Best Of 1969
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- DirectorKenneth AngerStarsKenneth AngerBobby BeausoleilBill BeutelExperimental short, featuring strobe-like erotic imagery with several shots of the Rolling Stones in performance and an original synthesizer score by Mick Jagger.
- DirectorMarguerite DurasStarsCatherine SellersMichael LonsdaleHenri GarcinElizabeth Alione is sinking into a deep melancholy when she drags down the corridors, the park and the dining room of a hotel.
- DirectorSergei ParajanovStarsSofiko ChiaureliMelkon AlekyanVilen GalstyanThe life of the Armenian poet Sayat-Nova, from childhood to death: his spiritual journey, artistic endeavors, and inner conflicts within the cultural and historical context of Armenia. Hailed as revolutionary by Mikhail Vartanov.
- DirectorJean-Luc GodardStarsJean-Luc GodardJuliet BertoJean-Pierre LéaudHow do we learn? What do we know? Night after night, not long before dawn, two young adults, Patricia and Emile, meet on a sound stage to discuss learning, discourse, and the path to revolution. Scenes of Paris's student revolt, the Vietnam War, and other events of the late 1960s, along with posters, photographs, and cartoons, are backdrops to their words. Words themselves are often Patricia and Emile's subject, as are images, sounds, and juxtapositions. In addition to the two characters' musings, the soundtrack includes narration, music, news clips, and noise. The result is a montage, a meditation, a reflection on ideas and how words and images mix - and how filmmaking is a path.
- DirectorLouis MalleStarsLouis MalleWith minimal narration by the director and very little context this is a kaleidoscope of stunning visuals from Calcutta, a city of 8,000,000 in the late 1960's: rich and poor, exotic and mundane, secular and religious, children and adults, animate and inanimate. Given only the images, the viewer can read any meaning she or he wants into the film.
- DirectorMichael SnowStarsAllan KaprowEmmett WilliamsMax NeuhausA camera in a classroom continuously sways back and forth at various speeds as people occasionally move around the setting.
- DirectorJuraj HerzStarsRudolf HrusínskýVlasta ChramostováJana StehnováSet in Central Europe during World War II, a demented cremator believes cremation relieves earthly suffering and sets out to save the world.
- DirectorWalerian BorowczykAn old phonograph assembles itself, plays songs on wax drums before self destructing. In many ways The Phonograph is a companion piece to Renaissance, there is nevertheless something quietly affecting about Borowczyk's final 'object' animation.
- DirectorJacques DerayStarsAlain DelonRomy SchneiderMaurice RonetLovers Marianne and Jean-Paul spend their vacation in a villa on the French Riviera near St-Tropez. Marianne invites her former lover, Harry, and his teenage daughter, Penelope, to stay. Tension rises between them, especially when Jean-Paul seduces Penelope.
- DirectorPier Paolo PasoliniStarsPierre ClémentiJean-Pierre LéaudAlberto LionelloA man wandering in a volcanic desert forms a band of murderous cannibals. A post-war German industrialist learns that his son is unable to make decisions or form relationships.
- DirectorFederico FelliniStarsMartin PotterHiram KellerMax BornA series of disjointed mythical tales set in first-century Rome.
- DirectorSam PeckinpahStarsWilliam HoldenErnest BorgnineRobert RyanAn aging group of outlaws look for one last big score as the "traditional" American West is disappearing around them.
- DirectorCosta-GavrasStarsYves MontandIrene PapasJean-Louis TrintignantThe public murder of a prominent politician and doctor amid a violent demonstration is covered up by military and government officials. A tenacious magistrate is determined not to let them get away with it.
- DirectorSydney PollackStarsJane FondaMichael SarrazinSusannah YorkThe lives of a disparate group of contestants intertwine in an inhumanely grueling dance marathon.
- DirectorPier Paolo PasoliniStarsMaria CallasMassimo GirottiLaurent TerzieffAfter his quest to retrieve the fabled Golden Fleece, Jason returns to Greece with powerful sorceress Medea. However, when the king banishes her, it's only human that Medea plots her furious revenge. Can they escape her wrath?
- DirectorAndrzej ZulawskiStarsBeata TyszkiewiczPiotr WysockiAndrzej MayOne night noble married couple Fabiusz and Waleria find that their long-estranged friend Mucjusz has returned from his travels of distant lands. During dinner, he presents them with mysterious and exotic gifts.
