MY TOP 35+ MOVIES FOR 1963 (in list order)
by DukeEman | created - 19 Jul 2012 | updated - 1 month ago | PublicFellini's masterpiece; Godard's take on the movie industry, and Sturges creates the perfect boys own story.
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1. 8½ (1963)
Not Rated | 138 min | Drama
A harried movie director retreats into his memories and fantasies.
Director: Federico Fellini | Stars: Marcello Mastroianni, Anouk Aimée, Claudia Cardinale, Sandra Milo
Votes: 124,872 | Gross: $0.05M
Fellini on Fellini is just perfect all round...
2. Contempt (1963)
Not Rated | 102 min | Drama, Romance
A French writer's marriage deteriorates while working on Fritz Lang's version of "The Odyssey", as his wife accuses him of using her to court favor with the film's brash American producer.
Director: Jean-Luc Godard | Stars: Brigitte Bardot, Jack Palance, Michel Piccoli, Giorgia Moll
Votes: 35,919 | Gross: $0.04M
Godard's masterpiece with brilliant performances from his three stars...
3. The Silence (1963)
R | 96 min | Drama
Two estranged sisters, Ester and Anna, and Anna's 10-year-old son travel to the Central European country on the verge of war. Ester becomes seriously ill and the three of them move into a hotel in a small town called Timoka.
Director: Ingmar Bergman | Stars: Ingrid Thulin, Gunnel Lindblom, Birger Malmsten, Håkan Jahnberg
Votes: 21,270
Bergman really draws us into the void...
4. America America (1963)
Approved | 174 min | Adventure, Drama
A young Greek stops at nothing to secure a passage to America.
Director: Elia Kazan | Stars: Stathis Giallelis, Frank Wolff, Elena Karam, Harry Davis
Votes: 5,980
Kazan's epic...
5. The Great Escape (1963)
Approved | 172 min | Adventure, Drama, Thriller
Allied prisoners of war plan for several hundred of their number to escape from a German camp during World War II.
Director: John Sturges | Stars: Steve McQueen, James Garner, Richard Attenborough, Charles Bronson
Votes: 258,088 | Gross: $12.10M
Sturges knew how to work a big cast...
6. The Nutty Professor (1963)
Not Rated | 107 min | Comedy, Romance, Sci-Fi
A timid chemistry teacher discovers a magical potion that can transform him into a suave and handsome womanizer.
Director: Jerry Lewis | Stars: Jerry Lewis, Stella Stevens, Del Moore, Kathleen Freeman
Votes: 19,375 | Gross: $7.63M
The Lewis standout of his career...
7. The Servant (1963)
Unrated | 116 min | Drama
Upper-class Tony hires servant Hugo Barrett, who turns out to have a hidden agenda.
Director: Joseph Losey | Stars: Dirk Bogarde, Sarah Miles, Wendy Craig, James Fox
Votes: 13,760 | Gross: $0.04M
Losey always gets the best out of Bogarde...
8. Billy Liar (1963)
Not Rated | 98 min | Comedy, Drama, Romance
A lazy, irresponsible young clerk (Sir Tom Courtenay) in provincial Northern England lives in his own fantasy world and makes emotionally immature decisions as he alienates friends and family.
Director: John Schlesinger | Stars: Tom Courtenay, Julie Christie, Wilfred Pickles, Mona Washbourne
Votes: 7,080 | Gross: $0.04M
Courtenay is perfect as the daydreamer...
9. The Carabineers (1963)
80 min | Comedy, Drama, War
During a war in an imaginary country, unscrupulous soldiers recruit poor farmers with promises of an easy and happy life. Two of these farmers write to their wives of their exploits.
Director: Jean-Luc Godard | Stars: Patrice Moullet, Marino Masé, Geneviève Galéa, Catherine Ribeiro
Votes: 3,602
Revolution the cheeky Godardian way...
10. High and Low (1963)
Not Rated | 143 min | Crime, Drama, Mystery
An executive of a Yokohama shoe company becomes a victim of extortion when his chauffeur's son is kidnapped by mistake and held for ransom.
