1. Whatever Happened to Aunt Alice? (1969)
The Premise: A widow finds an unusual source of income after her husband's untimely death.
Overall: Geraldine Page is wonderfully unhinged in the lead role. I'm not entirely sold on the premise, but it's an enjoyable movie throughout.
Fun Fact: The film's title is a reference to Whatever Happened to Baby Jane?, another movie Robert Aldrich was involved with. A third film in this "trilogy" was proposed but never made.
2. The City of the Dead (a.k.a. "Horror Hotel") (1960)
The Premise: An inexplicably trusting young woman ventures into the New England countryside looking for witches.
Overall: The fog machine was working overtime for this one. More fog per frame than any other movie I've seen.
In The City of the Dead Christopher Lee and Co. deliver a fairly by-the-numbers horror thriller, even though Lee's character's role in the plot is interestingly ambiguous throughout.
3. The Marriage-Go-Round (1961)
The Premise: Yet another one of those "battle of the sexes romps," of which the 60s provided many examples.
Overall: The plot of this movie is one of the most contrived things ever. A stunning Swedish woman arrives at a married couple's home, announces she wants to bear the married man's children, and for whatever reason his wife leaves them alone for an extended period of time. Really, Susan Hayward, respect yourself more!
It must be admitted, however, that Julie Newmar gives the 60s equivalent of a boner-inspiring performance here, and I fully understand why subsequent generations of drag performers were so fascinated by her. But aside from her performance this movie is, largely, an embarrassment. I'm not saying that it's Susan Hayward's or James Mason's fault, but yeah, it hasn't aged well.
In Case You Didn't Already Know: Julie Newmar would go on to play Catwoman in the Batman TV show later in the decade.
4. Birds Do It (1966)
The Premise: Soupy Sales plays janitor in a rocket laboratory.
Overall: The one thing I can really, truly say in this movie's favor is that the actress playing the head scientist's daughter is hot. As for the rest... well, I suppose it depends on how amenable you are to screwball comedy.
Fun Fact 1: That "hot daughter" (Beverly Adams) went on to marry noted hair stylist Vidal Sassoon.
Fun Fact 2: This was the only time Soupy Sales starred in a film. He despised this movie, and spent the rest of his life criticizing it.
Fun Fact 3: Soupy Sales' two sons, Tony and Hunt Sales, went on to form the band Tin Machine with David Bowie.
5. Surf Party (1964)
To some extent The Beatles would kill this scene, but hey, it was fun while it lasted.
Anyone else remember a 1987 movie Back to the Beach? That movie was predicated upon movies like this one, all part of the early to mid 60s surf craze.
The Premise: Bobby Vinton teaches three wayward girls how to surf.
Overall: Harmless fun, and one of those "time capsule films" that says a lot about the era that produced it.
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6. The Explosive Generation (1961)
The Premise: High school students stage a protest after their teacher's suspension. His transgression? Talking about S-E-X!
Overall: The ending isn't convincing, but up until the last five minutes it's an engaging movie. William Shatner, by the way, plays the teacher. The Explosive Generation was his fourth film appearance and his first starring role.
7. Riot (1969)
With both Jim Brown and Gene Hackman in the cast you know the 70s aren't far off. Jim Brown, it should be said, more than holds his own in the presence of Gene Hackman, who'd go on to become one of the major stars of the 70s.
The Premise: Several prisoners stage a riot inside an Arizona prison.
Overall: It's a good movie, better movie than many of the other movies discussed here.
Buzz Kulik, the director, also oversaw The Explosive Generation above. The best known of his films is probably the made-for-TV Brian's Song.
8. Operation Atlantis (1965)
The Premise: James Bond via the Italian film industry.
Overall: The plot goes absolutely nowhere and makes almost no sense. Most damning of all, that one evil henchmen barely brings his wicked-looking claw thing into play.
9. Dementia 13 (a.k.a. "The Haunted and the Hunted") (1963)
The Premise: Death and horror on an Irish estate.
Overall: It may surprise you to know that Francis Ford Coppola directed this one. It was his very first movie, made under the auspices of Roger Corman. After a brief stint with Corman at American International Pictures, he'd go on to Warner Bros., where he'd direct You're a Big Boy Now, Finian's Rainbow and The Rain People. After The Rain People he'd move to Paramount, where he'd direct The Godfather between 1971 and 1972.
Dementia 13 is... OK. To its credit it's very short, and it offers an interesting look at a big name very early in his career. It was filmed for a little over $22,000, which wasn't much even in the 60s, though Coppola did do a lot with the meager resources at his disposal.
Fun Fact: A remake of this movie was released in 2017.
10. What a Way to Go! (1964)
The Premise: Shirley MacLaine works her way through a series of wealthy husbands.
Overall: The cinematic equivalent of fluff. It's pleasant fluff, but yeah, it's fluff.
Fun Fact: This movie was originally conceived as a vehicle for Marilyn Monroe, but she died before filming began.
Sad Fact: Actress Teri Garr, who passed away recently, appears in this for a second.
11. Goodbye Charlie (1964)
The Premise: A womanizer survives his own murder in the body of a woman.
Overall: Given the current dialogue surrounding gender and gender identity this movie has aged like wine. Much of it seems very prescient.
