best film: La Dolce Vita from Fellini. La Dolce Vita is Fellini’s sprawling tour of the seven deadly sins (and sacraments and creation days) through Marcello Mastroianni and modern Rome. And in Rome—Fellini crafts some of the best set pieces cinema has ever produced.
even at 174-minutes- Fellini’s epic has no shortage of museum-quality single frames
Fellini cements himself as one of the best directors on the planet in 1960
Anita Ekberg in the fountain — one of the many memorable scenes and set pieces
most underrated: The Bad Sleep Well from Kurosawa is the most underrated film of 1960. The TSPDT consensus list has it all the way down at #1356. I’m not sure how I will be able to keep it out of my top 100.
Kurosawa’s loose take on Hamlet (about corporate corruption in contemporary Japan) is simply one of the great master’s finest works. The first 20 minutes- the wedding reception- gives the opening reception in The Godfather a run for its money and may be the greatest 20-minute stretch in any Kurosawa film
- The story certainly is Kurosawa’s worldview- even the title- a dog-eat-dog nihilistic world. Cynical. The remarkable mise-en-scene frame set-ups fly at you almost too fast to take note of them all in the first 20 minutes- there’s symmetry in the wedding reception line. At 7 minutes you get a great shot of three rows of depths of field: the first row is the reporters in the foreground facing back, the second row is the two detectives, and the background you have the two men from the corporation implicated in the crimes. At 8 minutes you get a row of people at long dining table eating at an angle with the host or emcee of the reception in the foreground in profile- stunning deep focus
Not to get too Tarantino “I think this might just be my masterpiece” on us here but at the end of the wedding scene two reporters say “this is the best one act I’ve ever seen” and the other goes “no, it’s just a prelude”- as four reporters staggered throughout the frame at different depths so brilliantly
- Near constant deep focus triangulation in the frame with faces and bodies—heads blocking corners of the frame, creating a frame within a frame, obstruction and design
Again there are 40-50 of these deep focus, wide angle spectacular shots– but at 90 minutes we get one of the best in the film- Mifune in the foreground in profile and two men, at each side of him, in the background. Kurosawa knew he had something here and holds this one for four minutes- I wish it were longer- haha- a standout
- This is an expansive saga—151 minutes, a massive cast/ensemble, suicide, scandal—tale of revenge. It is a powerful story.
At 111 minutes at the munition factory—like Rossellini’s use of rubble in Germany Year Zero—strong work—and then to top it off Mifune has two men at the side in the foreground and Mifune climbs up a little manmade landfill in the deep background—marvelous
most overrated: The Apartment from Billy Wilder. I hate to call any film that is a Must-See “overrated” (I hold that rating and all the films given that rating in a very high regard) but the TSPDT consensus has it at #56 all-time—and like Some Like It Hot the year before, I’d be hard-pressed to put The Apartment at #56 for the decade list (1960’s in this case) here.
gems I want to spotlight: 1960 is too loaded to pick just one. I want to mention exemplary Hollywood filmmaking in John Sturges’ The Magnificent Seven with a great Elmer Bernstein score, Steve McQueen becoming a superstar before your eyes and an all-around excellent entry-point into the western genre (and an ensemble cast that includes Brynner, Eli Wallach, Charles Bronson, Robert Vaughn, James Coburn). I’d love to also mention Mario Bava’s Black Sunday– a jaw-dropping standout in any other year. Ultimately, if forced to single out one “gem”- I’d have to pick Bergman’s The Virgin Spring. It’s a severe film-even for Bergman- but I think one of his strongest on a purely visual level. Clearly it influenced many films and filmmakers including Wes Craven’s pure horror read of the film in The Last House on the Left. It’s poetic and devastating, along with being the first Bergman film to be shot entirely by Sven Nykvist.
the influence of 1950’s Kurosawa doesn’t just pertain to Leone and Lucas— this here from John Sturges’ The Magnificent Seven
in any other year Mario Bava’s Black Sunday would be a among the year’s elite films
austere beauty in Bergman’s The Virgin Spring
another immaculate composition from the Swedish auteur
trends and notables:
- It is cinema’s single finest year. When I update my top 100/500/1000 there will be at least five films from 1960 in the top 100 (the most of any year) and as many as seven (probably more realistic than five). It is the single greatest top 10 of the year list and I believe the best top 15 of the year (we have films like Peeping Tom, Purple Noon, Two Women that have Must-See grades (which usually means top 5-ish) that can’t land in the top 10 of 1960).
