The Absolutely, Positively, No Doubt About It TOP 10 BEST FILMS OF THE 1960s

1. Jules and Jim: 1962 (Directed By Francois Truffaut)



2. 2001: A Space Odyssey: 1968 (Directed By Stanley Kubrick)



3. 2 or 3 Things I Know About Her: 1967 (Directed By Jean-Luc Godard)



4. The Apartment: 1960 (Directed By Billy Wilder)



5. Psycho: 1960 (Directed By Alfred Hitchcock)



6. The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance: 1962 (Directed By John Ford)



7. Playtime: 1967 (Directed By Jaques Tati)



8. Once Upon a Time in the West: 1968 (Directed By Sergio Leone)



9. The Wild Bunch: 1969 (Directed By Sam Peckinpah)



10. Repulsion: 1965 (Directed By Roman Polanski)

#2: 2001: A Space Odyssey

"2001: A Space Odyssey" is a film I can't possibly look at passively, it won't let me. Whenever I see the film, I am engaged with it till that very ambiguous ending that still boggles the mind as to what it all means.

I didn't always feel this way about the film, when I first tried viewing it, I found it to be a chore, I was young and impatient, I was looking for a more straight forward storyline. I didn't understand the idea of the primal beings at the beginning, nor the curious use of classical music. As a young man who was more accustomed to "Star Wars", I found "2001" a complete bore. By the time we got to the Jupiter mission with Dave, Frank, and HAL, I had gone to bed.

Years had past before I decided to give "2001" another try, this time I got through the entire film, and by the time I got the the end, I was scratching my head again wondering what it was all about. I was still not convinced, but something kept making me go back to it. I think the reason was because I was growing, and as I was doing that, I was asking more and more questions like who are we as a species, what is our ultimate potential, and where are we heading. Science Fiction is probably the best genre to ask these questions because it has the power to leap forward in time and give us potential answers to these.

I think "2001" is the most philosophical science fiction film as it probes these questions deeper than any other. The question is even put upon us to see if we can feel sympathy for a computer, and if a computer can actually have human emotion. It's ironic that the most poignant and poetic death in this film is of a computer, as HAL is slowly being ripped apart of his memory saying again and again "I'm afraid" or "I can feel it", HAL is the main villain of the film, yet he gets the most sympathetic scene of the entire cast.

On its surface, "2001" is a very exciting and suspenseful Science Fiction yarn, and put the genre light years ahead of its predecessors. Stanley Kubrick constructed the film as if it were silent, there is very little dialogue, and very long scenes of no sound at all. Kubrick was one of the most inventive filmmakers, but I think "2001" is his crowning achievement as he pulled back from convention and gave us some truly original set pieces. Take for example the opening sequence entitled "The Dawn of Man", a perfectly remarkable silent film within a film, as we are shown the first alien encounter of the mysterious monolith that appears throughout the film. The sequence is one of the most powerful filmed stories made as we see the influence of the motionless monolith on the primitive species.

Also take the extraordinary sequence where we see Dave and Frank conspiring to destroy HAL thinking he can't hear them, but then we cut to a shot of HAL's point of view reading their lips. It's one of the great displays of suspense where just enough is shown to let us know what will happen.

However, for me what makes "2001" work so well as a film and why I think it remains timeless is the questions it raises. "2001" is a very spiritual movie that dares to explore man's real potential, and wonders if we can really reach beyond the infinite. Space is the one area still left mystery to us, we still continue to explore it, and I think we are drawn to it because it represents so much we still don't know about ourselves.

The ending of "2001" is wonderful because we are left with more questions than we had before the movie began. We see the end of a man's life followed by a baffling sort of rebirth, is the meaning of life really out there? If we search for it long enough throughout space and time, will we ever find it? Are we even meant to find it? What is our destiny? I can probably say without a doubt, we won't have answers for these questions in my lifetime, but a film like "2001" inspires us that some day perhaps we will know the answers.

#4 The Apartment

There are those movies you admire, and there are those you love, and I love "The Apartment". "The Apartment" speaks to me on a personal level, as when I see Jack Lemmon's portrayal of C.C. Baxter I can't help but see a little bit of me in him, and there is also a part of him I aspire to be. C.C. Baxter is a small guy in a big guy's world, he plays by there game only to get ahead but inside you can tell this guy is a decent person.

There's something in C.C. Baxter that a director like Billy Wilder roots for and feels sorry for. Wilder was a brilliant satirist and "The Apartment" is one of his most scathing portrayals of corporate power. The big businessmen in Wilder's film are mostly seen as caricatures who are hypocrites with loose morals, Baxter does all he can to stay ahead of the game while keeping his self respect.

In a perfect world, Baxter wouldn't have to compromise himself to get ahead, and in the hands of any other director, we might have a compromised ending where he does indeed get everything and all the villains get what's coming to him. Wilder knows how the real world works, but that's not to say he can't see a happy ending for Baxter.

"The Apartment" was the second collaboration between Wilder and Lemmon, they worked almost all the time together until Wilder's last film. Lemmon gives one of the greatest screen performances ever in this film, he can be a bundle of nerves, but he's always in control with the character. He turns Baxter into a perfect everyman, and a character that seems all too real for me.

I think above all the cynicism in the film, it remains beloved because of the romance involved. I'm a sucker for romances about lonelyhearts, I think it's because it's with these type of romances you really want to see the main characters get together. Both Baxter and Miss Kubilik played wonderfully by Shirley Maclaine are two people who are full of misery and you want them so much to be happy at the end.

The final scene with Baxter and Kubilik is one of Wilder's most famous with a great final line. In his own Wilder way, he gives us everything we want, but doesn't compromise his vision.

"The Apartment" is a film I will probably never get tired of like "It's a Wonderful Life", or "City Lights" simply because I fall in love with it each time I see it, it doesn't matter how many times or what mood I'm in, it always has the power to cheer me up when I'm down.

