Category Archives: 1965

1965 Recap and 16 Favorites List

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I have now watched 106 films that were released in 1965.  A complete list can be found here.   it was a fairly strong year and I had 16 films for my favorites list.   They could have been ordered in any number of ways as they were all ranked at 9/10 (may be the first year with no 10/10s).  I’ve  decided simply to list all the films alphabetically.

I did not manage to watch Vinyl, The Saragossa Manuscript, or The Golden Thread from the 1001 Movies List.

Buster Keaton Rides Again – Directed by John Spotton

The Collector – Directed by William Wyler

Darling – Directed by John Schlesinger

Giulietta degli spiriti/Juliet of the Spirits – Directed by Federico Fellini

Il momento della verita/The Moment of Truth – Directed by Francesco Rossi

Io la conosocevo bene/I Knew Her Well – Directed by Antonio Petrangeli

King Rat – Directed by Bryan Forbes

Ladies and Gentlemen, Mr. Leonard Cohen – Directed by Donald Britain and Don Owen

 

Le bonheur/Happiness – Directed by Agnes Varda

Loves of a Blonde – Directed by Milos Forman

The Naked Prey – Directed by Cornell Wilde

Repulsion – Directed by Roman Polanski

Shadows of Forgotten Ancestors/Tini zabutykh predkiv – Directed by Sergei Paranajov

The Shop on Main Street/Obchod na korze – Directed by Jan Kadar and Elmar Klos

Tokyo Olympiad/Tokyo Orinpikku – Directed by Kon Ichikawa

YoYo – Directed by Pierre Etaix

 

The Shop on Main Street (1965)

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The Shop on Main Street (Obchod na korze)
Directed by Jan Kadar and Elmar Klos
Written by Ladislav Grosman, Jan Kadar and Elmar Klos
1965/Czechoslovakia
Filmove studio Barrandov
First viewing/Netflix rental
One of 1001 Movies You Must See Before You Die

 

[box] Antonin Brtko: I’m your Aryan and you’re my Jewess . . . understand?[/box]

I didn’t expect so much whimsy in the sad story of the fates of an elderly Jewish shop owner and her hapless Aryan handler.  The whole thing works amazingly well.

Tono Brtko (Josef Kroner) is a humble uneducated carpenter.  Czechoslovakia has been occupied.  He has a greedy wife who is the sister of a member of what looks to be the equivalent of the Slovak Fascist Party SS.  Tono is apolitical but hates his brother-in-law.

Laws have been made that Jews can no longer own businesses.  All Jewish businesses are assigned an “Aryan Controller”.  Through his family connections Josef is given the sewing notions shop owned by an adorable, very hard-of-hearing old lady named Rozalia (Ida Kaminska).  The idea is evidently that when the Jews are deported the controller will take over completely.  Plus, Josef’s wife firmly believes that all Jews have a secret stash of gold buried on the premises.

Problem is the old lady is a charity case.  She thinks that Josef has come to assist her and is very kind to him.  Josef can do nothing to save either of them.

Czechs can’t seem to help telling even the most tragic tale with an off-kilter world view and wit that can only be described as charming.  According to me, this movie is practically perfect.  It is my final film for 1965 and will go immediately on to my Top Ten Favorite New-to-Me Films of 2018 list, coming soon.

The Shop on Main Street won the Academy Award for Best Foreign-Language Picture.  Ida Kaminska was nominated for Best Actress.

 

Monster a-Go Go (1965)

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Monster a-Go Go
Directed by Bill Rebane and Herschell Gordon Lewis
Written by Jeff Smith, Dok Stanford and Bill Rebane
1965/US
B.I. and L Releasing Company
First viewing/YouTube

[box] Narrator: What you are about to see may not even be possible, within the narrow limits of human understanding.[/box]

Well at least the poster colors match Christmas!  Unfortunately, not recommended at Christmas or any other time.

A space capsule lands on earth but its astronaut is missing.  There are no signs of his body but a highly radioactive field in the area.  At the same time, a ten foot mutant monster roams the streets wreaking havoc.  Is he the missing astronaut or is it all just a coincidence?

The monster barely shows up at all and when he does could not outrun a small child.  The rest of the movie tries and fails to be hip.  90-minutes that just drag out interminably.  Watched the MST3K version after the original and the badness is only intensified.

