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Henry Fonda picks his favourite and most “hated”, movies
Acknowledged as one of the earliest and most celebrated Hollywood actors of the 20th century, the American screen icon Henry Fonda captured the attention of the industry from the 1930s through to the 1970s. Throughout this period, Fonda was fortunate enough to work with some of the finest minds of modern cinema, including Sidney Lumet, Mark Rydell, Alfred Hitchcock and John Ford, among many others.
One of his most successful collaborations came in 1968 when he worked alongside the iconic Italian filmmaker Sergio Leone for the seminal western classic Once Upon a Time in the West. Appearing beside the likes of Charles Bronson, Claudia Cardinale and Frank Wolff, Fonda helped to create one of the finest and most intricate movies of the genre, inspiring countless filmmakers to come.
One such filmmaker was Quentin Tarantino who became enamoured with the work of Leone from a young age. Speaking to The Spectator in 2019, the director even stated, “The movie that made me consider filmmaking, the movie that showed me how a director does what he does, how a director can control a movie through his camera, is Once Upon a Time in the West…I found myself completely fascinated, thinking: ‘That’s how you do it.’ It ended up creating an aesthetic in my mind”.
Fonda’s career is sprinkled with such similar classics that remain indelibly tied to the history of American cinema, with Once Upon a Time in the West merely being one of many celebrated classics.
For the actor himself, however, Fonda has his own picks for his favourite roles, revealing all in a conversation with Dick Cavett in 1972. Jumping straight into it, the actor states, “12 Angry Men has to be on the list because that’s my Easy Rider, I produced it…I’m proud of that on more than one level,” presumably linking his own film to the bohemian indie classic due to the fact that his son, Peter Fonda, both starred in and produced the 1960 movie.
Moving beyond the well-known courtroom drama, 12 Angry Men, Fonda adds, “I think Grapes of Wrath has to be on the list,” before his reasoning is interrupted by an impromptu round of applause. After the rapturous response, he adds, “because it’s become a minor classic, but that’s only two and, I’m beginning to stutter, I made about 76,” speaking to his impressive filmography that includes over 100 total credits.
Taken aback at the omission of one particular movie, Cavett states, “You haven’t mentioned Mister Roberts right away,” to which Fonda recoils in disagreement. Explaining why he leaves the celebrated movie off his list of favourites, he states, “When you’ve done a play as long as I did Mister Roberts, I did it for four years, 1600/1700 performances, you become a purest about that play, and I wasn’t the only one. Everybody that was involved with that play, we hated the picture because it took liberties”.
Loving 12 Angry Men and Grapes of Wrath but looking back on Mister Roberts with a certain amount of disdain, Henry Fonda will forever go down in history as one of the greatest classical American actors.
