STEVE MCQUEEN ESCAPES FROM THE AYN RAND SCHOOL FOR TOTS!! - A Look at the Best Films of 1963

The opinion I've held for quite some time regarding the cinematic output of 1963 was that it was very dire. I feel like that isn't anything new for me to say for this era, and anyone who has been reading these posts about the 60s and even the post I made about the stellar year for film that was 1957 (read about that here.), the international cinema landscape was wiping the floor with us consistently as they would tackle bolder topics and actually take risks with their presentation. 

If you were to look at the 5 films that were nominated for the Best Picture Oscar that year, I am sure 1 or 2 of them may have some fans...but really...it has got to be one of the absolute worst lineups in that award's history:

America, America

Cleopatra

How the West Was Won

Lilies of the Field

Tom Jones

As highlighted in bold, the British period farce Tom Jones won the award, and despite how often many of us like to bemoan how the Oscars don't always recognize comedies, it seems like they often choose the worst ones to focus on. Tom Jones is easily won of the worst winners, like in the bottom 10 quite easily. Even more hilarious is how its director Tony Richardson won in his category as well...but I call that out because Best Director contained a couple of nominees whose films didn't make it to Best Picture:

Otto Preminger for The Cardinal 

Federico Fellini, 8 1/2

Martin Ritt, Hud

If I were to say anything about these films, The Cardinal is fine. It is about on par with the actual nominees from that year, maybe even a little better. However, it still baffles me that Hud was not nominated considering it not only got multiple nominations, but it also managed to win Best Actress for Patricia Neal and Best Supporting Actor for Melvyn Douglas. 

Hud was the best film Hollywood made that year...and it will be only one of 2 films from Hollywood to make my top 10. There is also one British film which just so happens to be a little better than both of them. I promise I am not being cheeky with this, but all the English language films on the list round out the bottom 3 while the top 7 are all international features.

For those wondering about my thoughts on Fellini and 8 1/2, don't worry...I will in due time.

Let's begin this list, not with Hud or The Servant, but rather...

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#10 - THE GREAT ESCAPE

Directed by John Sturges

Written by James Clavell & W.R. Burnett

When I sat down to watch The Great Escape on a whim during a TCM airing, I heard the main theme of the film and immediately realized: "I HEARD THIS ON THE SIMPSONS!"

I swear, a lot of my pop-culture and history knowledge as a child came from watching The Simpsons and old episodes of SNL. The score's main theme, written by Elmer Bernstein, had been featured on a Season 4 episode of The Simpsons entitled "A Streetcar Named Marge" where little Maggie Simpson is on a quest to retrieve her iconic pacifier that was locked away by the conservative wacko who runs the Ayn Rand School for Tots.

Classic Simpsons was pure gold.

I am getting off track though. The Great Escape is certainly an entertaining film, and perhaps my one case of choosing a film that was highly populist for its time. It's an amazing story though as they do a fictionalized account of the mass escape that was made by British Commonwealth prisoners of war from a German POW camp in WWII.

It certainly helped establish Steve McQueen as the personification of "cool" as I'd argue he and Sean Connery had that market cornered in the 1960s.

I would also be remiss if I didn't mention the iconic motorcycle chase and jump scene, as that is easily one of the best stunts ever captured on film and yet another example of how that kind of work is always taken for granted. Thankfully though, the Academy will implement a Stunts Coordinator Oscar in 2027.

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#9 - HUD 

Directed by Martin Ritt

Written by Irving Ravetch & Harriet Frank Jr.

Help us, Paul Newman. You're our only hope!

So yes, Hud represents the one truly great all-around Hollywood achievement to make my list. It is also something of a revisionist western which typically aren't the kind of films to make these lists. 

As our titular character, Newman is the egotistical and shameless son of a cattle rancher named Homer (Melvyn Douglas). With them on the ranch is teenager Lonnie (Brandon de Wilde), who is orphaned after the death his father, Hud's elder brother. Both of these men take a liking to the down-to-earth housekeeper named Alma (Patricia Neal). 

Most of Hud is centered around generational conflict, particularly that of Hud's own desire to do things his own way. He will do anything to get what he wants and he cannot stand the bitter and disciplined nature of his father...all the while having young Lonnie look up to him.

Hud is a great example of a film in which we can't help but be taken by our protagonist even though he is the truest definition of an antihero. Not surprisingly, Paul Newman being Paul Newman helps greatly with that. Douglas and de Wilde are both very strong here, but I do have to single out Patricia Neal. Considering she doesn't have a lot of screen time and would clearly be seen as supporting by a normal metric, she commands the screen with such ease and dominates in her moments that it is truly hard to deny her that win.

