Paul Schrader names his 10 favourite movies
Since the 1970s, Paul Schrader has been creating some of the best and most interesting films to come out of American cinema. The New Hollywood provocateur is perhaps best known for his writing the masterpieces Taxi Driver and Raging Bull, but his time in the director’s chair has also produced some truly exceptional films.
His intense and brooding character studies of predominantly male protagonists battling their inner demons and searching for salvation have mesmerised audiences for the last 50 years. And at the age of 77, with his most recent film, The Master Gardener, coming out in 2022, there is no sign of him slowing down. It’s a unique and unmistakable experience sitting down to watch a Schrader picture and enthralling to see such a singular vision play out on screen.
The legendary auteur was also a film critic for some time, and for anyone who isn’t familiar with his Facebook page, Schrader recently picked up the craft again, critiquing the latest movie releases with some brutally honest and hilarious reviews. With this in mind, Schrader has a vast, in-depth knowledge of cinema and film history and has also compiled a top ten list of his favourite movies. It’s a fascinating list with some wonderful films making the cut.
On the list, Schrader cites Robert Bresson’s cornerstone crime drama, The Pickpocket from 1959, a film that follows a pickpocket working the streets and train stations of Paris. There are some striking comparisons between The Pickpocket and a number of Schrader’s movies. Most notably, Bresson’s effort depicts a lonely character who spends his days writing his journey, a similar theme within Schrader’s Light Sleeper and Taxi Driver. But The Pickpocket also shares common themes that simmer under most of Schrader’s pictures – the examination of disillusioned, guilt-ridden, and misguided men who turn to crime, seeking vengeful retaliation on society.
Schrader’s admiration for Bresson runs deep. His book Transcendental Style in Film: Ozu, Bresson, Dreyer delves heavily into the French master’s work, and the same goes for Yasujiro Ozu and Carl Dreyer. Surprisingly, only two of those directors have made it onto Schrader’s top ten list.
Another film Schrader adds to the list is John Ford’s epic western, The Searchers, released in 1956. There is something to be said about the comparison between the storyline of The Searchers – a man who embarks on a years-long journey across America to rescue his niece from the Comanches – and Schrader’s early film, Hardcore, in which a father ventures into the seedy underworld of the porn industry to bring home his missing daughter.
Overall, there are a number of brilliant movies that the groundbreaking writer and director cites as favourites. For anyone seeking to explore more of Schrader’s vision, his collection offers an engrossing and eye-opening peek behind the curtain of his creativity. See the full list below.
Paul Schrader’s 10 favourite movies:
- The Rules of the Game (Jean Renoir, 1939)
- Tokyo Story (Yasujiro Ozu, 1953)
- Pickpocket (Robert Bresson, 1959)
- Citizen Kane (Orson Welles, 1941)
- The Lady Eve (Preston Sturges, 1941)
- La Belle et la Bete (Jean Cocteau, 1946)
- The Conformist (Bernardo Bertolucci, 1970)
- Vertigo (Alfred Hitchcock, 1958)
- The Searchers (John Ford, 1956)
- The Wild Bunch (Sam Peckinpah, 1969)
