40 From The 60's. My Favorite Films From 1960-69

2215   6.9   7.6 

I must admit, I'm not a big fan of Disney animated movies, but this is one of the few that I can admit to liking.
This screen version of the classical Jungle Book had just enough of the bare necessities to barely make it on this list of animated favorites.


....ahem.

17   6.4   4 

Spoiler alert!

In this particular Frankenstein movie, Doc Vic's creation enters the Toho universe & goes from being just a plain ol' human-sized Frankenstein's Monster to becoming a giant several stories tall Frankenstein's Kaiju Monster. Well, at least, in his heart he does.
And here's the spoiler alert part; despite what the movie title suggests, Frankenstein doesn't really actually conquer the world. But at the height of 300 feet, he does end up covering alot more landscape than before.
And in keeping with the theme of mashing up the madcap with the macabre, Mary Shelley rolls over in her grave.

180   7.1   7.2 

The only Barbara Streisand movie in any of my lists.
Seriously.
I promise.

The Mighty Celestial's rating:

65   7   6.4 

One of the things I liked about the Toho daikaiju was their ability to incorporate really cool & creative story-ideas into the middle of the rubbery cheese that was running amok thru the cardboarded streets & buildings of Nippon.
Mothra being my favorite example. Two tiny little beauties act almost as their familiars, who communcate telepathically with great godlike beast. Also, Mothra is usually treated as a Phoenix-like enity, in that every time it dies, it is soon ressurected as a giant egg, soon to hatch into it's larvae form (almost as equally formidable as it's adult moth stage).
For me, it's the over-all mythological slant that accompanies this particular kaiju that sets it apart from it's floppy-footed counterparts & therefore makes it one of my more favorites of the eastern-themed genre.

66   6.5   6.3 

For the first time ever, Godzilla, Minilla, Mothra, Rodan, Gorosaurus, Anguirus, Kumonga, Manda, Baragon, and Varan, all together in one movie, kicking all sorts of ass with their big, floppy rubber feet (or any other appendages of like-minded floppy purposes).
And it's all because of those stupid aliens!
This is the original Monsters Versus Aliens epic,
not to mention, the battle royale of all battle royales! With cheese!
RUN!!!
Run for your lives!!!!

The Mighty Celestial's rating:

428   7.3   7.2 

The Fab Four star in an animated movie about an underwater ride of psychodelica that is supposed to be geared towards kids. But we all know that the only viewers who are gonna be attracted to this feature are those who will grow up with an affinity towards "trips" of a more esoterically exotic nature.

356   7.1   6.6 

To be honest, I'm usually not a real big fan of any exploitation films.
But when I first heard one of the crazy female characters in this flick say the line "Honey, we don't like nothing soft. Everything we touch is hard",
I knew instantly that I wuz in love.

1902   7.8   8 

'Ey, considering who the dad of Rosemary's baby is (hint: "The Lord Of Evil" tends to be the title he tends to use the most as his job description),
does that mean that whenever Rosemary's baby did something good, it would have to be given a time out?

1011   7.5   0 

What is one to do when the sixties are coming to an end, & so is the decade of free love & drugging out for the respectful purpose of reaching a higher state of being?
Get on your Capt. America bike & make an intercontinental trip drug deal big enough to hopefully end up retired in Florida.
And long the way, maybe pick up a football helmet wearing Jack Nick, to keep you company as you make a stop or two off the side of the road to take one last piss onto the vast barren lands of the establishment.

1771   7.7   8.1 

Dustin Hoffman is perfect on his role as Benjamin Braddock,
a young graduate who at the crossroad of his life, is counselled into thinking about getting into plastics.
And in the end, he finds himself getting into Mrs. Robinson, instead.
Ah well,
for the era that this movie came out,
I guess that's close enough.

303   7.6   6.8 

For a long time, I used to think that I was the King of Sinful Sots.
Then I saw this.
And I realized that compared to this guy, I'm just a moldy purple spot
on the dead tomato splot that is his heart.
You are the true rotter,
Mr. Grinch.

285   7.6   7.8 

A simple yet entertaining thriller with Audrey Hepburn in a quite convincing performance as a blind woman, and Alan Arkin in a cool portrayal as a villianous beatnik,
both of whom are characters in this movie who are... well ,y'know.... waiting until dark.

26   7.9   7.9 

A documentary that started in the sixties & released every seven years after with updated installments.
Taking the film segments of the various people chosen for this project as children & watching 'em up against the segments of them as adults, it's almost spooky on it's perspective & can beg the question, at what point in life do humans lose the expressionisms of freespiritness that naturally comes with being a child & become the more restrained walking representive of a crushed spirit that many adults can easily end up as?

592   8.1   8.1 

Yet another western film influenced by the eastern theme of the Seven Samurai, this one involving a group of past their prime cowboy warriors who live in a world that has left them behind. Out to make one last score, they blaze their way down to a mexican stand-off where it's the old take on the new, six-shooters against the machine gun.
And while it may seem that this Mexican stand-off has it's "heroes, Pike & Co. severely out-numbered & over-powered, since the Wild Bunch were never ones to wear white hats, they decide that if they're gonna go down, then they're gonna make sure that they take as down as many of the other bad guys with 'em as they can.
A really cool, not to mention, a pretty violent-for-it's-time western/action flick.