Director: Akira Kurosawa | Stars: Toshirô Mifune, Yutaka Sada, Tatsuya Nakadai, Kyôko Kagawa
Votes: 52,739
Kurosawa proves that he can do real taunt dramas as well...
11. Hud (1963)
Passed | 112 min | Drama, Western
Honest and hard-working Texas rancher Homer Bannon has a conflict with his unscrupulous, selfish, arrogant and egotistical son Hud, who sank into alcoholism after accidentally killing his brother in a car crash.
Director: Martin Ritt | Stars: Paul Newman, Melvyn Douglas, Patricia Neal, Brandon De Wilde
Votes: 23,849 | Gross: $10.00M
Another thought provoking piece from Ritt...
12. The Visit (1963)
86 min | Comedy, Romance
Twenty-four hours in the life of Pina and Adolfo. The story of a 36-year-old woman and the flashbacks that show the pair's lives and fills in some details of their other relationships.
Director: Antonio Pietrangeli | Stars: Sandra Milo, François Périer, Mario Adorf, Gastone Moschin
Votes: 631
Taboo pre-marital topics for its time, specially from a very religious country, but well played by all…
13. The House Is Black (1963)
20 min | Documentary, Short
Set in a leper colony in the north of Iran, The House is Black juxtaposes "ugliness", of which there is much in the world as stated in the opening scenes, with religion and gratitude.
Director: Forugh Farrokhzad | Stars: Forugh Farrokhzad, Ebrahim Golestan, Hossein Mansouri
Votes: 5,534
A poem on the unfortunate souls of leprosy in an Iranian country hospice...
14. The Leopard (1963)
PG | 186 min | Drama, History
The Prince of Salina, a noble aristocrat of impeccable integrity, tries to preserve his family and class amid the tumultuous social upheavals of 1860s Sicily.
Director: Luchino Visconti | Stars: Burt Lancaster, Alain Delon, Claudia Cardinale, Paolo Stoppa
Votes: 28,689
Lancaster is perfect in a Visconti epic...
15. Bay of Angels (1963)
Not Rated | 90 min | Drama, Romance
Jean is a clerk in a bank. His colleague Caron is a gambler and gives him the virus. In the casinos, Jean meets Jackie. Their love affair will follow their luck at the roulette.
Director: Jacques Demy | Stars: Jeanne Moreau, Claude Mann, Paul Guers, Henri Nassiet
Votes: 4,205 | Gross: $0.09M
A very moody and seductive piece from Demy...
16. Winter Light (1963)
Not Rated | 81 min | Drama
A small-town priest struggles with his faith.
Director: Ingmar Bergman | Stars: Ingrid Thulin, Gunnar Björnstrand, Gunnel Lindblom, Max von Sydow
Votes: 26,973
Bergman takes on faith...
17. The Birds (1963)
PG-13 | 119 min | Drama, Horror, Mystery
A wealthy San Francisco socialite pursues a potential boyfriend to a small Northern California town that slowly takes a turn for the bizarre when birds of all kinds suddenly begin to attack people.
Director: Alfred Hitchcock | Stars: Rod Taylor, Tippi Hedren, Jessica Tandy, Suzanne Pleshette
Votes: 203,854 | Gross: $11.40M
Hitchcock knows how to play on fears...
18. The Conjugal Bed (1963)
Not Rated | 85 min | Comedy, Drama
A forty-year-old employee marries a seemingly quiet girl who turns into a mantis after the wedding.
Director: Marco Ferreri | Stars: Ugo Tognazzi, Marina Vlady, Walter Giller, Linda Sini
Votes: 800
A tamed Ferreri still manages to push the boundaries...
19. The Big City (1963)
Not Rated | 122 min | Drama
Life at home changes when a house-wife from a middle-class, conservative family in Calcutta gets a job as a saleswoman.
Director: Satyajit Ray | Stars: Anil Chatterjee, Madhavi Mukherjee, Jaya Bachchan, Haren Chatterjee
Votes: 4,949
Satyajit opens up the world of India...
