This is a wonderful little article, written by architect Daniel Libeskind (he designed the WTC memorial) – and in it he describes how North by Northwest changed his life. A man after my own heart.
It was the Mount Rushmore scene in particular that had the greatest impact on him as a child – He saw it on his first trip to America, at Radio City Music Hall (he didn’t speak a word of English at the time) … Beautiful article about America. Go and read it.