Segio Leone and the infield Fly Rule Quiz

1) Second-favorite Coen Brothers movie. "Raising Arizona"

2) Movie seen only on home format that you would pay to see on the biggest movie screen possible? (Question submitted by Peter Nellhaus) "2001: A Space Odyssey"

3) Japan or France? (Question submitted by Bob Westal) You're asking me to choose between Godard and Ozu it can't be done this is torture. However if I were on a desert Island I would prefer "Tokyo Story" with me so Japan.

4) Favorite moment/line from a western. "It's a Hell of a thing Killing a man, you take away everything he's got and everything he's going to get." (Unforgiven)

5) Of all the arts the movies draw upon to become what they are, which is the most important, or the one you value most? Painting

6) Most misunderstood movie of the 2000s (The Naughties?). "The Terminal"

7) Name a filmmaker/actor/actress/film you once unashamedly loved who has fallen furthest in your esteem. "Crash" the Paul Haggis film, which is not to say I don't hate it, but I have no interest in watching it over again, but it really effected me when I first saw it.

8) Herbert Lom or Patrick Magee? Herbert Lom

9) Which is your least favorite David Lynch film (Submitted by Tony Dayoub)"Lost Highway" although again that is not to say I hated it.

10) Gordon Willis or Conrad Hall? (Submitted by Peet Gelderblom)I know of Willis but not Hall so I can't say.

11) Second favorite Don Siegel movie. "The Shootist"

12) Last movie you saw on DVD/Blu-ray? In theaters? DVD: "Playtime" Theatres: "A Serious Man"

13) Which DVD in your private collection screams hardest to be replaced by a Blu-ray? (Submitted by Peet Gelderblom) "City Lights"

14) Eddie Deezen or Christopher Mintz-Plasse? Plead ignorance

15) Actor/actress who you feel automatically elevates whatever project they are in, or whom you would watch in virtually anything. James Stewart, Today it would be Clive Owen I think.

16) Fight Club -- yes or no? Sure

17) Teresa Wright or Olivia De Havilland? Teresa Wright because I'm pretty sure I fell in love with her for real in "Pride of the Yankees" and "Shadow of a Doubt"

18) Favorite moment/line from a film noir. "Over here Angel you look like a pikanese, and since I'm collecting guns..." ("The Big Sleep")

19) Best (or worst) death scene involving an obvious dummy substituting for a human or any other unsuccessful special effect(s)—see the wonderful blog Destructible Man for inspiration. Although he did not die, Colin Clive in "Frankenstein" or the farm couple at the beginning of "Bride of Frankenstein" who did die.

20) What's the least you've spent on a film and still regretted it? (Submitted by Lucas McNelly) $8.00 on "High School Musical 3".

21) Van Johnson or Van Heflin? Mr. Johnson thank you very much.

22) Favorite Alan Rudolph film. Can't think of any.

23) Name a documentary that you believe more people should see. "Murderball"

24) In deference to this quiz’s professor, name a favorite film which revolves around someone becoming stranded. "Sansho the Baliff"

25) Is there a moment when your knowledge of film, or lack thereof, caused you an unusual degree of embarrassment and/or humiliation? If so, please share. I'm somewhat embarrassed of my film knowledge very day to day and I try not to reveal it to my friends who I feel don't want to listen to me go on and on in my own little world.

26) Ann Sheridan or Geraldine Fitzgerald? (Submitted by Larry Aydlette) Ann Sheridan

27) Do you or any of your family members physically resemble movie actors or other notable figures in the film world? If so, who? I always thought my dad talks a lot like Harrison Ford but he doens't really look like him.

28) Is there a movie you have purposely avoided seeing? If so, why? Ummmm "2012" cause it doesn't look like the kinda movie I'd be interested in, plus I'm tired of end of the world movies.

29) Movie with the most palpable or otherwise effective wintry atmosphere or ambience. "Fargo"

30) Gerrit Graham or Jeffrey Jones? Don't know the first guy so I can't say.

31) The best cinematic antidote to a cultural stereotype (sexual, political, regional, whatever). "Mr. Smith Goes to Washington" is a perfect antidote for the political stereotype since it makes me care about politics.

32) Second favorite John Wayne movie. "Rio Bravo" by a nose.

33) Favorite movie car chase. "Raiders of the Lost Ark"

34) In the spirit of His Girl Friday, propose a gender-switched remake of a classic or not-so-classic film. (Submitted by Patrick Robbins) Ummmmm "Rio Bravo"? They're all women.

35) Barbara Rhoades or Barbara Feldon? I don't know Barbara Rhoades but agent 99 is hot.

36) Favorite Andre De Toth movie. Can't say

37) If you could take one filmmaker's entire body of work and erase it from all time and memory, as if it had never happened, whose oeuvre would it be? (Submitted by Tom Sutpen)Alan Smithee

38) Name a film you actively hated when you first encountered it, only to see it again later in life and fall in love with it. "2001: A Space Odyssey"

39) Max Ophuls or Marcel Ophuls? (Submitted by Tom Sutpen) Max

40) In which club would you most want an active membership, the Delta Tau Chi fraternity, the Cutters or the Warriors? And which member would you most resemble, either physically or in personality? Can't say I'm bad at this quiz.

41) Your favorite movie cliché. Sweeping emotional music during a sweeping emotional scene

42) Vincente Minnelli or Stanley Donen? (Submitted by Bob Westal)Minnelli by a slight margin.

43) Favorite Christmas-themed horror movie or sequence. "Gremlins" does that count as horror?

44) Favorite moment of self- or selfless sacrifice in a movie. It will always be Rick in "Casablanca" for me. Maybe The seven samurai in "Seven Samurai" as well.

45) If you were the cinematic Spanish Inquisition, which movie cult (or cult movie) would you decimate? (Submitted by Bob Westal) Torture porn addicts

46) Caroline Munro or Veronica Carlson? Can't say.

