Category Archives: 1966

Billy the Kid Versus Dracula
Directed by William Beaudine
Written by Carl K. Hittleman
1966/USA
Circle Productions Inc.
First viewing/Amazon Prime

[box] William ‘Billy the Kid’ Bonney: What’s wrong with her, Doc? What are those marks on her neck?

Dr. Henrietta Hull: Well, if I didn’t know better, I’d say it was the work of a vampire.

William ‘Billy the Kid’ Bonney: Vampire?[/box]

I just had to watch the companion piece to Jesse James Meets Frankenstein’s Daughter (1966).

Billy the Kid has gone straight.  His sweetheart Elizabeth is waiting for the arrival of her Uncle James, whom she has never met.  Unbeknownst to her, a vampire (John Carradine) has assumed the identity of her uncle and has settled on Elizabeth as his undead bride.  Billy must save the day.

John Carradine was like the Energizer Bunny – he just kept going and going.  Here he plays history’s least sexy vampire.  He’s by far the best part of the movie – not to say that he’s very good.

A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum
Directed by Richard Lester
Written by Melvin Frank and Michael Pertwee from the book to the Broadway musical and an ancient play by Titus Maccias Plautus
1966/USA
Melvin Frank Production
First viewing/Netflix rental

[box] Tragedy tomorrow/Comedy tonight! – lyrics by Stephen Sondheim[/box]

Add Stephen Sondheim’s songs to some of the greatest comic actors ever and a good time will be had by all.

The story is based on an actual Roman comedy.  Pseudolus (Zero Mostel), a crafty slave, plots to gain his freedom from young master Hero (Michael Crawford) by uniting him with Philia, a beautiful virgin courtesan under the protection of a brothel owned by Marcus Lycus (Phil Silvers).  Complications arise as Philia is already promised as the bride of a blowhard Roman officer.  In addition, Hero’s own father (Michael Hordern)) lusts after the girl himself.  Appearing at intervals is Erroneus (Buster Keaton) as an old man searching for his missing children.  With Jack Gilford as a supposed eunuch.

Nobody is going to accuse this musical of being the best ever made. but it is fun, the colors are bright, and the music is good.  It was a very welcome diversion from the epics and misery fests that have been clogging 1966 lately.

But even without all that, I could not possibly leave Buster Keaton’s last film unseen.  He died during post-production.  I feel sad to be continuing this journey without him.

Violence at Noon (Hakuchu no torima)
Directed by Nagasa Oshima
Written by Tsutomu Tomura from a novel by Taijun Takeda
1966/Japan
Sozosha
First viewing/Netflix rental

[box] My hatred for Japanese cinema includes absolutely all of it. – Nagasa Oshima[/box]

Director Oshima’s favorite theme is the intersection of sex, violence and death.  Despite the buckets of style applied,  this is not a junction at which I want to spend much time.

The story moves back and forth between flashback and current time at regular intervals.  The film begins with the rape of a servant girl in a wealthy home and the subsequent rape and murder of her mistress.  The fits the MO of the “High Noon Killer” and the servant girl could certainly identify him if she wanted to.  Problem is she has a complicated past with the killer and his wife.  We then learn, in flashback, about the love quadrangle that set the events in motion.  It, too, features a rape.

I have discovered that Japanese films of this era love to portray rape as something that creates some kind of emotional bond between the rapist and the victim.  I’d love to know if anyone else sees that.  At any rate, I can appreciate the inventive compositions and cinematography without liking the movie much.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MIkhTaJOpNg

Young Törless (Der junge Törless)
Directed by Volker Schlöndorff
Written by Herbert Asmadi and Volker Schlöndorff from a novel by Robert Musil
1966/West Germany/France
Franz Seitz Filmproduktion/Nouvelles Editions de Films
First viewing/Netflix rental

[box] Thomas Törless: There’s no mystery there. Things just happen. Anything’s possible. There’s not an evil world and a good world. They exist together in the same world.[/box]

I knew going in that I did not want to watch a movie about torture at a boarding school and got exactly what I deserved.

