Sam Rockwell names his five favourite films of all time
Far too often considered a mere supporting actor, American actor Sam Rockwell should be considered among one of the very best stars in contemporary cinema. Working with the likes of Duncan Jones, Martin McDonagh, George Clooney, Frank Darabont, Andrew Dominik, Adam McKay and Ron Howard over the course of his career, which technically started way back in 1979 when he appeared as a guest on Joan Crawford’s Children.
Since then, Rockwell has become a celebrated Oscar-winning performer, taking home a golden statuette for Best Supporting actor in 2018 for Martin McDonagh’s drama Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri. Beating out the likes of Woody Harrelson, Richard Jenkins, Willem Dafoe and Christopher Plummer in the same category, Rockwell’s achievement should not be understated.
As well as a celebrated Hollywood star, Rockwell also is a purveyor of cinema, sitting down with Rotten Tomatoes in 2018 to discuss his all-time top five favourite movies.
His first pick goes to the classic family film Back to the Future, directed by Robert Zemeckis, a film that would considerably influence popular culture in the 1980s. Speaking about the beloved film starring Michael J. Fox and Christopher Lloyd, Rockwell states: “It’s just a perfect movie, you know? Everything about it, you just can’t… It’s just perfect. You can watch it over and over again”.
Recognised as one of the best Vietnam war movies ever made, the Michael Cimino film The Deer Hunter takes the second spot on his top five. “Maybe Deer Hunter changed me. It was about friendship. It was about war, but it was also about friendship,” Rockwell stated of the flick that stars Robert De Niro alongside Christopher Walken, Meryl Streep and John Cazale.
Taking the third spot is another war movie, but this one is nothing like Cimino’s brutal Deer Hunter. Instead, Rockwell opts for the comedy movie Stripes, a film that follows two men struggling to find success in life who choose to join the army. “That’s probably just Bill Murray in his prime. There’s a lot of good stuff in there,” Rockwell says of the celebrated comedy that also stars John Candy and Harold Ramis.
Rockwell’s penultimate choice is the 1962 western flick The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance starring John Wayne, James Stewart and Lee Marvin. A classic tale of justice, heroes and villains, the actor is a great lover of the film, stating, “That movie blew me away. I think my dad made me see that and I remember Lee Marvin in that; Lee Van Cleef and Strother Martin are sort of the sidekicks… It was just a surprise kind of western”.
Sam Rockwell’s five favourite films
- Back to the Future (Robert Zemeckis, 1985)
- The Deer Hunter (Michael Cimino, 1978)
- Stripes (Ivan Reitman, 1981)
- The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance (John Ford, 1962)
- One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest (Miloš Forman, 1975)
Bookending Rockwell’s choices is the 1975 Best-Picture winner One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest, starring the great Jack Nicholson in one of his most iconic roles. “That and Chinatown are probably – and maybe Five Easy Pieces – I mean, those were the big Nicholson performances,” the actor states, concluding, “But McMurphy’s kind of the quintessential Nicholson performance. It’s kind of everything about Nicholson that’s great”.
