1965
You really can't talk about films from 1965 without mentioning the perennial family classic, The Sound of Music, one of the most popular family films of all-time and the Oscar winner for Best Picture from that year.
After watching The Sound of Music again, I found myself talking to a friend about it the next day and tried to make the case that it was really a pretty edgy film. They raised a skeptical eyebrow to that. But my point was that the film was edgy because it was just so damn unedgy! It doesn't try to be anything other than what it is: The story of a nun who falls in love with a rigid guy, who falls in love with her. He's got these rowdy children who are in reality darn near perfect. The guy is marrying a baroness, who is supposed to be the heavy, but steps aside when she sees the guy is in love with the nanny/nun. And there is plenty of uplifting music: Maria, Do-Re-Mi, My Favorite Things and Climb Ev'ry Mountain, a song I couldn't hit the notes on in high school chorus.
They do get chased by Nazis...I guess that's kind of edgy.
Also, the picture above is one of the most popular memes on the Internet. For those not hip to it, you are supposed to add in something to the effect of "This is me not caring anything about a particular subject. These kids and their memes...
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This is a strange screen shot of a fade-in I took of The Sound of Music.
It looks to me like Maria and the Von Trapp children are ghosts appearing
in a graveyard of some kind...I think I've been taking too much cold medicine
lately.
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| Orson Welles as Falstaff wearing his "crown" in Chimes at Midnight |
It's a little funny that I grew up hearing about Orson
Welles as basically a one-hit wonder and becoming pretty marginalized as a
film-maker after that film was released. But what about Touch of Evil? The
Magnificent Ambersons? The Lady from Shanghai? Or Chimes at Midnight? It
seems like only recently has Chimes of Midnight gotten the appreciation
it deserves thanks in part to a wonderful restoration and distribution from the
Criterion Collection. The film is a brilliant hybrid presentation of several of
Shakespeare's plays with Falstaff (also played by Welles) that the
director somehow manages to meld into a cohesive whole. The photography, acting
(John Gielgud as the King is a standout), and characterizations put this near
the top of must see Shakespeare adaptations. The muddy, ugly battle scene is
one of the best ever filmed. And the relationship between Prince Hal and
Falstaff supplies the important and ultimately tragic center of this classic
film. Jaunty score by Angelo Francesco Lavagnino.
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Here
are some other films released in 1965 that I've seen at some point in the past
that didn't make the 1001 movie cut. I'll mention something about the music in
each film since a lot of movie title music is running through my head as I go
through the titles.
1. The Cincinnati Kid
The reputation of this film
seems to be as a poor man's version of The Hustler, substituting poker
for pool. I actually saw The Cincinnati Kid before I saw The
Hustler and like it just as well as the more noted film. Steve McQueen
heads an all-star cast and the plot is interesting even if it comes to a
statistically improbable solution. (Drawing for an inside straight flush?)
Music: Soulful opening theme from Ray Charles
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You're good kid, but as long as I"m around, you're only second best.
Lancey Howard (Edward G. Robinson) teaches
Cincinnati Kid (Steve McQueen) an important life lesson. |
2. The Family Jewels
Been a long time since I saw this one. Jerry Lewis playing seven roles is
something that is something to love or hate. I'll let you decide.
Music: Speaking of family, Jerry's son Gary and his band The Playboys
perform their biggest hit "This Diamond Ring," in the film.
3. Clarence, the Cross-Eyed
Lion
I may or may not have seen this
film, but the series it spun into (Daktari) was one of the favorite
shows of my childhood. The plot features a doctor and his family protecting
animals and curing the locals, but I mostly liked it for the appearances by
Clarence and Judy the Chimp.
Music: The theme of the show featuring African
drums and something that always sounded like a xylophone would always get me
primed to watch the show. Play it now and I'll still come running and salivating like Pavlov's
dog!
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Clarence, the Cross Eyed-Lion appears to be giving
some Mustafaish advice to his adopted family. |
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4. For a Few Dollars More
The middle film in Sergio
Leone's dollar trilogy isn't quite as majestic as The Good, the Bad and the
Ugly, but doesn't have the plagiarism issues of A Fistful of Dollars,
either. But really, all three of these films should be on any film buffs watch
list.