20. The Prize (1963)
Approved | 134 min | Crime, Drama, Mystery
As the Nobel Prize winners come to Stockholm to receive their awards, their lives are overturned and perturbed in various ways.
Director: Mark Robson | Stars: Paul Newman, Edward G. Robinson, Elke Sommer, Diane Baker
Votes: 5,255 | Gross: $7.70M
A well rounded drama for its time...
21. Shock Corridor (1963)
Approved | 101 min | Drama, Mystery
Bent on winning a Pulitzer Prize, a journalist commits himself to a mental institution to solve a strange and unclear murder.
Director: Samuel Fuller | Stars: Peter Breck, Constance Towers, Gene Evans, James Best
Votes: 13,007
One for the Fuller buffs...
22. Yesterday, Today and Tomorrow (1963)
Not Rated | 119 min | Comedy, Romance
Stories about three very different women and the men they attract.
Director: Vittorio De Sica | Stars: Sophia Loren, Marcello Mastroianni, Aldo Giuffrè, Agostino Salvietti
Votes: 10,080
Loren shines and Marcello is suave as always...
23. The Boom (1963)
88 min | Comedy
During the economic boom of Italy a man tries desperately to maintain a high standard of living for his family.
Director: Vittorio De Sica | Stars: Alberto Sordi, Gianna Maria Canale, Elena Nicolai, Ettore Geri
Votes: 1,331 | Gross: $0.06M
De Sica and Sordi do it well...
24. Tom Jones (1963)
Not Rated | 129 min | Adventure, Comedy, History
The romantic and chivalrous adventures of adopted bastard Tom Jones in 18th-century England.
Director: Tony Richardson | Stars: Albert Finney, Susannah York, George Devine, Rachel Kempson
Votes: 14,211 | Gross: $37.60M
Maybe outdated, but still fun...
25. It's a Mad Mad Mad Mad World (1963)
Approved | 210 min | Action, Adventure, Comedy
A group of motorists witnesses a car crash in the California desert, and after the driver's dying words indicate the location of a hidden stash of loot, they turn against each in a race across the state to get to it.
Director: Stanley Kramer | Stars: Spencer Tracy, Milton Berle, Ethel Merman, Mickey Rooney
Votes: 45,893 | Gross: $46.30M
It's more like a funny world...
26. The Fiances (1963)
Not Rated | 77 min | Drama
Despite his fiancee's reluctance, a young man moves to Sicily for a better job, but soon starts questioning his decision.
Director: Ermanno Olmi | Stars: Anna Canzi, Carlo Cabrini
Votes: 2,292
Another wonderful Olmi observational piece...
27. A Child Is Waiting (1963)
Approved | 102 min | Drama
Jean Hansen joins the staff at a state training institution for developmentally challenged children. When she disagrees with teaching methods used for a 12-year-old autistic boy, the principal does not believe her approach is the answer.
Director: John Cassavetes | Stars: Burt Lancaster, Judy Garland, Gena Rowlands, Steven Hill
Votes: 3,375
Cassavetes takes on a challenging subject for its time and backed up by an impressive cast...
28. An Actor's Revenge (1963)
Not Rated | 115 min | Drama
Yukinojo, a Kabuki actor, seeks revenge by destroying the three men who caused the deaths of his parents. Also involved are the daughter of one of Yukinojo's targets, two master thieves, and a swordsman who himself is out to kill Yukinojo.
Director: Kon Ichikawa | Stars: Kazuo Hasegawa, Fujiko Yamamoto, Ayako Wakao, Eiji Funakoshi
Votes: 2,857
An interesting revenge saga from the master, Ichikawa...
29. This Sporting Life (1963)
Not Rated | 134 min | Drama, Sport
Despite success on the field, a rising rugby star senses the emerging emptiness of his life as his inner angst begins to materialize through aggression and brutality, so he attempts to woo his landlady in hopes of finding reason to live.
Director: Lindsay Anderson | Stars: Richard Harris, Rachel Roberts, Alan Badel, William Hartnell
Votes: 7,109
Richard Harris really roughs it out...
