Samurai Rebellion (1967)

Samurai Rebellion (1967)

starring Toshirō Mifune, Yôko Tsukasa, Gô Katô

directed by Masaki Kobayashi

in Japanese with English subtitles

121 minutes

In 1725, in Japan, Lord Masakata Matsudaira casts off Ichi (Yôko Tsukasa), his wife, soon after she gave birth to his son. Matsudaira orders samurai Isaburo Sasahara (Toshirō Mifune) to have his son Yogoro (Gô Katô) marry Ichi. Isaburo has serious doubts but ultimately and under duress agrees to the pairing. Ichi and Yogoro marry and have a daughter together but then, soon after Ichi gives birth, Matsudaira decides that he wants Ichi back.

Yojimbo (1961)

Yojimbo (1961)

starring Toshirō Mifune, Eijirō Tōno, Tatsuya Nakadai

directed by Akira Kurosawa

110 minutes

A rōnin (Toshirō Mifune), in 1860,  arrives by chance in a small town that would be in in the midst of a gang war if it weren't for the fact that both gang leaders are hesitant to brake the stalemate that currently exists. The rōnin sees an opportunity and, rather than leave town, plays both sides in the gang war off against one another. Eventually they get wise to what he is doing after he pushes his luck by helping a couple and their young son escape town.

Las luchadoras contra la momia (1964)

Las luchadoras contra la momia (1964)

or The Wrestling Women vs. the Aztec Mummy

starring Lorena Velázquez, Armando Silvestre, Elizabeth Campbell

written by Guillermo Calderón, Alfredo Salazar

directed by René Cardona

95 minutes

in Spanish with English subtitles

Las Luchadoras, the wrestling team of Gloria Venus (Lorena Velázquez) and Golden Rubi (Elizabeth Campbell), help police officers Armando Rios (Armando Silvestre) and Chucho Gomez battle the forces of the Black Dragon and his gang. The Black Dragon is after the three pieces of the Aztec codex, as are Dr. Luis Trelles and his daughter Chela. 

Red Beard (1965)

Red Beard (1965)

starring Toshirō Mifune, Yūzō Kayama

directed by Arika Kurosawa

185 minutes

in Japanese with English subtitles

During the early to mid 19th century, a young doctor, Noboru Yasumoto (Yūzō Kayama), is sent to visit an older more established doctor, Kyojō Niide aka Red Beard (Toshiro Mifune). Yasumoto's fiancée recently broke off their engagement. Yasumoto had hoped to land a choice job. He is fresh from medical training and doesn't realize that he is expected to work under Niide until he arrives there.

Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid (1969)

Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid (1969)

starring Paul Newman, Robert Redford

directed by George Roy Hill

Butch Cassidy (Paul Newman) and the Sundance Kid (Robert Redford), robbers of banks and trains, find themselves on the run from a posse hired by the owner of the Union Pacific railway. Their only refuge is the home of Etta Place, Sundance's gal. They decide, after a long chase during which they were doggedly pursued by the posse, to move to Bolivia. Etta goes with them.

They try to make a living robbing banks in Bolivia. Etta, the only one of the three who speaks Spanish, functions as their translator in everything including bank robberies. News of their exploits spreads.

Harper (1966)

Harper (1966)

starring Paul Newman

directed by Jack Smight

121 minutes

Private investigator Lew Harper (Paul Newman) searches for a missing multi-millionaire, Ralph Sampson. Harper's friend, attorney Albert Graves, hired him but Mrs. Sampson is the one footing the bill. Harper finds a tangled web of people behind the kidnapping. Some play innocent when Harper meets them, some do not. Mr. Sampson is already dead when Harper finally finds him. Sampson recovers the ransom money but the movie ends on a very ambiguous note.

On Her Majesty's Secret Service (1969)

On Her Majesty's Secret Service (1969)

starring George Lazenby, Diana Rigg, Telly Savalas

directed by Peter R. Hunt

142 minutes

James Bond (George Lazenby) rescues Tracy Di Vicenzo (Diana Rigg) from men whom he thinks are trying to harm her only to later learn that they are bodyguards supplied by Draco, her father. Tracy is a bit wild. Draco, who is also the head of a large crime family, thinks that what she needs is to get married. He suggests that James would make a good husband for her.

