Top Movies by Year
1960: Spartacus, 1961: West Side Story, 1962: The Longest Day, 1963: Cleopatra, 1964: Mary Poppins
Top Singles by Year
1960: It's Now or Never (Elvis Presley), 1961: Stand By Me (Ben E. King), 1962: Return to Sender (Elvis Presley), 1963: Surfin' U.S.A. (The Beach Boys), 1964: I Want to Hold Your Hand (The Beatles).
Best-Selling Novels by Year
1960: Hawaii by James Michener, 1961: Hawaii by James Michener, 1962: Franny and Zooey by J.D. Salinger, 1963: The Shoes of the Fisherman by Morris West, 1964: The Spy Who Came in from the Cold by John le Carre
Major Sporting Events of the Early 1960s
The Pittsburgh Pirates won the World Series, Jacques Anquetil won the Tour de France, Sonny Liston became World Heavyweight Champion, instant replay was used for the first time in American football and Shea Stadium was completed.
Comic Books in the Early 1960s
The Justice League were introduced in The Brave and the Bold #28, General Zod made his debut in Adventure Comics #283, the Fantastic Four first appeared in Fantastic Four #1, the "Flash of Two Worlds" storyline ran in The Flash #123, the Hulk was introduced in The Incredible Hulk #1, the X-Men made their debut in Uncanny X-Men #1 and the Teen Titans first appeared in The Brave and the Bold #54.
That One Movie Everyone Has To See At Least Once
1. A Fistful of Dollars (1964)
Director Sergio Leone and future director Clint Eastwood make their mark on Western cinema. Sure, it borrows a lot from Yojimbo (an equally great movie), and sure, the low budget shows at times, but it remains an indisputably excellent movie. It tells a timeless story of revenge and manipulation, all of it hinged upon Eastwood's knowing grimace.
Fun Fact: Eastwood wasn't Sergio Leone's first choice for the lead, but they couldn't afford either Henry Fonda or Charles Bronson. Both Fonda and Bronson would later appear in Leone's Once Upon a Time in the West.
Two of the Best Movies I've Seen in a While
1. Splendor in the Grass (1961)
The beautiful Natalie Wood stars as a high school student coming to terms with her sexuality, with Warren Beatty (in his first movie!) as a boy contending with a domineering father. Director Elia Kazan shows a steady hand with the material, and Natalie Wood truly deserved the Best Actress Oscar she received for her performance in this movie.
2. Lord of the Flies (1963)
If you've read the book this movie offers no narrative surprises, but wow is it beautifully photographed. In terms of cinematography it's a stunning achievement, and William Goldman's story speaks for itself. Don't bother with the 1990 version, this is the one you want to see.
Peter Brook, the director of this movie, has been flying under the radar for decades. I'd like to see some of his other movies.
Excellent
1. The Innocents (1961)
A governess assigned to the care of two children either encounters the supernatural or loses her grip on reality. The ambiguity of her situation -- which persists right up until the movie's conclusion -- is what makes this film great. Truman Capote co-wrote the script, and his psychological take on the governess's dilemma elevates what would have otherwise been a very formulaic movie.
2. La Dolce Vita (1960)
A journalist/ladies' man finds his personal and professional roles increasingly confused. Like other Fellini movies this one explores the distinction between art and artifice, or in this case subject and object, and the result is a clever, surprising movie that feels much shorter than its three hour runtime. Many regard this movie as one of the greatest of all time, and while I wouldn't disagree I really do feel like I need to see it again. There's a lot going on in this film.
Fun Fact: The star of this movie, Marcello Mastroianni, really got around. The list of his girlfriends includes Faye Dunaway, Claudia Cardinale, Lauren Hutton and Catherine Deneuve.
3. The Manchurian Candidate (1962)
Cold War paranoia, mind control and corrupt politics from the great John Frankenheimer. Frank Sinatra solidified his status as an actor with this movie, and Angela Lansbury steals every scene she's in. I loved the exhibition involving the captive soldiers in the midst of a garden party; the way the various perspectives were edited together in that part of the movie is great.