from Wilder’s The Apartment– the set decoration/design by Alexander Traune. Traune’s massive room (shot in widescreen b/w) recalls King Vidor’s 1928 The Crowd– making a statement with its sheer size. Lemmon’s C.C. Baster works at desk 861 on the 19th floor
- It is full swing French New Wave (masterpieces- top 100 films– from the two godfathers, Godard and Truffaut). Godard’s film is a landmark in jump-cut editing and editing as a technique in general—absolutely jarring and brilliant. I’m surprised Shoot the Piano Player doesn’t have a stronger reputation than it does- Truffaut is brimming with confidence coming off of The 400 Blows and his sophomore effort here is a big bold stylistic exercise.
Seberg and Belmondo in Breathless– Godard’s debut.- a revelation that trails only Citizen Kane on my all-time list of the best debut films
perhaps the strongest stand-alone shot from Truffaut’s 1960 masterpiece– his second year in a row with one…
…Truffaut is brimming with confidence coming off of The 400 Blows and his sophomore effort here is a big bold stylistic exercise.
- You’d think that it would be impossible to top the French this year, but if forced to choose- I think I’d rather have the films from Italy in 1960 —towering masterpieces from Fellini, Antonioni (1960 is the beginning of his Trilogy of Decadence), and Visconti— and De Sica a few paces behind
Andrew Sarris- “every shot is the result of calculation of the highest order” — the vertical lines breaking up the frames in the park bench perfect final shot
L’Avventura from Antonioini– the first leg of the unofficial trilogy of decadence- La Notte the following year and L’Eclisse in 62’
Visconti uses character blocking and depth of field to design the frame like Welles or Kurosawa
Rocco and His Brothers is a story of industrialization and migration—this is a spiritual sequel to Visconti’s 1948 closest-he-ever-came-to-Neorealism film La Terra Trema– this family could be from that village. It has been compared to Grapes of Wrath and I see that as well. Nino Rota did the score—harrowing—it is just one of the many parallels with The Godfather (the story of a single Italian family and brothers, the rise and fall, the leader of the brothers (Alain Delon’s Rocco here) doing a stint in the army. This is clearly an important text to Coppola and Coppola shares Visconti’s almost operatic style and influence of Greek tragedy
- It’s just peak European art-house cinema – films with open endings, complex characters, stylistic ambition
- The debut of Godard with Breathless. He is a revelation that trails only Citizen Kane on my all-time list of the best debut films
- Mario Bava’s first archiveable film (Black Sunday)—a sort of debut- as his 1950’s work was uncredited
another from Bava’s Black Sunday— obstruction of the mise-en-scene
- Roger Corman is more of an influencer, producer, and outlier/anti-Hollywood figure in cinema history than a director but we have his first archiveable film here as a director with House of Usher
- With Godard’s first, it’s also his star’s Jean-Paul Belmondo’s first archiveable film (Belmondo has three archiveable films in 1960 including Two Women)
- French actor Alain Delon explodes on the scene in 1960 with both Rocco and His Brothers and Purple Noon. Two strong performances in top 500 films- it’s arguably a greater achievement than even Belmondo’s
Delon in Purple Noon– he’s sublime as Tom Ripley
- Albert Finney has his first two archiveable performances in 1960—both in the British New Wave, kitchen sink “angry young man” movement. The Entertainer is a small role for him, but his work in Saturday Night and Sunday Morning is a staggering work and it kills me not to include in my top male performances below—but again—this year is loaded.
Finney has his first two archiveable performances in 1960—both in the British New Wave, kitchen sink “angry young man” movement– here in Saturday Night and Sunday Morning
- Michael Powell steps out on his own, away from the Pressburger collaborative effort- with Peeping Tom. It’s smashing artistic success but such a disaster on the commercial side (perhaps Pressburger, more the producer, could have helped) that it essentially kills Powell’s career.
