John Leguizamo is best known for acting in films with some of Hollywood’s best acting and directing talent. His imdb page lists over 100 completed films, not to mention TV and projects currently in development.

Leguizamo recently directed a film called Critical Thinking. His film editor, Jaime Kirkpatrick said that Al Pacino (with whom he acted in Brian de Palma’s Carlito’s Way) and others encouraged him to really learn the craft while he was surrounded by iconic names like Brian de Palma, Mike Nichols, Spike Lee and Baz Luhrman that could teach him.

These mentors provided him with their lists of films he should study, and he now shares his own list with promising young filmmakers. Through Leguizamo’s generosity, you can learn from it as well.

John Leguizamo’s Top 100 Films to Study

1. Tokyo Story (1953), Ozu Yasujiro
2. 2001: A Space Odyssey (1968), Stanley Kubrick
3. Citizen Kane (1941), Orson Welles
4. 8 ½ (1963), Federico Fellini
5. Taxi Driver (1976), Martin Scorsese
6. Apocalypse Now (1979), Francis Ford Coppola
7. Vertigo (1958), Alfred Hitchcock
8. The Godfather: Part I (1972), Francis Ford Coppola
9. Mirror (1974), Andrei Tarkovsky
10. The Bicycle Thief (1948), Vittorio de Sica
11. Breathless (1960), Jean-Luc Godard
12. Raging Bull (1980), Martin Scorsese
13. Persona (1966), Ingmar Bergman
14. The 400 Blows (1959), Francois Truffaut
15. Andrei Rublev (1966), Andrei Tarkovsky
16. Fanny and Alexander (1984), Ingmar Bergman
17. Seven Samurai (1954), Akira Kurosawa
18. Rashomon (1950), Akira Kurosawa
19. Barry Lyndon (1975), Stanley Kubrick
20. Ordet (1955), Carl Theodor Dreyer
21. Au Hasard Balthazar (1960), Robert Bresson
22. Modern Times (1936), Charlie Chaplin
23. L’ Atalante (1934), Jean Vigo
24. Sunrise (1927), F. W. Murnau
25. La Règle du Jeu (1939), Jean Renoir
26. Touch of Evil (1958), Orson Welles
27. The Night of the Hunter (1955), Charles Laughton
28. The Battle of Algiers (1966), Gillo Pontecorvo
29. La Strada (1954), Federico Fellini
30. Stalker (1979), Andrei Tarkovsky
31. City Lights (1931), Charlie Chaplin
32. L’ Avventura (1960), Michelangelo
33. Amarcord (1972), Federico Fellini
34. The Gospel According to St. Matthew (1964), Pier Paolo Pasolini
35. The Godfather: Part II (1974), Francis Ford Coppola
36. Come and See (1985), Elem Klimov
37. Close-Up (1989), Abbas Kiarostami
38. Some Like it Hot (1959), Billy Wilder
39. La Dolce Vita (1960), Federico Fellini
40. Passion of Joan of Arc (1927), Carl Theodor Dreyer
41. Playtime (1967), Jacques Tati
42. A Man Escaped (1956), Robert Bresson
43. Viridiana (1961), Luis Buñel
44. Once Upon a Time in the West (1968), Sergio Leone
45. Le Mépris (1963), Jean-Luc Godard
46. The Apartment (1960), Billy Wilder
47. Hour of the Wolf (1968), Ingmar Bergman
48. One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest (1975), Milos Forman
49. The Searchers (1956), John Ford
50. Psycho (1960), Alfred Hitchcock
51. Man with a Movie Camera (1929), Vertov
52. Shoah (1985), Claude Lanzmann
53. Lawrence of Arabia (1962), David Lean
54. L’ Eclisse (1962), Michelangelo Antonioni

55. Pickpocket (1959), Robert Bresson
56. Pather Panchali (1955), Satyajit Ray
57. Rear Window (1954), Alfred Hitchcock
58. Goodfellas (1990), Martin Scorsese
59. Blow Up (1966), Michelangelo Antonioni
60. The Conformist (1970), Bernardo Bertolucci
61. Aguirre, Wrath of God (1972), Werner Herzog
62. Gertrud (1964), Carl Theodor Dreyer
63. A Woman Under the Influence (1974), John Cassavetes
64. The Good, the Bad and the Ugly (1966), Sergio Leone
65. Blue Velvet (1986), David Lynch
66. La Grande Illusion (1937), Jean Renoir
67. Badlands (1973), Terrence Malick
68. Blade Runner (1982), Ridley Scott
69. Sunset Blvd. (1950), Billy Wilder
70. Ugetsu Monogatari (1953), Mizoguchi Kenji
71. Singin’ in the Rain (1951), Stanley Donen/Gene Kelly
72. In The Mood For Love (2000), Wong Kar Wai
73. Journey to Italy (1954), Roberto Rossellini
74. Vivre Sa Vie (1962), Jean-Luc Godard
75. The Seventh Seal (1957), Ingmar Bergman
76. Hidden (2004), Michael Haneke
77. Battleship Potemkin (1925), Sergei M Eisenstein
78. M (1931), Fritz Lang
79. There Will Be Blood (2007), Paul Thomas Anderson
80. The Shining (1980), Stanley Kubrick
81. The General (1926), Buster Keaton
82. Mulholland Dr. (2003), David Lynch
83. A Clockwork Orange (1971), Stanley Kubrick
84. Fear Eats the Soul (1974), Rainer Werner Fassbinder
85. Kes (1969), Ken Loach
86. Husbands (1970), John Cassavetes
87. The Wild Bunch (1969), Sam Peckinpah
88. Salo, or The 120 Days of Sodom (1975), Pier Paolo Pasolini
89. Jaws (1975), Steven Spielberg
90. Los Olvidados (1950), Luis Buñuel
91. Pierrot le Fou (1965), Jean-Luc Godard
92. Un Chien Andalou (1928), Luis Buñuel
93. Chinatown (1974), Roman Polanski
94. La Maman et la Putain (1973), Jean Eustache
95. Beau Travail (1998), Claire Denis
96. Opening Night (1977), John Cassavetes
97. The Gold Rush (1925), Charlie Chaplin
98. Zero de Conduite (1933), Jean Vigo
99. The Deer Hunter (1977), Michael Cimino
100. L’ Argent (1983), Robert Bresson

I learned about this list during my Art of the Cut interview with Leguizamo’s editor, Jaime Kirkpatrick, who shared the list with me after receiving permission from Leguizamo.