The Dark Knight has become one of the most influential movies ever made, as it changed the landscape of cinema as we know it, both thematically and technically, but it didn’t become that without a few influences of its own.

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With The Dark Knight being not only the greatest superhero of all-time, but the fourth greatest movie ever according to IMDb, it has a ton of influences, and while many of them are obvious, director Christopher Nolan found inspiration from some surprising movies.

Stalag 17 (1953)

Prisoner of war in a German camp in Stalag 17

Stalag 17, one of the best movies directed by the movie-veteran Billy Wilder, was one of many movies that Nolan screened to the cast and crew during the production of the movie, as he reportedly wanted to emulate the tone of the film.

The war movie is least like The Dark Knight of all the films that influenced it, as the war epic is as much a comedy as it is a drama.

A Clockwork Orange (1971)

Alex with his droogs

Nolan has not held back from professing his love of 2001: A Space Odyssey over the years, but it’s Stanley Kubrick’s 1971 movie more than anything else in his filmography that had the biggest impact on The Dark Knight.

A Clockwork Orange had a huge influence over the facial appearance of the Joker. Being one of Malcolm McDowell’s best movies according to Rotten Tomatoes, the actor’s grin when playing Alex influenced Heath Ledger’s iconic smirk.

Thank You For Smoking (2005)

Nick shakes hands with a cancer patient on live TV in Thank You For Smoking.

Thank You For Smoking, a movie about a spokesperson for Big Tabacco who spins media articles on the negative impact of smokingis a massively overlooked comedy from the mid-2000s starring Aaron Eckhart.

The actor, who also plays Harvey Dent in The Dark Knight, turned in such a classy performance as a public speaker that Nolan’s ears perked up. Nolan has said that he specifically wanted Eckhart after he watched the comedy, putting every other actor out of the running.

Brokeback Mountain (2005)

Brokeback Mountain

When it was first announced that Heath Ledger was cast as the Joker in The Dark Knight, it caused a lot of fans to debate if that was a good idea, as the actor was best known as the lead in romantic comedies. But similarly to seeing Eckhart in Thank You For Smoking, upon viewing Brokeback Mountain, one of director Ang Lee’s best movies according to IMDbNolan claimed that he knew immediately that he wanted Ledger as the iconic villain.

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Nolan has said about Ledger’s role in Brokeback Mountain that, “he had such a lack of vanity. He wasn't afraid to bury himself in his character.”

King Kong (1933)

King Kong fights the airplanes atope the Empire State Building.

There have been many iterations of King Kong, but it was the original 1933 movie that influenced Christian Bale’s second outing as the caped crusader.

Though there are many parallels between the two movies, such as Joker falling from a skyscraper at the end of the film, the influence that King Kong had is more in the tone of The Dark Knight than anything else.

Batman Begins (2005)

Batman sits on a train platform in Batman Begins

People will argue which Batman movie is better until the end of time, but without the world that had been created in Batman Begins, there would be no The Dark Knight.

Whether it’s Christian Bale’s unique interpretation of Bruce Wayne, the martial arts fighting style that Batman adopted, which hadn’t been seen in a Batman movie before, or the realism, which is unordinary for a superhero movie, The Dark Knight built on Batman Begins’ foundation.

Black Sunday (1977)

Black Sunday (1977)

Black Sunday is a political thriller that was produced by Robert Evans, the superstar 70s movie producer responsible for The Godfather, Chinatown, and many others.

The pacing of the thriller was clearly a huge influence on Nolan when it came to creating the movie’s tension. Black Sunday had an even bigger influence on the sequel, The Dark Knight Rises, as the movie inspired the whole stadium scene with Bane.

Citizen Kane (1941)

Citizen Kane

Being one of the classic movies that should never be remadeCitizen Kane has had a lasting impact on Nolan, just like it has on many other directors. The classic movie is another one of the films that Nolan played for the cast during production.

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Though there isn’t any specific link or influence that can be found in The Dark Knight, the overall tone of the noir movie was lifted by Nolan for the superhero movie. And when all is said and done, there’s no denying that The Dark Knight is the Citizen Kane of superhero movies.

Cat People (1982)

Cat People

Cat People is another movie that was played to the cast and crew during a halt in the production of The Dark Knight. Most people might not have heard of the 1982 erotic thriller, but it was a massive influence on Nolan, and it’s the second movie to influence The Dark Knight that stars Malcolm McDowell.

The movie also features an incredible score from Giorgio Moroder, which may have had an impact on how Nolan approaches his intentions for the compositions of his movies.

Heat (1995)

Neil runs through the street with a machine gun in Heat

The Joker’s first appearance in the movie, when he takes of the mask and reveals that he had been pitting his henchmen against each other during the bank robbery, it was a clear homage to Heat.

Being arguably the best heist movie ever made, Heat’s main heist scene, which erupts into a shoot out with the feds, isn’t the only callback to the movie in The Dark Knight either, as the Batman movie is riddled with them.

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