47) Favorite eye-patch wearing director. (Submitted by Patty Cozzalio) John Ford

48) Favorite ambiguous movie ending. (Original somewhat ambiguous submission---“Something about ambiguous movie endings!”-- by Jim Emerson, who may have some inspiration of his own to offer you.) "No Country for Old Men" is great of course but I think that just may be because I enjoyed Jim Emerson's endless writings about it.

49) In giving thanks for the movies this year, what are you most thankful for? I'm thankful for Pixar, The Coens, and the minimalism of "Good Bye Solo"

50) George Kennedy or Alan North? (Submitted by Peet Gelderblom) Mr. Kennedy of course.

#7: Playtime

"Playtime" is set in Paris, but don't be surprised if it looks nothing like the Paris you are used to seeing. As far as we know, "Playtime" is not a futuristic film, but it seems to be set in a very modernized version of world of today. The film is also what the title suggests, it is a playful and inventive comedy about how we perceive ourselves in a world overwhelmed with technology.

"Playtime" was directed with a master's hand by Jaques Tati, the French comedic director who's persona became M. Hulot is one of the most lovable characters in cinema. Admittedly, I have not seen the other Hulot comedies, and in "Playtime", you get the sense that Tati was trying to distance his character from the main point of the film. There are even certain instances where we mistake Hulot in many scenes by impostors wearing his trademark short trousers and raincoat with an umbrella. The impostor Hulots are just one of the bits of illusion Tati uses in the film.

"Playtimes" was shot in a very unique way, using only wide shots depicting very public places. Each set piece be it an airport, an apartment building, or a restaurant are used to establish the changing materialistic world that Paris has become. Tati shows that even the simplest thing such as a chair has been turned into something that is difficult to comprehend.

When we are not following Hulot, we also focus on Barbara, an American tourist who wants to get a glimpse of Paris, but her tour group seems to thrust her into buildings and scenarios that all look the same. At one moment Barbara is looking at a travel poster of London, then when she walks onto the streets of Paris, she seems almost the exact picture in real life. Tati isn't subtle in showing us how places are losing their individuality, the film could've taken place in London, or New York, and we probably wouldn't have seen a difference. Tati's modernized Paris has lost all its colour, the buildings all look the same and have a grayish tone, and the people inhabiting the city seem to have blended in with their surroundings. For Hulot, who is a native, he seems to be as lost as a regular tourist at this modern world, running into spaces that turn into elevators, seeing one building that is the same not knowing where to go.

The real Paris, or the one we want to remember is reflected briefly against glass windows, just sort of a reminder that the beauty of the city still exists, but remains in the background. When Barbara tries to take a picture of an old fashioned flower shop in the midst of all the new and improved things, the hustle and bustle of that world prevents her to take it.

Tati doesn't all look that impressed with the new fast paced technology driven society depicted in his film, and he reflects this with a highly comedic piece set in a futuristic restaurant. The set piece which almost makes up half of the film shows this restaurant as something that clearly is trying to open before it really should. Before our very eyes, the restaurant falls apart on itself, and soon resembles a funhouse instead of a restaurant. The glass door breaks, but the doorman still has the handle, and holds it up, while the customers don't seem to notice. The chairs which have a crown design on its back leave marks on the patrons. Tile floors are uprooted, a waiter's uniform is ruined, and no one can turn down the heat because the instructions aren't in french. This is the folly of man, and Tati can't help but laugh at it.

Despite the cynical look at the new modern world, Tati can't help but have fun with it, the set pieces are all expertly executed as Tati shows off his talent of using his space and movement of actors. He never seems to have a direct focus on any one person at a time unless Hulot or Barbara are in the scene, however we always can follow the action. The film feels much like a silent film with sound effects, and Tati could've easily cut all dialogue, and it would still be an entertaining film. The way his sound design is set up, and the way the actors speak in his space, I sometimes felt I was watching a Robert Alman movie.

When I first saw "Playtime" I thought it was very charming, and for awhile it was one of my favorite films. It has that European flavor to it, that makes it somewhat of a harsh movie, but it doesn't lose its sense of magic and invention which makes it highly entertaining to watch, each time I see it, I notice something I didn't see before.

The 60s

I've said before that if there was a decade I would want to be alive during it would be the 1960s, not that there aren't other decades to choose from. So much came out of the 60s that have been such a huge part of my life, the mantra became more youth oriented movies, while the dynasty of the old studio crumbled away.

The 1960s were full of films by the studio that became mainly out of touch with today's youth. Movies became bloated with budgets or musical production numbers, and were made with minds with less emotion. Most of these films made money, but none can be considered classics. Perhaps the most famous of these blunders was 1963's "Cleopatra" starring Elizabeth Taylor and Richard Burton, the film was a colossal failure causing its company 20th Century Fox to almost go bankrupt.

Still despite all of these dinosaur pictures that didn't quite fit well with this new era, there were some old pros who still had something to say. John Ford who made his career making the best westerns ever made made perhaps his darkest but most nostalgic film "The Man who Shot Liberty Valance" which was about the death of the old west and the birth of a new civilization. It was as if Ford was saying, there wasn't room for war horses like him anymore. Alfred Hitchcock in the meantime was reinventing himself and reinventing the suspense genre he mastered so well since his debut. His "Psycho" became one of his biggest hits and influenced generations of horror filmmakers, he followed that up with the no less scary "The Birds". Then there was that master satirist Billy Wilder who found new life with his acting muse Jack Lemmon, together they made a series of great comedies of the decade which started with "The Apartment". Wilder never seemed to be one of those directors who was ever out of touch, for him the 60s were just catching up with the type of sexual politics he was always putting in his films.

New filmmakers were making names for themselves during this period as well. Men like Sam Peckinpah and Sergio Leone in particular created what is known as the revisionist western with their films like "Once Upon a Time in the West" and "The Wild Bunch". These films could be much more violent and operatic in the depiction of the west, plus the characters were less heroic and darker than you would find in a Ford or Hawks western.

