1960s

  • Judit Elek – Meddig él az ember? I-II AKA How Long Does a Man Live? (1968)

    1961-1970DocumentaryHungaryJudit Elek

    In the factory where he repairs machines, an old man spends his last day at work before his colleagues say goodbye at a retirement party. A young self-conscious teen leaves his village and family to start training as an apprentice in town.Read More »

  • O’Dale Ireland – High School Caesar (1960)

    1951-1960DramaExploitationO'Dale IrelandUSA

    Matt Stevens is the big man at high school. He sweats the students for protection money, acquires copies of tests for a fee, and has rigged the votes so he can beat Kelly in the election for student president. Aside from his anointed acolytes, Matt is almost universally despised. His parents are obscenely rich and spend their time travelling in Europe rather than giving him the parental guidance he needs. Things begin to get ugly when some of the teens resist his power and show Matt up at the drag race.Read More »

  • Kimiyoshi Yasuda – Shin kurama tengu AKA New Tengu from Mount Kurama (1965)

    1961-1970ActionDramaJapanKimiyoshi Yasuda

    Synopsis:
    The film is set in Kyoto at the end of the Tokugawa period, when there is a fierce clash between the supporters of the Emperor, who are fighting for the overthrow of the Shogunate, and the Shinsengumi squad, who are chasing them.Read More »

  • Gordon Quinn – Inquiring Nuns (1968)

    1961-1970DocumentaryGordon QuinnUSA

    Quote:
    In the politically fraught climate of Chicago in 1968, two young nuns crisscross the city in order to ask strangers the question, “Are you happy?” The answers vary: “Happiness is the absence of fear,” “Avoiding people,” “Raspberries,” “Joy in knowing Christ.” They meet a lonely girl, a happy mother, young lovers, hippie musicians, a sociologist and even character actor Stepin Fetchit. The humor and sadness of these honest encounters lift the film beyond its conceit into a serious and moving inquiry into contemporary society and the circumstances under which people examine their lives.Read More »

  • Blake Edwards – Breakfast at Tiffany’s (1961)

    1961-1970Blake EdwardsComedyRomanceUSA

    Quote:
    Struggling writer Paul Varjak moves into a New York apartment building and becomes intrigued by his pretty, quirky neighbor Holly Golightly. Holly’s lifestyle confuses and fascinates Paul; in public she flits through parties with a sexy, sophisticated air, but when they’re alone she changes into a sweetly vulnerable bundle of neuroses.Read More »

  • Jacques Demy – La baie des anges AKA The Bay of Angels (1963)

    1961-1970DramaFranceJacques Demy

    Quote:
    Bay of the Angels (La Baie des anges) stars Jeanne Moreau as a middle-aged Parisian gambling addict who leaves her husband and children and heads for the roulette tables of Nice. There she meets young and handsome Claude Mann–a meeting which coincides with Moreau’s first winning streak. She latches onto Mann in the belief that he’s a good luck charm, and remains with him even when she starts losing heavily. Mann, emotionally drained, walks out of the relationship. The film ends with Mann entreating Moreau to return with him to the bourgeois existence that she’d escaped in the first scene. Bay of the Angels was directed by Jacques Demy, just before he achieved international fame with his musical films Young Girls of Rochefort and The Umbrellas of Cherbourg.Read More »

  • Michael Powell – Herzog Blaubarts Burg AKA Bluebeard’s Castle [1978 Version] (1963)

    1961-1970FantasyGermanyMichael PowellMusical

    Based on the Bela Bartok opera. Bluebeard woos his women and then swiftly disposes of them.

    Powell originally intended for this to be screened without subtitles so the viewer could be fully immersed in the music and visuals. In 1978, he reissued the film with some contextual-setting hardsubs. This is that version.Read More »

  • Peter Solan – Kým sa skoncí táto noc AKA Before Tonight is Over (1966)

    1961-1970ArthousePeter SolanSlovakia

    Quote:
    One winter’s night in a Slovak mountain resort, customers gather in a nightclub seeking laughter, flirtation and fun. As the alcohol flows the evening unfolds in unpredictable ways, revealed through snatches of conversation and often absurd encounters. Using improvisation and multi-camera shooting, the film achieves a remarkable intimacy. But under its charming surface, it offers a sharp critique of life under communism, as the characters gradually reveal their unfulfilled dreams, insecurities and disappointments. Long suppressed, the film is now regarded as one of the undiscovered gems of Slovak cinema.Read More »

  • John Frankenheimer – The Fixer (1968)

    John Frankenheimer1961-1970DramaUSA

    In Czarist Russia, around 1911, a Russian-Jewish handyman, Yakov Bok (Sir Alan Bates), is wrongly imprisoned for a most unlikely crime.Read More »

Back to top button