551   8.2   8 

Though movies had been around for many decades by the time of this film's release, with villainous women doing their best to catch up to the terrorizing antics their male counterparts, What Ever Happened to Baby Jane? introduces one of the most iconic.
And I don't think I'm spioling anything by answering the question of what actually did happen to Baby Jane....
She went bat-sh#t crazy is what happpened.

1268   7.5   8 

"You maniacs! You blew it up! Ah, damn you! God damn you all to hell!"



Three astronauts crash land onto a world that they thought they traveled through space to get to.
But as the lead space traveler finds out later, to his chagrin, it was time, not space that they journeyed though that led them to this place of simeon culture.
Featuring one of the most surprise endings in film history (though, by this point in time, is it really that surprising anymore?).

537   7.7   8 

The best thing that I like about this movie is that it is both a spongy thriller & a creamy romantic comedy, in one.
In other words, it's a cinematic Twinkie.

587   8.2   8.4 

Akira Kurosawa's answer to "The Man With No Name" type of cowboy flicks. And of course, I'm sure it goes without saying the Clint Eastwood classic "A Fistful of Dollars" was remake of this.
So, I guess you can say that this is a sushi eastern with a splash of spaghetti western.
Wait, that doesn't make any sense, does it?
Ah screw it.
Let's just say that when it comes to Kurosawa klassics, this is one of those must-sees for any serious film student.

666   8.1   8.1 

For anyone out there who's reminded of someone in their own family when viewing this movie (maybe, particularly during the holidays),
raise your hand.

1070   7.5   7.8 

A stage-based film & one of the few musicals of this genre that I like. For my tastes, this is a production that is enhanced by the presence of the Lady Hepburn, in a role that has her speaking funny, dubbly singing & wearing pygmalionly large hats.

1151   7.7   8 

Boy meets girl,
boy totes his tommy gun,
girl is swept off her feet,
together they go out on a spree,
& then go down (literally) into history.

A gangster flick in the classic sense of the genre,
depicting the story of the original gangstas
of the original on-the-run gangster couple.

2226   7.4   7.8 

The very first Hitchcock movie I ever watched.
During my early years on this planet, my dad used to pack our family into the wood panel-sided Buick station wagon & take us to the drive-in theatre where we were exposed to alot of those 70's campy "when animals attack" movies, like Food Of The Gods, Night Of The Leapus, Swarm, etc...
Goofy escapist fare of whose cheese I really ended up developing quite the "distinguished taste" for.
Therefore, when I first caught a glimpse of this film on the tube, my initial reaction was "Coo-hoooolll!!!... Kinda like the movie 'Frogs!' Except with birds!"

725   7.8   7.9 

"I'm walkin' here! I'm walkin' here!!"

113   8   7.9 

I found Sydney Lumet's original version of Fail-Safe as a very enjoyable & suspensful political-pyschological thriller (even though George Clooney ain't innit). It is an excellent example of a minimalism style used to very good effect to build layer after layer of tension & desperation even within a group of people whose jobs are to prepare for such cataclysmtic situations.

300   7.3   7.6 

Tarantino once stated that Inglourious Basterds was based on the sub-genre of "bunch-of-guys-on-a-mission" war films.
In my opinion, the Guns Of Navarone is one of the most obvious, and for me, one of the best. For alot of the same reasons that I stated in my entry for the Dirty Dozen.

1064   8   8.3 

The Man With No Name returns, but now, he comes with a name, ("Manco"....?), teams up with a partner (Col. Mortimer) & this time around, is out for more than just a fistful of dollars.



Although he had already starred in other cowboy flicks, this is the series that made Clint Eastwood a staple of the genre.
From here on end, even tho not all of Clint's westerns were great, IMO, none of 'em were bad. The roughly cut visage of his face in a Stetson hat and a poncho was one of those iconic images that for me, personally, will always be a fundamental part of the genre. Probably second only to John Wayne, as a matter of fact.

2089   7.7   7.8 

Call me simple, but when it comes to starting my day off right, I would prefer breakfast at MikkyDee's much more than at Tiffany's. Those Egg McMuffins wit' Egg sandwiches, surely, they be nought but the very food of the gods themselves.

1097   7.8   8 

At the outset of the first western movies, the cowboy characters had been categorized between two basic types: Those who wore the white hats, & those who wore the black ones.
As time passed though, the hat colors began to blur between who was bad, who was bad, & then to eventually who was just plain ugly.
Fueled with the advent of the spaghetti westerns, the icon of the cowboy had begun to evolve into a more complex figure, of the quiet lone wolf who's only identity traits were marked by the mystery of his identity & by the grit of his character.
Thus began this particular sub-genre within a genre, which eventually lead to A Fistful Of Dollers, & even more later on, to a memorable trilogy of an non-American telling of an American icon.

1093   8   8.4 

There is only one term that can properly describe this film.
Sweeping epic.
Even if you haven't seen this movie, you know that this is the only movie that exists that can completely epitomize the definition of that term.

