Best Films of The 60s (V2) [List]

[Hayden]

Letterboxd

Annual breakdown—
60: 11
61: 11
62: 16
63: 10
64: 9
65: 4
66: 10
67: 11
68: 8
69: 10

Countries represented: 10
Best Picture Winners: 6
Palme D'or Winners: 5
Animated Films: 0
Documentaries: 0

Highest ranking film not on the original list—
High And Low (#23)

This list features 6 films over 3 hours long (the longest of which is War & Peace at 422 minutes).
The shortest film on this list is Daisies (76 minutes).

The director who appeared on the list with the most films is Ingmar Bergman (7).

Feel free to post in the thread now, etc
(thank you for your patience)

[LedZep]

Excellent list. Had a lot of fun as always, didn't have the time to watch as many movies as I wanted to, unfortunately. I'll finally watch La Dolce Vita, I swear

The 50s will be a blast when we get to that.
_________________
Finally updated the overall chart

2020s
90s

[Hayden]

Glad you like the list LedZep — I'm pretty fond of it too despite some really unfortunate omissions*. I still have a fair handful from it I should get around to... haven't watched 17 of the films, highest of which is The Birds at #22. Not quite sure why I've never gotten around to The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance... it's also one of the only films in LB's top 250 I haven't watched— and, I mean, it sounds like a great film. Not avoiding it for any reason, just... haven't seen it. Planet of The Apes has never really sparked my interest, but may as well get around to it one day—

*And alright alright alright— gonna share my gripes — I understand that there's only 100 slots and not every film I want can fit on the list, and it's better to have our own opinion that go with the flow, but GUYS—

Le Trou, Kwaidon, The Young Girls of Rochefort, Onibaba, Letter Never Sent, Il Posto, Red Beard & Yearning

—I mean, it's not like we skimped on our Japanese, Italian & French selections, but — if you haven't seen any of the above mentioned films, I can't recommend them enough. The first three in particular are usually considered some of the decade's best. There's plenty of films I want on the list, but I was really surprised none of those made the cut. Especially Le Trou.

As far as films that landed the list but still felt a smidge low?— Army of Shadows, A Fistful of Dollars, For A Few Dollars More & Harakiri (figured it would land top 5 or so)— and maybe Vivre Sa Vie, but that's probably just personal preference.

On the flipside of that, I was really happy with the high placement Le Samourai, The Cremator, Kes, Marketa Lazarova, and of and all of Antonioni's films. Wasn't quite expecting Blood And Black Lace to make the cut, but it's a fantastic inclusion to have a giallo somewhere in the mix (and if there was to be one, can't think of one better). Funeral Parade of Roses squeaking in last minute was also great to see.

Either way, still really happy how this turned out — I think we whipped up an excellent showcase of the 60s. Hoping others (like myself) get around to watching a couple of the titles they haven't seen.

[CA Dreamin]

Version 1 vs. Version 2 comparison:

VERSION 1 LIST from 2016:

1. 2001: A Space Odyssey (no change)
2. Persona (no change)
3. Psycho (no change
4. Dr. Strangelove -3
5. 8½ -1
6. Andrei Rublev -10
7. The Apartment +3
8. Blow-Up -5
9. Once Upon a Time in the West +4
10. The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly -1
11. Harakiri -7
12. La Dolce Vita +3
13. Breathless -2
14. Rosemary's Baby +4
15. Lawrence of Arabia +7
16. La Jetee (Left, but only because it was moved to the Shorts section)
17. The Silence -40
18. The Graduate -8
19. Yojimbo -17
20. PlayTime +6
21. The Exterminating Angel -23
22. Viridiana +3
23. Au Hasard Balthazar -18
24. Woman in the Dunes +12
25. Peeping Tom +4
26. Last Year at Marienbad -25
27. Breakfast at Tiffany's -38
28. Through a Glass Darkly -72
29. To Kill a Mockingbird -16
30. The Birds +8
31. Repulsion -6
32. Contempt -39
33. An Autumn Afternoon (Left)
34. Night of the Living Dead -8
35. L'Avventura +18
36. Bonnie and Clyde +7
37. The Wild Bunch +10
38. The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance +7
39. A Fistful of Dollars -37
40. Jules and Jim +20
41. Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf? +9
42. Daisies -13
43. The Color of Pomegranates -27
44. Midnight Cowboy +20
45. Pierrot le Fou -34
46. The Leopard -6
47. Planet of the Apes -1
48. Vivre sa Vie -25
49. Le Samourai +21
50. The Human Condition III: A Soldier's Prayer (Left)
51. The Bad Sleep Well (Left)
52. Weekend -1
53. Cleo from 5 to 7 +23
54. The Hustler -7
55. The Virgin Spring -37
56. Judgement at Nuremberg -7
57. Shame -27
58. Winter Light -11
59. Army of Shadows -28
60. Lolita -30
61. Band of Outsiders (Left)
62. The Gospel According to St. Matthew -26
63. The Cremator +29
64. Ivan's Childhood -22
65. Belle de Jour +27
66. Diaries, Notes, and Sketches (Left)
67. The Jungle Book (Left)
68. Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid +25
69. Hour of the Wolf +7
70. Kes +23
71. Kwaidan (Left)
72. Don't Look Back (Left)
73. La Notte +33
74. The Trial +6
75. Funeral Parade of Roses -20
76. if... (Left)
77. The Face of Another +10
78. Onibaba (Left)
79. Alphaville (Left)
80. The Great Escape -11
81. Cool Hand Luke +7
82. Red Desert +49
83. My Night at Maud's +25
84. The Saragossa Manuscript (Left)
85. The Producers +26
86. Spartacus +11
87. L'Eclisse +62
88. The Lonliness of the Long Distance Runner (Left)
89. Saturday Night and Sunday Morning (Left)
90. Charulata (Left)
91. Simon of the Desert (Left)
92. Goldfinger -1
93. Mouchette (Left)
94. Faces (Left)
95. The Battle of Algiers (Left)
96. Village of the Damned (Left)
97. For a Few Dollars More +33
98. A Hard Day's Night (Left)
99. In the Heat of the Night +19
100. The Lion in Winter (Left)