However the biggest surge of talent this year wasn't coming out of Hollywood, but from Europe. The French New Wave came in full force with films by Godard, Truffaut, Malle, Rohmer, and Chabrol to name a few. The french new wave brought new ideas to the forefront and relied on technique that was seen as more improvised, they changed the rules using extensive jump cuts and breaking continuity, it was a fresh approach to cinema. The most prolific director of this time was Godard who made 15 films between his first film "Breathless" in 1960 and his culminating film "Week end" in 1967.

Other European filmmakers made a name for themselves in the 1960s, Bergman for one would continue where he left off in the 50s with films that probed the mind and man's search for meaning. It in this decade he made films like "Persona" and "Through a Glass Darkly" both of which are considered masterpieces. In Italy Fellini became and even more out there and edgy artist with his two most ambitious (and some would say autobiographical) films "La Dolce Vita" and "8 and a half".

While these films were making an impact, Hollywood was watching, a new youth movement was happening, and by 1967, things were getting very interesting. Soon studios were overrun by radical youths who were influenced by the films in Europe and went on to change the face of Hollywood. Edgier films starting with "Bonnie and Clyde", and "Easy Rider" were made, and soon young film students like Martin Scorsese, and Francis Ford Coppola were making their very first films. As the 60s ended, the 70s were looking more promising than ever.

The Absolutely, Positively, No Doubt About It TOP 10 BEST FILMS OF THE 1950s

1. Tokyo Story: 1953 (Directed By Yasujiro Ozu)



2. Vertigo: 1958 (Directed By Alfred Hitchcock)



3. The Searchers: 1956 (Directed By John Ford)



4. Seven Samurai: 1954 (Directed By Akira Kurosawa)



5. Rio Bravo: 1959 (Directed By Howard Hawks)



6. Sunset Boulevard: 1950 (Directed By Billy Wilder)



7. The 400 Blows: 1959 (Directed By Francois Truffaut)



8. Singin in the Rain: 1952 (Directed By Stanley Donen and Gene Kelly)



9. Touch of Evil: 1958 (Directed By Orson Welles)



10. Sansho the Baliff: 1954 (Directed By Kenji Mizoguchi)

#8: Singin in the Rain

Has there ever been a movie more aimed at entertaining its audience than "Singin in the Rain"? As I watched the film again, what I noticed was how it never seemed to let up, practically every scene had some way of energizing you out of its stupor, which is why it is still considered the greatest musical to come out of Hollywood.

I remember when attending my film class a few years ago, "Singin in the Rain" was the one film that practically all the students had seen, or at least have heard about. For those who haven't seen it, probably just know about the one title number which is immortalized by Gene Kelly with him dancing and singing in the rain, full of love and happiness in his heart. Little do those people know, that this is also the film that contains "Make em Laugh", "Good Morning", and countless others. It's hard to believe one movie can contain such talent, but it does.

True Gene Kelly is the obvious standout dancer in the group, but watch Donald O'Connor match him step for step in "Moses Supposes", or watch him in his own show stopper in "Make Em Laugh". Debbie Reynolds is no slouch herself as she joins the boys in "Good Morning, Good Morning", and even though Jean Hagen has no singing or dancing parts, she practically steals every scene she's in as the ultimate dumb blonde, (Hagen by the way was the only cast member to receive an Oscar nomination).

Watching "Singin in the Rain" is noticing just how much talent Hollywood had back then, everybody was a hoofer who worked night and day on making an entertaining film. Movies by then looked so effortless and fun, because that's how much the talent worked to make it look that way. Over the years, I've grown to have a new appreciation for musicals for the simple reason they are the type of genre designed to make you applaud from your seat. The performers are giving their all in "Singin in the Rain", and you can't help but smile and get excited at what they throw at you next.

Let also not forget that "Singin in the Rain" is probably the funniest comedy of the 50s as well, it's a dead on satire of the movie industry as it was changing from silent films to sound. Studios had to deal with a lot of things such as hiding microphones on actors, to getting the sound in sync, to having performers with badly sounding voices, it's all beautifully parodied throughout.

I don't think "Singin in the Rain" has any worry of losing its status as greatest musical ever, while I admire some musicals of today, I rarely get that feeling losing myself with excitement the way I do with this film or others of this great era.

"Singin in the Rain" is about having a good time at the movies and letting yourself be entertained by real professionals who practically broke their backs to make sure you were enjoying yourself. Yes movies used to do that.

#9: Touch of Evil

I don't think there was ever another great director whose films were more tarnished and vandalised by the studio system than Orson Welles. After "Citizen Kane", the rest of his Hollywood career was an uphill battle. His masterpiece "The Magnificent Ambersons" was savagely edited without Welles' consent, the original negative of the film lost forever. The final shot was directed not by Welles, but by Robert Wise and changed it into a more acceptable happy ending.

With his final Hollywood film, "Touch of Evil", Welles still stood defiant even after the studio cut his version again without him knowing. Welles' response to this turned into a notorious 58 page letter of all the changes he wished on the film. The changes would not be made in Welles' lifetime, unfortunately, but we on the other are able to see a carefully restored version of the film the way Welles wanted it from his notes.

"Touch of Evil" is a very special film noir, and is often considered the last of the genre. Welles was a director of black and white, and used it better than any other director. In "Touch of Evil" it's as if he uses every movie trick he had learned up until then to make a truly flamboyant, accessible, and entertaining film.

We begin the film with one of the most memorable shots in movie history, one that lasts 3 minutes and 20 seconds, as we follow a bomb that is planted into the trunk of a car. We see the car drive off, and we focus on a newlywed couple Mike and Susan Vargas (Charlton Heston and Janet Leigh) as they walk across the Mexican/American boarder, just as the car with the bomb drives by. The car blows up in America but the bomb is suspected to have been planted in Mexico leading to a cross/boarder investigation. Mike, who is a Mexican and is in charge of the PanAmerican Narcotics Commission offers his assistance. On the American side of law and order, we have Captain Hank Quinlan (Welles)an overweight racist cop, but with a solid reputation with his community.

