#21: The Mt. Rushmore Series

Which four movie Directors would you enshrine on Mt. Rushmore? Don't have four who excite you? Fair enough, make your mountain smaller. Mine are listed alphabetically.

1. Woody Allen - I've got ambivalence to spare about Woody Allen human being, but it would be disingenuous to leave him off this mountain of Directors. Three of my favorites - "Hannah and Her Sisters", "Crimes and Misdemeanors" and "Another Woman"; several more come quickly to mind.

2. Robert Altman - Not every Altman film works for me and he's definitely not for every taste but "M*A*S*H", "Short Cuts" and "Gosford Park" earn him a place on my Mt. Rushmore.

3. Peter Weir - Smaller output than Woody and more conventional than Altman but their equal in every other way - "Witness", "The Truman Show", "Fearless" - a Director who gets the best from actors.

4. Billy Wilder - In his day, who else was directing as consistently with as much range? "The Apartment", "Some Like It Hot", and "Sunset Boulevard" are wildly different yet each is unmistakably Billy Wilder. And, they all stand up a half century later.

Come on movie nerds, don't leave me standing all alone here in geekland.