Ep# 71 - Soviet Sci-Fi in the 60s

When A Hard Days Night exploded onto the scene in 1964, its charm and success was simply ripe for some good ol’ fashioned bootlegging. What followed was half a decade of wannabe music movies – specifically, movies in which pop bands play themselves while still following a strictly scripted plot. Mainly these were vehicles for British boy bands, but eventually they started to extend over to the Americas – where they warped from wholesome to hippie.

In this season finale, Bart and Jenna tackle several of these band movies head on – and with Head on. It’s an episode full of high highs (marijuana and LSD) and low lows (Herman’s Hermits and Freddie and the Dreamers), but quite frankly they’re all a treat as its such a decade-specific genre. Get ready for a whole lot of restless youths, square plots, stoner humor, and screaming, adoring fans.

The following films are discussed:

• Ferry Cross the Mersey (1964)
Directed by Jeremy Summers
Starring Gerry & The Pacemakers, Mona Washbourne, Cilla Black

• Having a Wild Weekend (1965)
Catch Us If You Can
Directed by John Boorman
Starring The Dave Clark Five, Barbara Ferris, Yootha Joyce

• Help! (1965)
Directed by Richard Lester
Starring The Beatles, Leo McKern, Eleanor Bron

• Hold On! (1966)
Directed by Arthur Lubin
Starring Herman’s Hermits, Shelley Fabares, Sue Ane Langdon

• The Cuckoo Patrol (1967)
Directed by Duncan Wood
Starring Freddie & The Dreamers, Kenneth Connor, Victor Maddern

• Good Times (1967)
Directed by William Friedkin
Starring Sonny & Cher, George Sanders, Norman Alden

• Mrs. Brown, You've Got a Lovely Daughter (1968)
Directed by Saul Swimmer
Starring Herman’s Hermits, Sheila White, Sarah Caldwell

• Head (1968)
Directed by Bob Rafelson
Starring The Monkees, Victor Mature, Annette Funicello

Also mentioned:

• The Ghost Goes Gear (1966)
Directed by Hugh Gladwish
Starring The Spencer Davis Group, Nicholas Parsons, Sheila White

• Los chicos con las chicas (1967)
Directed by Javier Aguirre
Starring Los Bravos, Enriqueta Carballeira, Manolo Gómez Bur

• Dame un poco de amooor...! (1968)
Directed by José María Forqué
Starring Los Bravos, Rosenda Monteros, Luis Peña

In a follow up to the Ukrainian National Cinema episode, Cinema60 finally addresses the beautiful, surreal and unfairly banned films of Sergei Parajanov and Yuri Ilyenko – two figures that are essential to the story of what was getting made in that region while it was under Soviet control. In the case of Parajanov, his films of the ‘60s are amongst the most striking and influential ever made. In the case of Ilyenko, a lesser known but equally astonishing filmmaker, his unique visual sense of rhythm and movement are a sight to behold. Together, they made Shadows of the Forgotten Ancestors, a film that launched both of their careers towards a path of subversive, politically charged cinema that got them in trouble with Soviet authorities for decades to come.

In this episode, Bart & Jenna start with Parjanov’s straightforward Soviet Realist films from the early 60s, and then jump into the more radical work of Parajanov and Ilyenko in the later ‘60s. Hopefully our hosts’ struggles to make sense out of these challenging films will encourage listeners to be less fearful of the unknown – an entirely rewarding journey for those to attempt it.

The following films are discussed:

• Ukrainian Rhapsody (1961)
Українська рапсодія (Ukrainskaya rapsodiya)
Directed by Sergei Parajanov
Starring Olga Reus-Petrenko, Eduard Koshman, Yuriy Gulyayev

• Flower on the Stone (1962)
Цветок на камне (Tsvetok na kamne)
Directed by Sergei Parajanov & Anatoly Slesarenko
Starring Inna Burduchenko, Lyudmila Cherepanova, Boris Dmokhovsky