As the investigation gets underway, Susan is taken to a motel to wait for Mike, but we learn that the place where she is staying is run by the local gang of drug pushers who are related to a man Mike is prosecuting. The scenes with Leigh in the motel room are downright disturbing and terrifying as it all implies gang rape, lesbianism, and drug use, all of which got past the censors through Welles' clever use of implying and not showing. It's definitely Leigh's second most horrifying experience in a motel room.

The scenes with Susan are given equal weight as the scenes with Mike Quinlan, who we learn plants evidence in order to convict a young Mexican boy of the bombing. Mike is the first to discover this and suddenly the film switches focus from the bombing to Quinlan.

Quinlan is indeed the real villain of this piece, and the central character, although Mike is the hero, and Heston's name appears first in the credits, we can see quite clearly, Welles is interested in showing us the downfall of this once great detective who lost his way.

Because Welles plays Quinlan, a certain amount of pathos is added to the character more than other film noirs would allow. Although Quinlan is corrupt, we feel for him, we learn that his wife was killed when he was a rookie cop, strangled, which is the way Quinlan kills a character in this film. The people who know Quinlan best are his partner Pete (Joseph Calleia) and former lover Tanya (Marlene Dietrich) both of whom are present at his last stand

The end of "Touch of Evil" is one of the greatest endings of cinema, an absolute gem, that seems to come more out of European film than Hollywood. Welles chooses not to give the last line to Quinlan or Mike, but instead to Tanya. It's a testament to the power of Marlene Dietrich who has a little more than a cameo in this film, yet it cold be argued she has the most memorable image. It's a treat to see her and Welles in this film together, you can sense the history between their characters and their feelings just bya glance and what isn't said between them. Dietrich and Welles were such great powerhouses, you can see there is a certain equality between them.

"Touch of Evil" shows Orson Welles late in his career still having fun at what he was doing, watching this film, you get the feeling that nothing ever phased him, since it is done in only the way he would've aloud it. It is one of the most entertaining noirs ever made, done with such style that was years ahead of anyone else.

#10 Sansho the Baliff

Above all things, the 1950s brought out in cinema, the most important for me was the golden age of Japanese film. One of the greatest pictures from this decade directed by master filmmaker Kenji Mizoguchi was "Sansho the Baliff", which is magnificently powerful and devastating from beginning to end.

I first viewed "Sansho the Baliff" over two years ago when it was newly released on Criterion DVD, it was also the first Mizoguchi film I had ever watched. I was so overwhelmed by the film, but it also left me with despair which caused me not to view it again for over a year. Enough time had passed which made me curious about the film again, so I decided to revisit it, and since then I have watched it two more times. "Sansho the Baliff" does what few films can do and that's put you under its spell. I am enchanted by its beauty, but also by its sadness.

To get things straight before I continue, I don't think the film is a downer of the picture, however it is so full of intense emotion, it's best to be prepared for it. In my first viewing, I was completely knocked over, and wasn't at all anticipating what the film would take from me emotionally. Having seen it now multiple times, I see it now as more of a cathartic film as you're drawn into these characters and their emotions so powerfully, it's hard not to feel what they're going through.

Part of the reason this film has this certain effect has to do with how it deals with a tragic separation between two young children and their parents. The father is a government official who defended the rights of peasants, as a result, he's striped of his title and exiled. His wife, son, and daughter are also left alone in exile as well, but things end up being even more tragic. After putting their trust in a strange peasant woman, the family is tricked and the mother is taken from the children to be sold as a courtesan, the kids meanwhile are sold into slavery.

The head of the manor to which the children are slaves for is the title the character Sansho. Sansho treats his slave without a care for their humanity, they work for him until they can no longer go on, and then are banished to the forest left for dead, and people who are caught trying to escape are branded on the forehead leaving an ever revealing mark.

Ten years go by and the boy who's name is Zushio grows up becoming Sansho's lackey in order to get better treatment, trying to forget the idealistic words his father taught him as a boy. The girl Anju still has hope that some day the two will be reunited with their mother. The mother meanwhile is off on some distant island and is left a cripple after attempting to escape.

Throughout the film, we are reminded of the cruel world these people live in through the words that are said by them, but most prominently through a song that is sung which plays an important part in the plot. It's the world that's hard to take, but it's the idea that the children choose not to become victims of this world, but rather transcend it. Anju in particular is presented as a woman of sacrifice and when she is given the threat of torture, she chooses the only logical conclusion in her mind. Her decision is not only the most famous scene in the film, but one of the all time beautiful moments in all of cinema, I try holding back the tears each time.

It's difficult to discuss a film I still feel like I'm getting to know. I only think in time, it will grow it stature for me. Its director Mizoguchi was truly one of the greats, I have only seen a handful of his films, but those few have resonated deeply within me, he is often regarded with Ozu and Kurosawa as one of the Japanese masters and it's clear to see why with this film.

Japanese cinema is something I have fallen in love with over the years. I started with Kurosawa films, and have branched out from there. There is always meticulous elegance in their compositions, which as I understand stems from their own traditional artwork. I am astonished by small gestures made by the actors such as a slight bowing of the head or kneeling that speak volumes. These movements seem so precise but are never mechanical, there is a perfect stillness to it all, and there is always some quiet reflection to be observed. "Sansho the Baliff" is full of these moments that make it poignant and poetic for the eye, it's moving to see, and transcends the brutal world of its characters into one that is uplifting and heartfelt.

The 50s

A new decade brought new challenges to the movie industry, by the time the 1950s came around, people were surrounding a new form of motion picture: the television, this became a cheaper more conveient way for people to spend their time. They didn't have to leave home and could still be thorougly entertained.

Hollywood tried to up the ante by adding new ways to experience movies. Three-projector Cinerama, widescreen CinemaScope, and stereiophinic soundtracks debuted in the early 50s to great success, making way for monumental sword and sandal epics like "The Robe", "Quo Vadis", "The Ten Commandments", and "Ben Hur". 3-D became a fad at this time usually used in horror films like "House of Wax" or "The Blob", to induce more terror (I suppose). Hitchcock even got into the 3-D action using it with his thriller "Dial M for Murder", although this was often perceived as a gimmick.

