25 Best Films of the 1960’s
by jmcginn174 | created - 29 Nov 2014 | updated - 30 Nov 2014 | PublicWell here is my list of the top 25 films of the 1960’s. I have seen a ton of films from the 1960’s from cheesy horror films to classics, and had originally picked 51 films for consideration for my list, but decided to narrow it down to the top 25. The 1960’s was the decade of Sergio Leone, and the rise to super stardom for Clint Eastwood, Steve McQueen, and Paul Newman as well as three of the best, and most influential science fiction/horror films in 2001: A Space Odyssey, Planet of the Apes, and Night of the Living Dead.
The top 15 were easy to chose, and everyone should agree with their inclusion, but the last 10 were much harder to figure out, and I’m sure some will definitely disagree with the choices I have made. Well any way here are my Top 25 Films of the 1960’s.
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1. 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: 719,284 | Gross: $56.95M
One of my top 5 films of all time.
2. Lawrence of Arabia (1962)
Approved | 218 min | Adventure, Biography, Drama
The story of T.E. Lawrence, the English officer who successfully united and led the diverse, often warring, Arab tribes during World War I in order to fight the Turks.
Director: David Lean | Stars: Peter O'Toole, Alec Guinness, Anthony Quinn, Jack Hawkins
Votes: 314,278 | Gross: $44.82M
Alec Guinness at his best in one hell of a film that again is one my top 10 films of all time.
3. Yojimbo (1961)
Not Rated | 110 min | Action, Drama, Thriller
A crafty ronin comes to a town divided by two criminal gangs and decides to play them against each other to free the town.
Director: Akira Kurosawa | Stars: Toshirô Mifune, Eijirô Tôno, Tatsuya Nakadai, Yôko Tsukasa
Votes: 131,320
One of two Akira Kurosawa classics on this list, and the film that inspired Sergio Leone’s classic A Fistful of Dollars.
4. The Good, the Bad and the Ugly (1966)
Approved | 178 min | Adventure, Western
A bounty hunting scam joins two men in an uneasy alliance against a third in a race to find a fortune in gold buried in a remote cemetery.
Director: Sergio Leone | Stars: Clint Eastwood, Eli Wallach, Lee Van Cleef, Aldo Giuffrè
Votes: 810,971 | Gross: $6.10M
My personal favorite of Sergio Leone’s “Dollars Trilogy” where it could be said that Eli Wallach stole the film from both Clint Eastwood and Lee Van Cleef as “The Ugly” Tuco, which is hard to do. Then there is Ennio Morricone epic and beautifully composed music, and finally the masterfully filmed climax that makes The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly the best western of all time, and one of the best films of all time.
5. Z (1969)
M/PG | 127 min | Crime, Drama, Thriller
The public murder of a prominent politician and doctor amid a violent demonstration is covered up by military and government officials. A tenacious magistrate is determined not to let them get away with it.
Director: Costa-Gavras | Stars: Yves Montand, Irene Papas, Jean-Louis Trintignant, François Périer
Votes: 31,343 | Gross: $0.08M
I just finally watched the French political thriller about a year and a half ago, and damn Z is one hell of a film.
6. The Hidden Fortress (1958)
Not Rated | 126 min | Action, Adventure, Drama
Lured by gold, two greedy peasants unknowingly escort a princess and her general across enemy lines.
Director: Akira Kurosawa | Stars: Toshirô Mifune, Misa Uehara, Minoru Chiaki, Kamatari Fujiwara
Votes: 42,222
7. 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: 139,072 | Gross: $0.09M
Director George A. Romero’s first is “Dead” Trilogy that has influenced many future horror directors in John Carpenter and Wes Craven as well as giving us the zombie, and launching the zombie craze that has giving me the Resident Evil games, and The Walking Dead, but with that it also gave me the terrible Resident Evil films, but I can forgive Romero for that.
8. For a Few Dollars More (1965)
R | 132 min | Drama, Western
Two bounty hunters with the same intentions team up to track down a gang of outlaws led by a psychotic Mexican bandit, who is plotting an audacious bank robbery.
Director: Sergio Leone | Stars: Clint Eastwood, Lee Van Cleef, Gian Maria Volontè, Mara Krupp
Votes: 274,583 | Gross: $15.00M
9. 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: 193,096 | Gross: $33.40M
My favorite Charleston Heston film. There are many great things about the film, but what makes Planet of the Apes truly a classic is the ending. I won’t give it away because it will ruin the ending and the mystery of the film for those who haven’t seen the film, but the ending of the Planet of the Apes is one of the best ending in film history.
10. To Kill a Mockingbird (1962)
Approved | 129 min | Crime, Drama
Atticus Finch, a widowed lawyer in Depression-era Alabama, defends a Black man against an undeserved rape charge, and tries to educate his young children against prejudice.
Director: Robert Mulligan | Stars: Gregory Peck, John Megna, Frank Overton, Rosemary Murphy
Votes: 332,790
11. A Fistful of Dollars (1964)
R | 99 min | Action, Drama, Western
A wandering gunfighter plays two rival families against each other in a town torn apart by greed, pride, and revenge.
Director: Sergio Leone | Stars: Clint Eastwood, Gian Maria Volontè, Marianne Koch, Wolfgang Lukschy
Votes: 232,606 | Gross: $14.50M
12. The Great Escape (1963)
Approved | 172 min | Adventure, Drama, Thriller
Allied prisoners of war plan for several hundred of their number to escape from a German camp during World War II.