- DirectorHollis FramptonA series of psychedelic, otherworldly visuals of all different colors and designs.
- DirectorPavel KadochnikovStarsEugenia FilonovaEvgeniy ZharikovIrina GubanovaA Russian fairy tale about a maiden named Snegurochka, who is made out of snow.
- DirectorJonas MekasStarsTimothy LearyEd EmshwillerFranz FuenstlerA chronogical about life including self, family, friend, couple and idol in 6 reels
- DirectorClu GulagerStarsMike HertelJack GrindleJohn McCaffreyA group of boys spend their day outdoors exploring, wreaking havoc and letting their imaginations run wild.
- DirectorWillie DunnA musical telling of the life of the Blackfoot Chief and the betrayal and fall of his tribe with the White conquest of the Canadian West.
- DirectorMichael MitchellMort RansenStarsMichael MitchellA documentary about a group of native Americans near the Canadian border. They attempt to blockade a road that runs through their land, leading to the Canadian police getting involved to open the road.
- DirectorJim HensonStarsRichard SchaalHugh WebsterRex SevenoaksA man is trapped inside a mysterious cube.
- DirectorPatrick DevalStarsLaurent CondomidasJackie RaynalEva RidouxWith its title taken from Georges Bataille's journal Acéphale (literally, a headless man, but figuratively expressing the need to go beyond rational ways of thinking), Deval's film is the most literary of the Zanzibar works. The film opens with an illustrative image: a head in the process of being shaved, in close up. This image is accompanied not by the sound of an electric razor but an electric saw, suggesting the need to achieve a tabula rasa by radical means. The story follows the adventures of a young man and his friends as they wander through a barely recognizable post-May 1968 Paris. In documenting the by-gone expressions and gestures of the '68 generation in France, Acéphale becomes something of an anthropological film that reveals the rites and beliefs of the ideological novitiates.
- DirectorDiourka MedveczkyStarsJean-Pierre LéaudBernadette LafontJean-Pierre KalfonPaul, a middle-class young man, in a break with his sphere, meets a group of wandering vegetarians who live begging; he decides to join them.
- DirectorMichael ArmstrongStarsMichael ByrneDavid BowieAn artist's painting comes to life, and haunts him.
- DirectorLev AtamanovA Graceful passenger charmes the seamen with a marvellous dance. And when the storm comes, she reaches coast in a jump-weed and helps the ship to throw an anchor and rescues it from destruction.
- DirectorFrançois De MenilStarsNicoIggy PopA dramatic fantasy that accompanies the song with the same title.
- DirectorIvan Ivanov-VanoYuri NorsteinIn the animated film with the remarkable music of Petr Tchaikovsky, there is a story about a young couple in love and their experiences at each time of the year. Blooming in spring, they are waiting for a meeting with each other, and a hot summer brings them joy at each moment being together. In autumn comes the time of separation, and in winter the long-awaited reunion. Each of these intervals shows the inner psychology of the characters, their different relationships. Simultaneously, through the actions of the heroes, the folk motives of Russian traditional seasonal entertainment and celebrations and the incomparable beauty of Russian nature are transmitted.
- DirectorDaniel PommereulleStarsMustaphaDaniel PommereulleCharlie UrvoisWriter Nicole Brenez sums up this Zanzibar group short as : If Rimbaud had made a film in Abyssinia.Actor director Pommereulle dances a series of gestures,spells and outbursts against Western civilization in an African desert setting.
- DirectorToshio MatsumotoTwo series of images, chaotically showcasing Japan in the '60s, showing images of student riots, ads and pop culture.
- DirectorJeff Keen
- DirectorAlbie ThomsStarsDeborah AllardCharlie BrownLee Casey
- DirectorPat O'Neill
- DirectorGene KellyStarsBarbra StreisandWalter MatthauMichael CrawfordMatchmaker Dolly Levi travels to Yonkers to find a partner for "half-a-millionaire" Horace Vandergelder, convincing his niece, his niece's intended, and his two clerks to travel to New York City along the way.
- DirectorChadi Abdel SalamStarsAhmed MareiAhmad HegaziNadia LutfiAn Upper-Egyptian clan robs a cache of mummies and sells the artifacts on the illicit antiquities black market. After a conflict within the clan, one of its members goes to the police, helping the Antiquities Service find the cache.
