WHEN A MAN WANTS TO BANG AN ENTIRE FAMILY - A Look at the Best Films of 1968

1968 was a monumental year, but I don't necessarily mean that in terms of the amount of quality. I was actually a bit surprised when drafting this list, as I found myself coming up with 8 films and then debated what to put for my #9-10 slots. 

I opted to go for 2 films that I felt were a bit more transgressive for the time and the chances they took, even though I only give them each 4/5 stars. 

What I am beginning to discover is that I have been talking up the growth that occurs in the late 60s, but it does seem to be in smaller doses. I find myself actually not feeling as much passion for the output, and by a bizarre twist of fate, I actually think the early 60s were much better. Then again, that is thanks to international cinema rather than the US. 

Oh, and since I mentioned "monumental year", I do feel that despite the lower number of masterpieces and films I passionately love, I do think the top 3-4 films here in particular do show where cinema would be heading, perhaps not always to the potential it would eventually reach but the results were still exciting nevertheless.

However, my #1 selection is what is truly monumental. Film people reading this likely already know which film that is going to be. Oh, I mustn't forget! 1968 is the year that MPAA began giving films ratings based on content, but this system would not go into effect until November...so a certain film that likely would've benefitted from a warning come out a month BEFORE the system went into place. Oops!!!! More on that later...

Starting off at #10, we have a film that perhaps didn't always stick the landing, but I do greatly admire what it was trying to do and the timing of its release.

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 #10 - UPTIGHT

Written & Directed by Jules Dassin

Co-written by Ruby Dee & Julian Mayfield

This was written to be a revamping of a Pulitzer Prize winning play called The Informer, which had a film adaptation netting 4 Oscars back at the 1936 ceremony.

The new setting is then-present-day Cleveland. The community is mourning the assassination of MLK Jr. and are understandably upset to the point of wanting to revolt. One of the men leading the charge, Johnny Wells (Max Julien) takes a group, and they start quest to obtain as many weapons they can steal from a local warehouse as they prepare for what they feel will be a true race war.

However, one older member of the group in Tank (Julian Mayfield). He had been in prison, but also was someone who supported the non-violent form of protest that MLK had favored while the rest are going for the more rebellious vibe of Malcolm X...but Tank ends up meeting a gay black man known as "Daisy" (Roscoe Lee Browne) who has made quite a living working as a police informant. Tank may see the appeal in this...and a Judas arc emerges.

Uptight is not a perfect film. A lot of it is a bit ham-fisted and despite being made by a group of black filmmakers/performers, the style does seem to fall in line with what would eventually be dubbed "blaxploitation". Nevertheless, the film also doesn't try to sugarcoat either. I will say perhaps the content of The Informant doesn't translate well to the context of this story, but in the end, the final results are quite captivating in their rawness. 

Considering MLK had been assassinated in April 1968, the fact that they got this film released by that December is very impressive...and I can only imagine how effective it must have been at that time.

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#9 - SYMBIOPSYCHOTAXIPLASM: TAKE ONE

Written & Directed by William Greaves

If you were to look up the release date of Symbiopschotaxiplasm online, you would find that the general public wouldn't see the film until 1971 even though the film was made in 1968.

I decided that I would follow that rule, plus Letterboxd also lists it as 1968, and just place the film here as it is certainly a very unique film compared to the others.

Symbiopschotaxiplasm was something of an avant-garde experiment for actor turned filmmaker William Greaves. He was rather frustrated with the lack of roles for black performers and took an interest in becoming a documentarian. His goal here was to try to capture life in what would hopefully be the realest way possible and hopefully remove the stigma of feeling the need to perform for a camera. Instead, it unravels into something truly meta as the documentary is essentially another documentary inside of a documentary. 

The film is low budget, as most documentaries often are, but it is clear that the limitations Greaves had to work with leave a lot of the film feeling a bit rough and even hard to hear at times as if it the sound quality would rival that of the early talkies of the late 20s.

This was a documentary that felt very ahead of its time, and something of its own being. It does feel like something that perhaps Godard would try to tackle in the later years of his career.

Greaves passed away at the age of 87 back in 2014. I had only been living in NYC for roughly a year at that point, but I do remember seeing the reports through local news. I think he was a bit of an unsung hero for black filmmakers and in the world of teaching as for nearly 15 years, he taught acting the famed school of Lee Strasberg. 

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#8 - THE LION IN WINTER

Directed by Anthony Harvey

Written by James Goldman 

The Lion in Winter is the only film on this top 10 that received a Best Picture nomination that year, and a lot of its power comes from its ensemble led by two great actors at the top of their game: Katharine Hepburn and Peter O'Toole. Oh, and on top of that, we have a young Anthony Hopkins as their eldest son Richard in what was a breakout role for him.

King Henry II (O'Toole) is trying to establish his line of succession during the holiday season of Christmas 1183. In the process, he causes series of political and familial turmoil which affects the relationship with his already estranged wife Eleanor of Aquitaine (Hepburn) and their sons...while also taking up with Alais, the half-sister of French King Philip II. 

Much like The Favourite would do with Queen Anne 50 years later, The Lion in Winter was mainly fictional and only takes scant writing from history and embellishes the lore behind them. 

As I stated before, if I would recommend this film for anything, it would be the acting. O'Toole never won a competitive Oscar, and this should have been the easiest way for him to not only win an overdue award, but it also would've been for one of his absolute best performances. The Academy infamously opted for Cliff Robertson who gave a truly erratic performance in the rather mawkish Charly, based on the iconic story Flowers for Algernon. 

Hepburn's win for this was her third, and this was part of the tie with Barbra Streisand for Funny Girl. I have often brought up the famous Hepburn quote where she said the right actors win Oscars but for the wrong roles. I certainly don't agree with that as canon because a lot of amazing actors never won or weren't even nominated, but there is also truth to her statement.

Of her record 4 Oscar wins, The Lion in Winter is the only one I felt she actually deserved...and even though Hepburn was not British, her stature makes her fit into this role while not even adopting a semblance of a British accent. 

While a historical drama at heart, I do like the slight edge of wit and even camp that The Lion in Winter has. It does give it a bit of a jolt from being way too stuffy.

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#7 - HOUR OF THE WOLF

Written & Directed by Ingmar Bergman

In what would be the only true horror film he would make in his career, Ingmar Bergman certainly had an energy and aesthetic that would've made him quite susceptible to dark surreal horror had he wanted to sustain it. I think of something like The Lighthouse as where Bergman would've gone had he been young enough to keep making films in the present day. 

Hour of the Wolf is also not one of his films that gets talked about as extensively as some others, but that's also just because the amount of excellent work he did was so vast. It may not be absolute peak, but this is truly a fascinating film from him.

Considering the era of Bergman that we are in, not surprisingly Liv Ullman and Max von Sydow are here and just as splendid per usual. He plays a painter named Johan Borg, who suddenly disappears and it causes his wife Alma (Ullman of course) to go a bit mad, suffering from insomnia and frequently having nightmarish visions and hallucinations.

The two of them lived on an island...because Bergman was positively obsessed with the island of Faro...and to add to the drama, Alma is pregnant at the time of his disappearance.

With the element of horror being very prominent, a lot of critics at the time viewed Hour of the Wolf as being a step back for Bergman...and like I said, maybe it isn't exactly him at his peak but it has a lot of aspects to admire about it...namely the amazing performances plus it has to be him and his main cinematographer Sven Nykvist creating some of their most alluring visuals.

Much like Through a Glass Darkly, The Silence, and Winter Light in the early 60s, Hour of the Wolf is considered part of another defacto trilogy. Spoiler alert: we will see the rest coming up...but that likely wouldn't shock you to hear.

