Anime 1: The 1960s and Still Earlier Examples

To start with, I'm leaning heavily on the Wikipedia article.  My own introduction to anime began in the 80s, and I have no doubt that a lot of the anime I then regarded as "new" was actually old news in Japan.

At the time I doubt many American kids even glimpsed the long and distinguished history that this art form had up to that point.  We knew that the robots were cool, we regarded some of the imported and often inadequately translated manga as intriguing, but that was about it.

So consider this entry as more of an attempt to supplement my own faulty education.  I'm hoping to understand some of the trends that led to the anime I knew as a boy, and perhaps to also find through lines from the oldest examples of anime to more recent efforts.  I may not get there but I'll try.

Some of the motivation for this entry also comes from the tokusatsu shows I've been watching.  At a certain point in the 80s improved animation techniques and storytelling methods led to anime's supplanting the live-action tokusatsu shows to some extent, and I'd like to take a better look at how that might have happened.

1. Katsudo Sashin (1907)

This is considered to be the first anime.  It's a simple, short loop of a student writing four characters on a blackboard.

2. Namakura Gatana (1917)

Ten years later Jun'ichi Kouchi, one of the three "fathers of anime" produced this extremely short silent film about a dim-witted ronin.  A lot of the animation from this period was lost in a great fire that took place in 1923, and Namakura Gatana was only recently rediscovered in 2008 at an antique shop in Osaka.

3. Ugokie ko Ri no Tatehiki  (1933)

This is one of the first anime to incorporate sound (the sound in the Namakura Gatana clip above was added later).  It's a fairly incomprehensible tale of shape-changing spirits playing tricks on each other, but its incomprehensibility is comparable to many American cartoons of the same time period.

4. Momotaro: Sacred Sailors (1945)

Japanese Imperial propaganda!  This is one of the weirdest things I've seen in a while, being a Disney-influenced discourse on Japan's right to liberate Asian people from their Western oppressors.  Watching funny animal friends pack parachutes, bayonet Allied opponents and dictate terms to captured Westerners is a very surreal experience.  The weirdest part is the fable about the island off the coast of Goa which somehow mandated Japan's divinely inspired mission.

I fell asleep in the middle of this one and had the strangest dreams.  After I woke up I had to go back and watch the parts I missed just to convince myself that yes, this movie actually happened.

5. Three Tales (1960)

This was the first anime ever shown on (Japanese) television.  It was aimed squarely at children and the animation is extremely primitive.  Historic, yes, but not really worth watching.

6. Instant History (1961-1964)

The first anime television series.  Like Three Tales this was aimed at kids and there's little in it to interest adults.  The video linked above is more of a discussion of the show with clips shown in the background.

7. Astro Boy (1963-1966)

The great granddaddy of them all, this anime's influence on subsequent creations cannot be underestimated.  The original manga's creator, Osamu Tezuka, created a host of memorable characters, everything from this show's titular character to Black Jack and Kimba the White Lion.

I watched the first five episodes.  Astro Boy is still an endearing character, and this show is both very wacky and a lot of fun.  Watching it in 2026 brought Steven Spielberg/Stanley Kubrick's 2001 film A.I.: Artificial Intelligence to mind.  I wonder, could Astro Boy have been an influence on Kubrick's much later film?

8. Gigantor (1963-1966)

Like Astro Boy above this series takes place in the year 2000.  How does it feel to live in the distant future?

It's not entirely clear whether Gigantor (a.k.a. "Iron Man 28," a.k.a. "Tetsujin 28") has a mind of his own or if the boy is controlling him.  Whichever the case, Gigantor and his youthful controller seem to be battling a shadowy criminal organization reminiscent of S.P.E.C.T.R.E. from the James Bond movies.  It's worth noting that the Ian Fleming novels appeared a few years before the manga which inspired the anime, and that Dr. No hit theaters a year before the anime aired on television.

I had a Gigantor toy when I was little.  It was a prized possession.

9. Speed Racer (a.k.a. Mach GoGoGo) (1967-1968)

Color is nice, but it's also a leap forward in terms of animation.

Speed Racer follows the travails of first name Speed last name Racer as he attempts to secure his father's place in the auto industry.  In hindsight it might seem an unlikely hit in the States, but it happened to appear at just the right moment in American culture, when young men were entertaining thoughts about cars, girls, and racing.  There's also another Bond connection, in that the Mach 5 was to some extent inspired by Bond's Aston Martin in the movie Goldfinger.

For the record I LOVE the 2008 film.  I think it captures the silliness of the anime perfectly.

