Category: 1960s

Posted on 2022-01-12 | No Comments |

Kes (1969)

Living with his mother and older brother in working-class England and despite his protestations otherwise, destined for a life working the coal mines, fourteen year old David Bradley finds escape from his circumstances in the form of a falcon which he trains. Their relationship gives him confidence and a bright light into his dreary circumstances. Unfortunate from cruel teachers to his callous brother, the system is against him. Bradley’s portrayal of the slight young boy isn’t particularly likable, especially early in the film, but the changes he expresses as he slowly develops some self confidence makes you want to hope that something better awaits him in the future.

Posted on 2022-01-12 | No Comments |

Breathless (1960)

After stealing a car and shooting a policeman to death, young French thug Jean-Paul Belmondo hides out in the apartment of his American girlfriend Jean Seberg. Despite his artifice and unappealing character, Seberg seems like she loves him, or at least thinks she could fall in love with him, but she doesn’t know him, doesn’t know what he’s capable of, or how he treats women. One small example: before hiding out with her, he visited another girlfriend and stole money from her purse after already borrowing money from her. Seberg is absolutely beautiful in this film though. She shines on screen and I’m definitely going to be adding more of her work to my List.

Posted on 2022-01-09 | No Comments |

Othello (1965)

Even though it’s not really a life’s goal, I definitely warm to Shakespeare adaptations as I become more and more familiar with the story. Here we have a hammy Laurence Olivier as the titular Othello whose jealousy for his wife’s attentions is stoked by rival Iago. For me the costumes and make-up distract from any issues with the performances though. As if the blackface of Othello isn’t generally unsettling enough, Olivier’s makeup here has a weird bluish tinge as if he also had been on a colloidal silver regimen at the same time. While seemingly consistent with other Olivier Shakespeare productions, the wigs on many of the characters are unflattering and ill-fitting, as are the caftans that seem to comprise the majority of Othello’s wardrobe. The barebones set pieces seemed to work better here than they do in Richard III ; the colors especially helping to invoke the tragic mood of the work. I do enjoy seeing Maggie Smith in her younger roles. Years of watching Downton Abbey reruns and Harry Potter films always has me unprepared to see her softer side.

Oscar Nominations: Best Actor in a Leading Role; Best Actor in a Supporting Role; Best Actress in a Supporting Role (2)

Posted on 2022-01-04 | No Comments |

Hurry Sundown (1967)

Southerner Michael Caine’s plans to sell his heiress wife Jane Fonda’s land to a northern company are thwarted when two nearby land owners, his white cousin John Philip Law and his wife’s black former nurse Beah Richards, refuse to go along. When the two poorer owners join forces, it begins a war with actual casualties. While his accent is thoroughly suspect, it’s an interesting change seeing Caine portray an unredeemably bad guy, along with Burgess Meredith as a bigoted judge. It’s a bit heavy on the stereotypes and epic melodrama overall, but I did like seeing Beah Richards and Diahann Carroll portraying smart and strong woman fighting against the system.

Posted on 2022-01-03 | No Comments |

L’Eclisse (1962)

Starting at her breakup with another man, this tells the story of literary translator Monica Vitti’s months long relationship with Alain Delon, her mother’s stockbroker. I mostly go into films for the stories they tell and there just isn’t much story here. It’s more a poetic mix of images and moments from a short period in the woman’s life. It also includes a bit of unexpected off-putting blackface and ugly colonist views during one sequence visiting her neighbor. I’ll try the rest of Antonioni’s trilogy at some point, but it’s possible it’s just not my sort of thing.

Posted on 2021-12-31 | No Comments |

The Roman Spring of Mrs. Stone (1961)

On their overseas flight to Italy, Vivien Leigh’s rich husband suffers a fatal heart attack. She decides to continue on with the trip, but her loneliness pulls her into the clutches of madam Lotte Lenya and a gigolo in her stable, Warren Beatty. The early parts of the film were the best part with Leigh being an independent woman in Rome, wearing beautiful dresses, and surrounded by gorgeous scenery. Then Beatty plays a much bigger role and it becomes ludicrous. His fake tan and atrociously comical accent are incredibly distracting, even Leigh’s hair and costumes become dowdy in his presence. While the assumed ending is probably fitting for a Tennessee Williams work, I prefer to believe a happier ending; Vivien deserved it after being saddled with Warren for so long in the film.

Oscar Nomination: Best Actress in a Supporting Role

Posted on 2021-12-17 | No Comments |

Shame (1968)

Max von Sydow and Liv Ullmann are former violinists living together on a farm, beginning to experience the effects of civil war moving towards their remote island. It’s a surreal, abstract look at war and what it does to people. There’s no obvious delineation between the two sides nor any commentary on any of the reasons they are fighting. Even still, there can be no bystanders; everyone is forced to choose a side. It pulls at whatever connecting threads that lie between two people until there is nothing left and everything is laid bare.

Posted on 2021-12-17 | No Comments |

In Harm’s Way (1965)

Beginning with the attack on Pearl Harbor, this film follows a number of military members during the first years of the war in the Pacific. It’s an epic melodrama that often feels like the story could have been made into a television soap opera both in their luridness and their predictability. As common during the epic films of the era, this film exhibits quite an all-star cast with John Wayne, Patricia Neal, Kirk Douglas, Henry Fonda, and Paula Prentiss. I liked that the female characters weren’t just relegated to being love interests but also showed some of the jobs women undertook during the war from nurses to plane spotters. While the battle scenes weren’t as thrilling as I’d like, the film is engaging even with its close to three hour runtime.

Oscar Nomination: Best Cinematography, Black-and-White

Posted on 2021-12-13 | No Comments |

Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer (1964) – Rewatch

It’s not surprising that Rudolph is one of the earliest Rankin-Bass productions as it misses a lot of the notes that makes me love their later works. First off, its runtime feels way too long for an adaptation of a simple song. To pad it, a whole lot of characters and adventures get added unnecessarily. Secondly, some of the ‘good’ guys really come off as jerks. It’s hard to be an endearing Christmas special when your Santa is a grumpy bigot. The messaging as a whole is a bit suspect as the normies seem to only accept the misfits when they need something from them. As always, I do enjoy the stop-motion animation. It’s as appealing as any of their other specials. Also despite there being too many of them, I like a whole lot of the added characters from Hermie to Bumble to Yukon to the various Misfit Toys. Any of their adventures could have easily sustained an engaging 20 minute special on their own.

Posted on 2021-12-11 | No Comments |

How the Grinch Stole Christmas (1966) – Rewatch

The classic Dr. Seuss television special continues to both provide a fine representation of his work and also inspirational Christmas fodder. The misanthropic Grinch’s only understanding of Christmas is by watching the Whovian celebrations each year, thinking that it’s all about the things that encompass Christmas traditions instead of the internal shared feelings that the holiday brings to the Whos. On a large, new television, the fluorescent colors are almost lurid in their boldness, but the simple classic animation and memorable songs remain indelibly ingrained in the mind. As a related aside, I shout mental expletives to all who were involved in the 2000 live-action abomination, but more importantly to all those who think it’s a good idea to ‘arrest’ the Grinch during community holiday celebrations, clearly people who never actually read or watched the tale nor understand the concept of a redemption arch.