John Waters' Favorite Movies and Television Shows
A list of favorite movies that he mentions or enjoys in interviews or documentaries.
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- DirectorKing VidorStarsMarion DaviesWilliam HainesDell HendersonA young lady from Georgia goes to Hollywood in the hopes of becoming an actress.
- DirectorLuis BuñuelStarsPierre BatcheffSimone MareuilLuis BuñuelLuis Buñuel and Salvador Dalí present 16 minutes of bizarre, surreal imagery.
- DirectorTod BrowningStarsWallace FordLeila HyamsOlga BaclanovaA circus' beautiful trapeze artist agrees to marry the leader of side-show performers, but his deformed friends discover she is only marrying him for his inheritance.
- DirectorLloyd BaconStarsWarner BaxterBebe DanielsGeorge BrentWhen the leading lady of a Broadway musical breaks her ankle, she is replaced by a young unknown actress, who becomes the star of the show.
- DirectorMervyn LeRoyStarsWarren WilliamJoan BlondellAline MacMahonA wealthy composer rescues unemployed Broadway performers with a new play, but insists on remaining anonymous.
- DirectorLloyd BaconStarsJames CagneyJoan BlondellRuby KeelerChester Kent struggles against time, romance, and a rival's spy to produce spectacular live "prologues" for movie houses.
- DirectorRay EnrightBusby BerkeleyStarsJoan BlondellDick PowellRuby KeelerA multimillionaire decides to boycott "filthy" forms of entertainment such as Broadway shows.
- DirectorMarc ConnellyWilliam KeighleyStarsRex IngramOscar PolkEddie 'Rochester' AndersonGod, heaven, and several Old Testament stories, including the Creation and Noah's Ark, are described supposedly using the perspective of rural, black Americans.
- DirectorKing VidorStarsBarbara StanwyckJohn BolesAnne ShirleyA working-class woman is willing to do whatever it takes to give her daughter a socially promising future.
- DirectorVictor FlemingKing VidorStarsJudy GarlandFrank MorganRay BolgerYoung Dorothy Gale and her dog Toto are swept away by a tornado from their Kansas farm to the magical Land of Oz, and embark on a quest with three new friends to see the Wizard, who can return her to her home and fulfill the others' wishes.
- DirectorWilliam BeaudineStarsJune CarlsonHardie AlbrightLois AustinWhen a high-school girl gets pregnant and her boyfriend dies, the sex-ed teacher shows her a film about childbirth and the dangers of venereal disease.
- DirectorJean CocteauRené ClémentStarsJean MaraisJosette DayMila ParélyA beautiful young woman takes her father's place as the prisoner of a mysterious beast, who wishes to marry her.
- DirectorKenneth AngerStarsKenneth AngerGordon GrayBill SeltzerA dissatisfied dreamer awakes, goes out in the night seeking a 'light' and is drawn through the needle's eye. A dream of a dream, he returns to bed less empty than before.
- DirectorAlfred HitchcockStarsJames StewartJohn DallFarley GrangerTwo men try to convince themselves they've committed the perfect murder by hosting a dinner party after strangling a former classmate to death.
- DirectorMichael PowellEmeric PressburgerStarsAnton WalbrookMarius GoringMoira ShearerA young ballet dancer is torn between the man she loves and her pursuit to become a prima ballerina.
- DirectorJean CocteauStarsJean MaraisJosette DayYvonne de BrayMichel is in love with Madeleine, so he decides to tell his parents of his intention to marry her. He thinks his announcement is innocent enough; his engagement, however, threatens to reveal dark secrets lurking within his family's home.
- DirectorKing VidorStarsBette DavisJoseph CottenDavid BrianResentful of her small-town life, a married woman schemes to run off with a rich businessman.
- DirectorJean GenetStarsBravoJean GenetJavaTwo prisoners in complete isolation, separated by the thick brick walls, and desperately in need of human contact, devise a most unusual kind of communication.
- DirectorJoseph H. LewisStarsJohn DallPeggy CumminsBerry KroegerTwo disturbed young people release their fascination with guns through a crime spree.
