Cinema60

For the first half of the 1960s, Akira Kurosawa was arguably at the peak of his career, making masterpiece after masterpiece at a rate that was sure to surpass the heights of his ‘50s glories. But then, after making the most beloved film of his career, he hit a wall. There would be several more great films to come, but for a while there it seemed like the career of one of cinema’s most widely celebrated masters had come to an end.

In this episode, Bart and Jenna discuss what happened to Kurosawa’s second half of the decade, but mostly they relish the opportunity to finally cross off some ‘60s cinema heavy-hitters from their list. From the banging drums of Yojimbo, to the harrowing screams of Red Beard, with some striking and atypical gendai-geki thrillers along the way, the episode is packed with must-see films. Listen as Jenna admires Kurosawa’s artistry but occasionally struggles with his pacing, while Bart rapturously discovers that some old favorites are even better than he remembered.

The following films are discussed:

• The Bad Sleep Well (1960)
悪い奴ほどよく眠る / Warui yatsu hodo yoku nemuru
    Directed by Akira Kurosawa
    Starring Toshiro Mifune, Masayuki Mori, Kyoko Kagawa

 • Yojimbo (1961)
用心棒 / Yôjinbô
    Directed by Akira Kurosawa
    Starring Toshiro Mifune, Tatsuya Nakadai, Yoko Tsukasa

 • Sanjuro (1962)
椿三十郎 / Tsubaki Sanjûrô
    Directed by Akira Kurosawa
    Starring Toshiro Mifune, Tatsuya Nakadai, Keiju Kobayashi

 • High and Low (1963)
天国と地獄 / Tengoku to jigoku
    Directed by Akira Kurosawa
    Starring Toshiro Mifune, Tatsuya Nakadai, Kyōko Kagawa

 • Red Beard (1965)
赤ひげ / Akahige
    Directed by Akira Kurosawa
    Starring Toshiro Mifune, Yūzō Kayama, Reiko Dan

 • Tora! Tora! Tora! (1970)
トラ・トラ・トラ！
    Directed by Richard Fleischer, Toshio Masuda & Kinji Fukasaku
    Starring So Yamamura, Martin Balsam, Tatsuya Mihashi

Bart and Jenna want to tell you what their favorites films from 1962 are, but the catch is that the films can only be selected from films covered on Cinema60 so far! But first, they’re going to talk about six films from 1961 that they’ve chosen to watch in hopes that they can snazz up their Top Tens with some bonus bangers. (Aka, basically it’s just Kiss Marry Kill by a different name.)

Jenna’s picks for the episode are a diverse range of societal critiques, but all three are favorite genres of hers: the anti-authoritarian fable, the dark, horror-adjacent satire, and the Commedia all'italiana. Bart’s pick are bit more uniform and specific - small-scale slice-of-life films about young women who’ve struck out on their own to make lives for themselves and end up involved in atypical relationship triangles. Six different nations are represented in their choices, providing a nice cross-section of what was going in in cinema in 1962.

The following films are discussed:

• Harakiri (1962)
    切腹/Seppuku
    Directed by Masaki Kobayashi
    Starring Tatsuya Nakadai, Akira Ishihama, Shima Iwashita

 • Adieu Philippine (1962)
    Directed by Jacques Rozier
    Starring Jean-Claude Aimini, Stefania Sabatini, Yveline Céry

 • What Ever Happened to Baby Jane? (1962)
    Directed by Robert Aldrich
    Starring Bette Davis, Joan Crawford, Victor Buono

 • The L-Shaped Room (1962)
    Directed by Bryan Forbes
    Starring Leslie Caron, Cicely Courtneidge, Brock Peters

 • Smog (1962)
    Directed by Franco Rossi
    Starring Enrico Maria Salerno, Annie Girardot, Renato Salvatori

 • Strange Girl (1962)
    Čudna devojka
    Directed by Jovan Zivanovic
    Starring Spela Rozin, Vojislav Miric, Zoran Radmilovic

Following in the tradition of our episodes on Ukraine and Egypt, where we tried to find our way into national cinemas that are virtually inaccessible in the West (not to mention our other single-nation episodes on Poland, Brazil, Hong Kong, West Germany, Japan, Czechoslovakia and Mexico that focus more narrowly on a single movement or genre), we gathered up as many movies as we could find, read some academic articles, and then watched the six most promising Bulgarian movies from the ‘60s. Our intention, of course, is to give a taste of what the country has to offer, rather than a full overview. Plus, I mean gosh, appease all of those fans who have been lighting up our switchboard asking for Bulgarian ‘60s cinema…