Music: Ennio Morricone doing the theme for a
Sergio Leone film. Hard to beat that.
5. Dr. Goldfoot and the
Bikini Machine
The story of a mad scientist
who builds sexy robots to rob men won the Best Picture Oscar of 1965. Vincent
Price also won Best Actor for his role and...okay, I'm lying about this silly
film winning any Oscars. It is kind of fun to watch Vincent Price ham it up as
the sinister Dr. Goldfoot.
Music: I remember the theme song, but I hadn't
realized it was done by The Supremes. If you are thinking about The Supremes
greatest hits, you probably don't think of the theme from Dr. Goldfoot and the
Bikini Machine first, but I admit it is kind of catchy.
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| Vincent Prince in Dr. Goldfoot. Love ya anyway, Vinnie! |
6. The
Greatest Story Ever Told
George Stevens's star-studded epic about the last year of Jesus is the one I still probably consider the definitive Jesus movie. It seemed to always be shown in two parts when it was on TV in the seventies. The all-star cast seemed pretty cool at the time, but was probably a bit of a distraction. The oddest casting choice was John Wayne as a Roman guard at the crucifixion, though my personal favorite from the cast is Telly Savalas as Pontius Pilate. Score by Hollywood music legend Alfred Newman.
7. Help!
The Beatles film Help! has always paled in comparison to A Hard Day's Night for me, but I might need a reviewing of this one. It certainly has some great songs: Lennon's "You've Got to Hide Your Love Away," McCartney's "The Night Before," Harrison's "If I Needed Someone." And how could I not mention Ringo's "Act Naturally?"
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| So much younger than today...The Beatles in Help! |
8.In Harm's Way
Yet another all-star cast epic from this era and features John Wayne and Patricia Neal at the center of this Otto Preminger film about Pearl Harbor. Jerry Goldsmith provided the musical score. Goldsmith was nominated for eighteen academy awards during his distinguished career. Some of my favorite scores of his are from Planet of the Apes, Papillon and Chinatown.
9. John Goldfarb, Please Come Home
Pretty goofy comedy (from what I remember) about a pilot who lands in an Arab country and involves blackmailing the United States to send over a football team or something to compete against...I can't remember really. I do remember the fun opening song by Shirley MacLaine.
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Peter Ustinov, Richard Crenna and Shirley MacLaine consider wiser
career options in John Goldfarb, Please Come Home |
10. The Knack and How to Get It
I've really got to have a 60's Brit Mod Movie marathon pajama party real soon. I was surprised that the score of this film was from John Barry.
11.
McHale's Navy Joins the Air Force
I
did a newspaper report in school once depicting the events of the week I was
born. The two major events of that week were the Cuban missile Crisis and the
network premiere of McHale's Navy. Looking back, I'm thinking the
McHale's Navy premiere was probably the less significant of the two. It does
seem odd that a theatrical version of the series was released in 1965. I
honestly can't understand what was the motivation was behind McHale's Navy Joins the Air Force. It's certainly no Munster, Go Home.
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| McHale's Navy: The Motion Picture |
12.
The Monkey's Uncle
One
of those 60's Disney movies that I'm pretty sure I watched during consecutive
Sunday nights on The Wonderful World of Disney. The title song is performed by
Annette Funicello backed by Brian Wilson and The Beach Boys! I just finished
Wilson's memoir I Am Brian Wilson and he shockingly makes no reference
to this film!
13. Monsters From the Surf a.k.a. The Beach Girls and the Monster
From The Beach Boys to The
Beach Girls and the Monster! This Grade Z horror flick Is basically Beach
Blanket Bingo meets Plan Nine from Outer Space. The music was
provided by Frank Sinatra...Sinatra, Jr. that is! My favorite credit from the
trailer is featuring "The Watusi Dancing Girls from Hollywood's famed
Whiskey A-Go-Go!"
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Monsters from the Surf...We got a monster costume and a girl in a bikini.