Powell’s Peeping Tom is an feat of dark lighting- years before Gordon Willis– a great lighting flourish here
even with the abundance of riches in 1960- Powell’s shot here is among my favorite single frames– a cinematic painting indeed
- It is worth noting just how dark many of these films are in 1960—and I’m not talking about the visual color, shadowy or even the playful fatalism in the French masterpieces—but films featuring suffering and even rape like Virgin Spring, Rocco and Two Women
- I mention both above in expanded sections but Kurosawa perfecting the widescreen/Tohoscope view and depth of film accomplishment is worth noting as a stylistic milestone
- I should do a better job tracking and noting the career of DP’s but I’ll start here with Sven Nykvist working with Bergman on The Virgin Spring
- It doesn’t quite the resonance of Delon, Belmondo, and Finney—but 1960 marks the first archivelable film for Bruce Dern (Wild River– yes another debut with Kazan). This is the start of an impressive 60-year career for dern
best performance male: It is a glorious year for screen acting on both sides here. I’m singling out nine performers—which honestly feels light for a year where you could proudly split the top 20 in half and make it two years and have two really strong years. Jean-Paul Belmondo’s performance in Breathless is transcendent- I can picture the film without Jean Seberg (no offense to her)- but not without Belmondo. Marcello Mastroianni is every bit Belmondo’s equal in La Dolce Vita. I actually think Alain Delon is the third actor that would have a rightful claim to the top slot. Delon isn’t here because of the combined efforts of Rocco and His Brothers and Purple Noon– he’d be here for either. Behind those top three are Anthony Perkins in Psycho, Charles Aznavour in Shoot the Piano Player and Jack Lemmon in The Apartment. It may not be their best work- but that’s a compliment to their best work and not an indicator of whether Mifune or von Sydow deserve mention for 1960 in The Bad Sleep Well and The Virgin Spring respectively. The last mention goes to Laurence Olivier for the combined effort of Spartacus and The Entertainer. These are two top 10 of the year-level films and Olivier excels in both. He plays an absolute bastard in The Entertainer– showing off Olivier’s range- and he gives the single best performance in Kubrick’s film- a film loaded with some of the era’s finest actors.
as if there wasn’t enough going on in 1960 with the French New Wave and the Italians– the great Hitchcock delivers on Psycho
best performance female: You could go in a few directions here and not have the wrong answer. Annie Girardot’s work in Rocco and His Brothers would be a fine choice. Girardot’s Nadia character a tragic Greek character if I ever saw one on screen- and a breathtaking performance from Girardot – along with Delon- the finest in the film. Monica Vitti starts her unparalleled four-year run as Antonioni’s muse as Claudia in L’Avventura. The Academy Awards aren’t always right (sometimes it seems like they rarely are)—but eventually (I think like 2-3 years later) when they screened De Sica’s film they awarded the best actress award to Sophia Loren and that would be a fine choice for best female performance of the year as well. Shirley MacLaine would be second to none in 1960 as well for her work in Wilder’s The Apartment. Jean Seberg isn’t as vital to Breathless as Belmondo but that is more a compliment to Belmondo than an insult to her- she’s very good in Godard’s masterpiece. Tatyana Samoylova teams up again with Kalatozov in Letter Never Sent and like 1957’s The Cranes Are Flying, she ends up with a mention in this category. Screen time is not always everything- Janet Leigh is mesmerizing in Hitchcock’s Psycho– even if she disappears half-way through the film.
Annie Girardot in Rocco and His Brothers– the very strong cathedral set-piece sequence– rooftop of Milan’s Duomo—Visconti creating an angle with the camera to focus on foreground and background depth of field- magnificent– sort of a cousin to the shot of Mifune near the end of Throne of Blood
Sophia Loren in Two Women— the last great film from De Sica
Tatyana Samoylova teams up again with Kalatozov in Letter Never Sent and like 1957’s The Cranes Are Flying, she ends up with a mention in this category
top 10
- La Dolce Vita
- Breathless
- Psycho
- The Bad Sleep Well
- Shoot the Piano Player
- L’Avventura
- Rocco and His Brothers
- The Virgin Spring
- Letter Never Sent
- The Apartment
Kalatozov — one of the most creative visual directors of this or any era
Hitchcock’s voyeurism
a massive hit for Hitchcock — yet the film has some of his most avant-garde scenes and sequences
just one of the handsome matte paintings in Kubrick’s Spartacus
Kubrick’s epic is the single biggest box office hit in 1960– and you could’ve told me this is from Lean’s Lawrence of Arabia – a massive compliment- which would follow a few years later
