33 reasons why 1968 may be cinema's greatest year
by MichelleYeohFan | created - 03 Mar 2014 | updated - 05 Mar 2014 | PublicThe most epic and dramatic movies came that year, as well as the weirdest, wackiest and most creative...
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1. Romeo and Juliet (1968)
PG | 138 min | Drama, Romance
When two young members of feuding families meet, forbidden love ensues.
Director: Franco Zeffirelli | Stars: Leonard Whiting, Olivia Hussey, John McEnery, Milo O'Shea
Votes: 34,757 | Gross: $38.90M
2. 2001: A Space Odyssey (1968)
G | 149 min | Adventure, Sci-Fi
After uncovering a mysterious artifact buried beneath the Lunar surface, a spacecraft is sent to Jupiter to find its origins: a spacecraft manned by two men and the supercomputer HAL 9000.
Director: Stanley Kubrick | Stars: Keir Dullea, Gary Lockwood, William Sylvester, Daniel Richter
Votes: 719,157 | Gross: $56.95M
3. The Valley of the Bees (1968)
97 min | Drama, History
Ondrej, a young boy who loves bees and bats, is introduced to his new mother, a woman much younger than his father. He brings her a basketful of flowers which she starts to throw in the air... See full summary »
Director: Frantisek Vlácil | Stars: Petr Cepek, Jan Kacer, Vera Galatíková, Zdenek Kryzánek
Votes: 1,818
4. Once Upon a Time in the West (1968)
PG-13 | 166 min | Western
A mysterious stranger with a harmonica joins forces with a notorious desperado to protect a beautiful widow from a ruthless assassin working for the railroad.
Director: Sergio Leone | Stars: Henry Fonda, Charles Bronson, Claudia Cardinale, Jason Robards
Votes: 348,982 | Gross: $5.32M
5. The Color of Pomegranates (1969)
Not Rated | 79 min | Biography, Drama, History
The life of the Armenian poet Sayat-Nova, from childhood to death: his spiritual journey, artistic endeavors, and inner conflicts within the cultural and historical context of Armenia. Hailed as revolutionary by Mikhail Vartanov.
Director: Sergei Parajanov | Stars: Sofiko Chiaureli, Melkon Alekyan, Vilen Galstyan, Gogi Gegechkori
Votes: 13,533
6. Rosemary's Baby (1968)
Approved | 137 min | Drama, Horror
A young couple trying for a baby moves into an aging, ornate apartment building on Central Park West, where they find themselves surrounded by peculiar neighbors.
Director: Roman Polanski | Stars: Mia Farrow, John Cassavetes, Ruth Gordon, Sidney Blackmer
Votes: 235,028
7. Planet of the Apes (1968)
G | 112 min | Adventure, Sci-Fi
An astronaut crew crash-lands on a planet where highly intelligent non-human ape species are dominant and humans are enslaved.
Director: Franklin J. Schaffner | Stars: Charlton Heston, Roddy McDowall, Kim Hunter, Maurice Evans
Votes: 193,059 | Gross: $33.40M
8. The Lion in Winter (1968)
PG | 134 min | Biography, Drama, History
1183 A.D.: King Henry II's three sons all want to inherit the throne, but he won't commit to a choice. When he allows his imprisoned wife Eleanor of Aquitaine out for a Christmas visit, they all variously plot to force him into a decision.
Director: Anthony Harvey | Stars: Peter O'Toole, Katharine Hepburn, Anthony Hopkins, John Castle
Votes: 34,202 | Gross: $22.28M
9. Odissea (1968)
GP | 109 min | Adventure, Drama, Fantasy
Odysseus' journey told in Homer's Iliad and Odyssey. After fighting in the Trojan War, Odysseus spends years trying to return home to Itaka.
Stars: Bekim Fehmiu, Carlo Alighiero, Leonard Steckel, Constantin Andrieu
Votes: 858
10. Night of the Living Dead (1968)
Not Rated | 96 min | Horror, Thriller
A ragtag group of Pennsylvanians barricade themselves in an old farmhouse to remain safe from a horde of flesh-eating ghouls that are ravaging the Northeast of the United States.
Director: George A. Romero | Stars: Duane Jones, Judith O'Dea, Karl Hardman, Marilyn Eastman
Votes: 139,058 | Gross: $0.09M
11. Black Cat (1968)
Not Rated | 99 min | Drama, Horror
Two women are raped and killed by samurai soldiers. Soon they reappear as vengeful ghosts who seduce and brutally murder the passing samurai.
