Given the spotless track record that Paul Thomas Anderson has maintained throughout his career, his latest feature, โ€œOne Battle After Another,โ€ arrived with tremendous expectations. The stakes for the film were only heightened when considering the involvement of Leonardo DiCaprio, one of the few bona fide โ€œmovie starsโ€ still working, and the reportedly significant budget involved. However, โ€œOne Battle After Anotherโ€ still managed to surpass expectations, earning the type of glowing reviews not seen since โ€œParasiteโ€ or โ€œNo Country For Old Men.โ€ Beyond the fact that it is the biggest, boldest, and most exhilarating installment in Andersonโ€™s filmography yet, โ€œOne Battle After Anotherโ€ is also a film that speaks to the current moment in American politics. With its impassioned plea for compassion and heroic depiction of revolutionaries, โ€œOne Battle After Anotherโ€ is both classically entertaining and extremely relevant.

The film was inspired by the novel โ€œVinelandโ€ by Thomas Pynchon, but it’s far from an exact adaptation; similar to โ€œInherent Vice,โ€ another Pynchon adaptation directed by Anderson, โ€œOne Battle After Anotherโ€ is influenced by various cinematic classics, and often blends its different points of inspiration in exciting ways. Anderson has made it clear that he intends the film to be a crowd-pleasing action film in the vein of โ€œStar Warsโ€ or โ€œTerminator 2: Judgment Day,โ€ but โ€œOne Battle After Anotherโ€ is deeply informed by movies from both the Golden Age of Cinema and the era in which โ€œVinelandโ€ was written. Those who like โ€œOne Battle After Anotherโ€ will definitely want to check out these movies.ย 

1. 3 Godfathers (1948)

Movies like One Battle Another - 3 Godfathers

Anderson also listed John Fordโ€™s brilliant western โ€œThe Searchersโ€ as part of his โ€œOne Battle After Anotherโ€ watchlist, but at this point, the 1956 classic is referenced constantly. George Lucas, Steven Spielberg, Ari Aster, Martin Scorsese, and Jean-Luc Godard are just a few directors whoโ€™ve expressed their admiration. It may be more helpful to recommend another western collaboration between Ford and John Wayne, as the duo worked together twelve times across the course of their respective careers. While thereโ€™s a lot to admire about the political relevancy of โ€œThe Man Who Shot Liberty Valanceโ€ or the unbridled romanticism of โ€œShe Wore A Yellow Ribbon,โ€ Andersonโ€™s approach to โ€œOne Battle After Anotherโ€ is most reminiscent of Ford and Waynesโ€™ work on โ€œ3 Godfathers,โ€ a gunslinging adventure loosely inspired by the story of the โ€œthree wise menโ€ from the Bible.

Both โ€œ3 Godfathersโ€ and โ€œOne Battle After Anotherโ€ could be part of a marathon of โ€œuntraditional Christmas films.โ€ โ€œ3 Godfathersโ€ is centered on three outlaws who take it upon themselves to protect a newborn baby after its mother is lost. The strong parental themes are particularly potent, as Fordโ€™s classical style of epic filmmaking manages to be sincere without being saccharine. Wayne shows the same type of sensitivity and compassionate masculinity that made DiCaprioโ€™s โ€œOne Battle After Anotherโ€ role so beloved, and the film benefits from shooting on location in Monument Valley. The famous desert location was used in countless Ford westerns, and is also briefly glimpsed in โ€œOne Battle After Another.โ€

2. Ashes and Diamonds (1958)

Controversial since its release, โ€œAshes and Diamondsโ€ is the third chapter in Andrzej Wajdaโ€™s unofficial war trilogy, following โ€œA Generationโ€ and โ€œKanal.โ€ Itโ€™s the biggest and most ambitious of the three, as โ€œAshes and Diamondsโ€ is set in the aftermath of World War II, and follows an anti-Communist Home Army soldier as he considers the ethics of performing a high-level assassination. Itโ€™s a gripping contemplation of whether priority politics should supersede personal fundamentals, and questions whether a collective resistance movement can ever be entirely selfless. Interweaving between the nailbiting moments of tension are fascinating insights into the Polish culture in the post-war era, as Wadja has rightfully been hailed as one of the nationโ€™s finest filmmakers.ย 

