Ranking Only the Best (and the Very Worst) of a Movie Year Project

[CinemaInternational]

CinemaInternational, are we ready to begin with 1963?

Tomorrow!

[CinemaInternational]

It is time now for 1963! The next year up will be 1971.

1963

Films Seen 84

The Best:

1 Charade
2 All the Way Home
3 8½
4 The Cardinal
5 The Ugly American
6 Love with the Proper Stranger
7 I Could Go On Singing
8 A Child is Waiting
9 Lilies of the Field
10 Billy Liar
11 The Pink Panther
12 Irma La Douce
13 The Thrill of It All
14 This Sporting Life
15 The Silence
16 Contempt
17 The Victors
18 Murder at the Gallop
19 The Householder
20 The List of Adrian Messenger
21 The Running Man
22 Bye Bye Birdie
23 Spencer's Mountain
24 Soldier in the Rain
25 55 Days at Peking
26 The Birds
27 Move Over, Darling
28 Winter Light
29 McLintock!
30 The Courtship of Eddie's Father
31 Sunday in New York
32 Who's Minding the Store?
33 The Three Lives of Thomasina
34 Stolen Hours
35 My Six Loves
36 Hud
37 From Russia with Love
38 The V.I.P.s
39 Tammy and the Doctor
40 The Haunting


The Worst:

1 Twilight of Honor
2 A New Kind of Love
3 Call Me Bwana
4 A Gathering of Eagles
5 Who's Been Sleeping in My Bed?
6 Papa's Delicate Condition
7 The Man from the Diners' Club

[Feinberg]

1963

Of the 126 films that I have seen from this year these are my favourites ranked in order ...

The Great Escape
From Russia With Love
Tom Jones
8 1/2
America, America
Over There, 1914-1918
This Sporting Life
The Haunting
Hud
Lord of the Flies
High and Low
The Birds
Contempt
Jason and the Argonauts
Winter Light
Bushido: The Cruel Code of the Samurai
The Servant
Hands Over the City
The List of Adrian Messenger
Charade
Lilies of the Field
Love With the Proper Stranger
The Leopard
Alone on the Pacific
The Organizer
Muriel
It's a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World
The Big City
Billy Liar
The Pink Panther

and here are some that I did not care for at all ...

The Raiders
The Man From the Diner's Club
Brennus, Enemy of Rome
The Silence
Four For Texas
Captain Newman, M.D.
Johnny Cool
Captain Sinbad
The Mouse on the Moon
Papa's Delicate Condition
Spencer's Mountain
The Sword In the Stone
Blood Feast
A King Without Distraction
Under the Yum Yum Tree

[Detective Jim McLeod]

1963 films seen-40

The Best

From Russia With Love
High And Low
Love With The Proper Stranger
Charade
Bye Bye Birdie
The Servant
The Raven
X The Man With The Xray Eyes
This Sporting Life
The Guest

The Worst

Strike Me Deadly

[Swithin]

Ten 1963 favorites in alphabetical order:

8 1/2
Billy Liar
The Birds
Blood Feast
Carry On Cabby
From Russia with Love
Irma la Douce
The Silence
Tom Jones
The Ugly American
Yesterday, Today and Tomorrow

Special mention:

Island of Love for Betty Bruce in her follow-up role to Tessie Tura.

Quotes of the year:

"Have you ever had an Egyptian feast?!!!"

"He died a fitting end for the garbage he was."

"When you get to be a cab driver you cut yourself right off from the rest of the human race. Everybody's got it in for you and nobody loves you. In no time at all you find that you're about as popular as a wickerwork seat in a nudist camp, and you know what sort of impression that makes on people."

[LawrenceA]

1963 (189 seen)

Favorites
The Great Escape
The Birds
8 1/2
From Russia with Love
The Big City
Billy Liar
The Executioner
Hands Over the City
The Haunting
High and Low
The Organizer
The Servant
The Silence
Winter Light

Likes
An Actor's Revenge
America, America
Any Number Can Win
Barren Lives
Bay of Angels
Black Sabbath
The Demon
The Fiancés
The Fire Within
The Haunted Palace
Heavens Above!
Hud
Ikarie XB 1
The Insect Woman
Jason and the Argonauts
Judex
Kanto Wanderer
Ladybug Ladybug
The Leopard
The List of Adrian Messenger
Paranoiac
Passenger
The Pink Panther
Sammy Going South
Shinobi No Mono 2: Vengeance
Shock Corridor
Soldier in the Rain
Spencer's Mountain
This Sporting Life
The Thrill of It All
Tom Jones
When the Cat Comes
The Wrong Arm of the Law
X - The Man with the X-Ray Eyes
Youth of the Beast
Zatoichi 3: New Tale of Zatoichi
Zatoichi 4: Zatoichi the Fugitive
Zatoichi 5: Zatoichi on the Road

