Terrence Malick’s four favourite movies of all time
A new Terrence Malick movie used to be a generational event until very recently, with the famously publicity-shy filmmaker working at a pace that made James Cameron look utterly prolific by comparison.
After debuting with 1973’s period-set crime drama Badlands and following it up with the sumptuous Days of Heaven five years later, it would be another 20 years before he helmed a new feature. Even at that, The Thin Red Line was in a constant state of flux in the editing room until it was released in its abridged – but still phenomenal – final form.
Since then, though, Malick appears to have been struck by a bout of feverish creativity. After stepping behind the camera just three times in the first 32 years of his directorial career, 2005’s The New World marked the first of seven films to arrive within a 14-year span, and there’s another on the way imminently with biblical epic The Way of the Wind recently rounding out its principal cast.
As part of that return to public-facing prominence, Malick was named as the first guest curator for the Philbrook Museum of Art’s series of screenings called ‘Films on the Lawn’. His first four selections saw him opt for a pair of greats from the golden age, pat himself on the back, and even confirm a widely-circulated urban legend.
Preston Sturges’ screwball caper The Lady Eve finds Henry Fonda’s wealthy snake expert fall head over heels for Barbara Stanwyck’s con artist, forcing her to concoct an elaborate ruse to worm her way back into his life and fortune after he spurns her advances having figured out she’s only after his money.
John Huston’s adventure comedy Beat the Devil also made the cut, as did Malick’s own Badlands. Of course, there’s no harm in recognising one of your own films when it’s been lauded as a certifiable classic, an opinion that Ridley Scott echoed when he shared his own sci-fi favourites.
Last, but by no means least, is Zoolander. Whispers circulated for years that Malick loved Ben Stiller’s fashion-centric farce and could regularly be found quoting its many memorable lines at anybody within earshot, which Stiller confirmed when he revealed that he’d recorded a birthday message for the director while in character.
The riotous comedy sticks out like a sore thumb when placed alongside The Lady Eve, Beat the Devil, and Badlands, but Malick was free to pick whatever films he wanted, considering he was the one curating the screenings, so he was well within his right to opt for one that never fails to make him laugh anytime he sees it.
Terrence Malick’s favourite movies:
- Beat the Devil (John Huston, 1953)
- The Lady Eve (1941, Preston Sturges)
- Badlands (Terrence Malick, 1973)
- Zoolander (Ben Stiller, 2001)