Let's make a movie! |
14. Red
Beard
The was the sixteenth and final collaboration between director Akira
Kurosawa and actor Toshiro Mifune- one of the greatest actor/director teams
ever. Masuro Sato did the
Red Beard score and was a frequent
collaborator with Kurosawa. But before you think Sato's a bit too highbrow, I
will point out he also did the scores for
Godzilla vs. The Sea Monster
and
Godzilla vs. Mechagodzilla!
15.
A Thousand Clowns
One of my all-time favorite films from the sixties,
A Thousand Clowns
is about a non-conformist writer that has to choose between his values and doing
what he needs to do to keep custody of his young nephew. Funny, moving and fine
performances from Jason Robards (Murray, the Uncle) and Barry Gordon (Nick,
the nephew). Herb Gardner wrote the screenplay based on his own play. The score
was written by Jazz artist Gerry Mulligan, who juxtaposes a war-like theme set
to the background of people going to work.
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A Thousand Clowns
Murray: Nick, you are about to see a horrible, horrible thing.
Nick: What's that Murray?
Murray: People going to work.
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16. Thunderball
One of the best of the early
Connery Bond films. Also, one of the best Bond themes and sung by the one and
only Mr. Tom Jones!
17. What's New Pussycat?
And speaking of Tom Jones, the Welsh
singer also lent his vocal talents to the theme song (written by Bacharach and
David) to this wacky comedy that is also noted for an early screen appearance
by Woody Allen. The eclectic cast includes Peter Sellers, Peter O'Toole and
Ursula Andress among others. From what I remember, it was basically a screwball
comedy on acid.
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| The Peters (Sellers and O'Toole) in What's New Pussycat |
18. Beach Blanket
Bingo, How to Stuff a Wild Bikini
My goodness, were there really
two Frankie Avalon/Annette Funicello beach movies that came out it 1965? I
guess they were kinda fun and did offer late supporting work for Buster Keaton. That's worth something.
Music: Beach Blanket
Bingo featured the title song sung by Frankie Avalon and Annette Funicello, as well as Harvey (Erich Von Zipper) Lembeck's song "Follow Your Leader." The Beach gang also teach you how to stuff a wild bikini in the title song of that film. The How to Stuff a Wild Bikini soundtrack also features what must be the only musical duet credit for Mickey Rooney and Brian Donlevy.
19. The World of Abbott and
Costello
I bring up this film because it did come
out in 1965 even though it featured clips from the comedy team of Abbott and
Costello, probably the most popular movie comedy team of the 40's. I grew up
watching A & C on television on Tuesday nights on TBS in Atlanta...Seemed like
they showed a movie of theirs every week. Abbott was the straight man and
Costello was the frustrated and hyper chubby one. They don't seem to be held in
the esteem that other golden age comedians are...but really, the 1001 movie
list couldn't list even one of their films to see?
Well, ll pick five of my favorites
1. Abbott and Costello Meet
Frankenstein
2. Buck Privates
3. The Naughty Nineties
(Mostly because it had the Who's on First routine.)
4. Abbott and Costello Meet
the Keystone Kops
5. The Time of Their Lives (An
offbeat one, but probably my favorite of the bunch.)
Music: I got nothing for the music here, though I did like Raoul
Kraushaar's theme from the 50's Abbott and Costello Show.
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| Abbott and Costello: Does anybody really know who's on first? Does anybody care |
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20. The Spy Who Came in From
the Cold
Grim
adaptation of John Le Carre's novel about an spy who goes undercover to
infiltrate a Communist spy ring. The polar opposite of a James Bond spy film in
that in shows the minutiae, danger and sometimes boredom that accompanies
espionage work. A good film and does feature Richard Burton in one of his
better roles and a cute Communist library employee played by Claire Bloom.
Music:
The melancholy theme by composer Sol Kaplan is also keeping with the "This
is nothing like a James Bond movie" theme.
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| Sexy librarian meets grumpy spy in The Spy Who Came in From the Cold | |
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1965 may not have been "The Greatest" movie year of all-time,
but it did bring back some great memories for me. |
