"Jim Jarmusch in Black and White"
In Details Magazine 3, 1996:
"I'm not good at lists--they change by the day, the hour....Anyway, the following films aren't in any order, and they aren't my favorite films of all time made in black and white. They're twelve films that leave a strong impression, largely because of the particular and varied qualities of their black-and-white images.
DON'T LOOK BACK (1967, D.A. Pennebaker) The young, snotty Dylan, in rough, beautifully grainy black and white. The best rock 'n roll movie ever made (alongside Cocksucker Blues by Robert Frank).
FACES (1968, John Cassavetes) Made by hand and from the heart of John Cassavetes. The acting (and beauty) of Gena Rowlands is breathtaking.
THEY LIVE BY NIGHT (1948, Nicholas Ray) Nick Ray's first film. The most romantic and haunting young-criminal-lovers-on-the-run movie ever made.
NOSFERATU (1922, F.W. Murnau) The first (and creepiest) Dracula character, by one of the great poets of cinema.
TOUCH OF EVIL (1958, Orson Welles) Orson Welles takes Charlton Heston and Janet Leigh south of the border, with himself as a very fat and corrupt cop, and Marlene Dietrich as a dark-haired Mexican whore!
ANDREI RUBLEV (1966, Andrei Tarkovsky) The life of the fifteenth-century Russian icon painter, in epic proportions (over three hours long), during which he never paints even a single brush stroke. It may sound dull, but this film is truly amazing (with a brief color sequence at the very end).
BRANDED TO KILL (1967, Seijun Suzuki) The ultimate '60s Japanese hit-man movie, with touches of total surrealism and some of the most sophisticated use of wide-screen composition in the history of cinema
THE FOREIGNER (1978, Amos Poe) The first and most original punk-rock movie, starring Eric Mitchell, the late Anya Phillips, and a cameo by the gorgeous Debbie Harry.
THE NIGHT OF THE HUNTER (1955, Charles Laughton) Whatever is inside Robert Mitchum's character will scare the shit out of you. And check out the unforgettable shot of the dead Shelley Winters at the bottom of the river, her hair flowing like seaweed.
ANOTHER GIRL, ANOTHER PLANET (1992, Michael Almereyda) Eerily "photographed" in Fisher-Price pixelvision. A visual poem about modern life in the East Village by the director of Twister and Nadja.
MAN WITH A MOVIE CAMERA (1929, Dziga Vertov) The Soviet revolutionary filmmaker Vertov used to make his crew practice shooting with no film in the camera! Luckily, Vertov got ahold of some film stock once in a while and captured these remarkably juxtaposed images.
PULL MY DAISY (1959, Robert Frank/Alfred Leslie) Only thirty minutes long, this Beat-generation classic is one of the coolest, most human films ever made, and it doesn't even take itself seriously. With Allen Ginsberg, Gregory Corso, Peter Orlovsky, Larry Rivers, a screen debut by Delphine Seyrig, and a relentless and moving "free-bop" voice-over by Jack Kerouac."