10 Great Movies Recommended by Armando Iannucci

Armando Iannucci is a British filmmaker and satirist known for his bruising and sharp comedies. He’s the brains behind the political sitcom The Thick of It and its spin-off movie, In the Loop; HBO’s multi-Emmy-winning satire Veep with Julia Louis-Dreyfus; and the film The Death of Stalin. These projects vary in tone but are united by Iannucci’s razor-sharp wit and knack for finding the absurd in politics.

Like most successful directors, Iannucci is an avid cinephile who has spoken at length about many of the movies that influenced him. His favorites lean toward comedy, although his recommendations also include some intense dramas and violent period pieces. These are some of the movies Iannucci loves most, which ought to appeal to fans of his work.

10 ‘The Graduate’ (1967)

Director: Mike Nichols

Iannucci named this Mike Nichols classic as one of his all-time favorite movies. The Graduate features Dustin Hoffman in his breakout role as Benjamin Braddock, a recent college graduate who feels adrift and aimless. He begins an affair with the alluring Mrs. Robinson, played with seductive charisma by Anne Bancroft, but soon finds himself torn between her and her daughter Elaine (Katharine Ross). It’s a quintessential ’60s movie, capturing the feel of that era where everything seemed to be in flux.

The Graduate is renowned now for its sharp script, iconic opening sequence, and infectious soundtrack by Simon & Garfunkel. “There is a lot of silly stuff about whether or not he has a toothbrush with him,” Iannucci has said, “but the thing I really love about The Graduate is the fact that you just think of it as a film, rather than as a comedy, and then when you see it again, you realize how very funny many of the scenes are.”

The Graduate

Release Date

December 21, 1967

Cast

Anne Bancroft , Dustin Hoffman , Katharine Ross , William Daniels , Murray Hamilton , Elizabeth Wilson

Rating

PG

Runtime

107

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9 ‘Riff-Raff’ (1991)

Director: Ken Loach

Riff-Raff is a lesser-known movie by Ken Loach, director of The Wind that Shakes the Barley, and I, Daniel Blake. Like most of his work, it’s a realistic social drama about people in Britain struggling to make ends meet. It focuses on Stevie (Robert Carlyle), a man who is released from prison and finds work on a construction site. He starts a romance with a struggling actress and singer named Susan (Emer McCourt), but the challenges of their daily lives put a strain on the relationship.

This may sound heavy, but Loach handles the subject matter with a deft touch, spinning what could have been a purely depressing story into a poignant one. Riff-Raff is also frequently funny, which is why Iannucci rates it highly. In particular, he praised the scene where the characters walk together through a park after a funeral. “It is all shot in one take,” he said. “And they just start fighting over the ashes. It is very well done.”

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8 ‘Gregory’s Girl’ (1980)

Director: Bill Forsyth

Gregory’s Girl is a quirky coming-of-age story set in Scotland. It centers on the awkward teenager Gregory (John Gordon Sinclair) as he stumbles his way through puberty. When the talented Dorothy (Dee Hepburn) joins the school’s football team, she not only shakes up the established dynamics but also captures Gregory’s heart. The story unfolds with a delightful mix of humor and sincerity as Gregory and his friends attempt to understand the mysteries of love and relationships.

Both funny and sweet, the film was critically acclaimed and now frequently appears on lists of the greatest British movies of all time. In particular, Gregory’s Girl has been praised for its honest depiction of adolescence and first love. Iannucci cited it as a favorite, saying, “I am a big fan of Bill Forsyth films such as Gregory’s Girl and Local Hero.”

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7 ‘Steamboat Bill, Jr.’ (1928)

Director: Charles Reisner

Buster Keaton stars in this silent comedy as William Canfield Jr., the effete and college-educated son of a gruff steamboat captain. Canfield’s father hopes his son will follow in his footsteps and toughen up, but complications arise as Junior falls for Kitty (Marion Byron), the daughter of his father’s rival. Naturally, all manner of shenanigans ensue.

Although it was a box-office flop, Steamboat Bill, Jr. is now regarded as a classic of the silent era and one of Keaton’s best films. It’s particularly famous for its impressive, death-defying stunts, like when a house falls around Keaton, but he stands in exactly the right spot so that he is not crushed. Apparently, the structure weighed two tons, meaning that if he was even a few inches off his mark, he could have been flattened. “Scenes like this are just so cleverly done and worked out that they still don’t feel old at all,” Iannucci said.

Steamboat Bill, Jr.

Release Date

May 20, 1928

Cast

Buster Keaton , Charles Reisner , Ernest Torrence , Marion Byron

Runtime

70 minutes

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6 ‘The Battle of Algiers’ (1966)

Director: Gillo Pontecorvo

The Battle of Algiers is a gripping dramatization of the Algerian War of Independence, which took place between 1954 and 1962. Shot in a documentary style, it depicts the urban guerilla warfare between the National Liberation Front (FLN) and French paratroopers in the capital city. The narrative is centered around the key figures of Ali La Pointe (Brahim Haggiag), an FLN operative, and Colonel Mathieu (Jean Martin), a French officer.

