Best Films of the 60's

  1. 9.5/10
  2. The Wild Bunch-Peckinpah (1969) [Director's Cut, 145 minutes]

  3. 9/10
  4. Persona-Bergman (1966)
  5. 2001: A Space Odyssey-Kubrick (1968)
  6. Hush...Hush Sweet Charlotte-Aldrich (1965)

  7. 8.5/10
  8. Andrei Rublev-Tarkovsky (1966)
  9. 8 1/2-Fellini (1963)
  10. What Ever Happened To Baby Jane?-Aldrich (1962)
  11. La Dolce Vita-Fellini (1960)
  12. The Birds-Hitchcock (1963)
  13. Viridiana-Bunuel (1961)
  14. Marnie-Hitchcock (1964)
  15. Belle de Jour-Bunuel (1967)
  16. Blow Up-Antonioni (1966)

  17. 8/10
  18. Once Upon A Time In The West-Leone (1968)
  19. Hour of the Wolf-Bergman (1967)
  20. Point Blank-Boorman (1967)
  21. Splendor in the Grass-Kazan (1961)
  22. Play Time-Tati (1967)
  23. Rosemary's Baby-Polanski (1968)
  24. Psycho-Hitchcock (1960)
  25. Secret Ceremony-Losey (1968)
  26. Dr. Strangelove-Kubrick (1964)
  27. Weekend-Godard (1967)
  28. Petulia-Lester (1968)

  29. 7.5/10
  30. Repulsion-Polanski (1965)
  31. The Manchurian Candidate-Frankenheimer (1962)
  32. Last Year at Marienbad-Resnais (1961)
  33. Shock Corridor-Fuller (1963)
  34. Bonnie & Clyde-Penn (1967)
  35. Faces-Cassavettes (1968)
  36. Shame-Bergman (1968)
  37. The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance-Ford (1962)
  38. Night of the Living Dead-Romero (1968)
  39. The Apartment-Wilder (1960)
  40. Jules & Jim-Truffaut (1961)
  41. Peeping Tom-Powell (1960)
  42. The Graduate-Nichols (1967)
  43. The Exterminating Angel-Bunuel (1962)
  44. Au Hasard Balthazar-Bresson (1966)
  45. Planet of the Apes-Schaffner (1968)
  46. The Virgin Spring-Bergman (1961)
  47. La Jetee-Marker (1962)
  48. The Trial-Welles (1962)
  49. Chimes at Midnight-Welles (1966)
  50. If...-Anderson (1968)

I would absolutely suggest Once Upon a Time in the West. Also Bonnie and Clyde and L'Aventurra and maybe Weekend.

Still need to see Once Upon a Time... I rate L'Aventurra a high 7 (maybe 7.5). Weekend is a another close call--probably a 7.5--I think I'll add it now, thanks. I'm pretty sure I've seen Bonnie & Clyde but it's been forever if I have, and I'd need to rewatch it to assign a rating.

Pierrot Le Fou is another close one from Godard. I rate it a high 7 for now, but I'd like to see it again. did I forget Last Year at Marienbad??? It should've been on here years ago...

8 1/2 as an 8/10? I think it's more of an 8.5/10...

I can totally see where you're coming from (I had it as a 9 for ages, then 8.5, and recently an 8). But my recent rewatching of many films over the past weeks/months (from 7.5 - 9.5) heightened my "accuracy" (within my own criteria, so I don't mean this in an objective way). Especially my run through my 9's made me realize I'd overrated several films. If I view some films that are similar/comparable in various ways to 8 1/2 from my 9's, such as The Cook, the Thief, His Wife & Her Lover, Nashville, Mirror, Underground, it's very easy for me to say these are quite a bit superior to it(much more emotionally resonant/significant). If I take some of the 8's that are similar/comparable in various ways, such as Pulp Fiction, Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, The City of Lost Children, 8 1/2 is more at home, being a little better than those.

Oh goodness... I just realized how pun-worthy your statement was. Was that intentional?

Yes, I confess, the pun was intentional. The fact that you gave an elaborate, well-thought out reply to my lame pun only makes it more profound. Oat Tiller would be proud.

Yea, I really oat to tell him about it one of these days

Wow, so many great choices. Though I would personally rate Dr. Strangelove and The Exterminating Angel more than 7.5. That's just me, though.

Have you watched Tom, Tom, the Piper's Son? The 1969 film, I mean? It's fascinating, really, especially the concept itself. You might want to check it out.

I've seen quite a few films from your list but Petulia and Secret Ceremony have somehow escaped me. You rank them pretty high, higher than many renowned masterieces that made your list. Could you elaborate a little bit as to what you liked so much about those two? Are they what they call "obscure gems" or something?

Sure, obscure gems, more so with Secret Ceremony though. Petulia is fairly well known. Secret Ceremony is both serious (twisted) drama and black comedy. It plays like an old Aldrich film (Hush...Hush Sweet Charlotte, What Ever Happened to Baby Jane?). It has very dark comedy throughout. The final 3rd of it or so transforms it into something heartbreaking and funereal. It has several suggestive sexual and strange familial undertones which never totally unravel, just suggested, as in a Hitchcock film.

Petulia skips back and forth in time with amazing editing, and a truly stunning performance from the female lead. It's something of a precursor to Eternal Sunshine. I need to re-see it but I think the film suggests by the end something pretty astonishing about the female lead's motives which I won't mention here because it's a spoiler, and also because I'm not 100% sure it's correct yet.

Thanks for your comments. I see you like Robert Aldrich a lot - two of his films are pretty high on your list. I'm not familiar with his work as of yet but I'll try to get those two for a change and check out what's so great about them.

No problem. I'd go with What Ever Happened To Baby Jane? first, before Hush...Hush Sweet Charlotte. Hush... takes a wrecking ball to Hitchcock + Sunset Blvd, and does so in such an over-the-top, emotionally mangled manner that it can be hard to take without the somewhat lesser gradient of Baby Jane first.

I also like your high ranking of Rosemary's Baby, by the way. One of my all-time favorites.