The Usual Choices
The Apartment (Billy Wilder)
The Magnificent Seven (John Sturges)
Peeping Tom (Michael Powell)
Psycho (Alfred Hitchcock)
Spartacus (Stanley Kubrick)
But how about...
The Sundowners (Fred Zinnemann)
As an Australian, this film amuses me. I like the special guest star appearance of just about every species of our native fauna, all hanging out together in the same small patch of habitat. I enjoy listening to both Deborah Kerr and Robert Mitchum having a crack at our accent (Deb wins by a nasality). I love the the cliches of sheep shearer = heavy drinker and big gambler & British immigrant = pompous Pommy git. I smile when I see our countryside so beautifully filmed. And I pause over the sobering thought that nobody's memories of 1920's Australia were ever really like this. An attractive and comforting fairy tale.
...and what about...
Village of the Damned (Wolf Rilla)
Creepy kids, creepy kids. Ask any teacher or juvenile detention officer: children are right up there with clowns and dolls on the Scare-O-Meter. I adore this sci-fi tale because the premise is just so beguiling - aliens impregnate an entire town of females with the long-term plan of world domination. Being a British-made horror movie, VotD is low-key, non-hysterical, FX-minimalist, and more the chilling for it (compare it to the 1995 John Carpenter remake, and instantly become an Anglophile). Throw in George Sanders, a 77 minute run-time and a director with a wonderful name, and how could you not love it?
...not to mention...
Pollyanna (David Swift)
Okay, stop laughing. Can you remember a time when you weren't cynical? Can you remember when terms such as "heartwarming" or "sentimental" weren't belittled and groan-causing? No, me neither, but I like to pretend that I was once an innocent. Pollyanna, the very best of the Disney (the pre-dead-Walt years) live action movies, is a big, gorgeous chunk of Americana. An all-star cast (Jane Wyman; Richard Egan; Agnes Moorehead; Adolphe Menjou; Donald Crisp; Karl Malden; Nancy Olson) supports a highly-appealing and talented 14 year old Hayley Mills in a story which is just...nice. Go on; visit a childhood that nobody ever actually had.
...and one personal unmentionable...
G.I. Blues (Norman Taurog)
The beginning of the end. Returning from national service, Elvis was immediately poured into this piece of crap, even after the cinematic promise of Jailhouse Rock and King Creole. Co-starring with Juliet Prowse (remember her?), structured around a wafer-thin plot and filled with ghastly songs (with "Wooden Heart" being the naffest, therefore a Number 1 hit), the end-product is just an embarrassment to all concerned. And this is at the same time as the half-great studio album Elvis is Back! For shame. The horrors of Kissin' Cousins and Harem Scarum were not far away.
My Top 10 Films of 1960
 |
| "I'm so embarrassed...for all three of us to turn up at the party wearing the same dress..." |
#02 A Psycho (Hitchcock)
#03 A The Apartment (Wilder)
#04 A Tunes of Glory (Neame)
#05 A- Pollyanna (Swift)
#06 A- The Sundowners (Zinnemann)
#07 A- Sunrise at Campobello (Donehue)
#08 A- Conspiracy of Hearts (Thomas)
#09 A- Spartacus (Kubrick)
#10 A- The Flesh and the Fiends / Mania (Gilling)
Overflow: More A-/B+ Films
#11 B+ Sons and Lovers (Cardiff)
#12 B+ Peeping Tom (Powell)
#13 B+ The League of Gentlemen (Dearden)
#14 B+ Inherit the Wind (Kramer)
#15 B+ School for Scoundrels (Hamer)
#16 B+ Private Property (Stevens)
#17 B+ The Trials of Oscar Wilde (Hughes)
#18 B+ The Savage Innocents (Ray)
#19 B+ Two-Way Stretch (Day)
#20 B+ Elmer Gantry (Brooks)
#21 B+ The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn (Curtiz)
#22 B+ The Time Machine (Pal)
#23 B+ The Two Faces of Dr. Jekyll / House of Fright / Jekyll's Inferno (Fisher)
Sorry, They Didn't Make It...
> B The Magnificent Seven [Ol' Chrome-Dome is out-charisma-ed by at least 4 of the big-names-to-be]
> B Swiss Family Robinson [an Adventureland episode, padded out with even more cuteness]
> B The Entertainer [all magnificent Lord Larry, but the film itself needs the cardiac paddles]
> B The Dark at the Top of the Stairs [sex, sex, sex...all they ever think about is sex]
> B Raymie [a short & sweet story about a boy and a big fish and not much more]
> B Saturday Night and Sunday Morning [an important British kitchen-sink movie]
> B Home from the Hill [enough soap for a week's wash]
> B The Criminal / Concrete Jungle [a Joseph Losey film, so full of decadence and stuff]
> B- Toby Tyler [an actual "boy runs away to join the circus" movie...made by Disney, so...y'know...]
