Author Topic: Noteworthy films of 1963  (Read 5315 times)

moremojo

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Noteworthy films of 1963
« on: August 27, 2007, 12:09:37 pm »
Just noticed this review of Alain Resnais's 1963 feature Muriel by David Ehrenstein (on the Senses of Cinema site)...:

http://www.sensesofcinema.com/contents/cteq/07/44/muriel.html

...and got to thinking that perhaps we could collate a list here of noteworthy films released in that fateful year, which saw our two favorite cowboys sow the seeds to a "love that will never grow old".

I haven't seen Muriel myself, but one title that immediately came to mind was Jerry Lewis's sparklingly inventive comedy The Nutty Professor. Regarded by many as Lewis's masterpiece as director, I actually prefer his earlier 1961 feature The Ladies' Man, but The Nutty Professor still stands as an exemplary specimen of Lewis's mastery of film form, and a good illustration of why French film critics have consistently ranked Lewis as a true auteur of the highest order.

I also quickly thought of the film Hud, which has its own thread devoted to it on this very forum. There's also Jean-Luc Godard's masterpiece Le Mépris, which was so surprising to me (considering when it was made) in its frank eroticism. I can also think of Jack Smith's seminal, controversial experimental film Flaming Creatures. Any other titles that anyone would like to share?

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Re: Noteworthy films of 1963
« Reply #1 on: August 27, 2007, 12:32:47 pm »
Here are a few more:

 
The Birds (1963), 119 minutes, D: Alfred Hitchcock
Charade (1963), 113 minutes, D: Stanley Donen
Cleopatra (1963), 243 minutes, D: Joseph L. Mankiewicz
From Russia With Love (1963), 110 minutes, D: Terence Young
The Great Escape (1963), 169 minutes, D: John Sturges
The Haunting (1963), 112 minutes, D: Robert Wise
How the West Was Won (1963), 165 minutes, D: John Ford, Henry Hathaway, George Marshall
It's a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World (1963), 192 minutes, D: Stanley Kramer
Lilies of the Field (1963), 94 minutes, D: Ralph Nelson
Tom Jones (1963), 129 minutes, D: Tony Richardson

and...
my favorite!!!
Il Gattopardo (The Leopard) by Lucino Visconti!!

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moremojo

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Re: Noteworthy films of 1963
« Reply #2 on: August 27, 2007, 01:47:32 pm »
and...
my favorite!!!
Il Gattopardo (The Leopard) by Lucino Visconti!!
YES!!! :D :D :D I can't believe I forgot this one. Definitely one of the best releases of 1963.

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Re: Noteworthy films of 1963
« Reply #3 on: August 28, 2007, 02:45:59 pm »
Strangely I notice that Michaelangelo Antonioni did not release a movie in 1963 although those were his prime years as a director.
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Offline Kd5000

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Re: Noteworthy films of 1963
« Reply #4 on: August 28, 2007, 04:02:56 pm »
Was the MANCHURIAN CANDIDATE release in 1963.  It's probably my favorite political film. Angela L. was magnificent.  I think F. Sinatra had it pulled after Kennedy got killed.  It didn't see the light of day until 1987 when it was re released.

I've seen THE BIRDS way too many times.  An ambiguous ending.  What happens next.

It's a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World was quite enjoyable.

CLEOPATRA was just too long.

moremojo

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Re: Noteworthy films of 1963
« Reply #5 on: August 28, 2007, 05:01:58 pm »
Was the MANCHURIAN CANDIDATE release in 1963.
It was actually released in 1962. I believe you're right about Sinatra suppressing the film in the wake of the Kennedy assassination the following year.

Offline MaineWriter

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Re: Noteworthy films of 1963
« Reply #6 on: August 28, 2007, 07:03:13 pm »
It was actually released in 1962. I believe you're right about Sinatra suppressing the film in the wake of the Kennedy assassination the following year.

This is from Wikipedia:

Hollywood rumour holds that Sinatra removed the film from distribution after the John F. Kennedy assassination, though the evidence for this is conflicting. Certainly the film was rarely shown in the decades after 1963, but it did appear as part of the Thursday Night Movies series on CBS on September 16, 1965 and again later that season. It was also shown twice on NBC, once in the spring of 1974 and again in the summer of 1975. Sinatra did not acquire distribution rights to The Manchurian Candidate until the late 1970s. He was involved in a theatrical re-release of the film in 1988. The film has aired on a fairly regular basis on the Turner Classic Movies and American Movie Classics cable networks.

Similar rumours and treatment surround the film Suddenly! in which Sinatra himself starred as a Presidential assassin.
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moremojo

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Jonathan Rosenbaum's favorite films of 1963
« Reply #7 on: October 05, 2007, 03:54:03 pm »
Here are the eleven favorite films of 1963 of my single favorite film critic, Jonathan Rosenbaum:

O necem jinem, directed by Vera Chytilová

Adieu Philippine, directed by Jacques Rozier

Le Mépris, directed by Jean-Luc Godard

, directed by Federico Fellini

Il Gattopardo, directed by Luchino Visconti

Méditerranée, directed by Jean-Daniel Pollet

Muriel ou Le temps d'un retour, directed by Alain Resnais

The Nutty Professor, directed by Jerry Lewis

"La ricotta", segment directed by Pier Paolo Pasolini in the omnibus film Ro.Go.Pa.G.

Shock Corridor, directed by Samuel Fuller

Le Procès, directed by Orson Welles



Offline Jeff Wrangler

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Re: Noteworthy films of 1963
« Reply #8 on: October 05, 2007, 03:57:29 pm »
 ;D ;D ;D

No disrespect intended, but that list all looks so high-toned, and then. ...

The Nutty Professor, directed by Jerry Lewis.

 :laugh:  :laugh:  :laugh:
"It is required of every man that the spirit within him should walk abroad among his fellow-men, and travel far and wide."--Charles Dickens.

moremojo

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Re: Noteworthy films of 1963
« Reply #9 on: October 05, 2007, 04:51:21 pm »
Rosenbaum is a huge Lewis fan (has been since childhood [he was born in 1943]), and is bemused by the widespread contempt so many contemporary Americans have for the man as a creative agent, considering how immensely popular he was in the 1950's and into the early 60's.

Though I am entertained by The Nutty Professor, I still prefer The Ladies' Man, which really is a sumptuous cinematic masterpiece, and easily illustrates why the French critics embraced Lewis as an auteur of the highest degree.