Definitive films of the 1960s? (1 Viewer)

[Sam Favate]

I'm attempting to put together a list of the definitive films and television shows of the 1960s. I'm looking for projects that are either about the 60s (like, say, Forrest Gump) and/or which came out during that time. I'm curious what people here would include on such a list.

I'm not just interested in one part of the decade either - I'm talking about the counterculture 60s, the swiniging 60s, the sci-fi 60s, the political 60s, the spy scene 60s, the Sinatra-era 60s, the Kennedy 60s, the Beatlemania 60s, the folk scene 60s, the beatnik 60s, the comic book 60s, etc.

Please don't list anything and everything that came out/was about that era. I'm looking for films and TV shows that are quintessential, that capture something about the era or define it.

This is not for a school project or an article or anything. Its just something I have been thinking about, as I continue to build a DVD collection. Many thanks in advance for any input!

 

[John Hodson]

Off the top of my head...

Help!
Blow Up
Barbarella
Batman; The Movie
Dr. Strangelove or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb
What's New Pussycat?
The Man From UNCLE
Saturday Night, Sunday Morning
Kes
The Party
The President's Analyst

 

[Haggai]

To add just a few movies to John's list, Bonnie And Clyde was an integral part of the counter-culture '60s, and 2001 was the cornerstone of sci-fi cinema in the late '60s. The Graduate was very significant as well.

 

[Brent Avery]

Let's see, that is basically allowing for a substantial list, but for now I will mention a few that I own or will be released in the near future.

The Party
Dr. Stangelove
The Spy Who Came In From The Cold ( July 13 )
The Italian Job
Batman - The Movie
The Avengers ( tv seies )
Our Man Flint
One, Two,Three
Beach Party
Beach Blanket Bingo
How To Stuff A Wild Bikini
Manchurian Candidate
It's A Mad,Mad,Mad,Mad World
Thunderbirds International Rescue Edition ( July 20 )
West Side Story
The Trip/ Psych Out
A Patch of Blue
Dr. No
Goldfinger
68 Comeback Special ( Elvis Concert )
Spinout ( Aug.3 )
It Happened At The World's Fair ( Aug.3 )
Where Eagles Dare
President's Analyst
Sound Of Music
Charade
The Russians Are Coming, The Russians Are Coming!
Good Times ( Aug.24 )
Lawrence Of Arabia ( Superbit )
Those Magnificent Men In Their Flying Machines
World Of Suzie Wong ( June 29 )
The Prisoner ( tv series )
The Cliff Richard Collection
Oceans 11
Man's Favorite Sport
Send Me No Flowers
Come September
Help!
A Hard Days Night
Planet Of The Apes
2001 A Space Odyssey
The Outer Limits Vol. 1 & 2 ( tv series )
Twilight Zone ( tv series )
The Pink Panther
A shot in the Dark
Kelly's Heroes ( 1970 - but I thought I would list it)
Rocky and Bullwinkle
The Nutty Professor - ( and a few of Lewis' films coming out in Aug. )
Gilligan's Island ( tv series )
Jonny Quest
- I may have missed the mark with some suggestions but Its what went through my mind - and there are many more.

 

[Arnie G]

1963 TV: The Judy Garland Show

 

[Marvin]

A couple that haven't yet been listed but come to mind are:

- In the Heat of the Night
- Guess Who's Coming to Dinner

 

[Rob Gardiner]

Star Trek of course

The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly
The Wild Bunch

Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf
Darling

Spartacus
Dr. Zhivago

Night of the Living Dead

Monterey Pop
Woodstock
Gimme Shelter
Head
200 Motels

Yojimbo
Sanjuro
Red Beard

Psycho
The Birds

The Apartment
The Producers

Breathless
Contempt
Pierrot le Fou
Weekend

Andrei Rublev

La Dolce Vita
8 1/2
Juliette of the Spirits
FELLINI SATYRICON

Persona
Shame
(plus many more Bergman classics)

400 Blows techincally came out in 1959
Jules and Jim
Fahrenheit 451
Mississippi Mermaid

L'Avventura
Woman in the Dunes

Peeping Tom

Knife in the Water
Repulsion
Fearless Vampire Killers

Tokyo Olympiad

Kwaidan

DAVID HOLZMAN'S DIARY
see also: CQ by Coppola's son

Jason and the Argonauts

And if you enjoy FORREST GUMP, that's fine, but be aware it is a totally unrealistic portrayal of the 1960s.

