JamesG
07-18-2009, 06:01 PM
Sex, drugs and rock 'n' roll! It was the clarion call of a generation, but only a little of that brand of hedonism is reflected in our picks for the best films of the decade. The counterculture axiom of not trusting anyone over 30 also didn't extend much to actors or directors.
Three old guard auteurs make our list -- David Lean, Robert Wise and Alfred Hitchcock -- with two films each. Paul Newman has no less than four starring roles among our best picks. And, really, you can't get any more establishment than the troika of musicals -- The Sound of Music, West Side Story and My Fair Lady -- that won Best Picture Oscars ... now that's far out! -- By Tom Johnson
40. Goldfinger (1964)
James Bond (Sean Connery) battles one of the most delicious archenemies in his panoply of villains -- mammon-worshipping Auric Goldfinger (Gert Frobe). Although the Federal gold reserve at Fort Knox is Goldfinger's obsession, Bond has his sights set on a more accessible (and shapely) target -- ***** Galore (Honor Blackman). Talk about shaken and stirred …
39. Romeo and Juliet (1968)
Franco Zeffirelli directs what is, hands down, the greatest film adaptation of one of Shakespeare's most enduring tragedies. Richard Whiting and Olivia Hussey are insanely photogenic as Verona's ill-fated young lovers and Nino Rota's haunting "love theme" sets the somber tenor of the film, which is faithful to the Bard's immortal iambic pentameter. Translation: Avoid like the pox updated remakes like the 1996 DiCaprio/Danes misfire.
38. The Dirty Dozen (1967)
An all-star cast headed by Lee Marvin, Charles Bronson and John Cassavetes kicks plenty of Kraut butt in this rousing WWII actioner about a group of death-row inmates given a chance to expunge their records by participating in a suicide mission behind enemy lines on D-Day. Less elegant and more profane than The Great Escape, the film delivers some memorable set-pieces; the best being Jim Brown's iconic sprint while dropping hand-grenades down widely spaced ventilator shafts.
37. Guess Who's Coming to Dinner (1967)
Forty years ago, this story about an interracial couple (Sidney Poitier and Katharine Houghton) springing their marriage plans on the girl's unsuspecting parents (Katharine Hepburn and Spencer Tracy) was risky and weighty. Time and progress have blunted the dramatic thrust, but there is still much to enjoy in Tracy's last movie role and Hepburn's Oscar-winning performance as a mother who's amenable to the idea.
36. Tom Jones (1963)
Albert Finney IS the titular hero in this film version of Henry Fielding's novel, which won Oscars for Best Picture and Director (Tony Richardson). In the wonderfully episodic epic, we follow Tom(cat) as he cuts a wide swath through 18th-century England with his various amours and bawdy misadventures. The film also marks the movie debut of Lynn Redgrave.
35. The Jungle Book (1967)
The animated Disney tale of a boy, Mowgli, raised by wolves, who befriends Baloo, an easygoing bear (voiced by Phil Harris), was inspired by Rudyard Kipling's story. Together they embark on a series of adventures cued by various classic songs: 'The Bare Necessities,' 'I Wanna Be Like You,' 'Trust in Me,' etc. Along with Harris, the great voice cast includes Sebastian Cabot, Louis Prima, George Sanders and Sterling Holloway.
34. The Great Escape (1963)
Top-heavy with an international cast of marquee names, Escape was a big studio, high-concept movie that mixed action, humor and suspense as deftly as a Churchillian wartime speech. Best scene: Hotly pursued by the Germans, Steve McQueen pulls off the most famous wheelie in movie history by jumping his motorcycle over a barricade before wiping out in a mess of barbwire a few scant feet from the Swiss border and freedom.
33. A Raisin in the Sun (1961)
Trials and tribulations abound for an African-American family (headed by Sidney Poitier and Ruby Dee) who move into a predominantly white Chicago neighborhood. The title comes from the opening lines of Langston Hughes' poem 'Harlem': "What happens to a dream deferred?/Does it dry up/like a raisin in the sun?" In this triumph over adversity, the family's "dream" of living a desegregated existence ultimately wins out.
32. Midnight Cowboy (1969)
The first (and to date, only) X-rated movie ever to win a Best Picture Oscar, Cowboy is a mesmerizing character study of life on the margins in NYC for a hayseed aspiring stud (Jon Voight) and his sad-sack street-hustler friend, Ratso Rizzo (Dustin Hoffman). Glen Campbell ballads resonate, and John Schlesinger earned a Best Director award. But it's Hoffman's heartbreaking turn as the gimpy Rizzo that haunts long after the movie's over.