10. Dororo (1969)

Osamu Tezuka's influence on anime and manga cannot, again, be underestimated.  He was behind Astro Boy, he was behind Princess Knight, and he was behind Dororo, perhaps the darkest and most disturbing of his many creations.

In Dororo a young orphan befriends a wandering swordsman out to recover lost body parts from a host of demons.  It's bloody, it's unsettling, and I loved it.  If you're in the mood for something weird I hightly recommend this one.

11. Princess Knight (1967)

No idea what Osamu Tezuka was smoking when he created this one but I sure would like some.  This show made me feel HIGH.

Also not sure how this tale of a gender-bending princess would be received in 2026.  She has to dress up like a boy, OK, but what about that scene with "the creator" passing out genders?  And what pantheon does that "creator" belong to, exactly?  Princess Knight's sidekick is an angel, but in the same conversation they mention Roman gods?

I dunno, this one's a headscratcher for sure.  So weird it's worth watching, but perhaps not worth thinking about too deeply.

12. The Golden Bat (1967)

Quite possibly the world's first superhero?  Depictions of the character predate Batman and Superman.

The anime arrived shortly after a live action adaptation featuring none other than Sonny Chiba.  

The story?  Well, most of the episodes I watched don't make complete sense, but apparently a girl is able to summon an Atlantean superman after discovering his tomb and reviving him in the lost capital of that vanished civilization.  The Golden Bat then proceeds to battle Nozo, a being with four differently colored eyes bent on world domination, and over the course of 52 episodes manages to best this adversary.

Notes on All of the Above:

A. I watched at least five episodes of #7-#12 above.  Dororo was my favorite by far.  I could watch all of them again except for maybe Princess Knight, which is hard to watch without the aid of drugs.

B. The 1960s anime discussed above might have been the most popular/influential, but there are dozens more shows that aren't discussed in this entry - everything from Attack No.1 to Cyborg 009.

C. Momotaro: Sacred Sailors is worth a look.  It offers a unique insight into Imperial Japan at the end of WWII.

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Thoughts on 1966-1967's Ultraman TV Show 2

Thoughts on 1966-1967's Ultraman TV Show 2

I'll watch Ultraman, love it for a while, and then need to take breaks.  One can only endure so much silliness for so long.

My rather loose plan is to watch all of the original Ultraman TV series, splitting its 39 episodes into three entries for the sake of my own sanity.  After these three entries I might move on to Ultraseven, the show's sequel, but it's early yet and I might change my mind later.  Ultraseven has 49 episodes (not counting the banned episode), and watching all of them would take up a fair chunk of my life.

Anyway, on to this installment of Ultraman!

1. Episode 13: Oil S.O.S.

Another Iran connection!  The monstrous Pestar begins his rampage in the Iranian oilfields, and is only later spotted in the vicinity of Tokyo.

In this one Ide goes off the rails and blows up part of Tokyo Bay, leading to his going too far in an attempt to extinguish a fire at an oil refinery later in the same episode.  The team forgives him of course, primarily because he's the comic relief, and without him the show would be way too serious.  Can't have that now, can we?

Pestar is one of the weirder-looking Ultraman villains.  He's basically two guys in a starfish-shaped suit holding a head between them.

2. Episode 14: The Pearl Defense Directive

Akiko gets MAD after a pearl-loving monster threatens Japan's pearl crop!  The rest of the Science Patrol chides her over this, but what do men understand of a woman's love for pearls?

One of the scenes near the end of this episode resembles a paid advertisement for Japan's pearl industry.  Akiko selects a pearl necklace, pearl earrings and a pearl ring at the local jewelry store while smiling lovingly at the camera.

I'm assuming that Akiko and Ide are dating by this point in the series.  Why Ide, Akiko?  Hayata's a much better choice!

3. Episode 15: Terrifying Cosmic Rays

Cosmic rays make a boy's crude drawing come to life because SCIENCE.  The Science Patrol shows up to handle business as usual, but they make everything worse to the point where Ultraman has to take out the (monster) trash.

Might want to bring some good weed along for this one.  The monster in question disappears at sunset and then turns into a star.  This monster could have also, I assume, been defeated with an eraser.

4. Episode 16: Science Patrol into Space

They loosened things up a bit for this one, with a rocket bound for Venus meeting Alien Baltan from an earlier episode.  Baltan doesn't seem to have the same powers as he did in that earlier episode, but he's still up to no good and Ultraman still gives him a good thrashing in the end.

Ultraman has a couple new powers in this one as well.  He's able to shoot beams from his eyes, and he can throw an energy disc that cuts his opponents in half.