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#6 - THEOREM 

Written & Directed by Pier Paolo Pasolini

Pasolini's legacy is so closely linked to Salo and his eventual torture/murder that occurred shortly thereafter, but he was a trailblazer who had such a fascinating cinematic voice.

Theorem is, in a word, depraved. I don't mean that negatively considering the fact I am talking about it here, but this is the kind of challenge that Pasolini wanted to make people watch. We focus on a wealthy Italian family, whose names we never learn, who have a mysterious man enter their lives that we only know as The Visitor (Terence Stamp).

This man is able to more or less seduce himself into their lives...and I mean that pretty much literally. He stops the maid from committing suicide and takes on a loving approach with her; he earns the trust of the young sensitive son and ends up sleeping with him; he energizes the bored and dissatisfied matriarch by taking her to bed; he allows the young daughter to gain more trust in men that she didn't have before, and he even manages to tend to the needs of the ailing patriarch.

The Visitor doesn't ask for anything in return for his "services"...which sort of makes me think of this as a far more bizarre version of that episode of The Simpsons where Homer gets a promotion thanks to his sudden hair growth and his assistant Carl voiced by Harvey Fierstein ("My mother told me never to kiss a fool!") enigmatically appears and disappears seemingly tended to Homer's every whim in the process.

As mysteriously as he arrived, The Visitor leaves...and now the family and maid only have the trappings of the bourgeoisie life they knew of before...and needless to say, they go a bit mad.

Theorem is such a fever dream and quite possibly my favorite of Pasolini's works...at least off the top of my head. As a surprise to no one, the Catholics denounced the film for its explicit sexual conduct and when the film was going to be given an award at the Venice Film Festival, the Vatican protested and the award was dismissed.

Pasolini and his producer Donato Leoni would face obscenity charges thanks to the film's content but would be dismissed only an hour after deliberations began. 

    I guess in this case, sex won out. 

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#5 - FACES

Written & Directed by John Cassavetes

I can remember the first time I watched Faces. I was feeling a bit off about it, because the quality of the tape I watched it from was relatively old which only made the low budget "cinema verité" cinematography look far worse. I admired a lot about it, but it wasn't until a couple of years later when I revisited the film on TCM that I discovered that it was actually a lot better than I gave it credit for.

A middle-aged couple named Richard (John Marley) and Maria's (Lynn Carlin) marriage is put through the ringer when Richard has a chance encounter with a prostitute named Jeannie (Gena Rowlands) and now decides to ask for a divorce when he enjoys the potential of having freedom with Jeannie...perhaps even more women should they come along.

Although Maria is not exactly going to take this lying down. Despite feeling very off kilter, her friends take her out for a night on the town, and she encounters a younger man named Chet (Seymour Cassel) whom she rebuffs but will eventually consent to.

Faces was, much like the majority of Cassavetes' small but mighty filmography, fully financed by himself and his wife and muse Gena Rowlands for roughly $275k. The actors were told that they would not be paid for their work during filming, but they would benefit from any profits that would come in. Cassavetes also liked casting actors who weren't as well know, and even in the case of Lynn Carlin, she had no prior acting experience and had previously been working as an assistant to director Robert Altman. Eventually, Cassavetes hired her as a script supervisor and then opted to cast her as Maria...which led to her receiving an Oscar nomination for Best Supporting Actress. 

Despite some high praise, the film was met with detractors. Pauline Kael felt the film was "crudely conceived" and while I highly respect her writing and how well she can articulate her opinions, I disagree with her here. Faces is a film that might look a bit rough, but it does feel incredibly raw and real...as if Cassavetes decided to privately film people but maybe every so often they'd realize they were being filmed.

His two masterworks did come later on, A Woman Under the Influence, which I discussed in my 1974 post and Opening Night from 1977 ...but Faces was a major turning point for him. It also was a major win for indie cinema and proved that so much could be accomplished even with a meager budget.

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#4 - SHAME

Written & Directed by Ingmar Bergman

Being the second film released in Bergman's trilogy about violence and moral decline, Shame was also the best of the 3. We will be seeing the 3rd installment on my 1969 post because, as I shock to no one, I think rather highly of it, too.

As evidenced by the photo above, Von Sydow and Ullman are once again back and ready to go through yet another bleak and tragic story that only Bergman can provide.

As a married couple named Eva and Jan, they are former concert violinists who live a rather apolitical life. Their home and safety are threatened when a small civil war breaks out, and they are considered by one side to be sympathetic toward the enemy. They end up having to flee and, in the process, their marriage begins to crumble.

Shame was seen as a comment on the Vietnam War, which was still raging despite much opposition, however Bergman had stated this wasn't his actual intention. He mainly just wanted to tell a story about how even a relatively small war can still lead to the "disintegration of humanity". I also love how we are sort of left to pick up the pieces as Bergman doesn't try to veer into propaganda but rather leave the causes ambiguous so we don't truly know which side is "the right one". In the end, war is hell regardless of the side you are on. 

As the war rages on, Eva and Jan struggle with each other and as is to be expected, Ullman and Von Sydow turn in stellar work. It is great anti-war film while also being an amazing character study on how it can affect two people. In a way, it is the relationship that becomes the focus and not so much the war. It stays in the background in many ways, and for me, it is remarkable at how much more captivating it is to watch those two legends act opposite one another.

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#3 - NIGHT OF THE LIVING DEAD

Written & Directed by George Romero

Co-written by John Russo

Another low-budget game changer...to put it mildly.

As someone who grew up an hour outside of Pittsburgh, I do very much love the legend these Romero films that still persist in the area.

Night of the Living Dead was made on a shoestring budget and was a passion project for George Romero, who wanted to tackle a horror film after having gained directorial experience working on local commercials and for another local Pittsburgh institution: Mister Rogers' Neighborhood.

It was made on a budget of roughly $125k (around $1 million in 2026) and would wind up grossing $12 million domestically (a whopping $112 million and change in 2026) and an additional $18 million internationally (nearly $170 million today). That means the film essentially grossed the equivalent of about $300 million by today's money. Making back more than 250 times its budget, it still remains one of the most profitable films of all time.

Night of the Living Dead would help unearth one of the most popular horror subgenres in history: the zombie film. In my intro, I referenced a film that would not receive a rating since it came out a month before the MPAA came into existence. THIS was that film.

Imagine a group of kids and teenagers entering a theatre for a Saturday matinee, which often would show horror films, and the film they sit down for is Night of the Living Dead in which we watch every character that we had been following die by the end. The low budget atmosphere only adds to the eerie dreary vibe, especially when we watch the zombies in the midst of a feast...and then at the very end, when our leading man seems to be about to be rescued, he is shot to death when the group gathered assume he was one of them.

Romero had intended on casting the role with someone white, but when black actor Duane Jones came in, Romero decided to something unique for the time: using a black actor in a lead role where being black had nothing to do with the role. While Sidney Poitier was a black leading man, and had even won an Oscar by this point, a lot of his roles dealt with the fact he was black. It was very rare, BUT it does give the role a certain tragic weight even beyond the simple fate of the character. Many praised Romero for that, even though he acknowledged a lot of it was coincidental. Years later, Romero was asked if he was inspired by the assassination of MLK with creating the ending, but he said that was not the case as the film was already finished at that time. 

Night of the Living Dead was meant to be a B-movie, but instead, Romero changed the face of the genre and gave us something distinctive and downright creepy. I have never been a big fan of zombie films, but this one is a classic for a reason.

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#2 - ROSEMARY'S BABY

Written & Directed by Roman Polanski

For those of you who don't know, I was raised in an evangelical religion known as Apostolic. It was certainly not a very...umm...liberal minded surrounding to be a part of. I was very much one of those kids who was not allowed to read Harry Potter because it contained "witchcraft" nor did my mother want me to see anything that dealt with Satan or any kind of demonic entity. 

Strangely enough, she wasn't as offended by The Omen, but obviously she forbid me to watch The Exorcist, which I ended up not seeing until I was in college. 

