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Multimedia 1960s

Wikipedia 1960s

Movies of 1968

Movies of 1968: 2001 A Space Odyssey, Rosemary's Baby, Planet of the Apes, Once Upon a Time in the West, Barbarella

Good Movies 1968

2001: A Space Odyssey - Director Stanley Kubrick gave the world the first significant Science Fiction movie by author Arthur C. Clark and starring Keir Dullea . With minimal dialog Kubrick not only tackled humanities biggest issue of where we came from and where we are going, but also evolution, technology, space travel and artificial intelligence. The sound and special effects paved the way for mega scifi hits by Steven Speilberg and George Lucas.

The Producers - Directed by Mel Brooks and starring Zero Mostel, Gene Wilder, Dick Shawn and Kenneth Mars. Two losers decide to create a Broadway flop and keep the money they drummed up to produce it. Springtime for Hitler in Germany. That title was originally the title of the movie that Mel Brooks wanted, but movie execs put a damper on it. A few weeks before release they thought it over and decided to use it. But it was too late as the trailers and posters had already been printed. It also made a star of Gene Wilder.

Barbarella - A critical and financial bomb by producer Dino De Laurentiis the movie subsequently gained legs as a high camp classic when it came out on Video in 1977. Directed by Roger Vadim and starring Jane Fonda (who married Vadim after the filming.) It was the first erotic Scifi movie of its kind. It also starred Anita Pallengerg who was carrying Keith Richards' first child at the time. The movie did have an immediate cult following of counter culture young people who were so stoned they were unsure where they were or what they were seeing.

Once Upon a Time in the West - Director Sergio Leone begins another three part epic with this spaghetti western starring Henry Fonda as an evil hired gun and Charles Bronson is the good man with the harmonica, Claudia Cardinale as the good onetime prostitute and Jason Robards as the good outlaw. Though not a critical or box office hit when it came to America in 1969 it became another classic by Leone. Most remember Henry Fonda's character coldly murdering the 8 year old boy at the beginning of the movie. The last in this trilogy was also a success with One Upon a Time in America with Robert De Niro.

The Love Bug - A Walt Disney production starring Dean Jones, Carole Bennett, Buddy Hackett and of course Herbie as the sentient Volkswagen Beetle. It was a bigger hit for Volkswagen than Disney as the car became a cultural phenomenon. The Love Bug was the first of five successful movies starring Herbie.

New Movies 1968

Bandolero!
Bullitt
Candy
Chitty Chitty Bang Bang
Coogan's Bluff
Danger: Diabolik
The Detective
The Devil's Brigade
Don't Raise the Bridge, Lower the River Jerry Lewis
Faces
Finian's Rainbow
Head
Ice Station Zebra
Isadora
Live a Little, Love a Little
Mayerling
Monterey Pop
Oliver!
Performance
Petulia
Rachel, Rachel
Romeo and Juliet
Satanik
The Secret Life of an American Wife
The Shoes of the Fisherman
Shame
Speedway
Star!
Stay Away, Joe
The Subject Was Roses
Twisted Nerve
War and Peace
Where Eagles Dare
Winnie the Pooh and the Blustery Day
Yellow Submarine
Yours, Mine and Ours

More on each new movie of 1968 at Wikipedia

B Movies 1968

Night of the Living Dead - The top B movie of all time. Director George Romero made this black-and-white horror classic for $114,000. It grossed $30 million. Romero went on to direct five more sequels. It was the first of the zombie cannibal movies and became most famous for its graphic depiction of eating human entrails.

The Astro-Zombies

Witchfinder General

Gamera and Mothra: Earth Defense War

Destroy All Monsters

Hollywood News 1968

Beatle's animated film Yellow Submarine premieres in London

Motion Picture Association of America adopts film rating system

40th Academy Awards postponed to Apr 10th due to death of Martin Luther King

Academy Awards 1968

Picture:
"OLIVER!", "Funny Girl", "The Lion in Winter", "Rachel, Rachel", "Romeo and Juliet"

Actor:
CLIFF ROBERTSON in "Charly", Alan Arkin in "The Heart is a Lonely Hunter", Alan Bates in "The Fixer", Ron Moody in "Oliver!", Peter O'Toole in "The Lion in Winter"

Actress:
KATHARINE HEPBURN in "The Lion in Winter" and BARBRA STREISAND in "Funny Girl" (tie), Patricia Neal in "The Subject Was Roses", Vanessa Redgrave in "Isadora", Joanne Woodward in "Rachel, Rachel"

Supporting Actor:
JACK ALBERTSON in "The Subject Was Roses", Seymour Cassel in "Faces", Daniel Massey in "Star!", Jack Wild in "Oliver!", Gene Wilder in "The Producers"

Supporting Actress:
RUTH GORDON in "Rosemary's Baby", Lynn Carlin in "Faces", Sondra Locke in "The Heart is a Lonely Hunter", Kay Medford in "Funny Girl", Estelle Parsons in "Rachel, Rachel"

Director:
SIR CAROL REED for "Oliver!", Anthony Harvey for "The Lion in Winter", Stanley Kubrick for "2001: A Space Odyssey", Gillo Pontecorvo for "The Battle of Algiers", Franco Zeffirelli for "Romeo and Juliet"

Top Box Office 1968

Rosemary's Baby - Screenplay and Directed by Roman Polanski from the Ira Levin novel of the 1967. This horror film starred Mia Farrow as the young mother of the son of Satan conceived with the help of her husband John Cassavetes, warlock Ralph Bellamy and witch Ruth Gordon who won an Academy Award for best supporting actress.

Planet of the Apes - A box office hit Directed by Franklin J. Schaffner from the book by the French novelist Pierre Boulle. Starring Charlton Heston, Roddy McDowall, Kim Hunter, Maurice Evan, James Whitmore and James Daly. Makeup by John Chambers. Astronaut Heston crashes on a planet where the dominant intelligence are apes only to find that it is not another planet but Earth far in the future. Roddy McDowall also starred in all four of the sequels. Rod Sterling was one of the screen writers and is responsible for the good Twilight Zone ending.

The Odd Couple - Director Gene Saks makes a movie of Neil Simon's Broadway play of two bachelors, a slob and a clean freak, living together in a New York apartment. Starring Walter Matthau and Jack Lemon (who replaced Art Carney) it did well at the box office spinning off the more popular television series in 1970 starring Tony Randall and Jack Klugman.

Valley of the Dolls - The Jacqueline Susann novel came to film. Directed by Mark Robson and starring Barbara Parkins, Sharon Tate and Patty Duke. The critics hated it though it became a box office hit. "Dolls" referred to prescription drugs at the time. It was re-released in 1969 after Sharon Tate was murdered and was once again a box office hit.

The Jungle Book
Yours, Mine and Ours
The Graduate
Guess Who's Coming to Dinner
Gone with the Wind re-release
Bonnie and Clyde