1965 in film.

Top ten box-office films of 1965:

1. The Sound of Music
2. Doctor Chivago
3. Thunderball
4. Those Magnificent Men in their Flying Machines
5. The Great Race
6. That Darn Cat!
7. Cat Ballou
8. What's New Pussycat?
9. Shenandoah
10. Von Ryan's Express

What are your top three films for 1965? We will keep a running tally and eventually have some sort of bracket. For me it would be:

1. Pierrot le Fou
2. For a Few Dollars More
3. Alphaville

What are some of the forgotten gems from the year? What is overrated? What did you discover at a young age and what did you discover later?

YEARS IN FILM • forum.chorus.fm

 

1. Le Bonheur
2. For a Few Dollars More
3. Repulsion

Le Bonheur is fantastic, really loved the vibes and the way the film progresses is so interesting/unique. Highly recommend it for anyone who hasn't seen it. For a Few Dollars More is probably my favourite Leone, such a great watch. Big fan of Repulsion's grimy descent into madness, just a kind of gross, claustrophobic film.

Also watched Pierrot le Fou the other day which I'm still kind of figuring out. I think I mostly loved it though, both leads were great and it had a lot of interesting ideas as well as being very funny in it's absurdity. I feel like it's something I need to see more than once.

 

I think looking at the 60s as a whole, this is probably the weakest year, at least for me - my favourites here wouldn't crack the top three in other years. Looking at what else was released this year that I haven't seen yet, there isn't a huge amount on there that particularly stands out for me, as something I'd been meaning to watch, or something that I know is highly regarded. Although that may just mean there's plenty of hidden gems here!

1. Repulsion
2. Le Bonheur
3. Pierrot le Fou

 

Another short film worth seeking out from 1965 is Two, by Satyajit Ray. Only 12 minutes long and without any dialogue, it shows a rivalry between a rich child playing with his fancy toys in his modern apartment, against a poor child playing with his simple toys outside. Disarmingly simple, but really affecting - well worth watching. Ray describes it as a fable in the opening titles, which sounds about right.

 

1. Le Bonheur
2. Pierrot Le Fou
3. For a Few Dollars More

 

There's a random cutaway insert somewhere in the film that just has the word "CINEMA" flashing up on the screen in neon red, white and blue French Tricolour, that basically feels like the film's essence diluted down to about two seconds.

 

1. Le bonheur
2. Loves of a Blonde
3. Faster, Pussycat! Kill! Kill!

 

Thunderball is my fave classic Bond film, but I don't think I'd ever put it on a top movie list lol

 

1. Not Reconcilled
2. Le bonheur
3. Walkover

Le bonheur has long been one of my favourite Varda films, so I'm glad to see it on so many lists in here. I've always felt it was really overlooked compared to Cleo (like a lot of her narrative work).

Three really strong Japanese films from this year that could have made their way onto my list: Red Beard, Pleasures of the Flesh, and Tokyo Olympiad. Even as someone who is very much not interested in sports, I find the spectacle of Tokyo Olympiad compeltely hypnotizing.

 

Le Bonheur deeply unsettled me. Dark stuff.

Have you seen Diary of a Yunbogi Boy? A short also from 65 but an Oshima I haven’t seen

 

apparently i have never seen a film from 1965

 

I haven't! I've seen a lot of Oshima (he might even be a top 10 filmmaker for me) but I never got around to that one. I'm generally bad at catching up with short films outside of theatrical/festival settings. I just threw this one on my Criterion Channel list though, since it's up there. I expect a lot of his work to pop up on my lists from '68 into the 70s.

 

Yeah Merry Christmas Mr. Lawrence was my introduction and I think Death By Hanging is exceptional, plus Boy as well. I’d really like to delve further into his work when I have some time.

 

Probably The Sound of Music, Le Bonheur, and Darling for me. The next few years and beyond are stacked, but this one was a little easier/has fewer that mean a lot of me. Sound of Music is such a comfort movie and is still absolutely gorgeous, Le Bonheur completely floored and devastated me when I finally saw it, and Darling is another on the list that feels like it was opening the door for the films that would blow up later in the decade from the US and UK.

I actually prefer Alphaville over Pierrot, and both would probably be on the list if I was ranking things generally and not just for what they mean to me personally. Alphaville grew on me a lot when I went back for another look recently, that’s one I missed a lot about the first time.

Cat Ballou and The Great Race are two that don’t have much emotional weight for me but definitely still make me laugh and I might watch whenever they’re playing randomly.

The Loved One did poorly at the time but is due for some reappraisal as a satire and kind of camp classic. Saw the MST3K boys bring it up at a panel on reclaiming “bad” movies a few years ago and almost no one in the crowd had ever heard of it.

The Slender Thread is another that fell off the radar at release and didn’t really deserve it. Worth it if you’re a fan of Sydney Pollack and want to see his debut or want to watch Anne Bancroft and Sidney Poitier giving it their all in roles that are fairly isolated within the story.

 

1. The Sound of Music
2. For a Few Dollars More

Literally the only two films I've seen from 1965 haha

 

Death by Hanging is my absolute favourite. I would advocate for basically every film I've seen by him but Night and Fog in Japan and The Ceremony are two I would offer my highest recommendation for. In the Realm of the Senses is obviously something that has to be seen too. Dear Summer Sister not very widely seen, but I'm also a big fan of it. Kind of like Oshima doing a Rohmer-style summer movie while still probing his pet themes of politics, war history, colonization, etc.

 

1. For a Few Dollars More
2. Thunderball
3. Help!

 

All of the winners have been deserving, but it looks like Jean-Luc Godard is going to be a runner-up multiple times without winning a year. I can't imagine anything post-1967 being competitive.

 

1. For a Few Dollars More
2. Alphaville
3. Pierrot Le Fou

not a strong year for the 60s imo but still some things it looks like I need to see. For a Few Dollars More might be the best western ever though.

 

1. A Charlie Brown Christmas (this counts, right?)
2. The Sound of Music
3. Help!


Haven't seen a lot of classics from this year like Alphaville yet.

 

Missed the last couple of years due to work but this is another highly competitive year

1. Thunderball
2. For a Few Dollars More
3. The Hill

 

For the first time, we have a tie: Both Le Bonheur and For a Few Dollars More received 15 votes each.

For 24 hours, we will try again, but we are narrowing it down to the finalists. Everyone who has voted should choose just one. What do you pick?

Le Bonheur, Agnes Varda's landmark French New Wave film, or...

For A Few Dollars More, Sergio Leone's epic spaghetti Western?

 

Le Bonheur!

 

My vote goes to For a Few Dollars More. Unfortunately, Le Bonheur is the first film that has gotten a significant amount of attention in these threads that I have not seen. I have enjoyed so much of Varda's other work, though.

 

Same, going with Leone on this one