VERSION 2 LIST (this one)

1. 2001: A Space Odyssey (no change)
2. Persona (no change)
3. Psycho (no change)
4. The Apartment +3
5. Once Upon a Time in the West +4
6. 8½ -1
7. Dr. Strangelove -3
8. Lawrence of Arabia +7
9. La Dolce Vita +3
10. Rosemary's Baby +4
11. The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly -1
12. Woman in the Dunes +12
13. Blow-Up -5
14. PlayTime +6
15. Breathless -2
16. Andrei Rublev -10
17. L'Avventura +18
18. Harakiri -7
19. Viridiana +3
20. Jules and Jim +20
21. Peeping Tom +4
22. The Birds +8
23. High and Low (New)
24. Midnight Cowboy +20
25. L'Eclisse +62
26. The Graduate -8
27. The Wild Bunch +10
28. Le Samourai +21
29. Bonnie and Clyde +7
30. Cleo from 5 to 7 +23
31. The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance +7
32. Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf? +9
33. Red Desert +49
34. The Cremator +29
35. Seconds (New)
36. Yojimbo -17
37. Repulsion -6
38. Belle de Jour +27
39. The Manchurian Candidate (New)
40. La Notte +33
41. Au Hasard Balthazar -18
42. Night of the Living Dead -8
43. Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid +25
44. The Exterminating Angel -23
45. To Kill a Mockingbird -16
46. Charade (New)
47. Kes +23
48. Planet of the Apes -1
49. Marketa Lazarova (New)
50. Whatever Happened to Baby Jane? (New)
51. Last Year at Marienbad -25
52. The Leopard -6
53. Weekend -1
54. The Umbrellas of Cherbourg (New)
55. Daisies -13
56. They Shoot Horses, Don't They? (New)
57. The Silence -40
58. My Night at Maud's +25
59. The Producers +26
60. Fists in the Pocket (New)
61. The Hustler -7
62. Hour of the Wolf +7
63. Judgement at Nuremberg -7
64. For a Few Dollars More +33
65. Breakfast at Tiffany's -38
66. Blood and Black Lace (New)
67. The Face of Another +10
68. The Trial +6
69. Winter Light -11
70. The Color of Pomegranates -27
71. Contempt -39
72. Rocco and His Brothers (New)
73. Vivre sa Vie -25
74. Cool Hand Luke +7
75. Spartacus +11
76. A Fistful of Dollars -37
77. The Haunting (New)
78. War and Peace (New)
79. Pierrot le Fou -34
80. In the Heat of the Night +19
81. The Magnificent Seven (New)
82. Eyes Without a Face (New)
83. Cape Fear (New)
84. Shame -27
85. West Side Story (New)
86. Ivan's Childhood -22
87. Army of Shadows -28
88. The Gospel According to St. Matthew -26
89. In Cold Blood (New)
90. Lolita -30
91. The Great Escape -11
92. The Virgin Spring -37
93. Goldfinger -1
94. Sanjuro (New)
95. Funeral Parade of Roses -20
96. Bullitt (New)
97. The Misfits (New)
98. The Innocents (New)
99. My Fair Lady (New)
100. Through a Glass Darkly -72

Let me know if I made any inaccuracies, and I'll fix them.

