs. Miniver who was so instrumental in World War II in helping the morale of the English, portrayed by Greer Garson who won the Oscar for best actress. The movie also starred Walter Pidgeon playing her husband, and Teresea Wright their daughter who won for best supporting actress. Pidgeon along with many other Englishmen took their boats in dangerous peril of the Nazis, and crossed the Channel so that they could save all of the British army on their little boats to take them safely back to England from Dunkirk. The movie received 12 Oscar nominations, and it won six including best picture and best director for William Wyler.
Following Mrs. Miniver, in 1946, Wyler gave us one of the greatest movies of all time, The Best Years of Our Lives. It was a story of three men who had returned from World War II. One was an army sergeant portrayed by Fredric March, another was a bombardier captain played by Dana Andrews, and the other was a sailor portrayed by the real life Harold Russell who lost both of his hands in World War II. It was Russell's first and only movie. And not only did he earn a nomination, but he won the Oscar for best supporting actor. Federic March in the story was the sergeant who fought in the Pacific theatre. The story was fascinating because Wyler showed how difficult it was for these three men to adjust to coming home, and getting back into their lives. March's character before the war was a prestigious banker, and he was given his position back (an even higher position by the bank he worked for before the war) but had an incredibly difficult time coping with the fact of getting back into normal life. His performance is riveting and certainly tremendous enough to not only earn a nomination but another Oscar win. Teresa Wright also was in this movie and was absolutely phenomenal playing Frederic March's daughter, and she eventually ends up with Dana Andrews's character. Virginia Mayo also gives a very good performance in this film. The Best Years of Our Lives, one of the greatest movies ever made. It earned seven Oscars including best picture and best director by the great story teller William Wyler.
After The Best Years of Our Lives, Wyler gave us The Heiress, 1949, starring Oliva de Havilland and Montgomery Clift. A great story about a very rich woman portrayed by de Havilland. But de Havilland's character Catherine Sloper was a plain, simple, dare I say homely young woman who did not attract men except one. The handsome Montgomery Clift, who connived to win her emotions over so that he could win over her fortune. A great story. De Havilland's character the heiress wises up to him at the end, and what an ending it is! De Havilland won the best actress Oscar that year for this role. Another example of great movie making and story telling by Wyler. The movie earned eight nominations including a best picture and best director nomination again for William Wyler. In 1951, he gave us the crime drama, the Detective Story. Which has merely one set during the entire movie, and that is the detective's office where the whole movie takes place. Its fascinating film making, and there's never a boring moment. It stars Kirk Douglas, the troubled detective who was so ragingly jealous of his wife Eleanor Parker and her past. A great story again told to us on film by Wyler. The movie earned four Oscar nominations including another best director nomination for Wyler. Roman Holiday proceeded Detective Story in 1953. The light-hearted comedy starring Gregory Peck and Audrey Hepburn. Hepburn played the princess in the movie, and won best actress. The movie earned 11 Oscar nominations, and it won three Oscars and Wyler was nominated for best picture and director.
That takes us to 1955, where Wyler directed The Desperate Hours, in my opinion one of his greatest works that was an extremely underrated movie. I don't understand why the Academy didn't acknowledge this story, and also the acting in it. It starred Humphrey Bogart, Fredric March, and Arthur Kennedy. Bogart plays a ruthless murdering convict, who along with his brother and another convict escape from prison. They wind up in a small Midwestern town where Fredric March and his wife and family live. To hide out and until their able to be rescued by Bogart's girlfriend, Bogart and his two cons take over March's house and holds them hostage. It's a great story. Arthur Kennedy plays the detective who tries to track down Bogart and the escaped convicts. Frederic March's acting opposite Bogart is classic, absolutely classic. A great story that went unnoticed by the Academy and why...I don't know.
In 1956, Wyler gave us Friendly Persuasion, again teaming with Gary Cooper and Dorothy McGuire, and the emersion of Anthony Perkins. This was the story of the Quakers. It was during the Civil War and it's a great, humbling, nice tale which did receive six Oscar nominations including best picture and best director. But it didn't receive any acting nominations, and I think that hurt it for best picture. The other nominees in 1956, were Giant starring Rock Hudson and Elizabeth Taylor, The King and I, with Yul Brynner and Deborah Kerr, and the Ten Commandments starring Charlton Heston, Yul Brynner, and Anne Baxter. The picture that won the Oscar that year was Around the World in 80 Days. This is one of the years I vehemently disagree with the Academy and their choice. Around the World in 80 Days was a beautifully shot movie, but certainly in my mind it didn't deserve best picture. If I had a vote that year, I would have voted for Friendly Persuasion. A heart-warming story of the Quakers and the Civil War. But I think the reason that it didn't win best picture was because it didn't receive any acting nominations. However, Wyler did earn a nomination not only for best picture, but also for best director.
