What was the single best year in the history of movies?
The quasi-official answer to that question has long been 1939, the year of “Gone With the Wind,” “The Wizard of Oz” and 30 or so other well-loved studio classics. Moviemaker Peter Bogdanovich was probably the first writer to celebrate 1939, in a piece reprinted in his “Pieces of Time,” and many since have followed his lead.
Others might argue for 1941, the year of “Citizen Kane” and “The Maltese Falcon” — or for some time in the 1970s, perhaps the last great decade of creative American studio moviemaking.
But for me, the movies’ very best year is 1962.
That may seem, at first, a questionable choice — a year when the Hollywood studio system was actually supposed to be on the decline. But the best argument for 1962’s preeminence is simply a list of the films themselves: a survey of the movies still enjoyed by audiences today that were released in America that year — both domestic and foreign. And not just the usual top 10, but, in this case, the top 62.
Even in cursory examination, 1962 has a formidable lineup. Debuting that year in America’s movie houses were the great historical epic “Lawrence of Arabia,” the well-loved memoir “To Kill a Mockingbird,” the classic noirs “The Manchurian Candidate” and “Whatever Happened to Baby Jane?,” the incisive dramas “Days of Wine and Roses,” “Advise and Consent” and “The Loneliness of the Long Distance Runner,” the great westerns “Ride the High Country” and “The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance,” the rousing entertainers “Hatari!,” “The Music Man,” “Gypsy” and “Dr. No,” early American indies “David and Lisa” and “Carnival of Souls” and some superb adaptations from the stage “Long Days Journey into Night,” “The Miracle Worker” and literature “The Trial,” “Lolita.”
As I later discovered after first picking ’62 as the best year for a 1999 Tribune piece — that was only scratching the surface. Just as impressive: the U.S. premieres of a group of brilliant modern foreign language classics: “Jules and Jim,” “Shoot the Piano Player,” “Yojimbo,” “Viridiana,””Through a Glass Darkly,” “La Notte,” “Eclipse,” “Knife in the Water,” “Devi,” “Lola” and “Last Year at Marienbad.” (Now-classic 1962 foreign releases which didn’t open in the U.S. that year included “My Life to Live,” “An Autumn Afternoon,” “Ivan’s Childhood,” “The Trial of Joan of Arc,” “Sanjuro,” “The Elusive Corporal,” “The Exterminating Angel” and “Harakiri.”)
Just a few weeks back, there was a surprising confirmation from The New York Times: Stephen Farber’s piece extolling 1962, inspired by a 13-film retrospective at Los Angeles’ Landmark Theaters, aptly called “The Greatest Year in Motion Picture History.” What made 1962 so special?
Bogdanovich, an early champion of 1939, has called 1962 the last year of the Hollywood Golden Age. In 1962, some of the old studio bosses (Darryl Zanuck and Jack Warner) were still active, black-and-white cinematography still co-existed strongly with color, and many of the era’s greatest talents (such as John Ford, Orson Welles, Alfred Hitchcock, Howard Hawks, Katharine Hepburn, Bette Davis, John Wayne, James Stewart and Cary Grant) were still stars.
But 1962 also was the dawn of a more modern era — of a series of cinematic and social breakthroughs that would crescendo for the next two decades. It was the time of the New Waves of France, Eastern Europe and the U.S. (the early films of Cassavetes, Kubrick, Clarke and Warhol) and of a new and fervent interest in filmmaking and film culture — exemplified by the newly imported, controversial French idea of the “auteur”: the movie director as artist rather than studio employee.
Provocative social and political currents were in the mix as well, sparked by the regime of John F. Kennedy, one of the most urbane and movie-friendly of U.S. presidents. The major domestic battles over Vietnam, the assassinations and the social turbulence and tragedy of the later ’60s were still in the future; it was a time full of both threat (the Cold War) and of hope (civil rights).
By 1962, Kennedy had had a major impact on the film industry. Along with his wife, Jackie, he not only patronized the arts, but looked like a movie star, palled around with stars and allegedly had a love affair with one. 1962’s “Advise and Consent,” one of the best American political movies — an unsparing look at backstage Senate hearing chicanery by the conservative reporter/author Allen Drury and the liberal director Otto Preminger — was shot on actual Washington, D.C., locations largely because of Kennedy approval.
The Hollywood progressive community, partly stifled or underground throughout the ’50s, came to the fore in the JFK years. Once-blacklisted writers such as Dalton Trumbo were working openly; Trumbo’s own personal favorite of all his scripts was for yet another ’62 classic, the melancholy Kirk Douglas western “Lonely Are the Brave.”
Simultaneously, the long-standing strictures against adult themes, embodied in the old Production Code, were collapsing, paving the way for franker treatments of alcoholism (“Days of Wine and Roses,” “Long Day’s Journey”), drug addiction (“Sweet Bird of Youth,” “The Connection”), psychiatry (“Freud,” “David and Lisa”) sexual variance or obsession (“Advise and Consent,” “Lolita,” “The Children’s Hour”), nuclear dangers (“The Day the Earth Caught Fire”) and racial prejudice (“To Kill a Mockingbird,” “Pressure Point”). The movies were tackling — with new boldness and candor — subjects softened or disguised during the code years. There is still no better Hollywood drama on alcoholism than “Days of Wine and Roses” (and no performances superior to Jack Lemmon’s and Lee Remick’s as the drunken couple), no family drama more corrosive than “Long Day’s Journey” or more tender than “Mockingbird,” few boxing dramas more honest than “Requiem for a Heavyweight” and no portrayal of a teacher-student relationship more moving than “The Miracle Worker.”
