1960 !

A thread on The Internet Movie Database (IMDb) on 1960 unleashed a torrent of memories:

1960 - what a year to have been 14 and "deeper into movies". Looking at it retrospectively now I am firmly in the PSYCHO and L'AVVENTURA camp (though I did not see the latter until years later) as the two most important films of the year, ushering in the new modern world (both of course feature a woman who goes missing and the people searching for her....)



So the major ones that year for me are: The 10 Big Ones:

PSYCHO
L'AVVENTURA
LA DOLCE VITA
ROCCO AND HIS BROTHERS
PLEIN SOLEIL [I was entranced by that cool European style, and Delon and Laforet]
WILD RIVER [ditto Lee Remick]
THE APARTMENT
SPARTACUS
A BOUT DE SOUFFLE (BREATHLESS)
PEEPING TOM.

Lots of solid middlebrow entertainment:

SONS AND LOVERS
TWO WOMEN [Sophia at her peak]
NEVER ON SUNDAY
ELMER GANTRY
LETS MAKE LOVE
THE UNFORGIVEN
EXODUS
NORTH TO ALASKA [a favourite!]
THE MAGNIFICENT SEVEN
WHERE THE BOYS ARE
THE CROWDED SKY
THE TIME MACHINE
SWISS FAMILY ROBINSON [great fun]
POLLYANNA [how we loved that in Ireland!]
BUTTERFIELD 8
THE FALL OF THE HOUSE OF USHER
BRIDES OF DRACULA
SINK THE BISMARCK
THE ENTERTAINER
SATURDAY NIGHT AND SUNDAY MORNING
TUNES OF GLORY
THE LEAGUE OF GENTLEMEN
THE SUNDOWNERS [Mitch and Kerr were so ideally perfect here, again]
THE GRASS IS GREENER
CIMARRON
THE LOST WORLD.

I suppose THE ALAMO should be included too among the year's hits, and I also liked Blake Edwards' HIGH TIME where rich Bing Crosby goes back to college, and rooms with Fabian, Richard Beymer and Tuesday Weld!

It was certainly the year for call girls - apart from Elizabeth and Melina (NEVER ON SUNDAY) there were also

Gina Lollobrigida - GO NAKED IN THE WORLD (high class call girl falls for Tony Franciosa but his powerful father - Ernest Borgnine, an ex-client of hers, has other ideas...)

Nancy Kwan - THE WORLD OF SUZIE WONG

Anne Francis - GIRL OF THE NIGHT (downbeat indie film)

and award-winning Shirley Jones in ELMER GANTRY.

Adultery in suburbia was covered in Quine's STRANGERS WHEN WE MEET, with Kim Novak at her zenith.

It may have been Sophia Loren's best year: apart from the success of TWO WOMEN, she was also in Cukor's charming western HELLER IN PINK TIGHTS, plus THE MILLIONAIRESS with Peter Sellers' Indian doctor, with Gable in his second last film IT STARTED IN NAPLES which is still a charmer, and the under-rated A BREATH OF SCANDAL which I liked a lot.

Brigitte Bardot acted in LA VERITE, and Ingmar Bergman provided the austere THE VIRGIN SPRING, while Stanley Kramer inflicted the ponderous INHERIT THE WIND on us, and John Ford provided a good late western SERGEANT RUTLEDGE.

Donen's ONCE MORE WITH FEELING showcased Kay Kendall in her last role, she had died in 1959.

There were 2 Minnelli's: another hothouse melodrama HOME FROM THE HILL, and the under-rated musical BELLS ARE RINGING, Judy Holliday's last appearance.

Elvis was back from the army in GI BLUES and FLAMING STAR.

For those who like that kind of thing: Jerry Lewis as THE BELLBOY.

Some ghastly musicals were Fox's CAN-CAN and Columbia's all-star PEPE, and the Rat Pack played around in OCEAN'S 11.

