Mike’s Top Tens of the Decade (1960-1969)
We’ve reached the 1960s. We had the 2000s and its Terrible Tens, the 1990s and the Films of My Childhood, the 1980s and the Awesomely 80s Movies, and the 1970s and my 70s Recommendations. Now come my favorite films of the 1960s.
Just like the other decades, along with the Top Ten, I’ll also list an 11-15 (or 20, depending on how strong the year is) list at the bottom to make it easier for me in the future. The idea is that when I do revisit these lists and see how my tastes have changed, I’ll have more than just ten films immediately on hand to get a sense of which films made it on or fell off the Top Ten list. (Let me remind you: the lists only include (or exclude) the films from these years that I’ve seen. As I see and like more films from the decade, the lists will be updated accordingly.)
Now there’s the issue of the extra category. As I always do, I like to include an extra category besides the 11-15; the Terrible Ten, the Films of My Childhood, the Awesomely 80s Movies, etc. This time, for the 60s — it’s not a particularly consistent decade. That is, with the 80s, they had 80s movies. The 60s don’t really have that. They were more of a combination of the end of the studio system and the changing film landscape and the end of the production code (epitomized by Bonnie and Clyde). So my 60s list will be what I’m calling “Out with the old, In with the new.” That is, films (good films, mind you. Not just any films. I had to have least liked them enough to put them on) that either typify the fading studio system (“out with the old”) or the emergence of New Hollywood (“in with the new”), as well as “other good films too,” which are ones that don’t necessarily fit in either category, but are also pretty great. “Out with the old, in with the new, and other good films too.”
So here are my Top Tens of the 1960s:
My Top Ten of 1969
Anne of the Thousand Days
Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid
The Italian Job
Midnight Cowboy
On Her Majesty’s Secret Service
The Secret of Santa Vittoria
The Sterile Cuckoo
They Shoot Horses, Don’t They?
True Grit
The Wild Bunch
11-15: Bob & Carol & Ted & Alice, Cactus Flower, Castle Keep, John and Mary, Support Your Local Sheriff
+ Honorable Mention to: Frosty the Snowman (Love me some Christmas cartoons.)
Out with the old: Hello, Dolly!, Paint Your Wagon
In with the new: Alice’s Restaurant, Easy Rider, Last Summer, Medium Cool
And other good films too: A Boy Named Charlie Brown, The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie, Sweet Charity, Topaz
My Top Ten of 1968
2001: A Space Odyssey
Bullitt
The Lion in Winter
Night of the Living Dead
The Odd Couple
Oliver!
Once Upon a Time in the West
Planet of the Apes
The Producers
Rosemary’s Baby
11-15: The Boston Strangler, Charly, The Heart is a Lonely Hunter, Romeo and Juliet, Where Eagles Dare
+ Honorable Mention to: Barbarella (Because how can you not?)
Out with the old: Funny Girl, Ice Station Zebra
In with the new: Head, If…,The Thomas Crown Affair
+ Honorable Mention to: Yellow Submarine (Because it’s so damn trippy.)
And other good films too: Hang ‘Em High, Hell in the Pacific, The Scalphunters, The Subject Was Roses, The Swimmer
My Top Ten of 1967
Bonnie and Clyde
Cool Hand Luke
The Dirty Dozen
The Graduate
Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner
In the Heat of the Night
Point Blank
Thoroughly Modern Millie
Two for the Road
Wait Until Dark
11-15: Le Samourai, Playtime, Reflections in a Golden Eye, Up the Down Staircase, You Only Live Twice
+ Honorable Mention to: The Jungle Book
Out with the old: A Countess from Hong Kong, Doctor Dolittle
In with the new: In Cold Blood
And other good films too: Barefoot in the Park, The Taming of the Shrew
+ Honorable Mention to: Branded to Kill (I don’t quite know what it is, but it’s very much that.)
My Top Ten of 1966
Alfie
A Big Hand for the Little Lady
Blowup
The Fortune Cookie
The Good, the Bad and the Ugly
A Man for All Seasons
Penelope
The Sand Pebbles
Tokyo Drifter
Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf?
11-15: Arabesque, Fantastic Voyage, A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum, Gambit, The Professionals
+ Honorable Mention to: Batman (“Some days you just can’t get rid of a bomb!”)
