10 Great Movies That Paul Thomas Anderson Wants You To See
With the recent release of One Battle After Another, Paul Thomas Anderson has reasserted himself as one of the unequivocal cinematic masters of his generation, a fitting title from the director of a film called The Master. His new action-adventure thriller and drama about radical revolutionaries starring Leonardo DiCaprio is a pure triumph, with many critics citing it as the finest achievement of the decade, if not the century. One Battle After Another is the culmination of Anderson’s already legendary filmography and his lifelong passion for cinema, as it perfectly infuses all his tastes of the popular and arthouse variety.
An admirably selfless creative artist, Paul Thomas Anderson is quick to shout out his favorite movies and under-the-radar gems of the past and present. Listed below are just 10 of his movie recommendations, some of which may surprise you.
10
‘Something Wild’ (1986)
Paul Thomas Anderson’s love for Jonathan Demme is well-documented. Not only has PTA celebrated the Silence of the Lambs director in the press, but his own work and style, from his use of close-ups to fixation on outsiders and eccentric characters, is indebted to Demme. “He was the first filmmaker who made me feel it was within reach,” Anderson told Rolling Stone in 2017. Regarding Something Wild, Demme’s road-trip black comedy with an abrupt dark turn in its second half starring Melanie Griffith, Jeff Daniels, and Ray Liotta, Anderson described the 1986 film as a “turning point” for his understanding of a director’s power, displayed by Demme’s impeccable use of music, editing, and camera placement.
Anderson’s fascination with big ensemble casts and unlikely protagonists in Boogie Nights and Licorice Pizza reflects Demme’s eye for giving every side character a moment to shine and creating distinct worlds that burst with personality. Anderson’s ability to shift from broad comedy was perfected in Something Wild, which begins as a fun romp only to spiral into a portrait of rage and envy.
9
‘Putney Swope’ (1969)
Anderson loved Putney Swope so much that he stuffed as many references to Robert Downey Sr.‘s iconoclastic satire in Boogie Nights as possible. Don Cheadle‘s character is named Buck Swope, and the startling firecrackers in the climax are direct homages to Putney Swope. Not to mention, Downey himself makes a cameo as an executive arguing with Dirk Diggler (Mark Wahlberg). Anderson sat down with Downey in 2012 for a conversation on behalf of the Criterion Collection.
The director dove into his love for Downey and Putney Swope with Marc Maron, proclaiming, “Holy shit, you can do this!?” upon first seeing it as a film buff, in awe of its balance of laugh-out-loud humor and polemic storytelling. Praising it for being “intelligent” and “politically charged,” Putney Swope shares much of the DNA of One Battle After Another, a film with rip-roaring spectacle combined with biting commentary about contemporary America. More than anything, Anderson latched on to Downey’s underground provocation due to its humor, an underlying factor in Anderson’s filmography that is frequently overlooked.
8
‘Big Daddy’ (1999)
If there’s one thing to know about Paul Thomas Anderson, it is that he is anything but pretentious. Anderson is unafraid to express his love and passion for mainstream action blockbusters or lowbrow comedies. Before unlocking Adam Sandler‘s untapped dramatic chops in Punch-Drunk Love, Anderson’s fandom of the Saturday Night Live performer-turned-movie star peaked after seeing Big Daddy in 1999, which he said on The Bill Simmons Podcast that he has a particular fondness for.
For Anderson, Sandler’s step-up from Billy Madison to Happy Gilmore was impressive, but when the star made Big Daddy, a relatively mature use of Sandler’s persona as he grappled with growing up and being a father, the director became “obsessed” with the face of Happy Madison Productions. “It was a little bit more polished, it was able to be sincere and [mix in] the crazy f—ing dirty shit that Sandler likes to do and got the mix really right,” Anderson told Simmons. Big Daddy‘s relatable conflicts added an unexpected layer of gravitas and sincerity to Sandler’s act, paving the way for his incredible work as a dramatic actor.
7
‘Bad Day at Black Rock’ (1955)
For a subset of film buffs, the commentary track is a coveted relic of a bygone era, where viewers could watch a movie on physical media with an audio recording of a director, actor, or critic discussing what they’re watching and the creative process behind the magic. For Anderson, no DVD commentary track highlights its educational value more than director John Sturges‘ commentary for Bad Day at Black Rock, the 1955 crime thriller starring Spencer Tracy and Robert Ryan about a stranger encountering hostile residents and ominous secrets about a California town.
“Work your way up, save your money, and forget film school,” Anderson told the Los Angeles Times in 1997, sharing his advice for budding filmmakers. Instead, he suggested to prospective undergrads that they “watch Bad Day at Black Rock and listen to John Sturges’ commentary, and you’ll learn more about filmmaking than 4 years of going to school.” The film is an unheralded gem, as Sturges blends a classic Western like High Noon with a ’70s exploitation revenge thriller. Anderson’s advocacy for an unconventional method of learning about filmmaking speaks to his idiosyncratic tendencies that make him special.
6
‘Jackie Brown’ (1997)
As directors who emerged in the 1990s with a groundbreaking new cinematic language that defined the decade’s independent movement, Paul Thomas Anderson and Quentin Tarantino are often associated with each other. Along with being staunch proponents of shooting on film, both of their movies blend dark humor with intense drama. Out of everything in Tarantino’s acclaimed filmography, it is Jackie Brown, his 1997 crime drama and adaptation of Elmore Leonard‘s Rum Punch, that Anderson loves the most.