31. Hud (1963)
In a career that spanned a half century and 60 movies, Paul Newman gave iconic performances that inspired a legion of young actors. Nowhere was he better than here, as Hud Bannon, the shiftless scion to a Texas cattle ranch on the skids. The sexually charged banter between Hud and his housekeeper (Best Actress Oscar winner Patricia Neal) crackles; the open warfare between Hud and his morally upstanding father (Best Supporting Actor Oscar winner Melvyn Douglas) underscores that a desiccated value system just ain't a good thing anywhere.
30. Doctor Zhivago (1965)
Master of the grand manner, British director David Lean helmed sweeping epics set in epochal times and populated with characters who were often larger than life. In 1965, those ingredients coalesced in Lean's film adaptation of Nobel Laureate Boris Pasternak's hyper-romantic novel set against the backdrop of the 1917 Bolshevik Revolution. Set to Maurice Jarre's lush score, Omar Sharif and Julie Christie's ill-fated romance is a master class in what screen chemistry is all about.
29. Mary Poppins (1964)
An Oscar-winning Julie Andrews is unforgettable (and ideally cast) in her film debut as the "practically perfect nanny" who brings order to the Banks family in London, circa 1910. Equally memorable in support is a very nimble Dick Van Dyke as jack of all trades Bert. But what really floats this irrepressible Disney confection is the whimsical special effects and the Oscar-winning Sherman Brothers score, which includes 'Chim-Chim-Cheree' and 'Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious.'
28. Butterfield 8 (1960)
Elizabeth Taylor scored an Oscar as a high-class call girl who tries to go straight when she meets a "John" (Laurence Harvey) who might mean more to her than a quick toss. Taylor's old-school performance keeps the cliché-riddled material from sinking completely into melodrama. Co-stars include Eddie Fisher a year after Taylor scandalously "stole" him from his then wife, Debbie Reynolds. Talk about seductresses!
27. Easy Rider (1969)
Made on a relative shoestring, Rider was a huge popular and critical hit for its two road-trip protagonists (Peter Fonda and Dennis Hopper) and provided Jack Nicholson with a boozehound breakout role and an Oscar nod for Best Supporting Actor. A virtual time capsule of the generational clash that hit the country in the late '60s, the film chronicles the greatest cross-country odyssey since Jack Kerouac first stuck out his thumb.
26. In Cold Blood (1967)
Based on Truman Capote's pioneering novel of the 1959 murder of a Kansas farm family, Blood's semi-documentary approach builds a sense of dread that strikes like a blow when the murders occur. It's a rare case of a film adaptation not sullying the merit of prior published material, and Robert Blake -- who would go on trial decades later as the prime suspect in the murder of his own wife -- plays one of the killers.
25. The Miracle Worker (1962)
This fact-based film based on the life of Helen Keller (Best Supporting Actress Oscar winner Patty Duke) recounts her work with teacher and mentor Annie Sullivan (Best Actress winner Anne Bancroft). The pivotal water pump scene of Helen experiencing an epiphany that unlocks the world when Annie spells the word "water" in her hand is one of the most satisfying emotional payoffs in cinema history.
24. The Odd Couple (1968)
Neil Simon's Broadway hit of two divorced men as opposite as night and day who become unwilling roommates transitions perfectly to the screen thanks to the opportune casting of its two leads (Walter Matthau and Jack Lemmon). The pairing, which began in 1966 in Billy Wilder's The Fortune Cookie, solidified what would soon become one of the greatest and most enduring comedy collaborations in film history.
23. The Longest Day (1962)
Before the visceral jolt of Saving Private Ryan changed the playing field of how cinematic wartime carnage was depicted, this movie about the Allied invasion of Normandy was the default. Starring a who's-who cast of international heavyweights (John Wayne, Sean Connery, Robert Mitchum, Rod Steiger, etc.) with enough star power to stop a Tiger tank in its halftrack, Day maintained an epic sweep while telegraphing to audiences just how crucial June 6, 1944, was to the world.
22. Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf? (1966)
Richard Burton and Elizabeth Taylor (who won an Oscar) reached new heights (or plumbed new depths) together as a constantly squabbling university prof and his wife. Their intricate series of mind games eventually ensnare a visiting colleague and his mousy wife (Sandy Dennis, who won a Best Supporting Actress Oscar). Be forewarned, Edward Albee's most famous drama is intense -- with more caustic putdowns than a Don Rickles live show.
21. My Fair Lady (1964)
Rarely has a musical registered as high as this re-imagining of George Bernard Shaw's Pygmalion with veddy British overtones played up. The winner of eight Oscars, including Best Picture, Director (George Cukor) and a richly deserved statuette for Rex Harrison, who reprised his Broadway role as fussbudget authoritarian Henry Higgins. Add to the mix a radiant Audrey Hepburn as Higgins' Galatea experiment and a glistening score by Lerner and Lowe and, well, how couldn't it be loverly!