One that did not work at all was Lumet's too highbrow THE FUGITIVE KIND, though Brando, Magnani and Woodward should have generated some box office .... despite playing what seemed like caricatures of themselves.

and for Trash you can't beat MGM and Arthur Freed for THE SUBTERRANEANS, their sanitised version of Jack Kerouac and the beat generation as depicted by Leslie Caron, George Peppard and Roddy McDowell - followed by the star quartet of Natalie, RJ Wagner, Susan Kohner and George Hamilton tearing each other apart in ALL THE FINE YOUNG CANNIBALS, plus the afore-mentioned GO NAKED IN THE WORLD. Lurid melodrama doesn't get much better... though there were also two Burton starrers: THE BRAMBLE BUSH and ICE PALACE; while THE DARK AT THE TOP OF THE STAIRS and FROM THE TERRACE were also contenders.

Some other delirious treats - not Trash, but Guilty Pleasures - were two Ross Hunter extravaganzas: Lana, Sandra and Quinn in PORTRAIT IN BLACK and Doris and Rex in MIDNIGHT LACE, and Dirk Bogarde as Lizst in SONG WITHOUT END, plus Fox's biblical: THE STORY OF RUTH, while Gordon Scott was Tarzan and Belinda Lee and Steve Reeves headed the Italian sword-and-sandal movies.

Lots of these are covered at the Trash label.

Movies I love: Johnny Guitar / North to Alaska

A western double bill!







JOHNNY GUITAR was the very first film I saw, aged 8 - what a vivid introduction to cinema, I was mesmerised by the woman in white about to be hanged, and that other woman in black shooting down the lamps and setting the place on fire. Then of course later when I knew which film it was repeated viewings made it more delirious and desirable than ever. I just simply love it. Nice now to have good dvd showing that odd Republic Technicolor, with an introduction by Marty Scorsese, no less (as good as his one for EL CID).





Then there are those tales of the feud between Joan and Mercedes on set, it is all though oddly poetic as directed by Nick Ray. Joan is perfect as Vienna "sitting at her piano in her own home" waiting for the railroad to come so she can sell out. McCambridge is Emma Small the vicious town boss who is oddly drawn to the Dancing Kid, or perhaps it is Vienna she is drawn to and cannot act on it? The men - even Ward Bond - are just stooges here, as Emma and Vienna dominate. Events move at a pace as the two women face up to the climax. Sterling Hayden is sterling again as the quiet Johnny - his scenes with Vienna as they try to recapture their lost love are just so perfect. Then the lynch mob arrive ... For a child of 8 it was a marvellous experience and led to my being taken to other westerns that year: THE COMMAND, DRUM BEAT, SITTING BULL and other movies like A STAR IS BORN. Looking at it again now the architecture is fascinating: Vienna's large casino, the waterfall hiding the way to the mountain cabin - and what a perfect cabin it is... one almost wants to live there.



Moving on to 1960, that perennial comedy western NORTH TO ALASKA is thankfully a tv staple - one simply never tires of it. Henry Hathaway directs and 20th Century Fox producton values ensure it looks good - that early sequence with the tree loggers at their picnic is not really necessary at all but all part of the lazy rambling structure of the film. Wayne here, after those iconic roles in THE QUIET MAN, THE SEARCHERS and RIO BRAVO the previous year (and those perfect 50s programmers like THE SEA CHASE and LEGEND OF THE LOST), is having fun as is Stewart Granger - good to see them together, Fabian is the younger brother (he was cute then after HOUND DOG MAN in '59) and there is the running joke of him continually being manhandled by exasperated Wayne, especially when Capucine arrives as the replacement girlfriend. Cap is delightful here and holds her own well with Wayne and joins in the knockabout.







That muddly climax at the end has them all fighting in the mud - with Ernie Kovacs as the shady operator and lots of fun all round. It shows frontier life then almost as well as in McCABE & MRS MILLER! So, a fun film with people I like! Wayne and Granger are as adroit as ever at this late stage of their careers but they were not winding down yet - while Capucine and Fabian show comedy skills and provide the eye candy. What's not to like?