5. Episode 17: Passport to Infinity

Things get weird again in this one, with a "fourth dimensional foe" that transports unsuspecting people into another dimension.

Four-Dimensional Monster Bullton is kinda fun.  It's able to mess with the laws of physics.

6. Episode 18: Brother from Another Planet

Alien Zarab turns into a fake Ultraman to make everyone think the real Ultraman is BAD!

And hey Tokyo, are we at all worried about the residual effects of that radioactive cloud that was hanging over the city?  Or how easily your governmental institutions were tricked by an alien walking around with a portable translation machine?

7. Episode 19: Demons Rise Again

The Science Patrol and an archaeologist (?) discover a time capsule from the lost civilization of Mu.

Knowing what we now know about the show, what happens next?

1. They conduct a rigorous scientific examination of the time capsule and its contents, exercising strict protocols regarding the preservation of the find and possible biological contaminants, or:

2. The time capsule winds up in a truck, lightning strikes it, and monsters are unleashed upon an unsuspecting Japanese populace.

I felt sorry for the red monster.  It was kind of cute, but it gets melted by the green monster before Ultraman even shows up.

8. Episode 20: Terror on Route 87

The ghost of a dead boy inhabits an archeopteryx.  But OF COURSE it does!  Happens all the time!

And in the end they just decide to let this one go.  Why?  Because Akiko randomly decides that it's wrong to interfere with archeopteryxes inhabited by ghosts.  She says it, everyone else buys that line of reasoning, and that's that.

9. Episode 21: Breach the Wall of Smoke

Akiko almost breaks through the glass ceiling keeping her down at work, only for the annoying boy to show up in the jet on the way to her first solo mission.

Later on the jet crashes and she gets knocked out.  What's the annoying boy to do?  Naturally, being the more rational, capable male he is, he takes control of the situation, setting the stage for the Science Patrol's defeat of Poison Gas Monster Kemular.

At the end of this episode Akiko wakes up in the hospital, the guys have a laugh over their supposed male superiority, and she's effectively been put back in her place.  I get that it was 1966, but this episode annoyed me nonetheless.  It really is quite chauvinistic.

Come on, Science Patrol, do better!

10. Episode 22: Overthrow the Surface

One of the more memorable episodes, featuring a plot which is in some ways reminiscent of the Fantastic Four comics that Marvel produced around the same time.

In this one a race of underground people who lack eyes impersonate a French member of the Science Patrol in an attempt to use Ultraman for EVIL.  Their plans almost succeed but for one flaw: the fact that they perish in direct sunlight.  The monster in this episode is more of an afterthought, but this episode gets surprisingly creepy and intense for a show aimed at kids.

11. Episode 23: My Home is Earth

Could have been a tearjerker, but they rush through the story so fast there's no time to feel anything about it.

And how the hell does the Paris HQ guy know Jamila's backstory?  How did he or anyone else observe all of that stuff happening?  A spacecraft gets lost, goes all the way to another planet, and they just assume that the monster is a returned astronaut?

This episode is, I think, the first to establish that the Ultraman series takes place in the future.  The French HQ guy refers to the Cold War as happening in the (distant) past, so there you go.

Not that this has anything to do with anything, but Jamila kind of reminded me of Belial, the insane conjoined twin from the movie Basket Case.  Someone ought to reboot that movie...

12. Episode 24: The Undersea Science Center

Bonus points for Akiko in a wetsuit.  She's kinda hot at times.  Or maybe I've just been watching too much Ultraman.

In this one Abyssal Undersea Monster Gubila disrupts the operation of a new undersea science base, while some "President" guy freaks out and endangers everyone else on board.

13. Episode 25: The Mysterious Comet Tsuifon

One of the more random episodes.  Everybody gets worried about a comet that looks as if it's going to strike the Earth and render humankind obsolete, then they all kind of forget about it and start worrying about Red King, a monster that previously consumed a few hydrogen bombs before retreating into "the Japanese Alps."

Of all the episodes I've seen so far this one is the most "pro wrestling."  An abominable snowman thing and a dragon-y thing with shower curtain wings square off in a mountain plateau, and after Red King arrives it only gets more ridiculous.  At one point the monsters are tapping one another into the "ring," with the result that Red King emerges victorious - only to be dismembered by Ultraman soon after.

14. Episode 26: The Monster Highness (Part 1)

This and the following episode are two halves of the same story.

An ancient dinosaur called a "Gomorasaurus" is revived from his ancient slumber after the Science Patrol tries to airlift him back to Japan for the sake of an exhibition.

