Director Greta Gerwig’s movie “Barbie” is a smash hit this summer. And it’s easy to watch because it’s on thousands of movie screens in theaters nationwide. But if you wanted to check out all of the movies that inspired Gerwig’s film, be prepared to get frustrated.
In an interview with Letterboxd, she identified 33 movies that inspired her comedy-fantasy movie.
Of those, 21 are available from various subscription streaming video services such as Amazon Prime Video, Max and Paramount+, according to Reelgood. Also, nine of the titles are available from Kanopy, a free service for library card holders.
Nine of the movies are only available for digital rental, which usually costs $3.99 a title.
However, three titles are not available for streaming or digital rental at present. They are “All That Jazz” (1979), “And the Ship Sails On” (1983), and “A Matter of Life and Death” (1946) aka “Stairway to Heaven.”
Here’s the full list of Greta Gerwig’s movie influences for “Barbie”:
The Wizard of Oz (1939)
The Umbrellas of Cherbourg (1964)
The Young Girls of Rochefort (1967)
Model Shop (1969)
An American in Paris (1951)
Singin’ in the Rain (1952)
The Red Shoes (1948)
A Matter of Life and Death (1946)
All That Jazz (1979)
Heaven Can Wait (1978)
Oklahoma! (1955)
Women on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown (1988)
2001: A Space Odyssey (1968)
His Girl Friday (1940)
The Philadelphia Story (1940)
Gold Diggers of 1935 (1935)
Twentieth Century (1934)
The Ladies Man (1961)
Rear Window (1954)
And the Ship Sails On (1983)
Wings of Desire (1987)
The Earrings of Madame de… (1953)
Close Encounters of the Third Kind (1977)
Modern Times (1936)
Pee-wee’s Big Adventure (1985)
Grease (1978)
The Truman Show (1998)
Mon Oncle (1958)
PlayTime (1967)
Splash (1984)
Saturday Night Fever (1977)
The Bee Gees: How Can You Mend a Broken Heart (2020)
The Godfather (1972)
Photo: Margot Robbie as Barbie in “Barbie” promotional photo.