- DirectorIngmar BergmanStarsLiv UllmannBibi AnderssonMax von SydowA recently divorced man meets an emotionally devastated widow and they begin a love affair.
- DirectorYoshishige YoshidaStarsMariko OkadaToshiyuki HosokawaYûko KusunokiTwo interwoven stories. The first is a biography of anarchist Sakae Osugi which follows his relationship with three women in the 1920s. The second centers around two 1960s students researching Osugi's theories.
- DirectorDennis HopperStarsPeter FondaDennis HopperJack NicholsonTwo bikers head from L.A. to New Orleans through the open country and desert lands, and along the way they meet a man who bridges a counter-culture gap of which they had been unaware.
- DirectorGeorge Roy HillStarsPaul NewmanRobert RedfordKatharine RossIn 1890s Wyoming, Butch Cassidy and The Sundance Kid lead a band of outlaws. When a train robbery goes wrong, they find themselves on the run with a posse hard on their heels. After considering their options, they escape to South America.
- DirectorJean-Pierre MelvilleStarsLino VenturaPaul MeurisseJean-Pierre CasselAn account of underground resistance fighters in Nazi-occupied France.
- DirectorCharles JarrottStarsRichard BurtonGeneviève BujoldIrene PapasKing Henry VIII of England discards one wife, Catharine of Aragon, who has failed to produce a male heir, in favor of the young and beautiful Anne Boleyn.
- DirectorJean HermanStarsAlain DelonMireille DarcGeorges RouquierAfter a successful robbery, the gang leader Jeff disappears with the loot, leaving his accomplices with nothing. Gang members decide to go and pull any information by any means about possible location of their ex-boss and their money from Eva, Jeff's girlfriend. One of the gang members, Laurent, Jeff's right hand, refuses to join and revolts against others. He is left under the hostile guard of one of the gangsters. Laurent fights his way out and rushes to see Eva. Laurent and Eva set out on a trip to find Jeff and find out the truth. Meanwhile other gang members are not going to give in as well..
- DirectorJacques RivetteStarsBulle OgierJean-Pierre KalfonJosée DestoopDuring the rehearsals for the production of the tragedy Andromaque, the leading actress and her director, a couple behind the scenes, can't find a way to leave their personal problems at home. And life imitates fiction, creating a real tragedy for this couple when the man finds comfort with other women while the actress prefers to stay focused on her work, as if nothing is happening with her partner.
- DirectorJohn MarshallTchai is the word used by Ju/'hoansi to describe getting together to dance and sing; n/um can be translated as medicine, or supernatural potency. In the 1950's, when this film was shot, Ju/'hoansi gathered for "medicine dances" often, usually at night, and sometimes such dances lasted until dawn. In this film, women sit on the ground, clapping and singing and occasionally dancing a round or two, while men circle around them, singing and stamping rhythms with their feet. The songs are wordless but named: "rain," "sun," "honey," "giraffe," and other "strong things." The strength of the songs is their n/um, or medicine, thought to be a gift from the great god. N/um is also in the fire, and even more so in the "owners of medicine," or healers. Most Ju/'hoan men would practice as healers at some point in their lives, and in this film we see several men in various stages of trance. A light trance gradually deepens, as the medicine grows "hot," and eventually some men will shriek and run about, falling on hot coals, entering the state Ju/'hoansi call "half-death." The film opens with a brief introduction to the role of n/um tchai in healing and in warding off evil, followed by scenes from one all-night dance. The dance begins with a social gathering and becomes increasingly intense as the night wears on, finally concluding at dawn.
- DirectorPhilippe GarrelStarsZouzouPierre ClémentiTina AumontA loose Biblical allegory starring the legendary model-artist-musician Zouzou as Mary Magdalene, French actor Pierre Clémenti as Jesus and the director himself as a misguided apostle.
- DirectorKen LoachStarsDavid BradleyBrian GloverFreddie FletcherA working-class English boy spends his free time caring for and training his pet kestrel.
- DirectorTony RichardsonStarsNicol WilliamsonJudy ParfittAnthony HopkinsAcademy Award-winning director Tony Richardson brings Shakespeare's tragedy to the screen - with searing performances from Nicol Williamson as the melancholy Dane and future Academy Award-winner Anthony Hopkins as the deceitful Claudius.
