Ben Stiller’s favourite movies of the 1970s: “They really have an impact on you”
Ben Stiller is one of the most adored actors of his generation, with a run of movies under his belt that can have him be considred one of the industry’s brightest talents.
He might not have the same swagger as Daniel Day-Lewis or the staunch filmography of Robert De Niro, but Stiller has rarely failed to deliver on the promise of his roles. The American got his start in the 1980s, but he established himself as a future cornerstone of the comedy scene.
Stiller didn’t venture outside of his primary genre all too often, but was met with relative success when he took on more serious roles. Serious is the last word in the dictionary that can be used to describe his following films, like Meet the Parents in 2000 and even more so with Zoolander the following year. Despite not being the kind of movies that will grab Oscars attention, they still deliver.
The actor continued to produce pearling performances in a plethora of comedy films, such as Night at the Museum and the controversial but equally iconic Tropic Thunder. The truth is, Stiller has produced some of the finest movies in modern cinema, and it means his opinion on pictures is worth listening to.
Speaking to The Ringer, Stiller touched on the 1970s media that still stick with him. “Well, those movies mean a lot to me just because that’s my generation. Those are movies I watched growing up. So Dog Day Afternoon, or The Godfather, or Marathon Man, … The Towering Inferno, Planet of the Apes … are the movies that I went to see over and over again as a kid, and I guess just maybe it’s the age you are when you see films that they really have an impact on you.”
He continued, “It’s not glossy. It’s pre-glossy, it’s pre-test screenings, I think, in terms of how main characters were allowed to be in movies. Straight Time is a good example. I remember my first time seeing Straight Time. I just really was not expecting that story to go where it went. I thought, ‘OK, there’s this guy. He’s getting out of jail. He’s putting his life together,’ and it just goes off a cliff and goes the other way. And that was just so surprising and exciting to see, because you just didn’t know where it was going to go.”
Straight Time is one mov ie that speaks much more loudly than others. Focusing on the mental side of criminality, the picture is proof of Stiller’s love affair with cinema, as it ignores flashy gimmicks for human stories. A similar movie, Dog Day Afternoon, was also noted as one of his all-time favourites.
“They’re real people, and there’s humour, and there’s seriousness, and there’s no specific genre that it falls into, which is why it would probably never be made today, or be a successful film today.” Stiller is no stranger to trying something out of the ordinary, and these films are no doubt the ones to thank for that.
Ben Stiller’s favourite films of the 1970s:
- Dog Day Afternoon
- The Godfather
- Marathon Man
- The Towering Inferno
- Planet of the Apes
- Straight Time