20. In the Heat of the Night (1967)
Visiting Philadelphia police inspector Virgil Tibbs (Sidney Poitier) gets sidetracked into assisting Mississippi redneck cops led by the bigoted town police chief (an Oscar-winning Rod Steiger) in a murder investigation. As the sleuthing progresses, Tibbs' (they call him "Mr.") savvy and professionalism break down the racial divide till a grudging mutual respect develops between the two men. Heat also won Best Picture laurels.
19. Cape Fear (1962)
Robert Mitchum is memorably creepy in this noirish suspense movie about a Southern ex-con (who's more cracker than a box of Saltines) out for revenge against the lawyer (Gregory Peck) who he believed botched his court case. Peck's all-American family unit is also menaced (Mitchum's an equal-opportunity loon, after all). And Bernard Herrmann's score adds to the omnipresent tension
18. Cool Hand Luke (1967)
This wonderful character study of a prisoner (Paul Newman) on a chain gang detail who refuses to conform or buckle under to authority contains many memorable scenes (including the classic hardboiled-egg-eating competition). All in all, a far cry from how the penal system was depicted in the Paul Muni 1930s classic I Am a Fugitive of a Chain Gang. George Kennedy won a Best Supporting Actor Oscar as "Dragline," Luke's Man Friday and biggest supporter.
17. The Pink Panther (1964)
Always a comic genius in any guise he chose to play, Peter Sellers found immortality as the bumbling Inspector Clouseau in a franchise that features some of the best slapstick sight gags since the Silent Era. This is the film that also gave birth to the titular animated panther (seen during the title crawl) and the iconic Henry Mancini theme song. That 2006 remake starring Steve Martin as Clouseau pales in comparison. Accept no substitutes.
16. The Hustler (1961)
Chalk up another iconic film role to Paul Newman as Fast Eddie Felson, a gifted pool hustler who finds the ultimate bottom-feeding manager in George C. Scott. Far superior to the Color of Money sequel lensed decades later, Hustler is essentially an incisive character study that also extends to Felson's pool-playing nemesis, "Minnesota Fats" (Jackie Gleason) and particularly to Piper Laurie as Newman's tragic girlfriend. Rack 'em up!
15. The Sound of Music (1965)
One of the most dearly loved family movies of all time and a gigantic blockbuster in its day (when ticket prices were decades away from double-digits), Music won Best Picture and Director (Robert Wise) Oscars and gave birth to a legion of hardcore generational devotees that continue to revel in its sentiment (not cloying), breathtaking Salzburg locales and endearing Rodgers and Hammerstein score. Truly a film for the ages -- all ages.
14. The Birds (1963)
The master of suspense, Alfred Hitchcock, outdoes himself here with an ominous tale of massed bird attacks on the populace of an isolated coastal community in northern California. Tippi Hedren and Rod Taylor are the prime targets of the avian kamikaze attacks in a script minus Hitch's usual liberal dollop of black humor. Adapted from a Daphne du Maurier story, this movie puts most other nature-run-amok stories to shame.
13. Spartacus (1960)
Kirk Douglas chews more scenery than a bovine out to pasture as the stony-faced leader of a slave revolt against ancient Rome. But the epic battle scenes take a backseat to great performances by Laurence Olivier, Charles Laughton and a hilariously scene-stealing (and Oscar-winning) Peter Ustinov. Includes the infamous homoerotic (snails vs. oysters) bathing scene featuring Olivier and his slave houseboy, Tony Curtis. Hand me that toga … fast!
12. Bonnie and Clyde (1967)
Director Arthur Penn's highly stylized blend of comedy, action and melodrama (wrapped up in occasional social commentary) was a huge critical and popular success. And Warren Beatty and Faye Dunaway as the folkloric bank robbers was pitch-perfect casting. Highlights are Estelle Parson's histrionic performance as Blanche Barrow (Clyde's gangster sister-in-law) and the controversial ending, which was almost operatic in its violence.
11. Breakfast at Tiffany's (1961)
This romantic comedy adapted from Truman Capote's novella about a backwoods escapee (Audrey Hepburn) who remakes her life as a Manhattan scenester shimmers like a glass of vintage Chateauneuf-du-Pape or, better, a five-carat square-cut rock on display in Tiffany's window. Henry Mancini and Johnny Mercer's Oscar-winning song 'Moon River' sets the perfect romantic mood for a movie as ageless and chic as Audrey herself.
