1960’s

[3] Don Knotts stars in this allegedly spooky family comedy about a newspaper typesetter who spends a night in a haunted mansion and lives to report the tale. But when no one believes him and he’s taken to court, the judge orders Knotts to take him and the jury to the scene of the supernatural occurrences on a hunt for verifiable truth. The Ghost and …

[7] Vivien Leigh and Warren Beatty star in this adaptation of Tennessee Williams’s novel about an aging starlet (Leigh) who becomes a widow while vacationing in Italy. She reluctantly agrees to let a scheming contessa (Lotte Lenya) set her up with a handsome gigolo (Beatty). The two seem at first to have a grounded understanding of their relationship, but things become more complicated when Leigh …

[7] A young man and woman living under the care of a kindly priest get wrapped up in a series of seemingly supernatural murders. It turns out a group of modern-day pirates murdered the crew of a ship three years earlier, and now the victims’ skeletons are out for vengeance. What’s great about The Living Skeleton is that the synopsis above is only the beginning. …

[6] Rex Harrison and Richard Burton star as aging gay lovers in this stage play adaptation directed by Stanley Donen (Singin’ in the Rain, Seven Brides for Seven Brothers). The two men have been together for twenty years and work together as hairdressers in London’s west side. The romance, if there ever really was one, has gone out. Harrison takes his fear and apprehension about …

[7] Seven religious children bury their dead mother in the rose garden and tell no one of her demise for fear they’ll be separated and put in orphanages. Relying on seances with their mother to guide them through difficult decisions, the children are able to survive on their own for a while. But when their estranged father (Dirk Bogarde) arrives, destroys their mother’s makeshift tabernacle …

[7] Jack Lemmon and Shirley MacLaine star in this romantic comedy from Billy Wilder. Lemmon’s a police officer and MacLaine is the prostitute he falls in love with. After he loses his job, she takes him in and provides for him. In an effort to get her to retire, he impersonates a wealthy British man who negotiates a lucrative, monogamous relationship with her. But the …

[7] Dennis Hopper co-writes, directs, and stars in this counter-culture cornerstone about two hippies (Hopper and Peter Fonda) who embark on a cross-country motorcycle road trip from Los Angeles to New Orleans, trying to figure out how to live their lives and survive harassment from small-town hicks. Easy Rider is a fairly avant-garde movie for a Hollywood studio to release. It eschews a traditional narrative …

[8] Lucille Ball and Henry Fonda star in this fluffy, family-oriented comedy about a widower with ten children who falls in love with a widow who has eight kids of her own. But do they dare merge their families into a twenty-person household? Yours, Mine and Ours is a charming little flick that quickly won me over with Ball’s and Fonda’s performances and plenty of …

[6] Grant Williams (The Incredible Shrinking Man) stars as a serial killer who goes to therapy about his dark compulsion. Turns out the guy has serious Freudian issues involving his mother, father, and sister — anyone who reminds him of them tends to get stabbed. The police are on the case, but can they stop him before his paternal-acting shrink becomes the next victim? The …

[4] Burt Lancaster stars in this fictionalized account of the Nazis’ attempt to abscond with France’s most treasured paintings before the Allied Forces meet up with them. It’s up to Lancaster, playing a Resistance train station master, to head up an elaborate plan to dupe the Nazis and stop the train from leaving France without damaging it’s precious cargo. I love the idea of Resistance …

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