Paul Newman would've made a good winner here, but I do want to acknowledge the historical feat that occurred that year as Sidney Poitier became the first person of color, man or woman, to win a Lead Acting Oscar for Lilies of the Field. I will go ahead and say that film is not that great, but he does a lovely job in it. 

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#8 - THE SERVANT

Directed by Joseph Losey

Written by Harold Pinter

Oh boy, it is time to delve into the world of Harold Pinter!

While technically an adaptation of a novel, the energy and vibe of The Servant is pure Pinter, who became one of the most successful and acclaimed playwrights of his time. 

A wealthy young man by the name of Tony (James Fox) hires the respectable Hugo (Dirk Dogarde) to be his new manservant. All is well with this arrangement until Hugo begins asking Tom hire his sister Vera (Sarah Miles) to be a live-in maid. Prior to this, Tony's girlfriend Susan (Wendy Craig) had expressed suspicions around Hugo's character which Tony had ignored.

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If there is a certain plot element that seems a bit familiar, you may not be surprised to learn that this film was an inspiration for Bong Joon-ho when he was devising Parasite, along with other films like The Housemaid and La Ceremonie. 

The Servant is a very cold film; one that truly embraces the stuffy class system that England never seems to be able to shake. Pinter's dialogue combined with the stately and elegant direction of Losey makes this out to be a rather underrated gem from British cinema. 

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#7 - THE BIG CITY

Written & Directed by Satyajit Ray

Much like I said when recently writing about Kobayashi, I feel like I have not said enough about Satyajit Ray. A lot of that is due to the same reasons as Kobayashi in that I feel like the years of their prime aren't ones I have discussed as much.

In the case of Ray, I will say I have seen a smaller sample of his filmography which is something I need to fix. He started off very strong with what would become his Apu trilogy in the 50s, but one of the few others of his that I have seen and thought fondly of was The Big City. 

Ray's work always makes me think of Ozu or the Italian Neo-Realist films but placed within the confines of India. Considering his Apu Trilogy had a young male protagonist, The Big City gives a female protagonist with Arati (Anil Chatterjee), who is a housewife living in Calcutta and feeling a bit cramped and stifled by what is expected of her. She decides she wants to become a lady of the workforce and gets a job as a salesperson.

The more I think about Ray, the more I feel like I need to rewatch the films I have seen and seek out the ones I haven't. He is one of those filmmakers who just treats everything with such a beautiful simplicity and grace that I would call him the true definition of a humanist. 

The Big City is actually my favorite film of his other than his debut, Pather Panchali...at least that is how it stands right now. Perhaps that may change on another viewing.

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#6 - THE LEOPARD

Written & Directed by Luchino Visconti

Co-written by Suso Cecchi d'Amico, Pasquale Festa Campanile, Enrico Medioli, & Massimo Franciosa 

I have never really given as much attention to Luchino Visconti as I should. Maybe he isn't my absolute favorite filmmaker, but I do acknowledge that he was very crucial to the resurgence of Italian cinema following WWII and then adapted from his neorealist roots into sweeping epics that looked visually stunning and often attacked the decadence of the bourgeoisie, sort of like Luis Bunuel did.

The Leopard is not my favorite work of his, that would be Rocco & His Brothers, but I will say that in terms of its scope and its technical achievements, this has got to be one of the most beautiful looking films ever made, right up there with the likes of Barry Lyndon and Days of Heaven. 

We have Burt Lancaster traipsing over to Italy for this one to play Don Fabrizio Corbera, an aging prince who is dealing with his ladder-climbing opportunist nephew Tancredi (Alain Delon) and also Claudia Cardinale as both Don's goddaughter Angelica, and her own mother Bertiana all during the era of Italian Unification in the mid 19th century.

For many years, several edits had been made to the film with the original US cut being deemed a disaster. It wasn't until years later when the full version was released that critics took notice and deemed it a new classic.

I will say that despite this placement on my list, I find myself maybe wondering if the film is due a revisit; perhaps I will even think more fondly of it all these years later.

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#5 - THE FIRE WITHIN

Written & Directed by Louis Malle

I have written about the work of Louis Malle on her several times, and I always seem to make the same point that I forget how much I truly love his work. 

While not exactly one of his absolute best, The Fire Within is the first real triumph of his early career, even over Elevator to the Gallows or Zazie dans le Metro which I still like those very much. Despite being French, Malle's work was never directly placed into the same group as The French New Wave, nor did he ever write for Cahiers du Cinema. He often didn't work in the same kind of visual styles, even though I'd argue Zazie very much did...so much so that Francois Truffaut championed it and all of his work.