10. The Apartment (1960)
No one plays a yearning everyman better than Jack Lemmon, and he's at the top of his game in Billy Wilder's bittersweet comedy-drama about an ambitious office worker trying to climb the corporate ladder by doling out his favorably placed apartment to senior executives for their trysts. A Best Picture Oscar winner, this compelling admixture of cynicism and sentiment also garnered statuettes for Best Director and Screenplay (Wilder again).
9. The Manchurian Candidate (1962)
Korean War hero Raymond Shaw (Laurence Harvey) is brainwashed by Chinese Communists and returns home a "sleeper assassin" just waiting to be triggered. A colossal case of bad timing (the movie was released just prior to JFK's assassination in Dallas) caused a deeply regretful Frank Sinatra (who starred) to shelve the film, where it remained largely unseen for years. Re-released theatrically in 1987, this brilliantly directed (and acted) movie has since gotten the recognition is deserves.
8. West Side Story (1961)
Transposing star-crossed lovers Romeo and Juliet to Manhattan's Upper West Side and planting them smack-dab in the middle of a gang turf war was nothing short of inspired. Add in Jerome Robbins' groundbreaking tours jetes and a fab Leonard Bernstein-Stephen Sondheim score and even Richard Beymer (Tony) and Natalie Wood's (Maria) chemistry fizzle didn't detract. The winner of 10 Oscars, including Best Picture, Director, Supporting Actor and Actress and an award for Robbins' exhilarating choreography.
7. Rosemary's Baby (1968)
A weird collection of New York City apartment dwellers (a Satanic cult, really) midwife Rosemary's (Mia Farrow) baby into the world for eventual sacrifice to the horned one. Ruth Gordon won a Best Supporting Actress Oscar as one of Rosemary's shifty neighbors. And in a page that could have been ripped from the tabloids, the film was written and directed by Roman Polanski, whose own life would take a nightmarish turn a year later when his pregnant fiancée Sharon Tate and their unborn child were murdered by members of the Manson family.
6. Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid (1969)
Perhaps the best buddy movie ever made. The screen chemistry of Paul Newman and Robert Redford (aided immeasurably by Oscar-winning screenwriter William Goldman's hilariously off-kilter dialogue) absolutely killed at the box office and won four Oscars, including Best Song ('Raindrops Keep Fallin' on My Head') for Burt Bacharach. Four years later the duo followed up their success with The Sting.
5. The Graduate (1967)
Dustin Hoffman, making his movie debut, is spot-on as a milquetoast out to "sow some wild oats." And Anne Bancroft -- with tan lines around her brassiere as wide as a highway divider strip -- strikes an imperious tone throughout as the seductress out to help Hoffman in that endeavor. (She also perfectly offsets Hoffman's general cluelessness.) Add in those classic Simon and Garfunkel ballads and you've got that rare film commodity: a '60s time capsule that transcends its decade.
4. Psycho (1960)
It's Alfred Hitchcock at his suspenseful best with Janet Leigh's death scene (avowed as one of the scariest movie moments in history on many authoritative lists) doing for showers what Spielberg and mechanical sharks would do for swimmers a generation later. And that sense of creeping dread owes as much to Bernard Herrmann's piercing use of violins as it does to Hitch's methodical storyboarding.
3. Dr. Strangelove (1964)
Stanley Kubrick's phantasmagorical rumination on the Cold War run incredulously amok, Strangelove threaded nuclear paranoia that hung like a heavy pall in the air throughout the '60s into an insane plotline that would've befitted a Marx Brothers comedy. Peter Sellers pulls off a brilliant acting trifecta playing a battery of nutty characters, from the ineffectual president to a meek English group captain to the titular militaristic Nazi turncoat. And Slim Pickens' wild bronco ride on a missle is the iconic icing on this satiric upside-down cake that continues to intrigue audiences.
2. Lawrence of Arabia (1962)
Peter O'Toole radiates charisma in his first starring role as imperious Capt. T.E. Lawrence, the British Army's Middle Eastern liaison during the Arab Revolt in World War I. Oscars include Best Picture and Director for David Lean. All the Lean earmarks are here, including epic sweep, larger-than-life characters and stunning (Oscar-winning) cinematography by Freddie Young.