When it came to Rosemary's Baby however, she was on the fence. She recalled my Nan sending her to bed in the early 70s and then heard her watching the film when it aired on TV for the first time. My sister rather randomly watched the film when she was pregnant with her first child and I do remember her being VERY upset about it.

I watched it and then had a conversation with a friend about it on the phone and was quoting how at the end, they are all saying "Hail Satan!" which prompted my mom to come check what was happening in my room.

Organized religion...what a world that is...

Moving past that, Rosemary's Baby tells the story of a young newlywed couple of Rosemary (Mia Farrow) and Guy Woodhouse (John Cassavetes) who move into an apartment in a gothic building known as The Bramford (though the exterior shots are of the famous Dakota building located on Central Park West). A friend of theirs warns them that the building has a history of murder and witchcraft, which they basically ignore.

Shortly thereafter, they meet their elderly neighbors Minnie and Roman Castevet (Ruth Gordon & Sidney Blackmer), who also happen to be caring for a recovering drug addict named Terry (Angela Dorian). One night while returning from a night on the town, Rosemary and Guy come across a commotion outside their building; it appears Terry jumped from the window to her death...or so it seems. After this dies down, the newlyweds get closer to Minnie and Roman, but it is Guy who takes a strong liking to them while Rosemary finds them to be rather nosey and void of boundaries. 

Rosemary & Guy are trying for a baby and not having much luck, but one night, after what having appears to be laced chocolate mousse, she has a "dream" where a demonic entity rapes her while Guy and the Castevets and other neighbors watch...all nude by the way.

So yeah...Rosemary is now pregnant with the antichrist. Fun times.

It is a shame that Mia Farrow got snubbed as she does truly fantastic work here, but it does thrill me that Ruth Gordon won for her work. It feels like an early forerunner to the recent Oscar win of Amy Madigan. 

While the film may have some pacing issues at times, not to mention the Polanski of it all, I can't help but think this was a stellar achievement and another step up in content for Hollywood.

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#1 -2001: A SPACE ODYSSEY 

Written & Directed by Stanley Kubrick

Co-written by Arthur C. Clarke

 I don't think I had another choice. This simply just has to be 2001.

Yes, maybe some of the space images might look a little bit outdated to say the least, but I still can't believe what Stanley Kubrick was able to accomplish in the mid-late 60s making this. The thought of seeing this on the big screen in 1968 not having seen anything like it before...and still being a year removed from us landing on the Moon...it must've been an otherworldly experience.

Kubrick, the madman genius that he was, worked with Sc-Fi writer Sir Arthur C. Clarke on adapting a couple of his short stories such as The Sentinel and Encounter in the Dawn into a longer script. The film begins with the Dawn of Man, and we watch a tribe of hominins discover an alien monolith. Shortly thereafter, they discover that they can make weapons to use against a rival tribe with the bones of dead animals.

But in the middle of the iconic scene (which Greta Gerwig used for the opening of Barbie, showing this film's staying power), we see one of the bones fly into the air and we get that famous cut transition to the satellite in space millions of years later.

The bulk of the film now takes place in space, where we follow a voyage of multiple astronauts, scientists, and a sentient computer called the HAL 9000 as they prepare to visit Jupiter to investigate an alien monolith. 

I am not here to say that 2001 is necessarily an easy watch. It does require a little bit of patience, and it isn't a film you can say has a great script in terms of dialogue. Sure, it has its very memorable moments and manages to leave us guessing and analyzing...but this is the perfect example of a film that truly thrives on it being a visual spectacle as its main selling point.

The use of various classical music pieces also adds something special to this, and I cannot hear "The Blue Danube" without imaging a pen floating in mid-air. It looks so seamless too!

Kubrick only ever won a single Oscar in his career, and it just so happened to be for this film's Visual Effects. He was nominated for Best Director, but the film was not nominated for Best Picture. That year, the top two awards went to the film adaptation of the West End musical Oliver! which is fine and all, but it just goes to show how back and forth the voting body was at the time...especially considering what will win Best Picture for 1969!

When it comes to the genre, it is very evident that so many films owe a debt to what Kubrick was able to achieve here. I would even go as far to say that it is one of the most important films to have ever been made for the absolutely meticulous care that Kubrick and Clarke put into this to advance the visual medium.

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FINAL THOUGHTS: 

While not a vast list, I do really love how eclectic this lineup actually is. You really see shifts that are rather groundbreaking from not just the epic visual effects of 2001 but the content in the stories and the form of others. You have the abstract meta documentary that is Symbiopschotaxiplasm and the sexually explicit "eat the rich" story of Theorem. 

We also have Bergman being Bergman while also having him tackle horror for the first time while seeing that low-budget films such as Night of the Living Dead and Faces could give us marvelous dividends.

I don't recall 1969 being that strong either, but I have been surprised with other lists recently; maybe it will make me change my mind upon writing it. We are bringing the 60s to a close, and I am excited that I was able to tackle such a fascinating decade for film such as this one.

"IT'S NOT EASY BEING CATHERINE DENEUVE!" - A Look at the Best Films of 1967

When looking at a year like 1967, this is what a consider an even bigger turning point away from what was Old Hollywood and what would eventually be dubbed, conveniently enough, New Hollywood. 

In Mark Harris' book Pictures at a Revolution, he talks extensively about the 5 films that received an Oscar nomination for Best Picture that year and when you really examine them, you can see how much the tides are turning...though, full disclosure, the flat-out erratic nature of 1969's list is even more bonkers so stay tuned for that.

Of the 5 films nominated for Best Picture, only two will make my list. Some of my readers who might follow this stuff more intently may already know which two of those films I will single out...but I also don't want to spoil more about it. I will bring up the other nominees at the very end.

Are we about to see an uptick for Hollywood films on this list? Truthfully no. I would say it's still about average based on how a lot of the years have been, but there will be a victory of sorts with this year. Could we finally have a film from the US actually make it to my #1 slot???? The last time I did that was for 1960, so maybe the time has come ;-)

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TWO HONORABLE MENTIONS:

The Jungle Book

Directed by Wolfgang Reitherman

Written by Larry Clemmons, Ralph Wright, Ken Anderson, & Vance Gerry

The significance of The Jungle Book in Disney's is that it was the last film Walt Disney supervised production on prior to his death in December of 1966. 

There have been some criticisms of racist interpretations, namely with the character of King Louie the ape. Disney himself wanted Louis Armstrong to voice him, but it was quickly nixed because of the horrendous implications. Italian jazz singer Louis Prima would be given the role, and a lot of the character's mannerisms were distinctly his style.

At the time, actor Gregory Peck was President of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts & Sciences, AKA The Oscar people. He was very much a champion of embracing the idea of what would become "New Hollywood" and also calling attention to younger performers/artists/filmmakers and acknowledging that films not normally considered "worthy/prestige" were actually films they should consider. He lobbied hard for The Jungle Book to get a Best Picture nomination, which sadly did not happen. It would still take another 24 years until Beauty & The Beast would become the first animated film to achieve that feat.

Oh, and "The Bare Necessities" is an absolute banger and it's bonkers that it lost the Oscar to "Talk to the Animals" from freaking Doctor Doolittle.

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In Cold Blood

Written & Directed by Richard Brooks

While he doesn't get discussed much when it comes to other famous directors, I have always commended Richard Brooks for being one of the few filmmakers who came from the Hays Code era of Hollywood who jumped in headfirst towards the darker and far more intriguing material of New Hollywood.

As based on the nonfiction crime novel of the same name by Truman Capote, In Cold Blood shows us a glimpse into the world of Perry Smith and Dick Kickock (Robert Blake & Scott Wilson), two men who would murder a family of 4 in Kansas.