Director: Kaneto Shindô | Stars: Kichiemon Nakamura, Nobuko Otowa, Kei Satô, Rokkô Toura
Votes: 8,572
12. Shame (1968)
R | 103 min | Drama
In the midst of a civil war, former violinists Jan and Eva Rosenberg, who have a tempestuous marriage, run a farm on a rural island. In spite of their best efforts to escape their homeland, the war impinges on every aspect of their lives.
Director: Ingmar Bergman | Stars: Liv Ullmann, Max von Sydow, Sigge Fürst, Gunnar Björnstrand
Votes: 15,002
13. The Bride Wore Black (1968)
Unrated | 107 min | Crime, Drama, Mystery
Julie Kohler is prevented from suicide by her mother. She leaves the town. She will track down, charm and kill five men who do not know her. What is her goal? What is her purpose?
Director: François Truffaut | Stars: Jeanne Moreau, Jean-Claude Brialy, Michel Bouquet, Charles Denner
Votes: 10,142 | Gross: $0.55M
14. Sebastian (1968)
Approved | 100 min | Drama, Romance, Thriller
During the Cold War, the chief of a British intelligence code-breaking section falls in love with a new employee and shields an old co-worker accused of Communist affiliations from the wrath of the security branch.
Director: David Greene | Stars: Dirk Bogarde, Susannah York, Lilli Palmer, John Gielgud
Votes: 702
15. Spirits of the Dead (1968)
R | 121 min | Drama, Horror, Mystery
A trio of Edgar Allan Poe adaptations about a cruel countess haunted by her cousin's stallion, a sadistic soldier haunted by his doppelgänger, and an alcoholic actor haunted by the Devil.
Directors: Federico Fellini, Louis Malle, Roger Vadim | Stars: Jane Fonda, Brigitte Bardot, Alain Delon, Terence Stamp
Votes: 6,944
16. Kill! (1968)
Not Rated | 115 min | Action, Comedy, Drama
Two ronin - an ex-samurai and an ex-farmer - get caught up in a local official's complex game of murder and betrayal.
Director: Kihachi Okamoto | Stars: Tatsuya Nakadai, Etsushi Takahashi, Yuriko Hoshi, Tadao Nakamaru
Votes: 3,174
17. Hell in the Pacific (1968)
G | 103 min | Adventure, War
During World War II, an American pilot and a marooned Japanese navy captain are deserted on a small uninhabited island in the Pacific Ocean. There, they must cease their hostility and cooperate if they want to survive, but will they?
Director: John Boorman | Stars: Lee Marvin, Toshirô Mifune
Votes: 9,053
18. Will Penny (1967)
Approved | 108 min | Drama, Romance, Western
Aging cowboy Will Penny gets a line camp job on a large cattle spread and finds his isolated cabin is already occupied by an abandoned woman traveler and her young son.
Director: Tom Gries | Stars: Charlton Heston, Joan Hackett, Donald Pleasence, Lee Majors
Votes: 5,252
19. The Great Silence (1968)
Not Rated | 105 min | Drama, Western
A mute gunfighter defends a young widow and a group of outlaws against a gang of bounty killers in the winter of 1898, and a grim, tense struggle unfolds.
Director: Sergio Corbucci | Stars: Jean-Louis Trintignant, Klaus Kinski, Frank Wolff, Vonetta McGee
Votes: 18,099 | Gross: $0.05M
20. Samaritan Zatoichi (1968)
Not Rated | 84 min | Drama, Action, Adventure
Zatoichi is tricked by a crime gang into killing a man. Realizing his mistake, he sets out to protect the dead man's sister, who is conflicted in accepting his help.
Director: Kenji Misumi | Stars: Shintarô Katsu, Yoshiko Mita, Makoto Satô, Kô Nishimura
Votes: 1,306
21. Hour of the Wolf (1968)
Not Rated | 88 min | Drama, Horror, Mystery
While vacationing on a remote German island with his younger pregnant wife, an artist has an emotional breakdown while confronting his repressed desires.
Director: Ingmar Bergman | Stars: Max von Sydow, Liv Ullmann, Gertrud Fridh, Georg Rydeberg
Votes: 22,568
22. The Shoes of the Fisherman (I) (1968)
G | 162 min | Drama
After spending decades in a Siberian Gulag labor camp, Roman Catholic priest Kiril Lakota is set free by Russian leader Piotr Ilyich Kamenev at the height of the Cold War.
