Our fourth and final contestant

To review, our first three contestants were:
1. Roland Emmerich
2. Rob Cohen
3. Renny Harlin

And now onto our fourth and final contestant! No, I'm not going to do what you think I am, which is nominate The Bay. That would just be too easy. The Bay transcends the whole living or dead debate, he simply is. He is The Bay and will always be The Bay. No, I will go a different route for our fourth contestant:

4. Les Mayfield
I include Mr. Mayfield on here mainly for just one movie, but the rest of his resume is very impressive, too. In my opinion, if he stopped making movies after his first I would still consider him one of the greatest living directors. The movie was that good. The movie I am referring to is, of course, Encino Man. Brilliant. This is a movie about alienation and trying to fit into a society that crushes the individuality and ethnicity of all those that try to become part of it. It is about the struggle of one man (Brendan Fraser) to over come the shackles of high school popularity and stay true to himself and his real friends (Sean Astin and Pauly Shore). The frozen in time caveman, which Brendan Fraser plays with gusto, is a metaphor for a simpler time when commercialism and mass conformity were not the norm. Mayfield's skewering social commentary make this film one of the greatest of our time. It is the Easy Rider of my generation, but with a cave man. A cave man that skateboards! Rock on!
So look over the rest of Mayfield's resume of films. There are some other classics, such as remakes of Flubber and Miracle on 34th Street and most recently Code Name: The Cleaner and The Man. None of these come close to the importance and excellence of his first film, however.

Now that we have all of our contestants, please vote for The Greatest Living Director!