Will post more thoughts over the next few days.

[Bach]

Great Top 100!
_________________
"De gustibus non disputandum est"

[Hayden]

Looks right CA — as always, thanks for the comparison.

Being said... — not sure which list I prefer... I like a lot of the films that have a painful '(left)' beside their name...

[CA Dreamin]

Thoughts:

- I've seen 98/100, War and Peace and My Fair Lady being the two outliers. That 60s poll on CF a couple years ago whipped me into shape, and I saw many films on this list, and my personal list, during that time.

- Hayden has never seen The Birds, The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance, and Planet of the Apes...why am I not surprised?

- I'll echo Hayden's recommendation for Le Trou, Onibaba, Letter Never Sent, Il Posto, and Yearning, all worthy of the Top 100 but were left out. At the same time, however, it was a rich decade with a lot to choose from, from all over the world. At a glance, it looks like half our list is non-English, so I don't think we skimped on Japanese, French, and Italian cinema. There was just too much to pick from to fit everything into a Top 100.

- Sorry Mercury that nothing from Satyajit Ray made it. FWIW, I voted for The Big City (1963). It was nice that he made the Shorts subcategory. I don't know why his Apu Trilogy overshadows the rest of his work. Ray made a lot worthwhile movies in his career, not just those three.

- I also find it interesting how little the Top 20-25ish changed from Version 1 to Version 2. The Top 3 didn't even move. Considering V1 was nearly 8 years ago, and there's been a change in the users who have participated, and those who participated in both are 8 years older and wiser, it's crazy how well the upper tier stood the test of time.

- This is second straight decade list where a truly great Bergman film just made the cutoff at #100. (Autumn Sonata in our 70s list)

- John Frankenheimer had not one, but two films on our new list, Seconds and Manchurian Candidate. He wasn't represented at all on V1. Manchurian Candidate is so freaking good.

- I probably prefer the new list by a smidge. They're both great.

I was thinking about which directors had the best body of work in the 60s:

1. Bergman, hands down. I had eight on my own list. We have seven on our collective list. I'd go as far as suggesting Bergman in the 60s had the best body of work, by any one director in any one decade, ever. Yep, even including All These Women (1964), which is not only the worst Bergman film I've ever seen, it is one of worst films ever made in general. The fact it was directed by such a legend, sandwiched in between two of his masterpieces, is both head-scratching and kinda funny. Welp, Bergman was human after all. It's worth noting that most of his movies on the V1 list saw their placements drop on V2, but at least they're there.

2. Antonioni. 5 pretty awesome movies. And they saw their rankings improve from V1 to V2. All five totally made my list!

3. If I'm going strictly by numbers, Jean Luc-Godard would be my third choice, as 5 of his films made my personal list (Breathless, Contempt, Band of Outsiders, Pierrot le Fou and Weekend). However, the highest of those was #45, and two of them were ranked in the 91-100 range. And well, there are probably more Godard films from the 60s I dislike than those I like. At best, his films are exciting, risque, creative, funny as hell. At worst, his films are didactic, shallow, and pretentious. As much as I like the five I just mentioned, I cannot stand La Chinoise, Alphaville, Joy of Learning, A Woman is a Woman, Made in USA. I don't know, he is very hit-or-miss for me. Anyway, we were not as kind to him on V2, as several of his films on V1 left, or saw their rankings drop.

4. Kubrick and Buñuel didn't have as many hits as Godard, but their overall batting average was a lot better. I liked all four Kubrick films this decade. My #1 movie was also our overall #1. Hell yeah for 2001! I also had 4 Buñuels on my list, three of which made the main list.

[cestuneblague]

Yeah great job again Hayden, you're the man running these. All together excellent list with good variety of mainstream americana and international art-house favorites, obviously a few surprise omissions (I wonder if Red Beard's length turned some people off as that's the only reason I can see for it not making it (and I wouldn't think that woudl be as big a problem as say Sorrow and the Pity, and c'mon no Faster Pussycat? Absoutely seminal pervert Americana right there) but otherwise fun. The 60s indeed were fun to revisit, 1966 may be my vote for the greatest year ever in Cinema. However, there were plenty I didn't really get to so I have to save some future reccomendations perhaps when Im not on the road. Certainly ready to roll with the 1950s and so on, though I take it a break and probably a poll for 2023 (which I will having nothing to contribute) are probably on the docket next.

[Olli]

I don't know 38 films yet. I will change it. I'm surprised my No. 1 isn't on the list: The Time Machine from 1960

Okay, I accept it.

It's very good that short films and soundtracks are also included with their own lists... with interesting results.

[Brigand99]

Not very many surprises, but still a great list.