More than 50 years after its release, Tom Hanks revealed he still watches one incredible film twice a year. On the red carpet, the Hollywood legend opened up about his all-time top four movies, and one pick was firmly at the top of his list.
The Cast Away star has performed in a huge array of genres, arguably most well known for his roles in Forrest Gump, Saving Private Ryan, and Big. However, he has acted in a range of sci-fi films like Apollo 13, and he confessed that a sci-fi adventure still captures his attention. Speaking with Letterboxd, he admitted that while childhood favourites may have faded, this story has a permanent spot on his must-watch list.
He revealed that “without a doubt”, Stanley Kubrick’s iconic sci-fi 2001: A Space Odyssey was his all-time favourite.
Hanks said: “I’m 66, so there’s a lot of movies I saw when I was 10 that landed on me in a big big way that might have been supplanted by the movies that I see when I’m say 58, which was eight years ago.
“Without a doubt, it remains 2001: A Space Odyssey. I still watch it a couple of times a year and I also go to it and just hit the main specific points.
“But I could walk you through 2001: A Space Odyssey and not stop talking once during the entire film, so I don’t know if you want to have that experience.”
The 1968 film follows astronauts as they are sent on a fact-finding mission by the government to investigate a four-million-year-old monolith discovered on the moon, while keeping it hidden from the public.
Something goes horribly wrong as another team is sent to Jupiter in a ship controlled by the perfect HAL 9000 computer.
The film polarised critics, with some hailing its pioneering special effects, while others questioned its storytelling, with an anticlimactic ending.
“It is a philosophical journey to the infinite and beyond, a masterpiece of its genre,” wrote one IMDB reviewer. Another said it was simply “legendary”. However, a third quipped: “In space, nobody can hear you yawn.”
It is widely regarded as influential in the history of cinema, and in 1991, the United States Library of Congress selected it for preservation in the National Film Registry.
In the same interview, Hanks went on to name three other favourites, highlighting the Beatles movie A Hard Day’s Night; William Wyler’s The Best Years of Our Lives; and the ‘Best Picture’ winner, Midnight Cowboy.