(Credits: Far Out / Nicolas Genin)
Even though he pioneered and popularised an entire subgenre of cinema through his era-defining contributions to the zombie movie, the personal favourites of George A. Romero are distinctly lacking in blood, guts, and gore.
Of course, filmmakers aren’t obligated to be enamoured by the same sort of stories they end up telling, but his selections in a BFI Sight & Sound poll nonetheless indicate that he was heavily indebted to the greats that came before, even if you can’t imagine any of the directors involved having much interest in shuffling hordes of the undead.
That said, he did state that “nobody is going to agree with me on this one” when naming The Brothers Karamazov, acknowledging that while “It’s corny, it’s Hollywood”. On the other hand, deeming Casablanca as “one of the greatest flicks of all time” is an assessment with which most people would agree, with Romero including aeroplanes, hats, and a gin joint among its many “wonderful” aspects.
Wishing he could pick “all of Kubrick”, Romero opted for Dr. Strangelove when singling out the legendary auteur’s work that spoke to him the most, although not without noting how “Lolita runs a close second”. Expanding on why the classic black comedy makes the cut, the godfather of zombie cinema merely opted to play the odds: “I also figure that when I’m in the ovens Sue Lyon won’t be much of a turn-on any more, Shelly Winters will only make my pain worse, and I can get my Peter Sellers fix from Strangelove“.
There has to be at least one Western among the candidates, too, and Romero plumped for High Noon based on the fact it “has Princess Grace and it has The Coop! I can’t go to my damnation without The Coop!” John Ford and John Wayne might be titans of that particular medium, but it’s The Quiet Man that the Dawn of the Dead creator deemed as his number one collaboration between the pair: “Even in my now-corrupted state, each time I fall more in love with it”.
King Solomon’s Mines found him under the impression that listing it among his top ten “will make the entire staff at the entertainment desk of Village Voice snicker,” while Alfred Hitchcock’s North by Northwest saw Romero facing up to the more devilish side of his mortality: “Faced with eternal damnation, I figure I’m going to want some fun. Maybe Cary, in that cornfield, will make my hell seem a bit less hellish.”
Roman Polanski’s Repulsion is the only horror to make the cut for somebody who made that arena their home for so long, even if he stated how “many wouldn’t place Repulsion in this category.” Calling it “elevated” horror long before it became the genre’s latest buzzword, his endorsement came from a place of experience, as he opines that if “you want scary – take it from a scary guy – go watch Repulsion“.
Again referencing the fiery bowels of hell, Romero would take Orson Welles’ Touch of Evil over Citizen Kane every time: “Faced with hell, who needs Citizen Kane? I’d take Touch of Evil any day of the eternity. Not the ‘restored’ version. Bring on Mancini!”
Saving the best until last, Romero anointed The Tales of Hoffman as his “favourite film of all time; the movie that made me want to make movies,” even if a comedically-tinged opera didn’tz have anything in common with his own output when he began to live that dream.
George A. Romero’s 10 favourite movies:
- The Brothers Karamazov (1958, Richard Brooks)
- Casablanca (1942, Michael Curtiz)
- Dr. Strangelove (1964, Stanley Kubrick)
- High Noon (1952, Fred Zinnemann)
- King Solomon’s Mines (1950, Compton Bennett)
- North by Northwest (1959, Alfred Hitchcock)
- The Quiet Man (1952, John Ford)
- Repulsion (1965, Roman Polanski)
- Touch of Evil (1958, Orson Welles)
- The Tales of Hoffmann (1951, Michael Powell/Emeric Pressburger)
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