The Fire Within tells the story of Alain Leroy (Maruice Ronet), a man who is currently in rehabilitation for his alcoholism while his American wife Dorothy has returned to New York, leaving him in Versailles.

In order to try to find any potential fulfillment in his life, he leaves the clinic and has encounters with various friends and acquaintances and women. The question is will he actually find the solace and comfort that he desperately craves.

The Fire Within was, believe it or not, a strong inspiration for Wes Anderson. In his early masterwork The Royal Tenenbaums, Luke Wilson's Richie says the line "I am going to kill myself tomorrow" which Anderson took directly from Malle. I guess you could argue that Anderson at least had more whimsy...

Finding oneself is a topic that we all can relate to, although one could just label something like The Fire Within as depressing, but it is darkly beautiful at the same time. In a lot of ways, I see this as an earlier sibling to Joachim Trier's Oslo, 31 August.

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#4 - THE SILENCE

Written & Directed by Ingmar Bergman

When it comes to films that scream "IT'S INGMAR!", I do think The Silence is one that doesn't get enough attention because this one is absolutely brimming with all the typical Bergman trademarks: closeups, shadow lighting, the sense of dread, complicated familial relationships...and it is also one I am very fond of.

The Silence stars two of Bergman's semi-regular performers, Ingrid Thulin and Gunnel Lindblom, as sisters Ester and Anna. The two of them are traveling, along with Anna's 10-year-old son Johan (Jorgen Lindstrom), by train late at night to return home. In the process, they stop off at a town called Timoka, located in a fictional Central European country that is on the brink of war. Ester is a professional translator but does not know the language of this country.

The relationship between Ester and Anna is cold to say the least. Ester is the eldest and seriously ill; she's also highly intellectual. Anna is far more sensual and even voyeuristic and seems to care for her elder sister with disdain. 

Some have argued if perhaps Ester and Anna once had an incestuous relationship or, at the very least, Ester may have desperately wanted to be like her sister, so she may have fantasized about having an encounter with her. Then you have young Johan, who seems to be a major focus of his aunt Ester as she tries to bond with him intimately by stroking his hair and caressing his face...which also leaves some cause for alarm.

In some ways, there are elements to The Silence that show glimpses of what was to come in future Bergman films like Persona and Cries & Whispers. I do think it deserves to be talked about more in the Bergman filmography, and frankly so does....

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#3 - WINTER LIGHT

Written & Directed by Ingmar Bergman

We just can't escape the world of Bergman it seems.

Much like he did in 1957, though perhaps it was to even grander results then, Ingmar Bergman delivers us yet another one-two punch of stellar works that most filmmakers would dream to have maybe a few years apart, let alone in the same year.

Winter Light is Bergman diving into the world of faith and how it can lead to a true existential crisis the moment you may doubt what is out there when you thought this was practically your whole life.

Bergman was inspired to write Winter Light after having a talk with a local clergyman who said he had struggled a bit when he gave someone spiritual advice only for them to commit suicide shortly thereafter. He added some of his own details, which also helped form a defacto trilogy with not just the aforementioned The Silence, but 1961's Through a Glass Darly, which just so happened to be the #3 film on that list. Bergman did relate to this belief but later retracted his belief that it was a true trilogy.

Both Gunnel Lindblom & Ingrid Thulin make another appearance here after being in The Silence. 

Gunnar Bjornstrad plays a pastor of a small village church named Tomas Ericsson. He is married to Karin (Lindblom), who happens to be pregnant. When the film begins, he is finishing up a sermon with only a few people in attendance...including his ex-mistress Marta (Thulin) who happens to be an atheist. 

One of the other people in attendance is a local fisherman named Jonas (Max von Sydow) who is living in fear when he discovers that China is developing an atomic bomb...and it is through all of that, and Tomas' "spiritual" advice, that leads to Jonas killing himself.

This leads Tomas down a path to questioning whether or not he believes in a God. This is where a rather direct connection to Through a Glass Darkly comes into play when the character of church organist Frederik Blom (Olaf Thunberg) quotes and mocks the line about God being love from that film verbatim. 

Winter Light doesn't try to give you the belief that there is a God. Instead, Bergman shows us that perhaps with all the pain and suffering in the world, why is "God" silent? 

When the film ends, we aren't even sure if Tomas has reclaimed his true faith or not...I am inclined to believe he hasn't...but he persists. 