Director: John Sturges | Stars: Steve McQueen, James Garner, Richard Attenborough, Charles Bronson
Votes: 258,842 | Gross: $12.10M
The classic film has an all star cast that includes James Garner, Charles Bronson, Steve McQueen, James Coburn, Donald Pleasence, James Donald, and Richard Attenborough. Based on a true story of an escape from a POW camp during WWII that is riveting with suspense, drama and some action where Steve McQueen steals the film from all the other good actors in the film.
13. Judgment at Nuremberg (1961)
Approved | 179 min | Drama, War
In 1948, an American court in occupied Germany tries four Nazis judged for war crimes.
Director: Stanley Kramer | Stars: Spencer Tracy, Burt Lancaster, Richard Widmark, Marlene Dietrich
Votes: 85,444
14. Seven Days in May (1964)
Approved | 118 min | Drama, Thriller
United States military leaders plot to overthrow the President because he supports a nuclear disarmament treaty and they fear a Soviet sneak attack.
Director: John Frankenheimer | Stars: Burt Lancaster, Kirk Douglas, Fredric March, Ava Gardner
Votes: 17,329 | Gross: $7.96M
15. Lord of the Flies (1963)
Not Rated | 92 min | Adventure, Drama, Thriller
Schoolboys marooned on a Pacific island create their own savage civilization.
Director: Peter Brook | Stars: James Aubrey, Tom Chapin, Hugh Edwards, Roger Elwin
Votes: 20,412
I vividly remembering first seeing Lord of the Flies in Intermediary school, and I hope teachers still show Lord of the flies in school. The Lord of the Flies takes a pessimistic view on the human condition vividly displaying the isolation, fear, hate, and violence humans and especially children are capable of.
16. Hombre (1967)
Approved | 111 min | Drama, Western
John Russell, disdained by his "respectable" fellow stagecoach passengers because he was raised by Native Americans, becomes their only hope for survival when they are set upon by outlaws.
Director: Martin Ritt | Stars: Paul Newman, Fredric March, Richard Boone, Diane Cilento
Votes: 13,829
17. Bonnie and Clyde (1967)
R | 111 min | Action, Biography, Crime
Bored waitress Bonnie Parker falls in love with an ex-con named Clyde Barrow and together they start a violent crime spree through the country, stealing cars and robbing banks.
Director: Arthur Penn | Stars: Warren Beatty, Faye Dunaway, Michael J. Pollard, Gene Hackman
Votes: 120,583
18. 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: 349,029 | Gross: $5.32M
19. The Guns of Navarone (1961)
Not Rated | 158 min | Action, Adventure, Drama
A team of Allied saboteurs is assigned an impossible mission: infiltrate an impregnable Nazi-held Greek island and destroy the two enormous long-range field guns that prevent the rescue of 2,000 trapped British soldiers.
Director: J. Lee Thompson | Stars: David Niven, Gregory Peck, Anthony Quinn, Anthony Quayle
Votes: 55,372 | Gross: $28.90M
20. Bullitt (1968)
M/PG | 114 min | Action, Crime, Thriller
A nonconformist San Francisco cop is determined to find the underworld kingpin who killed the witness under his protection.
Director: Peter Yates | Stars: Steve McQueen, Jacqueline Bisset, Robert Vaughn, Don Gordon
Votes: 75,816 | Gross: $42.30M
The second of three Steve McQueen films on this list. Perhaps Steve McQueen’s best film of his cut short acting career and life, and without doubt one of the best ever filmed car chase scenes through the streets of San Francisco.
21. The Dirty Dozen (1967)
Approved | 150 min | Action, Adventure, War
During World War II, a rebellious U.S. Army Major is assigned a dozen convicted murderers to train and lead them into a mass assassination mission of German officers.
Director: Robert Aldrich | Stars: Lee Marvin, Ernest Borgnine, Charles Bronson, John Cassavetes
Votes: 79,074 | Gross: $45.30M
22. In the Heat of the Night (1967)
Approved | 110 min | Drama, Mystery, Thriller
A black Philadelphia police detective is mistakenly suspected of a local murder while passing through a racially hostile Mississippi town, and after being cleared is reluctantly asked by the police chief to investigate the case.
Director: Norman Jewison | Stars: Sidney Poitier, Rod Steiger, Warren Oates, Lee Grant
Votes: 83,533 | Gross: $24.38M
23. The Sand Pebbles (1966)
PG-13 | 182 min | Adventure, Drama, Romance
In 1926, a U.S. Naval engineer gets assigned to a gunboat on a rescue mission in war-torn China.
Director: Robert Wise | Stars: Steve McQueen, Richard Attenborough, Richard Crenna, Candice Bergen
Votes: 16,427
24. Fahrenheit 451 (1966)
Not Rated | 112 min | Drama, Sci-Fi
In an oppressive future, a fireman whose duty is to destroy all books begins to question his task.
Director: François Truffaut | Stars: Oskar Werner, Julie Christie, Cyril Cusack, Anton Diffring
Votes: 45,411
25. True Grit (1969)
G | 128 min | Adventure, Drama, Western
A drunken, hard-nosed U.S. Marshal and a Texas Ranger help a stubborn teenager track down her father's murderer in Indian Territory.
Director: Henry Hathaway | Stars: John Wayne, Kim Darby, Glen Campbell, Jeremy Slate
Votes: 51,427 | Gross: $31.13M
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