And then Ultraman actually loses!  Yep, in this one Ultraman gets his ass BEAT, and in the midst of that resounding defeat a monster-positive young boy winds up with Hayata's beta capsule.  What will happen next?  Stay tuned for next week's exciting conclusion!

15. Episode 27: The Monster Highness (Part 2)

The funny thing about this episode is how the Science Patrol makes it a point of honor to protect Osaka Castle from Gamora, only to stand by and watch as he rips it to shreds minutes later.

I would tend to agree with the kid and his dad in this episode.  Given the number of monsters I've seen in this show, it doesn't seem like there'd be much point in evacuating anywhere.  Maybe there's a kaiju under our apartment building, maybe there isn't.  Maybe there's one coming to our city, maybe there isn't.  Why worry?

Ultraman rips Gamora's horn off at the end of this episode.  Seems a little harsh to me.  Gamora was just chilling on his South Pacific island after all, it wasn't like he wanted to visit Japan.

27 Down, and 12 More to Go!!  Here Comes Our Ultraman!!

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Still More 60s Movies 5: Oscar Winners

This will be the last "Still More 60s Movies" entry.  For this entry I'd like to delve into some of the Oscar winners from the decade.

By way of introduction I'm approaching this topic thusly: first, I'll be visiting the Wikipedia entry for every year listed below, and second, I'll be working my way down through the lists of Oscar winners until I find a) two movies I haven't seen before, and b) two movies also available on YouTube.  Yes, I could get movies through a variety of other legal and illegal methods, but these entries are intended for a more general audience, and some of the streaming services and torrents don't work as well in certain countries.

Besides, I'm lazy sometimes.  Using VPNs, torrent clients and sites which force me to click off a thousand pop-ups is exhausting.

...oh, and one more thing -- since I'm basing this on the Academy Awards, be aware that all of the movies below came out the year before they won the award.

1960

1. Best Supporting Actress: Shelley Winters: The Diary of Anne Frank

This one hits differently in 2025.  Fascism and its close cousin ethnic nationalism are forces guiding American politics now, and immigrants, those "huddled masses yearning to breathe free," now find themselves the objects of renewed suspicion.

Besides Best Supporting Actress, The Diary of Anne Frank also won two other Oscars, one for Best Art Direction - Black and White, and one for Best Cinematography - Black and White.  In 1959 movies were facing stiffer competition from TV, and a shift away from black and white was well under way.  By the time the 40th Academy Awards were held in 1968, the Academy had stopped making a distinction between color and black and white films altogether.

Shelley Winters?  I don't think she adds much to this movie.  True, she perfected "high strung verging on hysteria," but her role in this The Diary of Anne Frank is rather marginal.  In 1959 the studio system still prevailed, and it could be that someone higher up simply decided that Winters was due for an award.  I'm not saying this to diminish her as an actress, but I don't think she deserved an Oscar for this particular film.

With respect to the movie overall I'd say that it's definitely good, though you'll want to watch it in two sittings.  The inevitable scene of their discovery near the end is very gripping, and one gets a strong sense of what the family patriarch truly lost after the war ended.

2. Best Foreign Language Film: Black Orpheus

Greek myth plays itself out in the midst of Rio's Carnaval.  It's an indisputably good movie, if a little obscure/arty at times.  I can't help but wonder if the positive reception this one received isn't more due to its unabashed sexuality than whatever depth or interest the story might have possessed for Western audiences back then.  In 1959 America was a very sexually repressed place, and outside of Grindhouse films audiences weren't likely to see so many attractive people of color enmeshed in such a ribald narrative.

Those unfamiliar with it might want to read about the myth of Orpheus and Eurydice before watching Black Orpheus.

This film won several awards besides the Best Foreign Language Film bestowed by the Academy.  It met with, however, a less than enthusiastic reception in Brazil.  I can understand their discomfort with this movie.  It does in many instances resort to stereotypes.

Fun, if Exploitative Fact: The French director of Black Orpheus, Marcel Camus, married first Marpessa Dawn, the female lead in Black Orpheus, and then Lourdes de Oliveira, a member of the supporting cast.  He was married to de Oliveira up until his death in 1982.

1961

1. Best Foreign Language Film: The Virgin Spring

Some of those reading this might be familiar with Wes Craven's early, surprise hit The Last House on the Left.  That later, more specifically horror-oriented movie was an adaptation of Ingmar Bergman's The Virgin Spring.

Bergman's version is objectively better in all respects.  It's concise, it was beautifully filmed, and the performances are very convincing.  Unlike Craven's film The Virgin Spring is set in the Middle Ages, and setting the story in this time period gives Bergman's movie a fairy tale quality that, in my opinion, works much better.