Due to Robert Blake eventually being found guilty in a civil court of murdering his wife Bonnie Lee Bakely in 2005, that does add an unfortunate and uncomfortable layer to this film...but aside from that, I do think this is quite the achievement in this kind of storytelling for this time period.

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#10 - COOL HAND LUKE

Directed by Stuart Rosenberg

Co-written by Frank Pierson & Donn Pearce

Well...Paul Newman is in it. Need I say more?

I have talked about the appeal of Paul Newman many times, but it isn't even necessarily from an attraction standpoint. He is simply one of the most captivating and charismatic performers to ever grace the screen, and I would say Cool Hand Luke is one of his peak efforts.

Set in an early 50s Florida prison, Luke Hanson (Newman) is beginning a 2 year sentence for damaging several parking meters. He is not willing to comply to anyone's rules, especially the prison's sinister warden whom we only know as The Captain (Strother Martin) and he also goes up against the power of the prison yard leader Dragline (George Kennedy).

However, Dragline and the other inmates begin respecting the will and grit of Luke...especially as he continues enduring a lot of abuse for not complying with The Captain ("What we've got here is...failure to communicate")

Nowadays, Cool Hand Luke plays really well, especially as more and more people have realized how heinous our prison system actually is. Even at the end, when it is clear that he has made a fool of these people, nothing changes. The Captain gets the last laugh...and it does hit you with a thud.

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#9 - MARKETA LAZAROVA

Written & Directed by Frantisek Vlascil

Co-written by Frantisek Pavlicek

This is admittedly one of those films that I am putting on a list from memory after only having seen it one time over a decade ago. While I clearly do think highly of the film based on my memories, this is also one that could use a rewatch for me.

Marketa Lazarova is the daughter of a feudal lord named Lazar. She had been planning on joining a convent, but shortly before this, she is kidnapped by two robber knights as an act of vengeance against him after he refused to help them with a defense pact against the potential wrath of the German king.

What I remember beyond that is how dreary the film was, but not exactly in a negative way. It is the mark of a good filmmaker to be able to immerse you fully in the world that they are creating onscreen and I would say Vlascil does that here.

One other thing I do want to mention is the setting itself. This is during the 13th century where Christianity had not fully replaced paganism, and the film clearly tries to create conflict in that way between the characters.

It is an unflinching look at how diabolical humanity can be, and how nothing may be exactly as it may seem.

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#8 - BOB DYLAN: DON'T LOOK BACK

Written & Directed by P.A. Pennebaker

Another instance of me including a documentary on one of my lists, but this is one of the truly iconic documentaries especially when coming from a musical standpoint. As conceived by documentarian legend D.A. Pennebaker, Don't Look Back follows Bob Dylan as he travels the UK for his 1965 tour.

Dylan has always had an allure and an air of mystery about him, and not surprisingly, Pennebaker still manages to keep that allure and mystery alive. This was right at that point where Dylan would be subjected to a lot of attention in the press for embracing more of a rock style seemingly at the expense of his folksier roots.

Dylan is also a man who marches to the beat of his own drummer, and we see him here in all of his unfiltered glory...even if he is often being a jackass to others. In the end, Pennebaker offers a very cinema-verité glimpse into the world of an artist experiencing peak success and how he offered something so new and fresh and remarkable in terms of his output. 

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#7 - PLAYTIME

Written & Directed by Jacques Tati

Co-written by Jacques Lagrange & 

He only made six feature films in his career, but Jacques Tati was able to make a name for himself and also a bit of a market that felt very different compared to the edgier and rough-around-the-edges work of his French New Wave contemporaries.

Tati had been a mime and really embraced the idea of the whimsical in a lot of ways. I will admit that I have never been as passionate a fan of Tati, but I do admire greatly the kind of energy and vibe he brought to his films, mainly because I do think of him in one particular way: the French Charlie Chaplin.

I still wouldn't say he matches that level in terms of the pathos, but Tati would star in his films as a character named Monsieur Hulot. He had a very distinctive look: overcoat, pipe, hat, but he was often clumsy and somewhat oblivious to the world around him. Tati would say that one major difference between him and Chaplin was that the latter was smaller and able to finagle himself more bombastic situations and could be very unassuming if he needed to be. Tati's stature and build made him far more susceptible to being noticed and maintains a certain level of subtlety. Even with how the two walked, Chaplin had that distinct sort of "waddle" while Hulot sort of glided.

Playtime is likely Tati's best work, but this is at a time when he was growing a bit resistant to playing Hulot as a fully central character in his work, so he toned down a lot of his immediate involvement. The sets for the film, which are massive, were built specifically for the film and they certainly do create a very fascinating and vast playing field.

The film links two characters indirectly having similar experiences and crossing each other's paths: Hulot of course but also a young American tourist named Barbara who are having difficulty adjusting to the bustling new life filled with growing technology in Paris.

The film utilizes very little dialogue, and even when it does, a lot of it is background noise and a mix of various languages. In many ways, if someone likes very subtle and conceptual humor, Tati's work is a great gateway to foreign cinema since a lot of it doesn't require extensive use of subtitles.

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#6 - BELLE DE JOUR

Written & Directed by Luis Bunuel 

Co-written by Jean-Claude Carriere

We make our first stop upon the "Catherine Deneuve Looks for Love in All the Wrong & Even Colorful Places" train. 

Following the adoration and acclaim she received with her work in Jacques Demy's The Umbrellas of Cherbourg, Deneuve managed to solidify herself as an absolute icon with her work in Luis Bunuel's Belle de jour... which means "beauty of the day" as she is a married woman who does sex work during the day while her husband isn't home. 

I do have to add really quickly that despite how well the film turned out; Deneuve and Bunuel did not have the best working relationship. He felt he was forced to use her via the producers and the influence of her then-lover at the time, Francois Truffaut. He also said that he felt Deneuve was a bit of a prude about the sexual content. I do think that's a bit interesting considering she had already appeared in Playboy at that point. Deneuve felt that she was being used and that she wasn't fully being respected by Bunuel. 

Deneuve's character of Severine is married to Dr. Pierre Serizy (Jean Sorel). They both legitimately love and care deeply for one another, but Severine is unable to be intimate with him due to some past sexual trauma. Beyond that, Severine has sexual fantasies that are beginning to consume her such as exploring S&M and domination in general. 

She does eventually find her way into entertaining gentlemen callers, which surprisingly leads her into embracing more of a sex life with her husband. However, one of her "johns" named Marcel (Pierre Clementi) is able to provide her the thrills and excitement she craves...but at what cost?

Belle de jour is certainly one of the films I think of from this time that began pushing the envelope when it came to telling complex stories about sex and also the fact it came from the viewpoint of a woman. 

It also feels somewhat unique for a Bunuel film, but he is still able to give it his usual surreal edge at time, particularly with the use of fantasy sequences.

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#5 - THE PRODUCERS

Written & Directed by Mel Brooks

Considering most people didn't see this film until 1968, and it would win the Oscar for Best Original Screenplay for that year, I had always considered The Producers a 1968 film...but it seems as though everything lists it as 1967 these days so I will just go with that.

Mel Brooks had mainly worked as a comedy writer, but he was inspired to write something about an old Broadway producer he used to work for who had a very inspired way to try to raise money for his productions: seducing old ladies and having them write out checks to the title of his latest play - "Cash".

Originally, he wanted to do it is a play but was told that there were too many different locations to make it work. He tried it as a book but was told "too much dialogue, not enough narrative". Therefore - he made it into a movie script, and managed to weasel his way into directing it as well. How so? It would save the producer money.

The original title of the film mirrored the musical in the play: Springtime for Hitler. Not surprisingly, this freaked people out and they even suggested he call it Springtime for Mussolini. Thankfully, the biting power won out and all that changed was the film's title, the more banal The Producers.

