Stanley Kubrick’s favourite movies of the 1970s
Famed for his unique provision to the world of cinema with classics like 2001: A Space Odyssey, The Shining, and A Clockwork Orange, Stanley Kubrick died nearly a quarter of a century ago, leaving a gaping hole in Hollywood. In filmmaking and most other creative arts, one doesn’t reach the top without a share of perfectionism, stubbornness and passion. As we all know, Kubrick had all three in barrow-loads.
Of these three attributes, Kubrick was particularly heavy on perfectionism. While discerning filmmakers are all equipped with creative fluency, Kubrick’s approach was notably structured and mathematical – two words traditionally banished from the arts.
As an astute cinephile, Kubrick set off in the 1950s inspired by some of the finest directors of Hollywood’s Golden Era, including Orson Welles, Jean Cocteau and Charlie Chaplin. After establishing himself as a consistent and prolific auteur through the 1960s, Kubrick was regarded as one of the vital inspiring forces behind the New Hollywood era, as championed by Steven Spielberg, George Lucas, Francis Ford Coppola and Martin Scorsese.
Although Kubrick inspired these subsequently prominent directors, he continued to observe the varied approaches of his peers and wove attractive aspects into his ever-developing style. Although Kubrick seldom discussed his favourite films and fellow directors, a master list of 93 movies he considered the greatest has been curated via numerous sources. The Criterion Collection compiled the list with the help of Kubrick’s daughter Katharina Kubrick-Hobbs.
“Highest of all, I would rate Max Ophuls, who for me possessed every possible quality,” Kubrick once said in a rare interview with Cahiers du cinéma in 1957. “He has an exceptional flair for sniffing out good subjects, and he got the most out of them. He was also a marvellous director of actors.”
Discussing his own role, Kubrick added: “In terms of working with actors, a director’s job more closely resembles that of a novelist than of a Svengali. One assumes that one hires actors who are great virtuosos. It is too late to start running an acting class in front of the cameras, and essentially what the director must do is to provide the right ideas for the scene, the right adverb, the right adjective”.
“The director must always be the arbiter of esthetic taste,” he continued. “The questions always arise: Is it believable, is it interesting, is it appropriate? Only the director can decide this.”
Today, we bring you a list of Kubrick’s favourite movies of the 1970s. As you can see, the filmmaking veteran was a big fan of some of the New Hollywood heavy-weights, including The Godfather, The Exorcist, One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest, Close Encounters of the Third Kind and American Graffiti.
Stanley Kubrick’s favourite movies:
- Annie Hall – Woody Allen (1977)
- Close Encounters of the Third Kind – Steven Spielberg (1977)
- Manhattan – Woody Allen (1979)
- McCabe & Mrs. Miller – Robert Altman (1971)
- Harold and Maude – Hal Ashby (1971)
- Cries and Whispers – Ingmar Bergman (1972)
- Wild Strawberries – Ingmar Bergman (1972)
- Deliverance – John Boorman (1972)
- Apocalypse Now – Francis Ford Coppola (1979)
- The Godfather – Francis Ford Coppola (1972)
- The Spirit of the Beehive – Victor Erice (1973)
- Tora! Tora! Tora! – Richard Fleischer (1970)
- One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest – Milos Forman (1975)
- Cabaret – Bob Fosse (1972)
- The Exorcist – William Friedkin (1973)
- Get Carter – Mike Hodges (1971)
- The Terminal Man – Mike Hodges (1974)
- The Texas Chainsaw Massacre – Tobe Hooper (1974)
- Abigail’s Party – Mike Leigh (1977)
- La bonne année – Claude Lelouch (1973)
- American Graffiti – George Lucas (1973)
- Dog Day Afternoon – Sidney Lumet (1975)
- Eraserhead – David Lynch (1976)
- Cría Cuervos – Carlos Saura (1975)
- Alien – Ridley Scott (1977)
- Solaris – Andrei Tarkovsky (1972)
- The Emigrants – Jan Troell (1970)
- Girlfriends – Claudia Weill (1978)
- The Cars that Ate Paris – Peter Weir (1974)
- Picnic at Hanging Rock – Peter Weir (1975)