Edit: It won't let me reply to the Comment, so here is what I wanted to add:



Indeed - Johnny Guitar is so vivid it plays almost like a cartoon - very accessible for a child seeing his first movie!

Capucine is indeed a very independent woman in Alaska, holding her own with the men, even if she is playing a haughty "saloon girl" but she is not a pathetic one like Lee Remick was in the '59 western "These Thousand Hills".

50s/60s westerns

The ‘50s really was the heyday of the western – not only several classics [starting with HIGH NOON] but also all those routine oaters and programmers, 1954 being a particularly good year. JOHNNY GUITAR the first film I ever saw aged 8 was an incredibly vivid experience: the woman in the white dress going to be hanged, and the other woman in black shooting down the lamps setting the casino on fire… My father was taking me to see other westerns: SHANE which I did not care for, but certainly liked DRUM BEAT (Alan Ladd), THE COMMAND (Guy Madison) and SITTING BULL with Dale Robertson, who was also THE GAMBLER FROM NATCHEZ. Tyrone Power was THE MISSISSIPPI GAMBLER, Rock Hudson was in lots of westerns like SEMINOLE and as Taza in Sirk’s TAZA SON OF COCHISE. Jeff Chandler was COCHISE in ’54 and again in THE BATTLE AT APACHE PASS in ’52. Charles Bronson the apache leader in Delmar Daves’ DRUM BEAT. Generally any western with Indians and covered wagons was a must see. Hathaway’s GARDEN OF EVIL from '54 was a nice discovery recently, great Scope compositions and a rousing Herrmann score with Cooper, Hayward and Widmark top-lining. Maybe not really westerns as such but Wyler’s two, FRIENDLY PERSUASION in 1956 and THE BIG COUNTRY in 1958 are dramas with western backgrounds – both have been firm favourites over the years. A rather droll late 50s western was THUNDER IN THE SUN with French Basques taking their vines to California and being attacked by Indians. Susan Hayward as the widow and Jeff Chandler as the scout were in their element here. Daves wrote WHITE FEATHER with Jeffrey Hunter and Robert Wagner, who were also leads in Nick Ray’s THE TRUE STORY OF JESSE JAMES in ’57. Two excellent Gary Cooper westerns are Anthony Mann’s MAN OF THE WEST in ’58 with great widescreen vistas, where he opposes Lee J Cobb and his gang, with Julie London in nice support; and Delmar Daves THE HANGING TREE in ’59 where Karl Malden runs riot and Maria Schell is the woman doctor Cooper is nursing back to health. Then they strike gold….
Mann of course also had that series of westerns with James Stewart, starting with WINCHESTER 73 in '50 and including titles likes THE NAKED SPUR and THE MAN FROM LARAMIE.

Later in the 50s came those taut westerns like THE LAW AND JAKE WADE [Robert Taylor –v- Widmark], 3.10 TO YUMA [Glenn Ford –v- Van Heflin], LAST TRAIN FROM GUNHILL [Kirk Douglas –v- Anthony Quinn] and the Budd Boetticher ones with Randolph Scott – SEVEN MEN FROM NOW being particularly right, with Lee Marvin in his element. NIGHT PASSAGE remains a favourite, with James Stewart, Audie Murphy and young Brandon de Wilde. DAKOTA STATION was memorable too in ’56 with that stagecoach of survivors including Linda Darnell and Dale Robertson fighting off the redskins. Audie Murphy turned out all those programmers, and was in Huston’s excellent THE UNFORGIVEN in 1960, where Lillian Gish exemplified the old west, Jack Lemmon was out west in COWBOY and Glenn Ford was THE SHEEPMAN (both '58). Then of course Ford’s now immortal THE SEARCHERS, which one never tires of. That moment when John Wayne picks up Natalie Wood remains a screen epiphany which can still reduce grown men to tears. Hawks’ RIO BRAVO in 1959 is another milestone (I liked Angie Dickinson as Feathers and Ricky Nelson as Colorado) and I particularly liked those other Wayne horse operas like THE COMMANCHEROS and NORTH TO ALASKA. Dmytryk’s WARLOCK was good too, as was THESE THOUSAND HILLS (with Lee Remick excellent as ever, as the ‘saloon girl’ not good enough for ambitious Don Murray, who marries that nice Patricia Owens instead), and Aldrich’s THE LAST SUNSET (Hudson –v- Kirk Douglas). Westerns didn’t look right in the ’60s – they were too jokey or modern like CAT BALLOU – Brooks’ THE PROFESSIONALS was ace though and of course the Cinerama HOW THE WEST WAS WON re-uniting all the western greats one more time in '62, and Ford came back with THE MAN WHO SHOT LIBERTY VALANCE, with James Stewart and Vera Miles out west again and Lee Marvin coming into his own; then Peckinpah finished the decade with THE WILD BUNCH, and then there was Butch and Sundance…