Clips

“George”, Eleanor and Woody

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Being George Clooney
Directed by Paul Mariano
US/2016
First viewing/Netflix Instant

 

 

[box] You never really learn much from hearing yourself talk. — George Clooney[/box]

It’s a charming documentary about voice actors all over the world who have made a career out of dubbing George Clooney.  Although few have met the actor, all feel close to him and woe betide the film company that tries to change dubbers fans have gotten used to!  Really interesting look at an unsung niche of the movie industry.  

The Eleanor Roosevelt Story
Directed by Richard Kaplan
US/1965
First viewing/Amazon Instant

 

[box] The future belongs to those who believe in the beauty of their dreams. — Eleanor Roosevelt [/box]

An affectionate biography and tribute to a great lady.  Recommended to those with any interest at all in the subject matter.  This film won the Academy Award for Best Documentary, Feature.

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Woody Allen: A Documentary
Directed by Robert B. Weide
US/2011
First viewing/Amazon Prime

[box] The two biggest myths about me are that I’m an intellectual, because I wear these glasses, and that I’m an artist because my films lose money. Those two myths have been prevalent for many years. — Woody Allen[/box]

The film covers Allen’s entire life and filmography in two parts adding up to about three hours.  A man this prolific deserved the time spent on him.  We get lots of talking heads but more importantly rare quiet moments in which the director reminisces and philosophizes.  This is obviously an authorized biography and thus does not give undue emphasis to painful matters.  Mia Farrow is treated kindly.  I  still love the movies and this may be as close as we get to their maker.  I can still watch them with fondness as by now they are part of me.

 

 

A Couple with Herschell Gordon Lewis

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Color Me Blood Red
Written and Directed by Herschell Gordon Lewis
USA/1975
First viewing/Netflix rental

 

[box] Rolf: Listen, pal, you’d be rude, too, if you saw your girl tied up, and a man with an axe in one hand and a bloody mess in the other. And a corpse outside there on the beach.[/box]

Thus is the third in Lewis’s  “Blood Trilogy”, following “Blood Feast” and “Two Thousand Maniacs”. In this one, a painter is criticized for his drab color schemes until he comes up with the idea of smearing his paintings with blood collected from his scantily clad models.  The gore would be disgusting if it weren’t so fake.  I really didn’t need to see all three of these movies and neither, probably, do you.   The complete film is also available on YouTube currently.

 

Herschell Gordon Lewis: The Godfather of Gore
Directed by Frank Hennenlotter and Jimmy Maslin
US/2010
First viewing/Amazon Instant

 

[box] I see filmmaking as a business and pity anyone who regards it as an art form. — Herschell Gordon Lewis[/box]

This documentary and Lewis’s commentaries on his films are by far the most interesting facets of watching the films themselves,  Lewis took nothing seriously except the bottom liine and is quite a story teller.  Recommended for fans. 

The Collector (1965)

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The Collector
Directed by William Wyler
Written by John Kohn and Stanley Mann from a novel by John Fowles
1965/UK/USA
Collector Company/Columbia Pictures Corporation
First viewing/Netflix rental

[box] Freddie Clegg: There’d be a blooming lot more of this sort of thing, if more people had the time and the money.[/box]

Mild-mannered bank teller and butterfly collector Freddie Clegg (Terence Stamp) wins the National Lottery and is now financially able to start the next phase of his avocation –collecting pretty young women. He begins stalking art student Miranda Grey (Samantha Eggar) and captures her with – natch – chloroform.

The deranged Freddie tells Miranda he loves her and knows that she will learn to love him. But Miranda repeated desperate escape attempts take their relationship to a very dark place.

For all practical purposes, this is a two-person cast and both actors do excellent work under the capable hands of Wyler.  The man could knock it out of the park in any genre. Truly a creepy thriller.  Recommended.

The Collector was nominated for Academy Awards in the categories of Best Actress, Best Director, and Best Writing, Screenplay Based on Material from Another Medium.

Two with Buster Keaton – The Railrodder and Buster Keaton Rides Again (1965)

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The Railrodder
Directed by Gerald Potterton, Buster Keaton and John Spotton
Written by Gerald Potterton and Buster Keaton
1965/Canada
National Film Board of Canada
First viewing/Netlfix rental

 

[box] I’ve had few dull moments [in my life] and not too many sad and defeated ones. In saying this, I am by no means overlooking the rough and rocky years I’ve lived through. But I was not brought up thinking life would be easy. I always expected to work hard for my money and to get nothing I did not earn. And the bad years, it seems to me, were so few that only a dyed-in-the-wool grouch who enjoys feeling sorry for himself would complain. – Buster Keaton[/box]

This is a charming dialogue-free short promoting rail travel in Canada.  Buster Keaton crosses the nation from ocean to ocean in a “speeder” motor car.  The scenery is beautiful but there is no way you can take your eyes off Buster!

