Part three of my 100 one-sentence-movie reviews (1960-1984).
1960-1984
1960
In this Ingmar Bergman comedy the Devil has gotten a sty in his eye, and all because of a woman keeping her virtue until wedding night - but that's probably easy to fix if we send Don Juan in the form of the handsome Jarl Kulle to Earth to seduce her!
1961
Audrey Hepburn plays the flighty, colorful New York socialite Holly Golightly who takes an interest in a young man who has moved into her apartment building, after Truman Capote's novel.
1962
Bette Davis is freaky as hell in this psychological thriller about two sisters living together in a house where envy and madness tear on their relationship, and of course the fact that one sister is helpless in a wheelchair on the second floor.
1963
The tagline "You may not believe in ghosts, but you cannot deny terror" says everything about the horrifying experience watching this film is - you never know what is actually happening, if something is happening and if it's only in the mind.
1964
Colorful French musical about 17 year old Geneviève, living with her widowed mother who owns an umbrella shop in Cherbourg and being crazily in love with a young man her mother won't let her marry.
1965
Weird British humor about the 1960's hit makers The Beatles being chased around by fans and teasing poor Ringo for his big nose.
1966
A mod London photographer believes that he has accidentally photographed a murder, so he starts jumping between solving the mystery and having colorful photo shoots with chic and mostly naked models.
1967
A couple consisting of Katharine Hepburn and Spencer Tracy are forced to face their preconceptions when their daughter brings home a black fiancée in this lovely film with fine actors and a brilliant script.
1968
Based on a true story this film shows us what happens when a widower with ten children marries a widow with eight, and with another baby on the way they all must live under the same roof.
1969
A touching film about a male Texas prostitute (Jon Voight) and his sick friend (Dustin Hoffman) struggling to stay alive on the streets of New York City.
1970
On the surface a simple story about an innocent woman being destroyed by a hypocrite of a stepfather (and after her mother's death, lover) - under the surface pure Buñuel surrealism - and only that director would dare to amputate the beautiful Catherine Deneuve!
1971
As one of the most iconic films of the 1970's, A Clockwork Orange takes place in future Britain where we meet the young man Alex, who is addicted to sex and ultra-violence, but goes to prison to go through a rehabilitation that destroys his dear Beethoven for him.
1972
The sickest film I have on this list of 100 movies - but it is so sick, gruesome, filthy and God-knows-how-to-describe-it, that I simply can't avoid adoring this John Waters camp legend.
1973
An elegant con-movie set in the 1930's, about a man seeking revenge for his murdered partner in crime, and finds the right man to help him - con-master Henry Gondorff.
1974
Mel Brooks' story about Dr. Frankenstein's grandson who inherits his grandfather's castle and repeats his experiments - a hilarious spoof on the horror film genre.
1975
Oh, how I love the British - and this is British humor times a hundred in a comedy classic you must never foresee.
1976
In the dirty inner-city Rome four generations of a family live crowded together and do their best to be filthy - a completely wonderful Italian comedy, with an unsuspected kind of humor.
1977
Woody Allen's comic masterpiece that even himself never could compete with - an original and warm film about the self-destructive Jewish comedian Alvy Singer who messes up all relationships he comes near, even with the love of his life - Annie Hall, played by a wonderful Diane Keaton.
1978
The second in the George A. Romero's zombie trilogy, where our heroes try to survive the zombie attacks in a shopping center - a funny satire on commercialism and a lot of gore!
1979
A disturbing German film about a boy in the 1930's who was born with full intellect, and decides at the age of three to stop growing - he then enjoys himself by beating on a tin drum and scream so loud that glass shatter.
1980
A family takes care of a hotel at a by winter unavailable location, and after a while the man of the family chases his wife and child with an ax - because we all know that "all work and no play makes Jack a dull boy".
1981
An homage to classic adventure movies, and a hell of a great one itself, with Indiana Jones equipped with a whip and charms.
1982
Ingmar Bergman's last motion picture is a masterpiece about a high society Swedish family celebrating Christmas, an evil, slimy priest that steals the custody of the children and mentally destroys their mother, an awesome Jarl Kulle as Gustav Adolf, and a lot of spooky stuff - but refuse to see anything other than the 4 hour version, too many superb and important scenes are cut out of the 2 hour version.
1983
The meaning of life according to Monty Python with their usual weird manners - and we do get an answer to what it is!
1984
A Milos Forman film about Mozart, told by his aging rival and forgotten composer Salieri - such an emotional and grand film with the magnificent music of Mozart himself is hard to beat.
I gave you an award it's on my blog :)
ReplyDeleteYours Mine and Ours..I like those 60s family comedies..With Six You Get Eggroll was another favorite from that time..I liked Monty Pyhthon's Meaning of Life slighly better than Holy Grail,maybe its because "Grail" gets quoted way too often!..love the poster there for it tho..Macadam Cowboy??.lol..great movie
ReplyDeleteLove that advertising for The Sting re-release: "backed by national TV spots on 18 prime-time shows on May 25-26-27". That's hilarious.
ReplyDeleteI never heard of the 1976 choice. Where did you discover this gem?
"Umbrellas of Cherbourg" is one of my all time favorite films. So happy to see it among all these fantastic choices!
For the Tin Drum, you forgot one other thing that he enjoys doing, but it might not be appropriate to post. lol.
I can't get enough.
Christopher:
ReplyDeleteI have yet to see With Six You Get Eggroll! Yes, the Holy Grail and Life of Brian are both very iconic and often quoted - perhaps too often. Luckily enough I'm one of few in my generation in Sweden who grew up with Monty Python, so I have loads of fun introducing their sketches to my friends! Just recently I showed the "Hitler in England" sketch to a friend - "No no, that's the wrong map! That's POLAND!" Haha!
Tom:
I discovered Ugly, Dirty and Bad back in the time when I still bought DVD's in non-internet shops, and saw a cool DVD edition of a film that seemed great and just bought it - and this film was a pleasant surprise! One transvestite boy, a one-eyed grandfather that wants his fat mistress to sleep in his wife's bed etc etc. Epic!
Haha, that dwarf in the end... Sick. I love that film.
Fanny and Alexander is the best of Bergman. This family saga has it all, pain, innocence, hate, love. Too much complicated for some people. Sven Nykvist its among the best cinematographer at the cinema history.
ReplyDeleteIn Ugly, Dirty and Bad everybody can see which kind of an actor Ettore Scola was, underrated at all. About A Clockwork Orange and The Shining the words are not enough. But I really love What Ever Happened to Baby Jane. Nowdays you cannot see a film like this coming from a big studio, the film have the touch of madness and hate and the grande finale on the beach scene make it a kind of his own. Its a kind of cinema like a separate movie.
The big surprise (pleasant surprise) is George A. Romero here. Of course he never made again something like this. But he has made a really strange good film called "Martin". If you dont have seen Martin, try it.
So long.
Don Michael Corleone:
ReplyDeleteYes, Sven Nykvist was great! Even though I don't like the Bergman film Cries and Whispers (1972), the cinematography is breathtaking.
What Ever Happened to Baby Jane? was such an experience the first time I saw it - I just couldn't believe it existed!
I haven't even heard of Martin! Need to check it up. Thanks for your long comments, very inspiring!