The Best Films of the 1960s Decade

1. 2001: A Space OdysseyStanley Kubrick1968
2. 8 1/2Federico Fellini1963
3. Lawrence of ArabiaDavid Lean1962
4. La Dolce VitaFederico Fellini1960
5. PersonaIngmar Bergman1966
6. BreathlessJean-Luc Godard1960
7. Last Year at MarienbadAlain Resnais1961
8. High and LowAkira Kurosawa1963
9. I Am CubaMikhail Kalatozov1965
10. PsychoAlfred Hitchcock1960
11. Andrei RublevAndrei Tarkovsky1966
12. Jules and JimFrançois Truffaut1962
13. Pierrot le FouJean-Luc Godard1965
14. The Good, The Bad, and The UglySergio Leone1966
15. L’AvventuraMichelangelo Antonioni1960
16. Once Upon a Time in the WestSergio Leone1968
17. The LeopardLuchino Visconti1963
18. The TrialOrson Welles1962
19. Rocco and His BrothersLuchino Visconti1960
20. The Wild BunchSam Peckinpah1969
21. GertrudCarl Theodor Dreyer1964
22. ContemptJean-Luc Godard1963
23. L’EclisseMichelangelo Antonioni1962
24. The Umbrellas of CherbourgJacques Demy1964
25. Shoot the Piano PlayerFrançois Truffaut1960
26. Rosemary’s BabyRoman Polanski1968
27. Winter LightIngmar Bergman1963
28. PlaytimeJacques Tati1967
29. Chimes at MidnightOrson Welles1965
30. The GraduateMike Nichols1967
31. ViridianaLuis Buñuel1961
32. Point BlankJohn Boorman1967
33. HarakiriMasaki Kobayashi1962
34. The Virgin SpringIngmar Bergman1960
35. The Man Who Shot Liberty ValanceJohn Ford1962
36. Le SamouraïJean-Pierre Melville1967
37. Dr. StrangeloveStanley Kubrick1964
38. YojimboAkira Kurosawa1961
39. Bonnie and ClydeArthur Penn1967
40. La NotteMichelangelo Antonioni1961
41. The SilenceIngmar Bergman1963
42. Midnight CowboyJohn Schlesinger1969
43. Butch Cassidy and the Sundance KidGeorge Roy Hill1969
44. AlphavilleJean-Luc Godard1965
45. West Side StoryRobert Wise1961
46. Cleo from 5 to 7Agnès Varda1962
47. Peeping TomMichael Powell1960
48. The ApartmentBilly Wilder1960
49. Army of ShadowsJean-Pierre Melville1969
50. Easy RiderDennis Hopper1969
51. Cool Hand LukeStuart Rosenberg1967
52. The ServantJoseph Losey1963
53. Hour of the WolfIngmar Bergman1968
54. A Woman is a WomanJean-Luc Godard1961
55. Shadows of Forgotten AncestorsSergei Parajanov1964
56. The BirdsAlfred Hitchcock1963
57. The HauntingRobert Wise1963
58. Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf?Mike Nichols1966
59. Ivan’s ChildhoodAndrei Tarkovsky1962
60. The Young Girls of RochefortJacques Demy1967
61. My Fair LadyGeorge Cukor1964
62. Vivre sa VieJean-Luc Godard1962
63. The Manchurian CandidateJohn Frankenheimer1962
64. The Battle of AlgiersGillo Pontecorvo1966
65. KesKen Loach1969
66. LolaJacques Demy1961
67. ShameIngmar Bergman1968
68. My Night at Maud’sEric Rohmer1969
69. Bande à PartJean-Luc Godard1964
70. MarnieAlfred Hitchcock1964
71. The Color of PomegranatesSergei Parajanov1969
72. The DamnedLuchino Visconti1969
73. Au Hasard BalthasarRobert Bresson1966
74. All These WomenIngmar Bergman1964
75. Night of the Living DeadGeorge A. Romero1968
76. The Great SilenceSergio Corbucci1968
77. SecondsJohn Frankenheimer1966
78. The HustlerRobert Rossen1961
79. SpartacusStanley Kubrick1960
80. CharadeStanley Donen1963
81. HudMartin Ritt1963
82. Blood and Black LaceMario Bava1964
83. Through a Glass DarklyIngmar Bergman1961
84. Funny GirlWilliam Wyler1968
85. To Kill a MockingbirdRobert Mulligan1962
86. GoldfingerGuy Hamilton1964
87. Ride the High CountrySam Peckinpah1962
88. If….Lindsay Anderson1968
89. Mary PoppinsRobert Stevenson1964
90. In the Heat of the NightNorman Jewison1967
91. Splendor in the GrassElia Kazan1961
92. The Sound of MusicRobert Wise1965
93. The ProducersMel Brooks1967
94. The Passion of AnnaIngmar Bergman1969
95. La ChinoiseJean-Luc Godard1967
96. Planet of the ApesFranklin J. Schaffner1968
97. Made in USAJean-Luc Godard1966
98. A Hard Day’s NightRichard Lester1964
99. Black GirlOusmene Sembène1966
100. Fando and LisAlejandro Jodorowsky1968
High and Low (Akira Kurosawa, 1963)

4 thoughts on “The Best Films of the 1960s Decade”

  1. This is a very compelling list, for sure, although I have to admit I’m a little surprised to find so few Japanese movies in it when the 60s were such a fruitful decade for Japanese cinema. Keep up the good work!

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      1. From those three? Well, Ozu only made three films during the 60s and all of them are very good, but I don’t think they’re among his best. Kurosawa’s Red Beard and The bad sleep well are both at or above the MS level for me. As for Kobayashi, virtually everything he directed during the 60s was pure gold.

        But apart from these three, the 60s were the time when the Japanese New Wave took off, so there are a bunch of great films from a new generation of very talented directors. Shohei Imamura is probably the most important of them all (he made five excellent films during this decade and most of them could claim a spot in the top 100), but you also have Hiroshi Teshigahara (Woman in the dunes is a massive MP and in my top 10 of the entire decade, but The face of another is not far behind), Masahiro Shinoda (Pale flower is one of the greatest noirs of all time in my opinion), Seijun Suzuki (a massive influence on Tarantino and an extremely prolific filmmaker during this era), Nagisa Oshima (his most famous work came during the 70s, but I actually prefer the stuff he did during this period) and Kaneto Shindo (his best film is probably Onibaba). Toshio Matsumoto made the very bold and controversial Funeral parade of roses during the 60s as well. And then you have Yoshishige Yoshida, who was absolutely bonkers but made some of the boldest, most cutting-edge works of the entire decade. Kinuyo Tanaka (who, apart from a great actress, was also a very gifted director) also made three great films during the 60s (although I think her best films came in the previous decade).

        There are a few more that are worth discussing, but I have to stop somewhere hahaha. Anyway, I think you would really enjoy most of them, so if you have the time I would strongly recommend giving some of these a shot.

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      2. Thanks for all those suggestions, Imamura is one that I’ve especially heard great things about and look forward to getting into. There were a few Suzuki films added to the Criterion Channel recently as well so I look forward to watching some of his quite soon.

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