John Travolta names his favourite movies: “They’ve changed over the years”
From singing about cars to dancing with Mia Wallace to trying to turn Scientology into a blockbuster, John Travolta has had one hell of a career. The 1970s icon hasn’t always landed on the right side of taste, but he is arguably one of the most recognisable big-screen stars of all time. Everyone has seen at least one of his movies and undoubtedly has some sort of opinion on him. In the flashy world of Hollywood, what could be more important than that?
While he’s done his fair share of fluffy family flicks and ill-fated musicals, the man who was once Danny Zuko has also appeared in some true gems. The obvious example of a ‘serious’ Travolta film is Pulp Fiction, which earned him an Oscar nomination. While most people think of it as ‘that movie with the Bee Gees in it’, Saturday Night Fever is actually a dark, gritty representation of working-class life. Say what you will about his flares, but Travolta’s not afraid to get down and dirty.
This goes some way to explaining why, when asked by Cigar Aficionado for his favourite films, the star gave a rather unexpected answer. “All my favourite movies are French,” he revealed. “A Man and a Woman and Going Places – in French, Les Valseuses – are my two favourite movies. My two favourite American movies? I don’t know, they’ve changed over the years. But I think A Man and a Woman is the most romantic movie ever made. Just because it captured the real feelings of two people falling in love, and it had music that matched those feelings and images that matched those feelings. It was a marriage of all three. To me, every image of that movie looks like a work of art.”
From director Claude Lelouch, 1966’s A Man and a Woman (Un homme et une femme) is about two people (Jean-Louis Trintignant and Anouk Aimée) who fall in love, but are gripped by feelings of guilt towards their deceased ex-partners. It was a massive hit in France, winning the Palme d’Or at Cannes and making a star out of Trintignant. Two decades later, a sequel entitled A Man and a Woman: 20 Years Later was released, which was followed by another film, The Best Years of a Life, in 2019.
As for Going Places – the French title of which translates as The Waltzers – it stars Patrick Dewaere and a young Gérard Depardieu as two delinquents who rob, assault, and harass their way through life. On its release in 1974, the film made headlines for all the wrong reasons. Its portrayal of violence and sexual assault was unlike anything previously seen in French cinema, sparking widespread controversy. Those scenes have not aged well, especially given the later revelations about Depardieu’s personal life. Nevertheless, the film remains a cult favourite among fans of underground cinema.
Travolta mentions in the article that he has an affinity for France as a whole. He used to date French actor Catherine Deneuve, who was working around the same time as his favourite films came out. When he tied the knot with American actor Kelly Preston, he did so in Paris.
If you’d only ever seen Grease, you wouldn’t expect Travolta to be a fan of sordid French films from the 1960s and ’70s. Actors are often complicated creatures, though, drawing inspiration from multiple sources. Never judge a T-Bird by his cover.
