I slacked off dramatically on my movie watching for 2019 and have high hopes that I will regain my enthusiasm in 2020. My viewing for this year began with 1966 and ended with finishing 1967. I logged 171 films on Letterboxd.
I saw many great films. Since I’ve been seeking out classic movies for a long time, many of the best were re-watches. Still there were many gems that were new to me. Films that I saw for the first time this year, rated 9/10, and did not make this list are: Au Hasard, Balthazar (1966); A Man for All Seasons (1966); Dragon Inn (1967); Oncle Yanco (1967 – short); and Festival (1967- documentary).
Here’s 10 favorite films I saw for the first time in 2019. They are not ranked but in alphabetical order.
Goke, Body Snatcher from Hell (Kyujketsuki Gokemidoro) Directed by Hajime Sato Written by Kyuzo Kobayashi and Susumo Takaku 1968/Japan IMDb link
Repeat viewing/Criterion Channel
[box] Gôzô Mano, the senator: The world’s in terrible shape. Trouble between nations grows worse with terrorism breaking out all over the place. Everything’s gone crazy![/box]
How could I pass up a title like this for some holiday viewing? Actually, I’ve seen it before and enjoyed it even more the second time!
As usual, aliens are determined to exterminate the human race. BUT we also get a plane hijacking, adultery, a Vietnam War widow, vampires and more!
This should be a godawful mess. And it is. But so, so fun! The rampant overacting is just the icing on the cake. Recommended to fans of this kind of thing. You know who you are.
Criterion Channel has the original language version with subtitles
2001: A Space Odyssey Directed by Stanley Kubrick Written by Stanley Kubrick and Arthur C. Clarke from Clarke’s short story 1968/US IMDb link
Repeat viewing/Netflix rental
One of 1001 Movies You Must See Before You Die
[box] HAL: Look Dave, I can see you’re really upset about this. I honestly think you ought to sit down calmly, take a stress pill, and think things over.[/box]
A mind-blowing visual and auditory experience does not quite compensate for the lack of a story.
This movie has something to do with a monolith and how it interacts with evolution, I think. It is divided into three parts. One is about the evolution of homo sapiens; the second is about a space flight to Jupiter; and the final is about, maybe, the evolution of the next generation of intelligent life. Or at least that’s what they tell me.
By far the best part is the second, in which the astronauts must interact with the on-board computer HAL-900. HAL seems to be developing a mind of its own. This stuff is witty and totally enjoyable. Then we segue into psychedelia. With Keir Dullea and Gary Lockwood as the astronauts.
Stanley Kubrick on set. How did he make this movie without CGI?!
I saw this on original release. I didn’t “get it” then and don’t now. If you just sit back and enjoy some sensory overload, the movie is powerful. It’s not a favorite, though, because it has no heart.
2001: A Space Odyssey won the Academy Award for Best Effects: Special Visual Effects. It was nominated in the categories of Best Director; Best Writing: Story and Screenplay – Written Directly for the Screen; and Best Art Direction-Set Decoration.
What a year 1968 was! United States history was forever changed with the assassinations of Martin Luther King and Robert Kennedy. Vietnam War protests mounted as the fighting raged unabated. Amid ghetto rioting, there was some progress on the Civil Rights front with President Johnson signing the Fair Housing Act. Youth moved beyond “flower power” into a more revolutionary phase. 1968 also saw the Prague Spring followed by the invasion of Czechoslovakia by the Soviet Union.
Watts on fire
The film industry submitted to a new ratings system under the auspices of the MPAA. The voluntary system classified films according to their suitability for viewing by young people, in four categories: “G” for general audiences; “M” for mature audiences; “R,” no one under 16 admitted without an adult guardian (later raised to under 17 years of age); and “X,” no one under 17 admitted. The four criteria used in the ratings included theme, language, violence, and nudity and/or sexual content. Many parents thought films rated M contained more adult content than those that were rated R. This confusion led to its replacement in 1969 by the rating of GP (or General Public, or General Audiences, Parental Guidance Suggested). Brian De Palma’s Greetings (1968) was the first film in the US to receive the X rating.
The Academy Awards Oscar ceremony in April of 1968 was delayed by two days (and held on April 10th) due to Martin Luther King’s assassination.