Max Bialystock (Zero Mostel) has produced Broadway flop after Broadway flop but still has a catalog of horny old ladies that he prowls upon for money. His accounting firm sends over a new accountant to help do his books named Leopold Bloom (Gene Wilder), who by happenstance comments that under the right circumstances, a producer could wind up making more money with a flop than he could with a hit. If a play was a surefire flop, the producer would not have the means to pay the backers so he'd essentially walk off with a couple million.

While I would argue a lot of the structure of The Producers would be improved once it became a Broadway musical, namely the final third of the show after Springtime for Hitler premieres, there is still something so bold and invigorating about this. Many years later, South Park did a joke where it had been 23 years since the AIDS epidemic had been at its peak, so now it was able to be joked about. That sentiment came from The Producers, which had its peak success 23 years after Hitler was found dead.

If you truly want to see how well it is to tackle something that dabbles in shock value: The Producers is a forerunner in that subgenre.

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#4 - LE SAMOURAI

Written & Directed by Jean-Pierre Melville

Co-written by Georges Pellegrin

The term "film noir" is associated with crime/dark drama films from the 40s/50s that usually incorporated shadowy B&W cinematography and usually contain a femme fatale in some cases. We eventually would get the revamped version of this in "neo-noir", which incorporates those sensibilities, but the films are made in color and depict more explicit forms of violence and sexuality.

Examples of those would be Chinatown, Taxi Driver, Body Heat, and Blue Velvet. Although I would agree with the claim that Le Samourai was the granddaddy of this entire genre style shift.

A hitman named Jef Costello (Alain Delon) lives rather meagerly and goes about his work, creating alibis to keep himself out of harm's way. These are often given to him by his lover Jane (Nathalie Delon, then married to Alain). Jef is hired for a new contract but seemingly has someone trying to kill him, all while a commissaire (Francois Périer) is on his tail.

Everything about Le Samourai is cold in the best way. The cinematic palate is an array of gloomy grays and blues, everything feels sparse and ugly, while also somehow being pristine and eye-catching.

It is also doesn't hurt that we have Alain Delon as our lead, someone who has popped up multiple times in these posts from Rocco & His Brothers to Le Cercle Rouge. Delon was easily one of the coolest actors to have ever lived, up there with Paul Newman. His charisma level was off the charts, and he just had such a stunning face that could've been passed off as just "handsome but stupid", but Delon was as talented as he was attractive.

Le Samourai might not necessarily be his best, but this might very well be him at peak "cool".

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#3 - BONNIE & CLYDE

Directed by Arthur Penn

Written by David Newman & Robert Benton

I always talk about how Hollywood of the 60s inches closer and closer to the New Hollywood era of the 70s where we finally caught up with the rest of the world. In many ways, Bonnie & Clyde is the film that led that charge, and the mixed reviews that often got vitriolic at the time proved that so many people weren't ready for it.

The subject matter is certainly well-known: a true story based on two lovers by the names of Bonnie Parker and Clyde Barrow (Faye Dunaway and Warren Beatty) who go on a crime spree killing people and robbing banks left and right during the height of the Great Depression. 

It is kind of humorous to me that there was such an outcry about the depiction of violence onscreen considering that eventually violence seemed far more accepting than anything remotely sexual. With the push of films like Bonnie & Clyde and with 1966 giving us a bit of a jolt with films like Blowup and Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?, the Hays Code was officially dead and by the next year, the MPAA would be formed...for better and eventually for worse in a lot of ways.

The interesting thing about Bonnie & Clyde for me is that it was one of the big examples of a highly acclaimed film that I watched and didn't truly connect with at first...but despite that, it kept staying on my mind and building in esteem in the decades since I first watched it.

Obviously, Dunaway and Beatty are magical together, but I found a lot of enjoyment in the supporting players more. This was Gene Hackman's breakout role and still one of the true pinnacles of his career, which is saying a lot. You also have the rather infamous performance of Estelle Parsons as Blanche, who despite winning the Oscar (one of only two that the film received, which left Warren Beatty incensed after the ceremony), seems to divide fans down the middle as being perfect at capturing this distinct character or being way too shrill and obnoxious. I fall more in the "she was great" camp, because that is what Blanche Barrow needed to be...plus by the end, when she is left a blind shell of her former self, you almost pity her as much as you enjoy seeing her put in her place.

This is a film that has been written about so frequently that it is hard for me to truly feel like I can add anything new, but I will reiterate at the very least that I admire and respect what this film achieved and how it opened the door to more daring films to emerge from the Hollywood floodgates.

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#2 - THE YOUNG GIRLS OF ROCHEFORT

Written & Directed by Jacques Demy

I think what is remarkable about The Young Girls of Rochefort is that it could just be seen as some kind of attempt of Jacques Demy to capture the magic he had with The Umbrellas of Cherbourg. You take a noun and pair it with a place...and then cast Catherine Deneuve. 

And yet...The Young Girls of Rochefort does not feel like a rehash in any way. 

Considering that The Umbrellas of Cherbourg could be seen more as a bittersweet romantic tragedy despite the fact that one of them truly ended up finding happiness, Young Girls feels a bit brighter in its world of glorious colors of reds and yellows compared to the more pastel vibes of Umbrellas. There is a jovial nature to this one that might make it more of vibrant and, perhaps, more of a classic musical in the sense that we get choreographed numbers that are more reminiscent of the MGM musicals from the 30s and 40s.

It is pretty evident with a role like this plus her work in Belle de jour, Catherine Deneuve proved she had the range and was quickly becoming one of the more captivating screen presences of that era.

We meet twin sisters named Delphine and Solange, played by Deneuve and her real-life sister Francoise Dorleac. They live in the small seaside town of Rochefort off the Bay of Biscay. The two of them long to move to Paris with the goal of Delphine becoming a dancer and Solange becoming a composer.

There's a lot of chaos in their town currently as a carnival is passing through, and it is that type of atmosphere that gives this film such a glorious sense of place. While Umbrellas popped with color, the weather always seemed to be overcast and rainy or, famously, snowy in its last scene. Here, it is like we are living in a sun-soaked world that makes you want to jump right in.

It is hard to say which of the two I prefer. I honestly don't think that there is a firm consensus as I have seen a fair amount of people prefer one over the other...but if you were to ask me my personal opinion at this exact moment, I might say Umbrellas. This makes me want to watch Rochefort this coming weekend, because maybe that opinion will change. Both of them are very much their own distinct being and offer something special onto themselves.

In the span of just 3 years, Jacques Demy gave us two of the greatest musicals ever captured on film...and a lot of praise needs to be given to Michel Legrand for his compositions as his work here is simply infectious and jazzy to the nth degree.

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#1 - THE GRADUATE

 Directed by Mike Nichols

Written by Buck Henry & Calder Willingham

As I cheekily alluded to at the beginning, I am finally giving my #1 spot to a film that came from the US for the first time since 1960. 

What I find really interesting about The Graduate is that it is an example of a film that seemed highly acclaimed, but a lot of people have taken a step back from it. Even when looking at the infamous AFI Top 100 Films of All Time lists (that only included American films), The Graduate was #7 on the 1997 list but dropped to #17 when they redid it in 2007.

I was talking with one of my film buff friends yesterday (shout out to Dan) and he mentioned how he also felt the film was fine, and he didn't really respond to it.

I do think a lot of what helped The Graduate stick for me was seeing it during my formative years of becoming a film fanatic. I believe I was 12-13 when I first watched it, and I really took to the story and the very eccentric nature of it.

Benjamin Braddock (Dustin Hoffman) just completed his undergrad studies and is planning to attend graduate school in the fall...but he is feeling a bit loss and uncertain about his future. During a welcome home party, a longtime family friend and neighbor Mrs. Robinson (Anne Bancroft) barges into Benjamin's room as he tries to escape from the cacophony downstairs and asks him to drive her home.

