I've Got A Peculiar Weakness For Criminals

Man Isn't A Noble Savage, He's An Ignoble Savage. He Is Irrational, Brutal, Weak, Silly, Unable To Be Objective About Anything Where His Own Interests Are Involved-that About Sums It Up. I'm Interested In The Brutal And Violent Nature Of Man Because It's A True Picture Of Him. And Any Attempt To Create Social Institutions On A False View Of The Nature Of Man Is Probably Doomed To Failure.

There's Something In The Human Personality Which Resents Things That Are Clear, And Conversely, Something Which Is Attracted To Puzzles, Enigmas, And Allegories.

From The Very Beginning, All Of My Films Have Divided The Critics. Some Have Thought Them Wonderful, And Others Have Found Very Little Good To Say. But Subsequent Critical Opinion Has Always Resulted In A Very Remarkable Shift To The Favorable. In One Instance, The Same Critic Who Originally Rapped The Film Has Several Years Later Put It On An All-time Best List. But Of Course, The Lasting And Ultimately Most Important Reputation Of A Film Is Not Based On Reviews, But On What, If Anything, People Say About It Over The Years, And On How Much Affection For It They Have.

Regret Isn't Going To Get Me Anywhere. It's Like Being Obsessed With Something. It Doesn't Bring You Anywhere.

You Know, I Often Thought That The Gangster And The Artist Are The Same In The Eyes Of The Masses. They're Admired And Hero-worshipped But There Is Always Present Underlying Desire To See Them Destroyed At The Peak Of Their Glory.