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Ever wonder what makes the mind of Svengali-like auteur J.J. Abrams tick? After a career spent in writing, directing and producing some of our most beloved pop culture cornerstones – Star Wars: The Force Awakens, Felicity, Lost, Alias, Fringe, Star Trek, Mission Impossible III among others – how does he like to unwind? What movies inform him and his considerable talents? If these sorts of thoughts keep you awake at night then you’ve landed at the exact spot you’re meant to be, Dear and Constant Reader. Because, courtesy of our fellow cinephiles over at the ever-envelope pushin’ Hollywood Reporter, we now have the answer to the above J.J. Abrams mystery…
As an onscreen participant in Turner Classic Movies (or TCM if you’re acronym-inclined) monthly “TCM Picks” (where a noted figure in the world of entertainment waxes rhapsodic about some of their most cherished and beloved movies from other directors, writers and actors), industry titan J.J. Abrams revealed one of the most important movies in his life: Director Arthur Penn’s 1967 masterpiece Bonnie and Clyde. Check out J.J.’s TCM video drop right here to get the straight dope from one of Hollywood’s best and brightest.
Bonnie and Clyde told the real life story of famed Prohibition-era outlaws Clyde Barrow (an on-point Warren Beatty) and his star-crossed lover Bonnie Parker (a sizzling Faye Dunaway) and ends in the only way it possibly could: A hail of bullets from opposing law enforcement.
In his video recommendation for TCM, Abrams says of the dynamic between Beatty’s Clyde to Dunaway’s Bonnie that “They could not be more different,” adding that the film “portrayed violence in a way that had not typically been seen in American cinema and really ushered in a new age of bold graphic storytelling in a way that you really hadn’t seen before.”
Abrams also touts 1938’s You Can’t Take It With You, mockumentary This Is Spinal Tap and another Beatty film Shampoo as other films which he immensely loves and enjoys watching ad infinitum.
It’s always neat to get a glimpse at the movies which gave other filmmakers their own dreams and hopes; If you haven’t already, check out Bonnie and Clyde and other amazing films available to TCM subscribers!
