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Posts from the ‘1968’ Category

Oct 28

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Night of the Living Dead

George A. Romero’s Night of the Living Dead is the big kahuna of zombie movies, that’s for sure. The 1968 classic horror flick scared the living daylights out of kids and adults alike when it showed up. Roger Ebert recalls the scene at one theatre as kids sat in stunned silence during the movie’s more grotesque moments. When Night of the Living Dead premiered, you see, the MPAA wasn’t enforcing ratings just yet.

Romero’s movie was heavily criticized at the time for the amount of blood and gore, but it pales in comparison to much of today’s rougher fare. Even so, it’s an incredibly chilling and exciting motion picture that really captures the inevitable and unstoppable threat of the zombies. Night of the Living Dead spawned a whole series of films and offshoots, some of which were handled by Romero himself and others delivered by Romero’s co-writer John Russo and director Dan O’Bannon.

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Sep 23

Hang ‘Em High

I love a good western and I love Clint Eastwood, so I was excited when Hang ‘Em High came in the mail. I actually remember watching it when I was younger with my dad, as he was and is an enormous fan of the western. Something about how men are men and all that. With Hang ‘Em High, men are still men, but it’s probably more important that revenge is still revenge – even if Eastwood’s character wants to play by the rules.

Hang ‘Em High made a lot of money when it was released in the summer of 1968. The first production of Eastwood’s own film company, the western really has Eastwood’s marks all over it and he wound up having a lot of control over the finished product. He essentially picked the director, Ted Post, over other considerations like John Sturges and Robert Aldrich. Post was Eastwood’s buddy, you see, and his Hollywood style is the perfect fit for this Hollywood western.

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Apr 28

Kill!

Kihachi Okamoto’s Kill! is a wildly enjoyable romp through the samurai genre. This 1968 picture is based on Shugoro Yamamoto’s novel Peaceful Days, the same source material for Kurosawa’s Sanjuro, and uses parody and humour to throw the genre on its ear. The 1960s were already representing a shift in the more traditional samurai pictures, with more outlandish films being released, but Kill! is a piece of tight rebel cinema from Okamoto.

1960s Japan was an exuberant, compelling time in the nation’s history. Streets were often filled with student protesters and attitudes towards Japanese history and nationalism were changing. New film directors, like Kurosawa, were expressing cynicism and contempt for much of what the Japanese government was up to and the samurai genre became a vivid way to demonstrate this derision. Kill! is not only a send-up of the genre, it’s a bold bit of social commentary.

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Apr 22

Once Upon a Time in the West

When it comes to westerns, few rival the span and spectacle of Sergio Leone’s epic spaghetti western Once Upon a Time in the West. Originally released in Italy in 1968 and released in the United States a year later, the movie wasn’t an immediate hit with the critics but has since found legendary status. It is also the first portion of a rather loose trilogy, the other two being A Fistful of Dynamite from 1971 and Once Upon a Time in America from 1984.

Once Upon a Time in the West is a masterpiece brimming with tremendous depth, character development, and dark humour. Leone’s creation was originally designed as a way to work with Henry Fonda, an actor who Leone had admired for a long time. After creating his epic masterpiece The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly, Sergio wanted to quit doing westerns. However, the studios would only offer him film opportunities within that genre. When the chance to work with Fonda came up in a western format, Leone jumped at the chance. But he was going to do things his way and show the audience a side of Fonda never before seen.

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Nov 2

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Funny Girl

Funny Girl

Funny Girl is a tremendously entertaining and sweet film from start to finish. The film is based on the stage musical of the same name and is the semi-biography of Fanny Brice, the influential American comedian/singer/actress. Funny Girl marks the film debut of Barbra Streisand, who would win the Academy Award for Best Actress for her portrayal of Fanny Brice, an award she would share with Katharine Hepburn, who won for The Lion in Winter.

Funny Girl was also nominated for Oscars in the categories of Best Picture, Best Supporting Actress, Best Cinematography, Best Film Editing, Best Music, Best Sound, Best Score, and Best Original Song. Streisand picked up a Golden Globe for Best Actress and Isobel Lennart’s screenplay won recognition from the Writer’s Guild of America.

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