7 movies that inspired Netflix’s Cowboy Bebop, and how to watch them

His 2021 remake of Sci-Fi Western anime is a masterpiece in design and style.Cowboy Bebop, showrunner André Nemec was intent on creating a series that would not ape the original, but instead live in the spiritYou can do it.

That meant looking back on the live-action movies which first inspired director Shinichirō Watanabe back when the Cowboy Bebopwas created in 1998 using the inspirations of reverse engineering to create new perspectives and scenarios. Cowboy Bebop series. “We put a pretty extensive and expansive list together, and we spent a lot of time really looking at the inspirations,” Nemec told Polygon earlier this year.

Why did they make the list? Here’s a deeper dive into the seven films that Nemec gave says influenced Netflix’s live-action Cowboy BebopThese are the best places to look for them.


The Big Sleep

Humphrey Bogart and Laruen Bacall in The Big Sleep.

Image: Warner Bros. Home Entertainment

Based on Raymond Chandler’s 1939 novel, Howard Hawks’ 1946 film noir classicThe Big SleepHumphrey Bogart plays Philip Marlowe as a Los Angeles private detective hired to help settle gambling debts. The investigation that began as routine quickly becomes a high-stakes case involving conspiracy, murder and blackmail. Working alongside Vivian (Lauren Bacall), Sternwood’s eldest daughter, Marlowe must ensnare the true culprit behind the blackmail scheme if he has any hope of freeing Sternwood’s family — and himself — from this deadly mystery. What makes the movie so enjoyable and may be a source of inspiration for Nemec or Watanabe is its prickly script. It is both complex and sharp, but it is also the film’s joy. Screenwriters Leigh Brackett, Jules Furthman, William Faulkner (yes, that William Faulkner) find the humor in Chandler’s writing even when things take a turn or the grave.

The Big SleepThis apartment is for rent starting at $2.99 Amazon, ApplePlease see the following: Vudu.

The Good, Bad, and the Ugly

Eli Wallach and Clint Eastwood in The Good, the Bad and the Ugly.

Image: 20th Century Fox Home Entertainment

Sergio Leone’s 1966 epic The Good, The Bad and the UglyThis classic spaghetti western is a timeless classic. Clint Eastwood stars alongside Lee Van Cleef and Eli Wallach. They play a group of outlaws and bounty hunters who all want $200,000 in gold. Unfolding across several explosive gunfights, frantic chases, and tense showdowns across the plains of a mythic desert, all framed with Leone’s signature use of long shot cinematography and elevated by Ennio Morricone’s evocative score, The Good, The Bad and the Ugly This classic Western film is a cinematic masterpiece that will be cherished by all Western storytellers. (See the “Cowboy” in Cowboy Bebop.)

The Good, Bad, and the Uglyis streaming on HBO Max.

Bonnie and Clyde

Faye Dunaway and Warren Beatty in Bonnie and Clyde (1967)

Warner Home Video

Arthur Penn’s biographical crime drama Bonnie and ClydThe film was considered a counter-cultural success when it debuted in theaters on October 6, 1967. Warren Beatty and Faye Dunaway star as Bonnie Parker and Clyde Barrow, real outlaws who lead their gang through the Depression-era United States in a series of bank heists and vicious robberies. Dunaway, Beatty’s performances are electrifying as they relentlessly follow the law while avoiding disaster wherever possible. This movie is a benchmark for what the future holds. Cowboy Bebop cast, and what trailers suggest is a wild-but-often-violent tone for the new series.

Bonnie and Clyde can be streamed on HBO Max.

2001: A Space Odyssey

2001 a space odyssey: dave in close up in his space helmet

Warner Bros. Pictures

2001: A Space OdysseyThis is an unassailable masterpiece of science-fiction cinema. It’s a work that displays incredible visual ability and operatic scale and whose legacy will be as long as the shadows of any of its famous monoliths. Co-written by science-fiction author Arthur C. Clarke, Stanley Kubrick’s landmark 1968 film follows the epic voyage of the Discovery One from Earth to Jupiter following the discovery of a mysterious artifact on the surface of the Moon. Humanity attempts to comprehend an unknown alien intelligence, but the voyage becomes complicated as Discovery One’s onboard AI gains consciousness and threatens the lives of its crew. From the film’s opening flashback to the dawn of human evolution to its dazzling and iconic “star gate” sequence, 2001: A Space OdysseyFor serious fans of sci-fi, this is a must-watch. Great spaceships. Nemec promised to build great spaceships.

2001: A Space OdysseyYou can stream it on HBO Max.

Dirty Harry

Clint Eastwood as Harry in Dirty Harry

Warner Home Video

Clint Eastwood stars in Don Siegel’s 1971 action-thriller Dirty Harry as “Dirty” Harry Callahan, a San Francisco Police Inspector with a reputation for unorthodox methods and a mercenary attitude towards killers and criminals. When a serial sniper calling themselves “the Scorpio killer” begins to terrorize the city, Callahan is assigned to apprehend the killer and bring them to just — by any and all means necessary. With thrilling gun fights, chases, and Eastwood’s terrific performance, Dirty HarrySpike Spiegel was the model for action-thrillers involving police officers. Spike Spiegel is the complete opposite of a cop. However, he lives up to a moral code and can still fire his guns.

Dirty HarryThis property is available to be rented for only $3.99 Amazon, ApplePlease see the following: Vudu.

Lethal Weapon

Detective Martin Riggs (Mel Gibson, right) with LAPD veteran Roger Murtaugh (Danny Glover, left) in the 1987 movie “Lethal Weapon.” 

Warner Home Video

Danny Glover and Mel Gibson in Richard Donner’s original 1987 buddy cop action drama Lethal WeaponRoger Murtaugh, a retired LAPD detective who is just a few years from retiring and Martin Riggs, a shrewd cop grieving the loss of his wife. When the two are partnered together, they’ll have to set aside their remarkable differences to take down a formidable drug and prostitution ring run by General Peter McAllister (Mitchell Ryan). Lethal WeaponGibson and Glover at their heights of fame saw the birth of a number of sequels. A 2016 TV series featuring Clayne Crawford, Damon Wayans, and Clayne Crawford also spawned. However, between Glover’s “too old for this shit” straight man personality and Gibson’s wild-eyed ferocity, the original Lethal WeaponThis is arguably the greatest entry in the series. You can easily see why someone like Nemec would look back to Donner’s movie to strike the done for an IRL Spike and Jet Black.

Lethal WeaponYou can stream it on HBO MaxAnd Peacock.

Crow

Brandon Lee as Eric Draven in “The Crow”

Lionsgate Home Entertainment

Based on James O’Barr’s dark fantasy comic series, Dark City director Alex Proyas’ 1994 superhero film THe Crow stars the late Brandon Lee as Eric Draven, a poetic up-and-coming rock musician who is brutally murdered by the henchmen of a powerful crime lord along with his fiancée Shelly. Eric is resurrected on Halloween Eve by a mysterious Crow, one year after his death, and returns to the role of an angel who seeks revenge on those who took his life. It is famous for Brandon Lee’s death, which was tragically shot and killed during production. CrowThis is an amazing visual spectacle, and an exciting revenge thriller. As many have noted over the years, Watanabe seems to have lifted quite directly from the film for “Ballad Of Fallen Angels,” which the Netflix series is likely to interpret in its own way.

Crowstreaming on Paramount Plus.

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