Psycho (1960)

Psycho (1960)

starring Anthony Perkins, Janet Leigh, Vera Miles

directed by Alfred Hitchcock

109 minutes

Marion Crane (Janet Leigh) steals $40,000 from her employer and leaves town. She gets nervous about what she is doing and winds up stopping at the Bates Motel for the night. The motel is run by Norman Bates (Anthony Perkins). Someone murders her later that night.

Lila Crane (Vera Miles) goes looking for her sister. She gets some help from Milton Arbogast, a private investigator hired by Marion's employer. Arbogast finds the Bates Motel about a week after Marion disappeared. He calls Lila and Sam, Marion's boyfriend, to let them know about the progress he's made but then he disappears.

Lila and Sam try to get the local sheriff involved. He doesn't show enough interest in finding Marion so they go out to the Bates Motel themselves.

High and Low (1963)

High and Low (1963)

starring Toshiro Mifune, Tatsuya Nakadai

directed by Akira Kurosawa

143 minutes

This was my second time watching High and Low (1963) in a little over a year. The previous time I watched it on DVD. This time I saw it at the AFI Silver Theater. I was concerned that it might not impress me as much as it did the first time around. That was not the case. I was once again moved and amazed by most everything about this movie from the way it was shot, to the performances by the cast, to the pacing and the way it changes focus in the second half of the movie.

Night of the Living Dead (1968)

Night of the Living Dead (1968)

starring Duane Jones

directed George Romero

96 minutes

Barbra and her brother are visiting their father's grave when a creepy looking man attacks them. Barbra gets away but her brother does not. She tries escaping in their car but her brother had the keys.

Barbra, in a state of shock over what just happened, makes her way to a nearby house. She is soon joined by Ben who was also attacked by weird looking people. He boards up the house from the inside. She is too out of it to be of any help. More weird looking people surround the house.

X: The Man with X-Ray Eyes (1963)

X: The Man with X-Ray Eyes (1963)

starring Ray Milland

directed by Roger Corman

79 minutes

Doctor James Xavier (Ray Milland) tests experimental eyedrops on himself. The eyedrops give him x-ray vision. He can see through walls, clothing, and other objects. He continues to take the drops until his vision becomes unbearable.

Doctor Xavier accidentally kills a friend by pushing him out a window. He goes on the run and starts working in a carnival to make ends meet. He gets strong armed into leaving the carnival by Crane, one of the other carnies. Crane has a crazy scheme to make money by using Xavier's x-ray vision to diagnose poor people's health problems.

Tower of London (1962)

Tower of London (1962)

starring Vincent Price

directed by Roger Corman

80 minutes

Richard (Vincent Price), Duke of Gloucester and brother to King Edward IV, wants to be king so badly that he murders everyone in his way including his younger brother, his nephews, and (accidentally) his own wife. The ghosts of the people he murdered haunt him, driving him mad.

Thoughts

This movie is based on historical events but it is not entirely historically accurate.

The Music Man (1962)

The Music Man (1962)

starring Robert Preston, Shirley Jones

directed by Morton DaCosta

151 minutes

Traveling salesman Professor Harold Hill (Robert Preston) arrives in River City, Iowa by train. He starts looking for an angle and settles on the pool table that just arrived in town. He talks up the trouble it will cause. He also makes an effort to get to know Marian Paroo (Shirley Jones), the town's librarian, but she won't give him the time of day when he first approaches her.

Bonnie & Clyde (1967)

Bonnie & Clyde (1967)

starring Warren Beatty, Faye Dunaway, Gene Hackman

directed by Arthur Penn

111 minutes

Clyde Barrow (Warren Beatty) and Bonnie Parker (Faye Dunaway) meet by chance. He tries to impress her by showing her the gun he is carrying. She says he's too chicken to use it. He accepts the challenge and robs a grocery store. This begins a crime spree.

C.W. Moss, a gas station attendant. Buck Darrow (Gene Hackman), Clyde's older brother, and Estelle, Buck's wife join the gang which the newspapers dub Darrow Gang.