- DirectorClyde GeronimiWilfred JacksonHamilton LuskeStarsIlene WoodsJames MacDonaldEleanor AudleyWhen Cinderella's cruel stepmother prevents her from attending the Royal Ball, she gets some unexpected help from the lovable mice Gus and Jaq and from her Fairy Godmother.
- DirectorElia KazanStarsVivien LeighMarlon BrandoKim HunterDisturbed Blanche DuBois moves in with her sister in New Orleans and is tormented by her brutish brother-in-law while her reality crumbles around her.
- StarsLucille BallDesi ArnazVivian VanceThe wife of a band leader constantly tries to become a star - in spite of her having no talent, and gets herself (along with her best friend) into the funniest predicaments.
- DirectorAndré De TothStarsVincent PriceFrank LovejoyPhyllis KirkAn associate burns down a wax museum with the owner inside, but he survives only to become vengeful and murderous.
- DirectorCharles WaltersStarsLeslie CaronMel FerrerJean-Pierre AumontAn orphaned young woman becomes part of a puppet act and forms a relationship with the anti-social puppeteer.
- DirectorDouglas SirkStarsJane WymanRock HudsonAgnes MooreheadA rich playboy whose recklessness inadvertently causes the death of a prominent doctor tries to make amends to his widow, and falls for her in the process.
- DirectorClark JonesStarsMary MartinCyril RitchardKathleen NolanThis 1955 musical production of the classic children's tale made history as the first Broadway musical adapted to TV with the entire cast and crew intact. Join Peter and his friends in their adventures in Neverland, against the evil pirate Captain Hook.
- DirectorDouglas SirkStarsJane WymanRock HudsonAgnes MooreheadAn upper-class widow falls in love with a much younger, down-to-earth nurseryman, much to the disapproval of her children and criticism of her country club peers.
- CreatorJackie GleasonStarsJackie GleasonArt CarneyAudrey MeadowsA bus driver and his sewer worker friend struggle to strike it rich while their wives look on with weary patience.
- DirectorJoshua LoganStarsWilliam HoldenKim NovakBetty FieldEmotions are ignited among the complacent townsfolk when a handsome drifter arrives in a small Kansas community on the morning of the Labor Day picnic.
- DirectorElia KazanStarsKarl MaldenCarroll BakerEli WallachAn immature, naive teenage bride holds her anxious husband at bay while flirting with an amorous Sicilian farmer.
- DirectorMervyn LeRoyStarsNancy KellyPatty McCormackGage ClarkeRhoda Penmark seems like your average, sweet eight-year-old girl. After her rival at school dies in mysterious circumstances at the school picnic, her mother starts to suspect that Rhoda was responsible.
- DirectorFrank TashlinStarsTom EwellJayne MansfieldEdmond O'BrienA gangster hires a down-and-out press agent to make his airheaded girlfriend a singing star.
- DirectorDouglas SirkStarsRock HudsonLauren BacallRobert StackAlcoholic playboy Kyle Hadley marries the woman secretly loved by his poor but hard-working best friend, who in turn is pursued by Kyle's nymphomaniac sister.
- DirectorMichael AndersonJohn FarrowStarsDavid NivenCantinflasFinlay CurrieA Victorian Englishman bets that with the new steamships and railways he can circumnavigate the globe in eighty days.
- CreatorJoe ConnellyBob MosherDick ConwayStarsJerry MathersHugh BeaumontBarbara BillingsleyThe misadventures of a suburban boy, family and friends.
- DirectorRobert StevensonStarsDorothy McGuireFess ParkerTommy KirkA teenage boy grows to love a stray yellow dog while helping his mother and younger brother run their Texas homestead while their father is away on a cattle drive. First thought to be good-for-nothing mutt, Old Yeller is soon beloved by all.
- DirectorRoger CormanStarsJune KenneyFay SpainJohn BrinkleyA delinquent girls' gang pursues a nice ingenue linked romantically to the male leader of a rival gang, and apparently to the murder of one of their members.
- DirectorMark RobsonStarsLana TurnerLee PhilipsLloyd NolanA peaceful New England town hides secrets and scandals.
