1962 vs. 1982

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I mentioned twelve classic or very good 1982 films in the review just below of John Patterson's Guardian piece about the-year-when-things-started-to-go-wrong. Just for fun I threw together a list of similar quality films that opened 20 years earlier and they numbered 24, including ten bona fide classics -- Billy Budd, Knife in the Water, Lawrence of Arabia, Lolita, Lonely are the Brave, The Manchurian Candidate, The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance, Ride the High Country, Shoot the Piano Player and To Kill a Mockingbird.

The 14 also-rans are nothing to snort at either: Birdman of Alcatraz, Cape Fear, Days of Wine and Roses, Dr. No, Hatari!, How the West Was Won, The Longest Day, The Miracle Worker, Mutiny on the Bounty, Requiem for a Heavyweight, The Longest Day, Sundays and Cybele, The Trial and What Ever Happened to Baby Jane?

24 vs. 12...am I missing something?

Downturn of the early '80s<< previous | next >>"Sicko" for free

Posted by Jeffrey Wells on June 15, 2007 at 10:50 AM

comment #1

Mark says ...

As Tony Soprano said, "'Remember when' is the lowest form of conversation."

Posted by Mark at June 15, 2007 11:15 AM

comment #2

George Prager says ...

You couldn't do that for the years 1963-68, however.

Posted by George Prager at June 15, 2007 11:22 AM

comment #3

gruver1 says ...

Wells to Mark: I'm not trying to get a whole "remember when" conversation going. I'm just saying 27 vs. 12, and....you know, the record is the record. Or am I missing something?

Posted by gruver1 at June 15, 2007 11:31 AM

comment #4

Cadavra says ...

No. The fanboys can't acknowledge stuff made before their birth.

Prager, how's about this for 1967: BONNIE & CLYDE, THE GRADUATE, IN THE HEAT OF THE NIGHT, GUESS WHO'S COMING TO DINNER?, THE DIRTY DOZEN, EL DORADO, PLAYTIME, POINT BLANK, THE FEARLESS VAMPIRE KILLERS, TO SIR WITH LOVE, COOL HAND LUKE, WAIT UNTIL DARK, TWO FOR THE ROAD, BEDAZZLED, THOROUGHLY MODERN MILLIE, LA GUERRE EST FINIE, DIVORCE AMERICAN STYLE, ULYSSES, TAMING OF THE SHREW, BELLE DE JOUR, YOU ONLY LIVE TWICE, THE JUNGLE BOOK, WEEKEND, QUATERMASS AND THE PIT, THE PRESIDENT'S ANALYST, BILLION DOLLAR BRAIN, HOW I WON THE WAR, MARAT/SADE, and of course the U.S. release of Leone's DOLLARS trilogy. Works for me.

Posted by Cadavra at June 15, 2007 11:32 AM

comment #5

George Prager says ...

Half those '67 movies blow.

Posted by George Prager at June 15, 2007 11:34 AM

comment #6

George Prager says ...

You forgot THE TRIP.

Posted by George Prager at June 15, 2007 11:37 AM

comment #7

jeffmcm says ...

Wells, what you're missing is two things: (a) that 1962 is widely considered to be one of the two or three greatest years for movies in history, at the overlap point between the French New Wave and the end of the studio era, and (b) that you were a teenager in 1962, thus have all manner of associations with several of those movies that are clouding your judgments comparatively. I'll take Star Trek II over Dr. No any day of the week, hands-down.

Posted by jeffmcm at June 15, 2007 11:37 AM

comment #8

gruver1 says ...

The 1967 blowers in the above list are relatively few: GUESS WHO'S COMING TO DINNER?, EL DORADO, TO SIR WITH LOVE, THOROUGHLY MODERN MILLIE, THE JUNGLE BOOK, QUATERMASS AND THE PIT and BILLION DOLLAR BRAIN. I don't mean this films suck hairy balls, but they're a little tired, treacly, smug, etc.

Posted by gruver1 at June 15, 2007 11:39 AM

comment #9

gruver1 says ...

Wells to jeffmcm: You can throw out "Dr. No" and "Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan." And I could have 42 or 4 years old when those '62 films came out and they'd still be what they are.

