"For me, this is an almost perfect film. It is worth seeing for John Bryan’s sets alone, a master class on how to use texture and film architecture to create the illusion of depth and atmosphere. The script and acting are very fine, but Alec Guinness’s famous or infamous portrayal of Fagin is probably his best performance on-screen."

"A great collaboration between Wim Wenders and Sam Shepard. I love Robby Müller’s cinematography. They started the film with only part of a shooting script and then it evolved from the journey, the landscapes, and the shooting itself. That’s part of the reason the film is so special—it wasn’t all planned out ahead of time."

"Quick cheat again. I could easily have listed Le cercle rouge, Army of Shadows, Le doulos and Le deuxieme souffle, which are all in the Criterion collection. Melville is probably my favorite director and was a huge influence on the script of Drive. The cinema of process and silent taciturn heroes whose tough-guy exteriors hide lonely, fragile hearts."