Benjamin eventually picks up on the cue: "Mrs. Robinson, you're trying to seduce me. Aren't you?"

So yes, Benjamin begins an affair with a woman twice his age, married to a guy who seems pretty respectful (the great character actor Murray Hamilton), and a daughter who is about to start college named Elaine (Katherine Ross). 

However, things become a bit more interesting for Benjamin when he takes a liking to Elaine.

The Graduate is interesting in that it sort of has moments that make it feel like it is still trapped in an early 60s aesthetic, but Mike Nichols' direction, the witty script, and particularly the use of Simon & Garfunkel's iconic score give this film such a unique vibe and it is clear to see why it was viewed as such a departure from the norm in 1967.

During the opening credits when we see Benjamin on the moving pathway at LAX as "The Sound of Silence" plays, it instantly puts you into this world and the mind of our protagonist...and it leads to a great bookend. 

While I would argue that Bonnie & Clyde, The Young Girls of Rochefort, and Le Samourai might be a bit more vibrant and a bit more widely bombastic in varying ways, I always find myself thinking about The Graduate and at how well it captures that sense of aimlessness that a lot of us felt when we entered adulthood. 

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FINAL THOUGHTS:

What I ended up finding fascinating about 1967 is that it was certainly a year that became a turning point for Hollywood...but at the same time, a lot of those films have been written up to the max that it almost made me feel less enthused to discuss them; as if I didn't think I could offer anything that new or insightful about them.

I do want to mention the other Best Picture nominees from that year like I said I would do at the beginning as they are a great example of what was happening within Hollywood at the time.

As I stated, Bonnie & Clyde and The Graduate represented the "New Hollywood" movement that would take off fully in the 70s, but it was the other three nominees that were rather fascinating.

You have Guess Who's Coming to Dinner? which certainly dealt with a very relevant and controversial topic for the time: interracial marriage. It came just half a year after the legendary Supreme Court case Loving v. Virginia which granted that all 50 states should recognize and allow interracial marriage. Aside from maybe one scant moment involving the maid played by Isabel Sanford, I would argue that there is a very glossy and classic Hollywood sheen over that film. It is certainly a relevant topic for the time, but it does feel a bit docile.

Then you have the eventual winner: In the Heat of the Night. In a lot of ways, I feel like this was the film that bridged between New and Old Hollywood in that it did have more bite than Guess, but it was still inherently a "racism bad/white southern racist becomes less racist" piece. 

But there is one more nominee to discuss, and it is easily one of the worst films to get a Best Picture nomination at least in the last 70 years: Doctor Doolittle.

The insane thing about this nomination is that 1) FOX had a big party to try to woo voters into nominating it and 2) It was a critical and box office dud and 3) It was the kind of over-bloated film that was starting to become less relevant. Even though My Fair Lady and The Sound of Music just won Best Picture 3 and 2 years prior, the movie musical was quickly on a decline. It's just a shame that if something more kid-friendly were getting in, they couldn't have just made history by nominating The Jungle Book.

We are now about to take a look at 1968 and I have to admit, I can't say for certain how this one will turn out. Yes, there are a couple of films that instantly make me think "that's a definite" but I wouldn't be shocked if I end up finding a couple of hidden gems or perhaps find myself a bit less enthralled. 

I will be back soon with '68!

"HUMP THE HOSTESS!!!!" - A Look at the Best Films of 1966

After a rather relatively weak 1965 that failed to live up to the strength of the early half of the decade, we get to enter 1966 with a bit more confidence. Considering the vast number of films that I felt compelled to discuss for 1960, 1962, and 1964, I will admit that I will not be making a large list for 1966.

I am only going to single out one film as an Honorable Mention, but this list will contain 5 films that get the pinnacle 5-star ranking, and one more that I sort of go back and forth with. That's certainly a big boost considering 1965 only had 1, and that felt pretty sad after 1964's epic total of 9.

My Honorable Mention is a film that I would argue a lot of film fanatics would have on their top 10, but I can't say it is as easy for me to get swept up in the western genre.

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HONORABLE MENTION: 

THE GOOD, THE BAD, & THE UGLY 

Written & Directed by Sergio Leone

Co-written by Age & Scarpelli and Luciano Vincenzoni 

Arguably the pinnacle of the "spaghetti western" genre, I will say that this is one of the few westerns I do own up to enjoying even if it is likely at a tempered level than most.

If some may wonder why it is referred to as a "spaghetti western", that is simply due to the fact that there was a certain subsector of the western genre that kept getting churned out in this era led by Italian directors and producers, namely Sergio Leone.

However, one aspect of this film that I think a lot of us can agree on as being truly iconic is that of Ennio Morricone's score. This guy was an absolute legend who gave us some of the greatest film scores in history, such as one of my personal favorites: Cinema Paradiso.

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#10 - THE FACE OF ANOTHER

Directed by Hiroshi Teshigahara 

Written by Kobo Abe

As their follow-up to the masterpiece that was Woman in the Dunes, I would say that it was a bit of a tall order for Teshigahara and Abe to meet that high level. Even at the time, a lot of critics outside of Japan deemed the film to be a disappointment in comparison, and while I would certainly agree it isn't on the same level, there is a lot to really like about The Face of Another.

An engineer whom we only know as Mr. Okuyama (Tatsuya Nakadai) has his face disfigured following an explosion at his job. His life feels a bit aimless: he wears bandages to cover the burns, his wife is uncomfortable around him, and it leads him to consulting a psychiatrist. 

The psychiatrist suggests an idea: what if he partakes in a procedure that will get him an experimental prosthetic mask to wear? 

Okuyama does go through with it, but instead of becoming a potential source of embracing life again, he seemingly develops a new kind of identity which leads to further alienation from those he loves.

Yes, I can't deny that the film is as deep or profound as Woman in the Dunes, but I do think the film does play a lot into the ideas of identity...however, there is a film coming up next that also wants to give us its own take on the concept.

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 #10 - SECONDS

Directed by John Frankenheimer

Written by Lewis John Carlino

Oddly enough, we get another film that deals with the idea of altered appearances and new identities.

Director John Frankenheimer is one of those who does get brought up from time to time, but he has never been frequently listed as being among the best of all time. What I have always admired about his work...for reference, his most iconic work would likely be 1962's The Manchurian Candidate...is that he has this very interesting way of presenting his worlds often through dark and shadowy lenses and often placing his cameras at angles that can feel disorienting at times. He showed a lot of technical proficiency in a way that I don't think a lot of (Hollywood) directors attempted to achieve. 

Having said that, I can't say that I have loved a lot of his filmography despite appreciating his skill as a director. If anything, his directing skills are often what help buoy a film up. 

In the case of Seconds, the film was seen as a major bomb at the time. It did a bit better with critics, but its box office numbers were rather abysmal. Over time, it has developed quite the cult following mostly thanks to the resurgence it got from being selected for the Criterion Collection.

Rock Hudson, an inspired casting choice, plays banking executive who does his daily commute from Westchester to NYC and feels incredibly unfulfilled with his life. His marriage to his wife Emily is fading and his adult daughter has moved to the west coast with her own family.

He receives an anonymous letter that leads him to an agency known as "The Company", who have begun the procedure of faking someone's death and then giving them a new identity/life to pursue. As one might suspect, that isn't going to end up being all rosy for him.

Seconds does tackle this topic well from a true science fiction/almost dystopian standpoint. Elements from the storytelling almost remind of future films, such as Demi Moore getting a tip to try The Substance.

I do think this film has aged very well, but I will say when it comes to the concept of identity and psychology, we still have one more film later on this list that will give us a masterclass on the topic.

