Ring Out The Old, Ring In The New

On this final day of the year, let's look back a half century and see what Jesse Walker thinks the top films were.

!967 was a major year in Hollywood history, when the new Hollywood clearly started taking over from the old. Will that be reflected in his list?

1. The President's Analyst
2. The Persecution and Assassination of Jean-Paul Marat as Performed by the Inmates of the Asylum of Charenton Under the Direction of the Marquis de Sade
3. Play Time
4. Bedazzled
5. Le Samouraï
6. The Firemen's Ball
7. Titicut Follies
8. In Cold Blood
9. Bonnie and Clyde
10. Love Affair, or the Case of the Missing Switchboard Operator

The President's Analyst is fun, though I wouldn't call it a classic.  Haven't seen it in years--think it plays differently now that the phone company's been broken up.

Marat/Sade was a stage event and the film caught it pretty well.  No classic, but a fascinating glimpse at a special time (not the French Revolution, but the 1960s).

Playtime (I'm pretty sure it's one word) is Tati's masterpiece.

Bedazzled has some fun sketches with Cook and Moore (and Bron) but doesn't hold together well and leaves a sour taste.

Le Samourai ranks up there with Melville's best.

I'm not the biggest fan of Forman, but The Fireman's Ball, while a bit bumpy, works pretty well.

Jesse loves Wiseman, so I was pretty certain Titicut Follies would make the cut--even among Wiseman films it's pretty special.

In Cold Blood mostly leaves me cold.

Bonnie And Clyde, revolutionary or not, is a fine film that definitely deserves to make the list.

Never saw Love Affair.

11. Report
12. La Femme 100 Têtes
13. Belle de Jour
14. Point Blank
15. Cool Hand Luke
16. Spider Baby
17. Don't Look Back
18. Quatermass and the Pit
19. The Dirty Dozen
20. La Collectionneuse

I'm a fan of Bruce Conner, but 11, like all his work, is a short.  12 is also a short (which I haven't seen). 13 should be top ten.  14 should be top twenty.  15 is okay, and 16 is creepy and fun--not sure if either should make the list, though.  17 (which feels like '65, but was released in '67) should probably be top ten.  18 (which I know as Five Million Years To Earth) and 19 are fun, but probably shouldn't make the list.  20 is a film I haven't gotten around to seeing yet.

By the way, 1967 was the last year of the decade when Godard was still making his bourgeois films.  I don't see any of his titles here and I agree.

Other Films That Would Make My Top Ten

El Dorado (how Hawks would make Rio Bravo when the heroes aren't good enough)

The Graduate (this is the glaring omission--film of the year, maybe the decade)

The Producers

Other Films I Like:

Barefoot In The Park, Casino Royale (even though it's a mess), Divorce American Style, The Fearless Vampire Killers, How To Succeed In Business Without Really Trying, The Jungle Book, Smashing Time, Wait Until Dark, You Only Live Twice, The Young Girls Of Rochefort

Other Films Of Note:

The Adventures Of Bullwhip Griffin, Beach Red, Berserk!, The Big Mouth, Billion Dollar Brain, The Bobo, The Born Losers, Camelot, Caprice, Carry On Doctor, The Champagne Murders, Charlie Bubbles, La Chinoise, The Comedians, The Cool Ones, A Countess From Hong Kong (a sad farewell from a genius), Deadlier Than The Male, Doctor Dolittle, Doctor You've Got To Be Kidding!, Don't Make Waves, Doubt Trouble, Elvira Madigan, Enter Laughing, Far From The Madding Crowd, The Fastest Guitar Alive, Fitzwilly, The Flim-Flam Man, The Gnome-Mobile, Guess Who's Coming To Dinner, A Guide For The Married Man, Gunn, Half A Sixpence, The Happening, The Happiest Millionaire, Hombre, Hotel,

Hour Of The Gun, How I Won The War, Hurry Sundown, I Am Curious (Yellow), I'll Never Forget What's 'is Name, In Like Flint, In The Heat Of The Night, The Jokers, Luv, Mars Needs Women, The Mind-Benders, Mondo Hollywood, Oh Dad Poor Dad Mamma's Hung You In The Closet And I'm Feelin' So Sad, One-Armed Swordsman, Oscar, The Perils Of Pauline, Poor Cow, Reflections In A Golden Eye, The Reluctant Astronaut, Riot On Sunset Strip, The St. Valentine's Day Massacre, The Taming Of The Shrew, A Taste Of Blood, Thoroughly Modern Millie, The Tiger Makes Out, To Sir With Love, Tony Rome, The Trip, Two For The Road, Two Or Three Things I Know ABout Her, Ulysses, Up The Down Staircase, Valley Of The Dolls, Venus In Furs, The Violent Ones, The Wacky World Of Mother Good, The War Wagon, Way Out, The Way West, Weekend, Who's Minding The Mint?, Young Americans, Zatoichi Challenged, Zatoichi The Outlaw, Zatoichi's Cane Sword.