Buster Keaton Rides Again
Directed by John Spotton
Written by Donald Brittain
1965/Canada
National Film Board of Canada
First viewing/Netflix rental

Fantastic “making-of” documentary for The Railrodder (1965) ended up being twice the length of that short.  Affectionate look at Keaton’s creative process and the artist in quiet moments.  Loved this.  Highly recommended.

Both films are currently available on YouTube.  No trailer or clips so here’s an analysis of Buster’s gags.

Von Ryan’s Express (1965)

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Von Ryan’s Express
Directed by Mark Robson
Written by Wendell Mayes and Joseph Landon from a novel by David Westheimer
1965/USA
Twentieth Century Fox/P-R Productions Picture
First viewing/Netflix rental

[box] Maj. Eric Fincham: You’ll get your Iron Cross now, “Von” Ryan![/box]

OK action adventure.

American Colonel Joseph Ryan (Frank Sinatra)  arrives at an Italian POW camp and becomes ranking officer.  Most of the men are British prisoners closely aligned with Major Eric Fincham (Trevor Howard).  The major has a tunnel readied for a mass escape.  Ryan knows that the war in Italy is nearly over and betrays the escape plans.  By this time both the Italians and the British are sure Ryan is a Nazi agent.  When the Italians surrender, the prisoners are placed on a fast train to Berlin.  This requires something more than a tunnel! Plenty of action ensues.

If you want something to get your blood pumping, this might be just the ticket.  I tend to be a giant fan of these kind of movies but something about this one didn’t grab me.  Part of it was you just have to know from minute one that Sinatra is a hero, removing some suspense and question marks from the story.

Catch Us If You Can (1965)

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Catch Us If You Can (AKA “Having a Wild Weekend”)
Directed by John Boorman
Written by Peter Nichols
1965/UK
Bruton Film Productions
First viewing/Netflix rental

[box] Here they come again, mmmm-mm-mm/ Catch us if you can, mmmm-mm-mm/ Time to get a move on, mmmm-mm-mm/ We will yell with all of our might/ Catch us if you can – “Catch Us If You Can”, lyrics by Dave Clark and Lenny Davidson [/box]

Mostly fails both as an A Hard Day’s Night rip-off and as a romantic drama.  Still, the boys are cute and some of the songs are catchy.

Dinah (Barbara Ferris) is the “Meat” girl, starring in a massive ad campaign aimed at carnivores.  While shooting a TV commercial, she and Steve (Dave Clark), one of the stunt men, run off together. Their disappearance becomes part of the ad campaign.  In the mean time the entire band cavorts together in a very Lester-esque manner.

Worth seeing if you were there, are a completist, and have a lazy afternoon on your hands.

 

Darling (1965)

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Darling
Directed by John Schlesinger
Written by Frederic Raphael
UK/1965
Joseph Janni Productions/Vic Film Productions/Appia Films Ltd.
First viewing/YouTube rental

[box] Diana Scott: My friends seemed to get on very well with your friends.

Robert Gold: Because your friends are so pretty.

Diana Scott: And your’s so intelligent.[/box]

Now why in the hell is this fantastic film not on The List?  Goes immediately on my Favorite New-to-Me Movies of 2018 List.

Diana Scott (Julie Christie) has been told since infancy that she is just darling.  She’s got it all – beauty, sex appeal, charm, and social skills.  But there’s an emptiness where empathy and conscience ought to be.  Obviously, such a person is cut out to be a fashion model or celebrity – maybe both.

The story follows Diana’s highly successful career and the fate of the men -a journalist (Dirk Bogarde) and producer (Laurence Harvey) – she spends time with on the way up.

Darling would make a great triple bill with La Dolce Vita and Blow-Up as another dark critique of the Swinging Sixties and popular culture.  Christie is simply fantastic.  She has to play quite a range and her expressive face tells us what she is feeling (or not).  The men are her equals.  Loved all the irony.  Adored the ending!  Highly recommended.

Darling won Academy Awards in the categories of Best Actress; Best Writing, Story and Screenplay – Written Directly for the Screen; and Best Art Direction-Set Direction, Black-and-White.  It was nominated in the categories of Best Picture and Best Director.