The Swinging Sixties: Wes Anderson picks his favourite 1960s movies
When audiences and critics talk about filmmakers who pay homage to the history of cinema, too often do we hear about the likes of Quentin Tarantino, who tosses his influences on the screen like an artist throwing a bucket of paint. Yet, the other indie American filmmaker, Wes Anderson, does just the same thing but in a far more nuanced manner, pipetting tiny love letters to cinema history throughout each one of his movies.
Fond of smart and sentimental tales that capture romance and melancholy with a distinctive symmetrical style, Anderson has steadily become one of the most critically acclaimed filmmakers of contemporary Hollywood. Yet, even his earliest film, 1996’s Bottle Rocket, felt like the product of years of American indie cinema that predated it, even if the movie was, in and of itself, pioneering.
Inspired, in part, by the rebellious characters of Martin Scorsese’s earliest works, namely 1973’s Mean Streets, Anderson’s Bottle Rocket was much like a stylised version of one of the former’s classic crime flicks, telling the story of three friends who almost mistakenly become professional robbers. It’s, therefore, no surprise that Scorsese calls it one of his favourite movies from the 1990s, stating: “I loved the people in this film who are genuinely innocent in this film, more than even they know”.
But, arguably, if there is one time period Anderson is most inspired by, it’s the 1960s. Taking the decades-effervescent colour palette, costumes and filmmaking style, more often than not, you’ll find yourself recalling classic ‘60s flicks when watching a Wes Anderson film, whether it’s Alfred Hitchcock’s Torn Curtain in The Grand Budapest Hotel or Disney’s Mary Poppins in Moonrise Kingdom.
Indeed, Anderson has a vast collection of favourite movies from the decade, ranging from popular classics to lesser-known arthouse greats. One that has seemed to influence the tone of many of his films is the classic Oscar winner and ‘Best Picture’ nominee The Graduate from director Mike Nichols and starring Dustin Hoffman. From the humorous, off-beat tone of the story to Hoffman’s stilted style of self-confidence, The Graduate has its fingerprints all over Anderson’s filmography.
Elsewhere, another unlikely influence resides in Roman Polanski’s seminal horror movie Rosemary’s Baby, starring Mia Farrow and John Cassavetes. “One movie that I often find myself going back to is Rosemary’s Baby,” Anderson once told Rotten Tomatoes, with this being a bit of a surprise, considering Anderson has never made a horror flick before. Yet, while Anderson has never directly borrowed from the horror, he does clarify: “This has always been a big influence on me, or a source of ideas”.
Take a look at the full list of Wes Anderson’s favourite 1960s movies below.
Wes Anderson’s favourite 1960s movies:
- The Apartment (Billy Wilder, 1960)
- Au Hasard Balthazar (Robert Bresson, 1966)
- Classe Tous Risques (Claude Sautet, 1960)
- The Exterminating Angel (Luis Buñuel, 1962)
- The Graduate (Mike Nichols, 1967)
- My Life to Live (Jean-Luc Godard, 1962)
- Naked Childhood (Maurice Pialat, 1968)
- Rosemary’s Baby (Roman Polanski, 1968)
- The Spy Who Came in from the Cold (Martin Ritt, 1965)
- Station Six-Sahara (Seth Holt, 1962)
- The Taking of Power by Louis XIV (Roberto Rossellini, 1966)
- Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf? (Mike Nicholls, 1966)