- DirectorIngmar BergmanStarsEva DahlbeckIngrid ThulinBibi AnderssonThree women in a maternity ward reveal their lives and intimate thoughts to each other, where they face the choice of keeping their babies or offering them for adoption.
- DirectorRichard BrooksStarsElizabeth TaylorPaul NewmanBurl IvesBrick is an alcoholic ex-football player who drinks his days away and resists the affections of his wife. A reunion with his terminal father jogs a host of memories and revelations for both father and son.
- DirectorRobert WiseStarsSusan HaywardSimon OaklandVirginia VincentA prostitute, sentenced to death for murder, pleads her innocence.
- DirectorArmando BoStarsIsabel SarliArmando BoAlba MúgicaThe love story between a man and a woman, children of rival fishermen.
- DirectorIrvin S. Yeaworth Jr.Russell S. Doughten Jr.StarsSteve McQueenAneta CorsautEarl RoweAn alien lifeform consumes everything in its path as it grows and grows.
- DirectorDouglas SirkStarsLana TurnerJohn GavinSandra DeeAn aspiring white actress takes in an African American widow whose mixed-race daughter is desperate to be seen as white.
- DirectorJack ClaytonStarsLaurence HarveySimone SignoretHeather SearsAn ambitious young accountant plots to wed a wealthy factory owner's daughter despite falling in love with a married older woman.
- DirectorJoseph L. MankiewiczStarsElizabeth TaylorKatharine HepburnMontgomery CliftA surgeon is assigned the case of a young woman whose aunt wants her lobotomized to cover up a family secret.
- DirectorWilliam CastleStarsVincent PriceJudith EvelynDarryl HickmanAn obsessed pathologist discovers and captures a parasitic creature that grows when fear grips its host.
- DirectorWilliam CastleStarsCharles HerbertJo MorrowMartin MilnerA family inherits what proves to be a haunted house, but a special pair of goggles allows them to see their ghostly tormentors.
- DirectorFederico FelliniStarsMarcello MastroianniAnita EkbergAnouk AiméeA series of stories following a week in the life of a philandering tabloid journalist living in Rome.
- DirectorEdmond T. GrévilleStarsDavid FarrarNoëlle AdamChristopher LeeAn impetuous teenage girl becomes involved with Soho's beatnik and striptease scenes to spite her staid architect father and her French ex-stripper stepmother.
- DirectorMichael GordonStarsLana TurnerAnthony QuinnRichard BasehartAfter a married woman and her lover murder her cruel husband, they find themselves targeted by someone who is aware of their crime.
- DirectorRoger CormanStarsJonathan HazeJackie JosephMel WellesA clumsy young man working at an impoverished flower shop discovers that the strange plant he has been nurturing has an insatiable appetite for blood, forcing him to kill to feed it.
- DirectorAlexander SingerStarsLola AlbrightScott MarloweJoe De SantisAn older woman seduces an impressionable working-class boy who falls deeply in love with her. Disillusionment sets in when the boy discovers that she is a stripper.
- DirectorWilliam CastleStarsGlenn CorbettPatricia BreslinEugenie LeontovichThe brutal stabbing murder of a justice-of-the-peace sparks an investigation of dark family secrets in a sleepy small town in Southern California.
- DirectorNicholas RayStarsJeffrey HunterSiobhan McKennaHurd HatfieldThe temporary physical life of the Biblical Savior, Jesus Christ.
- DirectorJerzy KawalerowiczStarsLucyna WinnickaMieczyslaw VoitAnna CiepielewskaA priest is sent to a small parish in the Polish countryside which is believed to be under demonic possession and there he finds his own temptations awaiting.
- DirectorDelmer DavesStarsTroy DonahueDorothy McGuireConnie StevensPremarital sex, secrets, and society. At 17, shy Susan Slade is on her way to California after a 10-year stay at a remote Chilean mine where her father was chief engineer. Onboard ship, she's romanced by Conn White, a handsome mountain climber on his way to Alaska. Home in Monterey, Susan longs to hear from Conn. Two locals also take a shine to her: Hoyt Brecker, a horse wrangler who's the son of a criminal; and Wells Corbett, a sweet guy who lives in his high-society parents' shadow. Jump ahead two years: Susan has a desperate secret that her socially-conscious mother won't let her share. Can Susan find happiness--and what is it really that turns a girl into a woman?