Favorite Documentaries
Crisis: Behind a Presidential Commitment
Ingmar Bergman Makes a Movie
Showman
Ecco
Mondo Cane 2
Women of the World

Least Favorites
The Naughty Shutter
Colossus and the Headhunters
The Crawling Hand
Monstrosity
The Skydivers

[kingrat]

1963

Word of the Year: "Nymphos!" (from Shock Corridor)

Most memorable dialogue: "What a tragedy! An insane mute will win the Pulitzer Prize!" (also from Shock Corridor; imdb offers other examples of overripe dialogue from this film)

Favorites:

The Great Escape
The Organizer
The Fire Within
Charade
America, America
Jason and the Argonauts
High and Low
Billy Liar
The Haunting
The Servant
The Silence
The Birds
Hud

Also liked:

8 1/2
All the Way Home
Contempt
Donovan's Reef
El Dorado
Irma La Douce
Lilies of the Field
The List of Adrian Messenger
Lord of the Flies
Love with the Proper Stranger
Murder at the Gallop
The Prize
This Sporting Life
Tom Jones
The VIPs

Stinky the Skunk Awards:

The Caretakers
In the Cool of the Day
Shock Corridor

Note: This year the Stinky the Skunk Award includes a Dyn-O-Mite Breakfast Special (2 undercooked pancakes, 2 overcooked eggs, 2 inedible sausage links, and a side order of Kiss-My-Grits). Perhaps you can find something similar at your neighborhood Waffle House. If there is not a Waffle House near you, the state of Georgia has 433. Road trip!

[skimpole]

I have seen at least 56 movies from 1963. Here are my favorites:

1. The Leopard
2. The Great Escape
3. Winter Light
4. The Organizer
5. Contempt
6. Vidas Secas
7. High and Low
8. The Silence
9. Muriel
10. Bay of Angels
11. The Birds
12. Charade
13. Le Joli Mai
14. The Big City
15. Les Carabiniers


Surprisingly underrated

Cleopatra

Disappointments of the year

Billy Liar
Irma La Douce
It's a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World
Love with the Proper Stranger (nice couple, dishonest movie)
The Sword in the Stone
Tom Jones
The Ugly American

[CinemaInternational]

Now, it is time for 1971, and we shall see how it stacks up. Next time will be a joint posting of 2005, 2016, and 2021.

1971

Films Seen: 76

The Best:

1 Two English Girls
2 Fiddler on the Roof
3 The Emigrants
4 Nicholas and Alexandra
5 A New Leaf
6 The Boy Friend
7 The Night Digger
8 The Touch
9 The Last Valley
10 The Hired Hand
11 Harold and Maude
12 Tales of Beatrix Potter
13 Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory
14 Sunday Bloody Sunday
15 The Music Lovers
16 Straw Dogs
17 Such Good Friends
18 Klute
19 Wild Rovers
20 What's the Matter with Helen?
21 Taking Off
22 The Grissom Gang
23 Dirty Harry
24 Play Misty for Me
25 Summer of '42
26 The Beguiled
27 Death in Venice
28 Made for Each Other
29 McCabe and Mrs. Miller
30 Kotch
31 They Might be Giants
32 The Trojan Women
33 The Public Eye
34 Bedknobs and Broomsticks
35 Support Your Local Gunfighter!
36 T.R. Baskin
37 Carnal Knowledge
38 Going Home


The Worst:

1 Bless the Beasts and Children
2 Diamonds are Forever
3 THX 1138
4 A Clockwork Orange
5 The Star-Spangled Girl
6 The Last Run
7 The Love Machine
8 The Andromeda Strain
9 Skin Game
10 Who is Harry Kellerman and Why is He Saying All Those Terrible Things About Me? (Would have been ranked even lower if it wasn't for Barbara Harris' sensational performance)
11 Mary Queen of Scots
12 Bunny O'Hare

[Detective Jim McLeod]

1971 films seen- 36, a great year, we seem to have disagreements on the best and worst.

The Best

Dirty Harry
A Clockwork Orange
The French Connection
Straw Dogs
Melody
Bless The Beasts & Children
Summer Of 42
Diamonds Are Forever
Death In Venice
Hannie Caulder
Born To Win

The Worst

The Zodiac Killer
House Of The Black Death
The Cat o' Nine Tails
Night Of Dark Shadows

[LawrenceA]

1971 (272 seen)

Favorites
A Clockwork Orange
The Devils
Dirty Harry
Two-Lane Blacktop
The Andromeda Strain
The Decameron
Duel
The Emigrants
The French Connection
Get Carter
The Hired Hand
The Hospital
The Last Picture Show
Macbeth
McCabe & Mrs. Miller
Play Misty for Me
A Touch of Zen

