Poll: The Film That Changed My Life.

Results of 1,004 votes:

1. 1.
   

   Kimberly Peirce

    

   The Godfather (1972) "I'm really interested in the psychological and the authentic portrayal of violence—particularly violence that comes out of emotions. Before The Godfather, I don't know that …
2. 2.
   

   Danny Boyle

    

   Apocalypse Now (1979) "It had eviscerated my brain, completely. I was an impressionable twenty-one-year-old guy from the sticks. My brain had not been fed and watered with great culture, you know…
3. 3.
   

   John Dahl

    

   A Clockwork Orange (1971) "When I saw this it was completely different—I don't even know what else came out that year, but there was nothing else like it. I was a very avant-garde movie at the ti…
4. 4.
   

   Edgar Wright

    

   An American Werewolf in London (1981) "Every cliche setup from horror films is subverted with the mundanity of the situation. It keeps putting these extraordinary scenes and really vivid, graphic…
5. 5.
   

   John Waters

    

   The Wizard of Oz (1939) "And when they throw the water on the witch, she says, 'Who could ever have thought a good little girl like you could destroy all my beautiful wickedness?' That line inspi…
6. 6.
   

   Brian Herzlinger

    

   E.T. (1982) "I think it gave us permission to believe, and I'll tell you right now, one of my biggest things as a person, as a filmmaker, is being able to believe. If I didn't have that and didn'…
7. 7.
   

   Peter Bogdanovich

    

   Citizen Kane (1941) "It's probably the most pessimistic, downbeat film about America ever made, because no one wins anything, everything's sad, there's no happy ending. On any level." [laugh…
8. 8.
   

   Richard Linklater

    

   Raging Bull (1980) "Something was simmering in me but Raging Bull brought it to a boil. I just started looking at movies differently."
9. 9.
   

   Richard Kelly

    

   Brazil (1985) "There are two kinds of satire. There's Juvenalian satire and there's Horatian satire. One of them says the world is a s----y place but in the end we'll all be taken care of, and th…
10. 10.
    

    Michael Polish

     

    Once Upon a Time in America (1984) "Whether a filmmaker or not, I can be a fan because it has so many symbols and situations that reflect life itself, growing up. Even growing up in the suburbs, …
11. 11.
    

    Atom Egoyan

     

    Persona (1966) "It gave me an incredible respect for the medium and its possibilities. To me, Persona marries a pure form and a very profound vision with absolute conviction. It's very inspiring.…
12. 12.
    

    Rian Johnson

     

    Annie Hall (1977) "His perspective on the relationship changed, but that might be another one of the reasons why the film lands so hard for me. I think we all feel like we've learned our lesson a…
13. 13.
    

    Jay Duplass

     

    Raising Arizona (1987) "It's an inspired piece of art. I don’t know how to quantify that or how to even talk about it, but I know that when they made this piece of art there was so much love, all…
14. 14.
    

    John Woo

     

    Rebel Without a Cause (1955) and Mean Streets (1973) On Rebel Without a Cause: "I love James Dean. After I saw this movie, I began to dress like him. I combed my hair like him, but I couldn't aff…
15. 15.
    

    Gurinder Chadha

     

    Purab Aur Pachhim (1970) and It's a Wonderful Life (1946) On Purab aur Pachhim: "Yes, on the face of it, it's very brash and very silly. There are sequences on the River Thames when they're all d…
16. 16.
    

    Pete Docter

     

    Paper Moon (1973) "I like the more character-driven stuff, and Paper Moon brought that home to me in a way that I had not seen in live action, really focusing on the whole story just about charac…
17. 17.
    

    Henry Jaglom

     

    8½ (1963) "I wear a hat. And people always comment on the fact: Why do you wear a hat? I know that somewhere deep inside, all I can tell you is it has something to do with (Marcello) Mastroianni …
18. 18.
    

    John Landis

     

    The 7th Voyage of Sinbad (1958) "Everything about a movie, and I mean this sincerely, is who you are and where you are when you saw it. Because it's hard just to say, 'This movie is a piece of s-…
19. 19.
    

    Bill Condon

     

    Bonnie and Clyde (1967) "In Bonnie and Clyde, there's a sense that each step that each character takes, they realize that they’ve just kind of signed their own death sentence. They've become thes…
20. 20.
    

    Kevin Smith

     

    Slacker (1990) "I wasn't prepared for it at all. But it was amazing, 'cause it was such an insane, wonderful, and fresh experience but at the same time the film was very mundane. It’s not like Ri…
21. 21.
    

    Michel Gondry

     

    Stowaway in the Sky (1960) "When you're young, you’re very receptive to all the stuff you see, the emotions. And then you try all the time to match up with those sensations. So in this sense it m…
22. 22.
    

    Frank Oz

     

    Touch of Evil (1958) "All I remember is every time I look at it I am never ever bored with this thing. I always find new things that Welles did. I don’t remember the first time that I saw it. Isn…
23. 23.
    

    George A. Romero

     

    The Tales of Hoffmann (1951) "It just took me into another world in terms of its innovative cinematic technique. It really got me going."
24. 24.
    

    Christopher Miller

     

    Sleeper (1973) "For me, Sleeper was a great balance between physical comedy—slapstick humor—and clever savvy social satire. At that point I'd never really seen a film that has really balanced bo…
25. 25.
    

    Arthur Hiller

     

    Rome, Open City (1945) "It was all that neorealism; it just caught me at the right time. I can't even remember, but I know there were a few films at that time, neorealist films, that they were do…
26. 26.
    

    Neil LaBute

     

    The Soft Skin (1964) "I've seen it at different times of my life and in different stages, and I think it is fresh each time. But I haven’t lost my initial respect for it. And it's true that I pro…
27. 27.
    

    Guy Maddin

     

    L'Age d'Or (1930) "Essay film or dream? After 82 years, this singular hybrid is still the most assuredly jagged, trope-packed, gleeful, swaggering and mischievous filmic salvo of all-time. We'll …
28. 28.
    

    Austin Chick

     

    Kings of the Road (1976) "I wanted to be doing something that was a little bit more, I don't know, populist? More accessible. I felt like a narrative interested me, and it wasn't until I saw King…
29. 29.
    

    Alex Gibney

     

    The Exterminating Angel (1962) "There's something wonderfully comical and mysterious about it. In the meantime, everybody's trying to sort of keep their poise in a completely ridiculous situation…
30. 30.
    

    Steve James

     

    Harlan County U.S.A. (1976) "I just remember being really struck by this gritty quality that it had—the raw honesty of it."