Susanna Hoffs

“Beyond the Valley of the Dolls. Anyone who's ever played music in a rock band has to see this movie. This movie had a huge impact on the Bangles and our whole, the whole kind of zeitgeist of the band. And I, I was the one who had seen it first and insisted everyone in the band and every one of our friends go see it.”

“Seconds. Just, first of all, John Frankenheimer. Also, this design, very Saul Bass looking. I don't know if it was Saul Bass. I, I'm gonna say it probably was. This movie intrigued my brothers and me so much and scared us. And also, there's a scene at a Malibu party that's exceptional. And I just, I, I can't, I could talk for, I could talk for an hour about this. But Jay, my husband, who's a filmmaker, had never, ever seen it, ever. So I had the great pleasure of watching it on Criterion with him for the very first time, and his mind was blown.”

“Oh, Klute. Okay, this is one of my favorite movies of all time. The score is, is incredible in this movie. There are moments where it's so chilling that your, the hairs on your arm prickle up, and you feel so much the point of view of Jane Fonda's character in this. I don't want to, are you allowed to give, okay, this, there's the scene at the end where she's in peril, and I, I can't watch that without my heart racing and my blood pressure going up. It is one of the most chilling scenes in, in all, all of cinema, if you ask me. And you feel her performance. I mean, and I know this sounds a little bit graphic, but when there's snot coming out of her nose and she's crying because she feels like she's not gonna survive the next five minutes, it's just a perfect film, and I never tire of watching it. I watch it every year.”

“This movie, down to the score and down to the trailer for it, it's a feast for the eyes. And it's also has sort of a, a little bit of a noir storyline to it. It's got a lot of intrigue, and you never know what to expect. But there's just, the camera work is so stunning. It's just like looking at a beautiful painting that you never want to tear your eyes from. But also, again, all these elements all at play at the same time in La piscine.”

“I'm picking Love Streams. My best friend from starting from preschool through elementary school was Liz Gazzara, Ben Gazzara's daughter. So Liz and I would mix martinis for, for John Cassavetes and Peter Falk and Ben Gazzara, and there were always festivities at their house. There was beautiful art, there was a pool table that those three guys would, would shoot pool at. And I've always felt a connection to John Cassavetes's movies. The feeling that you've dropped in the room and you're right there. You're just, you're like in there, you're just not being able to join in the conversation. That's one thing that I love about Cassavetes's movies. They're so, not only visually beautiful, but unique storytelling, and the voices of the characters, you almost feel like they're ad-libbing their dialogue, that's how real it feels. But there's such beauty to it, there's such beauty. When I, when I've been re-watching all of his early films, I just, I'm struck by that.”

“Midnight Cowboy was a life-changing film for me, from the camera work through to the character design. I mean, you feel so much for these two human beings. You love them, and you worry for them, and your heart breaks for them. And I don't want to give too much away, but that scene when Dustin is finally, finally getting out of New York City, he has the feeling of the warmth of the sun, I think, coming through the window of that bus as he drifts off into wherever we drift off to. Must-see movie.”