A number of films were seized by US Customs ) on charges of obscenity, including the Swedish film I Am Curious – Yellow, Jack Smith’s avant-garde Flaming Creatures (1968), and Pier Paolo Pasolini’s Teorema (1968, It.).
Billboard’s number one single of 1968 was the Beatles’ “Hey Jude”. The song spent a record nine weeks atop the Billboard charts.The Pulitzer Prize for Fiction went to William Styron’sThe Confessions of Nat Turner. Time Magazine’s Men of the Year were Apollo 8 astronauts Frank Borman, James A. Lovell, and William Anders, who completed man’s first lunar voyage on December 27, 1968.
Poor Albert Dekker. Such a good actor, such a sad end.
For lovers of salacious LGBQT Hollywood gossip ONLY: US character actor Albert Dekker, known for his fine performances in films such as Dr. Cyclops (1940), The Killers (1946), Kiss Me Deadly (1955), The Wild Bunch (1969) died at the age of 62. He was found naked in his own Hollywood bathroom – hanged by accidental autoerotic asphyxiation. He was bound, blindfolded, gagged and handcuffed, with sexual obscenities scrawled on his body in red lipstick.
At the age of 69, Mexican-born, early silent film star actor Ramon Novarro, known as the “Latin Lover” (famous for Ben-Hur: A Tale of Christ (1925) and Mata Hari (1931)), and also an alcoholic and homosexual, was found dead in his Hollywood bedroom covered in blood He had been tortured and then choked to death during an altercation with two male prostitute hustlers/robbers who assumed he had money hidden in his house.
Clearly something strange was in the Kool-Aid in 1968 …
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I’m not going to live forever so I’ve decided to restrict my views per “year” a bit. I’m especially going to ask myself “Is this worth delaying the next really essential watch?”. Only if it excites or at least interests me. Does this mean I’m not going to keep seeking out good “bad movies”. Of course not.
I have now watched 87 films that were released in 1967. A complete list can be found here. It took six months seemingly stretching out into eternity. In reality, 1967 was actually one of the really great years for movies and for Hollywood, which was seeing an upswing of creativity aided by the demise of the Hayes Code. I had 21 movies I rated 9/10 or higher. They were very hard to whittle down. It about killed me to omit: Don’t Look Back; Dragon Inn; The Fireman’s Ball; Two in the Shadow; The Producers; Wait Until Dark; Festival; Japan’s Longest Day; Belle de Jour; Bonnie and Clyde; and Oncle Yanco. Ranking the list was clearly impossible, so I have listed them in alphabetical order.
The Anderson Platoon
Directed by Pierre Schoendoerffer
Written by Pierre Schoendoerffer
1967/France IMDb link
First viewing/YouTube
[box] Neither conscience nor sanity itself suggests that the United States is, should or could be the global gendarme. — Robert McNamara[/box]
A veteran of the French Indochina War imbeds himself with an American platoon in the long war’s next phase. He captures the way the GIs try and fail to create a little piece of home on the frontlines. But war is indeed hell. Narrated by Stuart Whitman.
This brought back memories of the family (mostly me and my Dad) arguing about the War at the dinner table while the TV blasted graphic images of combat. The U.S. government would never allow those images again.
What we saw every night on TV during the Vietnam War.
Week End Directed by Jean-Luc Godard Written by Jean-Luc Godard 1967/France IMDb link
First viewing/Netflix rental
One of 1001 Movies You Must See Before You Die
[box] Roland: What a rotten film. All we meet are crazy people.[/box]
A film about everything and nothing. Mostly nothing.
I will confess that I did not give this film my 100% attention. Anyway, a married couple has many adventures on the way to see the wife’s parents on the weekend. A film of endless traffic pile-ups, explosions, philosophical observations and other such rot.
It’s a red-letter day! I never have to watch another film by Jean-Luc Godard as long as I live!
Oedipus Rex (Edipo Re) Directed by Pier Paolo Pasolini Written by Pier Paolo Pasolini from the play by Sophocles 1967/Italy IMDb link
First viewing/Amazon Prime
[box] “How dreadful the knowledge of the truth can be/ When there’s no help in truth.” ― Sophocles, Oedipus Rex[/box]
Pasolini’s primitive interpretation of the ancient tragedy made it seem to come to life.
