Most influential films 1960-1982

[JackFavell]

My first thought on seeing your title was of The Wild Bunch.

I actually laughed at this movie the first time I saw it, because of the way it was filmed and edited...... it was so much like the TV shows I watched growing up. It took me a few days after seeing it to realize that the TV shows and movies of that time were all copying the style of this movie (and they did it for years, and are still doing it). Then I had to go back and rewatch it more seriously.

As for Alice Doesn't Live Here Anymore, I think I agree, but am curious what you saw in it that you felt was influential. I think the combination of comedy and drama, the shock value and violence of certain scenes and dialogue, and perhaps the realness of the relationships are what I think of, though I haven't seen it for a number of years.

Psycho is definitely #1.

[klondike]

Couple of powerful contenders you've got there for '73 - any room left, do you think, for a dark-horse Brit phenom like Anthony Schaefer's The Wicker Man?
And how about two of Fellini's last (& best) work: Casanova, and Amarcord ?
Or do all nominations have to have been actual Oscar contenders?

[jdb1]

I will take me a long time to go over all the movies I've seen and/or read about from that time period.

I do think, though, that my list of the films I consider "influential" would contain 2001, because it took sci-fi out of the realm of schlocky Saturday matinee scary, and into high-tech cinema. People are still talking about this one, as they still talk about the mise-en-scene, grandeur and influence of The Godfather and Taxi Driver. And I would, as already mentioned, put Bullitt ahead of The French Connection in terms of iconic and oft-repeated car chases because it came first. (And, honestly, this latter comparison has nothing to do with Steve McQueen's presence.)

And there are so many more.

[ChiO]

I'm with Judith in that it will take some thought (including refreshing of recollection), but the one omitted that immediately leaped to mind was SHADOWS (Cassavetes, 1960). Regardless of what one thinks of the film and its progeny, it is the touchstone for the American independent film and that influence, in whatever bastardized form, is still being felt today.

[Lzcutter]

Sorry any list from this era is incomplete without To Kill a Mockingbird. This film inspires not only my generation who saw it in the theater but Sam Jackson's generation as well. Neither of us can watch it without crying and feeling a profound sense of loss.

And that should be enough to get it on any list of influential films of the 1960s.

Glad to see The Wild Bunch and Godfather films mentioned.

[Dewey1960]

Kingrat has introduced an interesting challenge here: He's not asking us to list our favorite films from these years, rather "which film has proved to be the most influential? This could be for its technique, its development or creation of a genre, or an element that was new and trend-setting. Which film has been imitated the most?" Given those parameters, I would offer up the following English language films:
1960: PSYCHO
1961: THE HUSTLER
1962: THE MANCHURIAN CANDIDATE
1963: DR. NO (technically '62, but first released in the U.S. in '63)
1964: A HARD DAY'S NIGHT
1965: A PATCH OF BLUE
1966: WHO'S AFRAID OF VIRGINIA WOOLF?
1967: BONNIE & CLYDE
1968: NIGHT OF THE LIVING DEAD
1969: (tie) THE WILD BUNCH / MIDNIGHT COWBOY
1970: HUSBANDS
1971: DIRTY HARRY
1972: DEEP THROAT
1973: MEAN STREETS
1974: CHINATOWN
1975: JAWS
1976: TAXI DRIVER
1977: ERASERHEAD
1978: ANIMAL HOUSE
1979: ALIEN
1980: RAGING BULL
1981: THE EVIL DEAD
1982: BLADE RUNNER

[Lzcutter]

Dewey.

I would still include Mockingbird because it influenced us to listen to the better angels of our being through out the film, especially given those turbulent times.

[Dewey1960]

Lynn said: I would still include Mockingbird because it influenced us to listen to the better angels of our being through out the film, especially given those turbulent times.
Lynn, I would never dispute the fact that MOCKINGBIRD had that effect on a great many people (myself included). I just don't feel that it meets the specific criteria of this particular "assignment."

