Michael Mann names his four favourite movies of all time
The 1980s wouldn’t have had the same flair and cinematic electricity without the influence of a handful of iconic filmmakers, from the cult heroics of John Carpenter to the whacky freneticism of Brian De Palma. Another significant name was the burgeoning Michael Mann, who would arise in the latter stages of the decade and carry on the spirit of the frenzied ‘80s into the 20th century’s final stages.
Making his debut in 1986 with the fabulously stylish crime thriller Manhunter, starring William Petersen and Brian Cox, Mann set himself as a formidable talent capable of cinematic greatness. Such was proven in the following decade, releasing a trio of films that would help to define the 1990s: the period thriller The Last of the Mohicans, the seminal crime flick Heat and The Insider, one of the filmmaker’s most underrated works.
Thanks to his proficiency in the ‘90s and the early 21st century, with such movies as 2001’s Ali and 2004’s Collateral, Mann built quite the following from fellow filmmakers who fell in love with his intense cinematic form. The likes of Martin Scorsese, Quentin Tarantino and Christopher Nolan have each praised Mann for his contributions to cinema in the late 20th century, yet none of them appear on the director’s own list of favourite movies.
In conversation with Letterboxd, the director revealed four of his all-time favourite movies, including an eclectic bunch of classics that span the whole history of cinema.
First up is the Stanley Kubrick classic 2001: A Space Odyssey from 1968, which would come to define the ambition and grace of the sci-fi genre on the whole. Telling the story of a rogue AI program which helps guide a group of astronauts to failure during a trip across the cosmos, Kubrick’s grand comment on the future of humanity remains one of the greatest movies of all time.
From one of cinema’s greatest visual achievements to one of its most essential formalist works, second on Mann’s list is Sergei Eisenstein’s Battleship Potemkin from 1925. Imperative in the creation of the movie montage, Eisenstein’s film told the story of a group of sailors who revolt aboard their battleship and spark a rebellion across the region that leads to a massacre.
Third on Mann’s list of all-time favourites is the Hollywood classic The Asphalt Jungle from director John Huston. Released in 1950, the film starred Marilyn Monroe, Sterling Hayden and Jean Hagen and told the story of a bank heist that all goes wrong after the crime has taken place, where back-stabbing and double-crossing unravels the personalities behind the bad deed.
Not entirely in keeping with the rest of the list, the final film that Mann includes on his list is the James Cameron blockbuster Avatar from 2009. Entirely changing the box office game upon its release, earning a record-breaking $2.9billion to become far and away the highest-grossing movie of all time. As well as a financial behemoth, it also helped that Cameron’s film was a visual treat too.
Michael Mann’s favourite movies:
- 2001: A Space Odyssey (Stanley Kubrick, 1968)
- Battleship Potemkin (Sergei Eisenstein, 1925)
- The Asphalt Jungle (John Huston, 1950)
- Avatar (James Cameron, 2009)