Concurrently, the best foreign films — many of which were bolder and went further than the American ones — were brought in greater numbers to American screens.
Could we have another golden year? Maybe, but only if filmmakers all over the world are encouraged to unleash their ambitions and give us their best — as many of them did in 1962.
1. Lawrence of Arabia (David Lean): The great epic biography of T. E. Lawrence: a sophisticated vision of a complex hero, set against awesome Arabian deserts. With Peter O’Toole, Alec Guinness, Omar Sharif and Anthony Quinn. (Seven Oscars, including best film and director.)
2. The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance (John Ford): The “Casablanca” of westerns, with an unbeatable cast (heroes John Wayne and Jimmy Stewart, villains Lee Marvin, Lee Van Cleef and Strother Martin, townspeople Vera Miles, Woody Strode and Edmond O’Brien) in a dark tale of the hidden story behind the winning of the West.
3. Yojimbo (Japanese: Akira Kurosawa): The darkly brilliant premise — a master swordsman who walks into a town feud and plays equally evil sides against each other — has been much copied, but Kurosawa’s remains the most savage, exciting and funny. With Toshiro Mifune. (Best actor, Venice Film Festival).
4. Jules and Jim (French: Francois Truffaut): In Henri Roche’s novel-memoir of early 20th Century Europe, Truffaut found a subject ideal for his dark romanticism, exuberance and pessimism — and a heroine, Jeanne Moreau’s Catherine, who was, for many, symbol of her age. With Oskar Werner and Henri Serre.
5. The Manchurian Candidate (John Frankenheimer): The now legendary Cold War film noir about a sinister conspiracy involving a decorated Korean War vet (Laurence Harvey) turned zombie assassin. With Frank Sinatra, Janet Leigh, and, as the evil mother, Angela Lansbury; scripted by George Axelrod from Richard Condon’s novel.
6. Through a Glass Darkly (Swedish: Ingmar Bergman): On Bergman’s island, a chamber drama scored to Bach, anatomizing four characters: a famous writer (Gunnar Bjornstrand), his callow teenage son (Lars Passgard), his tormented daughter (Harriet Andersson) and her stoic husband (Max Von Sydow). (Oscar, best foreign language film.)
7. Lolita (Stanley Kubrick): This dark comedy from the Vladimir Nabokov classic of a professor obsessed with nymphet Lolita was co-scripted by Nabokov. With James Mason as Humbert, Sue Lyon as Lo, Shelley Winters as Charlotte and Peter Sellers as Clare Quilty.
8. Viridiana (Spanish: Luis Bunuel): A study of the way the world treats idealists: Silvia Pinal’s pure-hearted Viridiana, who leaves a convent and falls prey to her lecherous uncle (Fernando Rey) and scalawag cousin (Francisco Rabal). The film’s most shocking comic episode: the peasant orgy staged to Handel’s “Hallelujah Chorus.” (Grand Prize, Cannes.)
9. To Kill a Mockingbird (Robert Mulligan): The beautiful, crisply compassionate adaptation of Harper Lee’s child’s eye memoir-novel about a 1932 Mississippi small-town rape trial, with Gregory Peck as Atticus Finch, brave lawyer and perfect father. (Oscars, best actor and adapted screenplay.)
10. Eclipse (Italian: Michelangelo Antonioni): Antonioni, chronicler of ’60s upper class ennui and unease, shows a blighted romance between a callous broker (Alain Delon) and his over-sensitive lover (Monica Vitti). One of his masterpieces. (Special Jury Prize, Cannes)
62 reasons why (the runners-up)
English Language
1. The Trial (Orson Welles): A stunning film of the Franz Kafka nightmare, with An-thony Perkins as Joseph K.
2. Hatari! (Howard Hawks): John Wayne as a zoo collector in Africa: a breezy, exciting action-comedy-romance, perhaps the quintessential Hawks movie.
3. Ride the High Country (Sam Peckinpah): One of the great westerns: Peckinpah’s elegiac, violent study of two aging gunfighters — Joel McCrea and Randolph Scott — who join forces for a last quest.
4. Long Day’s Journey into Night (Sidney Lumet): Eugene O’Neill’s great, harrowing autobiographical drama about the haunted Tyrones, with Katharine Hepburn (the name as published has been corrected in this text), Ralph Richardson, Jason Robards and Dean Stockwell. (Cannes best acting prize to the ensemble.)
5. The Miracle Worker (Arthur Penn): Anne Bancroft and Patty Duke as teacher Annie Sullivan and pupil Helen Keller in this brainy, exciting film of William Gibson’s play. (Oscars, best actress and supporting actress)
6.Whatever Happened to Baby Jane? (Robert Aldrich): With grande dames Bette Davis and Joan Crawford.