Perhaps the most fun of these gimmicks (because it was purely just that) was contributed by horror-meister William Castle for his film "The Tingler". Castle actually wired up seats in the movie theatre for his film to buzz thus giving theatre goers a real spine chilling experience.

In other ways, the 50s saw the turning of the tide with more realism happening on screen. There was a new generation of actors which included Marlon Brando, James Dean, and Montgomery Clift who came from the same background, often under the direction of mentor Elia Kazan. With this new form of acting, a more intense natural performance was observed creating a new wave of young actors that today is still being felt.

New directors were coming into the forefront than ever before. Douglas Sirk became a master of melodrama, Vincent Minnelli perhaps had his greatest creative wave of films ever in this decade. But perhaps more than any other director in Hollywood, the decade belonged to Hitchcock. More than any other decade he worked on, Hitchcock showed a tremendous artful form in his filmmaking creating a memorable body of work. Beginning with "Strangers on a Train" and ending with "North by Northwest", with films like "Rear Window", "The Wrong Man", "To Catch a Thief", and "Vertigo" in between, Hitchcock was on a creative role.

For me personally, the thing that I found most interesting was the rise of Japanese cinema into western culture during this time. Very little of Japanese cinema was seen before the 1950s, but that all came crashing down in 1951 when Akira Kurosawa's "Rashomon" took home the Golden Lion Prize at the Venice Film Festival. The Japanese studio that made the film had little faith in it, and was in fact shocked at its popularity. The industry responded to this demand by making this type of Japanese film that would appeal to western audiences. This films were mostly "historical" dramas often thought of as a Japanese takes on the western. Kurosawa in particular excelled in this with masterpieces such as "Seven Samurai" and "Throne of Blood". His contemprary Kenji Mizoguchi would also make classics such as "Ugetsu" and "Sansho the Baliff". Soon other Japanese filmmakers would find acceptance with western audiences (although Ozu would have to wait until the 1970s to be discovered there.)making its culture one of the most important film cultures in film history.

World cinema itself was expanding rapidly, as we would see the first films directed by Fellini from Italy, and Bergman from Sweeden both of whom influenced generations of filmmakers., A new wave of film critics were also making a noise in Europe with a new film publication known as "Cahiers du cinema". These young french film fans were soon pointing out their own theories about the history of film in general, and soon put there words into practice when they would go out and make their own films. By the end of the decade we would in fact see the premier film of one of these film critics named Francois Truffaut, the film was "The 400 Blows", and soon the world of cinema would become a much different place.

The Top Ten List

This may have been one of the easier decades to do my top ten list because as a matter of fact the first five films on my list happen to be five of my favorite films of all time, in fact if you're an avid reader of my blog, I've written about these films before in some capacity, so there's a little hint. Still it's hard to choose just five from such a rich decade as this. I regret to say I've failed to find room for Minnelli's "The Bandwagon", or Renoir's "The River", or even Ophuls "The Earrings of Madame de..." which just goes to show just how awesome this decade was. And for those of you who think I'm somewhat biased with black and white film, fear not for you will see color with my picks. As per usual, I'm interest to hear feedback about it so let me know. Cheers.

The Absolutely, Positively, No Doubt About It TOP 10 BEST FILMS OF THE 1940s

1. It's a Wonderful Life: 1946 (Directed By Frank Capra)



2. Casablanca: 1943 (Directed By Michael Curtiz)



3. Citizen Kane: 1941 (Directed By Orson Welles)



4. Late Spring: 1949 (Directed By Yasujiro Ozu)



5. Notorious: 1946 (Directed By Alfred Hitchcock)



6. The Shop Around the Corner: 1940 (Directed By Ernst Lubitsch)



7. Double Indemnity: 1944 (Directed By Billy Wilder)



8. Sullivan's Travels: 1941 (Directed By Preston Sturges)



9. Ball of Fire: 1941 (Directed By Howard Hawks)



10. The Bicycle Thieves: 1948(Directed By Vittorio De Sica)

As per usual, I'd love to hear any objections or thoughts about my list, please let me know.

#2: Casablanca

There are those films we admire, and there are those films we love. "Casablanca" certainly goes under the latter category for me, can you think of any other film that is more beloved than this film? (For me it would be the #1 film on my list but that's it). Whoever coined the phrase "They don't make them like they used to", must've been referring to "Casablanca". Many people have tried to copy its style, it's plot, it's characters, but so far none have succeeded.

I think the treat in watching a film like "Casablanca" is its familiarity, everyone knows it, even if you haven't seen the movie (although if you haven't you really should get on that). I even remember hearing the lines "We'll always have Paris", "You'll regret it, maybe not today, maybe not tomorrow, but soon and for the rest of your life", and "Of all the gin joints in all the places in all the world, she walks into mine" before I saw one celluloid fragment of the actual film. When I first saw the movie it was as if I knew it already, even the ending was so famous I knew what was going to happen but I didn't mind.

I keep going back to "Casablanca" for those special moments, moments that can only happen in a movie, such as the first time Rick sees Ilsa in his cafe. That one look sums up an entire romantic history for us. Rick Blaine as played by Humphrey Bogart speaks volumes for any man who has been scorned, more than any other character, we understand the sadness behind his eyes, his bitterness, and his cynicism, but we can also see the mask he keeps to hide his humanity.

If you look at it, "Casablanca" is really Rick's story, it's how he's able to let go of his bitter past and become the man we all know he's destined to be. The emotion of the film doesn't lie in the star crossed romance between Rick and Ilsa, but in the unselfish act Rick does by letting her go.