 

[Chris]

The Graduate
2001 A Space Odyssey
Psycho
The Hustler
To Kill a Mockingbird
Spartacus
Inherit the Wind
A Lion in Winter
Planet of the Apes
Manchurian Candidate

 

[Gary->dee]

Besides the others that have been mentioned, I think 1969's Midnight Cowboy and 1965's A Thousand Clowns are excellent movies. Even thought it was already mentioned, Fahrenheit 451 is also fantastic and was way ahead of it time.

 

[Bob Graham]

ALICE'S RESTAURANT
MEDIUM COOL
WOODSTOCK

 

[JohnMor]

I would add John Schlessinger's:

Billy Liar (1963)

Stanley Donen's:

Two For The Road (1967)

and, finally, James Clavell's:

To Sir With Love (1967)

I think that all 3 are absolutely indicative of the time period in which, and audiences for which, they were made.

 

[Sam Favate]

I wasn't suggesting FG was realistic, just using it as an example of a film that took place during that time period but came out many years later. I doubt I'd include it on my own "definitive" list. (Nothing against the film; I like it - but its not, as you point out, representative.)

There are great suggestions here. A lot of stuff I forgot about or never even thought of!

 

[Michael Reuben]

Easy Rider (1969) is an essential item on this list, not only for what it depicts but for its influence on the future of moviemaking.

M.

 

[Scott Merryfield]

While not filmed in the '60's, both The Right Stuff and From The Earth To The Moon cover the race to the moon, which was an integral part of that decade.

 

[Rob Gardiner]

That Thing You Do about a fictional one-hit wonder band during the Beatles era
Grace of My Heart the first half is inspired by Carole King's story; the second half is the Beach Boys

 

[DaViD Boulet]

To Sir with Love
Guess Who's Coming to Dinner

 

[Will*B]

Without question...

'8 1/2'
'Le Mépris'


(They've been listed above, but I think they deserve a second mention!)

 

[Michael Reuben]

Two others that I don't believe have been mentioned:

Alfie (1965) (all the more relevant now that there's a remake starring Jude Law)

The Swimmer (1968)

And for an object lesson in everything that was wrong with studio films of the '60s, watch Cat Ballou and try to figure out how Lee Marvin won the best actor Oscar for it.

M.

 

[Brian PB]

I have a feeling you were mainly looking for American films, but here is my list of what I consider to be the definitive films of the 1960s (many have already been mentioned):

Tomas Gutierrez Alea: Memories of Underdevelopment/Memorias del subdesarrollo (1968)

Michaelangelo Antonioni: L'Avventura (1960); L'éclisse (1962)

Ingmar Bergman: Winter Light (1962); The Silence (1963); Persona (1966); Shame (1968)

Robert Bresson: Au Hasard Balthazar (1966)

Luis Buñuel: Viridiana (1961); Belle de Jour (1967)

Federico Fellini: La Dolce vita (1960); 8½ (1963)

Jean-Luc Godard: Vivre sa vie/My Life to Live (1962); Contempt/Le Mépris (1964); Pierrot le fou (1965)

Alfred Hitchcock: Psycho (1960)

Kon Ichikawa: An Actor's Revenge/Yukinojo henge (1963)

Shohei Imamura: The Insect Woman/Nippon konchuki (1963)

Masaki Kobayashi: Harakiri/Seppuku (1962)

Stanley Kubrick: Dr. Strangelove (1964)

David Lean: Lawrence of Arabia (1962)

Sergio Leone: Once Upon a Time in the West (1968)

Chris Marker: La Jetée (1962)

Jean-Pierre Melville: Le Samouraï (1967)

Nagisa Oshima: Death by Hanging/Koshikei (1968)

Yasujiro Ozu: An Autumn Afternoon/Sanma no aji (1962)

Sam Peckinpah: Ride the High Country (1962); The Wild Bunch (1969)

Arthur Penn: Bonnie & Clyde (1967)

Roman Polanski: Rosemary's Baby (1968)

Satyajit Ray: Teen Kanya/Three Daughters/Two Daughters (1961); Devi/The Goddess (1962); Charulata/The Lonely Wife (1964)

Jacques Rivette: L'Amour fou (1969)

Andrei Tarkovsky: Andrei Rublev (1966)

Jacques Tati: Playtime (1967)

Hiroshi Teshigahara: Woman in the Dunes/Suna no onna (1964)

François Truffaut: Jules et Jim (1962); Tirez sur le pianiste/Shoot the Piano Player (1962)

Orson Welles: Chimes at Midnight/Falstaff (1967)

 

[GlennH]

Thirteen Days (about the Cuban missile crisis)