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#8 - ANDREI RUBELEV 

Written & Directed by Andrei Tarkovsky

Co-written by Andrei Konchalovsky

I do acknowledge how much I admire the work of Tarkovsky, but I will say of his most acclaimed films, I was not as enthused with Andrei Rublev. That isn't to say I hated it, clearly not since it is on a list like this, but it also just shows how many strong films he made.

The film is not exactly a true biography in the sense of the word, but it is loosely based on the life of 15th century Russian painter of the same name. Tarkovsky extensively tried to bring the world of 15th century Russia to life and used Rublev as a means to examine how the worlds of faith and artistry collide.

You often hear people refer to certain films as "a religious experience" in order to express how amazing it was to witness it, even when the film may not even have a thing to do with religion. In the case of Andrei Rublev, it does feel as though we are watching some kind of cosmic miracle that is almost otherworldly. Granted, this is something that Tarkovsky has always been a master at conveying, but Andrei Rublev is a film that requires multiple viewings to appreciate. I certainly liked it more upon a second viewing, so in that regard, it does make me wonder if I watched it a third time, would I end up giving it a higher ranking?

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#7 - BLOWUP

Written & Directed by Michelangelo Antonioni 

Co-written by Tonino Guerra

As his first foray into making an English-language film, Michelangelo Antonioni is not surprisingly often linked closely to this film, but I am still not sure it is his best work...though it has a very important distinction.

Blowup is one of the earliest examples of a film coming out that truly challenged the idea of the archaic Hays Code, which was already dying a slow and nowhere near fast enough death. MGM didn't even get approval from the production code upon its release, and it was condemned by the National Legion of Decency...AKA The Catholics. Hey, they stopped molesting young boys for a moment to condemn a film with explicit sexual content...how brave...

Thomas (David Hemmings) is a photographer who normally works with models and more artistic projects. One day, he wanders through a park and notices two lovers, an older man and a younger woman in her 30s, whom we soon learn is named Jane (Vanessa Redgrave). 

The older man departs quickly, but Jane pursues Thomas begging him for the images. He refuses and she rushes off as he continues to photograph her. Once Thomas looks at the footage, he realizes that something else is afoot. Jane appears to look a bit nervous in some of the photos as she glances towards the woods near her, which prompts Thomas to blow up the photos, and he believes he might have taken proof of a murder that occurred nearby...which explains why Jane was so concerned about there being a record of her also witnessing this crime.

Blowup is about the kind of a film one would expect from Antonioni, where the whole is better than the sum of its parts. The film has some of Antonioni's lagging sequences that bring the pacing to a halt, but in the end, the film manages to pull you back from it multiple times.

Ingmar Bergman, who normally hated Antonioni's work, referred to the film as a masterpiece. I wouldn't go that far, but I do admire it a lot.

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#6 - DAISIES 

Written & Directed by Vera Chytilova

Co-written by Pavel Juracek & Ester Krumbachova

Are you ready for a bit of a chaotic and colorful and zany romp? Well, hop in because we got ourselves quite the ride ahead of us.

Daisies was the work of Czech filmmaker Vera Chytilova, a rare case of a woman directing during this time period...and she gives us something fascinating. To start us off, our two leads are only known as Marie I (the brunette) and Marie II (the blonde) and both were played by non-actors named Jitka Cherova and Ivana Karbanova. The former had worked in retail, and the latter was still in college.

The film's satirical themes are pretty clear: attacking authoritarian communism and the patriarchy while messing with the ideas of what exactly are feminine stereotypes.

Having said that though, how does one actually describe Daisies? Is there anything to properly convey what an absolutely bonkers experience this is?

The Maries are both teenagers and they are both fed up with the world around them. They acknowledge that the world is spoiled, therefore they should likely just accept it. From there, they go around playing pranks and preying upon those who come across them. 

They even end up preying upon themselves as one ponders suicide, they also self-harm each other with scissors...and eventually they tire of this. They no longer wish to be spoiled and be so carefree, so they decide to clean up their act and surroundings...until life decides to crash on them anyway.

Daisies is a destructive film that feels as liberating as it does a bit unsettling at times, but it does prove to be highly successful in giving a spotlight to women in the kinds of gregarious roles that would likely be seen as more acceptable for a man to play. 

Chytilova would continue to make films, although for a while she had to work under her husband's name when stronger censorship rules came about. Despite attacking the idea of communism, Chytilova was a devout socialist and it is a shame that a lot of her work and ideals got stifled because of censorship.

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#5 - A MAN & A WOMAN

Directed by Claude Lelouch

Written by Pierre Uytterhoeven (w/ uncredited work by Lelouch)

Not to necessarily date this post, but as I am writing this, A Man & A Woman just got a Criterion release, and it is one of the prime examples of me going "Oh okay, I assumed that got into their collection a while ago".

A Man & A Woman is a beacon of the romantic drama. In fact, even the idea that I am ranking the film at #5 is a testament to how strong this year is because if this had come out in 1965, it would likely be a very strong #2 nipping at the heels of The Shop on Main Street. 

We have Anouk Aimee, in her Oscar-nominated performance, starring as a young widow named Anne. Working as a script supervisor, she witnessed the death of her husband on set in a stunt accident gone wrong. She now divides her time between Paris and Deauville, where her daughter Francoise is attending boarding school.

Then we have widower Jean-Louis (Jean-Louis Trintignant), whose wife Valerie committed suicide when she suspected he was going to die following a car crash during Le Mans. He also divides his time between both cities as his son Antoine is going to same boarding school as Francoise. 

A Man & A Woman is an examination of how one deals with grief over the death of a spouse and how that affects the possibility of finding love again...but what I do appreciate about the film is that it doesn't diminish the grief while simultaneously still allowing the characters to work through and find bliss despite of it all. 

Lelouch gives the film such vibrant life by experimenting with various styles, such as switching cinematography between color, B&W, and sepia. It only adds to the strong emotions we are witnessing in the film, which is also aided by the wonderful musical score by Francis Lai.

A Man & A Woman is one of those foreign films I would say is a solid entry point if you want to try checking something out in that manner. Its themes are relatively universal in that respect, and it also doesn't hurt that the acting is phenomenal and the film is beautiful all around.

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#4 - THE BATTLE OF ALGIERS 

Directed by Gillo Pontecorvo

Written by Franco Solinas/Story by Pontecorvo

Gillo Pontecorvo is another filmmaker where I have to admit that I have only seen one of his films, but when it comes to that, The Battle of Algiers is quite the doozy.

As the title suggests, the film revolves around the rebels acting out against the French government in North Africa amidst the Algerian War. In order to make the film seem as realistic as possible, Pontecorvo embraced the Italian Neorealist movement that had sort of faded by this point, utilizing a documentary/newsreel style cinematography that was reminiscent of neorealist legend Roberto Rossellini. He also utilized non-professional actors who had lived through the actual war for further authenticity...something that does usually pay off well, like using Harold Russell in The Best Years of Our Lives or Haing S. Ngor in The Killing Fields.

Not surprisingly, the French government banned the film at first and even when the ban was lifted, no distributor there seemed to want to release it...but the truth is Pontecorvo felt the film didn't necessarily demonize any side, he felt it was more "politically neutral".

In the end though, this is a true masterwork and one that I feel should be seen by everyone at some point in their lives. It would prove to be a strong influence on many iconic filmmakers, with a personal assistant of Stanley Kubrick's stating that he once told him that if he really wanted to understand what cinema could be, he needed to watch The Battle of Algiers.

I also like to think of the melding of non-fiction/fiction as a forerunner to the work of the late Iranian filmmaker Abbas Kiarostami who is certainly not a moral figure, but I can't argue he did make some fascinating films that owe a debt to what Pontecorvo accomplished here.