Likes
The Abominable Dr. Phibes
Bananas
Bay of Blood
The Beguiled
The Big Boss
Big Jake
Black Belly of the Tarantula
Brian's Song
The Case of the Scorpion's Tail
The Cat o' Nine Tails
Daughters of Darkness
Dr. Cook's Garden
$ (Dollars)
Don't Deliver Us from Evil
Duck You Sucker
The Duel
Fiddler on the Roof
Four Flies on Gray Velvet
Godzilla vs. Hedorah
Going Home
The Grissom Gang
Gumshoe
Harold and Maude
In Broad Daylight
Johnny Got His Gun
Klute
Lake of Dracula
The Last Valley
Little Murders
Lizard in a Woman's Skin
Malpertuis
Man in the Wilderness
Mary, Queen of Scots
Mon Oncle Antoine
Murmur of the Heart
A New Leaf
Nicholas & Alexandra
The Night Visitor
The Panic in Needle Park
Shaft
The Stalls of Barchester
Straw Dogs
Sunday Bloody Sunday
10 Rillington Place
They Might Be Giants
THX 1138
Twins of Evil
Walkabout
Zatoichi 22: Zatoichi Meets the One-Armed Swordsman

Favorite Documentaries
Land of Silence and Darkness
Fata Morgana

Least Favorites
Dracula vs Frankenstein
Blood Shack
Brain of Blood
The Corpse Grinders
Guess What Happened to Count Dracula?
If Footmen Tire, What Will Horses Do?
The Manipulator
Zaat

[kingrat]

For me, 1971 was not a very good year in the movies. Too many films that were closer to "meh" than to "liked OK."

Top Three (alphabetical order):

Fiddler on the Roof
The French Connection
The Last Picture Show

Also:

Carnal Knowledge
The Night Digger (aka The Road Builder)
Sunday, Bloody Sunday
The Trojan Women

Stinky the Skunk Awards:

A Clockwork Orange
Two-Lane Blacktop
Walkabout
Who Is Harry Kellerman and Why Is He Saying Those Terrible Things About Me?

[skimpole]

I saw at least 61 movies from 1971. I liked more than 40% of them, at least enough to include them in a list:

1. The Sorrow and the Pity *
2. Death in Venice
3. McCabe and Mrs. Miller
4. Bananas
5. Two English Girls
6. King Lear
7. The Last Picture Show
8. A Clockwork Orange
9. Murmur of the Heart
10. Walkabout
11. A Touch of Zen
12. Land of Silence and Darkness
13. Duel
14. Get Carter
15. Out 1: Noli me Tangere
16. The Go-Between
17. The Ceremony
18. The Boy Friend
19. Fata Morgana
20. A New Leaf
21. Klute
22. Trafic
23. The Tales of Beatric Potter
24. Wake in Fright
25. Four Nights of a Dreamer
26. The Panic in Needle Park

[Feinberg]

1971

Of the 162 films that I have seen from this year these are my favourites ranked in order ...

A Clockwork Orange
Bananas
They Might Be Giants
MacBeth
The French Connection
The Last Picture Show
McCabe and Mrs. Miller
The Emigrants
The Andromeda Strain
Duel
Taking Off
10 Rillington Place
Sometimes a Great Notion
A Touch of Zen
Klute
Straw Dogs
The Devils
The Abominable Dr. Phibes
Born to Win
Harold and Maude
Diamonds Are Forever
Sunday, Bloody Sunday
Inn of Evil
The Hellstrom Chronicle
Dirty Harry
Mon Oncle Antoine
King Lear (UK)
Mary, Queen of Scots
Trinity Is Still My Name

and here are some that I did not care for at all ...

Who Is Harry Kellerman and Why Is He Saying Those Terrible Things About Me
The Omega Man
Man In the Wilderness
Lawman
On the Buses
Hannie Caulder
Little Murders
The Hero
When the Line Goes Through
Beware of a Holy Whore
The Salamander
Play Misty For Me
Get Carter
The Boy Friend
Santo vs. the Head Hunters
The Gang That Couldn't Shoot Straight
WR: Mysteries of the Organism
Lake of Dracula
Night of Dark Shadows
Twins of Evil
The Tales of Beatrix Potter
Gentlemen of Fortune
Four Nights of a Dreamer
Godzilla vs. Hedorah
Glass Ceiling
Crucible of Horror
200 Motels (this may be on my all time worst list)

[Swithin]

1971 Favorites, in alphabetical order. Most of the big American movies were not among my favorites that year.

The Blood on Satan’s Claw
A Clockwork Orange
Death in Venice
The Devils
Fiddler on the Roof
Harold and Maude
The Hospital
Joe Hill
The Sorrow and the Pity
Sunday Bloody Sunday

Worth mentioning:

Whoever Slew Auntie Roo?, a movie that is not exactly what it seems, with its rather sad "witch" and a truly demented little "Hansel."
Daughters of Darkness, an important contribution to the lesbian vampire genre

The Decameron -- a bawdy contribution to films set in 14th-century Italy.
Nicholas and Alexandria -- for a brilliant supporting performance by my old friend Irene Worth.