In this one year the 2 longest running series (James Bond and Godzilla) both had a high watermark films, Sergio Leone invented a genre, some of the most beloved musicals appeared (one winning best picture), Peter Sellers had 2 comedies among the best of the genre, The Beatles paved the way for rock band comedies, noir and sci-fi managed some belated classics, and we got some stop motion monstrosities from Harryhausen and Danforth. 1964 was also the year horror fully woke up after hitting snooze on the 1960 alarm clock. That year would include 2 of the best horror movies from Japan, some of the best from Italy, 3 of Vincent Price's best performances, some underrated Hammer films, and Bette Davis/Joan Crawford's best latter day horror films. 1968 may have been the year genre film's matured, but for my money 1964 was simply more fun. Horror Black Sabbath (US version) Blood and Black Lace Castle of Blood Comedy of Terrors The Evil of Frankenstein The Gorgon Hush Hush Sweet Charlotte Kwaidan The Last Man on Earth Onibaba Strait Jacket The Tomb of Ligeia 2000 Maniacs Other (lesser) genres 7 Faces of Dr. Lao Dr. Strangelove First Men in the Moon A Fistful of Dollars Ghidorah, the 3 Headed Monster Goldfinger A Hard Day's Night Mary Poppins Mothra vs. Godzilla My Fair Lady The Naked Kiss Robinson Crusoe on mars A Shot in the Dark The Umbrellas of Cherbourg
In looking at possible drive-in combos I checked out other years around it and nothing quite compared to the sheer volume of films that I cherish in non-Drama genres. Many favorite are here like 7 Faces of Dr. Leo, A Shot in the Dark, Strait-Jacket, Goldfinger and The Naked Kiss. Also browsing further: The Incredible Mr. Limpet Viva Las Vegas The Killers Marnie Dead Ringer The Night Walker The Time Travelers The Earth Dies Screaming Along with 2000 Maniacs, some more trash cinema: Castle of the Living Dead (Christopher The Flesh Eaters The Incredibly Strange Creatures Who Stopped Living and Became Mixed-Up Zombies The Curse of the Living Corpse The Horror of Party Beach Masque of the Red Death Face of the Screaming Werewolf The Long Hair of Death And 1964 was the year of 2 Christmas classics: Rudolph the Red Nose Reindeer and....Santa Claus Conquers the Martians. It was also the year that brought these people into the world: Keanu Reeves Guillermo Del Toro Nicholas Cage Sandra Bullock Russell Crowe David Spade & Chris Farley
The pulpy, excellent home invasion thriller Lady In A Cage. Starring Olivia De Havilland and James Caan in his first (I think) screen role.
the list just keeps getting better and I'v seen all of these! Shot In The Dark...my Mom was a huge Peter Sellers fan. : )
The horror genre kind of had a weird hiatus in 1961 and 1962. Not a lot made and not a lot that pushed the envelope from 1960. This thread came about because I was trying to come up with a year that crossed over my favorite franchises/filmmakers/shows, although honestly 1963 worked pretty good too and was more generous to Looney/Twilight/Harryhausen/Hitchcock: James Bond (FRWL, I prefer Goldfinger) Godzilla (NA) Hammer (Kiss of the Vampire and thrillers) Mario Bava (Whip and the Body, Black Sabbath) Ray Harryhausen (Jason and the Argonauts) Peter Sellers/Pink Panther (the lackluster first one) Price/Poe (The Haunted Palace) Hitchcock (The Birds) Looney Tunes (Abominable Snow Rabbit) Twilight Zone (The Living Doll)
Mary Poppins, probably Disney's greatest live action achievement, certainly its most successful. Maybe a half hour too long and needs more screen time for the titular character but still highly enjoyable.
Ah, Blood and Black Lace; the original giallo. It's also a bit of a home video problem child since the Arrow and the VCI BluRay's have different aspect ratios.
The Carpetbaggers Sprawling Harold Robbins drama with George Peppard as a Howard Hughes-like character with daddy issues. Watch Carroll Baker - his mother-in-law/former girlfriend- after an aborted seduction scream out "Junior! Junior!" as a pejorative. Campy stuff. Also Alan Ladd's last film. This was the kind of film I went to see in the theater at 10 years old.
The Fall Of The Roman Empire Cleopatra is probably regarded as the king (queen?) of long-winded spectacles but this one gets points for trying. Sophia Loren, Stephen Boyd, James Mason, Christopher Plummer, Omar Sharif, you get the picture. Needs a stateside Blu-ray/ 4k release thank you.