JOHNNY GUITAR in 1954 is still astounding to see and re-see how. Nick Ray makes it all so vivid, Sterling Hayden is, well, sterling and Joan Crawford and Mercedes McCambridge are both iconic here. The showdown at the end is electric and Mercedes and her crew whipping up the mob to lynch Vienna and torch her establishment still engrossing. The sexual politics are weird, perhaps Mercedes’ Emma cannot admit it is Vienna she wants and not the Dancin’ Kid … Vienna sitting at her own piano in her own place waiting for the railroad to come and facing down the mob, and her dialogues with the laconic Johnny are timelessly classic for me. Nice to see Scorsese enthusing about it on the dvd.

Barbara Stanwyck was out west several times too: Mann’s THE FURIES, Sam Fuller’s 40 GUNS, Dwan’s CATTLE QUEEN OF MONTANA, are all terrific – I just watched her as Kit Bannion helping another Butch and Sundance in THE MAVERICK QUEEN (’56) where Barry Sullivan and Scott Brady are sterling support. Best though is a very forgotten 1957 one TROOPER HOOK, a small black and white western, following on from THE SEARCHERS, where Barbara is the white woman rescued from the Indians and has a young child by the Apache chief, Rodolpho Acosta. Joel McCrea is the cavalry officer Trooper Hook assigned to take her home, but her husband will accept her but not the child, whose father is also in pursuit to claim his son. Its totally gripping and Stanwyck plays it very quiet and still as the woman getting used to being back among white people. Others on the stagecoach are Susan Kohner and regulars Royal Dano as the driver, John Dehner and Edward Andrews. Stanwyck of course went on to THE BIG VALLEY, and even Bette Davis went west in WAGON TRAIN, THE VIRGINIAN and GUNSMOKE.

HOUND DOG MAN in ’59 may not be a western at all but is an amiable, pleasing backwoods comedy drama by Don Siegel set in rural Americana showcasing Fox’s new talent: singer Fabian as the confused teen, Stuart Whitman as his ne’er-do-well pal who takes the kids on a weekend of hunting, Carol Lynley and Dodie Stevens are the girls, Arthur O’Connell and Betty Field the parents, and its all perfectly delightful. Siegel also scored next year putting Elvis out west in the stirring FLAMING STAR.

NORTH TO ALASKA is Hathaway’s rousing 1960 sprawling comedy western with Wayne and Stewart Granger having lots of fun guying their images as the prospectors who strike gold, Fabian as the kid brother and Capucine as the woman drafted in to replace the girlfriend of Granger who could not wait any longer. Its handsomely mounted with nice detail, like the (superfluous) early scenes at the logging camp. Capucine shows her flair for haughty comedy, Ernie Kovaks is the schemer trying to get his hands on the mine. Set in Alaska it captures the frontier town just as well as Altman does with his McCABE & MRS MILLER, and is a pleasure to see any time.