Posted by gruver1 at June 15, 2007 11:42 AM

comment #10

T. S. Idiot says ...

Lost of the shuffle of our frequent adolescent posturings is the fact that Wells often knows what he's talking about. With one exception, his 1962 classics tower over the also-rans. I would switch Cape Fear and To Kill a Mockingbird, the essence of middlebrow entertainment. If for nothing else, the nasty way Mitchum's Max Cady rejects some peanuts because they weren't salted in the shell makes it a classic. Speaking of peanuts, the ones are Yankee Stadium are unedible.

Posted by T. S. Idiot at June 15, 2007 11:43 AM

comment #11

T. S. Idiot says ...

Make that inedible.

Posted by T. S. Idiot at June 15, 2007 11:47 AM

comment #12

jeffmcm says ...

Also if we're going by American release dates, then Knife in the Water, The Trial, and How the West Was Won are all 1963 movies.

Posted by jeffmcm at June 15, 2007 11:54 AM

comment #13

George Prager says ...

MOUCHETTE is a great `67er.

Posted by George Prager at June 15, 2007 12:12 PM

comment #14

bmcintire says ...

Jeff, you've got The Longest Day, The Miracle Worker, Mutiny on the Bounty, Requiem for a Heavyweight in your also-ran list twice, so shave four films off of your tally. And Sundays and Cybele? Now you're just padding.

Posted by bmcintire at June 15, 2007 12:14 PM

comment #15

lehigh says ...

Let's look 20 years after 1982:

About Schmidt, Adaptation, The Pianist, Talk to Her, The Bourne Identity, Bloody Sunday, About a Boy, Minority Report, Catch Me if You Can, City of God

Gangs of New York, 28 Days Later, 8 Mile, The Good Girl, Insomnia, Personal Velocity, Road To Perdition, Tadpole, Unfaithful, Infernal Affairs, In America, The Kid Stays in the Picture, The Hours, Changing Lanes, 24 Hour Party People.

That's 24 movies. So, 27, 12, 24. Ebb & flow. The top 10 are my personal favorites - the rest I thought were other solid efforts. I know there are two Spielberg films there, and I'm not a big fan of his later stuff. But 2002 was a very good year for him.

Posted by lehigh at June 15, 2007 12:26 PM

comment #16

bmcintire says ...

Sequels have been around forever, but what was the first one to do without the window dressing of a new name and simply slap a "2" after the original picture's title? THE GODFATHER II is the earliest that comes to mind, but it certainly doesn't fit the existing state of retreaded numerical sequels. That seems much more a product of the 80's - just as adding a pointless extended title after the number (PIRATES OF THE CARRIBBEAN 2: DEAD MAN'S CHEST) seems a horrible byproduct of the late 90's into the 00's.

Posted by bmcintire at June 15, 2007 12:38 PM

comment #17

George Prager says ...

Pretty sad list lehigh. Make me want to go join the Amish.

Posted by George Prager at June 15, 2007 12:46 PM

comment #18

christian says ...

1967 was the best year of american film in the 60's and one of the most important years in american film history. period.

Posted by christian at June 15, 2007 12:47 PM

comment #19

George Prager says ...

Sarcasm. I'm catching on.

Posted by George Prager at June 15, 2007 12:52 PM

comment #20

christian says ...

we should be so lucky to get films like THE GRADUATE, BONNIE AND CLYDE, WEEKEND, LE SAMURAI, BEDAZZLED, THE TRIP, THE PRESIDENT'S ANALYST, and POINT BLANK in one year. those were the fucking daze!

Posted by christian at June 15, 2007 1:00 PM

comment #21

christian says ...

not to mention SGT PEPPERS!

Posted by christian at June 15, 2007 1:06 PM

comment #22

BurmaShave says ...

How about because 25 years is a milestone and 40 years is just an anniversary? Everyone knows Patterson stole this from AICN's Greatest Genre Year Ever, even if hes coming at it from the other persepctive. Either way, TRON IS THE MOVIE THAT MADE ME BELIEVE IN DREAMS AND MACHINES AND ALSO I SNUCK INTO PORKY'S 10 TIMES!!!!!!!

Posted by BurmaShave at June 15, 2007 1:10 PM

comment #23

Dan Revill says ...

