Ron Howard names his four favourite films of all time: “Movies I have to see from time to time”
As a director who’s never been constricted by genre, it would only be sensible for Ron Howard to put forth an eclectic quartet when tasked with the agonising decision to name his four favourite movies of all time.
Technically, he cheated, but it’s a minor sin that can be easily forgiven when he couldn’t decide between two classics that exist within the same genre and hit cinemas in the same year. Other than that, his selections span decades and marry his love of cinema with stories that resonated with him from a young age.
Hollywood has been plagued with tales of child actors who’ve gone off the rails or vanished entirely from the spotlight after trying to parlay that early success into a long career, but Howard bucked the trend better than most by taking a completely different path.
By the time he was in his early 20s, he realised he didn’t even want to be an actor anymore, with Roger Corman providing him with the platform to make his directorial debut on 1977’s Grand Theft Auto. Since then, he’s barely acted at all, instead helming dozens of features that have touched base with almost every genre under the sun.
As the son of two actors, Howard gained a filmic education at a very early age, and one of those transformative moments kicked off his candidates when he recalled his mind being blown clean out of his ears the first time he saw Mike Nichols’ The Graduate. An Academy Award-winning comedy classic, the future Oscar winner immediately recognised the style, energy, and artistry on display.
His second, and technically third, contenders are “movies that I have to see from time to time.” Arriving just months apart in 1981, Steven Spielberg’s Raiders of the Lost Ark and George Miller’s Mad Max sequel The Road Warrior are two of the greatest and most timeless action flicks ever made, steered towards classic status by two directors working at the top of their game.
“Very often, I turn the sound off,” Howard admitted to Letterboxd. “And just watch to see how brilliantly these scenes are executed.” Although both films are reliant on their soundscapes, he gained an even deeper appreciation by watching them as completely silent films and was just as mesmerised by the staging, composition, and execution of their action beats.
Miloš Forman’s masterpiece One Flew Over the Cuckoo‘s Nest was included because it’s “one of the greatest examples of comedy-drama,” according to Howard. This sentiment is difficult to deny when Jack Nicholson has arguably never been better in a movie that’s about as seminal as American cinema has ever been.
Last but not least was the film that inspired Howard to become a director in the first place, with Frank Capra’s Mr Smith Goes to Washington a picture that “broke certain kind of barriers for me,” with the filmmaker entranced by its “blend of heart and humanism,” an approach he’s subsequently tried to incorporate into the majority of his own features.
Ron Howard’s favourite movies:
- The Graduate (Mike Nichols, 1967)
- Raiders of the Lost Ark/The Road Warrior (Steven Spielberg/George Miller, 1981)
- One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest (Miloš Forman, 1975)
- Mr Smith Goes to Washington (Frank Capra, 1939)
