Every time I get to 1969, I feel myself getting more pessimistic. If 1967 is when New Hollywood broke through, and 1968 is Hollywood dumping all the old shit to make room for the new shit, then I feel like 1969 is New Hollywood getting its footing and being like 80/20 in favor of the new shit, with all the old shit really sticking out.

Take a look at the Best Picture crop for this year: Midnight Cowboy, Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid, Z… and Anne of the Thousand Days and Hello, Dolly! ‘Anne’ at least is part of that historical drama trend and kind of makes sense, but Hello, Dolly! sticks out like a sore thumb.

There’s such revolutionary stuff that came out this year. There are great, experimental films by radical new filmmakers, most of whom would become established names over the next decade. Most of it is the stuff you know. The ones I really want to talk about are the ones you don’t know. That’s my favorite part of this year. Read the rest of this page »

I always think of 1968 as the year where Hollywood dumped out all the old reserves before they could start anew, but that’s not really what it is. You look at the movies that came out — a lot of classics are in this year. Though admittedly, a lot of the below-the-line stuff are ‘old’ Hollywood kind of films.

Five of the most famous movies ever made came out this year. And I can say for sure two or three of my favorite 100 movies of all time are on this list. It’s a way better year than I usually consider it to be. Though I will say — a lot of the lower-tiered stuff is weaker this year than it is most others. Mostly it’s an oddball assortment of weird stuff I like because it’s totally unlike most other stuff. Read the rest of this page »

There’s a whole lot to say about 1967. For starters, can you believe this is the first year so far that every single top ten film is in color? Get used to it, because there’s only like ten more black-and-white films total in the top ten for the next 35 years.

Other than that — I’ve been hinting to it for about six years now, but this is the year when the dam burst and the studio system as we knew it came to an end. Gone were the highly controlled, artificial, sound stage, cookie-cutter movies and in were the gritty, realistic films that dealt with subject matter never before seen, frankly discussing politics and race and sex and using violence and language and all these experimental techniques. This year changed cinema forever.

It’s also, I feel, one of those years where just about everyone has most of the same top films. At least half this list is gonna be uniform among everyone because these are some of the best films ever made and everyone loves them.

The other thing of note is that it’s really not as deep a year as the others, I think because of the amount of change going on at the time, as Hollywood was moving to smaller, more independent type material and away from the big budget stuff. So you’re left without a lot of those middle class gems that most of the other years are full of. Read the rest of this page »

1966, symbolically, feels like that moment when all the water pulls away from the shore just before the tidal wave comes crashing down. It’s a matter of time before the industry changes completely and the old way is totally gone. And you can see it in the films. Whenever there’s a movie shot on studio sound stages in one of the old-school genres, it just feels passé. That doesn’t mean they’re not good, it just means that they feel outdated.

There’s definitely a move to a less rigid style of filmmaking, and way more location filming. One of the top ten films mixes scenes set on sound stages with scenes in an actual football stadium, and it’s just jarring. You can see the two different eras side by side. But that’s really what the year is about for me. The calm before the storm. Other than that, it’s a decent year, but doesn’t feel overly special overall. There are a couple of all-time films, but as a whole it’s pretty mix and match.

Another thing worth mentioning is that this is the year where the MPAA ratings system was created. Rather than getting a seal of approval, films were rated like they are now so people had an idea of what age rage they were intended for. Read the rest of this page »