For 1962, are we leaving off foreign stuff Wells, cos I saw Jules et Jim a couple weeks ago at a Janus Films series in Vancouver, and it blew the socks off pretty much everything else I've seen this year. And the other side of the double bill was The 400 Blows, also very good.

Posted by Dan Revill at June 15, 2007 1:10 PM

comment #24

christian says ...

patterson didn't steal that premise from aicn anymore than people here did when i wrote in a 1999 article for a national film publication that 1999 was going into the history books. but then again....THIEF!

Posted by christian at June 15, 2007 1:50 PM

comment #25

lipranzer says ...

If we're talking U.S. release dates, I would add Fires on the Plain, Peeping Tom, The Bad Sleep Well, Eyes Without a Face, and The Lower Depths (the Kurosawa). I'd also add Long Day's Journey Into Night, and agree Jules and Jim was the best of them all.

I wouldn't, however, include The Longest Day, Mutiny on the Bounty, or - and this might start some arguments - Hatari or The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance. The two epics come off as quite bloated, especially compared to Lawrence of Arabia. Valance would have been a masterpiece had it been made with the same two leads 10-15 years previous - I maintain James Stewart was much too old for his role (and had played enough morally ambiguous characters for Anthony Mann and Hitchcock that he was no longer just thought of as the Capra-esque hero). And I've never understood why the auteurist critics gave Hatari a free pass. I don't mind a film that "doesn't go anywhere," but what was relaxed and enjoyable in Rio Bravo (and El Dorado, which I liked more than Jeff does) is monotonous in this.

Posted by lipranzer at June 15, 2007 2:22 PM

comment #26

jeffmcm says ...

I'd keep Liberty Valance, which builds to one of the most devastating conclusions of any Ford film, although the ages of the leads is distracting.

If I were to toss out any of Wells' list (that I've seen), it would be Lolita, which I consider to be Kubrick's weakest movie, distorted by Sellers' performance, hobbled by the over-discretion of self-censorship, and uncertainty of tone.

Posted by jeffmcm at June 15, 2007 2:35 PM

comment #27

Gaydos says ...

I kind of liked last year (with a smattering of late '05 releases gone wide):

Lives of Others, The Matador, Match Point, The Three Burials Of Malquides Estrada, Nanny McPhee,
Tsotsi, Find Me Guilty, Thank You For Smoking, V For Vendetta, Inside Man, L' Enfant (The Child, United 93, The Proposition, An Inconvenient Truth, A Prairie Home Companion, Cars, The Devil Wears Prada, Little Miss Sunshine, The Descent,
Talladega Nights, Half Nelson, The Illusionist,
Factotum, The Last King Of Scotland, The Queen,
The Departed, Little Children, Tideland, Flicka, Flags Of Our Fathers, The Prestige, Borat, Volver, Casino Royale, Apocalypto, Blood Diamond, Letters From Iwo Jima, Venus, Happy Feet, Babel, Children Of Men, Notes On A Scandal, Pan's Labyrinth.

Posted by Gaydos at June 15, 2007 3:12 PM

comment #28

George Prager says ...

Psst...Richard Roeper's nickname on HE is Gaydos.

Posted by George Prager at June 15, 2007 3:29 PM

comment #29

christian says ...

george prager: troll at large

Posted by christian at June 15, 2007 3:56 PM

comment #30

Patrick says ...

Top Years...

1939-1941

1954

1962

1966-1975

1984

1992-1996

1999

2002

Posted by Patrick at June 15, 2007 4:04 PM

comment #31

Gaydos says ...

praeger: thanks, i'll take that as a compliment. you're helping me with all my friends who accuse me of never liking anything accessible.

and i'll stand by deeply appreciating what lives of others, volver, borat, iwo jima, venus, apocalypto, departed, talladga, little children, pan's labyrinth, matador, united 93 all accomplished. oh, i forgot 40 yr old virgin. i loved that one too.

As for the future, SEE SUPERBAD: the spirits of Animal House and the Marx Brothers and Dusan Makavejev are alive and well.

PS: Gaydos's nickname on HE is :-)

Posted by Gaydos at June 15, 2007 6:32 PM

comment #32

jeffmcm says ...