The film begins and ends with scenes of contemporary Italy. A father is jealous of the attention his wife is giving their newborn. Then we segue to ancient Greece – not the Greece of the Parthenon but a more primitive time.
Oedipus is born to Jocasta and Laius, Queein and King of Thebes. A soothsayer predicts that the baby will grow up to murder his father and marry his mother. You didn’t mess around with predictions in ancient Greece and the parents send the infant off with a servant to die of exposure in a particularly barren location. The servant takes pity on the boy and hands him off to the servant of the King and Queen of Corinth. The childless couple adopts the boy and raises him as heir to the throne. One night Oedipus has a terrible dream and asks permission to seek an interpretation from the Oracle at Delphi.
At Delphi, the Oracle does not interpret the dream but rather predicts that Oedipus will murder his father and marry his mother. Terrified of returning to Corinth, Oedipus is guided by fate to Thebes where the prophecy comes true, unbeknownst to any of the principals. A plague forces Oedipus to determine who is infecting the community.
The Ancient Greece of Pasolini might as well be on another planet with its endless deserts and bizarre costumes. This is not a civilized time. The drama has an overblown style that just happens to completely mesh with the size of the story. Themes that have persisted through the centuries include the inexorability of Fate, the struggle to come of age, and the search for the truth. I liked this a lot. You might too if the description appeals.
The Flim-Flam Man Directed by Irvin Kershner Written by William Rose based on a novel by Guy Owen 1967/US IMDb link
First viewing/You Tube
[box] Mordecai Jones: Educational Credits: “M.B.S., C.S., D.D. – Master of Back-Stabbing, Cork-Screwing and Dirty-Dealing!”[/box]
This is an OK con man comedy along the lines of The Sting and Paper Moon which are both superior, despite the heroic efforts of George C. Scott in this.
Curley (Michael Sarrazin) is AWOL and on the run from Military Police. He hitches a ride on a train and meets Mordecai Jones (Scott). Jones takes a liking to the youngster and proceeds to introduce him to many different scams. Some take advantage of the greed of the victim. Others are just theft. Along the way the two run up against Sherrif Slade (Harry Morgan – what a career he had!). Curley falls in love with Bonnie Lee Packard (Sue Lyon) the daughter of one of their marks. With a ton of great character actors including Slim Pickens, Jack Albertson, Alice Ghostly and Strother Martin.
I probably shouldn’t be reviewing this as the copy on YouTube was blurry and distracting. Also I came specifically to hear the title tune, which was written by Laura Nyro and covered by Barbra Streisand. It was nowhere to be found! Setting those things aside, this is moderately enjoyable fare.
Viy Directed by Konstantin Ershov and Georgiy Kropachyov Written by Konstantin Ershov and Georgiy Kropachyov from a story by Nicholai Gogol 1967/USSR IMDb link
First viewing/YouTube
One of 1001 Movies You Must See Before You Die
One of 1000 Movies on the “They Shoot Zombies Don’t They” List
[box] “I am fated to journey hand in hand with my strange heroes and to survey the surging immensity of life, to survey it through the laughter that all can see and through the tears unseen and unknown by anyone.” ― Nikolai Gogol[/box]
Horror Soviet-style turns out to be entertaining if not particularly scary.
Khoma (Leonid Kuravlyov) is a bit of a sad sack and is studying to be a monk. He and a few of his fellow students go on vacation, which consists of a lot of drinking and other sinful behavior. They run out of money and don’t have a place to spend the night. An old crone at a farmhouse agrees to take them in but they must all occupy different rooms. Khoma is left sleeping in the barn next to some livestock. The old woman enters and tries to seduce him. She talks him into letting her mount his back and flies off with him.
Clearly she is a witch and Khoma proceeds to beat her savagely. As the old lady succumbs to the blows she transforms into a young beauty. Khoma runs away. On her death bed, she instructs her father to sent for Khoma to pray for her soul. She dies and the father forces Khoma to spend three nights praying over her corpse. She and monsters from hell try to scare him to death.
The plot summary may not suggest it but there is a good deal of comedy in this film. Such a relief to get back to a List film that actually tells a story. What these guys could have done with a bigger special effects budget!
I have now watched 87 films that were released in 1967. A complete list can be found 
The Anderson Platoon