Daleks' Invasion Earth: 2150 A.D. (1966)

Daleks' Invasion Earth: 2150 A.D. (1966)

starring Peter Cushing, Bernard Cribbins

directed by Gordon Flemyng

81 minutes

This remake of Doctor Who (1963) 2.02 (The Dalek Invasion of Earth) is considerably shorter than the original. Most of the major plot points are the same but there are some changes to the roles that some of the characters play in the story.

The original was six episodes long and probably clocked in around about 135 minutes in length. This one is about an hour shorter. Each 22 minute episode of the original story was cut down to basically less than 15 minutes. Everything moved so quickly in this story that it often seemed comical. 

One-Eyed Jacks (1961)

One-Eyed Jacks (1961)

starring Marlon Brando, Karl Malden, Katy Jurado

directed by Marlon Brando

141 minutes

In 1880, three men rob a bank in Sonora, Mexico. One of them is killed during the robbery. The two surviving bank robbers, Dad Longworth (Karl Malden) and Rio (Marlon Brando), escape into the desert but they only have one horse and Rurales (mounted police) are on their tail. Dad takes the one horse, after they talk about it, and goes to get a couple fresh horses while Rio stays behind to hold off the Rurales.

Dad gets the horses but then changes his mind and doesn't go back. He takes off with the money he has on a fresh horse. Rio gets arrested by the Rurales and spends the next five years in prison in Mexico.

The Swimming Pool (1969)

The Swimming Pool (1969)

aka La Piscine

starring Alain Delon, Romy Schneider, Maurice Ronet, Jane Birkin

directed by Jacques Deray

in French with English subtitles

123 minutes

Marianne (Romy Schneider) and Jean-Paul (Alain Delon) live in a beautiful villa on the Cote d'Azure with a view of the Mediterranean Sea and a beautiful swimming pool. They have been together for more than two years when Harry (Maurice Ronet) and Penelope (Jane Birkin), Harry's 18-year-old daughter, come to visit. Harry and Marianne were romantically involved with a few years before she met Jean-Paul.

Jean-Paul is very possessive of Marianne. Harry is very possessive of Penelope. Things turn sour after Marianne spends a day shopping with Harry and Jean-Paul takes Penelope to the beach, a secluded beach.

The Pawnbroker (1964)

The Pawnbroker (1964)

starring Rod Steiger, Geraldine Fitzgerald, Brock Peters, Jaime Sánchez

directed by Sidney Lumet

116 minutes

Sol Nazerman (Rod Steiger), a survivor of the Holocaust who lost his wife and two children during World War 2, stumbles through life. He runs a pawn shop in East Harlem but is unable to make ends meet, leaving him indebted to Rodriguez (Brock Peters), the local mob boss. Jesus Ortiz (Jaime Sánchez), who works for Nazerman, tries to form a bond with his boss. Sol teaches him some of what he has learned but Sol has no interest in bonding with anyone. This includes Marilyn Birchfield (Geraldine Fitzgerald), a social worker who shows an interest in Sol that he is unable to reciprocate in any way. 

Dr. Strangelove or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb (1964)

Dr. Strangelove or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb (1964)

starring Peter Sellers, George C. Scott, Sterling Hayden

directed by Stanley Kubrick

95 minutes

US Air Force General Jack T. Ripper (Sterling Hayden) thinking that the Russians are about to launch an all out assault on the United States, issues orders for the bomber squadron under his command to strike military targets in the Soviet Union with nuclear bombs. RAF Group Captain Lionel Mandrake (Peter Sellers), Ripper's executive officer, shows the general evidence that the Russians aren't attacking but Ripper won't listen, has the base locked down, and cuts off all communication with the outside world and the bombers. The general has a new justification for the attack, the protection of the "vital fluids" of the the American public.

Clay (1965)

Clay (1965)

directed by Giorgio Mangiamele

80 minutes

Nick, a man on the run is found and taken in by a small community of artists. His presence gives Margo, the youngest of the artists, hope. Nick's presence and his growing closeness Margo angers Chris, one of the other artists. Chris thought that Margo was his but she rejects that notion.

Chris tries to get Nick to leave. He gets into a fight with Nick. Finally, when he learns that Nick is wanted by the police he tells them where he can be found.