- DirectorPierre ÉtaixStarsPierre ÉtaixAnnie FratelliniNicole CalfanAfter fifteen years of average married life and stifling in-laws, a businessman undergoes a midlife crisis and pursues his attractive young secretary.
- DirectorPeter WatkinsStarsArthur PentelowFrederick DannerHans BendrikSome time in the future, East and West have stopped maintaining standing armies and nuclear weapons. Instead, to settle their differences they pit different teams of crack combat specialists against each other.
- DirectorDariush MehrjuiStarsEzzatolah EntezamiMahin ShahabiAli NasirianAn old villager deeply in love with his cow goes to the capital for a while. While he's there, the cow dies and now the villagers are afraid of his possible reaction to it when he returns.
- DirectorAlain TannerStarsFrançois SimonMarie-Claire DufourMarcel RobertThe portrait of an old man who decides to abandon his comfortable bourgeois way of life and live with a Bohemian couple. There he rediscovers his freedom to think and his joie de vivre.
- DirectorSydney PollackStarsBurt LancasterPatrick O'NealJean-Pierre AumontDuring the Battle of the Bulge, an anachronistic count shelters a ragtag squad of Americans in his remote 10th Century castle hoping a battle there against the advancing Germans will not lead to its destruction and all the heritage within.
- DirectorLuchino ViscontiStarsDirk BogardeIngrid ThulinHelmut GriemThe dramatic collapse of a wealthy, industrialist/Junker family during the reign of the Third Reich.
- DirectorToshio MatsumotoStarsPîtâOsamu OgasawaraYoshimi JôThe trials and tribulations of Eddie and other transvestites in Japan.
- DirectorYoussef ChahineStarsMahmoud Al MelejiNagwa IbrahimEzzat El AlailiA small peasant village's struggles against the careless inroads of the large local landowner. The Land shows why political oppression does not necessarily lead to a sense of solidarity among the disinherited.
- DirectorRichard MyersStarsRobert OhlrichPat MyersJake LeedMade during Myers' tenure as a film professor at Kent State University, AKRAN is a "collage of dreamy images of restless youth, landscapes of alienation, the Vietnam War, consumerist civilization, and overt racism." It represents the hopes, fears and frustrations of a young couple struggling to make it in a corrupt world. A statement about the 1960s, the film unfolds as a stream of consciousness that draws inspiration from some of Myers' Dadaist and surrealist heroes.
- StarsLouis MalleThomas Frederick HowardRajani Desai"Phantom India" is regarded as the crowning achievement of Louis Malle's career.
- DirectorNagisa ÔshimaStarsFumio WatanabeAkiko KoyamaTetsuo AbeA young boy reluctantly aids his swindling father in a threatening scam.
- DirectorJan SvankmajerVarious objects are having a sunny outing together in the nature.
- DirectorHarun FarockiStarsGerd Volker BussäusHarun FarockiCaroline GremmShort film which explores the origins of napalm, it's use in the Vietnam war, and it's evil effects on society.
- DirectorAndy WarholStarsVivaLouis WaldonViva and Louis Waldon spend an idyllic afternoon together in an apartment in New York City.
- DirectorWilly BraqueStarsJacques PolletErika WassonWilly Braque
- DirectorMasao AdachiKôji WakamatsuStarsNatsu NakajimaKazuo 'Gaira' KomizuYukiko ManabeOn the actual barricades of Adachi's very own Nihon University during the period of social struggle, a free-love session taking the form of a 'play' rape is being enacted by a group of aimless, listless and political apathetic students
- DirectorHideo GoshaStarsShintarô KatsuTatsuya NakadaiYukio MishimaA destitute ronin allies himself with an established clan, but its ruthless leader tries to turn him into a mindless killer.
- DirectorDavid LynchStarsPeggy ReaveyA woman's dark and absurdist nightmare vision comprising a continuous recitation of the alphabet and bizarre living representations of each letter.
- DirectorLucio FulciStarsJean SorelMarisa MellElsa MartinelliAn unscrupulous doctor is accused of killing his asthmatic wife as part of an insurance scam, despite discovering that she has a doppelgänger who works as a stripper and call girl.
