Shameless Plug: “1960s Movies Redux Volume Two.”

When I started investigating the movies of the 1960s one of the shocks was coming to understand how little critical attention had been paid to many of these pictures. I had imagined, in my ignorance, that the highly-touted critics of the era, whose names attached to quotes you would often see adorning posters, had been allocated considerable space in newspapers or magazines for their reviews, and was astonished to discover that in most instances this was not the case.

A movie critic was allotted no more than a couple of hundred words once a week and that space might have to cover three or even four movies. Although movie production was slowing down, they were still making a lot more films than they do today. The bulk of the words would be devoted to whatever movie the critic had decided was the picture of the week. And what with many critics determined to educate their readership on what they considered the superior works coming in from abroad, some notable American movies often got the short end of the stick.

It wasn’t unusual for a picture to be dismissed in a grand total of thirty or forty words, or not mentioned at all. And once academics piled in and decided which movies future students of films should be concentrating on, then a mountain of movies were just ignored over the following decades. So, in part, my purpose has been an attempt at correction, to give every picture of the decade a lengthy review, and bring into sharper focus many movies that, in critical terms, had disappeared from view. In part, I aim to readdress the era, placing more emphasis on the films available to the general public rather than those whose remit was the arthouse. And, in part, it is  also to provide a more representative idea of the era.

But, of course, in the main it’s fun, the opportunity to delve into a decade that through my many books I have grown to love. Oddly enough, I grew up in towns that lacked cinemas, and it was only when I attended university at the beginning of the 1970s that I had ready access to movies, so I had a lot of catching-up to do. I was first at the door for any reissue and combed the television listings and subsequently built up a huge library of VHS/DVD. And I was very glad of that investment, which often seemed an indulgence at the time,  because trying to find older films on streamers is exceedingly difficult, and the only way of accessing certain titles is through DVD.

And part of the fun is being able to reassess certain performers. In this volume, in particular, I have come to appreciate much more the acting talent of George Peppard through such films as Pendulum, Rough Night in Jericho  and P.J. / New Face in Hell. I’ve been watching with renewed interest Ann-Margret switch from lighter movies to more serious films like Once A Thief, Stagecoach and Bus Riley’s Back in Town. I saw a different side to Dean Martin, who had spent most of the decade in lighter fare, when he moved into westerns like Five Card Stud and turned his screen persona on its head with a vicious role in Rough Night in Jericho.

David Janssen, too, deserves reconsideration in my book after Warning Shot and Where It’s At. Angie Dickinson displays a wider range via Jessica, The Sins of Rachel Cade and I’ll Give My Life / The Unfinished Task, a movie of which I had previously been unaware.

I came across plenty films that appeared to have passed everyone by. Fade In, virtually disowned by star Burt Reynolds, being one, The Picasso Summer with Albert Finney and Yvette Mimieux,  denied release at the time, and Vendetta for the Saint starring Roger Moore. I took a look at others rightfully disdained like The Maltese Bippy starring Rowan & Martin from the popular television series, Lock Up Your Daughters with Christopher Plummer as you’ve never seen him before – and wouldn’t want to again – and Orgy for the Dead.

And in trawling through the vaults, I came across many a movie that was sorely under-rated. Into that category I would place Terence Young’s Mayerling with Omar Sharif and Catherine Deneuve; Suzy Kendall as a German spy in Fraulein Doktor; James Corburn in the tricky Dead Heat on a Merry-Go-Round and for that matter the almost existential Hard Contract; and the aforementioned Five Card Stud and Rough Night in Jericho. I would urge you to take a second look at The Scalphunters, and The Shoes of the Fisherman and the tight thriller that turned Charles Bronson into a star, Farewell Friend / Adieu L’Ami, in which he went toe-to-toe with established French idol Alain Delon, and first made his mark as a genuine marquee attraction, albeit initially only in France.

Naturally, I’m hoping that reading these reviews might point you back to the movies I’ve mentioned. I have rated the movies out of five. The films are presented in alphabetical order.

One of the reasons for producing this book is that the first volume was so successful. And when I did a bit of research, I discovered that reading over 100 reviews on Kindle or in a book was a lot easier than reading than reading them online.

In this Volume I’ve also added illustrations.

There will be many more volumes to come as I’ve taken it upon myself to see as many movies of the 1960s as possible – I’ve already passed the 1,000-mark – so as to provide a better idea of the era’s output.

