Onibaba Dir. Kaneto Shindo (Japan, 1964)
This film made a lasting impression on me when I first saw it at the cinema as a student. Having revisited it on DVD fairly recently, I was not disappointed. Set in medieval Japan, at a time of civil war, this is a bleak, horrific and erotic tale that portrays mankind at its most base level. It is extraordinarily atmospheric and impressively filmed.
The Battle of Algiers Dir. Gillo Pontecorvo (Italy/Algeria, 1966)
A impressively realistic depiction of the war of independence fought between the Algerians and the French between 1954 and 1962. The film was made in the style of a documentary and apparently no newsreel footage was used. As the film is concerned with urban terrorism, counter-insurgency and the use of torture, it is as relevant now as it has ever been.
Bonnie and Clyde Dir. Arthur Penn (USA, 1967)
Based on the true story of the Barrow gang of bank robbers in the American Depression, this film had an enormous impact when first released and became a major influence on modern cinema. It had a memorable cast which included Warren Beatty, Faye Dunaway and Gene Hackman. Although, by the standards of the day, it was undoubtedly amoral and violent, it is nevertheless a film of great style.
The Graduate Dir. Mike Nichols (USA, 1967)
A strong candidate for my all-time favourite. I saw it in London, shortly after its release in this country, and remember the audience breaking into applause at the famous scene near the end when Benjamin makes his dash for freedom. This is the only occasion that I have known this happen during the course of a film. Although The Graduate was very much a film of the Sixties, capturing the youthful rebellion of the times and featuring the wonderful Simon & Garfunkel soundtrack, it has stayed the course. This is because it is funny, cynical, brilliantly acted (Dustin Hoffman, Anne Bancroft) and directed with originality and style by Mike Nichols, who won the Best Director Oscar.
If… Dir. Lindsay Anderson (UK, 1968)
This is another film that captured the rebelliousness of Sixties’ youth, although this was more revolution than rebellion. Malcolm McDowell stars as the leader of the teenage rebels against the repressive and corrupt system in their public school. I was at university when I first saw it and its raw power brought back to me how much I had disliked my own school. It is a complex film, moving between realism and surrealism, reality and fantasy, and monochrome and colour. Nevertheless, it is a classic; a genuinely subversive work, where the school can be seen as representative of British society as a whole.
Kes Dir. Ken Loach (UK, 1969)
Another film about a British schoolboy, but this is a far cry from If… Here the main protagonist is a teenager from a poor, working-class family in Barnsley. He manages to find freedom and fulfilment in his otherwise miserable and hopeless life by stealing a young kestrel and training it in secret. There is one hilarious scene, where the PE teacher lives out his fantasies by playing football with his pupils, but otherwise, this is sad little film of great humanity made by the wonderful Ken Loach who is still making good films in his mid-seventies.
L’Armée Des Ombres Dir. Jean-Pierre Melville (France, 1969)
A tribute to the French Resistance to the German Occupation during the Second World War, written and directed by Jean-Pierre Melville who was himself a member of the “Army of Shadows”. This is a moving, sombre film which, although made in an understated way, is nevertheless full of suspense.
The Wild Bunch Dir. Sam Peckinpah (USA, 1969)
Highly controversial when first released, on account of its violence, this has become a cinema classic. The violence is essential to the film and is not glorified. Of the three great Westerns contained in my selection for the sixties, this is, in my opinion, the best, possibly because it is far from typical of its genre. Like The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance, it is elegiac in tone. The central characters are a gang of outlaws, operating in America at about the time of the First World War, and can be viewed as the last of their breed. Sam Peckinpah directed with great style.
Z Dir. Costa-Gavras (Algeria/France, 1969)
Based on real events, this is about a political assassination that took place in Greece six years before the film was made and was then the subject of a cover-up by the authorities. A brilliant and moving thriller, it won a Best Foreign Film Oscar. I remember leaving the cinema, when I first saw it, seething with anger. The impact was not lessened when I saw it again several years later.
Midnight Cowboy Dir. John Schlesinger (USA, 1969)
The British director, John Schlesinger’s take on the underbelly of New York. This is the story of a handsome, but dim, young Texan (played by Jon Voight), who thinks he is going to earn a fortune as a gigolo, and his friendship with a crippled and sickly con-man ( Dustin Hoffman). This is a buddy movie where the buddies are the dregs of society. The film won Academy Awards for Best Picture and Best Director. The acting of the two leads is memorable. This was Dustin Hoffman’s second film role and the contrast with the character he played in The Graduate could not have been greater.
Click on film titles for Amazon product links. (Z does not appear to be available in the appropriate DVD format in the UK.)
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