- DirectorCarlos SauraStarsGeraldine ChaplinPer OscarssonTeresa del RíoIsolated from the rest of the world in their countryside mansion, an unhappily married couple engages in a series of increasingly violent role playing games in an effort to heal their relationship.
- DirectorAgnès VardaStarsVivaJames RadoGerome RagniThree actors in Hollywood live and love together. A director comes from New York to make a movie about actors and Hollywood.
- DirectorMárta MészárosStarsMari TörőcsikKati KovácsLajos BalázsovitsAfter her husband dies, a woman questions her love for her husband and whether or not to accept money from the insurance policy. Tensions mount when her estranged son returns to the familial home with his girlfriend.
- DirectorWalerian BorowczykStarsPierre BrasseurLigia BraniceJean-Pierre AndréaniOn an isolated island ruled by a dictator, a petty thief rises through the ranks, becoming fly-catcher, dog-keeper, and boot polisher. Temptations arise, putting the islanders' fate in jeopardy and threatening to change the island forever.
- DirectorWerner Nekes
- DirectorHerbert RossStarsPeter O'ToolePetula ClarkMichael RedgraveA shy, withdrawn English schoolteacher falls for a flashy showgirl.
- DirectorFrederick WisemanStarsRichard NixonAlso known as The Greater Good, this series of vignettes focuses on the day-to-day work of Kansas City, Missouri police covers the range of circumstances they encounter and the variety of social roles they are asked to play. More than simply chasing down criminals, the police act as counselors, negotiators and arbitrators of civil injustices, minor altercations and petty crimes. Filmed in 1968 at the height of an anti-authoritarian age, the policemen shown are more frequently reasonable, patient and fair than sadistic, inhumane or incompetent. When a policeman does step out of line, the fact that he knows he is being filmed is as revealing as the unguarded asides or unnecessary violence captured by the camera. This is well made, with content similar to the Pittsburgh Police films shot by Wiseman's former collaborator, John Marshall in 1969 and 1970. But because Law and Order was funded by the Ford Foundation for television release, and not for training police officers, it does not feature as many situations that are likely to cause disagreements about how they should have been handled.
- DirectorÉric RohmerStarsJean-Louis TrintignantFrançoise FabianMarie-Christine BarraultA devout Catholic man's rigid principles are challenged during a one-night stay with Maud, a divorced woman with an outsize personality.
- DirectorJacques DemyStarsAnouk AiméeGary LockwoodAlexandra HayGeorge is unemployed, broke, about to be drafted to Vietnam, and suddenly madly in love with the divine Lola, a woman he has only briefly glimpsed. Now George searches for his potential amour through the City of Angels.
- DirectorBarbet SchroederStarsMimsy FarmerKlaus GrünbergHeinz EngelmannStefan, a recent college graduate, hitchhikes from Germany to Paris where he meets American expatriate, Estelle. They chase the sun to Ibiza. An idyllic island life degenerates when she introduces him to heroin and they get addicted.
- DirectorJirí BrdeckaMilos MakovecEvald SchormStarsMilena DvorskáMilos KopeckýJirí HrzánRumor has it that the house of Prague hide secret obtain the philosopher's stone, and complex multi-level labyrinth of underground tunnels and cellars keep many unsolved mysteries and untold treasures.
- DirectorGiorgi ShengelaiaStarsAvtandil VaraziDodo AbashidzeZurab KapianidzeThe story of self-taught Georgian painter Niko Pirosmani.
- DirectorGillo PontecorvoStarsMarlon BrandoEvaristo MárquezRenato SalvatoriIn 1844, a British mercenary helps the revolting slaves of an Antilles island colony gain independence from Portugal, but later returns to hunt down a local rebel leader and former protégé.
- DirectorIngmar BergmanStarsIngrid ThulinAnders EkGunnar BjörnstrandA theatre troupe is called to court because of obscene performance material and an interrogation ensues, which causes them to expose their neuroses and inner psychological torments.
- DirectorZdenek SirovýStarsJaroslava TicháJosef SomrJana VychodilováMatylda (Jaroslava Ticha), who lives in the Czech countryside, is trying to arrange burial plans for her dying husband, Jan (Ludvik Kroner). While Matylda hopes to have a funeral for Jan in the small town where they once lived, there are complications. Years earlier, Jan spoke out against the Communist government and was consequently expelled from the town. When Matylda fails to convince a local politician to allow the ceremony, she uses her husband's funeral as a public show of dissent.
