Benicio del Toro reveals his five favourite films of all time

Benicio Del Toro is definitely an exceptionally talented star and there aren’t many actors in the current cinema scenes who are as suave as Benicio del Toro, a Puerto Rican star who has carved a reputation for himself in a variety of genres including major blockbusters and independent films.

Some would say commercially George Clooney is up there too though media bods would disagree, though they have starred in multiple films together.

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Del Toro won an Oscar for his supporting performance in Steven Soderbergh’s criminal drama Traffic in 2001, and he was nominated for his supporting role in 21 Grams at the 2004 Academy Awards.

Del Toro rose to prominence after starring alongside Chris Pratt, Bradley Cooper, Zoe Saldana, Dave Bautista, and Karen Gillan in Marvel’s Guardians of the Galaxy as the mysterious Collector.
Del Toro later appeared in Avengers: Infinity War after becoming a prominent character in the series as well as the Disney+ animated series What If… that explored the many possibilities of Marvel’s multiverse.

Celebrated for his various roles across modern cinema, del Toro has become known as a key contemporary actor in the public eye, lending his time to the film publication Rotten Tomatoes to share his favourite films of all time with his fans.

The first choice on his list goes to a coming-of-age classic in François Truffaut’s monochrome drama The 400 Blows, a film that is now recognised as a key text of French New Wave cinema. “Love the music, love the story, love the ending,” del Toro lovingly recalled, with the film having a significant impact on the young actor at the time, adding: “To me, that was the one when I saw it I went ‘wow’ I wanna see more”.

From filmmaker Humberto Solás, the Cuban drama Lucia is del Toro’s second choice, with the actor believing the movie “is still important today,” in its depiction of three Cuban women, each named Lucía, from three different historical periods. Detailing the hardship of living through the Cuban war of independence as well as life in the nation through the 1930s and 1960s, del Toro highlights the performance of Adela Legrá in the film, noting, “I think she gives one of those performances that is like Brando-esque, she’s so good in it”.

Taking his choices a little more mainstream, del Toro guides our attention to his third pick, the thrilling crime drama The Harder They Come starring Jimmy Cliff. “One hell of a soundtrack, one hell of a movie” the actor states, making note of the musical core that runs through the film that tells the story of a reggae singer who becomes embroiled with crime lords and drug pushers. “The more I watch it, the more I discover and the more I enjoy it,” del Toro enthusiastically describes.

Growing up in Puerto Rico, del Toro describes the terror of The Creature from the Black Lagoon, a classic Universal horror villain that the young actor believed could’ve been real. “The Creature From The Black Lagoon was a monster that could live in the humidity and the heat and was that monster that could be rapping on my window. It’s a beautiful story in a way,” the actor fondly remembers as a lover of the classic monster movies of old.

His fifth and final choice goes to The Last Detail, a lesser-known Jack Nicholson film that follows two navy men who are ordered to bring a young offender to prison but decide to show him a good time before he’s locked up. “Complicated relationships and great scenes, a lot of heart” make The Last Detail such a favourite according to del Toro, with the film showing “Jack Nicholson at his best”.

Sadly ‘The Usual Suspect’ or ‘Traffic’ did not make it.

Take a look at the full list of Benicio del Toro’s five favourite films, below.

Benicio del Toro’s five favourite films:

The 400 Blows (François Truffaut, 1959)

Lucia (Humberto Solás, 1968)

The Harder They Come (Perry Henzell, 1972)

The Creature from the Black Lagoon (Jack Arnold, 1954)

The Last Detail (Hal Ashby, 1973)