It might remind modern viewers of Blake Edward's 1991 movie Switch, which was based on the same play, but where that movie's awkward this one exerts a breezy charm.
Critics weren't kind to this film. I, however, think it's great. In 1964 they were obviously walking a tightrope with regard to the subject matter, and in my opinion they did a masterful job.
Fun Fact: Ellen Burstyn is in this. Goodbye Charlie was, by some accounts, her first movie role.
12. The Millionairess (1960)
The Premise: Sophia Loren puts her considerable sex appeal to use as a rich woman seeking a poor husband.
Overall: Yes, it's Peter Sellers doing brownface again. This time he plays an Indian Muslim (?) living in London. I can't fault his acting ability, but the brownface aspect of this movie won't translate well for modern viewers.
This said, The Millionairess isn't bad. The plot is somewhat preposterous, and one gets the feeling that the ending of the play which inspired the movie was more impactful, but when the lovers are inevitably (re)united it's truly heartwarming.
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13. The Plunderers (1961)
The Premise: One outlaw helps out another in the Old West.
Overall: It ambles along pleasantly enough. Doesn't exactly stick in the memory though.
Fun Fact: John Saxon is in this for a bit.
14. Stagecoach (1966)
The Premise: Several misfits flee a Western town for Cheyenne, Wyoming during a period of social unrest.
Overall: An excellent movie, and surprisingly gory given both the time period and the fact that it was filmed on a bigger budget. The (extremely beautiful) Ann-Margret leads an impressive cast, and even beyond her obvious beauty this film has a lot to recommend it.
15. Guns at Batasi (1964)
The Premise: A group of British subjects find themselves cornered in colonial Africa.
Overall: Richard Attenborough chews A LOT of scenery in this one, sometimes at the expense of the other players, but on the whole it's an entertaining, nuanced look at the policy and politics at work in the British Empire. I particularly enjoyed the exchanges between Attenborough's character and the Member of Parliament. "Enlightened savages," "dangerous adversaries" or a competing civilization? Even now people are making these distinctions, often without pausing to consider the prejudices at work in our perceptions of other cultures.
Fun Fact: This was Mia Farrow's second movie and first credited screen appearance. She took over the part from Britt Ekland. Ekland was married to Peter Sellers at the time, and his jealousy over the onscreen love affair between Ekland's character and John Leyton's character forced Ekland to fake an illness in order to exit the production.
16. Satan Never Sleeps (1962)
Sounds like a horror movie but isn't.
The Premise: Two missionaries in China contend with Red Army soldiers newly arrived in their province.
Overall: Not one of William Holden's better movies. The Catholicism vs. communism dialogue wears out its welcome, and the Red Army characters are little more than thugs intent on destruction. To make matters worse, this whole movie was shot in England and Wales, two places that look absolutely nothing like China.
The director claimed studio interference was the source of this movie's many, many inconsistencies, but I doubt giving him full control over the final product would have made Satan Never Sleeps much better.
17. 13 West Street (1962)
The Premise: A man seeks justice -- or is it satisfaction? -- after he's assaulted by several teenagers.
Overall: 13 West Street feels more like a movie from the 50s. It's a decent effort with regard to film noir, and Alan Ladd is good in the lead, but it flubs the ending.
Fun Fact 1: This movie was based on a novel by the name of The Tiger Among Us. The author of that novel, Leigh Brackett, wrote an early draft of The Empire Strikes Back, elements of which are present in the finished film.
Fun Fact 2: Ted Knight is in this. Remember him? The bad guy from Caddyshack?
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18. The Mark (1961)
Like13 West Street above another movie that feels like something from the previous decade. This one could also be classified as film noir, and Rod Steiger appears in both films.
The Premise: An ex-convict fresh from a rather peculiar type of group therapy attempts to adjust to life on the outside.
Overall: The best written movie I've seen in a long time. The plot is tightly constructed and holds together very well.
19. Victim! (1961)
The Premise: Murder mystery in which various characters' sexuality is on trial.
Overall: This is EXACTLY the kind of movie they wouldn't have been made in the States during the same time period. Thankfully the British were ready to step up and say something real about legislated morality. Like The Mark above it treads on dangerous ground, but I'm glad that it did so.
20. The Cape Town Affair (1967)
The Premise: James Brolin (father of Josh!) stars as a pickpocket caught up in a communist conspiracy.
Overall: Brolin and costar Jacqueline Bissett have almost zero chemistry, and despite being hot she's wasn't (isn't?) a very good actress. It's somewhat interesting to see shots of South Africa in 1967, but aside from that this film just plods onward to its inevitable conclusion.
Fun Fact 1: This movie features both Brolin and Bisset's first starring roles. And yes, in case you're wondering, Brolin was later considered for the role of James Bond, a character he often resembles in the course of The Cape Town Affair. He screen tested for the part just before the filming of 1983's Octopussy, but Roger Moore's return to the franchise after a period of uncertainty put an end to that.
Fun Fact 2: Who is this Claire Trevor person, and why does she have billing over both Brolin and Bisset? Claire Trevor starred in a number of very famous Hollywood movies between the 30s, 40s and 50s, and in 1949 she won the Oscar for Best Supporting Actress.
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