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#3 - WAR & PEACE

Written & Directed by Sergei Bondarchuk

Co-written by Vasily Solovyov 

I honestly wasn't entirely sure where I wanted to place War & Peace. When I devised my 1965, I originally included it there...especially because that year needed an additional boost. However, the majority of the film was not released to the public until 1966 and 1967...so I decided to consider 1966 as a middle ground to include the film series as it had been released in 4 parts: two in '66 and two in '67.

War & Peace is a film of epic, glorious, and opulent proportions. It is truly as if someone took the scope of Gone with the Wind, Andrei Rublev, Barry Lyndon, and The Leopard and gave them a 5-hour Energy Shot and a prescription of steroids. 

As was often the case for a while, the Soviets were looking to put Hollywood (and the US) in its place, and they concocted a sweeping epic that honestly put many of ours to shame. It would've been the most expensive film ever made during the era of the USSR, totaling about $70 million in today's money. 

The film also had extensive support from the Soviet Army, which allowed over TEN-THOUSAND SOLDIERS and HUNDREDS OF HORSES to be utilized for various scenes, namely anything containing a battle. 

Considering War & Peace is one of the most well-known and discussed pieces of literature in existence, I am not really feeling like I need to dig that deep into the story. While I would argue that maybe little pieces could've been trimmed here and there, this is a prime example of a true successful film series and a rarer case of a strong "Quadrilogy".

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#2 - WHO'S AFRAID OF VIRGINIA WOOLF?

Directed by Mike Nicohols

Written by Ernest Lehman (even though the text is primarily that of Edward Albee's)

Stunt casting. We all hate it right?

Sure, sometimes it does pay off rather well...often leading to comments of shock. Perhaps the ultimate example of this was the casting of then acting power couple Richard Burton and Elizabeth Taylor as the irascible George and Martha in the film adaptation of Edward Albee's masterpiece Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf? which, I must say, was a play that I said was my personal favorite for many years. I do still think very highly of it to this day.

Now, Burton isn't exactly a stretch to play George. Albee did claim that he felt he was a tad too old, but he eventually relented that he turned out to be incredible in the role. The real issue was the casting of Taylor, who did prove to be a very good actress prior to this...ironically not counting her Oscar winning performance in the schlock that was Butterfield 8. Martha is supposed to be a woman in her 50s: middle-aged, graying, frumpy. Taylor was only 33 when she was approached to play the role, and she knew the truth. She expressed that she felt playing this role would be a stretch and that she did not have the skills to properly play it, but she would be coerced.

Also, to her credit, she was adamant a strong director of actors be used because she wanted to have someone challenge her and make her get to the dramatic levels necessary. This led to highly accomplished theatre director and former comedian Mike Nichols to make his film debut, and the results were splendid to say the least.

Taylor gained weight to play the role, which is certainly in line with the idea of "de-glamming" that Oscar voters often love, but that is really just a secondary factor. She gives the goods when it comes to the dramatics and passes fairly well for someone that is supposed to be older than her age. I have even said in the past on this blog that despite my love for this material, I've never been overly fond of the final line "I am, George. I am". Having seen several actresses do this line, I actually think Taylor is the one who sold it best and didn't try to overdramatize it. 

Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf? is revolves around two couples, the aforementioned George and Martha, he is a professor at the college that Martha's father is the president of. Late one night after a party, Martha tells George she invited a young couple to come have a nightcap with them: new professor Nick (George Segal) and his unassuming wife Honey (Sandy Dennis) ...and let's just say...they have quite the evening.

In terms of pure acting, this quartet is stellar. Segal may be the one who seems to disappear into the scenery, but that is not truly the case. Nick is a character who is supposed to be the one most connected to reality as an audience stand in and he does that very effectively, but MY GOD is Sandy Dennis fantastic in this! Her awkward laughs and outbursts and her twirling around singing "I dance like the WIND!" or yelling out "HUMP THE HOSTESS!" during what is more of a tense moment between George and Martha is a prime example of how effective a good supporting performance can be.

I love the play, and I love the film. I never tire of it.

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#1 - PERSONA 

Written & Directed by Ingmar Bergman

I have said on multiple occasions that my favorite film of Bergman's in terms of the emotional and artistic expression has to be Wild Strawberries. Although, if I were to say what I objectively think is his magnum opus is based on the sheer level of reshaping what a film could be and for being such an all-around mindfuck, let me single out Persona. In a lot of ways, if you were to approach me on a random day and ask me what his best film is, I might honestly just say Persona.

A young nurse named Alma (Bibi Andersson) has taken on a new patient, a stage actress named Elisabet (Liv Ullman) who has suddenly become mute. In order to treat her, she takes Elisabet to a cottage located on the island of Faro (one of Bergman's favorite filming locales) ...but while there, Alma begins to develop an intense psychosis where she can't seem to distinguish here own identity from that of Elisabet's. 

When I first saw Persona, I could honestly say I didn't get it. That isn't necessarily saying I fully get it now, but this is very much the kind of film that is rife for analysis and coming up with what you think is your own interpretation. There is even a famous quote from film historian Peter Cowie who said of the film: "Everything one says about Persona may be contradicted; the opposite will also be true".

Many have linked the idea of Persona to that of Jungian theory of "Persona": "a kind of mask, designed on the one hand to make a definite impression upon others, and on the other to conceal the true nature of the individual".

There is also a clear undercurrent of homosexuality here, even if perhaps the representation of lesbian homoeroticism is certainly of the toxic variety. You even have the film seemingly diving into the possibly of an Oedipus Complex with Elisabet's young son desperate for her love, but instead, that all gets overshadowed by the duality and complicated relationship between Alma and Elisbaet. That isn't even going into the concept of vampirism which leads one to believe that Elisabet is some kind of vampire and that Alma is what she seeks to consume both body and mind...which I cheekily like to compare the last part of that to Colin Robinson from What We Do in the Shadows. 

 I could go on and on with the analysis/topics that have come forth over the last few decades, but I did want to mention what Bergman himself had to say about the film in terms of his career: "Today I feel that in Persona - as later in Cries & Whispers - I had gone as far as I could go." He later even stated that the film saved his life and that had he not been able to finish it, he would've felt "washed up". 

I have talked a lot about how Bergman is my favorite filmmaker of all-time. This isn't necessarily to say that I go back to watch his films several times, because admittedly most of his work can take a lot out of a person. I do think that in the grand scheme of things, Persona is one of those fascinating films that the older I get, the more I feel compelled to live through its spell again...I don't know what exactly that says about me but so be it.

In terms of the performances, Bergman's frequent muse of Ullman does great work here as usual, but it is Bibi Andersson who gives the performance of a lifetime. It is the kind of performance that just felt raw and brave and exposed and unnerving to witness and also felt so uniquely new to the cinema landscape of that era...especially compared to most performances that would've been in English.

Persona is a film that is as beautiful as it is unsettling, as frustrating as it is captivating...this is a singular effort and truthfully one of the greatest and most daring films ever made. It was watching Persona that truly made me want to explore Bergman's filmography more deeply even though I certainly couldn't comprehend what the hell was often happening at such a young age, but considering the types of works Bergman made at the beginning of his career, he is a prime example of not knowing what to fully expect as an artist grows within his craft.

Persona is truly...and I have used this phrase before, but I do sincerely mean it here...an absolute work of cinematic art.

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FINAL THOUGHTS:

It certainly did feel a lot better to write this list in comparison to 1965, which did delay me a tad in getting that posted. Sure, I did have work taking up a lot of that time which...ugh...but I will admit that the passion was hard to find with some of those films; especially coming off of a stellar year like 1964.

I do think 1966 is relatively compact, but I didn't even go into films I do enjoy but didn't feel like singling out here, such as Alfie. I always try to single out films that deserve a mention in some capacity and usually those are films that get either a 5 star or 4.5-star rating...so in that case, 1965 was one of the few anomalies.

Luckily, 1967 will keep roughly the same consistency so that is a major plus as I move to tackle that year next.