Ray Winstone’s five favourite movies of all time: “It’s a masterpiece”
Actor Ray Winstone is likely best known for playing the “hard man” in a number of British classic films. These include 1979’s Scum, directed by Alan Clarke, Quadrophenia, which was released the same year, and, arguably, one of his best performances, 2000’s Sexy Beast.
The movie perfectly captured the duality of Winstone on screen. Of course, it is difficult to look beyond the stature of the band, every bit the British bulldog, but while he has always found favour in a run of tough guy roles, in Sexy Beast, he is also allowed to show a softer side. The vulnerability he brings to the macho personas he is given to portray is what sets him apart from so many other actors who have clenched their fists but fallen into the memory banks.
The truth is, behind the gruff exterior, Winstone has slowly become one of Britain’s most successful Hollywood exports. After becoming an icon in his home nation, the actor has since become a mainstay of tough guy movies, lending his brutish nature to a ream of classic flicks, including his unforgettable role in The Departed, alongside Jack Nicholson.
Directed by Martin Scorsese, the movie allowed Winstone the opportunity to work with one of his heroes as a filmmaker. Winstone and Scorsese were a perfect fit. For decades, Scorsese has found the humanity in criminality, bringing nuanced stories to the gangster and thriller genres. Winstone, therefore, mirrored this ability to find uniqueness in the more obvious side of filmmaking.
Winstone was clearly very pleased to work with Scorsese. The director is one of the most gifted creators of his generation, and remains considered one of the greatest living directors. Across the years, Winstone has noted his respect for the auteur and made sure to mention him when picking out the five favourite movies of all time.
According to Rotten Tomatoes, first up for Winstone is Martin Scorsese’s 1980 biopic Raging Bull, in which Robert De Niro portrayed the troubled boxing champion, Jake La Motta. Winstone said of the film. “It’s a masterpiece of movie-making. I love it because, when you cut the boxing out, it’s about people.“
He added, “It’s beautifully shot. The slow-motion stuff, the music, the characters, the acting, the direction. It’s classic to me because I’ve been a boxer, and it emotionally touches me. The heart just got to me. I was sitting there with my mate watching that, and he’s a boxer and a champion boxer, and we were both crying at the end of the movie.”
Winstone picks a classic mob tale next, Sergio Leone’s Once Upon a Time in America, originally released back in 1984. The English acting icon considers Leone to be a “genius”. He said, “[It’s] is a bit of genius film-making, I think. That’s a film I can watch all night long. And I think it is four hours long, or something like that. It’s just a wonderful film to watch.”
The cutthroat nature of both Leone’s and Scorsese’s style is a vehicle that has clearly lent itself to Winstone’s work. His ability to possess a position of both vehement violence and sullen complexity has made him a go-to choice for such movies over the decades.
There’s a departure from American films for a moment, though, with the 1964 British war film Zulu finding its spot on Winstone’s list, which tells of 150 British soldiers fending off 4000 Zulu warriors in the Anglo-Zulu War of the late 19th Century. “It’s just a film that, no matter where you pick it up — like the first two — you have to keep watching,” Winstone said. “I think I watch that film three times a year.”
Another historical film that Winstone admires is Richard Fleischer’s 1958 swashbuckling epic classic The Vikings, based on Edison Marshall’s 1951 novel The Viking. “With Kirk Douglas and Tony Curtis — with a Bronx accent, I guess, as a Viking,” Winstone said. “But it’s a stirring film, you know, and one of the great films of the time.”
Finally, Winstone rounds off his list with a western classic, John Ford’s The Searchers, released in 1956 and starring John Wayne. “It’s a wonderful film,” he said. “Brilliantly shot, you know. And Wayne’s playing a bigot in it. He is a man who’s got a hatred about him, but by the end of it he changes. It’s such a great performance, hero playing a man like that.”
It isn’t always easy to look at someone and pick out their favourite movies, but one might have had a good go at selecting the pictures Winstone holds dearest. All of them showcase a swaggering toughness maligned by human vulnerability, and all of them, therefore, work perfectly with Winstone’s character.
Ray Winstone’s five favourite films:
- Raging Bull (Martin Scorsese, 1980)
- Once Upon a Time in America (Sergio Leone, 1984)
- Zulu (Cy Endfield, 1964)
- The Vikings (Richard Fleischer, 1958)
- The Searchers (John Ford, 1956)