Humphrey Bogart was the perfect man to play Rick at this time in his life, he had already played gangsters like Duke Mantee in "The Petrified Forrest" (My personal favorite gangster in the 30s period) and tough cynical anti-heroes (Sam Spade in "The Maltese Falcon). Bogart always made his heroes and villains complicated, we liked them when we were suppose to hate them, and hated them when we were suppose to like them. Part of Bogart's appeal and why he is perhaps the most admired movie star of all time is because his characters never pretend to know what the right thing to do is, but they most often do the right thing anyway. Bogart didn't become a movie star until he hit middle age, at this point it was as if his face had caught up with the characters he was born to play. There's a world weariness in Bogart that we see, someone who has been kicked and beaten but stands his ground, Rick's rebirth of patriotism at the end of "Casablanca" is such a heroic event because it gives validity to the old saying "you can't keep a good man down."

I watch "Casablanca" at least once a year, if I were to introduce a person to classic films, it would no doubt be the first movie I would give them. I could quote the film by heart, yet it still surprises me, I often catch myself smiling at my favorite parts. It's a pleasure to hear the dialogue, to see the cigarette smoke reflect from the light in the black and white film, to hear Dooley Wilson sing "As Time Goes By", to be caught up in the whole romance, intrigue, and melodrama of it all. To go on like this would be rambling, let me just say if you're not moved by a moment of "Casablanca", check your pulse, you must be dead.

#3: Citizen Kane

Whenever I get around to discussing "Citizen Kane", I sometimes stop myself. Much has already been said about "Citizen Kane", anything I would have to contribute would just be repeating from other people who are much better experts of the film than I am. Still "Citizen Kane" is a film one can't help but talk about. True it is the most overly analyzed film in the history of cinema, it has been examined to death. We can discuss the shots, the themes, the acting, the screenplay, the music, depth of field, the lighting, the camera movement, everything, it would all come down to what we already know, "Citizen Kane" is a masterpiece.

Amazingly in the two and a bit years this blog has been running, I haven't had one entry regarding "Citizen Kane", which is probably why of all films I've seen, I'm probably intimidated by it the most. I've seen the film multiple times since I was a child and seeked it out for the first time, for me it's a very magical movie, I've put it on my list of greatest films of the 40s not because it should be there, but because I believe it deserves to be there.

I feel some people I know look at "Citizen Kane" as something that has to be endured rather than enjoyed. They see it as a text book, something that must be learned and studied as if the teacher were forcing you, it has become to cinema what "War and Peace" has become to literature. When a film is suddenly thought of only in an academic nature, it sort of takes the fun out of watching it. Viewing the film again after so many times, I am still amazed at how fresh it is, as if it were my first time watching it. The pace of it is something that fascinates me, I think because it has become such an academic film, students have fallen under the impression that it is a slow film, when in fact it moves along at a tremendous speed, but the genius of Welles is how he can put so much ideas and condense them into such a small period of time, he was economical that way, but he makes his shots so memorable, you more time has gone by than really has.

Take the scene where young Kane is to be taken away from his boarding house and his mother to go and live with rich miser Mr. Thatcher. In all but five minutes or less, Welles creates a perfect short film within his larger one about a young boy torn from his mother that loves him in order to protect him from his abusive father. The scene is probably my favorite in the film, made so probably by Agnes Moorehead's wonderful portrayal of Kane's mother.

Take also the scene where Kane is seen defeated from his political race and Jed Leland goes to visit him at his headquarters drunk. The scene is a deterioration of a friendship, and is done in one long take with no cuts, with only two actors in the scene. Again it shows Welles' economy as a filmmaker but also his innovation with depth of field, we see the physical distance between the two friends, but Welles never lets them out of focus.

The thing I really zoned in on this time from watching it was the sound, and the wonderful understated music by legendary composer Bernard Herrman. Herrman of course made a name for himself with countless Hitchcock films, and I never really felt the impact of his score in "Citizen Kane" as I have in those films. But this time I heard the music never overpowering a scene, moving from themes of playfulness, to dread, to mystery, to joy. Listen to the music he gives in the young Kane scene, probably Herrman's most beautiful scoring.

Welles' sound in the film also is filled with a very playful quality, sometimes used to punctuate a scene or an incident, such as in the picnic scene where he slaps his second wife Susan. Susan never screams in any way, instead Welles uses the loud scream of a woman outside to illustrate to feelings of the character at that moment. There's also the moment where Kane fires Jed from his newspaper, punctuated with the sound of a typewriter resetting itself, it's all a very organic experience.

I am left in awe by "Citizen Kane" whenever I put it on, once I begin watching it, I won't turn it off. It deserves its reputation as the best American film ever made, I don't just admire it because I am told to, but because it is truly an entertaining film and should be viewed that way. My advice to those who perceive "Citizen Kane" only as a lesson plan is to put away the text book and try to enjoy it on its own terms, that is the only way to appreciate a film.

#10: The Bicycle Thieves

I first saw "The Bicycle Thieves", years ago in an intro to film class. The copy of the film we saw was entitled "The Bicycle Thief". The original title as it is displayed in the criterion version of the film is indeed the plural title, which makes it more accurate. There are in fact two bicycle thieves in the film, one is caught, and the other one isn't. The film focuses on the impact one of the thieves has on a poor working man living in Italy.

"The Bicycle Thieves" takes place in post war Italy, when the country was reduced to a capitalistic way of life, but which also meant high unemployment. The main protagonist is Antonio Ricci (Lamberto Maggiorani), a man who at the beginning is given a job for the city hanging up posters. The only thing he needs for the job is a bicycle to move around in. This already proves hard for Antonio since he had to pawn his bike, but his wife Maria (Lianella Carell) makes an ultimate sacrifice and pawns the family bedsheets in order to get the bike back. "We don't need to sleep with sheets" she says.

It becomes apparent that at this point in their lives, the family depends on the bicycle, as Antonio tells his son Bruno (Enzo Staiola) later in the film "without the bicycle we don't eat."

On the very first day Antonio starts his new job, the bike is indeed stolen, the rest of the film deals with the father and son trying to hunt down the man who took it.