2. Best Documentary: The Horse with the Flying Tail

Not sure how this Disney-produced film won Best Documentary, but maybe there was less competition in 1961.  It's completely contrived and totally devoid of nuance, but if you're looking for a completely predictable movie with a completely predictable final act (right down to the national anthem), this is the movie for you.

It's one of the more whitebread films I've seen in a while.  Oh, and if you look real hard you'll notice the actor who gets flayed a quarter of the way through The Texas Chainsaw Massacre 2.

1962

1. Best Documentary: The Sky Above, The Mud Below (a.k.a. "Sky Above and Mud Beneath")

Strange to think of half of New Guinea as being "Dutch," but yes, in 1961 the Dutch still controlled that part of the world.  At that point in time Eddie and Alex Van Halen were kids living on the island of Java, long before they'd become internationally known rock stars.

The Sky Above, The Mud Below details a French expedition to New Guinea, referred to in the film as "a blank space on the map."  If you've seen other examples of this type of documentary nothing will be that surprising here: intrepid explorers, mostly naked native peoples, extremely staged "scenes of discovery," and battles with the elements - it's all familiar territory.

I don't think we saw much that was new in the documentary genre until Werner Herzog.  Up to that point the genre very formulaic, though there may be inventive documentaries from the time period I haven't yet seen.

2. Best Documentary (Short Subject): Project Hope

Speaking of Indonesia, Project Hope documents a medical exchange between the United States and that (relatively) new nation.  The onboard milk machine seems like a strange idea, but I suppose there was some science behind it.  Hopefully in the age of Trump we can keep this kind of thing going.

1963

1. Best Foreign Language Film: Sundays and Cybele

The acting is good, it's well written and well directed, but I'm a bit reluctant to recommend this one.  It's too much like a pedophile's wet dream.

A Frenchman recently returned from the Indochina Conflict strikes up a friendship with a young girl.  There's certainly nothing wrong with that, but yeah, anyone acting like the Frenchman in this movie - a man admittedly damaged from his experiences in the war - would end up on the wrong kind of list given enough time.

2. Best Documentary: Black Fox

The life and times of Adolph Hitler.  Like most documentaries on the subject it's certainly food for thought, even if the juxtaposition of World War II footage and Goethe's Reynaud the Fox doesn't always work.

1964

1. Best Short Subject (Cartoon): The Critic

Yes, Mel Brooks has three Oscars to his name.  The Critic, linked above, won him his first.  Give it a click?  It'll only take up 3 minutes and 24 seconds of your time.

1965

1. Best Writing: Screenplay: Becket

"One can always come to a sensible little arrangement with God."

Entirely too clean for my liking.  There's no way that people of that time period, rolling around in their own filth as they were, would have been able to enjoy such spotless floors.

The plot of Becket revolves around the friendship (and rivalry) between Henry II, Norman King of England and Thomas Becket, his Saxon friend and a rising star within both royal court and Catholic church.  Peter O'Toole, playing Henry II chews a lot of scenery in the course of this movie, while Richard Burton, playing Thomas Becket, delivers an uncharacteristically restrained performance.

Fun Fact 1: In case "Gwendolin" looks familiar, 20 years later actress Sian Phillips would go on to play the "Reverend Mother" in 1984's Dune.  While filming Becket she was still married to Peter O'Toole.

Fun Fact 2: This movie, to some extent at least, inspired a young Julia Roberts to become and actress.

1. Best Documentary: World Without Sun

Where James Cameron ventures Jacques Cousteau may have already been.

In this mildly homoerotic take on ocean exploration, the intrepid Cousteau navigates the ocean depths from his shiny new sea base.  Of all the movies I've seen lately this one is probably the best to get stoned to, featuring as it does an array of colorful and bizarre fish, weird scenes of transparent containers in the water, and plenty of descents into underwater caves.

1966

1. Best Actor in a Supporting Role: Martin Balsam: A Thousand Clowns

Too much like the play it was adapted from, but the witty dialogue and an effervescent performance by James Robards keeps it interesting.  Martin Balsam plays Robards' brother.

It's not a perfect movie, but this story of whimsical, individualistic people living in a serious, conformity-ridden society is worth seeing.  For me the standout feature was the editing, which is very inventive given the time period.

2. Best Documentary: The Eleanor Roosevelt Story

Guaranteed to drive any and all avowed Republicans from your living room.  