โ€œAshes and Diamondsโ€ has been subjected to historical reevaluations as a result of developments within Polish politics. Even if the general consensus has changed in the decades since the film was first released, the morality of โ€œAshes and Diamondsโ€ is so gray that it could never be classified as a work of propaganda. Itโ€™s also a film thatโ€™s far more nimble in its assertions about the post-war chaos than one might imagine. The filmโ€™s most pressing goal is to show the crisis of confidence faced by both authorities and rebels. In addition to its prominence within war cinema and the neorealist movement, โ€œAshes and Diamondsโ€ has cast a wide shadow on espionage storytelling. It was cited by Martin Scorsese as a primary influence on โ€œThe Departed.โ€

3. The Battle of Algiers (1966)

Movies like One Battle After Another - The Battle of Algiers

โ€œThe Battle of Algiersโ€ was not only on Andersonโ€™s list of โ€œmust-seeโ€ movies, but also factors into the story of โ€œOne Battle After Another;โ€ the film is playing in the background as Bob is spending his evening alone, waiting to hear from his daughter. It makes sense that the characters in โ€œOne Battle After Anotherโ€ would look to this classic of neorealist Italian cinema, as โ€œThe Battle of Algiersโ€ depicted the tricky, visceral actions of Algerian rebels against the French government. Given that the actual conflict had only occurred a decade prior, filmmaker Gillo Pontecorvo took a risk by making such a bold, confrontative work of docufiction that didnโ€™t shy away in its haunting examination of war crimes.

Beyond its formal brilliance, โ€œThe Battle of Algiersโ€ served as a declaration, a rallying cry, and a jubilation of those who had raised their voices in the fight for freedom. โ€œThe Battle of Algiersโ€ is not just remarkable in its masterful recreation of recent events, but in its entertainment value; as is the case with โ€œOne Battle After Another,โ€ โ€œThe Battle of Algiersโ€ has an operatic quality that makes the conflict even more propulsive. To make its subject even more enthralling, โ€œThe Battle of Algiersโ€ featured a masterful score from the great Ennio Morricone, who would later be best known for his work on Sergio Leoneโ€™s Westerns. Morricone is also known as a major influence on Jonny Greenwood, who has composed many of Andersonโ€™s films, including โ€œOne Battle After Another.โ€

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4. French Connection II (1975)

Anderson listed the original 1971 โ€œThe French Connectionโ€ as a primary influence on โ€œOne Battle After Another,โ€ most likely because of the highly influential car chase within William Friedkinโ€™s Best Picture-winning masterpiece. Given that โ€œThe French Connectionโ€ is a film that most cinephiles are already familiar with, it may be more apt to recommend its underrated sequel, which was released four years later. Friedkinโ€™s work on โ€œThe Exorcistโ€ prevented him from directing the follow-up, but the film was thankfully placed in the capable hands of John Frankenheimer. Frankenheimer may not be a household name in the same vein as Friedkin, but his filmography is packed with a staggering number of classics, including the original โ€œThe Manchurian Candidate,โ€ โ€œThe Train,โ€ โ€œSeconds,โ€ โ€œRonin,โ€ and โ€œThe Holcroft Covenant.โ€

โ€œThe French Connection IIโ€ transformed Gene Hackmanโ€™s character Popeye Doyle into a slightly gruffer, out-of-his-element atypical action hero, who surprisingly bears a lot in common with DiCaprioโ€™s performance as Bob in โ€œOne Battle After Another.โ€ The film sees Doyle burdened by his failures in the first film, as he is dispatched to France in order to continue his pursuit of the drug dealer Frenrando Rey (Alain Charnier). While Frankenheimer could put together gritty crime dramas like no one else, the most surprising component of โ€œThe French Connection IIโ€ is a harrowing subplot in which Doyle must kick his addiction to heroin; its not dissimilar from the depiction of Bobโ€™s substance abuse issues in โ€œOne Battle After Another,โ€ which are used for both comedic affect and as a means of making him more relatable.

