John Michael McDonagh names the 10 greatest movies of all time
While Martin McDonagh has taken the headlines over recent years, most notably for his excellent recent film The Banshees of Inisherin, as well as his earlier movies In Bruges and Seven Psychopaths, it is his brother, John Michael McDonagh, who also deserves recognition for his efforts in the film industry.
John Michael McDonagh wrote and directed the critically admired films The Guard and Cavalry, both of which starred Martin McDonagh’s frequent collaborator, Brendan Gleeson. Like several filmmakers, McDonagh once selected his top ten picks for the greatest films of all time in a feature with the BFI – a varied list that offers a glimpse behind the curtain of his own creative vision.
McDonagh’s first pick is the 2004 Belgian French-language black comedy film Aaltra, written and directed by Benoit Delepine and Gustave De Kervern, who also both performed in the film. Delepine played a frazzled businessman, while Kervern played a farmworker who, like Delepine’s character, ends up in hospital after an accident.
Going back some 30 years or so, we also find an American drama written and directed by Charles Eastman. The 1973 movie The All-American Boy looks to be another of McDonagh’s top choices and starred Jon Voight as Vic Bealer, a young boxer who abandons his promising career, his friends and his family for no apparent reason.
We find love for Australian cinema on McDonagh’s choice list, too, including the 1986 film Backlash, directed by Bill Bennett. The plot told of two police officers who are tasked with escorting an Aboriginal woman to the outback in New South Wales so she can stand trial. Their journey together leads the police officers to question whether she is truly guilty or not.
Another independent film from the 1980s, this time an American picture, also works its way into McDonagh’s consideration. Chameleon Street was directed by Wendell B. Harris Jr. and was released back in 1989. It told of a social butterfly who impersonates several people of importance in order to amass a small fortune.
McDonagh also admires Japanese cinema too, and certainly the documentary films that have come out of the country. He selects the 1987 film The Emperor’s Naked Army Marches On, which told of Kenzo Okuzaki, a 62-year-old army veteran, and his campaign in New Guinea in the Second World War.
Check out the full list of McDonagh’s picks for the ten greatest movies of all time below.
John Michael McDonagh’s 10 favourite films:
- Aaltra (Benoit Delepine & Gustave De Kervern, 2004)
- The All-American Boy (Charles Eastman, 1973)
- Backlash (Bill Bennett, 1986)
- Chameleon Street (Wendell Harris, 1989)
- The Emperor’s Naked Army Marches On (Kazuo Hara, 1963)
- El verdugo (Luis Garcia Berlanga, 1963)
- Maakusu No Yama (Yoichi Sai, 1995)
- That’ll Be the Day (Claude Whatham, 1973)
- Wanda (Barbara Loden, 1970)
- Winchester ’73 (Anthony Mann, 1950)