Archives, Directors, and Grades
| Black Sunday- Bava | HR |
| Breathless- Godard | MP |
| Butterfield 8- Daniel Mann | R |
| Classe Tous Risques – Sautet | |
| Comanche Station- Boetticher | R |
| Elmer Gantry- R. Brooks | R |
| Escape By Night- Rossellini | R |
| Exodus- Preminger | R |
| Eyes Without a Face- Franju | HR |
| House of Usher- Corman | R |
| Inherit the Wind- Kramer | R |
| La Dolce Vita- Fellini | MP |
| La Joven- Bunuel | |
| Late Autumn – Ozu | HR |
| L’Avventura – Antonioni | MP |
| Letter Never Sent – Kalatozov | MS |
| Never on Sunday- Dassin | R |
| North to Alaska- Hathaway | R |
| Ocean’s 11 – Milestone | R |
| Peeping Tom- Powell | MS |
| Psycho- Hitchcock | MP |
| Purple Noon- Clement | MS |
| Rocco and His Brothers – Visconti | MP |
| Saturday Night and Sunday Morning- Reisz | HR |
| Sergeant Rutledge – Ford | R |
| Shoot the Piano Player- Truffaut | MP |
| Spartacus- Kubrick | HR |
| Swiss Family Robinson – Annakin | R |
| The 1,000 Eyes of Dr. Mabuse – Lang | |
| The Alamo- Wayne | R |
| The Apartment – Wilder | MS |
| The Bad Sleep Well – Kurosawa | MP |
| The Entertainer – Richardson | HR |
| The Facts of Life- M. Frank | R |
| The Fugitive Kind- Lumet | R |
| The League of Gentlemen – Dearden | R |
| The Magnificent Seven – J. Sturges | HR |
| The Sundowners- Zinnemann | R |
| The Testament of Orpheus- Cocteau | R |
| The Time Machine- Pal | R |
| The Virgin Spring- Bergman | MS |
| Tunes of Glory – Neame | R |
| Two Women- De Sica | MS |
| Village of the Damned- Rilla | R |
| Wild River – Kazan | R |
| Zazie dans Le Métro- Malle | R |
*MP is Masterpiece- top 1-3 quality of the year film
MS is Must-See- top 5-6 quality of the year film
HR is Highly Recommend- top 10 quality of the year film
R is Recommend- outside the top 10 of the year quality film but still in the archives
The Apartment is funny and sad. Great ending, perfect screenplay, phenomenal acting and great, sleek B and W cinematography. My choice for the best film of 1960.
@Azman– thanks for commenting on the wonderful year that is 1960. How many of the 6 films listed about The Apartment have you seen so far?
I’ve seen a few films from 1960. Its impossible to rank them on a list. Psycho may be better on a technical level but 1960 is like 06. You said children of men was better than the departed but you still respected the decision of the academy to give the best picture award to the departed. It’s kinda the same for me with the apartment and psycho. I LOVED peeping tom (peeping tom and 8.5 are the only films you need to see to become a director-Martin Scorsese). 1960 was a great year for film. You rightly have 7 (SEVEN!) masterpieces from this year
@Azman– Thanks for sharing. I was asking because in perhaps international cinema’s greatest single year you pick a Billy Wilder film as your choice for the best film of 1960. You’ve mentioned a few times about The United States having the best cinema and although neither Wilder nor Hitchcock are American– this seems like a pretty easy year to go with the non-English language film. Most consider these films Godard’s best and Antonioni’s best. We have Visconti, Fellini and Truffaut swinging for the fences here…
Yes, it’s my choice though. In your top 100 there are more american movies than all other international movies combined! That being said the apartment may not even be the best, now that I think about it. It’s so hard to rank movies. Why is hitchcock better than kubrick? Why is apocalypse now above raging bull? It will be hard for you to explain because it is so close and as you rewatch films, your list will keep changing. Same with me.
It’s difficult to say just how high it should rank in so spectacular a year, but I am eager for when your Kurosawa study brings you to The Bad Sleep Well. I can only assume you haven’t seen it before as you don’t have it in your archives (which would otherwise be unthinkable). It’s Kurosawa’s loose take on Hamlet (as opposed to Throne of Blood and Ran which more closely follow Macbeth and King Lear respectively), but set in contemporary times as an excoriation of crony capitalism. It’s not quite the top to bottom perfect jewel of a film High and Low would go on to be, but it’s a big, bold, visually brilliant work that anticipates a lot of what Kurosawa would achieve 3 years later. Almost as if Scorsese had directed Casino before Goodfellas.
At the very least you’ll have a new strong nominee for “Most underrated”. It is nowhere to be found on the TSPDT top 1000 which is simply a criminal atrocity.
I agree Matt. Bad Sleep Well is so amazing.
“It’s not quite the top to bottom perfect jewel of a film High and Low would go on to be. ”
I currently have High and Low as a top 3 Kurosawa. Very few films go on to be “the top to bottom perfect jewel of a film” that High and Low is. Bad Sleep Well is just not as good (that’s a compliment to High and Low and in no way and insult to TBSW).