As for the documentary, it's mostly a series of photographs introduced by various narrators.  I'm not sure why it won the Oscar, but then again 1965 was both a long time ago and a lot closer to Eleanor Roosevelt's death three years before.  I suppose that to some extent a rising tide of feminism and concern for women's rights in the late 60s made this documentary ring true for many.

Food for Thought: Eleanor Roosevelt was most likely a lesbian, but historians debate whether or not she ever acted on her feelings for other women.  What is known is that Eleanor disliked having sexual relations with her husband, and that FDR had a series of extramarital affairs.

1967

1. Best Actress, Best Supporting Actress: Elizabeth Taylor and Sandy Dennis: Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?

Academia (or is it "academe?"), thwarted ambition, and bitter libations which catch in one's throat.

In my opinion there's Elizabeth Taylor and Richard Burton chewing scenery in a GOOD way, as in Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?, there's Elizabeth Taylor and Richard Burton chewing scenery in a NEUTRAL way, as in Cleopatra, and then there's Elizabeth Taylor and Richard Burton chewing scenery in a BAD way, as in Boom!

But in another way the real star of this movie is director Mike Nichols, who managed to wrest the respective performances out of both Mrs. Taylor and Mr. Burton.  He enjoyed one of the longer careers in Hollywood, helming everything from this movie to Charlie Wilson's War in 2007.  He elevated a lot of the material he worked with, the script of this movie included.

And yes, Elizabeth Taylor is great in this movie.  She was always great, in one way or another, even when she was drunk or stoned out of her mind.

2. Best Music: John Barry: Born Free

A couple living in Kenya attempt to reintroduce their pet lion into the wild.  In terms of content it's fairly standard Disney fare (though this isn't a Disney movie), but the relationship between the two married people and their indecision with regard to the cub makes Born Free more interesting than would have otherwise been the case.

For a postscript I highly recommend The Tragic Story of the Lord of Lions: Adamson of Africa.  It puts a lot of Born Free into perspective.

1968

1. Best Documentary: The Anderson Platoon

A French journalist follows an American platoon through scenic Vietnam.  I think this won an Oscar more for its timeliness, given that up to that point the American military wasn't as forthcoming as to how the war was really going, and the toll it was taking on both sides.  It's a decent time capsule as these things go, but as a documentary there's not much in The Anderson Platoon to sink one's teeth into.

2. Best Documentary (Short Subject): The Redwoods

Only twenty minutes long and full of creepy music.  This was the Sierra Club's attempt to educate the public on the imminent threat to California's remaining redwoods, and as a piece of propaganda it worked extremely well.  

To be fair to the U.S. timber industry, they don't clearcut like that anymore.

1969

1. Best Actor: Cliff Robertson: Charly

A retooling of Flowers for Algernon, this film features Cliff Robertson as a mentally disabled man granted superior intelligence through a new medical procedure.  If you're only familiar with Robertson as Superman's dad in 1978's Superman you'll want to check this one out.  There was a lot more to him than that one role.

2. Best Documentary: Journey into Self

Condensed version of a 16-hour therapy session.  As the 60s gave way to the 70s psychotherapy would become increasingly ubiquitous in the United States, and this documentary stands as evidence of that trend.  People in the late 60s and early 70s were searching for truth, and they thought that with the right method they could find this truth.  For some this meant joining a cult, for others it meant delving into astrology, and for still others it meant therapy sessions that sometimes did more harm than good.

Purely my opinion, but I think we sometimes put things "in the basement" for good reasons.  It's not always beneficial to venture down there and start digging things up.

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Worth Seeing

1. Nothing But a Man (1964)

An eloquent statement on the personal cost racism exacts in the deep South.  Star Ivan Dixon says a lot without necessarily saying a lot, and the supporting cast consists of many famous names who weren't so famous at the time.

This was Yaphet Kotto's first movie.  He doesn't have a big role, but even as a younger man he had those laser eyes that would prove so memorable in films such as Across 110th Street, Live and Let Die and Ridley Scott's Alien.

This was also Motown's first movie soundtrack, and if you look closer you'll notice Gloria Foster, who'd go on to appear as "Oracle" in the Matrix trilogy.

2. The Rain People (1969)

Francis Ford Coppola's portrait of a woman desperate to escape the confines of domestic life.  Shirley Knight is excellent in the lead role, and James Caan adds a lot of pathos as a disabled man she picks up in the midst of her journey.

In this movie, as in Never On Sunday (below) we see a new approach to telling a story on film.  The Rain People wasn't a huge financial success, but I imagine it went a long way toward both cementing Coppola's reputation and setting the stage for many of the younger directors that followed in Coppola's wake.