In this episode, the starting point was Binka Zhelyazkova, who was the first Bulgarian female director. She was also one of the very few women from behind the Iron Curtain, pre-Glasnost era, to have her films shown in the West. From there we spread out to other filmmakers whose works seemed to get written about most often and, crucially, can be seen today with decent prints and English subtitles. Though Bart & Jenna generally agree on the most noteworthy film and least noteworthy film of the episode, there’s quite a bit of discussion in the merits of each. Dive in – none of these films require the kind of fortitude you might expect would be required to sit through little-known 60s art cinema from Bulgaria.

The following films are discussed:

• We Were Young (1961)
А бяхме млади/A byahme mladi
Directed by Binka Zhelyazkova
Starring Dimitar Buynozov, Rumyana Karabelova, Lyudmila Cheshmedzhieva

• The Inspector and the Night (1963)
Инспекторът и нощта/Inspektorat i noshtta
Directed by Rangel Vulchanov
Starring Stars Georgi Kaloyanchev, Nevena Kokanova, Dimitar Panov

• The Peach Thief (1964)
Крадецът на праскови/Kradetzat na praskovi
Directed by Vulo Radev
Starring Nevena Kokanova, Rade Markovic, Mikhail Mikhaylov

• Armourless Knight (1966)
Рицар без броня/Ritzar bez bronya
Directed by Borislav Sharaliev
Starring Oleg Kovachev, Mariya Rusalieva, Apostol Karamitev

• The Tied-Up Balloon (1967)
Привързаният балон/Privarzaniyat balon
Directed by Binka Zhelyazkova
Starring Georgi Kaloyanchev, Grigor Vachkov, Ivan Bratanov

• The White Room (1968)
Бялата стая/Byalata staya
Directed by Metodi Andonov
Starring Apostol Karamitev, Elena Rainova, Dorotea Toncheva

What-ho, Cinema60 fans! Six seasons we hath returned, recorded, and bearing our newfangled episodes. In this, our triumphant premiere we speaketh, perchance to wax lyrical, about the works of The Bard – on this April 23, his day of birth! Well enow, we'll cease our foolishness. But there were quite a few direct Shakespeare adaptations in the decade, let alone movies inspired by Shakespeare (West Side Story, anyone?). Whether you've read or seen these plays a thousand times, or are a first timer, the ‘60s offer a nice evolution from stage-bound adaptations to fully fledged cinematic delights.

In this episode, Bart and Jenna dive deep into a multitudinous flote of Shakespearean films in one fell swoop. Bart, a once English major, finds these films bedazzling. Jenna, green-eyed monster that she is, complains heartily about the lackluster source material – but the lady doth protest too much, methinks. They has’t a lively debate over how to approach these films, and about what it takes to adapt something as stylized as Shakespeare to a medium that leans so heavily towards realism. Though they each have their personal favorites amongst the episode’s selections, there’s one that they can agree is one of the decade’s greatest successes by any standard.

The following films are discussed:

• Hamlet (1964)
Гамлет
Directed by Grigoriy Kozintsev
Starring Innokentiy Smoktunovskiy, Mikhail Nazvanov, Anastasiya Vertinskaya

• Chimes at Midnight (1965)
Campanadas a medianoche
Directed by Orson Welles
Starring Orson Welles, Keith Baxter, John Gielgud

• Othello (1965)
Directed by Stuart Burge
Starring Laurence Olivier, Frank Finlay, Maggie Smith

• The Taming of The Shrew (1967)
Directed by Franco Zeffirelli
Starring Elizabeth Taylor, Richard Burton, Michael York

• Romeo and Juliet (1968)
Directed by Franco Zeffirelli
Starring Leonard Whiting, Olivia Hussey, John McEnery

• A Midsummer Night’s Dream (1968)
Directed by Peter Hall
Starring Judi Dench, Helen Mirren, Ian Holm

When A Hard Days Night exploded onto the scene in 1964, its charm and success was simply ripe for some good ol’ fashioned bootlegging. What followed was half a decade of wannabe music movies – specifically, movies in which pop bands play themselves while still following a strictly scripted plot. Mainly these were vehicles for British boy bands, but eventually they started to extend over to the Americas – where they warped from wholesome to hippie.

