tough directors to work for/with

[KERMIT]

henry hathaway  http://new.filmsofthegoldenage.com/foga/1999/fall99/hathaway.shtml
sturges and peckinpah come to mind.

[Groggy]

Definitely Peckinpah.  I'm sure Chuck Heston had a good reason to draw tha saber on him. . . 

[KERMIT]

Definitely Peckinpah.  I'm sure Chuck Heston had a good reason to draw tha saber on him. . . 

lol,  good one groggy. the wild bunch had to be sam at his toughing tuff.   chuck pulled a saber on sam ?   

[Groggy]

If you do research on the making of "Major Dundee", it was a real horror show, what with studio interference and Peckinpah's usual temprament.  Heston, to his credit, stuck by Peckinpah to the end, even giving up his salary in order to allow him to finish production.  I think the saber threat was just a momentary flash of anger.  From what I've read on the subject, Heston's such a professional and courteous guy on the set, that Peckinpah must have been extraordinarily obnoxious for that to happen.  Also, according to Heston, Peckinpah was basically making the movie up as he went along (let's just say the screenplay wasn't strictly adhered to), and about halfway through production got drunk and abandoned the film.  Heston had to direct a good portion of the film, including - reportedly - the final battle with the French.  I've also heard a hell of a lot of nasty stuff about "The Getaway" and "Convoy". 

I'd like to add John Ford to your list, Kermit.  According to Michael Munn's John Wayne biography, Ford was an obnoxious bastard who liked to get his actors to fight each other for no real reason.  He was particularly abusive towards Wayne, and succeeded in making a number of actors (Andy Devine and Woody Strode in particular) turned against him.  On "The Horse Soldiers", he wouldn't let Wayne get a drink because Ford was trying to recover from his alcoholism, so Bill Holden arranged for Wayne to have a "dentist's appointment", and the two spent the whole day drinking together.  You can imagine how Ford reacted to THAT.  I could go on, but that'll give you a good idea of what went on on the set of a John Ford movie.

[visitor]

lol,  good one groggy. the wild bunch had to be sam at his toughing tuff.   chuck pulled a saber on sam ?   

Hey-Susan George actually thought Sam P was gonna have her raped on the set of STRAW DOGS

[Johny_Exhale]

Franz Lang!

lol ive heard things about this guy

[Groggy]

Franz Lang!

lol ive heard things about this guy

Fritz was pretty bad, there's no doubt about that. . .

[Belkin]

JOHN FRANKENHEIMER and ERICH VON STROHEIM, from what I've read were two tough SOB'S!

[Film-Junkie Zach]

William Freidkin
Bernado Bertolucci(Maria Schneider's Enemy)
Samuel Fuller
Vincent Gallo

[Johny_Exhale]

i hope i run into Vincent Gallo one of these days, i just wanna bitchslap that guy and walk off, leaving him owned

[Juan Miranda]

Werner Herzog must be a tough guy to work for. In the documentary BURDEN OF DREAMS he calmly talks about pulling a rifle on Klaus Kinski and threatning to kill him if he left the picture (they were shooting FITZCARRALDO).

Mind you, from what I've learned of Kinski's behavior, its a wonder nobody had done it sooner to "the hunchback".

Like Leone, Stanley Kubrick was notorious for shooting take after take. Unlike Leone he would go up to 50 or 60 takes before he forced his performers to give up what they wanted to do and give in to him his way, through sheer exhaustion (or even boredom).

[Leone Admirer]

I've worked for a right tough so and so..., I've heard that John Ford was supposed to be horrible to the Duke. Visconti was supposed to be hard to work for as well. On the other hand, Fellini, according to the books I've read and the docos I've seen, was supposed to be a great fella to work for.