3. Never On Sunday (1960)

Very racy for the time period.  Not only does this film center around an unrepentant prostitute, but this character and her various male companions are shown in various states of undress.

Melina Mercouri stars as a woman who happily exchanges sexual favors with men of her choosing, while the director and Mercouri's husband, Jules Dassin, co-stars as an American trying and failing to teach her the error of her ways.  Playing out in the background is an estrangement between Western ideals of Greece and what that country actually is (or was).  Never On Sunday is a compelling tale of how idealization falls flat in the face of reality, and after its release Mercouri would be awarded Best Actress at Cannes.

She'd go on to become Greece's Minister for Culture in 1981.

4. In the French Style (1963)

An American woman falls in and out of love with Paris.  Jean Seberg carries the lead role like nobody's business, and script is pitch perfect.  It's a captivating look at both gender stereotypes and "modern" relationships.

Around the time of this film's release Seberg was appearing in many of the French New Wave movies.  Her earliest years in Hollywood were something of a disappointment, but by the time she returned from France her star was on the rise.

5. The Nanny (1965)

Screen legend Betty Davis stars as a nanny who's more than she appears to be.  The dynamic between her character and the family's young son is riveting to watch, and the film's conclusion stayed with me.  It moves slowly but it's worth the effort.

6. Pretty Poison (1968)

Anthony Perkins plays a delusional man just released from a psychiatric facility, with Tuesday Weld as a high school student with ulterior motives.  This movie reminded me why I love the original Psycho so much, and also of how Perkins, when given the right role, could elevate an indifferently directed movie.

Eh... You Could Watch It, I Guess

7. Me, Natalie (1969)

Al Pacino's first movie!  He was around 29 when they filmed this.

Me, Natalie is a coming of age story centered around a young woman insecure about her looks.  It's melodramatic in a Judy Blume kind of way, and also somewhat predictable, but I enjoyed it.

8. Modesty Blaise (1966)

The UK government hires the enigmatic criminal (?) Modesty Blaise to retrieve a shipment of diamonds (?).  That's what I got out of it anyway.  It's an extremely arty movie, featuring a lot of globular lighting and people lounging around minibars in robes.  If you liked Danger: Diabolik you might like this one too, but be warned that it's far less coherent than that later Italian film.

This movie was developed from a comic strip popular at the time, and in Modesty Blaise the director was attempting to lampoon the spy craze which resulted in films like this one, Danger: Diabolik and Dr. No.

9. Gidget Goes to Rome (1963)

The precocious, boy-crazy Gidget journeys from sunny Malibu to worldly Rome.  This was the third and final Gidget movie, featuring Cindy Carol as Gidget.  The various characters' ideas about love and marriage will seem extremely dated in 2025, but I found their relative "innocence" very refreshing.

10. "She" (1965)

Speaking of Dr. No, this one features a former Bond girl, a lost Egyptian city and a couple faces you might recognize from any number of Hammer horror films.

It has some redeeming features but it's grindingly slow.  It was a big hit at the time, and led to a 1968 sequel, The Vengeance of She, but in my opinion "She" isn't worth the effort.

11. The Split (1968)

Parts of this movie don't make much sense.  Why hire Donald Sutherland's character just to shoot out some tires with a sniper rifle?  Why test Ernest Borgnine's fighting skill?  Why take the money out in an ambulance?  Why sit there for the duration of the game when they could have taken all the money once the game was over?  Why would Gene Hackman's character have any reason to trust or cooperate with Jim Brown's character?  Why?  Why?  Why?

The Split is frustrating that way.  It starts out well enough, and Quincy Jones' score is great, but the heist is a nonevent and the way in which the criminals turn on one another afterward is completely mystifying.  Jim Brown is good in the lead role, but he deserved a better movie.

How Bored Are You?

12. Goodbye Again (1961)

A young American pursues a much older woman around Paris.  It's alright as this kind of movie goes, but it felt too much like a play to me and Anthony Perkins was far from convincing.  He was coming off Psycho when this was filmed, and yes, he won at Cannes for his performance in Goodbye Again, but his acting in this movie was a little too cartoonish, and out of step with what the other actors were trying to do.

The ending is depressingly memorable though.  Ingrid Bergman, alone, staring into that mirror.  Yeah, that one's going to stay with me.

13. Creation of the Humanoids (1962)

After an atomic war eliminates 92% of mankind the survivors are left to rely on a race of robots for their continued existence.

It's super slow, crushingly talky and extremely low budget.  Kinda fun if you're in that kind of mood, but this one was never going to win any Academy Awards.