5. Running on Empty (1988)

Running on Empty

When discussing the films that served as a direct influence on โ€œOne Battle After Another,โ€ Anderson gave a shoutout to the underrated Sidney Lumet classic โ€œRunning on Emptyโ€ when discussing the โ€œmust-seeโ€ titles to watch beforehand. Although Lumet always found a way to incorporate his politics within his stories, as evidenced by โ€œ12 Angry Menโ€ and โ€œNetworkโ€ among others, โ€œRunning on Emptyโ€ poignantly crafted a familial relationship reminiscent of the dynamic that Willa (Chase Infiniti) shares with her father Bob (Leonardo DiCaprio) in โ€œOne Battle After Another.โ€ โ€œRunning on Emptyโ€ is centered on the couple Annie (Christine Lahti) and Arthur Pope (Judd Hirsch), who have been on the run since being involved in an anti-war incident in 1971.ย 

As their son Danny (River Phoenix) approached adulthood, the family must determine what they need to do to stay together. Both โ€œRunning on Emptyโ€ and โ€œOne Battle After Anotherโ€ reflect on whether parenting can itself be an act of rebellion, even for anti-war activists who are forced into hiding as a result of their actions. Although โ€œOne Battle After Anotherโ€ beautifully showed the pressures that were put upon single parents, โ€œRunning on Emptyโ€ succeeded as a remarkably coming-of-age story, with Phoenix earning an Academy Award nomination for Best Supporting Actor. Phoenix was a brilliant young actor whose tragic death denied the world many great performances. Although he had many remarkable roles, โ€œRunning on Emptyโ€ was perhaps his best work and has managed to stand the test of time.

6. Midnight Run (1988)

A surprising film cited by Anderson is the classic buddy adventure action-comedy โ€œMidnight Run,โ€ which deserves to be remembered as a perfect encapsulation of what a sweeping adventure can be. While it’s easy to compare the narrative of โ€œMidnight Runโ€ to countless other road trip movies, it’s made deeper, funnier, and more insightful thanks to the excellent chemistry between Robert De Niro and Charles Grodin. Grodin was an actor so inherently funny that he often didnโ€™t get enough credit for how warm, inventive, and complex his characters could be. Although De Niro would later experiment with more self-deprecating comedies like โ€œAnalyze Thisโ€ and โ€œMeet the Parents,โ€ โ€œMidnight Runโ€ featured an emotional, realistic performance that was just as grounded as his Oscar-winning work in โ€œThe Godfather: Part IIโ€ or โ€œRaging Bull.โ€ย 

โ€œMidnight Runโ€ was directed by Martin Brest, a filmmaker whose ability to weave together comedy and drama was unparalleled. Although Brest created one of the most successful blockbusters of the โ€˜80s with โ€œBeverly Hills Cop,โ€ he would later craft an Oscar-nominated drama with โ€œScent of a Woman.โ€ โ€œMidnight Runโ€ finds the perfect balance between these two styles, as the banter between Grodin and De Niro is entertaining because of the constant danger that they are in. As is the case with โ€œOne Battle After Another,โ€ โ€œMidnight Runโ€ has a stacked cast filled with underrated supporting performances; a scenery-chewing Joe Pantoliano and the surprisingly humorous Yaphet Kotto add greater texture to a film that benefits from unabashedly wearing its heart on its sleeve.

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7. District 9 (2009)

Immigration and racism are core themes in โ€œOne Battle After Another,โ€ which dared to depict the reality of hate crimes and intolerance as they exist today. Surprisingly, Neil Blomkamp was able to attain a similar degree of science fiction in his groundbreaking directorial debut, โ€œDistrict 9,โ€ even though it is technically a work of science fiction. Set in a world in which alien creatures have settled on Earth, โ€œDistrict 9โ€ centers on a government employee (Sharlto Copley) who reluctantly agrees to help an alien single father and his child reach a ship that will send them home. In addition to channeling the same parental anxieties of โ€œOne Battle After Another,โ€ โ€œDistrict 9โ€ succeeds in being a thrilling road chase adventure in which a small group of heroes is hunted down by government forces.

โ€œDistrict 9โ€ is set in Blomkampโ€™s home country of South Africa, and draws on the nationโ€™s history of apartheid in its examination of the brutal lines of division between humans and aliens. Not only was it a brilliant way to examine xenophobia and segregation, but a creative slant on the โ€œalien invaderโ€ narrative that commonly pops up in sci-fi epics. Like Anderson, Blomkamp is a brilliant writer of drama who also happens to be a brilliant orchestrator of action, as โ€œDistrict 9โ€ is far more visceral and exciting than many films with much more significant budgets. Although Blomkampโ€™s recent track record has been a tad disappointing, โ€œDistrict 9โ€ remains one of the few sci-fi films to ever earn a Best Picture nomination at the Academy Awards.