2306   8.3   8.6 

Since you can't see it completely in the title box, the full name of this movie is "Dr. Strangelove or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying And Love The Bomb."

And lemme tell you guys something, when it comes to politically satired black comedies....



.... I truly loves me some bomb.

The Mighty Celestial's rating:

448   7.5   7.8 

Take one secret suicidal mission, put it in the European front, just ahead of D-Day,
add a healthy dose of gritty action & violence,
then toss in a dirty dozen of criminal recruits that include bad-asses the likes of Lee Marvin, Jim Brown & Charles Bronson,
& there you have it.
A World War II movie that effectively blends the down to earth grittiness of the genre with the high escapist thrills of even the best films that also happen to fall under the category of action-adventure.

910   8   8.3 

One of my favorite prison escape movies of all time with a nazi youth version of Indiana Jones.



(Sorry for the fuzzy pic, but it was an image I got off a youtube video and that was the best quality I could find.
And no, it's not really him.)

506   7.5   7.8 

Y'know, there may be cowboy movies that are better filmed, with stories that are better written, that capture the western history more accurately, that have an impact that is more poignant or even have characters that are more iconic.
But very few other cowboy flicks (those being a couple of them that were made with a dash of spaghetti sauce on 'em) were more bad-ass than this one.

1027   7.9   8.2 

The first example of the lightning captured in a bottle that is the Newman & Redford combo. I like Paul Newman's portrayal of his character more thoughout in this movie than in the role he played for in the Sting. The chemistry of friendship between he & Robert Redford is more palpable in this film as we get to see more of him as Butch Cassidy & the relationship with his fellow bank robber, Harry Longabaugh.
The direction, screenplay, music & just over-all tone was really different for the period that this movie initially came out in, & for me, makes it a really unique western that is both lotsa of fun & tragic at the same time.
One of my favorite "modern" westerns ever.

3091   8.3   8.6 

Due to the era that Psycho was released, Norman Bates may not have had the opportunity to cut through a swath of teenaged bodies (not that most teenagers back then didn't deserve it) in the manner that the Freddies, Michaels & Jasons do these days, but he definitely pioneered the crazed, almost supernaturally-empowered maniacs that the modern masked comtemporaries have become famous for.



Though the datedness of this movie has seemed to lessen the shock & horror of this b/w classic, the energy of it still reverberates today & the ending shot of Norman Bates' visage is still one of the best creepy endings on film.

715   7.9   8.2 

How cool is Cool Hand Luke?
He's so cool that he's willing to eat 50 hardboiled eggs within an hour just to win a bet. This, in a prison where he has to share his immediate space with a
bunch of hardcore criminal chain-gang types, who are well within his ratio of flatulenciated influence. And if you can't understand that,
well then,
what we've got here
is a failure to communicate.

279   7.5   7.8 

Featuring an all-star-cast-of-it's-time-line-up that makes up a really long list of actors that star in this really long movie about a really long day near the end of a really long war.



The Longest Day is a prime example of the high quality of films that were at the forefront of the unglorified depictions of war that were making their way onto the big screen during the era of 60's cinema.

2354   8.5   9 

At the outset of the first western movies, the cowboy characters had been categorized between two basic types: Those who wore the white hats, & those who wore the black ones.
As time passed though, the hat colors began to blur between who was good, who was bad, & then to eventually who was just plain ugly.
This is the final film in the "Man With No Name" trilogy, and IMO, its the best & most definitive one of the three.
Although several iconic figures have emerged from the dust & grit of the spaghetti westerns that emerged in the 60's, the truth is, it's almost impossible to envision the entire genre, let alone this particular series & not see of the iconic trio of Clint Eastwood, Lee Van Cleef & Eli Wallach.

1296   7.9   8 

This could almost be considered the "Blair Witch Project" of it's time, in that had a very documentary realism style to it that was later further advanced by the shaky camera genre of recent years.
And to my mind, it was the first time I had ever seen the depiction of zombies as truly scary. Because, let's be honest here. Even though everyone always makes fun of the fact that they're easy to escape, the truth is, if any of us were to be truly confronted by a husk of rotting flesh that stood upright, just the idea that we were actually witnessing one of the "living dead" would be enough to makes sh#t out our own skeletons.
Or at least, scare us to a point of not being able to think as straight as one would like during such a sticky situation.
A concept that is convincingly depicted in the behavior of the various characters of NotLD & is the primary reason why the heart of this horror classic still beats strong today.

3171   8   8.4 

In Stanley Kubrick's 1968 sci-fi classic, 2001, extra-terrestrial life comes in the form of heavy monolith blocks.
And after escaping a death at the hands of a crafty computer that had taken on an evil sentient intelligence,
these aliens will sweep you up & send on you on the psychodelickest trip of your life.
And all without the use of drugs.
Damn.
Where was I during the year 2001 that I missed the party?



The very 1st. incredibly realistic portrayal of a sci-fi story. Great visuals back when this stuff was incredible difficult to create (without the help of computers). Also, a suspense thriller plotline that is masterfully & almost quietly delivered.
Plus, if you're not on high whilst viewing this film, by the time you get to the ending, you will you feel as though you are.