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#2 - HIGH & LOW

Written & Directed by Akira Kurosawa

Co-written by Hideo Oguni, Ryuzo Kikushima, & Eijuri Hisaita

Just like Bergman, we have Akira Kurosawa back again with a vengeance and giving us one of the finest films of his career...which is certainly saying a hell of a lot.

High & Low was Kurosawa returning to a modern day setting after spending a lot of time in the world of ronins/samurais. Even so, Toshiro Mifune is still here and just as strong as ever playing Kingo Gondo, a businessman who is looking for more control of the shoe company of which he is a board member. He is so eager for this that he intends to leverage a buyout of the company with his life savings, but this is thwarted when he receives a call from someone that his son Jun has been kidnapped and the abductor is seeking a ransom of 30 million Yen. 

But wait - Jun shows up at home. It was all a prank. 

WELL...not so fast...the kidnapping DID occur, but they took the wrong boy. Instead, they abducted Shin'ichi, the son of Gondo's chauffeur. Even though the kidnapper realizes his mistake, he still wants to have the same ransom delivered to him.

Not surprisingly, Kurosawa navigates this film with as much thrilling tension as in any action/adventure film he may have made, and in the process, delivers a first-rate example of how to deliver an excellent crime procedural. The crazy thing is that when the film was reviewed by American critics at the time, a lot of them dismissed the film as being lesser than Kurosawa's work from the 50s. 

Perhaps some were turned off by how he spared no detail to be left unturned? The pacing of this film can be rather slow, but it is the perfect example of how to do a "slow-burn". The tension is palpable, and it is clearly a forerunner to future films that deal with crime such as Memories of Murder, Zodiac, and even Parasite. 

More recently, Spike Lee remade the film as Highest 2 Lowest which saw Denzel Washington taking on the role but making him a wealthy music mogul. I will admit that I haven't seen it yet...the reviews certainly didn't help...but perhaps I should check it out sometime. 

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#1 - 8 1/2

Written & Directed by Federico Fellini

Co-written by Tullio Pinelli, Ennio Flaiano, & Brunello Rondi

I did say we would get to Fellini in due time!

I do consider this to be Fellini's magnum opus, which is quite a feat when he had made films like La Dolce Vita, La Strada, and Nights of Cabiria. When it comes to international cinema, 8 1/2 was one of the earliest I sought out and even though I might've been a bit ignorant or unsure about what all it was trying to say, I was swept up in it and found myself completely enamored. 

When I revisited the film years later during my oft-discussed 2020 Quarantine Film Marathon, I found myself responding to it even more than I had before.

The title comes from Fellini's filmography in that up to that point, as he had made that many films (he also included films he co-directed) and while Fellini identified strongly with the themes within the film, the one area he didn't waver was that of his loving marriage to his wife, actress Giulietta Masina, who had starred in La Strada and Nights of Cabiria. 

The auteur in this film is that of Guido Anselmi, played by one of the most charismatic men to ever grace the screen, Marcello Mastroianni. He is suffering from "director's block" as he tries so hard to get his science fiction epic off the ground, but he is too distracted from the difficulties in the production and the fact his marriage to Luisa (Anouk Aimee) is falling apart...which could also be related to the fact that Guido is rather infatuated with two other women: Claudia (Claudia Cardinale), who he often views as the Ideal Woman in his work; and Carla (Sandra Milo), another mistress who is eager to spend more time with him. 

A lot of what makes 8 1/2 so compelling is that it manages to make the idea of "the tortured artist" far more interesting by giving him so many layers and facets...not to mention we get to watch a film being made within a film.

Everything about this film feels like a beautiful and surreal dream. Fellini pours his heart and soul into this film; everything is left on the table without any hint of fear or caution. It may be such a simple story when you think of it as "the tortured artist" but there are so many things to unpack and marvel at. The inner turmoil and vulnerability of Guido, who is way to obsessed with the erotic; veers into sadomasochistic tendencies; and all he seems to want is to return to the loving embrace of his mother.

8 1/2 is a film that somehow manages to feel off-the-cuff as if it is truly happening in front of a camera but somehow put together as a prime example of arthouse cinema. It is as passionate and personal and thrilling an offering that any filmmaker has given us.

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FINAL THOUGHTS:

I came into 1963 with a bit of disdain, but honestly...I am very pleased with this list. It isn't exactly comprehensive but my top 4 films all would receive a 5-star rating for me which is rather respectable compared to most years. The tides will start turning though, because 1964 is the first year that we will see English-language films starting to pick up steam. It won't be full steam ahead necessarily, but I do think it is a year where we can see even more glimmers of hope that (Hollywood) cinema is on the brink of a renaissance.