Chart: Thomas Porostocky Blade Runner; 007: Everett Collection

Christopher Nolan owes a lot to 1977: Star Wars, Close Encounters of the Third Kind, and The Spy Who Loved Me—three movies he often cites as major influences. But more important, 1977 was the year his dad took him to the theater to see 2001: A Space Odyssey. The precocious kid instantly fell in love, and a career was born. “Movies become indistinguishable from our own memories,” Nolan says. “You file them away and they become very personal.” Those memories burrow through time and erupt in his films, so we journeyed back to see which works and artists have incepted him.