Hollywood movies don’t get much better than The French Connection, one of the great successes of ‘70s American cinema, and another of Anderson’s TCM picks. A fictionalized adaptation of Robin Moore’s true-crime book of the same name, The French Connection stars Gene Hackman and Roy Scheider as NYPD narcotics detectives Popeye Doyle and Cloudy Russo, on the trail of a wealthy French heroin smuggler. Director William Friedkin led a famously chaotic production, which only served the film’s gritty, chaotic, down-in-the-muck style. Unafraid of the seedier side of police work at the time, the film remains as nervy and exciting as it did upon release in 1971. Nearly every car-chase movie—and One Battle After Another features a great one—has taken inspiration from The French Connection’s iconic car chase underneath an elevated train on which a hitman is making a run for it. With the camera often locked to the car’s front bumper, it’s one of the most viscerally intense car-action sequences ever filmed, right down to its mistimed crashes and near-misses.

Midnight Run

Anderson has long held Midnight Run in high esteem, going so far as to give Philip Baker Hall’s character in his feature debut Hard Eight the name Sidney, the same as Hall’s minor supporting character in Martin Brest’s hit 1988 buddy comedy. Of course, it is yet another he programmed to air on TCM in prep for One Battle After Another. The film stars Robert De Niro as a bounty hunter out to bring a mob accountant, played by Charles Grodin, in to a bail bondsman. What proceeds from there is a classic of ‘80s action-comedy filmmaking and bombast, including multiple car chases, helicopter explosions, jumping from trains, and more. Knowing Anderson’s affinity for the film, its influence on the action in One Battle After Another is obvious, as is its genuine interest in its lead characters, their problems, and their unlikely friendship.

Terminator 2

TERMINATOR 2: JUDGMENT DAY, Edward Furlong, 1991Everett Collection

Though Anderson hasn’t (yet) cited James Cameron’s Terminator 2 as a direct influence on One Battle After Another, it wouldn’t be a surprise, given that Terminator 2 features one of the biggest, most incredible car chases ever filmed, and that Anderson has a very specific personal history with the film. In a 1997 interview with Charlie Rose, the young Boogie Nights director shared his experience briefly attending film school at NYU. “I walked into a film class, it was about screenwriting, and this guy, the opening line was, ‘If you’re here to write Terminator 2, just leave now,’” Anderson recalled. “And I thought, That’s terrible, there could be a kid in the corner there that wants to write Terminator 2. That’s his vision, that’s his movie, that’s what he likes. Let him do it.” That experience led Anderson to drop out of film school after only two days and not look back. All these years later, he’s finally made his own Terminator 2, the PTA way.