Spike Lee’s Favorite Films: 10 Movies the Director Wants You to See

“On the Waterfront” (dir. Elia Kazan, 1954)

Two of Lee’s cinematic heroes are Elia Kazan, the Golden Age Hollywood filmmaker known for his bold, socially conscious works, and Kazan’s screenwriting partner Budd Schulberg. In a 2018 interview for GQ, Lee spoke about his love for their film “On the Waterfront,” which stars Marlon Brando as an ex-boxer attempting to make a stand against the corrupt union bosses at his dockworking job. 

Lee, who would go on to befriend Schulberg before the screenwriter’s death in 2009, praised the film for its great acting, cinematography, directing, and writing.  

“A Face in the Crowd” (dir. Elia Kazan, 1957)

Another Kazan/Schulberg joint, “A Face in the Crowd” stars Andy Griffith in his film debut as a drifting folk-singer who becomes a TV celebrity and loses his soul in the process. Lee said in his GQ interview that Schulberg had a “crystal ball” while writing the film’s storyline: “It’s really about the media, how it can be harmful, how it can be dangerous, how it could make people believe anything.”  

“Mean Streets” (Dir. Martin Scorsese, 1973)

Martin Scorsese and Robert De Niro shot to fame with “Mean Streets”: the director’s shaggy crime film about low-level crooks in New York. In his GQ interview, Lee said that he saw the film with his mother, and it was one of the first movies to push him into filmmaking. 

“At that time, I didn’t want to be a filmmaker. I didn’t even know people made films,” Lee said. “You just went to the movie theater. But that film really [made] an impact on me.” 

Later, Lee met Scorsese when the director screened “After Hours” at NYU, and introduced himself to his future friend by telling him the story of how “Mean Streets” inspired him. 

“The Night of the Hunter” (dir. Charles Laughton, 1955)

“The Night of the Hunter” is the only film from acclaimed director Charles Laughton, but his gorgeously dark tale of a serial-killing preacher is now considered one of cinema’s essentials. In his GQ interview, Lee said he fell in love with the movie while studying at film school; he would famously play homage to Robert Mitchum’s character in “Do the Right Thing,” where Bill Nunn’s Radio Raheem wears Love and Hate knuckle rings identical to Mitchum’s tattoos and gives a speech about the duality between the two concepts.    

“Very very scary film. I love it,” Lee said. “Robert Mitchum, that character he plays? Terrifying.”   

“Lawrence of Arabia,” (dir. David Lean, 1962)

When making “Malcolm X,” Lee wanted the film to feel enourmous. In his GQ interview, he said he turned to the movies of British filmmaker David Lean, known for his large scale epics. He and his cinematographer Ernest Dickerson studied Lean’s movies, especially “Lawrence of Arabia,” watching a restored version of the movie at the Ziegfeld Theatre. 

“It was just amazing,” Lee said. “It had a new print, it redid the sound, the color, and then it definitely influenced us.” 

“Rashomon” (dir. Akira Kurosawa, 1950)

Akira Kurosawa’s “Rashomon,” which tells the story of a Samurai’s murder via numerous conflicting accounts, is arguably the Japanese director’s most influential work, paving the way for other films to experiment with linearity and perspective. In a 2015 Vulture interview, Lee said his first film “She’s Gotta Have It” was inspired by Kurosawa’s story of multiple viewpoints. 

“The whole story of ‘Rashomon,’ where a rape and murder is committed, and you get witnesses  — everybody gives their own version of what happened, and the audience is left to make up their mind,” Lee said. “Well, that’s the same thing in ‘She’s Gotta Have It,’ where you have these three men who are in love with Nola Darling, and they’re giving their version of Nola.” 

“Dog Day Afternoon” (dir. Sidney Lumet, 1975)

As one of the foremost New York City directors, it’s not a surprise when Lee loves a film for how it captures the city. One of his faves is “Dog Day Afternoon”: Sidney Lumet’s movie about a botched bank robbery set against the backdrop of the hottest day of the year. 

“It’s a different kind of bank robbery, but it really showed New York City, and it’s a great film,” Lee told Vulture. In “Inside Man,” Lee paid homage to the movie by having actor Marcia Jean Kurtz reprise her role as one of the hostages from “Dog Day.” 

“Ganja & Hess” (dir. Bill Gunn, 1973)

In 2014, Lee released “Da Sweet Blood of Jesus”: a horror film and remake of Bill Gunn’s ’70s flick “Ganja & Hess.” Lee hewed closely enough to the original’s tale of an anthropologist turned into a vampire and his doomed romance with a mortal woman that Gunn, who died in 1986, received credit as the remake’s co-writer. 

In an interview with Vulture, Lee referred to the original movie as a “great cult classic,” and said he first saw it while at NYU’s graduate film school; he also described his remake as an attempt to “pay homage” to the late Gunn.  

Sean Connery’s “James Bond” films (1962-1971)

In 2018, Lee revealed at a “BlacKkKlansman” screening that his first great cinematic love was James Bond. Specifically, growing up Lee had an affinity for the six movies that starred the first Bond Sean Connery: “Dr. No,” “From Russia With Love,” “Goldfinger,” “Thunderball,” “You Only Live Twice,” and “Diamonds are Forever.”  

When Connery died in 2020, Lee paid tribute to the Scottsman on Instagram: “Some of [my] earliest memories of my late mother (Jacqueline Shelton Lee) taking me to the movies was James Bond joints. Several times moms would have to cover my eyes,” he wrote. “No disrespect to the other actors who later played 007, but to me Sean is my guy, he was kicking much ass and taking names, all da fine ladies, kraft gadgets, and had JOKES TOO.”   

“The Wire” (HBO, 2002-2008)

No, it’s not a movie, it’s TV. But HBO’s acclaimed prestige drama about police, drug dealers, government workers, school teachers, journalists, and other citizens of Baltimore has the honor of being one of the few small screen projects Lee has praised over his career. 

“it’s epic, you know,” Lee said in a 2015 Vulture interview. “Five years, great storytelling, the whole package was very complex.”