- DirectorDavid CronenbergStarsRonald MlodzikJack MessingerPaul MulhollandA group of Canadian university students agree to partake in a grisly psychological experiment, which renders them incapable of speech but able to communicate telepathically.
- DirectorBob FosseStarsShirley MacLaineJohn McMartinRicardo MontalbanTaxi dancer Charity continues to have faith despite endless disappointments at its hands, and hope that she will finally meet the man to romance her away from her sleazy life. Maybe, just maybe, handsome Oscar will be the one to do it.
- DirectorAbraham PolonskyStarsRobert RedfordKatharine RossRobert BlakeIn 1909, when young Paiute Indian Willie Boy returns to his California reservation to be with Lola, whose father disapproves of him, a killing in self defense takes place, triggering a massive man hunt for Willie.
- DirectorHenry HathawayStarsJohn WayneKim DarbyGlen CampbellA drunken, hard-nosed U.S. Marshal and a Texas Ranger help a stubborn teenager track down her father's murderer in Indian Territory.
- DirectorMiklós JancsóStarsJacques CharrierMarina VladyEwa SwannThe preparation, in Hungary, of the assassination in Marseilles of King Alexander of Yugoslavia in 1934.
- DirectorRobert BressonStarsDominique SandaGuy FranginJeanne LobreA young woman kills herself, leaving no explanation to her grief-stricken pawnbroker husband. We learn in flashback about how they met, married, and how she failed to adapt her lifestyle to his. Disgusted with his attempts to dominate her, she considered murdering him, but found herself unable to do it.
- DirectorJim O'ConnollyStarsJames FranciscusGila GolanRichard CarlsonA cowboy named Tuck Kirby seeks fame and fortune by capturing an Allosaurus living in a Mexican valley and putting it in a wild west show. His star attraction, called the Gwangi, turns out to have an aversion to being shown in public.
- DirectorTom ChomontApproximately thirty images comprise Oblivion. Most obsessively repeat themselves. Although the images appear to be solarized, the film was actually contact-printed, combining high contrast black and white negative with a colour positive of the same image.
- DirectorArthur CantrillCorinne CantrillA triptych in which the central contemplative image of a woman in repose, filmed against golden Sydney sandstone, is contrasted with two side panels of the same figure in constant movement in a coastal setting. The design of this secular icon is influenced by traditional Orthodox Church icons in which a serene, saintly figure is surrounded by highly coloured images of earthly activity. The optical work was achieved in the camera using matte-box masks and rewinding the 100 feet roll of film for the three exposures. This necessitated planning and editing in the camera, as no editing was possible afterwards. To indicate that it is realised on one roll of film, the orange fogging at both ends is included. The original sound composition by Arthur Cantrill is an aural equivalent of the image: a looped soprano note, representing the central image, is mixed with two tracks of improvised violin which represent the side panels. A stereo version on CD has the female voice centred and the two violin tracks separated to the left and right.
- DirectorDavid RimmerThe migration of the title is interpreted as the flight of a ghost bird through eons of space/time, through the micro-macro universe, through a myriad of complex realities.
- DirectorMichael Lindsay-HoggStarsThe BeatlesGeorge HarrisonJohn LennonThey performed "Don't Let Me Down" twice during their rooftop concert of 30 January 1969, one of which was included in the Let It Be (1970) film, directed by Michael Lindsay-Hogg.
- DirectorNeil AspinallStarsThe BeatlesPattie BoydGeorge HarrisonThe promo video for "Something" featuring The Beatles with their wives.
- DirectorYôji Kuri
- DirectorPaolo Gioli
- DirectorBirgit HeinWilhelm Hein
- DirectorRolf LiebermannStarsCvetka AhlinHeinz BlankenburgUrsula BoeseThis opera revolves around the demonic collective possession suffered by the Ursuline nuns in the convent of Loudun in 1634. The story concentrates on the handsome but doomed Urbain Grandier who fights against fanaticism and evil.
- DirectorStefan SchabenbeckA man gets lost in a labyrinth of stairs.
- DirectorToshio MatsumotoStarsPîtâToyosaburo Uchiyama