“It’s a film so cool and so breezy about middle-aged people that feel the clock ticking,” Anderson said while praising Jackie Brown, which was a surprisingly tender and reflective effort by Tarantino post-Pulp Fiction, so much so that it always reduces Anderson to tears when watching it. Being no stranger to finding sympathy for his morally grey characters, Anderson said that Jackie Brown is a “watermark for how to shoot and film a scene with delicacy and compassion.” Tarantino is a master of postmodern cool, but his sentimentality is nothing to scoff at. His most unsung film combines his love for ’70s crime movies with a touching portrait of how to redeem yourself in your later years.
5
‘Midnight Run’ (1988)
Well-received upon release in 1988, Midnight Run has grown in audience and critical adoration over the years. The seeds of modern action-comedies can be traced to Martin Brest‘s triumph of laugh-out-loud banter and thrilling action set pieces. It’s become the “filmmaker’s movie,” often shouted out by actors and directors alike for its seismic influence on their work. Midnight Run was one of five movies Anderson recommended watching before seeing One Battle After Another.
Anderson sure got to make his version of Midnight Run with One Battle After Another, a crowd-pleasing action film with impeccable craft and rich characterization.
“I’ve been dreaming of trying to make a film as fun as Midnight Run since I first saw it,” Anderson said in an Esquire interview with Leonardo DiCaprio, calling it the “high-water mark of a great film for a broad audience.” Well, Anderson sure got to make his version of Midnight Run with One Battle After Another, a crowd-pleasing action film with impeccable craft and rich characterization. Additionally, Anderson’s debut feature, Hard Eight, sees Philip Baker Hall playing a character named Sydney, the namesake of his character in Midnight Run. You can’t ask for a better time than watching Robert De Niro and Charles Grodin run away from bounty hunters and the mob.
4
‘A Quiet Place’ (2018)
Anderson’s films can get loud—look no further than the climax of There Will Be Blood. However, he can appreciate silent cinema, or at least, movies predicated on characters being hush-hush for safety’s sake. He was more than a fan of A Quiet Place; he also became a good friend of director and star John Krasinski. In fact, Anderson threw an FYC screening to help improve the hit horror-thriller’s chances at Oscar consideration, revealed by Krasinski in a New York Times interview.
The two spoke on the phone and candidly discussed A Quiet Place extensively, with Krasinski feeling honored by being treated as an equal to the venerated director. “What I love most about Paul is that he loves movies,” Krasinski said, who starred in the film alongside his wife, Emily Blunt. Much like most PTA films, A Quiet Place is about families trying to work out their differences and supporting each other in the long run. The supportive Anderson also taught Krasinski to be open to more challenging, “arty” films, insisting that he not dismiss movies as “bad” and advocate for big swings.
3
‘Dogville’ (2003)
As entertaining as Anderson’s films can be, he knows when to crank up the uncomfortable meter. He excels at tapping into the unsettling and neurotic angst of people in romantic relationships, business rivalries, and contested friendships. It’s no surprise that Anderson would be fond of a fellow provocateur in Lars von Trier, who does not make films for the faint of heart, especially his minimalist drama featuring Nicole Kidman as a fugitive, Dogville.
In 2011, Anderson interviewed the acclaimed Danish filmmaker and praised him for his miraculous blend of pitch-black humor and disturbing drama, even if he didn’t fully appreciate it on his first viewing. Upon rewatching it, Anderson said of Dogville, “This is a f–king comedy, this is insane!” von Trier’s film reflected a “sort of bizarre relationship to a movie, when you don’t completely understand it at first,” Anderson said in the interview. As evident by There Will Be Blood and The Master, which are deeply serious films on paper, you often don’t know whether you’re supposed to be laughing or shivering in fear.
2
‘Dunkirk’ (2017)
When Paul Thomas Anderson and Christopher Nolan make movies, they are seismic events. In 2017-18, they were competing against each other on the awards circuit, with Anderson’s perverse romantic drama Phantom Thread and Nolan’s World War II thriller Dunkirk both receiving nods for Best Director and Best Picture by the Academy Awards. However, Anderson only had kind words for Nolan, a close friend and fellow staunch advocate for shooting on film.
Grateful that he gets to see Nolan’s movies “hot off the presses,” PTA said, “I just remember thinking that, as many times as you’ve done this, there’s no greater pleasure than sitting in a movie theater now and saying, ‘How the f–k did he do that?’ That was every single moment,” when recalling his Dunkirk viewing experience. Anderson’s frequent exuberant enthusiasm never felt more appropriate than it did for Dunkirk, an equally spellbinding and harrowing cinematic exercise in war trauma and the plight of the voiceless individual amid hellish combat.
1
‘House of Games’ (1987)
Aspiring filmmakers and creative artists are never the same upon first encountering the stylish, rhythmic, and intoxicating writing of David Mamet, whose mastery of dialogue on the screen and the stage is unmistakable. Following his breakthrough in theater with Glengarry Glen Ross, Mamet’s directorial debut, House of Games, cemented his fascinations with deception and fast-talking schemers. As an impressionable young movie watcher in 1987, House of Games, starring Lindsay Crouse and Joe Mantegna, left a permanent imprint on Paul Thomas Anderson.
“My mission then was to rip off David Mamet, because I foolishly believed Mamet’s dialogue was how people really talked,” Anderson told Creative Screenwriting. Eventually, he grew to appreciate Mamet’s ability to heighten how people talk while retaining a sense of humanism and impeccable story structure that could be studied in film school. Anderson’s dialogue is filled with iconic lines that speak to his personality and the makeup of his characters.
House of Games
- Release Date
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October 14, 1987
- Runtime
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102 Minutes
- Director
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David Mamet
- Writers
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David Mamet, Jonathan Katz
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Lindsay Crouse
Margaret Ford
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