The book it was adapted from is probably very good.  Many of the discussions in this movie are reminiscent of present discussions regarding AI and automation.

14. The Brain That Wouldn't Die (1962)

Kinda convenient how her head just came off like that.

The Brain That Wouldn't Die is exactly the sort of movie that freaks me out -- surgery, transplantation, and the ethical issues related to both -- but as it is it's very hokey and impossible to take seriously.  Johnny Got His Gun continues to give me nightmares, decades after having first seen it, but The Brain That Wouldn't Die is another kind of animal altogether.  It's Frankenstein on a lower budget, but I think you'll find that watching it can be enjoyable.

Oh, and for the record the transplantation of a human head onto another body is still beyond the reach of medical science, the biggest obstacles being keeping the brain alive during the procedure, fusing two different spinal cords, and transplant rejection.  It is technically possible to keep a human head biologically functional apart from its body, but so far we only have highly controversial experiments on animals as evidence to that effect.

15. Mr. Sardonicus (1961)

A peasant turned nobleman becomes a "ghoul" after a traumatic experience involving his father's death.  It's well acted and the dialogue is much better than what you'll find in The Brain That Wouldn't Die, but Mr. Sardonicus is somehow less memorable for all that.

I would recommend, however, skipping ahead to the last few minutes of this movie.  The "vote" conducted by Mr. Sardonicus' host is a fun idea.

The producer and director of this film, William Castle, was known as "The King of Gimmicks."  He was the driving force behind movies such as The Tingler, House on Haunted Hill and Bug.  I hereby refer you to his Wikipedia entry for details on all his weird and wonderful promotional stunts.

Don't Bother?

16. Smashing Time (1967)

NOT funny, in any way, shape or form.  There are two kinds of British humor (or is it "humour?"): the clever, ironic kind and the crude, somewhat repressed, somewhat sexual kind exemplified in Smashing Time.  Smashing Time is most definitely NOT Monty Python, but rather a film about people engaging in senseless food fights, spraying one another with liquid manure, and rape-like scenarios present for comedic effect.

For what it's worth Smashing Time details the exploits of two girls newly arrived in London, both looking for fun, excitement, fame and fortune.  In the course of their journey they find all four, but by the end of the film they've decided that life in swinging London isn't for them, and that it's time to return whence they came.  The glimpses of Carnaby Street fashions are interesting, but that's about it.

Those with keen eyes will notice the band Tomorrow in the opening credits.  Unfortunately none of Tomorrow's music actually ended up in the film, and the band would implode soon thereafter.  Steve Howe, the guitarist for Tomorrow, would go on to form Yes in 1968.

17. First Spaceship on Venus (a.k.a. "The Silent Star") (1960)

I'm only placing this above Mission: Stardust (below) because a) "Sumiko" is more attractive to me than whoever plays the blondish alien in Mission: Stardust, and b) it is, on average, weirder and less "logical" than the other film discussed below.

Oh, and it's also: c) an East German-Polish co-production, and d) an adaptation of a short story by Stanislaw Lem, one of my favorite science fiction writers.  In terms of science fiction cinema it's a pioneering film in many ways, which isn't to say that it's "good" in the way movies at the top of this entry are good.  Inventive?  Sure, but definitely not good.

18. Mission Stardust (1967)

Science fiction via the Italian film industry.  None of the plot elements bear thinking about, but most mystifying of all is why the crime lord character thinks he can capture the alien spaceship.

If you're ever wondering why the original Star Wars was so popular give this film a look.  It's everything George Lucas' movie was trying not to be.

19. The Wild Angels (1966)

Several years before Easy Rider, Peter Fonda starred in this Roger Corman picture about a neo Nazi biker gang.  It's NOT awesome, and Nancy Sinatra proves that no, not all singers are destined to become noted actresses, but it is historic in a sense.  Some credit it with restarting the biker genre in the 60s, especially in connection to the rising counterculture, but I have doubts about this claim.  There were plenty of other biker movies both before and after this one, and in my opinion saying that The Wild Angels is/was so influential is a stretch.

20. The Creeping Terror (1964)

A space monster resembling a pile of discarded rugs disrupts the daily schedules of several residents of a small town.  The weakest point of this movie isn't its low budget, but rather the narration, which all but suffocates the story it's trying to tell.

Wikipedia describes this movie as "a cult film."  I don't know what cult that is or why anyone would want to join it.

And speaking of cults, the infamous Spahn Ranch, hideout formerly used by the Manson Family, was where The Creeping Terror was filmed.

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