Director: Michael Anderson | Stars: Anthony Quinn, Laurence Olivier, Oskar Werner, David Janssen
Votes: 4,154
23. Stolen Kisses (1968)
R | 91 min | Comedy, Drama, Romance
After being discharged from the army, Antoine Doinel centers a screwball comedy where he applies for different jobs and tries to make sense of his relationships with women.
Director: François Truffaut | Stars: Jean-Pierre Léaud, Claude Jade, Delphine Seyrig, Michael Lonsdale
Votes: 15,095
24. Barbarella (1968)
Approved | 98 min | Adventure, Comedy, Fantasy
In the 41st century, an astronaut partakes in sexy misadventures while seeking to stop an evil scientist who threatens to bring evil back into the galaxy.
Director: Roger Vadim | Stars: Jane Fonda, John Phillip Law, Anita Pallenberg, Milo O'Shea
Votes: 37,706
25. Secret Ceremony (1968)
R | 109 min | Drama, Thriller
A penniless woman meets a strange girl who insists she is her long-lost mother, and becomes enmeshed in a web of deception, and perhaps madness.
Director: Joseph Losey | Stars: Elizabeth Taylor, Robert Mitchum, Mia Farrow, Peggy Ashcroft
Votes: 2,642
26. Pretty Poison (1968)
Approved | 89 min | Comedy, Crime, Romance
When a mentally-disturbed young man tells a pretty girl that he's a secret agent, she believes him; murder and mayhem ensue.
Director: Noel Black | Stars: Anthony Perkins, Tuesday Weld, Beverly Garland, John Randolph
Votes: 3,980
27. Fando and Lis (1968)
Not Rated | 93 min | Adventure, Fantasy
Fando and his partially-paralyzed lover Lis search for the mythical city of Tar. Based on Jodorowsky's memories of a play by surrealist Fernando Arrabal.
Director: Alejandro Jodorowsky | Stars: Tamara Garina, Sergio Kleiner, Diana Mariscal, María Teresa Rivas
Votes: 6,363
28. Signs of Life (1968)
Not Rated | 91 min | Drama
Three wounded soldiers are removed from battle and given the task of looking after a fortress in a small coastal town. However, the pressures of isolation begin to take their toll on the men.
Director: Werner Herzog | Stars: Peter Brogle, Wolfgang Reichmann, Athina Zacharopoulou, Wolfgang von Ungern-Sternberg
Votes: 2,454
29. Lucia (1968)
160 min | Drama
Traces episodes in the lives of three Cuban women, each named Lucía, from three different historical periods: the Cuban war of independence (with Spain), the 1930s, and the 1960s.
Director: Humberto Solás | Stars: Raquel Revuelta, Eslinda Núñez, Adela Legrá, Eduardo Moure
Votes: 1,180
30. Where Eagles Dare (1968)
M | 158 min | Action, Adventure, War
Allied agents stage a daring raid on a castle where the Nazis are holding American brigadier general George Carnaby prisoner, but that's not all that's really going on.
Director: Brian G. Hutton | Stars: Richard Burton, Clint Eastwood, Mary Ure, Patrick Wymark
Votes: 62,881
31. The Immortal Story (1968 TV Movie)
Not Rated | 58 min | Drama
In Macao, a wealthy merchant named Charles Clay hires two people to recreate a story of a sailor who is paid to impregnate a man's wife.
Director: Orson Welles | Stars: Orson Welles, Jeanne Moreau, Roger Coggio, Norman Eshley
Votes: 3,468
32. Kanyadaan (1968)
149 min | Drama, Romance
Two small children, Rekha and Amar, undergo a marriage ceremony under guidance of their respective parents. Years later, Rekha and Amar have grown up, and are now capable of fulfilling ... See full summary »
Director: Mohan Segal | Stars: Asha Parekh, Shashi Kapoor, Sayeeda Khan, Dilip Raj
Votes: 111
33. Nanami: The Inferno of First Love (1968)
X | 87 min | Drama, Romance
A teenage goldsmith with a dark past tragically falls in love with a young nude model.
Director: Susumu Hani | Stars: Haruo Asanu, Kazuko Fukuda, Kuniko Ishii, Ichirô Kimura
Votes: 927
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