1. To Kill a Mockingbird (1962)
Gregory Peck in one of his most admired Oscar-winning roles is Atticus Finch, a small-town Alabama lawyer in the 1930s who defends a black man (Brock Peters) unjustly accused of raping a white woman. Most of the action in the film (that gets better with each passing year) is chronicled via the wide-eyed wonder of Atticus' two adoring children, Scout and Jem. Adapted from Harper Lee's Pulitzer Prize-winning semi-autobiographical novel, the movie reaffirms -- brilliantly -- that treating each other with dignity is a verity forever outside the bounds of time or fashion.
http://www.moviefone.com/insidemovies/2009/07/17/best-60s-movies/
Three old guard auteurs make our list -- David Lean, Robert Wise and Alfred Hitchcock -- with two films each. Paul Newman has no less than four starring roles among our best picks. And, really, you can't get any more establishment than the troika of musicals -- The Sound of Music, West Side Story and My Fair Lady -- that won Best Picture Oscars ... now that's far out! -- By Tom Johnson
40. Goldfinger (1964)
James Bond (Sean Connery) battles one of the most delicious archenemies in his panoply of villains -- mammon-worshipping Auric Goldfinger (Gert Frobe). Although the Federal gold reserve at Fort Knox is Goldfinger's obsession, Bond has his sights set on a more accessible (and shapely) target -- ***** Galore (Honor Blackman). Talk about shaken and stirred …
39. Romeo and Juliet (1968)
Franco Zeffirelli directs what is, hands down, the greatest film adaptation of one of Shakespeare's most enduring tragedies. Richard Whiting and Olivia Hussey are insanely photogenic as Verona's ill-fated young lovers and Nino Rota's haunting "love theme" sets the somber tenor of the film, which is faithful to the Bard's immortal iambic pentameter. Translation: Avoid like the pox updated remakes like the 1996 DiCaprio/Danes misfire.
38. The Dirty Dozen (1967)
An all-star cast headed by Lee Marvin, Charles Bronson and John Cassavetes kicks plenty of Kraut butt in this rousing WWII actioner about a group of death-row inmates given a chance to expunge their records by participating in a suicide mission behind enemy lines on D-Day. Less elegant and more profane than The Great Escape, the film delivers some memorable set-pieces; the best being Jim Brown's iconic sprint while dropping hand-grenades down widely spaced ventilator shafts.
37. Guess Who's Coming to Dinner (1967)
Forty years ago, this story about an interracial couple (Sidney Poitier and Katharine Houghton) springing their marriage plans on the girl's unsuspecting parents (Katharine Hepburn and Spencer Tracy) was risky and weighty. Time and progress have blunted the dramatic thrust, but there is still much to enjoy in Tracy's last movie role and Hepburn's Oscar-winning performance as a mother who's amenable to the idea.
36. Tom Jones (1963)
Albert Finney IS the titular hero in this film version of Henry Fielding's novel, which won Oscars for Best Picture and Director (Tony Richardson). In the wonderfully episodic epic, we follow Tom(cat) as he cuts a wide swath through 18th-century England with his various amours and bawdy misadventures. The film also marks the movie debut of Lynn Redgrave.
35. The Jungle Book (1967)
The animated Disney tale of a boy, Mowgli, raised by wolves, who befriends Baloo, an easygoing bear (voiced by Phil Harris), was inspired by Rudyard Kipling's story. Together they embark on a series of adventures cued by various classic songs: 'The Bare Necessities,' 'I Wanna Be Like You,' 'Trust in Me,' etc. Along with Harris, the great voice cast includes Sebastian Cabot, Louis Prima, George Sanders and Sterling Holloway.
34. The Great Escape (1963)
Top-heavy with an international cast of marquee names, Escape was a big studio, high-concept movie that mixed action, humor and suspense as deftly as a Churchillian wartime speech. Best scene: Hotly pursued by the Germans, Steve McQueen pulls off the most famous wheelie in movie history by jumping his motorcycle over a barricade before wiping out in a mess of barbwire a few scant feet from the Swiss border and freedom.
33. A Raisin in the Sun (1961)
Trials and tribulations abound for an African-American family (headed by Sidney Poitier and Ruby Dee) who move into a predominantly white Chicago neighborhood. The title comes from the opening lines of Langston Hughes' poem 'Harlem': "What happens to a dream deferred?/Does it dry up/like a raisin in the sun?" In this triumph over adversity, the family's "dream" of living a desegregated existence ultimately wins out.
32. Midnight Cowboy (1969)
The first (and to date, only) X-rated movie ever to win a Best Picture Oscar, Cowboy is a mesmerizing character study of life on the margins in NYC for a hayseed aspiring stud (Jon Voight) and his sad-sack street-hustler friend, Ratso Rizzo (Dustin Hoffman). Glen Campbell ballads resonate, and John Schlesinger earned a Best Director award. But it's Hoffman's heartbreaking turn as the gimpy Rizzo that haunts long after the movie's over.
