In light of the recent release of filmmaker/actor John Krasinski’s movie “The Quiet Place”, we managed to track down 5 of John’s favourite movies and why he loves them.
If you’re anxious to see more of John, filming of his new Amazon TV Series Jack Ryan is scheduled to premiere this August.
Kramer Vs. Kramer (1979)
Ted Kramer’s wife leaves her husband, allowing for a lost bond to be rediscovered between Ted and his son, Billy. But a heated custody battle ensues over the divorced couple’s son, deepening the wounds left by the separation.
Director: Robert Benton
Writers: Avery Corman (from the novel by), Robert Benton (written for the screen by)
Stars: Dustin Hoffman, Meryl Streep, Jane Alexander
John on why he loves this movie:
I was one of those kids who had never seen an indie film before I got to college.
If it wasn’t a big, huge tentpole movie, or if it wasn’t on the radio, I hadn’t
experienced it. Then in college, I started getting into independent movies, which
led me to classic movies, which led me to all this different stuff. The 1970s
movies, for me, were only discovered, unfortunately, as little as six or seven
years ago.
So Kramer vs. Kramer. Some of the greatest writing I’ve ever seen, some
of the gutsiest performances. It’s just so quintessential of what the 1970s were
for me. There’s just this unfiltered, raw energy, and despite how beautiful that
movie is — and obviously, it’s a well-done movie — the fact [is] that they’re
not making movies like that anymore. [Kramer vs. Kramer is about] a horrible
relationship. It’s a really tough situation for the father to be in, and yet
[for] everyone who went and saw the movie, there was this weird understanding or
commiseration with anger. I think people might have been angrier, or willing to
see angry movies.
Ordinary People (1980)
The accidental death of the older son of an affluent family deeply strains the relationships among the bitter mother, the good-natured father, and the guilt-ridden younger son.
Director: Robert Redford
Writers: Judith Guest (novel), Alvin Sargent (screenplay)
Stars: Donald Sutherland, Mary Tyler Moore, Judd Hirsch
John on why he loves this movie:
Timothy Hutton turns in one of the best male performances I’ve ever seen. And that
family dynamic was so subtle in what could have been a really angsty movie.
Everything from the way it was shot to the way it was acted. John Bailey was
actually the DP on my movie that I directed (Brief Interviews with Hideous
Men) and he was saying that when they shot the psychiatrist scenes he
started out with the camera right over their shoulders, and then he moved the
camera back slowly and changed the lighting, because he said that if you’d been
going to therapy for months, then the lighting would be different every time of
the same day. And I thought, “That’s insane that someone thought of that.” And
then he moved the camera back 100 feet so that they were compressed on each
other so it was a much more intimate scene. I was like, “Wait, wait, wait, this
is insane!”
The Verdict (1982)
A lawyer sees the chance to salvage his career and self-respect by taking a medical malpractice case to trial rather than settling.
Director: Sidney Lumet
Writers: Barry Reed (based upon the novel by), David Mamet (screenplay)
Stars: Paul Newman, Charlotte Rampling, Jack Warden
John on why he loves this movie:
I think it’s probably one of the most inspirational movies for me because of
Paul Newman‘s performance. I think that is, to me, some of the best, [most]
controlled acting in a movie. I think that he has this incredible likability.
Even though he’s a drunk, washed-up lawyer, you’re still rooting for him from
the very beginning.
I’m that sort of weird guy who will watch a movie almost every day if I can.
It’s harder when you’re working on the show. I buy a lot of movies on used DVD
so I can have certain scenes. I was really looking for things to inspire me.
When I got out of college I was waiting tables professionally [and] couldn’t
afford to go the theater [every] night. I think those great movies can actually
make you feel a certain way. Not only emotionally, but if you’re in
this business, it’s one of those things where you see someone do something that
good and it buys you a year of energy. That’s what I was really looking for. It
sounds so cliché,[but I wanted] to bask in the glow some of these amazing
performances, like [those of] Dustin Hoffman and Marlon Brando. But it was also
fun. To get back to what I was saying before, that 1970s raw energy, it’s almost
frustrating now that people aren’t making more movies like that because people
won’t go see them.
On the Waterfront (1954)
An ex-prize fighter turned longshoreman struggles to stand up to his corrupt union bosses.
Director: Elia Kazan
Writers: Budd Schulberg (screenplay), Budd Schulberg (based upon an original story by)
Stars: Marlon Brando, Karl Malden, Lee J. Cobb
John on why he loves the movie:
That movie for me was my Marlon Brando experience before The Godfather,
before Streetcar. It’s weird to be living in a modern world where
acting has changed. Movies have changed so much, and yet you can still see what
defined [Brando] and his performance. If I told you that so-and-so was the first
person to do something 30 years ago, you’d be like, “Well, I don’t care, because
people do it now all the time.” There’s still nobody doing what he does in that
movie. And so that really changed everything for me. Also, there was something
really exciting and sad about the whole political aspect of that movie. The
whole blacklisting thing.
The Godfather (1972)
The aging patriarch of an organized crime dynasty transfers control of his clandestine empire to his reluctant son.
Director: Francis Ford Coppola
Writers: Mario Puzo (screenplay by), Francis Ford Coppola (screenplay by)
Stars: Marlon Brando, Al Pacino, James Caan
John on why he loves this movie:
Only because it’s everybody’s number one choice. I kinda feel, in this day and age —
not to be sounding bad in any way — we live in a culture where something’s
good, and some people will say it’s awesome, and they may not have even seen it
or they didn’t like it. But they want to agree with the cultural zeitgeist. I
feel like that movie has stood up to time [and] criticism, and yet everybody can
find the exact same reasons as to why it’s awesome. I mean, it’s so
well-written. It’s a slow movie that you’re still riveted by. It’s [got]
character development unlike anything I’ve ever seen before. And of course, the
performances are wild.