Brian De Palma’s all-time favourite crime movies
If you wanted someone to make you an ass-whooping crime movie, there are a few directors in cinema history who would be your first port of call. Quentin Tarantino would certainly be up there, thanks to 1992’s Reservoir Dogs, as would Francis Ford Coppola, who brought The Godfather to the big screen, but one often forgotten hero of the crime genre is Brian De Palma, a versatile filmmaker who has made countless modern classics.
First rising to success in the 1970s, announcing himself with the bizarre musical Phantom of the Paradise, De Palma followed up this success by adapting Stephen King’s horror tale Carrie for the big screen. Thanks to a trio of iconic performances from the likes of Sissy Spacek, John Travolta and Piper Laurie, De Palma was given free creative rein in the following decade, creating some of the era’s greatest films as a result.
Indeed, De Palma became a key figure of the 1980s, creating such masterworks as Blow Out, Scarface and The Untouchables, which starred a number of genre icons, including Robert De Niro, Kevin Costner and the former James Bond star Sean Connery. Recognised as one of the most seminal directors of the decade, alongside John Carpenter and Steven Spielberg, De Palma had a humongous influence on cinema at the turn of the new millennium.
As a king of the crime genre himself, it’s no surprise that the director was so influenced by such a range of movies and filmmakers, naming his picks for the best crime movies whilst listing his all-time favourite movies.
Included on the list is a wide selection of some of the 20th century’s most creative names, including Alfred Hitchcock, Akira Kurosawa and Howard Hawks, with only one 21st-century movie making the list in the form of Jon Watts’ Cop Car. Starring Kevin Bacon, De Palma holds this underrated movie fondly, loving its simple story that tracks a small-town sheriff trying to hunt two kids who have stolen his car for a joy ride.
Elsewhere, De Palma picks Tarantino’s favourite British movie, Mike Hodges’ Get Carter. Starring Michael Caine, this iconic crime flick tells the story of a London gangster who travels up to Newcastle, where his brother was recently killed, to try and get to the bottom of what exactly happened. Sleek, stylish and ferociously violent, Get Carter is beloved to this very day by fans across the world.
Take a look at the full list of De Palma’s favourite crime movies below.
Brian de Palma’s favourite crime movies:
- Cop Car (Jon Watts, 2015)
- Dial M for Murder (Alfred Hitchcock 1954)
- Get Carter (Mike Hodges, 1971)
- The Godfather (Francis Ford Coppola, 1972)
- High and Low (Akira Kurosawa, 1963)
- In Cold Blood (Richard Brooks, 1967)
- The Long Good Friday (John Mackenzie, 1980)
- The Naked Kiss (Samuel Fuller, 1964)
- Point Blank (1967, John Boorman)
- Rope (Alfred Hitchcock, 1948)
- Run Lola Run (Tom Tykwer, 1998)
- Scarface (Howard Hawks, Richard Rosson, 1932)