31. Hud (1963)
In a career that spanned a half century and 60 movies, Paul Newman gave iconic performances that inspired a legion of young actors. Nowhere was he better than here, as Hud Bannon, the shiftless scion to a Texas cattle ranch on the skids. The sexually charged banter between Hud and his housekeeper (Best Actress Oscar winner Patricia Neal) crackles; the open warfare between Hud and his morally upstanding father (Best Supporting Actor Oscar winner Melvyn Douglas) underscores that a desiccated value system just ain't a good thing anywhere.
30. Doctor Zhivago (1965)
Master of the grand manner, British director David Lean helmed sweeping epics set in epochal times and populated with characters who were often larger than life. In 1965, those ingredients coalesced in Lean's film adaptation of Nobel Laureate Boris Pasternak's hyper-romantic novel set against the backdrop of the 1917 Bolshevik Revolution. Set to Maurice Jarre's lush score, Omar Sharif and Julie Christie's ill-fated romance is a master class in what screen chemistry is all about.
29. Mary Poppins (1964)
An Oscar-winning Julie Andrews is unforgettable (and ideally cast) in her film debut as the "practically perfect nanny" who brings order to the Banks family in London, circa 1910. Equally memorable in support is a very nimble Dick Van Dyke as jack of all trades Bert. But what really floats this irrepressible Disney confection is the whimsical special effects and the Oscar-winning Sherman Brothers score, which includes 'Chim-Chim-Cheree' and 'Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious.'
28. Butterfield 8 (1960)
Elizabeth Taylor scored an Oscar as a high-class call girl who tries to go straight when she meets a "John" (Laurence Harvey) who might mean more to her than a quick toss. Taylor's old-school performance keeps the cliché-riddled material from sinking completely into melodrama. Co-stars include Eddie Fisher a year after Taylor scandalously "stole" him from his then wife, Debbie Reynolds. Talk about seductresses!
27. Easy Rider (1969)
Made on a relative shoestring, Rider was a huge popular and critical hit for its two road-trip protagonists (Peter Fonda and Dennis Hopper) and provided Jack Nicholson with a boozehound breakout role and an Oscar nod for Best Supporting Actor. A virtual time capsule of the generational clash that hit the country in the late '60s, the film chronicles the greatest cross-country odyssey since Jack Kerouac first stuck out his thumb.
26. In Cold Blood (1967)
Based on Truman Capote's pioneering novel of the 1959 murder of a Kansas farm family, Blood's semi-documentary approach builds a sense of dread that strikes like a blow when the murders occur. It's a rare case of a film adaptation not sullying the merit of prior published material, and Robert Blake -- who would go on trial decades later as the prime suspect in the murder of his own wife -- plays one of the killers.
25. The Miracle Worker (1962)
This fact-based film based on the life of Helen Keller (Best Supporting Actress Oscar winner Patty Duke) recounts her work with teacher and mentor Annie Sullivan (Best Actress winner Anne Bancroft). The pivotal water pump scene of Helen experiencing an epiphany that unlocks the world when Annie spells the word "water" in her hand is one of the most satisfying emotional payoffs in cinema history.
24. The Odd Couple (1968)
Neil Simon's Broadway hit of two divorced men as opposite as night and day who become unwilling roommates transitions perfectly to the screen thanks to the opportune casting of its two leads (Walter Matthau and Jack Lemmon). The pairing, which began in 1966 in Billy Wilder's The Fortune Cookie, solidified what would soon become one of the greatest and most enduring comedy collaborations in film history.
23. The Longest Day (1962)
Before the visceral jolt of Saving Private Ryan changed the playing field of how cinematic wartime carnage was depicted, this movie about the Allied invasion of Normandy was the default. Starring a who's-who cast of international heavyweights (John Wayne, Sean Connery, Robert Mitchum, Rod Steiger, etc.) with enough star power to stop a Tiger tank in its halftrack, Day maintained an epic sweep while telegraphing to audiences just how crucial June 6, 1944, was to the world.
22. Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf? (1966)
Richard Burton and Elizabeth Taylor (who won an Oscar) reached new heights (or plumbed new depths) together as a constantly squabbling university prof and his wife. Their intricate series of mind games eventually ensnare a visiting colleague and his mousy wife (Sandy Dennis, who won a Best Supporting Actress Oscar). Be forewarned, Edward Albee's most famous drama is intense -- with more caustic putdowns than a Don Rickles live show.
21. My Fair Lady (1964)
Rarely has a musical registered as high as this re-imagining of George Bernard Shaw's Pygmalion with veddy British overtones played up. The winner of eight Oscars, including Best Picture, Director (George Cukor) and a richly deserved statuette for Rex Harrison, who reprised his Broadway role as fussbudget authoritarian Henry Higgins. Add to the mix a radiant Audrey Hepburn as Higgins' Galatea experiment and a glistening score by Lerner and Lowe and, well, how couldn't it be loverly!