Whoa, you just blew my mind by saying that Dusan Makavejev plays a part in Superbad. It just made me much more interested (and I was already sold).

Posted by jeffmcm at June 15, 2007 6:41 PM

comment #33

christian says ...

er...uh...who is dusan...y'know.

Posted by christian at June 15, 2007 6:52 PM

comment #34

Gaydos says ...

don't want to overhype it, but it is anarchic and sexmadfunny, so i think ole dusan might appreciate it.

my point is that i continue to marvel at the terrific movies getting made here there and everywhere in a multitude of genres and styles. i liked a lot of stuff i just saw in cannes and i'm a big fan of hollywood comedy today. i think many of the smartest, most subversive films are getting released by studios (not always effectively, sadly!) as "comedies," but for my money a movie like "team america" is godard by way of haskell wexler as dreamed by beany and cecil. Meaning: pure genius and with a political/social point to boot.

by the way, there are films on those "greatest of all time" lists that didn't work for me then or now, so what the hell....

SEE HEAR NOW.....

Posted by Gaydos at June 15, 2007 6:56 PM

comment #35

George Prager says ...

Dusan Makavejev, you now, made the Coca-Cola Kid, Sweet Movie, W.R. Mysteries of the Orgams whatever... Jeez...everyone knows that!!!!!

Posted by George Prager at June 15, 2007 7:03 PM

comment #36

jeffmcm says ...

Christian: Countercultural Yugoslav filmmaker (back when there was a Yugoslavia - that is, the 60s-80s) with a couple of movies about to come out via The Criterion Collection.

Posted by jeffmcm at June 15, 2007 7:21 PM

comment #37

Sergio says ...

Another film to add to the 1962 "also ran" list: Otto Preminger's Advise and Consent

Posted by Sergio at June 15, 2007 8:02 PM

comment #38

christian says ...

go preminger. and my film gap knowledge exposed by dusan... am i too lazy to imdb him? yes.

Posted by christian at June 16, 2007 12:17 AM

comment #39

BurmaShave says ...

Maybe it's the 9s. From 1989, in no particular order:

Do the Right Thing
Glory
Crimes and Misdemeanors
Sex, Lies & Videotape
Drugstore Cowboy
Vampire's Kiss
Mystery Train
The Abyss
Heathers
Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade
Dead Poets Society
Field of Dreams
Henry V
When Harry Met Sally...
Cinema Paradiso
Roger & Me
My Left Foot
The Little Mermaid
Born on the Fourth of July
The Fabulous Baker Boys
Story of Women
Batman
Parenthood
Enemies: A Love Story
Jesus of Montreal

Posted by BurmaShave at June 16, 2007 4:24 AM

comment #40

George Prager says ...

Here's a quick stab at a best of 1966 list.

Seconds
Blow-Up
Harper
Masculin-Feminin
Au Hasard Balthazar
Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?
Persona
Lord Love a Duck
The Wild Angels
A Man for All Seasons
Fahrenheit 451
The Fortune Cookie
A Man and a Woman
You're a Big Boy Now
The Professionals
Mademoiselle

Posted by George Prager at June 16, 2007 9:58 AM

comment #41

Cadavra says ...

HATARI and VALANCE are bloated but LAWRENCE is not? I know it's The Greatest Movie Ever, Ever Made, Ever, but seriously, that second half could use some pruning...

Posted by Cadavra at June 16, 2007 11:05 AM

comment #42

christian says ...

as per 1966,:

THE QUILLER MEMORANDUM
A MAN AND A WOMAN
THE SAND PEBBLES

Posted by christian at June 16, 2007 11:41 AM

comment #43

George Prager says ...

The Sand Pebbles? I can't do it, despite the Mako death scene. Quiller? Never saw it, but director is one of the worst of all time. Man and a Woman is already on the list.

Posted by George Prager at June 16, 2007 12:47 PM

comment #44

christian says ...

SAND PEBBBLES for mcqueen's only best actor oscar nom and robert wise is always interesting.

QUILLER is a taut smart spy thriller, one of the best of the decade thanks to a script by harold pinter. anderson does good wrk because he has a great cinematographer. and john barry. segal is a unique lead and ya got sydow and guiness for icing.

Posted by christian at June 16, 2007 1:51 PM

comment #45