Rian Johnson names his five favourite movies of all time
As well as being one of the most iconic sci-fi fantasy franchises of all time, Star Wars is also known for its passionate fanbase of followers who can proudly name and describe the facial features of Salacious B. Crumb from Poggle the Lesser. So, when Rian Johnson released his divisive 2017 movie The Last Jedi, the fanbase wasn’t quite sure how to react, with some gulping it down like Bantha milk whilst others wished to cast it into the fires of Mustafar.
Whatever you think of Johnson’s film, there’s no denying that the American director is a competent filmmaker, having made a number of great movies aside from the 2017 blockbuster, including 2005’s Brick, 2012’s Looper and the 2022 Netflix murder mystery Glass Onion, starring Daniel Craig among many others. Clearly something of a connoisseur of cinema, Johnson shared his favourite movies during an interview with Rotten Tomatoes back in 2009.
First on his list is one of the greatest documentaries of all time, Orson Welles’ F for Fake from 1976, a study into how fakery and fraud exist in everyday life. “It’s a movie that’s really hard to define,” Johnson says of the documentary, “It’s about the charlatans and fakery and the notion of fake versus real, and the notion of the con versus legitimacy, I guess. And he just digs into that pretty deeply. And also in a way that’s so incredibly entertaining”.
Next on his list is the David Mamet crime thriller, House of Games, starring Joe Mantegna, Lindsay Crouse and William H. Macy. Telling the story of a psychiatrist who tries to help one of their patients with a gambling debt, Johnson says of the film: “It’s a movie I love more and more every time I see it. I just think it’s beautifully constructed, and it also really has something on its mind in terms of this kind of dark, sticky psychology of the con and of our human fascination with the con”.
Third is the John Huston classic The Man Who Would Be King from 1975, which starred Sean Connery, Michael Caine and Christopher Plummer. A war flick that tells the story of two former British soldiers in 1880s India, Johnson says of the filmmaker: “I love John Huston. Big, big John Huston fan…It’s fantastic. They really don’t make ’em like they used to when it comes to John Huston. One for the ages”.
Johnson’s penultimate pick is the classic 1973 drama Paper Moon, a film that would hand actor Tatum O’Neal the Oscar for ‘Best Supporting Actress’, becoming the youngest winner of a competitive category at the awards show at the mere age of ten. Speaking of the beloved road movie, Johnson remarks: “’m a sucker for anything that can reach for big things stylistically and still connect on a human emotional level, and that’s what that film does so well”.
Rian Johnson’s favourite movies:
- F for Fake (Orson Welles, 1976)
- House of Games (David Mamet, 1987)
- The Man Who Would Be King (John Huston, 1975)
- Paper Moon (Peter Bogdanovich, 1973)
- The Sting (George Roy Hill, 1973)
The final movie to grace his list is the influential 1973 con man movie The Sting, directed by George Roy Hill. Telling the story of two con men, played by Robert Redford and Paul Newman, looking for revenge against a crime boss, Johnson states, “the fun of the film is in the game playing and specifically in the way that these two guys play off of each other…It holds up just as a really fun ride”.
