PTA Recommends You Watch These Five Films Before ‘One Battle After Another’

So we’re inching closer to the release of Paul Thomas Anderson’s “One Battle After Another.” The director shared a note on VistaVision and 70mm screenings (locations listed here), with tickets now available for select “first showing” IMAX 70mm events on September 24. The nationwide rollout follows on September 26.

Branded “Strategically Unprepared,” these advance screenings are not the first ones though. NYC press, whoever stayed put and didn’t go to TIFF, will be getting a sneak peek at the film this Friday.

Anderson is also back on TCM, programming five films set to air the day “One Battle After Another” opens. While not directly cited as inspirations, the connective tissue is clear.

• Running on Empty (Sidney Lumet)

• Midnight Run (Martin Brest)

• The French Connection (William Friedkin)

• The Battle of Algiers (Gillo Pontecorvo)

• The Searchers (John Ford)

Lumet’s “Running on Empty” taps into the moral weight of an activist family on the run Brest’s “Midnight Run” is a cross-country road movie with comedic elements. Friedkin’s “The French Connection” is there for the car scenes. Pontecorvo’s “The Battle of Algiers” is all about the political insurgency, a blueprint for urban warfare and activism. Ford’s “The Searchers” was shot in VistaVision, like Anderson’s film, and does have to do with the search for a stolen child.

All of these clearly echo into “One Battle After Another.” PTA’s note is below.