When the film was first released, it was a huge critical and commercial success, it won the Academy Award for best foreign film in 1948, and is one of the important films in the era known as Italian neo-realism. These were films made after the war ended and what usually connected them was its stark realism and social commentary. "The Bicycle Thieves" is probably the best known of these films, although there could be an argument for Rossellini's "Rome, Open City" or "Umberto D", which was also made the same director of this film, Vittorio De Sica.

De Sica's style was using real settings for his films and for his cast, he used mostly inexperienced actors. De Sica was more concerned with the faces of his characters rather than their acting style, as a result there is a more natural tone and look than what you would find in a Hollywood film. Famed producer even suggested Cary Grant for the role of Antonio, a decision that would've been a big mistake.

This is one of the films where faces of the actors are an actual part of the aesthetic, when you look into the eyes of Antonio or Maria, you can sense that they are at their wits end, scraping to get by, they don't know what they would do if they can't find the bicycle.

"The Bicycle Thieves" isn't totally full of despair, part of why it is so emotional is how even the slightest bit of humanity can come through even at at a moment of hopelessness. One of the film's best scenes is after Antonio slaps Bruno out of frustration, Bruno walks away hurt and angry, later Antonio hears people shouting of a boy drowning, Antonio thinking it Bruno runs and is relieved to find it was not him. He sees Bruno waiting for him at the steps he told him to wait. Not only is this a social commentary story, but a tender father/son story as well.

I still remember the first time I saw "The Bicycle Thieves" it was one of the first foreign films I ever saw. The first time I was caught up in the suspense of the film, each time Antonio and Bruno are close to finding the bike or the thief, something lets them go. The film is full of ironies of class distinction and social justice, and the it all comes to a boil in the memorable finale.

In the end, we aren't given much closure, Antonio is still in the same situation as he continues searching for his bicycle, it avoids cliche and because of that it remains as powerful today as it was back then.

The 40s

The world grew up in the 40s, and cinema did as well. The depression ended in 1939 with the break out of the War in Europe, America then joined the fight in 1941, and nothing would be the same again.

Most popular movies in the 30s looked at the world in black and white, you knew your heroes and you knew your villains, but suddenly things got more complicated. Film went into darker territory, you sometimes didn't know who the good guys were. Characters were more cynical, and weary of the world, there was a name for this type of movie: Film Noir.

Film Noir came into its own in the 1940s, the bleak post war world view complimented these film's dark and violent overtones. Film noir found its origin earlier on borrowing a German Expressionism asthetic with its strong use of shadow. Robert Mitchum, who was one of film noir's major stars once said all he had for light in a scene came from his cigarette.

The film's themselves mostly originated from pulp crime stories from authours like Raymond Chandler and Dashiell Hammett. Directors such as John Huston and Billy Wilder made names for themselves with this kind of film, and it has since incluenced generations afterwards.

The major star to come out of these kind of movies was Humphrey Bogart. Bogart had a breakout year in 1941 with Huston's "The Maltese Falcon" and the gangster film "High Sierra". In both films, Bogart plays the anti-hero, in that he was someone who did bad things, but had the kind of attitude people rooted for anyway. Bogart's image excelled in these kind of films, perhaps no more than when he was partnered with his soul mate Lauren Becall. Together they made four films, perhaps no more memorable than the two directed by Howard Hawks, "To Have and Have Not", and "The Big Sleep".

Another kind of star gained a lot of fame during this period as well; John Wayne epitomized the Hollywood war hero in many films which made him the major box office star of the decade. It was ironic however that Wayne himself never fought in the war, something that would forever haunt his relationship with his director/mentor John Ford.

Films were getting more and more complex, a lot of art that came out during the war was abstract, reality was being bended in so many ways. The door became open for what is probably the single most influential director to come out of Hollywood. Orson Welles, the wonderkid of both theatre and radio was given a one in a lifetime contract by RKO studios for what would be his first film "Citizen Kane". Welles was given free reign, because as he stated before "I didn't want the money, I just wanted the power." He got it, and film students are still in awe of his masterwork. Welles would of course work in Hollywood for many years, but such other masterpieces like "The Magnificent Ambersons" would be butchered with his vocal disappoval, others like his "Othello" would take years to make since he had cease shooting in order to raise more money.

Another kind of revolution was happening overseas as well in the foreign market, this mostly seen in Italy. Italian neo-realism came into blossom by films such as De Sica's "The Bicycle Thieves" and Rosselini's "Rome Open City". The films were stark and showed a realism very different from Hollywood. Sometimes ordinary people were chosen in place of real actors, streets of Italy were shown as they were instead of glossy sets, and the subject matter was far more politically charged.

The 40s seemed to expand the arena of filmmaking, as the war ended, there was more complexity and more uncertainty. If the 30s showed us a world that was trying to stay optimstic, the 40s showed us that it was easier said than done.

The Top Ten List:

The 40s represented what I think may be the best films in Hollywoods history, there were so many leaps with new kinds of innovations, so I tried to keep that in mind but also not forgetting about my personal favorites. It's so fun making lists like these, once more I apoligize for anything I left out, and as per usual I accept your critiques and suggestions. Enjoy this week!

The Absolutely, Positively, No Doubt About It TOP 10 BEST FILMS OF THE 1930s

1. City Lights (1931) Directed By Charles Chaplin



2. Mr. Smith Goes to Washington (1939) Directed By Frank Capra



3. Rules of the Game (1939) Directed By Jean Renoir



4. Horse Feathers (1932) Directed By Norman Z. McLeod



5. (Tie) Top Hat (1935) Directed By Mark Sandrich



5. (Tie) Swing Time (1936) Directed By George Stevens



6. I Was Born But...(1931): Directed by Yasujiro Ozu



7. Trouble in Paradise (1932): Directed by Ernst Lubitsch



8. Bride of Frankenstein (1935) Directed by James Whale



9. Only Angels Have Wings (1939) Directed By Howard Hawks



10. Stagecoach (1939): Directed By John Ford

Did I miss anything, let me know, tell me your top ten picks.