> B- The Grass is Greener [rarely has a film relied so desperately on the charisma of its stars]
> B- The Fugitive Kind [terrific performances, but just too much yakety yak]
> B- The Little Shop of Horrors [this would make a great musical]
> B- Suspect aka The Risk [mundane British espionage drama that cries out "Tight Budget!"]
> B- Wild River [overrated by every critic I have read, including Martin Scorsese]
> B- Ocean's 11 [just another heist movie]
> B- The Unforgiven [the director, writer, producers and actors all knew it should have been more compelling than this]
> B- No Kidding [very minor British comedy with spoilt rich kids becoming nice and Leslie Phillips]
> C Exodus [zzzzzzzzzzzzz]
> C Pretty Boy Floyd [independent cheapie with good intentions and poor acting]
> D 13 Ghosts [a gimmicky haunted house movie which is not dumb fun...just dumb]
> D G.I. Blues [A Personal Unmentionable]
"Ah!..Sweet Mystery of Life...": 1960 Films I Apparently Still Need to See
The Angry Silence (Green); The Brides of Dracula (Fisher); Comanche Station (Boetticher); The Day They Robbed the Bank of England (Guillermin); From the Terrace (Robson); The Gallant Hours (Montgomery); Hand in Hand (Leacock); Hell is a City (Guest); House of Usher (Corman); Make Mine Mink (Asher); Never Take Sweets From a Stranger (Frankel); North to Alaska (Hathaway); The Rise and Fall of Legs Diamond (Boetticher); Scent of Mystery / Holiday in Spain (Cardiff); Sergeant Rutledge (Ford); Seven Thieves (Hathaway); Sink the Bismarck! (Gilbert); The 3rd Voice (Cornfield); The World of Suzie Wong (Quine); The Young One (Bunuel)
Best Performances of 1960
Burt Lancaster in Elmer Gantry
Janet Leigh in Psycho
Jack Lemmon in The Apartment
Shirley MacLaine in The Apartment
Anthony Perkins in Psycho
Elizabeth Taylor in Butterfield 8
Peter Ustinov in Spartacus
But how about...
Fred MacMurray in The Apartment
What a bastard. I always associate Fred with lightweight Disney roles (The Shaggy Dog; The Absent-Minded Professor etc.), but he was at his professional best when he played scumbags (The Caine Mutiny; Double Indemnity). And there is no bigger walking-smear than Fred's character in this film. Manipulative; supremely self-serving; cowardly; ice cold - herpes has more redeeming qualities than this guy. And Fred plays it just perfectly. How did the father of My Three Sons learn how to keep such a dark facet hidden away?Wait...I've found it...he was a rabid Nixon supporter.
...and what about...
Robert Mitchum in Home from the Hill
G.I. Joe, drunken deputy, sociopath, evil preacher, suave cocksman, private eye, outback bushie, smalltime crim, dope-smoker and calypso singer - all expressions of the persona that was Robert Mitchum. No matter the role, Bob always just presented an aspect of himself and got it right every time. In HftH, he is a wealthy Texan womanizer who really just wants to have sex with own wife now please. Morally rigid and vocally blunt, he dishes out personal laws like slaps and demands immediate decisions from everyone, loved ones in particular. Obviously unaware of the concept of "comeuppance", Bob the anti-hero anchors his character firmly in the centre of attention and just dares you to take a poke at him.
...not to mention...
Alec Guinness in Tunes of Glory
This is the same guy who played the lead in The Lavender Hill Mob? What a tour-de-force this is: a loudmouth, arrogant bully-boy of a Scottish Major, reveling in his position as regimental nucleus, has his command usurped by a by-the-book Lieutenant Colonel. No more late-night highland flings, whiskey piss-ups or bagpipes a'blasting. So, of course, with ego in charge, the Major starts to white-ant this new commander. Alec is stunning as the kilted aggressor, all bluster and covert attack, demanding that everyone join his gang and contribute nothing except blind devotion. Makes you reconsider which bloke really is the "stupid wee man".
...and one personal unmentionable...