7. Days of Wine and Roses (Blake Edwards): Jack Lemmon and Lee Remick are brilliant in JP Miller’s drama of alcoholism.
8. Advise and Consent (Otto Preminger): From Allen Drury’s novel, with Henry Fonda and Charles Laughton.
9. Sweet Bird of Youth (Richard Brooks): From one of Tennessee Williams’ best plays, Paul Newman and Geraldine Page as a hustler and a Hollywood diva.
10. How the West Was Won (John Ford, Henry Hathaway, George Marshall): Vast Cinerama western epic with Wayne, Stewart, Fonda, Peck.
11. The Loneliness of the Long Distance Runner (Tony Richardson): From Alan Sillitoe’s novel, with Tom Courtenay.
12. Peeping Tom (Michael Powell): Stylish shocker.
13. Mr. Arkadin (Orson Welles): Baroque international thriller.
14. Lonely Are the Brave (David Miller): Dalton Trumbo western with Kirk Douglas.
15. The Longest Day (Andrew Marton, Ken Annakin, Bernhard Wicki): All-star recreation of D-Day.
16. The Music Man (Morton Da Costa; musical with Robert Preston ): Meredith Willson musical with Robert Preston and Shirley Jones.
17. Merrill’s Marauders (Sam Fuller): WWII, with Jeff Chandler.
18. Bird Man of Alcatraz (John Frankenheimer): Bio-drama with Burt Lancaster.
19. Cape Fear (J. Lee Thompson): Thriller with Gregory Peck and Robert Mitchum.
20. Two for the Seesaw (Robert Wise): William Gibson romantic comedy with Mitchum and Shirley MacLaine.
21. Dr. No (Terence Young): First James Bond spy thriller with Sean Connery.
22. Billy Budd (Peter Ustinov): Sea drama with Robert Ryan and Terence Stamp.
23. Hell is for Heroes (Don Siegel): WWII action with Steve McQueen.
24. Mutiny on the Bounty (Lewis Milestone): Adventure-history with Marlon Brando.
25. Barabbas (Richard Fleischer): Par Lagervist biblical drama with Anthony Quinn.
26. Gypsy (Mervyn LeRoy)
27. Requiem for a Heavyweight (Ralph Nelson)
28. Freud (John Huston)
29. Two Weeks in Another Town (Vincente Minnelli)
30. The Children’s Hour (William Wyler)
31. A Taste of Honey
(Tony Richardson)
32. Too Late Blues (John Cassavettes)
33. The Day the Earth Caught Fire (Val Guest)
34. All Fall Down (John Frankenheimer)
35. Pressure Point (Hubert Cornfield)
Foreign Language
(Released in U.S. in ’62)
1. La Notte (Italian: Michelangelo Antonioni): Marcello Mastroianni and Jeanne Moreau as an alienated Roman couple. (Grand Prize, Berlin Film Festival)
2. Last Year at Marienbad (French: Alain Resnais): Resnais’ and writer Alain Robbe-Grillet’s enigmatic tale of seduction at a spa. (Grand Prize, Venice)
3. Divorce, Italian Style (Italian: Pietro Germi): Dark, Italian sex comedy, with Marcello Mastroianni as a Sicilian husband seeking a murderous “divorce.” (Oscar, original screenplay)
4. Knife in the Water (Polish: Roman Polanski): The debut film that made Polanski world-famous: a laceratingly tense drama of the eternal triangle on a sailboat.
5. Shoot the Piano Player (French: Francois Truffaut): Quintessential “New Wave” movie — based on David Goodis’ “Down There” — about a concert pianist trapped by fate.
6. Devi (Indian: Satyajit Ray): Ray’s intense drama of religious/sexual obsession, with Chabi Biswas.
7. The Hidden Fortress (Japanese; Akira Kurosawa): Toshiro Mifune in the great Kurosawa samurai adventure that inspired “Star Wars.” (Best director, Berlin)
8. Boccacio ’70 (Italian: Federico Fellini, Vittorio De Sica, Luchino Visconti): A smart, spicy three-episode film on modern sexuality.
9. Lola (French: Jacques Demy): A celebration of love in Nantes, with Anouk Aimee as Lola. (Best film, Cahiers du Cinema)
10. Il Grido (Italian: Michelangelo Antonioni): Antonioni’s breakthrough drama about a provincial laborer (Steve Cochran) and his odyssey of pain. (Grand Prize, Locarno)
11. Cleo from 5 to 7 (French: Agnes Varda)
12. The Lower Depths (Japanese: Akira Kurosawa)
13. Testament of Orpheus (French: Jean Cocteau)
14. Mother Joan of the Angels (Polish: Jerzy Kawalerowicz) (Special jury prize, Cannes)
15.Sundays and Cybele (French: Serge Bourgoignon) (Oscar, best foreign language film)
16. Paris Belongs to Us (French: Jacques Rivette)
17. Electra (Greek: Michael Cacoyannis)
— Michael Wilmington
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U.S. release dates were determined by using the first newspaper review of each film. Source: The New York Times.
