The films of the 60s
In the 1960s, the world experienced another "update" that significantly benefited the film industry. Television became colour. From 1967 onwards, all those people who could afford a colour TV could watch their programmes in colour. Colour TVs were not immediately standard in all households. Nevertheless, a lot was happening in the film industry and films were being made that still deserve a winner's certificate today.
The 60s films from the USA
Alfred Hitchcock celebrates great success in America with his thrillers Psycho and The Birds. The portrayal of the insane killer Norman Bates becomes the parade role for Anthony Perkins. It is fair to say that the film has not lost its punch to this day. In fact, a 1-to-1 remake was shot in 1998, but it did not come close to the original. Even the 2013 to 2017 series Bates Motel, which took up Hitchcock's story, did not have nearly the success of the original work.
In 1968, Stanley Kubrik hit it big with the film adaptation of 2001 - A Space Odyssey; a film that set completely new standards for the science fiction genre and remains a celebrated classic to this day. In Germany, the film was shown in the original version in some cinemas in 2018 to mark its 50th anniversary. The cinema we visited was sold out on this date. The film is worth seeing for science fiction fans as well as for "space geeks". Many philosophical moments also make the film a masterpiece that should be seen. The stars of this film include the A.I. computer HAL9000, probably the most important protagonist of the film, who engages in a psychological duel with crew member Dave on the flight to Saturn.
There have also been great monumental films again in the 60s after the beginnings in the 50s films. El Cid and Cleopatra (with Liz Taylor) are the great unforgotten masterpieces. Rumour has it that some of the extras died during the grandiose battle scenes for El Cid. Cleopatra was less action-packed, but at least twice as pompous; just as it was tailored to the body of the film diva Liz Taylor.
Made in Germany: 60s Films & Stars
Germany was also not idle in the 1960s and produced the Winnetou films based on Karl May's novels, which are still popular today. The portrayal and actors set standards for many years that were taken up again and again. Many costumes at the annual Karl May Festival at the Kalkberg in Bad-Segeberg are based on the feature films produced in the 1960s. In addition, the films were still so popular in the 1970s that entire school classes visited the cinemas en masse for special screenings. All the films were shown on television and the melody composed by Martin Böttcher for these films is today one of the best-known and most popular film scores of all time:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lg0bQMoSIqc
In Germany, Frenchman Pierre Brice celebrated the role of a lifetime as Winnetou; a label that has associated the man with this role ever since. For the Winnetou series, the filmmakers recruited other quite well-known German film greats who continued to appear on television thereafter.
On the importance of the films
The bottom line is that you will hardly find people in Germany and the USA who have not seen and love Winnetou or at least one of the Hitchcock classics. So, in a way, the 60s have left an unmistakable footprint in film history. Most of these films are still fun to watch today. It is true that you will only see them in the cinema at special screenings... but they are all shown on TV "every now and then". The films of this period that set the course are also interesting: Kubrik's 2001 - A Space Odyssey may have been the big kick-off, but Psycho also familiarises the viewer with a previously unknown perpetrator profile, which, after Psycho, appears again and again in slightly different form in films of this genre.
The refreshing thing about the films of the 60s is the good balance of comedies and serious films; a trend that continues in almost this form to this day and undoubtedly began in the 60s. Whereas in the 50s people still relied on schmaltzy home movies, in the 60s directors and producers were already acting much more confidently with the medium of film. Unbroken and unchanged was the enthusiasm of the audience, who now had the opportunity to enjoy the big stars at home on a colour television. In the 1960s and the following years, it was customary for films to be shown on television within a year of their release in the cinema. Today, these periods have been largely extended due to various licences.
An Inglorious Piece of History: Documentary Footage of the Vietnam War
Another aspect of the films of the 60s is a less enjoyable one: the Vietnam War. This war is considered the first war that transported the horrors of war to the homeland on film. Last but not least, it was precisely this documentary film footage that contributed significantly to the massive peace protests in the USA and thus also to the 1968 revolts in Germany, from which the radical group of the Red Army Faction (RAF) emerged. It was not until the 1970s that Hollywood also took up the suffering of civilians during a war, producing the extremely brutal anti-war film Soldier Blue in 1970, about the raid by Union soldiers on a Native American camp. The film was released in Germany under the title Das Wiegenlied vom Totschlag. In the context of a critique of war, such films may have their justification... However, we do not want this film to be understood as a "tip" at this point. However, the film also documents that even back then the film industry was not just buried in a Hollywood bubble, but was quite capable of depicting grievances very "graphically".
Our recommendation: Louis de Funes!
Instead, we would like to recommend a Frenchman who enjoys great popularity: Louis de Funes began his fame in 1964 with the film The Gendarme of St. Troupez and immediately played his way into the hearts of the audience. Even today, the lively little Frenchman is one of the most popular comedians of his time. The Louis de Funes film series is an absolute recommendation.