30. The Pink Panther (1963)
Approved | 115 min | Comedy, Crime, Romance
The bumbling Inspector Clouseau travels to Rome to catch a notorious jewel thief known as "The Phantom" before he conducts his most daring heist yet: a princess' priceless diamond with one slight imperfection, known as "The Pink Panther".
Director: Blake Edwards | Stars: David Niven, Peter Sellers, Robert Wagner, Capucine
Votes: 56,444 | Gross: $10.88M
Enjoyable nonsense...
31. When the Cat Comes (1963)
104 min | Comedy, Family, Fantasy
People arrive in a small village with a strange cat wearing glasses. When someone takes them off, he can color people, according to their nature and mood. Adults consider him dangerous; children love him.
Director: Vojtech Jasný | Stars: Jan Werich, Emília Vásáryová, Vlastimil Brodský, Jirí Sovák
Votes: 2,044
A small Czechoslovakian village comes under the spell of a traveling troupe and their magical cat in this delightful and playful surreal treat...
32. The Little Soldier (1963)
Not Rated | 88 min | Drama, War
During the Algerian War, a man and woman from opposing sides fall in love with one another.
Director: Jean-Luc Godard | Stars: Anna Karina, Michel Subor, Henri-Jacques Huet, Paul Beauvais
Votes: 8,121 | Gross: $0.02M
Godard makes one for his muse, Karina...
33. From Russia with Love (1963)
PG | 115 min | Action, Adventure, Thriller
James Bond willingly falls into an assassination plot involving a naive Russian beauty in order to retrieve a Soviet encryption device that was stolen by S.P.E.C.T.R.E.
Director: Terence Young | Stars: Sean Connery, Robert Shaw, Lotte Lenya, Daniela Bianchi
Votes: 144,871 | Gross: $24.80M
Always loved the earlier campy Bond films...
34. Charade (1963)
Passed | 113 min | Comedy, Mystery, Romance
Romance and suspense ensue in Paris as a woman is pursued by several men who want a fortune her murdered husband had stolen. Whom can she trust?
Director: Stanley Donen | Stars: Cary Grant, Audrey Hepburn, Walter Matthau, James Coburn
Votes: 85,221 | Gross: $13.47M
A real hoot, plus Audrey is in it...
35. Scorpio Rising (1963)
28 min | Short, Music
A gang of Nazi bikers prepares for a race as sexual, sadistic, and occult images are cut together.
Director: Kenneth Anger | Stars: Ernie Allo, Bruce Byron, Frank Carifi, Steve Crandell
Votes: 5,685
Cheeky gay leather and bikie short film by the legend himself...
36. Black Sabbath (1963)
Approved | 97 min | Horror
Boris Karloff hosts a trio of horror stories concerning a stalked call girl, a vampire-like monster who preys on his family, and a nurse who is haunted by her ring's rightful owner.
Director: Mario Bava | Stars: Michèle Mercier, Lidia Alfonsi, Boris Karloff, Mark Damon
Votes: 13,858
There are few Bava touches that is worth the watch...
37. Lord of the Flies (1963)
Not Rated | 92 min | Adventure, Drama, Thriller
Schoolboys marooned on a Pacific island create their own savage civilization.
Director: Peter Brook | Stars: James Aubrey, Tom Chapin, Hugh Edwards, Roger Elwin
Votes: 20,365
Not as powerful as the book, but Brooks tries his best...
38. La bella di Lodi (1963)
80 min | Comedy, Drama, Romance
Story of Roberta, a beautiful young woman from a wealthy industrialist family and her relationship with Franco, a rough car mechanic and stranger whom she meets on the beach of Forte dei Marmi.
Director: Mario Missiroli | Stars: Stefania Sandrelli, Ángel Aranda, Elena Borgo, Maria Monti
Votes: 104
An interesting mess from Missiroli that had a decent beginning, then wanders off to useless scenes, and eventually comes back to where it started from, only creating moments of cinematic wonder...
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