This comment aged well.
@Matt Harris–haha yes- I need you to help plan my cinematic travel itinerary here
You consider 1960 the best year for film in general, and thus I would assume the best in film direction (it also holds the odd distinction of best year for short-haired female characters in Breathless, The Apartment, and Psycho). What are the best years, for you, for every discipline of cinema?
1979 presents a strong case for best cinematography. Apocalypse Now, Stalker, Manhattan, and Alien are magnificent. 1982, 2007, and 2014 are close. In editing I’d go with 1966 for TGTBATU’s rhythmic cutting and Persona’s unnerving precision. Male acting might go to 1954 with Brando, Mifune, and Stewart; 1972 with double Brando, Pacino, and Kinski; but I think it’s ultimately 1974 with Pacino, Hackman, De Niro, and Nicholson. Female acting might be 1950 with Sunset Boulevard and All About Eve, but I’m not so sure. 1950 could take the win for screenwriting with those two I just mentioned, but 2007, 1980, 1976, and 1994 are quite close. Film score is a hard one… maybe 1982?
That was a lot. What do you think for each position?
Hi @Graham. This is a very interesting question, here what i think, the most obvious choice for the edition is 1960 (Breathless and Psycho), i agree with cinematography, as for performances, i would say 1957, 1960 and 2007, on the female side it would be 1964 and 1974, for screenwriting i would say 1974, as for score, it’s difficult, 1977 is there, but my answer is 1982
@Graham — fun exercise. Your knowledge is truly impressive here. I’m going to refrain from answering it now as I’m going year by year updating my archives by year as we speak and will be able to better answer it as I go along. Quick question- you mention 2014 for cinematography right? What makes you pick that one? Which films? I’m just curious — not that I necessarily disagree
Thank you for the compliments. I pick 2014 as a nominee due to the superb cinematography quality of all the top movies that year. Perhaps it does not have one standout equal to Gravity or Fury Road in the flanking years, but Grand Budapest Hotel is immaculate use of color and Wes’ most beautiful, Interstellar is gorgeous effects and probably DP Hoyte van Hoytema’s most beautiful, Birdman is obviously a standout for Lubezki, and Gone Girl has great use of darkness and shadow. These are all from some of the best director-cinematographer collaborations.
Another weird idea to think about for today. Imagine if you could go back in time and get a filmmaker to make any movie one year earlier or later in order to make it a really great year in cinema. For example, how much would these years be boosted in quality?
– 1957 if The Searchers was held back until then?
– 1954 if either Tokyo Story or Madame de… was then?
– 2000 for Magnolia or Fight Club?
– 1999 if In the Mood for Love was rushed to be from year?
– 1976 for Annie Hall or any top 1975 movie?
– 1979 for Raging Bull?
– 2007 for The Dark Knight
Anyone could obviously think of many more but here’s some to think about.
The Bad Sleep Well was one of the first movies I saw when I got the Criterion Channel about 2 years ago, I had already seen some of Kurosawa best movies and I hadn’t even heard of it and it absolutely blew me away, one of the best openings of all time with the entire wedding sequence. Such a rich movie in terms of complex characters and obvious the deep focus cinematography. It not making the top 1300 is baffling, I wonder if people just over look Kurosawa’s non Samurai movies. It works on so many levels; a thriller, a character study, a societal study; Greek Tragedy.
You mentioned in best female performances that Vitti’s performance is good even though she disappears in the middle of the film; except she’s not the one who disappears, that’s Lea Massari.
@Zane- yes– thank you for the cleanup here.
I think Monica Vitti should be bolded in the best performance female section.
@Malith– agreed- thank you again here
I would argue that 1960 bu itself is better than 1985, 1986, 1987, 1988, and 1989 combined. I am really not even joking. At least in terms of masterpieces
I disagree, although 1960 is certainly greater than each of those years alone. 1986 and 1989 are great stretches of cinema, and the combination of all five would yield too high of a filmography depth for 1960 to contend with them. In fact, I’d say a weaker five year period would be 1984-88, shaving off the final year of the decade.
very great and personal review for this incredible year.there are two things that i particularly like it’s the virgin spring at 8th spot and the bad sleep well at 4th spot because they are two underrated movies made by two of the best directors of all time(bergman say about the virgin spring that’s a “wretched imitation of Kurosawa rashomon” I think his judgment is very severe it’s a great movie)
@beaucamp– we agree here- maybe Bergman was just being modest– Virgin Spring may not be Rashomon but is an outstanding work of art in its own right
I join here, the virgin spring is a great movie.