In this season finale, Bart and Jenna tackle several of these band movies head on – and with Head on. It’s an episode full of high highs (marijuana and LSD) and low lows (Herman’s Hermits and Freddie and the Dreamers), but quite frankly they’re all a treat as its such a decade-specific genre. Get ready for a whole lot of restless youths, square plots, stoner humor, and screaming, adoring fans.

The following films are discussed:

• Ferry Cross the Mersey (1964)
Directed by Jeremy Summers
Starring Gerry & The Pacemakers, Mona Washbourne, Cilla Black

• Having a Wild Weekend (1965)
Catch Us If You Can
Directed by John Boorman
Starring The Dave Clark Five, Barbara Ferris, Yootha Joyce

• Help! (1965)
Directed by Richard Lester
Starring The Beatles, Leo McKern, Eleanor Bron

• Hold On! (1966)
Directed by Arthur Lubin
Starring Herman’s Hermits, Shelley Fabares, Sue Ane Langdon

• The Cuckoo Patrol (1967)
Directed by Duncan Wood
Starring Freddie & The Dreamers, Kenneth Connor, Victor Maddern

• Good Times (1967)
Directed by William Friedkin
Starring Sonny & Cher, George Sanders, Norman Alden

• Mrs. Brown, You've Got a Lovely Daughter (1968)
Directed by Saul Swimmer
Starring Herman’s Hermits, Sheila White, Sarah Caldwell

• Head (1968)
Directed by Bob Rafelson
Starring The Monkees, Victor Mature, Annette Funicello

Also mentioned:

• The Ghost Goes Gear (1966)
Directed by Hugh Gladwish
Starring The Spencer Davis Group, Nicholas Parsons, Sheila White

• Los chicos con las chicas (1967)
Directed by Javier Aguirre
Starring Los Bravos, Enriqueta Carballeira, Manolo Gómez Bur

• Dame un poco de amooor...! (1968)
Directed by José María Forqué
Starring Los Bravos, Rosenda Monteros, Luis Peña

In a follow up to the Ukrainian National Cinema episode, Cinema60 finally addresses the beautiful, surreal and unfairly banned films of Sergei Parajanov and Yuri Ilyenko – two figures that are essential to the story of what was getting made in that region while it was under Soviet control. In the case of Parajanov, his films of the ‘60s are amongst the most striking and influential ever made. In the case of Ilyenko, a lesser known but equally astonishing filmmaker, his unique visual sense of rhythm and movement are a sight to behold. Together, they made Shadows of the Forgotten Ancestors, a film that launched both of their careers towards a path of subversive, politically charged cinema that got them in trouble with Soviet authorities for decades to come.

In this episode, Bart & Jenna start with Parjanov’s straightforward Soviet Realist films from the early 60s, and then jump into the more radical work of Parajanov and Ilyenko in the later ‘60s. Hopefully our hosts’ struggles to make sense out of these challenging films will encourage listeners to be less fearful of the unknown – an entirely rewarding journey for those to attempt it.

The following films are discussed:

• Ukrainian Rhapsody (1961)
Українська рапсодія (Ukrainskaya rapsodiya)
Directed by Sergei Parajanov
Starring Olga Reus-Petrenko, Eduard Koshman, Yuriy Gulyayev

• Flower on the Stone (1962)
Цветок на камне (Tsvetok na kamne)
Directed by Sergei Parajanov & Anatoly Slesarenko
Starring Inna Burduchenko, Lyudmila Cherepanova, Boris Dmokhovsky

• Shadows of Forgotten Ancestors (1965)
Тіні забутих предків (Tini zabutykh predkiv)
Directed by Sergei Parajanov
Cinematography by Yuri Ilyenko
Starring Ivan Mikolaychuk, Larisa Kadochnikova, Tatyana Bestayeva

• A Spring for the Thirsty (1965)
Криниця для спраглих (Krynytsya dlya sprahlykh)
Directed by Yuri Ilyenko
Starring Dmitri Milyutenko, Larisa Kadochnikova, Feodosiya Litvinenko

• Kyiv Frescoes (1966)
Киевские фрески (Kiyevskiye freski)
Directed by Sergei Parajanov
Starring Tengiz Archvadze, Vladimir Artman, Alexandr Kotchekov

• Hakob Hovnatanyan (1967)
Հակոբ Հովնաթանյան
Directed by Sergei Parajanov

• The Eve of Ivan Kupalo (1968)
Вечір на Івана Купала (Vechir na Ivana Kupala)
Directed by Yuri Ilyenko
Starring Boris Khmelnitskiy, Larisa Kadochnikova, Yefim Fridman

• The Color of Pomegranates (1969)
Նռան գույնը (Sayat Nova)
Directed by Sergei Parajanov
Starring Sofiko Chiaureli, Melkon Alekyan, Vilen Galstyan

In 1966, somewhere along the United States-Mexico border, a man wearing a tattered Union uniform drags a coffin across the desert… and into the hearts of the Italian moviegoing public. What was it about this mix of blood, violence, sweaty masculine tusslin’, and steely blue eyes? With just one film, Sergio Corbucci inspired over thirty five remakes, sequels, and rip-offs – the first two even in the same year the original film came out.