8. The Road (2009)

When discussing futuristic neo-western thrillers that focus on a single parent and child attempting to survive within a nation of hostiles, Andersonโ€™s work on โ€œOne Battle After Anotherโ€ was always going to be compared to โ€œThe Road.โ€ Based on the 2006 novel of the same name that was instantly heralded as one of McCarthyโ€™s greatest written achievements, โ€œThe Roadโ€ starred Viggo Mortensen in one of his most notable roles as an unnamed drifter who travels with his young son (Kodi Smit-McPhee) through the wasteland that once was America. As was the case with โ€œOne Battle After Another,โ€ it’s a story about the masculine insecurity of a widower, as Mortensenโ€™s character is forced to be a more empathetic parent after the loss of his wife (Charlize Theron, who lands an emotional punch within her few flashback scenes).

John Hillcoat is a filmmaker who understands the unforgiving intensity of the neo-western genre, and โ€œThe Roadโ€ strikes a haunting balance between emotional brutality and stark realism. His 2005 masterpiece โ€œThe Propositionโ€ served as one of the most brilliant historical revenge thrillers ever made, but โ€œThe Roadโ€ added the necessary touch of modernity. If โ€œOne Battle after Anotherโ€ imagined how America would evolve if lines of political division continued to be drawn, then โ€œThe Roadโ€ anticipated how humanity could turn on itself in a search for resources in the wake of a global epidemic. Although โ€œThe Roadโ€ always felt realistic in its approach, this notion of civilization tearing itself apart after the spread of a virus felt spookily prescient in the wake of the COVID-19 crisis.

9. The Company You Keep (2013)

The late great Robert Redford starred in many films in the 1970s that epitomized the anti-authoritarian, radical resistance movement that inspired the creation of the โ€œFrench 75โ€ in โ€œOne Battle After Another.โ€ Although it was a young Redford that appeared in โ€œAll the Presidentโ€™s Men,โ€ โ€œThree Days of the Condor,โ€ โ€œThe Candidate,โ€ and โ€œThe Electric Horseman,โ€ โ€œThe Company You Keepโ€ served as his return to the genre and was the last film that he ever directed. Redford stars as a character similar to Bob in โ€œOne Battle After Another.โ€ As a former member of โ€œThe Weather Undergroundโ€ freedom fighter movement, he took on a new identity and remained in hiding for years before being discovered.

By examining how the themes of the โ€™70s political thrillers are still relevant, Redford was able to reflect on his own legacy and managed to pull together one of the strongest ensemble casts of any film in the 21st century. Former members of the rebel band included many of Redfordโ€™s former co-stars, including Julie Christie, Chris Cooper, Nick Nolte, Stephen Root, Susan Sarandon, and Richard Jenkins. Also strong is Brendan Gleeson in the role of a ruthless police investigator (albeit not quite as ruthless as Sean Pennโ€™s Lockjaw in โ€œOne Battle After Anotherโ€), as well as Shia LaBeouf as a curious young reporter who realizes that the truth about the Weather Underground has been obscured for decades. Redford was often a more athletic and stylistic filmmaker than he was given credit for being, and โ€œThe Company You Keepโ€ is magnificent entertainment with its heart in the right place.ย 

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10. How To Blow Up A Pipeline (2023)

Hollywood has certainly been accused of losing its edge when it comes to timely political rhetoric, but โ€œHow To Blow Up A Timelineโ€ is the rare independent film that comes along every once in a while with truly radical intentions. Inspired by the non-fiction book of the same name, Daniel Goldhaberโ€™s brilliant second feature examines a group of young environmentalists who plan to destroy an oil pipeline that has devastated the biodiversity of West Texas. Although the novel examined the history of resistance movements and social justice in America, the film is an intimate depiction of how the young people of the 21st century have grown up in a world that is seemingly on the brink of environmental collapse.

If โ€œOne Battle After Anotherโ€ was about one generation of activists passing the torch to the next, then โ€œHow To Blow Up A Pipelineโ€ is centered on a group of abandoned adolescents who have had to trek through the world on their own. Goldhaber certainly owes a lot to many of the same โ€˜70s classics that inspired Anderson, but the film is also surprisingly non-judgmental. These characters arenโ€™t veterans or brilliant orchestrators, as they have only a small amount of experience to draw from. Even if it shares thematic connections with โ€œOne Battle After Another,โ€ โ€œHow To Blow Up A Pipelineโ€ brilliantly navigates through a dense cast of characters within different locations, and shows the same style of inventive cross-cut editing that Anderson mastered with his early work on โ€œBoogie Nightsโ€ and โ€œMagnolia.โ€

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