Editing The Night of the Hunter (film) (section)

===Legacy===
In 1992, the United States [[Library of Congress]] deemed ''The Night of the Hunter'' to be "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant", and selected the film for preservation in its [[National Film Registry]].{{sfn|Couchman|2009|p=216}} The film was rated No. 90 on [[Bravo (US TV channel)|Bravo]]'s [[100 Scariest Movie Moments]]. In a 2007 listing of the 100 Most Beautiful Films, ''[[Cahiers du cinéma]]'' ranked ''The Night of the Hunter'' No. 2.<ref name="cahiers-du-cinéma"/> It is among the top ten in the BFI list of the 50 films you should see by the age of 14. In 2008, it was ranked as the 71st greatest movie of all time by ''[[Empire (magazine)|Empire]]'' magazine in its issue of ''The 500 Greatest Movies of All Time''.<ref>{{cite web|website=Empire|url=https://empireonline.com/500/85.asp|title=The 500 Greatest Films Of All Time|access-date=January 28, 2018|date=June 12, 2017|archive-date=September 24, 2015|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150924011912/http://www.empireonline.com/500/85.asp|url-status=dead}}</ref> In 2012, ''[[Sight and Sound]]'' magazine's decennial "Greatest Films of All Time" poll ranked it as the 63rd greatest film ever made; in 2022, the same poll put it at No. 25.<ref>{{cite web | title = The 100 Greatest Films of All Time 2012 | url = https://www.bfi.org.uk/sight-and-sound/polls/greatest-films-all-time-2012 | date = 2021-06-28}}</ref><ref>{{cite web | title = The Greatest Films of All Time | url = https://www.bfi.org.uk/sight-and-sound/greatest-films-all-time | date = 2022-12-01}}</ref>

[[American Film Institute]] recognition
* [[AFI's 100 Years...100 Thrills]] – No. 34
* [[AFI's 100 Years...100 Heroes & Villains]] – Preacher Harry Powell - Villain No. 29

Powell's speech about love and hate has become a memorable moment in film history. In the 1989 [[Spike Lee]] film ''[[Do the Right Thing]]'', the character [[Radio Raheem]] wears [[brass knuckles]] saying "love" and "hate" on each hand and gives a speech that is an almost verbatim copy of Powell's.<ref>{{cite web |last=Valladares |first=Carlos |title=Waking up to the genius of 'The Night of the Hunter,' showing at the Stanford |url=https://www.sfchronicle.com/movies/article/Waking-up-to-the-genius-of-The-Night-of-the-12857435.php |website=[[San Francisco Chronicle]] |date=April 23, 2018 |access-date=February 8, 2020}}</ref>

The [[Coen brothers]] have referenced ''The Night of the Hunter'' in several of their own films, including ''[[The Big Lebowski]]'' ("the Dude abides", an echo of Rachel's closing line "They abide, and they endure") and ''[[True Grit (2010 film)|True Grit]]'' (the visual style of Rooster's night ride with Mattie is similar to that of John and Pearl's river journey, and the score uses the music from ''Leaning on the Everlasting Arms'').<ref>{{cite web |last=Whipp |first=Glenn |title=The Coen brothers' gritty tale for kids |url=https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-2011-jan-11-la-en-true-grit-20110111-story.html |website=[[The Los Angeles Times]] |date=January 11, 2011 |access-date=January 23, 2021}}</ref>