The film is highly regarded for its realistic portrayal of insurgency and counterinsurgency tactics, which some commentators say resemble the conflicts in other places like Iraq. “Raw in look, unflinching in its realism, honest in its politics,” Iannucci said of the movie. “This is a masterclass in verité cinema, where fiction and documentary-like performance and camerawork push you right into the heart of a bitter, contemporary conflict. It’s also more dramatic and tense than a thousand thrillers made after it.”

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5 ‘Local Hero’ (1983)

Director: Bill Forsyth

Local Hero is the other movie by Bill Forsyth that Iannucci named a favorite. It follows Mac (Peter Riegert), a young and ambitious oil executive sent to the fictional Scottish village of Ferness to negotiate the purchase of land for an oil refinery. As Mac interacts with the quirky locals, including the eccentric marine biologist Ben Knox (Fulton Mackay) and the mysterious beachcomber Gordon Urquhart (Denis Lawson), he starts to question the values of corporate life.

The plot meanders a little, but Local Hero makes for a charming homespun tale with more than enough funny moments to justify a viewing. It’s less about the story than the characters, who are all intriguing and endearing in different ways. Forsyth gives the actors space to flesh out these characters to the full, adding to the film’s authentic feel.

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4 ‘Nashville’ (1975)

Director: Robert Altman

Nashville is a sprawling portrait of the country music scene in the 1970s, featuring an ensemble cast and many intertwined narratives. They include Tom Frank (Keith Carradine), a folk musician seeking to go solo; anxious country singer Barbara Jean (Ronee Blakley); the chauffeur Norman (David Arkin); and many more. Jeff Goldblum also makes a minor appearance as a man on a motorcycle who connects all the various storylines.

Keeping all these plates spinning is no small feat, but Robert Altman makes it look easy. Not for nothing, Nashville is now widely regarded as his masterpiece. “America’s Fellini, Altman revels in sprawl, rawness, improvisation, and multiple characters and storylines to come up with something truly whole and original. At once heartbreakingly personal and yet ambitiously satirical, a whole country and culture is summed up brilliantly in one place at one time. This ambition has never been bettered,” Iannucci said.

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3 ‘Festen’ (1998)

Director: Thomas Vinterberg

Thomas Vinterberg’s Festen (meaning “The Celebration”) is a brutal drama from the Danish filmmaker who made The Hunt and Another Round. This one unfolds during a family gathering celebrating the 60th birthday of Helge (Henning Moritzen), the patriarch of a wealthy family. As the festivities commence, dark revelations come to light when Helge’s son, Christian (Ulrich Thomsen), delivers a shocking toast accusing his father of past sexual abuse.

Festen is a great example of the Dogme 95 movement, an avant-garde approach to filmmaking that emphasizes a naturalistic style, handheld cameras, minimal artificial lighting, and little to no special effects. Instead, story and character are the focus. “Stripping cinema of lumbering conventions, the experiment is abundantly triumphant,” Iannucci said about Festen. “(Festen is) a farce about abuse, a family tale about social breakdown, a sad-happy slurring of genres that thoroughly enjoys all the exciting possibilities it’s pointing us to.”

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2 ‘What’s Up, Doc?’ (1972)

Director: Peter Bogdanovich

This romantic comedy revolves around the mix-up of four identical plaid overnight bags, each containing a different item, which becomes the center of a madcap chase in San Francisco. Judy Maxwell (Barbara Streisand) inadvertently grabs a bag containing top-secret documents, setting off a chain reaction of comical events that involve a musicologist named Howard Bannister (Ryan O’Neal), his high-strung fiancée Eunice Burns (Madeline Kahn), and the oddball music fan Hugh Simon (Kenneth Mars).

What’s Up, Doc? pays tribute to the fast-talking screwball comedies of the 1930s and ’40s but updates the subgenre for the 19670s. With its witty dialogue, dynamic performances, and hilarious set pieces, What’s Up, Doc? ranks among Peter Bogdanovich’s very best. In an interview with The Guardian, Iannucci named it as one of the movies that taught him how to be funny.

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1 ‘The Lady Eve’ (1941)

Director: Preston Sturges

The iconic Barbara Stanwyck stars here as Jean Harrington, a clever and alluring con artist, alongside Henry Fonda as Charles Pike, the unsuspecting heir to a brewing fortune. When Jean sets her sights on Charles during a luxury cruise, she hatches a plan to swindle him in a card game. However, her plot gets a lot more complicated turn as she finds herself genuinely falling for him.

The Lady Eve is a classic screwball comedy, replete with rapid-fire dialogue, clever innuendos, and impeccable comedic timing. The leads are both fantastic, and Preston Sturges handles the story with a surprisingly modern sensibility. In particular, Iannucci praised the risque banter between the main characters, which he says was daring for that era and ahead of its time. The Lady Eve breezes by at just 94 minutes long, but it crams an impressive number of jokes and slapstick gags into its lean runtime. It’s one of the most acclaimed entries in its subgenre, frequently appearing on critics’ lists of the best comedies ever made.

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NEXT: 10 Great Movies Recommended by Hayao Miyazaki