By Marco Cera, oboist
Touring as an orchestra is a hard job. The travel, jet lag, and concerts are challenging, as is being away from home and our families. During these times it’s important to keep the morale of the band high, and to find some entertainment, some bonding time as a group. Allen knew that the power of movies could do that, and was always proposing that we watch movies together, often to pass the time on the long bus rides that are part of touring.
Allen’s musical and cinematographic knowledge led him to find the perfect bus movies. With a very elegant touch of humour, each film that he planned to show us was in some way connected to the specific tour we were on. It could be a piece of music on the movie’s soundtrack related to the program that we were performing, or a particular musical instrument featured in the movie and connected to our concert … it could be a city, a detail of a building, or an actor’s improbable impersonation of a baroque composer. It could sometimes be a brief moment when a member of the orchestra is featured in that film! No kidding!
That connection between movies and music provided material to inspire us or laugh about: we’d be quoting scenes for days, even during rehearsals. Allen helped to make our lives on tour easier and I’m grateful for the knowledge and the passion that he shared so generously with us.
As a tribute to our friend Allen, I decided to assemble a list of 101 movies that he loved. Some of these movies were our companions on tour, and will always bring our memories back to our good times, on the road with Allen.
- American Beauty (1999) directed by Sam Mendes
- The Big Lebowski (1998) directed by Joel and Ethan Coen
- The Talented Mr. Ripley (1999) directed by Anthony Minghella
- What We Do in the Shadows (2014) directed by Jemaine Clement
- Mars Attacks! (1996) directed by Tim Burton
- Bananas (1971) directed by Woody Allen
- The Ice Storm (1997) directed by Ang Lee
- Roman Holiday (1953) directed by William Wyler
- Five Easy Pieces (1970) directed by Bob Rafelson
- The Commitments (1987) directed by Alan Parker
- Rain Man (1988) directed by Barry Levinson
- Bicycle Thieves (Ladri di biciclette,1948)directed by Vittorio De Sica
- Eastern Promises (2007) directed by David Cronenberg
- The Elephant Man (1980) directed by David Lynch
- Best in Show (2000) directed by Christopher Guest
- The Music Man (1962) directed by Morton DaCosta
- Thelma & Louise (1991) directed by Ridley Scott
- American Graffiti (1973) directed by George Lucas
- O Brother, Where Art Thou? (2000) directed by Joel and Ethan Coen
- Babette’s Feast (1987) directed by Gabriel Axel
- Tous les matins du monde (1991) directed by Alain Corneau
- Raising Arizona (1987) directed by Joel and Ethan Coen
- Lost in Translation (2003) directed by Sofia Coppola
- Duel (1971) directed by Steven Spielberg
- High Society (1956) directed by Charles Walters
- Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner (1967) directed by Stanley Kramer
- Harold and Maude (1971) directed by Hal Ashby
- The Odd Couple (1968) directed by Gene Saks
- Little Miss Sunshine (2006) directed by Jonathan Dayton and Valerie Faris
- The Graduate (1967) directed by Mike Nichols
- The Man Who Wasn’t There (2001) directed by Joel and Ethan Coen
- A Perfect World (1993) directed by Clint Eastwood
- L.A. Story (1991) directed by Mick Jackson
- Farewell, My Queen (Les Adieux à la reine, 2012) directed by Benoît Jacquot
- The Way We Were (1973) directed by Sydney Pollack
- The Manchurian Candidate (2004) directed by Jonathan Demme
- The Witches of Eastwick (1987) directed by George Miller
- One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest (1975) directed by Miloš Forman
- Breaking Away (1979) directed by Peter Yates
- La Bamba (1987) directed by Luis Valdez
- Amadeus (1984) directed by Miloš Forman
- Moonrise Kingdom (2012) directed by Wes Anderson
- Drive (2011) directed by Nicolas Winding Refn
- Winter’s Bone (2010) directed by Debra Granik
- The Page Turner (La Tourneuse de pages, 2006) directed by Denis Dercourt
- 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea (1954) directed by Richard Fleischer
- Gaslight (1944) directed by George Cukor
- The Gods Must Be Crazy (1980) directed by Jamie Uys
- Intermezzo (1939) directed by Gregory Ratoff
- Before Sunrise (1995) directed by Richard Linklater
- The Grapes of Wrath (1940) directed by John Ford
- Paper Moon (1973) directed by Peter Bogdanovich
- Rushmore (1998) directed by Wes Anderson
- Hoosiers (1986) directed by David Anspaugh
- Love in the Afternoon (1957) directed by Billy Wilder
- The Great Escape (1963) directed by John Sturges
- Planes, Trains and Automobiles (1997) directed by John Hughes
- Kramer vs. Kramer (1979) directed by Robert Benton
- Casablanca (1942) directed by Michael Curtiz
- The African Queen (1951) directed by John Huston
- The Apartment (1960) directed by Billy Wilder
- Marathon Man (1976) directed by John Schlesinger
- Our Souls at Night (2017) directed by Ritesh Batra
- 2001: A Space Odyssey (1968) directed by Stanley Kubrick
- Humoresque (1946) directed by Jean Negulesco
- The World of Henry Orient (1964) directed by George Roy Hill
- The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie (1969) directed by Ronald Neame
- Mrs. Miniver (1942) directed by William Wyler
- Catch-22 (1970) directed by Mike Nichols
- Diva (1981) directed by Jean-Jacques Beineix
- Marguerite (2015) directed by Xavier Giannoli
- The Time Machine (1960) directed by George Pal
- Barry Lyndon (1975) directed by Stanley Kubrick
- The White Ribbon (Das weiße Band, 2009) directed by Michael Haneke
- Welcome to the Dollhouse (1995) directed by Todd Solondz
- Rebecca (1940) directed by Alfred Hitchcock
- Breakfast at Tiffany’s (1961) directed by Blake Edwards
- Lilies of the Field (1963) directed by Ralph Nelson
- Suspicion (1941) directed by Alfred Hitchcock
- Run Lola Run (1998) directed by Tom Tykwer
- A Child’s Christmas in Wales (1986) directed by Don McBrearty
- Spring Symphony (Frühlingssinfonie,1986) directed by Peter Schamoni
- The Shawshank Redemption (1994) directed by Frank Darabont
- Hud (1963) directed by Martin Ritt
- The Sting (1973) directed by George Roy Hill
- Vertigo (1958) directed by Alfred Hitchcock
- Tess (1979) directed by Roman Polanski
- A Patch of Blue (1965) directed by Guy Green
- Up the Down Staircase (1967) directed by Robert Mulligan
- Stand and Deliver (1988) directed by Ramón Menéndez
- The Americanization of Emily (1964) directed by Arthur Hiller
- Terms of Endearment (1983) directed by James L. Brooks
- Once (2007) directed by John Carney
- Amélie (2001) directed by Jean-Pierre Jeunet
- The 400 Blows (1959) directed by François Truffaut
- Mr. Deeds Goes to Town (1936) directed by Frank Capra
- A Mighty Wind (2003) directed by Christopher Guest
- Big Night (1996) directed by Campbell Scott
- Papillon (1973) directed by Franklin J. Schaffner
- Song of Love (1947) directed by Clarence Brown
- The Last Picture Show (1971) directed by Peter Bogdanovich