Cameron Crowe’s five favourite movies
Always one to challenge himself, acclaimed director Cameron Crowe has ensured that his filmmaking journey takes him, and the audience, through all the genres of cinema. The Tom Cruise-led Jerry Maguire was a thoughtful romantic comedy set in the world of sports PR, whilst Almost Famous was a semi-autobiographical coming-of-age tale that gave viewers a glimpse into the world of 1970s music journalism.
Then, of course, he reunited with Tom Cruise for 2001’s Vanilla Sky, the mind-bending sort-of-sci-fi thriller that probed the concepts of identity, vanity and reality itself. No slave to the narrative, the director has also chartered into non-fiction waters with several highly regarded documentaries, all of them focused one way or another on musicians.
Crowe’s fixation on music and the way cinema can celebrate it, demonstrated by his upcoming Joni Mitchell biopic, is also reflected in the films that he loves dearest. Speaking with Rotten Tomatoes, the director was asked to name his top five films, and it’s clear that the role of music in these films is of utmost importance to him.
Ranging from 1960s screwball comedies to British mod classics, Crowe’s choices mark a taste in film both specific and passionate, and they provide a refreshing change of perspective to the usual Godfather and Lawrence of Arabia picks.
Cameron Crowe’s favourite movies:
5. Local Hero (Bill Forsyth, 1983)
Leading Crowe’s list is the 1983 film Local Hero, a distinct comedy by director Bill Forsyth. Making a specific reference to the music, the director says, “It’s hard enough to create a movie this deeply funny, so odd and so memorable… but to have a score like Mark Knopfler’s, too? This is the holy grail of personal filmmaking with a distinctive directorial touch.”
The film’s depiction of a businessman seduced by the ways of country living during a business trip seems to have left a deep impression on Crowe, highlighting Forsyth’s talent for capturing “random moments” that resonate long after the film ends.
4. Quadrophenia (Frank Roddamn, 1979)
The second film in Crowe’s list of favourites is Franc Roddam’s Quadrophenia, the cult film chronicling the lives of Brighton mods in the 1960s, with a sneaky nod also to Anton Corbijn’s Ian Curtis biopic, Control. The director admires how both films “capture the feeling in the music of the bands that they’re covering”, a sentiment deeply connected to Crowe’s own musical roots and his use of music to drive the narrative in his films.
He goes on to praise Leslie Ash’s performance in Quadrophenia as a “scene-stealer”, as well as explaining how “to watch these two great movies is to geek out on cinematic portraits that remind you exactly why you first fell in love with a Townshend power chord”.
3. The Rules of the Game (Jean Renoir, 1939)
His third spot is reserved for the 1939 French satire, Rules of the Game. A searing cross-section of bourgeois life, a meet-up of the rich and their accompanying servants at a rural chateau reveals some unsavoury romantic truths about several of the guests attending. Long before Downtown Abbey dominated our screens, Renoir’s comic yet extremely astute depiction of upstairs/downstairs remains a biting piece of social commentary.
For Crowe, the artistry of the film needs little explanation. “Jean Renoir puts on a master class in ensemble comedy-drama,” the director says. “Period.”
2. The Royal Tenenbaums (Wes Anderson, 2001)
Not often seen on lists of all-time favourites, but a well-deserved one nonetheless, is Wes Anderson’s third feature, the 2001 comedy-drama The Royal Tenenbaums, which Crowe considers a “mood masterpiece”. The director once again gravitates towards the soundtrack, explaining the recipe for great filmmaking.
After praising the writing and direction, Crowe explains: “Put this together with a score and a soundtrack for the ages, and you have a film that operates like the best of Hal Ashby or even a filmmaker like Miyazaki.” The potent atmosphere of the film, a particular trademark of Anderson’s, is, as Crowe states, “so good, it’s almost like a drug.”
1. The Apartment (Billy Wilder, 1960)
Finally, Crowe singles out Billy Wilder’s classic 1960s classic The Apartment, the comically tragic tale of a man who rents out his apartment to his adulterous colleagues. Crowe enthuses, “You really can’t beat The Apartment for finding laughs and heartache and triumph in the life of a morally compromised schnook of an insurance salesman.”
He goes on to appreciate Wilder’s directorial prowess and his ability to extract powerful performances from his actors, including a brilliant turn from Jack Lemmon. “The high-water mark in romantic comedy,” Crowe states. “This movie is so assured of its tone that even an attempted suicide is never far from a big laugh. Viva Wilder!”