- DirectorLuis BuñuelStarsSilvia PinalFrancisco RabalFernando ReyViridiana, a young nun about to take her final vows, pays a visit to her widowed uncle at the request of her Mother Superior.
- DirectorJoseph LoseyStarsJeanne MoreauStanley BakerVirna LisiA raw Welsh novelist in Venice is humiliated by a money-loving Frenchwoman who erotically ensnares him.
- DirectorFrank PerryStarsKeir DulleaJanet MargolinHoward Da SilvaTeenager David Clemens develops a hysterical fear that he will die if he comes into physical contact with another person. Perturbed, David's overbearing mother places him in a home for mentally disturbed young people.
- DirectorRoger CormanStarsWilliam ShatnerFrank MaxwellBeverly LunsfordA charismatic "social reformer" rallies the white populace of a Southern town to oppose school integration, but he soon finds himself in a situation that he cannot control.
- DirectorRobert AldrichStarsBette DavisJoan CrawfordVictor BuonoA former child star torments her paraplegic sister in their decaying Hollywood mansion.
- DirectorRuss MeyerStarsSammy GilbertAnthony-James RyanJackie MoranAn old geezer recalls some of the antics of the men and women of his western town, more wild and woolly than Tombstone or Dodge City. In this town no one is a good shot, the women are hungry for new meat, and practical jokers abound. A stranger strolls into town, proving resistant to the mayhem, and after donning some cowboy duds begins cleaning up that town.
- DirectorFederico FelliniStarsMarcello MastroianniAnouk AiméeClaudia CardinaleA harried movie director retreats into his memories and fantasies.
- DirectorHerschell Gordon LewisStarsWilliam KerwinMal ArnoldConnie MasonAn Egyptian caterer kills various women in suburban Miami to use their body parts to revive a dormant Egyptian goddess while an inept police detective tries to track him down.
- DirectorJean-Luc GodardStarsBrigitte BardotJack PalanceMichel PiccoliA French writer's marriage deteriorates while working on Fritz Lang's version of "The Odyssey", as his wife accuses him of using her to court favor with the film's brash American producer.
- DirectorSamuel FullerStarsPeter BreckConstance TowersGene EvansBent on winning a Pulitzer Prize, a journalist commits himself to a mental institution to solve a strange and unclear murder.
- DirectorRoger CormanStarsVincent PricePeter LorreBoris KarloffA magician, who has been turned into a raven, turns to a former sorcerer for help.
- DirectorVilgot SjömanStarsLars LindLeif NymarkStig TörnblomSix youth criminals are chosen to participate in a social experiment, named "Guesthouse Objectivity" (Pensionatet Sakligheten), where they are assigned to live together in an apartment while being supervised by two forgiving social workers.
- DirectorJacques DemyStarsCatherine DeneuveNino CastelnuovoAnne VernonA young woman separated from her lover by war faces a life-altering decision.
- DirectorDouglas HeyesStarsAnn-MargretJohn ForsythePeter BrownA rising political star faces scandal and blackmail when the young woman he tries to help turns out to be a juvenile delinquent.
- DirectorRuss MeyerStarsLorna MaitlandMark BradleyJames RuckerLorna has been married to Jim for a year, but still hasn't been satisfied sexually. While Jim is working at the salt mine, she is raped by an escaped convict, but falls in lust with him. Meanwhile Jim's buddies are giving him a hard time about Lorna's supposed infidelity, not realizing how close to the mark they really are. Trouble starts when Jim gets home early from work because it's their anniversary.
- DirectorMai ZetterlingStarsHarriet AnderssonGunnel LindblomGio PetréThree expectant mothers think back over their sex lives.