Available on Kindle (at $2.99/£2.48) and via Amazon in paperback and hardback.

MOVIES REVIEWED IN VOLUME TWO

The Amorous Adventures of Moll Flanders (1965)

Baby Love (1969)

The Battle for the Villa Florita (1965)

Beat Girl / Wild for Kicks (1960)

Beau Geste (1966)

The Biggest Bundle of Them All (1968)

Bob and Carol and Ted and Alice (1969)

Breakfast at Tiffany’s (1961)

The Brotherhood (1968)

Bus Riley’s Back in Town (1965)

Can-Can (1960)

Can Heironymus Merkin Ever Forget Mercy Humpe and Find True Happiness (1969)

Castle Keep (1969)

Catacombs / The Woman Who Wouldn’t Die (1965)

The Counterfeit Traitor (1962)

A Dandy in Aspic (1968)

Dead Heat on a Merry-Go-Round (1966)

Deadlier than the Male (1967)

The Detective (1968)

The Devil’s Brigade (1968)

The Devil Rides Out (1968)

Dr Who and the Daleks (1965)

Experiment in Terror / The Grip of Fear (1962)

Fade In (1968)

Farewell Friend / Adieu L’Ami (1968)

Fate Is the Hunter (1964)

Five Card Stud (1968)

4 for Texas (1963)

Fraulein Doktor (1969)

Go Naked in the World (1961)

Hard Contract (1969)

Hercules and the Captive Women / Hercules Conquers Atlantis (1961)

A High Wind in Jamaica (1965)

A Home of Your Own (1965)

A House Is Not a Home (1965)

Ice Station Zebra (1968)

I’ll Give My Life / The Unfinished Task (1960)

It Started in Naples (1960)

Jason and the Argonauts (1963)

Jessica (1962)

King of the Roaring 20s (1961)

Kisses for My President (1964)

Lady in Cement (1968)

The Learning Tree (1969)

The Lion in Winter (1968)

Lock Up Your Daughters! (1969)

The Maltese Bippy (1969)

Mayerling (1968)

Medium Cool (1969)

The Mind Benders (1963)

Mirage (1965)

The Moon-Spinners (1964)

Murder Inc. (1960)

Night after Night after Night (1969)

Night of the Following Day (1968)

Once a Thief (1965)

Operation Kid Brother / O.K. Connery (1969)

Orgy for the Dead (1965)

Pendulum (1969)

Penelope (1966)

The Penthouse (1967)

Petulia (1968)

The Picasso Summer (1969)

P.J. / New Face in Hell (1968)

A Place for Lovers (1968)

The Pleasure Seekers (1964)

The Rare Breed (1965)

The Road to Corinth / Who’s Got the Black Box? (1967)

Rough Night in Jericho (1967)

Sanctuary (1961)

Sands of the Kalahari (1965)

The Satan Bug (1965)

Sebastian (1968)

The Scalphunters (1968)

The Scorpio Letters (1968)

Secret Ceremony (1968)

The Secret War of Harry Frigg (1968)

Seven Seas to Calais (1961)

The 7^th Dawn (1964)

Sherlock Holmes and the Deadly Necklace (1962)

The Shoes of the Fisherman (1968)

The Sins of Rachel Cade (1961)

Sisters (1969)

The Sleeping Car Murder / Compartiment Tueurs (1965)

The Slender Thread (1965)

Sol Madrid / The Heroin Gang (1968)

Some Girls Do (1969)

The Spy with My Face (1965)

Stagecoach (1966)

Station Six Sahara (1963)

A Study in Terror (1965)

The St Valentine’s Day Massacre (1967)

Sumuru, Queen of Femina / The Girl from Rio / Mothers of America (1969)

Tamahine (1963)

Texas Across the River (1966)

Three (1969)

Topkapi (1964)

A Twist of Sand (1968)

Uptight (1968)

The Valley of Gwangi (1968)

Vendetta for the Saint (1969)

Viva Las Vegas! (1964)

Warning Shot (1968)

The Way West (1967)

When Comedy Was King (1960)

The Whip and the Body (1963)

Where It’s At (1969)

Wild Angels (1966)

Woman of Straw (1964)

As you’ve probably noticed, I’ve been trying to master the art of linking movies I’ve reviewed to DVDs on Amazon. I tried this before and failed and a week past tried again used “Site Stripe.” Despite following instructions to the letter, I had no better success so, in the absence of a working link, I would need you just to make your own way to Amazon.