As for Rashomon’s comparison we refer to the similarity in the forest, no? because i remember that they are very different, the virgin spring is counted in a linear way and it’s much darker, it’s about (SPOILER) rape and murder of a girl.
Is the virgin spring one of Bergman’s darkest movies? what is the darkest movie of Bergman?
@Aldo- if not The Virgin Spring then maybe Hour of the Wolf– very dark
I will refrain from saying great page, since you never answer my congratulations haha.
I’m afraid to ask this, because Wilder fans are going to hit me, but why do you think Wilder movies are overrated?
Wilder has 3 movies in the top 100 (#28, #33, #59) that’s more than some directors. While you have it with zero top 100
As for example Kurosawa who only has 2.
Second and final question, if you had Wilder movies in the same positions as TSPDT, where would Wilder land on the directors list?
@Aldo- Sorry- I certainly appreciate you visiting the site, the comments, and the kind words- thank you. I would guess some feel like they need to balance their choices by genre and include some of Wilder’s works as comedies– I would also guess that that some put a disproportionate amount of importance on the screenplay (and Wilder) in their comparison of great films.
As for your second question– TSPDT already has a list of directors based on the placement of their films– they have Wilder at #16
I think he meant where You would place Wilder, since he’s not really trying to change the other positions you have directors in which are often very different from TSPDT’s placements. And even then, I’m not trying to answer for you or anything but 3 top 100 films would probably be around that 16th spot like TSPDT has it; he’d be surrounded by guys like PTA with 4 at 15th, Truffaut and Antonioni with 3 at 13th and 11th, and Renoir, Godard, Ophüls, Lynch and Dreyer with 2 at 14th, 16th, 17th, 18th, and 19th.
@Zane- I understood- I’m just deflecting to the TSPDT list since they, like me, use their film ranking as the main math behind the director ranking
Have you noticed that 1960 is something of a step backwards in terms of color? I believe you included images from seven 1959 color films on its page and six on 1958’s, while there are only color shots chosen from four on this page. None of 1960’s masterpieces are in color. It seems odd for such an incredible cinematic year.
@Graham- good point– agreed. Clearly lack of Hollywood/American cinema in the top 10 is a reason (guys like Bergman and Kurosawa hadn’t yet experimented with color in 1960)- there were certainly color films in other places at the time- but not as high a percentage as Hollywood. And the only two “Hollywood” directors in the top 10 (Wilder and Hitchcock– both European directors)– chose black and white
They will probably accuse me of being pretentious but it’s because black and white photography is better.
Here a quote from Ford
-“In black and white, you’ve got to be very careful. You’ve got to know your job, lay your shadows in properly, get your perspective right, but in color, there it is. You might say I’m old fashioned, but black and white is real photography.”
Why did Hitchcock film Psycho in b / w?
@Aldo- found this here on Hitchcock making Psycho in b/w – https://www.tvovermind.com/real-reason-psycho-shot-black-white/
@aldo don’t forget that for several reasons american films have a lot more visibility in the world than others(American culture is deeply installed everywhere in the world in the mind of people this is what makes American movies much easier to understand ) so it’s more simple for american films to be ranked high in the best movie lists.you were saying that kurosawa only has two films in the top 100 of TSPDT but you will notice that no Asian director has more than 2 films in the top 100 it is not a coincidence. Asian films are more difficult to assimilate for Westerners because it is another culture, different traditions, different mentality and different way of life and the majority of the best movies lists are made by westerners for example ozu has only 4 movies rated in tspdt’s top 500 you think that represents the greatness of ozu? in comparison spielberg has 6 without wanting to criticize him in front of a great master like ozu he is not much.all of this to say that it is not surprising to see the films of billy wilder so high in the top 100 but frankly I agree with drake movies like some like it hot in 28th place or the apartment at 59th is completely exaggerated although they are great movies
@beaucamp- you make some very good points here- I know Bill at TSPDT has been getting more and more different perspectives over the years to try to even out TSPDT site. I will say that Ozu does rank higher than Wilder (so does Kurosawa) on the TSPDT top 250 directors list (based on the film rankings)– so that puts at least a little curveball in your argument
@drake you’re right but don’t misunderstand me i think TSPDT site is very good I just wanted to say that the ranking of films on the site does not always reflect their real values for different reasons(some like it hot is a perfect example).it’s very instructive to refer to it but of course it’s much more important to form your own personal opinion (that’s why i cited the bad sleep well and the virgin spring in my appreciation of your review)
@beaucamp- for sure– we are in agreement here
This year is beyond ridiculous, the top 7 could all be #1 movies in a number of years, I mean the idea of a movie as amazing as Rocco and His Brothers being only the 7th best movie of the year is hard to wrap my head around as is a movie as good as Peeping Tom or Purple Noon not even making the top 10
@James Trapp– so ridiculous– many a year Rocco would be #1.