20. In the Heat of the Night (1967)
Visiting Philadelphia police inspector Virgil Tibbs (Sidney Poitier) gets sidetracked into assisting Mississippi redneck cops led by the bigoted town police chief (an Oscar-winning Rod Steiger) in a murder investigation. As the sleuthing progresses, Tibbs' (they call him "Mr.") savvy and professionalism break down the racial divide till a grudging mutual respect develops between the two men. Heat also won Best Picture laurels.
19. Cape Fear (1962)
Robert Mitchum is memorably creepy in this noirish suspense movie about a Southern ex-con (who's more cracker than a box of Saltines) out for revenge against the lawyer (Gregory Peck) who he believed botched his court case. Peck's all-American family unit is also menaced (Mitchum's an equal-opportunity loon, after all). And Bernard Herrmann's score adds to the omnipresent tension
18. Cool Hand Luke (1967)
This wonderful character study of a prisoner (Paul Newman) on a chain gang detail who refuses to conform or buckle under to authority contains many memorable scenes (including the classic hardboiled-egg-eating competition). All in all, a far cry from how the penal system was depicted in the Paul Muni 1930s classic I Am a Fugitive of a Chain Gang. George Kennedy won a Best Supporting Actor Oscar as "Dragline," Luke's Man Friday and biggest supporter.
17. The Pink Panther (1964)
Always a comic genius in any guise he chose to play, Peter Sellers found immortality as the bumbling Inspector Clouseau in a franchise that features some of the best slapstick sight gags since the Silent Era. This is the film that also gave birth to the titular animated panther (seen during the title crawl) and the iconic Henry Mancini theme song. That 2006 remake starring Steve Martin as Clouseau pales in comparison. Accept no substitutes.
16. The Hustler (1961)
Chalk up another iconic film role to Paul Newman as Fast Eddie Felson, a gifted pool hustler who finds the ultimate bottom-feeding manager in George C. Scott. Far superior to the Color of Money sequel lensed decades later, Hustler is essentially an incisive character study that also extends to Felson's pool-playing nemesis, "Minnesota Fats" (Jackie Gleason) and particularly to Piper Laurie as Newman's tragic girlfriend. Rack 'em up!
15. The Sound of Music (1965)
One of the most dearly loved family movies of all time and a gigantic blockbuster in its day (when ticket prices were decades away from double-digits), Music won Best Picture and Director (Robert Wise) Oscars and gave birth to a legion of hardcore generational devotees that continue to revel in its sentiment (not cloying), breathtaking Salzburg locales and endearing Rodgers and Hammerstein score. Truly a film for the ages -- all ages.
14. The Birds (1963)
The master of suspense, Alfred Hitchcock, outdoes himself here with an ominous tale of massed bird attacks on the populace of an isolated coastal community in northern California. Tippi Hedren and Rod Taylor are the prime targets of the avian kamikaze attacks in a script minus Hitch's usual liberal dollop of black humor. Adapted from a Daphne du Maurier story, this movie puts most other nature-run-amok stories to shame.
13. Spartacus (1960)
Kirk Douglas chews more scenery than a bovine out to pasture as the stony-faced leader of a slave revolt against ancient Rome. But the epic battle scenes take a backseat to great performances by Laurence Olivier, Charles Laughton and a hilariously scene-stealing (and Oscar-winning) Peter Ustinov. Includes the infamous homoerotic (snails vs. oysters) bathing scene featuring Olivier and his slave houseboy, Tony Curtis. Hand me that toga … fast!
12. Bonnie and Clyde (1967)
Director Arthur Penn's highly stylized blend of comedy, action and melodrama (wrapped up in occasional social commentary) was a huge critical and popular success. And Warren Beatty and Faye Dunaway as the folkloric bank robbers was pitch-perfect casting. Highlights are Estelle Parson's histrionic performance as Blanche Barrow (Clyde's gangster sister-in-law) and the controversial ending, which was almost operatic in its violence.
11. Breakfast at Tiffany's (1961)
This romantic comedy adapted from Truman Capote's novella about a backwoods escapee (Audrey Hepburn) who remakes her life as a Manhattan scenester shimmers like a glass of vintage Chateauneuf-du-Pape or, better, a five-carat square-cut rock on display in Tiffany's window. Henry Mancini and Johnny Mercer's Oscar-winning song 'Moon River' sets the perfect romantic mood for a movie as ageless and chic as Audrey herself.
