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Definitive films of the 1960s? (1 Viewer)

Gary->dee

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Just an observation I made recently about films made in the 1960's: documentaries and books such as "Easy Riders, Raging Bulls" paint the 60's as an era when the studios were in turmoil, essentially making the same kind of movies they had always made, out of touch with the audience. Musicals, lavish costume period pieces and such that didn't see high numbers at the box office. But in reality there were some great movies that came out during the 60's and sometimes people try to classify the 70's as one of the great periods of filmmaking by highlighting some of the 60's weaker attempts like "Paint Your Wagon". They seldom mention or delve into the gold mine of movies that are mentioned in this thread. I do agree that the 70's had some excellent movies, but I also believe the 60's was an equally impressive period for cinema that is often overlooked in favor of focusing on the accomplishments of a select group of filmmakers such as Lucas, Spielberg, Scorcese, Altman, and others.
 

rich_d

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Rob and Brian,

While a couple great list of films, the purpose of this thread is to list films that are of the 1960's - - not films made during the 1960's ex. Andrei Rublev (which is on both your lists) Sound of Music etc.

Even films like La Dolce Vita and Psycho while released in the 1960's do not represent it well. For example, the cars and car dealership lot in Psycho (naturally) represent the 1950's. One could make an argument that the early portion of any decade are filled with cars from the prior decade and furniture from the decade before that ... and rightly so. But, if the purpose is to define a decade with films that represent them, I think other films do a better job.


Ones that I would echo as choices:

Help!
Blow Up
Dr. Strangelove or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb
What's New Pussycat?
The Man From UNCLE
The Party
Our Man Flint
Dr. No
Goldfinger
It Happened At The World's Fair ( Aug.3 )
The Prisoner ( tv series )
A Hard Days Night
Rocky and Bullwinkle (TV)
Monterey Pop
Woodstock
Gimme Shelter
Tokyo Olympiad
CQ
Midnight Cowboy
To Sir With Love
Alfie
Playtime
The Graduate

and I would add

American Graffiti
Secret Agent (a.k.a. Danger Man)
Get Smart
Casino Royale
 

Scott_F_S

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How about the Beatles Anthology? Released only a few years ago, but it pretty much covers what was going on in the culture throughout the decade.
 

Sam Favate

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That's what I had in mind -- I was attempting to create a list of movies/tv shows that defined the era, and whether those films came out during the 60s was immaterial. Sorry I wasn't more clear.
 

Rob Gardiner

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I would argue that most period films more accurately represent the time period in which they are made, than the time period they depict. That's why I listed such films as FELLINI SATYRICON. While it is not often considered one of Fellini's best films, and it is set in ancient Greece, the true subject matter of the film is the 60s counterculture. Likewise, BONNIE & CLYDE or THE WILD BUNCH will tell you more about the 60s than FORREST GUMP or JFK.
 

Brian W

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Pillow Talk (1959) and Breakfast At Tiffany's (1960)Apartment (1960), Charade (early 1960s something), Viva Las Vegas, someone already mentioned Manchurian Candidate, Goldfinger, later 60's also already mentioned, Graduate, Midnight Cowboy (just about my favorite film of all time), just call me, we'll talk I'm just scratching the surface here... LONG LIST if you need it!
 

Lew Crippen

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Rob, Scott and Rich have all suggested some documentaries, to which I would add:

Salesman—door to door sales and the life of those who are sell and are sold to.
For All Mankind—the Apollo program, the culmination of JFK’s speech.
Don’t Look Back—plenty of other good music documentaries have already made the list—this one about a Bob Dylan tour of the UK should be mentioned with the rest.
Hearts and Minds—made in the 70s, but about Vietnam of both the 60s & 70s.

And a couple of recent ones:

Fog of War—Robert McNamara’s mea culpa and very important if you want to understand why we got so involved in SE Asis.
The Weather Underground—the face of the extreme student protest movement humanized.
 

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