Drake; you’ve often said the 60s was the best decade for film. I used to think it was the 70s (which I think is the general mainstream opinion held by most cinephiles) but since exploring the 60s I’ve come around to your position. Anyway, this year is the single best in cinematic history, and I was wondering about whether you moved it in its entirety to 1959, or to any year in the 70s, would the 50s or 70s then become superior to the 60s? Or would its greatness live on?
@Zane
yeah so the next time I update my top 500/1000 I should spend a little more time on metrics like this- it is interesting to see. For now- here’s how the three decades stack up with how many films are in the top 100 and 500 respectively… if you move 1960 out– it certainly makes a big difference
top 100 films
1950’s- 14
1960’s- 22 (5 from 1960)
1970’s 16
top 500 films
1950’s- 72
1960’s- 75
1970’s- 66
Wow, this is great. I want to refrain from saying what everyone else on here seems to have already mentioned, but for my money this and 1979 are the two best years for film ever. La Dolce Vita, Breathless, and Psycho all fit into my top 20 of all time. Even ones farther down like Rocco and his Brothers and The Apartment are, in my opinion, the best film of each director, respectively. Great stuff. What’s even more mind-blowing is how many more of these I have to see: The Bad Sleep Well, Shoot The Piano Player, The Virgin Spring, Letter Never Sent, and even L’Avventura. All from directors I plan on doing studies in the very near future.
Since watching Purple Noon a little more than a month and a half ago, I’ve always wondered about how to give it a better ending. I mean, let’s be honest, the ending for this film sucks. I mean it really sucks. It’s terrible. It literally brings the film hundreds of slots down from where it would be with a better ending. The ending just has to be good, not even great or fantastic to make it a MP. So I decided to come up with a better one, and here’s my idea:
So I change the framing of the film. Ripley just so happens to have a pair of binoculars with him while he’s sitting at the beach at the end of the film (he wants to watch the seagulls or something? I don’t think the film desperately needs to specify why he has them), and the Marge boat happens to be in his field of view. Through his binoculars, he’s able to see Philippe’s body go back on land. Therefore, unlike in the original film, he knows he’s been found out and is able to prepare for this. He gets out of there as soon as possible and arrives at a different dock before the police are able to lock it down. He sneaks onto some other guy’s motorboat and speeds off without the boat coming under grave suspection from the police (bit of a stretch) and he speeds out of Mongibello (actually Naples in real life) free from the police. There, we get a close-up shot of Ripley driving the boat looking extremely determined and high on octane from the thrill of the police chase, looking as if he hasn’t learned anything from his experiences over the course of the film. However, time passes, and his evil smile fades, leaving behind uncertainty as he faces the reality of his situation: he’s a wanted fugitive who may be caught at the first port he arrives in, depending on whether he or his name gets there faster, and even if he escapes now, there’s no telling whether he can hold out from the law forever. But then, the old Ripley returns as he accepts the challenge, and we watch as he steels himself for the coming chase, even looking hungry as if he wants the police to chase him; the ending of Psycho with Anthony Perkins finally morphing into Norma would be a comparable example (though I came to this idea independently; I first conceived of this ending a week ago and only came to the Psycho connection during writing, since we’re on the 1960 page). Then, Delon Ripley revs up the engine as fast as it can go with a real Ted Bundy-esque look on his face as he speeds out of frame, before the camera zooms out to reveal it was a telephoto shot a la The Graduate (I also came to this idea independently, though since I saw The Graduate just a week or two before conceiving of this ending one week ago it probably was heavily influenced by that film, unlike the Psycho connection which is a genuine coincidence). We are left with a still shot of Ripley’s boat’s highly turbulent wake in shaky, almost stormy waters, before the screen fades to black.
What do some of you guys think?
Was the 1960 Spartacus in colour, or just the 1991 restoration?
The 1960 version was in color. If the 1991 restoration had been a colorization of a black and white film, it would have more adequately been called a “destruction” than a “restoration.”
