Terry Crews names his five favourite films of all time
Terry Crews is an American football player turned actor. Some of his best recognisable roles are comedic, most notably Julius Rock in the hit CW comedy Everybody Loves Chris and Latrell in White Chicks.
His performance in White Chicks as a celebrity football player resulted in fellow actor Adam Sandler devising a specific role just for him in The Longest Yard. Crews also appeared in Brooklyn 99 as police officer Terry Jeffords, a role in which he balances comedy with social critiques.
In between hosting the reality show America’s Got Talent, Crews is also an advocate for the Women’s Rights Movement and speaks out publicly against hidden sexual abuse in the industry.
Given his varied career, the actor sat down with Rotten Tomatoes to offer. peek behind the curtain, sharing his five favourite films. Some of the selections have impacted his journey, and others are just appreciated as works of art.
The actor kicks off his list with a claim that Do The Right Thing, directed by Spike Lee and released in 1989, “Changed my life in so many ways”. This film explores the racial tensions in Brooklyn that hit boiling point thanks to a pizza shop owned by proud Italian Americans. Crews shares some contextual insight into how the film “was listed as a comedy. That blows my mind. It was nowhere near a comedy, but that’s exactly where they felt black films that dealt with any subject matter needed to be”. He feels Lee’s work is “very encouraging on many levels”.
The actor’s second favourite film is George Lucas’ Star Wars: Episode IV-A New Hope, released in 1977. Crews explains how this movie was “one of the first movies I was able to see because my mother was super religious”. This ended up being a beneficial experience, as this film about a young Jedi who rescues a princess from an imperialistic army “changed the game for me. It let me know I was going to be in entertainment”.
When asked what it is that Crews loves about the space opera, he replied: “The artistry. Everything about it was incredible”. He mostly values the score, which still gives him chills “to this day”.
Crews follows this with another sci-fi classic. However, this one has a completely separate tone. “Alien was incredible, but Aliens just took me out. James Cameron’s Aliens is crazy,” he exclaims. This sequel shows Ripley being forced to face the Xenomorph again, this time, an army of them. “It had a feminist view,” Crews commented. “It had just so many viewpoints that were actually introduced in the movie that had never been there before”.
He compares this to other movies, adding: “Everything else was all male-oriented and superstar, the guy who could never get beat and all that stuff. This movie turned that on its ear. Loved it”.
The fourth film on Crews’ list is Training Day, a movie about a rookie cop who spends his first day with a challenging and questionable detective. Crews has personal experience with the film, as he explained: “I was an extra in Training Day. I didn’t have a chance to read the script, didn’t know what it was about. I just said, ‘I’ve got to be on this set’.”
The actor discusses his reflection back on the film and what he thinks of it: “It was on a psychological level. It just lets you know the nature of what evil really is, and it plays on your good intentions”.
Terry Crews’ five favourite films
- Do The Right Thing (Spike Lee, 1989)
- Star Wars: Episode IV-A New Hope (George Lucas, 1977)
- Aliens (James Cameron, 1979)
- Training Day (Antoine Fuqua, 2001)
- Pulp Fiction (Quentin Tarantino, 1994)
The closing movie on Crews’ list is one shared heavily in the film fan community. “Pulp Fiction. I still believe Sam Jackson should have gotten an Oscar for that film to this day. It was one of the most brilliant performances I have ever seen”. Quentin Tarantino’s acclaimed crime-noir classic follows two hitmen whose day is intertwined with a gangster’s wife, a boxer and two small-time criminals.
Crews expressed admiration for the director Tarantino, commenting: “My God, it was just a tour de force in filmmaking”. He further summarises the film as “a beautiful, beautiful piece of artwork”. The film is so strong for him because “it had all my favourite genres. It had blaxploitation, mystery, gangster”.
