1. Stanley Kubrick
Stanley Kubrick is widely regarded as one of cinema's greatest film directors. A large part of this can be attributed to his buccaneering spirit - Kubrick worked across a wide range of genres of film. He was a true pioneer in whatever film he made. 1957's Paths of Glory was the film that drew attention to Kubrick's talent. He took a risk with his next film - an adaptation of Lolita. Given the controversial subject matter, Kubrick acquitted himself admirably with the film and essentially made it a black comedy after removing Nabokov's more perverted bits. Dark comedy prevailed again in Kubrick's next film Dr Strangelove. In the era of the deadly serious Fail-Safe, Kubrick viewed nuclear weapons from a satirical rather than deadly serious manner. The film is hysterically funny and broke a major cinematic taboo - nuclear weapons as comic entertainment. Kubrick showed more adventurism by tackling Anthony Burgess' A Clockwork Orange. One of the most controversial films ever made due to its depiction of teenage violence and antisocial behaviour. The film is so powerful that Kubrick's life was threatened and he took it out of distribution. Barry Lyndon's reputation has grown over time and The Shining was a bold interpretation of Stephen King's novel. With Full Metal Jacket, Kubrick raised eyebrows with his neutral stance on war - the film was neither pro war nor anti war, he just presented it as it is. With Eyes Wide Shut, Kubrick worked 18 hour days to get his pet project together. It was shrouded in mystery and secrecy during its production. An ambitious tale of marital stress and jealousy, it was a bold movie. As you can tell from all of the above films, Kubrick was a true pioneer in cinema. He was the trail blazer and set standards of cinema so high in his films, they have rarely been bettered. Part of this was due to the fact that he was simply a brilliant director, but another part must be down to his buccaneering - the material he dealt with was very diverse and difficult to film. Plus he was not afraid to work across a wide range of genres which makes him cinema's greatest buccaneer.