I have now watched 102 films that were released in 1961. A complete list can be found here. It was an average year and I had 12 films for my favorites list. The two films I didn’t have room for are: Leon Morin, Priest and Judgement at Nuremberg. The list is no particular order. I had a hard time deciding whether to put The Hustler or Yojimbo in first place and used my usual tie-breaker – if I could rewatch only one of the films it would be Yojimbo.
10. Il Posto – directed by Ermanno Olmi
9. The Steamroller and the Violin – directed by Andrei Tarkovsky
8. West Side Story – directed by Robert Wise and Jerome Robbins
7. The Innocents – directed by Jack Clayton
6. A Raisin in the Sun – directed by Daniel Petrie
5. The End of Summer – directed by Yasujiro Ozu
4. Through a Glass Darkly – directed by Ingmar Bergman
3. Divorce Italian Style – directed by Pietro Germi
2. The Hustler – directed by Robert Rossen
1. Yojimbo – directed by Akira Kurasawa
Those two are also my two favorites of 1961.
I am curious about “The Steamroller and the Violin”. I never heard of it and it sounds… different.
It IS different and I liked it. I think we’ll be reaching Tarkovsky in 1966 and it will be interesting to compare his very interesting student film with what folks consider his masterpiece. I think I might prefer the student film!
The movies continue to “grow up.” It was a good year!
But not so good, I think, as 1962 will be!
Jeepers, what a strong year….. had a just watched to recomend but in this company I’m not so sure! Anyway here goes
As the Clouds Scatter
https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0055061/
Will be well below your IMDB prameters but I thoroughly enjoyed it, the acting and story are strong and all the characters seemed so ‘real’. It’s a long time since a film has had me so worried about what the future would hold for the charcters. (it’s nothing to do with Naruse’s Scatterred Clouds but I kept thinking ‘this title seems so familiar’ DUH!)
Another one for the list. Thanks!