James Ellroy is the author of, among other works, the Underworld U.S.A. Trilogy ( American Tabloid, The Cold Six Thousand, and Blood’s a Rover ) and the L.A. Quartet novels ( The Black Dahlia, The Big Nowhere, L.A. Confidential, and White Jazz ). He was awarded the 2022 Los Angeles Times Robert Kirsch Award for lifetime achievement and lives in Colorado. His latest novel is Red Sheet. Photo by Marion Ettlinger
Biography via Criterion.
The List
1
High and Low
Akira Kurosawa
1963
142 min
2
Brief Encounter
David Lean
1945
86 min
3
Le cercle rouge
UnavailableJean-Pierre Melville
1970
140 min
4
Pickup on South Street
UnavailableSamuel Fuller
1953
80 min
5
Kiss Me Deadly
UnavailableRobert Aldrich
1955
106 min
6
Anatomy of a Murder
UnavailableOtto Preminger
1959
161 min
7
Nashville
UnavailableRobert Altman
1975
160 min
8
L’avventura
Michelangelo Antonioni
1960
144 min
9
Miller’s Crossing
UnavailableJoel Coen
1990
115 min
10
Band of Outsiders
UnavailableJean-Luc Godard
1964
97 min