[srowley75]

Random comments:

It's frustrating to embark on an exercise like this one because there were so many years in film history in which 2-3 extremely influential English-language films were made, and yet there were others in which nothing seemed to happen of any real significance in the US or the rest of the English-speaking world. I see the late 1960s and early 1970s as a time when many key films were made. The early 1960s, for the most part, not so much - and I'm speaking comparatively when one considers what was going on elsewhere. There was much more going on in Europe (Italy, France) in the early 1960s: Godard, Fellini, Truffaut, Bergman for starters (I'm not qualified to judge concerning Asian cinema during much of this timeframe, though I can say with reasonable certainty that Asian cinema made a mark in the 1950s and the 1970s).

And I suppose the argument could go on forever as to whether X itself was influential, or whether the foreign language films that led to X were what actually bore more weight of influence- e.g., Bonnie and Clyde.

But I guess none of that will stop me from offering my non-film-school-grad, for-what-they're-worth opinions:

1962: I'll also offer What Ever Happened to Baby Jane? I can't think of a better Hollywood film that, backstory together with the movie and all its implications, wholly embodies Hollywood and the mainstream media's overall attitude toward aging actresses - even in today's mainstream American cinema. Also Mondo Cane.

1963: Perhaps also Cleopatra, if the business side of a film counts toward how influential it was. Offhand, I'd also consider Shock Corridor. Also Blood Feast (for better or for worse - I'll say both).

1965: Perhaps the sexually frank Repulsion. I can’t name another English-language American or British horror film before 1965 that’s quite like it.
For a film whose influence has seemingly exploded in recent years, I’d also offer Faster, Pussycat! Kill! Kill! I’m surprised how often I’ve heard current filmmakers and critics reference it in interviews and articles.

1966: Also The Chelsea Girls.

1968: I'd give the slight edge to 2001, for the very reasons Judith mentioned. And even today I'd say people on average tend to take sci-fi more seriously than horror, and 2001 is one of the major reasons why.

1971: Also Shaft. I also agree that Bullitt steals a bit of French Connection's thunder.

1972: I think you also have to consider Pink Flamingos, especially when looking at modern film comedy.

1974: Possibly also Blazing Saddles.

1978: Halloween - which horror filmmakers point toward as an influence though, granted, they should be pointing before it. Given today’s mainstream Hollywood summer blockbusters, I’d also suggest Superman.

[MichiganJ]

A few that may no have already been mentioned.

Peeping Tom
La Dolce Vita
Breathless
Jules and Jim
Persona
Rosemary's Baby
Straw Dogs
Dirty Harry
Shaft
Enter the Dragon
Texas Chainsaw Massacre and/or Black Christmas
Mad Max

[MikeBSG]

I was going to say that you need a Bond film on the list. Dewey listed "Dr. No," which is a good one, but I would opt for "Goldfinger."

[ChiO]

1960 may be the big year for "influence," as I interpret it.

PSYCHO - the scene that made mainstream audiences comfortable with seemingly blatant violence connected with sexual issues; carny-style marketing goes mainstream

SHADOWS - continuing influence on independent film (whether most films marketed today as "independent" are independent in the same way is a different issue)

BREATHLESS - the French New Wave hits and continues to influence both serious film and parody

A work that should be considered even though it is not a movie is Exposition of Music-Electronic Television (Nam June Paik, 1963). Paik's experiments with video and music have had an impact on much of what we see today.

[jdb1]

Lynn said: I would still include Mockingbird because it influenced us to listen to the better angels of our being through out the film, especially given those turbulent times.
Lynn, I would never dispute the fact that MOCKINGBIRD had that effect on a great many people (myself included). I just don't feel that it meets the specific criteria of this particular "assignment."

Friends, I just don't get the lyrical waxing over this movie. It's nice, but -- yes, nice, that's it.

Are we sure that the world changed forever because of this movie? Or that it had a resounding impact on cinema as we know it? And are we really, really sure that this movie wasn't actually the product of the social reform movement of the late 50s and 60s, rather than the cause of it?

I really liked TKAM when I was a girl, but I'm not anywhere near in love with it now. I rarely watch it any more when it's broadcast. I put it in the It's a Wonderful Life Category: uplifting the first few times -- "all right already" after that.

[JackFavell]

Harsh.