10. The Apartment (1960)
No one plays a yearning everyman better than Jack Lemmon, and he's at the top of his game in Billy Wilder's bittersweet comedy-drama about an ambitious office worker trying to climb the corporate ladder by doling out his favorably placed apartment to senior executives for their trysts. A Best Picture Oscar winner, this compelling admixture of cynicism and sentiment also garnered statuettes for Best Director and Screenplay (Wilder again).
9. The Manchurian Candidate (1962)
Korean War hero Raymond Shaw (Laurence Harvey) is brainwashed by Chinese Communists and returns home a "sleeper assassin" just waiting to be triggered. A colossal case of bad timing (the movie was released just prior to JFK's assassination in Dallas) caused a deeply regretful Frank Sinatra (who starred) to shelve the film, where it remained largely unseen for years. Re-released theatrically in 1987, this brilliantly directed (and acted) movie has since gotten the recognition is deserves.
8. West Side Story (1961)
Transposing star-crossed lovers Romeo and Juliet to Manhattan's Upper West Side and planting them smack-dab in the middle of a gang turf war was nothing short of inspired. Add in Jerome Robbins' groundbreaking tours jetes and a fab Leonard Bernstein-Stephen Sondheim score and even Richard Beymer (Tony) and Natalie Wood's (Maria) chemistry fizzle didn't detract. The winner of 10 Oscars, including Best Picture, Director, Supporting Actor and Actress and an award for Robbins' exhilarating choreography.
7. Rosemary's Baby (1968)
A weird collection of New York City apartment dwellers (a Satanic cult, really) midwife Rosemary's (Mia Farrow) baby into the world for eventual sacrifice to the horned one. Ruth Gordon won a Best Supporting Actress Oscar as one of Rosemary's shifty neighbors. And in a page that could have been ripped from the tabloids, the film was written and directed by Roman Polanski, whose own life would take a nightmarish turn a year later when his pregnant fiancée Sharon Tate and their unborn child were murdered by members of the Manson family.
6. Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid (1969)
Perhaps the best buddy movie ever made. The screen chemistry of Paul Newman and Robert Redford (aided immeasurably by Oscar-winning screenwriter William Goldman's hilariously off-kilter dialogue) absolutely killed at the box office and won four Oscars, including Best Song ('Raindrops Keep Fallin' on My Head') for Burt Bacharach. Four years later the duo followed up their success with The Sting.
5. The Graduate (1967)
Dustin Hoffman, making his movie debut, is spot-on as a milquetoast out to "sow some wild oats." And Anne Bancroft -- with tan lines around her brassiere as wide as a highway divider strip -- strikes an imperious tone throughout as the seductress out to help Hoffman in that endeavor. (She also perfectly offsets Hoffman's general cluelessness.) Add in those classic Simon and Garfunkel ballads and you've got that rare film commodity: a '60s time capsule that transcends its decade.
4. Psycho (1960)
It's Alfred Hitchcock at his suspenseful best with Janet Leigh's death scene (avowed as one of the scariest movie moments in history on many authoritative lists) doing for showers what Spielberg and mechanical sharks would do for swimmers a generation later. And that sense of creeping dread owes as much to Bernard Herrmann's piercing use of violins as it does to Hitch's methodical storyboarding.
3. Dr. Strangelove (1964)
Stanley Kubrick's phantasmagorical rumination on the Cold War run incredulously amok, Strangelove threaded nuclear paranoia that hung like a heavy pall in the air throughout the '60s into an insane plotline that would've befitted a Marx Brothers comedy. Peter Sellers pulls off a brilliant acting trifecta playing a battery of nutty characters, from the ineffectual president to a meek English group captain to the titular militaristic Nazi turncoat. And Slim Pickens' wild bronco ride on a missle is the iconic icing on this satiric upside-down cake that continues to intrigue audiences.
2. Lawrence of Arabia (1962)
Peter O'Toole radiates charisma in his first starring role as imperious Capt. T.E. Lawrence, the British Army's Middle Eastern liaison during the Arab Revolt in World War I. Oscars include Best Picture and Director for David Lean. All the Lean earmarks are here, including epic sweep, larger-than-life characters and stunning (Oscar-winning) cinematography by Freddie Young.
1. To Kill a Mockingbird (1962)
Gregory Peck in one of his most admired Oscar-winning roles is Atticus Finch, a small-town Alabama lawyer in the 1930s who defends a black man (Brock Peters) unjustly accused of raping a white woman. Most of the action in the film (that gets better with each passing year) is chronicled via the wide-eyed wonder of Atticus' two adoring children, Scout and Jem. Adapted from Harper Lee's Pulitzer Prize-winning semi-autobiographical novel, the movie reaffirms -- brilliantly -- that treating each other with dignity is a verity forever outside the bounds of time or fashion.
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