Best 20 Films of the 60's
Submitted by ash_campbell on Fri, 05/30/2003 - 10:39
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- Same rules apply as those for the 50’s list.
- 1. The Apartment (1960). Lemmon is perfectly cast, and MacMurray gets one of the great sleaze balls in cinema.
- 2. Breakfast at Tiffany’s (1961). I almost went with Hepburn’s performance in Charade, but this one is more heartfelt.
- 3. Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid (1969). Laugh out loud funny, poignant, and action-filled. What more could you want?
- 4. Cool Hand Luke (1967). Another wonderful Newman performance (he was the best actor of the 60’s), and a great drama to boot.
- 5. The Dirty Dozen (1967). Cassevettes gets to be surly, Marvin gets to be gruff, and Sutherland kooky. It just works.
- 6. Goldfinger (1964). You might prefer Dr. No, but I agree with Roger Ebert here; this is where the series hit its stride.
- 7. The Hustler (1961). The best billiards movie made, I love Jackie Gleason’s performance as Minnesota Fats, and all of the great trick shots.
- 8. The Jungle Book (1967). I loved this as a kid, and I still think it may be one of Disney’s all-time best.
- 9. La Dolce Vita (1960). Fellini kicked off a decade of great films with this one, showing Mastroianni to be a superb deadpan actor.
- 10. Lawerence of Arabia (1962). And I’ve never seen it on anything bigger than a 32” screen. Too many good things to say about this one.
- 11. The Magnificent Seven (1960). It only sucks to pick this one, because it means I can’t pick The Great Escape (1963).
- 12. The Manchurian Candidate (1962). The coldest of the cold war films, this has everything from McCarthyism to the con to end all cons. And to think people remember Angela Landsbury for Murder She Wrote.
- 13. Midnight Cowboy (1969). Jon Voight’s best performance, and another great one from Hoffman (who continually surprises me). It’s as much about alienation as Cool Hand Luke is.
- 14. Once Upon a Time in the West (1969). I wanted to pick The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly (1966) because Leone really did three great films with Eastwood, and the spaghetti western really should be identified with that tandem, and not Bronson. But Fonda’s performance is just a bit more effective, and overall, I’m more amazed with this one.
- 15. The Producers (1968). Mel Brooks can only do one of two things: hit home runs or strike out. He’s done both with about equal regularity, but here, with Zero Mostel anchoring things, he crushes one.
- 16. Shoot the Piano Player (1960). I’ve already said elsewhere I think this may be Truffaut’s best film.
- 17. The Sound of Music (1965). Christopher Plummer may hate this one, but I think it’s simply wonderful, and the music is the tops.
- 18. Spartacus (1960). One might say Dr. Strangelove (1964), another might declare 2001 (1968), but for my money, I say Kubrick did his best work of the decade right at the start of it.
- 19. The Wild Bunch (1969). A true ensemble piece, this put Peckinpah in the books forever.
- 20. Yojimbo (1961). I know, I said Ikiru is a fave of mine, but it’s hard to ignore this one, so it gets love on this list.
Man, this is great! First you include my favorite director on your Asian Gems list, and then you declare my favorite actor the best actor of the 60s. Happy reading for me!