That brings us to 1958, where again he made a movie that was not totally snubbed by the Academy. And snubbed enough that I point out as one of the greatest movies ever made, it did not get nominated for best picture and I'm talking about Wyler's epic western, The Big Country. Featuring a phenomenal all-star cast and a musical score that is used to this day by amusement parks and Old Tucson where tourist see reenactments of westerns by cowboys. It was a tremendous epic western that is over three hours in length and never once gets boring or loses your interest. It stars Gregory peck, Charlton Heston, Jean Simmons, Charles Bickford, Chuck Connors of Rifleman fame, Carroll Baker and Burle Ives who won the Oscar for this role as a supporting actor. Burle Ives had always been a very religious man who has appeared on television in those days reading excerpts from the Bible. He was known for his Christmas songs, and he was a jovial, sweet, roly-poly, loveable man. Well in Big Country he plays Rufus Hannassey, a ruthless cattle baron in a feud like the Henfields and the McCoys, constantly at odds with the other cattle baron, fighting over the rights of water portrayed by Charles Bickford. Heston plays Bickford's foreman, Chuck Connors plays Burle Ives son and he's just a bad seed, down right no good! This is actually what put Connors on the map, and eventually got him the role as the Rifleman which was a very popular series on television in the 60's. Gregory Peck plays a ship captain who falls in love with Carroll Baker who was the daughter of Charles Bickford on the big ranch, and comes west and finds himself in the middle of the dispute between the cattle barons. As it turns out, he falls in love with Jean Simmons, and it is a fascinating story which never loses its interest. I think it should have been nominated for best picture, Wyler for best director, and it should have won a slue of awards. But for whatever reason they snubbed it.
The very next year in 1959, they could not snubbed Wyler's best piece of work and in my opinion the greatest movie of all time, Ben-Hur starring Charlton Heston who won the Oscar playing the lead and giving one of the greatest performances of all time, Stephen Boyd who plays the ruthless Messala, Sam Jaffe, and Jack Hawkins the English actor who plays of course the Roman Council who adopts the galley slave Charlton Heston, and allows him to return to his homeland to seek revenge against Boyd's Messala. Hugh Griffith plays the Arabian sheik who of course owns the great four white horses that Heston races against Stephen Boyd's blacks in the greatest scene in the history of motion pictures, the 20-plus minute chariot race which is absolutely breath taking. Hugh Griffith adds humor to a movie that has everything. He plays the Arabian sheik who gambles against the Romans, and is sarcastic and arrogant against them. He won the Oscar for supporting actor and of course the movie is the story of Christ, and it was a movie that was very controversial back in those days. Every time I watch it, it reinforces my belief in Catholicism. It is magnificent movie making by Wyler considering the technical no how of today compared to back then. You marvel at what a job he did. This is a four hour plus movie that never ever, ever drags. It's got everything in it. Love, religion, humor, romance, action, war...everything! The musical score is unbelievable. It was nominated for 12 Oscars and won 11. And that record of 11 Oscar represented the most Oscars ever won by a motion picture. That record was held all the way up to 1997, when Titanic won 11 Oscars and tied Ben-Hur and then the third Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King which also won 11 Oscars in 2003, to become only the third film to win that many. In 1961, West Side Story won 10 Oscars, and that is the second most compared to Ben-Hur, Titanic, and Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King. Ben-Hur, 1959, it earned Wyler his third Oscar.
In 1965, he made a movie named The Collector, starring Terence Stamp which receive three nominations, and yet another best director nomination for Wyler. And last but not least in 1968, Wyler went again and showed his versatility in filmmaking and storytelling by directing the movie Funny Girl, starring Barbra Streisand and Omar Sharif. The movie received seven nominations including best picture, but surprisingly Wyler did not get nominated for best director...but don't feel bad for him.
All in all in his marvelous career, he was nominated for 12 Oscars for best director and he won three Oscars. Obviously many of these movies were nominated for best picture and other Oscars, but some of the movies I mentioned in his career didn't get nominated at all. Like The Desperate Hours, and Big Country (even though Ives won best supporting actor). In 1976, the Academy of Motion Pictures Arts and Sciences paid tribute to Wyler by giving him the lifetime achievement award. Yes, all the other directors that I mentioned are truly great and will go down as some of the greatest of all time, but none compare to the great William Wyler. Until next time, remember...I-I-I-I-I-I-I-I-I-I-I-I love ya, Cleveland!
