John Carpenter Bashes Spielberg, Lucas and Altman

On the set of Halloween, John Carpenter is critical of his contemporaries Steven Spielberg, George Lucas and Robert Altman.

[occasionalfeelgood]

He's not bashing anyone, he's having an opinion.

[SaucyLittleMongoose]

The most illuminating part of this interview, not depicted in this clip, is Carpenter's distinction between a film's "theme" and a potential "message". He provides a great framework for analyzing any cinematic work.

[JustSayNO]

The Thing and They Live are two of the best films ever.

[mainmanmainlining]

“I don’t care for Altman’s work at all. I think his not a good filmmaker.”

Wow!

I happen to love Altman. Hard vibe to catch but if you do it’s magic but damn Carpenter is keeping it real. We need more voices in the industry to express their true opinions. Especially now where films are praised over mere content instead of style or storytelling abilities. Excellent.

[purehyperbole]

Love it when you hear a cold, honest opinion.

[davidesguario]

He basically has Snake Plissken’s attitude

[ytkenny]

I feel like the middle of the Venn Diagram for people who love Carpenter movies and people who love Altman movies is very small

[animatorFan]

Yeh, it's a shame men like this are in the minority these days. Men with hard, honest opinions that we can either like or dislike.
I prefer this kind of stuff.

[michaelmonthey]

Carpenter’s movies are more entertaining and interesting to watch than the majority of Altman’s movies.

[kamuelalee]

John Carpenter seems to relish bashing other famous film directors, including John Ford. Astounding.

[Trepanist]

John's pretty edgy, not bowing down to what a studio may want. Terry Gilliam is the same way. They both have made some timeless classics, but they could have done more if they just would have bended a bit. I admire the director who can walk the fine line between mass appeal and true art, like Guillermo Del Toro. Some of his films feel like indies, others are built for mass appeal.

[thomaswilson]

John Carpenter is a icon and just as great - if not - greater than a lot of his contemporaries (i.e. Lucas, Spielberg, Altman, Scorsese, and Coppola). The only difference is that they played the Hollywood game better or out-right got lucky in their pursuits.

John was lucky too, but was disenfranchised by the industry and his peers as he moved up the ladder. Operating purely for an auteur POV, Carpenter carved his own niche and created, for the most part, cinematic masterpieces where his vision is always present.

Operating as a outsider, John was always doomed to a cult-like status do to his vision and standing within Hollywood. At least output was interesting mostly and he expressed himself using his point of view.

[unmisfitminor]

As far as Lucas as concerned, he’s just butt hurt that Peter Cushing couldn’t play Dr. Loomis because Star Wars made Cushing’s profile blow up

[johnmcdonough]

He was still young and cocky, but I don't think he held these feelings throughout his career. I'm pretty sure homie had a change of heart.

[RegisWilkins]

I love John's take on Altman. I've always wondered what bothered me about his style whether it was Nashville, The Long Goodbye or California Split. He was too busy impressing how clever he was instead of telling the story. This shows balls to take down some of the most sacred cows of Hollywood from a great director.

[midnightacapellasandinstru]

You really should amend the title and description because:

1. You took out the part of him talking about George Lucas

2. The only people he “bashes” are Spielberg and Altman. He praises Lucas for American Graffiti (saying he loved it) and gives slight praise to Star Wars.

[ButterflyBlood]

the eyebrows...it was over for altman then and there

[DavidBrown-kecb]

John Carpenter's last good movie was THEY LIVE. He made some damn good movies but ended by making some awful films like ESCAPE FROM LA and GHOSTS OF MARS, both of which I had the misfortune to see in the theaters. THE THING is his best movie by far. I would say his most overrated film is HALLOWEEN, which is certainly a good movie, but really should have been a one and done, not becoming one the worst horror franchises. His most underrated film is ASSAULT ON PRECINCT 13, which should have been a much bigger hit than it was.

[dannyr]

If there were a biopic about John Carpenter at this time, my first choice to play him would be James Franco!

[pondhanush]

This interview was taken in which year?