In this episode, as part of their once Bootleg Bond series, now expanded Genre series, Bart and Jenna make it their business to map out Django from the beginning. They start with the widely seen original and slowly make their way through a mix of western wannabes, surrealist desert violence and pure cowboy schlock. They also discuss what makes Django so appealing: is it the cathartic, unflinchingly bloody violence, or is it the leftist beating heart that many spaghetti westerns share? Why not both?

The following films are discussed:

• Django (1966)
Directed by Sergio Corbucci
Starring Franco Nero, Loredana Nusciak, Eduardo Fajardo

• A Few Dollars for Django (1966)
Pochi dollari per Django
Directed by León Klimovsky & Enzo G. Castellari
Starring Anthony Steffen, Gloria Osuna, Ennio Girolami

• Django Shoots First (1966)
Django spara per primo
Directed by Alberto De Martino
Starring Glenn Saxson, Ida Galli, Fernando Sancho

• Django Kill... If You Live, Shoot! (1967)
Se sei vivo spara
Directed by Giulio Questi
Starring Tomas Milian, Marilù Tolo, Piero Lulli

• Django, Prepare a Coffin (1968)
Preparati la bara!
Directed by Ferdinando Baldi
Starring Terence Hill, Horst Frank, George Eastman

• Django the Bastard (1968)
Django il bastardo
Directed by Sergio Garrone
Starring Anthony Steffen, Paolo Gozlino, Luciano Rossi

Bart and Jenna want to tell you what their favorites films from 1961 are, but the catch is that the films can only be selected from films covered on Cinema60 so far! But first, they’re going to talk about six films from 1961 that they’ve chosen to watch in hopes that they can snazz up their Top Tens with some bonus bangers. (Aka, basically it’s just Kiss Marry Kill by a different name.)

Coincidentally, some specific topics end up popping up frequently in the episode. First and foremost, we get a lot of talk about commedia all'italiana – a ‘60s genre near and dear to our hosts’ hearts. Also broached are such subjects as
”Artists In Paris,” or “Guns Are Bad,” and “Legacies of WWII,” “Statutory Kissing,” “Staying True To Your Ideals,” and “Why Satire Rules.” It’s the trends and treasures of 1961 cinema served up for your delectation.

The following films are discussed:

• A Difficult Life (1961)
Una vita difficile
Directed by Dino Risi
Starring Alberto Sordi, Lea Massari, Franco Fabrizi

• The Guns of Navarone (1961)
Directed by J. Lee Thompson
Starring Gregory Peck, Anthony Quinn, David Niven

• Paris Belongs to Us (1961)
Paris nous appartient
Directed by Jacques Rivette
Starring Betty Schneider, Giani Esposito, Françoise Prévost

• Divorce Italian Style (1961)
Divorzio all'italiana
Directed by Pietro Germi
Starring Marcello Mastroianni, Daniela Rocca, Stefania Sandrelli

• My Son, the Hero (1961)
Los hermanos Del Hierro
Directed by Ismael Rodríguez
Starring Antonio Aguilar, Julio Alemán, Patricia Conde

• Call Me Genius (1961)
The Rebel
Directed by Robert Day
Starring Tony Hancock, George Sanders, Paul Massie

Once again, Cinema60 communes with the dead in order to highlight some notable opinions on film. Tonight’s ghost guest is Susan Sontag and her seminal Sight and Sound review on Ingmar Bergman’s Persona. Known primarily as an author, filmmaker and intellect, in the 1960s Sontag was just beginning her illustrious career as a writer – her essay “Notes on ‘Camp’” helped to define the camp aesthetic to the public at large. Simiarly, her 1967 review of Persona has endured throughout the ages, rising above other contemporary voices to help audiences (old and new alike) better derive meaning from Bergman’s rather abstract film.