If you haven't seen it, the 2004 remake is also good. They focused more on PTSD and a raging Oedipal complex in that version, but the updates worked and the cast was also excellent.
Fun Fact: Sinatra's love interest in this film is played by Janet Leigh, who was married to Tony Curtis at the time. Janet Leigh and Tony Curtis were Jamie Lee Curtis's parents.
Some Good Ones
1. Inherit the Wind (1960)
Spencer Tracy champions the cause of Evolution. It's a very melodramatic film, full of heated conversations that probably wouldn't occur outside the play that inspired it, but it asks a lot of interesting questions and doesn't try too hard to answer them. I find it depressing that we're still having debates about the teaching of Darwin's theory over 60 years later.
Bizarre Fact: Leslie Uggams, who sings the gospel tune during the opening credits, is the same Leslie Uggams who plays Blind Al in the Deadpool movies.
2. How the West Was Won (1962)
A big, BIG Western filmed with a BIG wide angle lens in a BIG landscape. This movie was so BIG it needed three directors: Henry Hathaway, John Ford and George Marshall. The cast includes Henry Fonda, Jimmy Stewart, Karl Malden, John Wayne, Debbie Reynolds and Gregory Peck.
Just don't mention this movie to your Native American friends. Their version would be titled How the West Was Lost.
3. The Train (1964)
Burt Lancaster races against time to stop a trainload of priceless paintings from reaching Germany. In real life the French Resistance held up the train with paperwork, but of course director John Frankenheimer, who replaced another director at Burt Lancaster's insistence, realized that Bureaucracy Vs. Fascism made for a boring movie.
A Frame of Reference: If you're wondering when black and white movies started to disappear from movie theaters, John Frankenheimer has referred to The Train as "the last big black and white movie."
4. The Apartment (1960)
Jack Lemmon loans his apartment to adulterous coworkers. By this point I've seen enough of Billy Wilder's movies to know I'm not a big fan of them, but I'd have to say this is my favorite of the Billy Wilder movies I've seen. Lemmon plays an endearing everyman, and Shirley MacLaine is as radiant as ever. I particularly liked the way that this movie sets up Lemmon's dilemma, illustrating his conflict of interest without overexplaining it.
Those familiar with the time period might wonder how I could put Splendor in the Grass above The Apartment, a movie which received a similar level of acclaim. In my opinion Splendor is a flawless movie, and moreover a movie in which the male and female sides of the equation are equally compelling. The Apartment, on the other hand, seems to present the male perspective at the expense of the female, with Shirley MacLaine's character often seeming more like a plot device than an actual person.
5. Cleopatra (1963)
I'd seen it before, but I thought revisiting what was, at the time at least, the most expensive movie ever made was worth the effort. Was the original theatrical cut four hours long? Or was I watching an extended version?
A lot of this movie could be dismissed as warmed-over Shakespeare. Richard Burton, visibly in the grip of an alcohol addiction, stomps around and orates as Marc Antony, and Elizabeth Taylor both schemes and looks sexy in various outfits. It's over the top at times but I can't hate on it too much. If I could go back in time and insert one thing into this movie, I'd insert a scene in the very beginning where a young Cleopatra sees Marc Antony for the first time. I think such a scene would make the narrative more cohesive. As it is, watching Cleopatra feels like watching two movies, one in which she courts Julius Caesar, and another in which Cleopatra and Marc Antony's love for one another seals the fate of both.
To Hell with Your Cynicism! It Goes But Two Ways, Damnit! Forward, to the Future! Or Backward, to the Past!
1. The Time Machine (1960)
Paradoxes, alternate timelines, evolution, linguistic drift and relative motion be damned, this time machine really works! And you've just gotta love Rod Taylor's explanation of how his machine operates. It's an explanation that would satisfy no one. His distracting accent aside, this adaptation of H.G. Wells' novel was groundbreaking in terms of special effects, and it remains an entertaining movie.
