Paul Thomas Anderson’s favourite movies of the 1980s
American director Paul Thomas Anderson is one of modern cinema’s most celebrated filmmakers, breaking through into the mainstream with 1997’s Boogie Nights. The film depicted the golden age of pornography, with Mark Wahlberg playing a young dropout turned adult movie star.
Since then, Anderson has consistently released movies that have been widely praised, from There Will Be Blood to The Master and Phantom Thread. Due to his near-perfect filmography, Anderson has established himself as a leading cinematic voice, his approach to the medium influencing his contemporaries and shaping a new generation of filmmakers.
To reach such a high level of acclaim, one has to meticulously study cinema. Knowing which rules to adhere to and which to break is vital in shaping a good filmmaker, and Anderson has consumed more than enough movies to know exactly how to master the medium.
Anderson has an extensive collection of favourite movies, but today, we’ll be honing in on the ones made in the 1980s, a formative decade for Anderson, who was born in 1970. Thus, his teenage and young adult years would’ve been heavily influenced by movies from this period.
The filmmaker cites two movies by Alex Cox as some of his favourites: Repo Man and Sid and Nancy. Both movies feature iconic punk soundtracks and utilise dark humour, each becoming cult classics. Talking at the New York Film Festival, Anderson revealed: “As far as I’m concerned, he’s underappreciated. There is such abandon in this movie [Repo Man] – it’s focused, it’s funny, it’s outlandish. It’s talky in a way that never feels like a stage play ’cause it’s always moving.”
Anderson has also cited a love for Martin Scorsese’s Oscar-winning Raging Bull, featuring Robert De Niro as the troubled boxing Jake LaMotta. In Boogie Nights, a speech given by Dirk Diggler even pays direct homage to a monologue spoken by LaMotta in Scorsese’s stunning black-and-white sports drama.
Moreover, two of Anderson’s favourite movies from the 1980s are by Robert Altman, the prolific director best known for movies like Nashville, M*A*S*H, McCabe and Mrs Miller and 3 Women. Beginning his career in the in the 1950s, Altman released movies consistently until his death in 2006.
Anderson’s favourites from the ‘80s are Popeye, starring Shelley Duvall and Robin Williams, and Secret Honor, featuring Philip Baker Hall as Richard Nixon. Altman’s influence on Anderson’s approach to filmmaking has been massive, with the director once explaining that seeing Nashville and The Long Goodbye for the first time was “one of the biggest holy fucking shit moments of my life.”
Paul Thomas Anderson’s favourite ’80s movies:
- Raging Bull (Martin Scorsese – 1980)
- Sid & Nancy (Alex Cox – 1986)
- Melvin and Howard (Jonathan Demme – 1980)
- This Is Spinal Tap (Rob Reiner – 1984)
- Secret Honor (Robert Altman – 1984)
- Bob Le Flameur (Jean-Pierre Melville – 1982)
- Repo Man (Alex Cox – 1984)
- Ordinary People (Robert Redford – 1980)
- Popeye (Robert Altman – 1980)