- DirectorJoseph P. MawraStarsAudrey CampbellJudy YoungW.B. ParkerAfter having been run out of New York City's Chinatown, brothel owner Madame Olga moves her ring of prostitutes and criminals to a deserted ore mine and starts over.
- DirectorKenneth AngerStarsErnie AlloBruce ByronFrank CarifiA gang of Nazi bikers prepares for a race as sexual, sadistic, and occult images are cut together.
- DirectorWilliam CastleStarsJoan CrawfordDiane BakerLeif EricksonAfter a twenty-year stay at an asylum for a double murder, a mother returns to her estranged daughter where suspicions arise about her behavior.
- DirectorPier Paolo PasoliniStarsEnrique IrazoquiMargherita CarusoSusanna PasoliniThe life of Jesus Christ according to the Gospel of Matthew. Pasolini shows Christ as a Marxist avant-la-lettre and therefore uses half of the text of Matthew.
- DirectorSamuel FullerStarsConstance TowersAnthony EisleyMichael DanteA former prostitute relocates to a buttoned-down suburb, determined to fit in with mainstream society. But perverse secrets simmer beneath the wholesome surface.
- DirectorHerschell Gordon LewisStarsConnie MasonWilliam KerwinJeffrey AllenSix people are lured into a small Deep South town for a Centennial celebration where the residents proceed to kill them one by one as revenge for the town's destruction during the Civil War.
- DirectorRuss MeyerStarsTura SatanaHajiLori WilliamsThree go-go dancers holding a young girl hostage come across a crippled old man living with his two sons in the desert. After learning he's hiding a sum of cash around, the women start scheming on him.
- DirectorMac AhlbergStarsEssy PerssonPreben MahrtJørgen ReenbergThe young nurse Siv is frustrated by the strict restraints of her religious parents and her boring fiancé, Sven. At the hospital where she works a patient Heinz, a married antiques dealer flirts with her. Although she is warned that he is a philandering playboy, she allows him to seduce her and they have an affair. He tells her that he loves her and proposes to leave his wife for her. Having only just discovered a new world of sexual liberty, she rejects his proposal. She then breaks off her engagement with Sven, moves away from her parents and finds a nursing position in another city. She meets Lars, a sailor, and they begins a relationship. When he proposes marriage, she breaks up with him. She begins dating Doctor Dam at the hospital where she works. He also falls in love with her, so she stops seeing him and decides that no single man will ever completely fulfill her own desires. She has a sexual encounter with a stranger, Eric who she realizes perfectly matches her own promiscuity.
- DirectorWilliam CastleStarsJoan CrawfordJohn IrelandLeif EricksonTeenagers Libby and Kit innocently spend an evening making random prank calls that lead to murderous consequences.
- DirectorRuss MeyerStarsHajiAlex RoccoSteve OliverThree bad boy motorcyclists get kicks raping women and generally being a nuisance. When they rape a veterinarian's wife, he takes exception and pursues them, teaming up with a Cajun woman whose husband they killed. The leader of the gang, a Vietnam Vet, begins showing signs of being a few slices short of a loaf.
- DirectorRuss MeyerStarsHal HopperAntoinette CristianiJohn FurlongIt's 1933, in the midst of the Depression and Prohibition. Calif, a stranger with a past walks into Spooner, Missouri on his way from Michigan to California. He hires on with Lute Wade to earn some travelling money, but gets entangled in a bad family situation: Lute's daughter is married to Sidney, a good-for-nothing drunk that frequents the rural equivalent of a whorehouse and beats his wife and is just waiting for Lute to kick the bucket to get his money. When Sidney and a local wacko preacher begin orchestrating a smear campaign against Calif, he finds it difficult to conceal his past and his growing affection for Sidney's wife.
- DirectorAndy WarholChuck WeinStarsPaul AmericaJoseph CampbellGenevieve Charbin CerfFilmed on Fire Island, this two reel, 70 minute Warhol film covers the activities of the "Dial A Hustler" service, as an older man seeks a young hustler for a companion.
- DirectorRoman PolanskiStarsCatherine DeneuveIan HendryJohn FraserA sex-repulsed woman who disapproves of her sister's boyfriend sinks into depression and has horrific visions of rape and violence.