Thomas Törless (Mathieu Carriere) is a cerebral young man who is the latest arrival at a German boarding school.  He is befriended by students Beineberg and Reiting.  Another student, Basini, steals money from one to pay a debt owed to another.  Instead of reporting the incident to school authorities, the boys devise their own punishment.  This comprises escalating forms of torture and humiliation.  Basini goes along in the mistaken belief that he will eventually be let alone.  Thomas passively looks on in a futile effort to understand human behavior.  With Barbara Steele as a prostitute.

If you are not as squeamish as I, there is an interesting analogy to Nazi Germany to explore here and lots of philosophical talk.

Couldn’t find anything with subtitles, so here’s this

Eye of the Devil
Directed by J. Lee Thompson
Written by Robin Estridge and Dennis Murphy from Estridge’s novel
1966/UK
Filmways Pictures
First viewing/Amazon Instant

[box] People tend to fear the ghosts in their own family. You feel these family curses and think, ‘If it happened to my father, it could happen to me.’ Christian Louboutin [/box]

I came for the awesome cast.  All I can say is the material let the actors down.

Marquis Philippe de Monfaucon (David Niven), his wife Catherine (Deborah Kerr), and two children live the good life.  Then Philippe is suddenly called away to the family vineyards, which are suffering the effects of a drought.  He bans Catherine and the kids from traveling with him.  She soon disobeys and joins him there.  We are introduced to two creepy siblings (David Hemmings and Sharon Tate) who appear to have supernatural powers.  Finally, we learn that the vineyard workers believe only a sacrifice of the Marquis will save their crops  More stuff happens.  With Donald Pleasance, Emlyn Williams, and Flora Robson.

A cardinal rule of the horror genre is that a long build-up must result in a big pay-off.  Dull movie ends with a wimper instead of a bang.

Tokyo Drifter (Tokyo nagaremono)
Directed by Seijun Suzuki
Written by Yasunori Kawauchi
1966/Japan
Nikkatsu
Repeat viewing/Netflix rental

[box] Tetsuya ‘Phoenix Tetsu’ Hondo: A drifter needs no woman.[/box]

This film is a feast for the eyes.  Not so much for the mind or heart.

Tetsuya Hondo is the right hand man to yakusa boss Kurata.  He follows Kurata in an attempt to go straight.  A rival gang tries to muscle in on Kurata’s legitimate business and Hondo decides to become a drifter to take the heat off.

Naturally, this doesn’t work and we follow the gunshots as they follow Hondo throughout Japan.

If it weren’t for IMDb I don’t know if I could have explained the plot.  This is all style and no substance.  The use of color is amazing.  Suzuki keeps the mood playful rather than pretentious so it went down easily.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iopqSzaKjeU

I lost track of how many times this song is performed in the film.  Easily in the two figures.

Grand Prix
Directed by John Frankenheimer
Written by Robert Alan Arthur
1966/USA
Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer/John Frankenheimer Productions/etc.
First viewing/Netflix rental

Pete Aron: [voiceover continues] The only thing to do here is to drive just as fast as you know how, and hope your car doesn’t break.

If not for the splendid racing scenes, this would just be another waste of some good actors on 3 hours of typical mid-sixties melodrama.

The film begins with several voice-overs that introduce the characters and explain Formula 1 racing to the uninitiated.  It then settles on the story of American driver Pete Aron (James Garner) who is accused of causing a British challenger to spin out and become seriously injured.  He is fired from his team.   Aron becomes a sports journalist but is soon picked up by Izo Yamura (Toshiro Mifune) and drives for him.

Saul Bass title sequence

Pete takes up with the injured driver’s estranged wife (Jessica Walters), setting up a love triangle.  Another kind of love triangle is the romance between married super-star driver Jean-Pierre Sarti (Yves Montand) and an American fashion designer (Eva Marie Saint).

It says something about this movie that my husband, a huge Formula 1 fan, had no desire to see this again.  Some of the driving shots are absolutely spectacular and the film ends with an unbelievable crash sequence.  I just wish they hadn’t hung such a dopey story to it.

Grand Prix won Academy Awards in the categories of Best Sound, Best Film Editing, and Best Effects, Sound Effects .