+ Honorable Mention to: How the Grinch Stole Christmas
Out with the old: The Russians are Coming, the Russians are Coming
+ Honorable Mention to: The Oscar (It is one of the campiest movies you will ever see.)
In with the new: The Battle of Algiers, Georgy Girl
And other good films too: Born Free, Torn Curtain
My Top Ten of 1965
The Collector
Darling
Doctor Zhivago
The Flight of the Phoenix
For a Few Dollars More
The Great Race
A Patch of Blue
The Sound of Music
The Spy Who Came in from the Cold
A Thousand Clowns
11-15: 36 Hours, The Hill, Inside Daisy Clover, The Slender Thread, Thunderball
+ Honorable Mention to: A Charlie Brown Christmas
Out with the old: The Greatest Story Ever Told, The Sandpiper, Shenandoah
In with the new: Bunny Lake is Missing, The Ipcress File, Promise Her Anything
And other good films too: Cat Ballou, The Cincinnati Kid, The Shop on Main Street, The Sons of Katie Elder
My Top Ten of 1964
The Best Man
Dr. Strangelove or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb
A Fistful of Dollars
Goldfinger
Marnie
Mary Poppins
My Fair Lady
Paris When It Sizzles
The Umbrellas of Cherbourg
What a Way to Go!
11-20: Band of Outsiders, Becket, Father Goose, Goodbye Charlie, Robinson Crusoe on Mars, Seven Days in May, Sex and the Single Girl, The Unsinkable Molly Brown, Woman in the Dunes, Zorba the Greek
+ Honorable Mention to: Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer
Out with the old: The Fall of the Roman Empire
In with the new: A Hard Day’s Night, The Pawnbroker, The Pumpkin Eater
And other good films too: The Americanization of Emily, Blood and Black Lace, Fail-Safe, Séance on a Wet Afternoon, A Shot in the Dark, Viva Las Vegas
My Top Ten of 1963
8½
America, America
Captain Newman, M.D.
The Cardinal
Charade
Cleopatra
From Russia With Love
The Great Escape
Irma la Douce
The Sword in the Stone
11-20: The Birds, Hud, It’s a Mad Mad Mad Mad World, The List of Adrian Messenger, Love with the Proper Stranger, Papa’s Delicate Condition, The Pink Panther, This Sporting Life, Tom Jones, The V.I.P.s
Out with the old: Bye Bye Birdie, The Courtship of Eddie’s Father
In with the new: Shock Corridor, Contempt, Billy Liar, Ladybug Ladybug, Ladybug Ladybug
And other good films too: High and Low, Jason and the Argonauts, Twilight of Honor
My Top Ten of 1962
Birdman of Alcatraz
Cape Fear
David and Lisa
Days of Wine and Roses
How the West Was Won
Lawrence of Arabia
The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance
The Manchurian Candidate
The Miracle Worker
To Kill a Mockingbird
11-20: Advise and Consent, Billy Budd, Experiment in Terror, The L-Shaped Room, Lolita, Lonely Are the Brave, The Longest Day, The Music Man, Mutiny on the Bounty, Requiem for a Heavyweight
Out with the old: Sweet Bird of Youth
In with the new: Dr. No (The start of a dynasty.)
And other good films too: Hell is for Heroes, Sanjuro, What Ever Happened to Baby Jane?
My Top Ten of 1961
Breakfast at Tiffany’s
The Children’s Hour
Fanny
The Guns of Navarone
The Hustler
Judgment at Nuremberg
Last Year at Marienbad
One, Two, Three!
Splendor in the Grass
West Side Story
11-15: The Great Impostor, The Mark, One Hundred and One Dalmatians, A Raisin in the Sun, Yojimbo
Out with the old: Pocketful of Miracles
In with the new: A Taste of Honey
And other good films too: The Misfits, Town Without Pity, Underworld U.S.A.
My Top Ten of 1960
The Apartment
Breathless
La Dolce Vita
Elmer Gantry
Inherit the Wind
The Magnificent Seven
Peeping Tom
Psycho
Spartacus
The Sundowners
11-15: The Alamo, BUtterfield 8, L’Avventura, North to Alaska, Who Was That Lady?
Out with the old: Bells Are Ringing, Ocean’s Eleven
In with the new: The Entertainer, Seven Thieves
And other good films too: Eyes Without a Face, Pollyanna, The Rat Race, Sons and Lovers, Two Women, The Unforgiven
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