In this episode, Bart and Jenna use Sontag’s article as a sounding board to dissect Bergman’s filmmaking and explore the depths of Persona. Easy enough for Bart, who likely would have chosen this film himself if the episode had been about his favorite ‘60s pick. Meanwhile, Jenna muses on the idea that all cinema must have a “point” – even if sometimes the point is that there is no point.

The following film is discussed:

• Persona (1966)
Directed by Ingmar Bergman
Starring Bibi Andersson, Liv Ullmann, Margaretha Krook

Also mentioned:

• Journey to Italy (1954)
Viaggio in Italia
Directed by Roberto Rossellini
Starring Ingrid Bergman, George Sanders, Maria Mauban

• L'avventura (1960)
Directed by Michelangelo Antonioni
Starring Monica Vitti, Gabriele Ferzetti, Lea Massari

• Last Year at Marienbad (1961)
L'année dernière à Marienbad
Directed by Alain Resnais
Starring Delphine Seyrig, Giorgio Albertazzi, Sacha Pitoëff

• Through a Glass Darkly (1961)
Såsom i en spegel
Directed by Ingmar Bergman
Starring Harriet Andersson, Gunnar Björnstrand, Max von Sydow

• The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance (1962)
Directed by John Ford
Starring James Stewart, John Wayne, Vera Miles

• Winter Light (1963)
Nattvardsgästerna
Directed by Ingmar Bergman
Starring Ingrid Thulin, Gunnar Björnstrand, Gunnel Lindblom

• The Silence (1963)
Tystnaden
Directed by Ingmar Bergman
Starring Ingrid Thulin, Gunnel Lindblom, Birger Malmsten

• Hour of the Wolf (1968)
Vargtimmen
Directed by Ingmar Bergman
Starring Max von Sydow, Liv Ullmann, Gertrud Fridh

• Shame (1968)
Skammen
Directed by Ingmar Bergman
Starring Liv Ullmann, Max von Sydow, Sigge Fürst

• Duet for Cannibals (1969)
Duett för kannibaler
Directed by Susan Sontag
Starring Adriana Asti, Lars Ekborg, Gösta Ekman

• The Passion of Anna (1969)
En passion
Directed by Ingmar Bergman
Starring Liv Ullmann, Bibi Andersson, Max von Sydow

• Brother Carl (1971)
Bröder Carl
Directed by Susan Sontag
Starring Geneviève Page, Gunnel Lindblom, Keve Hjelm

• The Point (1971)
Directed by Fred Wolf
Starring Ringo Starr, Mike Lookinland, Lennie Weinrib

• Promised Lands (1974)
Directed by Susan Sontag

• Inland Empire (2006)
Directed by David Lynch
Starring Laura Dern, Justin Theroux, Jeremy Irons

Here at Cinema60 we’ve embraced the endless task of putting a pin in the entirety of Sixties cinema. However, one area where we have been remiss in our duties is documentaries – a genre that truly came into its own during this decade. Films like Robert Drew’s Primary and Jean Rouch & Edgar Morin’s Chronicle of a Summer began to break from the popular “voice of God” expository mode, giving way to a greater variety of non-fiction documentary filmmaking techniques. By the end of the decade, the narrated newsreel style was relegated primarily to television, and movie theaters were home to the newer forms.

In this episode, Cinema60 looks at documentaries in 1969 – examining just how far the genre had progressed in ten years. Using Bill Nichols landmark text Representing Reality (1991) as a guide for describing what documentary looked like at the time, Bart and Jenna delve into the wealth of styles the genre had splintered into and take a look at some of the most exceptional documentaries ever made.

The following films are discussed:

• A Married Couple (1969)
Directed by Allan King
Starring Billy Edwards, Antoinette Edwards, Bogart Edwards

• Salesman (1969)
Directed by Albert Maysles, David Maysles & Charlotte Zwerin
Starring Paul Brennan, Charles McDevitt, James Baker

• In The Year of the Pig (1969)
Directed by Emile de Antonio
Starring Lyndon B. Johnson, Ho Chí Minh, Robert McNamara

• The Sorrow and the Pity (1969)
Le chagrin et la pitié
Directed by Marcel Ophüls
Starring Helmut Tausend, Marcel Verdier, Alexis Grave

• The Olympics in Mexico (1969)
Olimpiada en México
Directed by Alberto Isaac
Starring Enrique Lizalde, Tommie Smith, John Carlos

• Diaries, Notes and Sketches (also known as Walden) (1969)
Directed by Jonas Mekas
Starring Timothy Leary, Edie Sedgwick, Norman Mailer