- DirectorMike KucharStarsBob CowanGeorge KucharDonna KernessThe survivors of a nuclear war are taken care of by robots called "fleshapoids." One day one of the fleshapoids runs wild, kills its "mistress," and hides in the home of a human female, for whom it begins to develop feelings.
- DirectorTony RichardsonStarsRobert MorseJonathan WintersAnjanette ComerSatire on the funeral business, in which a young British poet goes to work at a Hollywood cemetery.
- DirectorPaul MorrisseyAndy WarholStarsBrigid BerlinRandy BorscheidtChristian PäffgenLacking a formal narrative, Warhol's art house classic follows various residents of the Chelsea Hotel in 1966 New York City, presented in a split screen with a single audio track in conjunction with one side of screen.
- DirectorRoman PolanskiStarsDonald PleasenceFrançoise DorléacLionel StanderIn search of help, two wounded gangsters on the run find refuge in the secluded castle of a feeble man and his wife; however, under the point of a gun, nothing is what it seems.
- DirectorAndy WarholStarsGerard MalangaMario MontezJack SmithEgotistical faded star Hedy Lamarr visits a plastic surgeon to be transformed into the "14-year-old girl" she believes herself to be. She is then caught shoplifting by Mary Woronov and is put on trial, with Tavel as the judge and her five ex-husbands the jury. Hedy remains self-centered and detached throughout, posing and primping and bursting out renditions of "I Feel Pretty" and "Young at Heart."
- DirectorGeorge KucharStarsDonna KernessGeorge KucharStella KucharA independent director is faced with artistic difficulty when he asks his actresses to show nudity.
- DirectorTony RichardsonStarsJeanne MoreauEttore ManniUmberto OrsiniResidents of a small French town are quick to accuse Manou of arson because he seduced most of the town's women. No one suspects the real culprit, a woman committing random crimes, all in an attempt to draw Manou's attention to herself.
- DirectorMai ZetterlingStarsIngrid ThulinKeve HjelmLena BrundinThe story about a man who's trying to get rid of his memories from his past. He grew up in an upper-class family in a castle and now revisits the castle with his fiancee.
- DirectorSydney PollackStarsNatalie WoodRobert RedfordCharles BronsonThe dramatic love story of small-town Mississippi girl Alva Starr and railroad official Owen Legate, set during the Great Depression.
- DirectorRobert BressonStarsAnne WiazemskyWalter GreenFrançois LafargeThe story of a mistreated donkey and the people around him. A study on saintliness and a sister piece to Bresson's Mouchette.
- DirectorEdward MannStarsGeorge MontgomeryDanny SteinmannTom BakerA juvenile is mad at his mom so he leaves his home in San Francisco to join a charismatic LSD guru's cult in Spain and turns on, tunes in, and drops out. He also gets involved in murder.
- DirectorHerschell Gordon LewisStarsElizabeth DavisGretchen WellsChris MartellA demented elderly woman has her mentally-retarded son kill and scalp various young women to use their hair for her wig shop while a persistent coed tries to link various killings on a local Florida college campus to them.
- DirectorAndy WarholStarsBrigid BerlinJulian BurroughTaylor MeadAt a New York City restaurant, the patrons are men, nude but for a G-string, waited on by one woman, also clad in a G-string (played by Viva) and a G-bestringed (bestrung?) waiter. Some of the "nude" patrons leave the establishment, their places taken by new customers, also nearly in the buff. There are numerous in-camera jump cuts (known as 'strobe cuts') and the camera weaves around a bit. The waiter and waitress move from table to table, talking to the customers. Taylor Mead sits smirking at the fountain, where eventually he partakes in a long conversation with Viva about her Catholic childhood. Viva, the waitress if not the actual person, seemingly is obsessed with the subject of lascivious priests. There is more strobe cutting and at one point, Viva turns to the camera and asks that it be turned off. The camera is turned off and, after an interlude, is turned back on again, after which Viva continues with her monologue. More patrons arrive while others go, perhaps thinking -- if not speaking -- of Michelangelo.