This is a really good film thread you started. I think the confusion you caused with the question and your choice actually worked to get a good discussion going.

The list David has is pretty much where I think most of us headed in our minds when you asked for "filmmaker we could not live without"...I don't think anybody mentioned Altman or Peckinpah yet among all the greats that have already been listed but they should be here too. Some other guys crossed my mind too like Kieslowski, Rivette, Bertolucci, Antonioni, Roeg, Cassavetes, Truffaut, Godard, Herzog, Lang, Fassbinder, Murnau, Bunuel, Malick...and Fellini...and...boy there's probably some people I left out but the guys we've already mentioned and these folks provide a pretty amazing history of film and what is great about it.

Of course Ed is working his way through the Criterion DVDs and many of the people mentioned are on that list. I might not like Sandler but this thread is pretty cool...