@Harry- Yep- Graham has this one. It was shot in glorious technicolor. Kubrick’s first in color.
Shouldn’t you perhaps have Eyes Without A Face as your most overrated since you don’t consider it (at the moment) as a top 500 film and TSPDT has it as a borderline top 300 film?
@RK- That was a candidate as well, but The Apartment edged it out so to speak.
Drake,
Are you familiar with Kim Ki-young The Housemaid? Bong mentioned it as one of his inspiration’s for Parasite (2019)
@James Trapp- I am aware of it- had it in the Criterion channel queue for some time- but have not seen it yet
@Drake – I got to it recently, my 2nd viewing. The film uses a trope that may not seem all that original today, it’s basically a “blank from hell” trope used in films like Fatal Attraction (1987), The Gift (2015), or any other film featuring a stranger slowly becoming a nightmare for the protagonist. However, this examines a South Korean family set in 1960 which is when the film was released. It mixes elements of a thriller and family drama.
Some of the modern Korean masters like Bong Joon-ho and Park Chan Wook have cited it as major influences. Scorsese has almost praised it:
“I was startled the first time I saw the picture,” says Scorsese. “By its mood of upset, its bold expressionism, its sense of the potential danger in all human interaction, and its intense and passionately realised sense of claustrophobia.”
Kim Ki-young uses close and medium shots in the household to create a feeling of claustrophobia. There are some great pans and camera movement that capture what is happening inside with the camera looking through the glass windows from the exterior to inside the residence. The narrative is fairly straightfoward which is effective rather than attempting crazy plot twists. Similar to Bong the film examines class differences, contemporary family values, etc.
*Scorsese has also praised it
@Drake – sorry, I didn’t know where else to put this, but have you seen
Le Trou (1960, Becker)
The Sword of Doom (1966, Okamoto)
Possession (1981, Zulawski)
I didn’t see them in the archives so was just wondering if you had seen them and they weren’t good enough to make it
@LeBron Smith- Le Trou and The Sword of Doom are in my favorites for my criterion subscription- but I have not yet seen them. Possession was a film I have been looking for for like 20 years- finally caught up with it a week or two ago. It blew me away.
@Drake – awesome to hear about Possession! I had the same reaction. Hopefully the other two make the archives as well.
@Drake – sorry for the double response, but I forgot to ask – now that you’ve had a little to sit on it, do you think it gets at least a HR/MS grade from you?
@LeBron Smith- It is a masterpiece . Coincidentally, tomorrow’s page for the best actress of all-time list is Isabelle Adjani and the best film she was ever in is either The Tenant or Possession.
@Drake – looking forward to tomorrows page!
@James Trapp – very interesting about Becker, I didn’t know that. I believe I was leaning MS for Le Trou after my only viewing but I’d need to double check. Just adds more greatness to the greatest year in cinema history, 1960 (IMO)
@LeBron Smith – MS sounds about right. The first time I watched was right around the time when I first got serious about Cinema; this was about 5 years ago, right after I watched Breathless (1960) and The 400 Blows (1959). I then watched nothing but French Films for like 2 or 3 months with the majority being French New Wave Cinema. I saw it again about a year after with my family. And yes it further adds to 1960 being the greatest Cinema Year ever.
Have you ever seen South Korea director Kim Ki-young’s The Housemaid?
On this page above I posted the following (as question to Drake):
“Are you familiar with Kim Ki-young The Housemaid? Bong mentioned it as one of his inspiration’s for Parasite (2019)”
@LeBron Smith – Le Trou from Becker is one of the greatest prison films ever. During WW2 Becker was captured and spend a year as a prisoner of war. He died shortly after releasing Le Trou at just 53 years old.
@James Trapp – responding to this comment since it doesn’t let me respond to the other. I actually haven’t seen The Housemaid. I just added it to my list though, thank you for the recommendation!
@LeBron Smith – Here is a good review/analysis of the film but **spoiler alert** don’t read last 2 paragraphs if you plan on watching.
http://armchairc.blogspot.com/2011/01/housemaid-1960.html
@Drake I see that “Classe tous risques” is in the archives directdd by Claude Sautet. Have you seen any of his other movies? I managed to see 3 recently, “Les Choses de la vie”, “Max et les ferraileurs” and “Cesar et Rosalie” and I think they are worth checking out.
@George- I think that’s the only Claude Sautet film I’ve seen (and only one in the archives right now). Thank you for the recommendation on the others.