# Famous Leader's Favorite Movies **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [April 14, 2003, 11:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/famous-leaders-favorite-movies/168748 "2003-04-14T23:00:08Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 13\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Adam\_P](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ee7513/32.png) [@Adam\_P](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Adam_P)\ **Post date:** [April 14, 2003, 11:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/famous-leaders-favorite-movies/168748/1 "2003-04-14T23:00:08Z")
I’ve got The Pope: Baz Luhrman’s STRICTLY BALLROOM Stalin: THE GRAPES OF WRATH Uday Hussein: Not enough info known yet, but apparently Bond films, such as LICENSE TO KILL, are/were close to his heart. Anybody know any others? ---
**Author:** ![Blackeyes](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/f6c823/32.png) [@Blackeyes](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Blackeyes)\ **Post date:** [April 14, 2003, 11:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/famous-leaders-favorite-movies/168748/2 "2003-04-14T23:19:24Z")
Kennedy loved the Bond films, such as _From Russia with Love_. ---
**Author:** ![Banger](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/8491ac/32.png) [@Banger](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Banger)\ **Post date:** [April 14, 2003, 11:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/famous-leaders-favorite-movies/168748/3 "2003-04-14T23:41:13Z")
Saddam Hussein: _The Godfather_ ---
**Author:** ![RealityChuck](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/realitychuck/32/195_2.png) [@RealityChuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RealityChuck)\ **Post date:** [April 15, 2003, 12:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/famous-leaders-favorite-movies/168748/4 "2003-04-15T00:58:21Z")
Richard Nixon: **Patton** Adoph Hitler was known to like Leni Riefenstahl’s **The Blue Light** ; he told Goebbels she was the one to direct “Triumph of the Will” after seeing it. ---
**Author:** ![Laughing\_Lagomorph](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/6bbea6/32.png) [@Laughing\_Lagomorph](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Laughing_Lagomorph)\ **Post date:** [April 15, 2003, 1:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/famous-leaders-favorite-movies/168748/5 "2003-04-15T01:10:09Z")
Howard Hughes: _The Conqueror_? ---
**Author:** ![Laughing\_Lagomorph](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/6bbea6/32.png) [@Laughing\_Lagomorph](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Laughing_Lagomorph)\ **Post date:** [April 15, 2003, 1:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/famous-leaders-favorite-movies/168748/6 "2003-04-15T01:11:42Z")
Right after I hit submit I remembered hearing that Dan Quayle’s favorite movie was _Ferris Bueller’s Day Off_, or at least it was about 10 years ago. ---
**Author:** ![astorian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ad7895/32.png) [@astorian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/astorian)\ **Post date:** [April 15, 2003, 2:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/famous-leaders-favorite-movies/168748/7 "2003-04-15T02:10:21Z")
John Kennedy WAS a huge fan of Ian Fleming’s spy novels, but he was already dead before the movie version of “From Russia, With Love” came out. ---
**Author:** ![Walloon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/fbc32d/32.png) [@Walloon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Walloon)\ **Post date:** [April 15, 2003, 6:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/famous-leaders-favorite-movies/168748/8 "2003-04-15T06:38:49Z")
According to Patrick Robertson’s _Guinness Book of Movie Facts & Feats_,[ul] [li]Both Stalin and Churchill named _Lady Hamilton_ (UK, 1941) (a.k.a. _That Hamilton Woman_) as their favorite film[/li][li]Hitler’s favorite American film was said to be _The Rebel_ (1933)[/li][li]President Tito’s favorite film was _The Petrified Forest_ (US, 1936)[/li][li]Leonid Brezhnev’s favorite movies included _Dirty Harry_, _Magnum Force_, _Taxi Driver_, and _Emmanuelle_[/li][li]Romanian dictator Ceaucescu and his wife Elena watched _The Great Gatsby_ (1974) at least once a week.[/li][/ul] ---
**Author:** ![ChalkPit](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/a88e4f/32.png) [@ChalkPit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ChalkPit)\ **Post date:** [April 15, 2003, 9:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/famous-leaders-favorite-movies/168748/9 "2003-04-15T09:23:20Z")
I thought Howard Hughes’ favourite film was _Ice Station Zebra_ ---
**Author:** ![bonzer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/45deac/32.png) [@bonzer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bonzer)\ **Post date:** [April 15, 2003, 10:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/famous-leaders-favorite-movies/168748/10 "2003-04-15T22:53:22Z")
The [Guardian’s recent reprint](http://film.guardian.co.uk/features/featurepages/0,4120,929182,00.html) of a Salon article going into detail about Kim Jong-il’s taste in films. Which he expresses by writing books on how to make them and then kidnapping his favourite foreign director in order to put these precepts into effect. Quite some story. ---
**Author:** ![bonzer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/45deac/32.png) [@bonzer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bonzer)\ **Post date:** [April 15, 2003, 11:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/famous-leaders-favorite-movies/168748/11 "2003-04-15T23:02:16Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by ChalkPit \* > I thought Howard Hughes’ favourite film was _Ice Station Zebra_ If his preferred taste was Alistair MacLean adaptations, goodness knows how he reacted to _The Satan Bug_. ---
**Author:** ![Number](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/number/32/242_2.png) [@Number](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Number)\ **Post date:** [April 15, 2003, 11:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/famous-leaders-favorite-movies/168748/12 "2003-04-15T23:51:54Z")
Bill Clinton’s is _High Noon_. [cite](http://www.salon.com/news/1999/02/cov_02news.html) ---
**Author:** ![HPL](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/3da27b/32.png) [@HPL](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HPL)\ **Post date:** [April 16, 2003, 3:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/famous-leaders-favorite-movies/168748/13 "2003-04-16T03:42:21Z")
I could have sworn I’ve heard of King Kong(1933) being some leaders favorite (or maybe just favored)movie. Perhaps Hitler?