Fredric March in Inherit the Wind
My absolute favourite example of a scenery-chewing performance which wreaks of baked pork. Fred, who was so good in so many movies, must have been determined to out-impact Spencer Tracy and delivers a character who is never believable, never involving, and never anything except the instigator of an unintentional belly laugh. The make-up artist obviously wanted in on the joke, with putty and padding applied liberally to maximise the comic effect. I just love it when Fred does an oral lap with his false teeth to show discomfort. No wonder Spence added this movie to his "Great Dramatic Performances" resume - even Jerry Lewis would have come out of this looking like a serious thespian too.
My 10 Favourite Performances of 1960
 |
| "Hey! This early version of the internet isn't half bad!" |
#02 Laurence Olivier in The Entertainer
#03 Hayley Mills in Pollyanna
#04 Ralph Bellamy in Sunrise at Campobello
#05 Fred MacMurray in The Apartment
#06 Anthony Perkins in Psycho
#07 Spencer Tracy in Inherit the Wind
#08 Anthony Quinn in The Savage Innocents
#09 Greer Garson in Sunrise at Campobello
#10 Laurence Olivier in Spartacus
Overflow: More List-Worthy Performances
#11 Ian Carmichael & Terry-Thomas & Alastair Sim in School for Scoundrels
#12 Eve Arden in The Dark at the Top of the Stairs
#13 Jean Simmons in The Grass is Greener
#14 Shirley Maclaine in The Apartment
#15 Lionel Jeffries in Two-Way Stretch
#16 Peter Finch in The Trials of Oscar Wilde
#17 Robert Mitchum in Home From the Hill
#18 Trevor Howard & Wendy Hiller in Sons and Lovers
#19 Tony Randall in The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn
#20 Joanne Woodward in The Fugitive Kind
#21 Dennis Price in Tunes of Glory
#22 Albert Finney in Saturday Night & Sunday Morning
Sorry, They Didn't Make It...
> Jack Lemmon in The Apartment [very everyman, but still a weasel, even at the end]
> Burt Lancaster in Elmer Gantry [more a good fit than a good performance]
> Kirk Douglas in Spartacus [more a good fit than a good performance]
> Shirley Jones in Elmer Gantry [the mother of the Partridge Family is not a goodtime girl]
> Janet Leigh in Psycho [after she was dispatched, I didn't miss her]
> Peter Ustinov in Spartacus [severely out-acted by both Charlie and Larry]
> Elizabeth Taylor in Butterfield 8 [the origin of Sally Field's "You like me. You really like me" Oscar acceptance speech]
And so...onto the annual awards (with a nod of appreciation to Danny Peary)...
The Alternate Oscars for 1960 are:
FILM of the YEAR
GOLD: Village of the Damned (Wolf Rilla)
SILVER: Psycho (Alfred Hitchcock)
BRONZE: The Apartment (Billy Wilder)
LEAD ACTOR: PERFORMANCE of the YEAR
GOLD: Alec Guinness (Tunes of Glory)
SILVER: Laurence Olivier (The Entertainer)
BRONZE: Ralph Bellamy (Sunrise at Campobello)
LEAD ACTRESS: PERFORMANCE of the YEAR
GOLD: Greer Garson (Sunrise at Campobello)
SILVER: Shirley MacLaine (The Apartment)
BRONZE: Jean Simmons (Elmer Gantry)
SUPPORTING ACTOR: PERFORMANCE of the YEAR
GOLD: Fred MacMurray (The Apartment)
SILVER: Laurence Olivier (Spartacus)
BRONZE: Lionel Jeffries (Two-Way Stretch)
SUPPORTING ACTRESS: PERFORMANCE of the YEAR
GOLD: Eve Arden (The Dark at the Top of the Stairs)
SILVER: Jean Simmons (The Grass is Greener)
BRONZE: Joanne Woodward (The Fugitive Kind)
ENSEMBLE or PARTNERSHIP: PERFORMANCE of the YEAR
GOLD: Ian Carmichael & Terry-Thomas & Alastair Sim (School for Scoundrels)
SILVER: Trevor Howard & Wendy Hiller (Sons and Lovers)
BRONZE: Lilli Palmer & Sylvia Syms & Yvonne Mitchell & Nora Swinburne & Megs Jenkins (Conspiracy of Hearts)
JUVENILE: PERFORMANCE of the YEAR
GOLD: Hayley Mills (Pollyanna)
SILVER: Martin Stephens (Village of the Damned)
BRONZE: Eddie Hodges (The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn)
The Alternate Razzies for 1960 are:
CRAP FILM of the YEAR
G.I. Blues (Norman Taurog)
CRAP MALE PERFORMANCE of the YEAR
Fredric March (Inherit the Wind)
CRAP FEMALE PERFORMANCE of the YEAR
Elizabeth Taylor (Butterfield 8)