Americana
1. The Magnificent Seven (1960)
Parts of this movie are VERY silly. For instance, how do Yul Brynner and Steve McQueen know the townspeople properly buried that Indian? And how do they know that someone didn't come back and dig him up later? And what if that kid in the bar hadn't been such a bad shot?
A gay porn parody of this film would almost write itself. The Magnificent Seven Inches? Or is "seven" not enough? I suppose you could round upward to a more "magnificent" number.
The Magnificent Seven is one of those hit movies that launched the careers of several stars, some of these stars being Yul Brynner, Steve McQueen, James Coburn, Charles Bronson and even Eli Wallach. Of course all of these guys were around already, they'd done other things, but The Magnificent Seven was the kind of film that catapulted its actors to another level of superstardom. It's also a fun movie if you don't think too hard about what's happening and why.
Oh, and as with A Fistful of Dollars above, this Hollywood spectacle was also adapted from an equally good, maybe better Japanese movie. I highly recommend the original Seven Samurai, which I've seen many times. The more recent remake of The Magnificent Seven starring Denzel Washington and Chris Pratt? Eh... it's not on the same tier.
Fun Fact: Yul Brynner and Steve McQueen didn't get along during filming.
Sobering Fact: All 7 of the Magnificent Seven have passed on. Steve McQueen was the first to go, in 1980, and Robert Vaughn was the last to go, in 2016.
Anglo-Americana
1. The Great Escape (1963)
Director John Sturges, Steve McQueen and other members of the cast of The Magnificent Seven continue the profitable relationships established in that movie. It's cheesy as hell, the Germans are dumb as bags of rocks, and even though these events happened they didn't necessarily happen that way. Just so it's a fun movie, with the highlight probably being the relationship between James Garner and Donald Pleasence.
This movie or The Magnificent Seven? I'd probably go with The Magnificent Seven. They're both undeniably good, but I think the earlier Magnificent Seven has more of a through line with regard to the plot.
1964? Or 2022?
1. The Last Man on Earth (1964)
WARNING: A sequence of events about halfway through this movie will remind you of COVID-19. If you don't want to think about masks, vaccines and endless rounds of hand washing DON'T watch this film.
In The Last Man on Earth Vincent Price attempts to survive a vampire apocalypse. If that premise sounds familiar it might be because The Omega Man and, more recently, I Am Legend were both based on the same novel as The Last Man on Earth. Which one of the three is best? I'd have to put my money on The Omega Man.
Screenwriter and author of the novel Richard Matheson, by the way, blamed the director for this very uneven movie. As someone who's read Matheson's fiction (not I Am Legend but some of his short stories), I find this explanation a bit hard to believe. The various scenes which make up the movie don't seem like they could have ever added up to a polished movie, regardless of who was directing it.
Fun Fact: This entire movie was filmed in Rome.
Not Bad, But Boring
1. The Gospel According to St. Matthew (1964)
Pasolini's take on the story of Jesus. It's very Italian, very Catholic, and doesn't add much to what's already in the Bible.
A Bad One
1. Night of the Iguana (1964)
Richard Burton and Deborah Kerr (who also stars in The Innocents above) feature in this story of a defrocked reverend leading a tour group in Mexico. It's based on a Tennessee Williams play and was directed by John Huston. It might just be the most lopsided movie ever made. The first half is excellent, but the second half is almost unbearable.
Implausible in the Extreme
1. Swiss Family Robinson (1960)
Disney movie in which a Swiss family is stranded on a tropical island. That treehouse? Not likely to survive the next typhoon. Those animals? They don't belong to the same continent. The pirates? Predictably dumb and easy to outwit. Sure, it was made for kids, but it hasn't aged well.
And... monkeys riding dogs? Isn't there something in the Book of Revelations about that? If not, there should be!
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