• Shadows of Forgotten Ancestors (1965)
Тіні забутих предків (Tini zabutykh predkiv)
Directed by Sergei Parajanov
Cinematography by Yuri Ilyenko
Starring Ivan Mikolaychuk, Larisa Kadochnikova, Tatyana Bestayeva

• A Spring for the Thirsty (1965)
Криниця для спраглих (Krynytsya dlya sprahlykh)
Directed by Yuri Ilyenko
Starring Dmitri Milyutenko, Larisa Kadochnikova, Feodosiya Litvinenko

• Kyiv Frescoes (1966)
Киевские фрески (Kiyevskiye freski)
Directed by Sergei Parajanov
Starring Tengiz Archvadze, Vladimir Artman, Alexandr Kotchekov

• Hakob Hovnatanyan (1967)
Հակոբ Հովնաթանյան
Directed by Sergei Parajanov

• The Eve of Ivan Kupalo (1968)
Вечір на Івана Купала (Vechir na Ivana Kupala)
Directed by Yuri Ilyenko
Starring Boris Khmelnitskiy, Larisa Kadochnikova, Yefim Fridman

• The Color of Pomegranates (1969)
Նռան գույնը (Sayat Nova)
Directed by Sergei Parajanov
Starring Sofiko Chiaureli, Melkon Alekyan, Vilen Galstyan

In 1966, somewhere along the United States-Mexico border, a man wearing a tattered Union uniform drags a coffin across the desert… and into the hearts of the Italian moviegoing public. What was it about this mix of blood, violence, sweaty masculine tusslin’, and steely blue eyes? With just one film, Sergio Corbucci inspired over thirty five remakes, sequels, and rip-offs – the first two even in the same year the original film came out.

In this episode, as part of their once Bootleg Bond series, now expanded Genre series, Bart and Jenna make it their business to map out Django from the beginning. They start with the widely seen original and slowly make their way through a mix of western wannabes, surrealist desert violence and pure cowboy schlock. They also discuss what makes Django so appealing: is it the cathartic, unflinchingly bloody violence, or is it the leftist beating heart that many spaghetti westerns share? Why not both?

The following films are discussed:

• Django (1966)
Directed by Sergio Corbucci
Starring Franco Nero, Loredana Nusciak, Eduardo Fajardo

• A Few Dollars for Django (1966)
Pochi dollari per Django
Directed by León Klimovsky & Enzo G. Castellari
Starring Anthony Steffen, Gloria Osuna, Ennio Girolami

• Django Shoots First (1966)
Django spara per primo
Directed by Alberto De Martino
Starring Glenn Saxson, Ida Galli, Fernando Sancho

• Django Kill... If You Live, Shoot! (1967)
Se sei vivo spara
Directed by Giulio Questi
Starring Tomas Milian, Marilù Tolo, Piero Lulli

• Django, Prepare a Coffin (1968)
Preparati la bara!
Directed by Ferdinando Baldi
Starring Terence Hill, Horst Frank, George Eastman

• Django the Bastard (1968)
Django il bastardo
Directed by Sergio Garrone
Starring Anthony Steffen, Paolo Gozlino, Luciano Rossi

Bart and Jenna want to tell you what their favorites films from 1961 are, but the catch is that the films can only be selected from films covered on Cinema60 so far! But first, they’re going to talk about six films from 1961 that they’ve chosen to watch in hopes that they can snazz up their Top Tens with some bonus bangers. (Aka, basically it’s just Kiss Marry Kill by a different name.)

Coincidentally, some specific topics end up popping up frequently in the episode. First and foremost, we get a lot of talk about commedia all'italiana – a ‘60s genre near and dear to our hosts’ hearts. Also broached are such subjects as
”Artists In Paris,” or “Guns Are Bad,” and “Legacies of WWII,” “Statutory Kissing,” “Staying True To Your Ideals,” and “Why Satire Rules.” It’s the trends and treasures of 1961 cinema served up for your delectation.

The following films are discussed:

• A Difficult Life (1961)
Una vita difficile
Directed by Dino Risi
Starring Alberto Sordi, Lea Massari, Franco Fabrizi

• The Guns of Navarone (1961)
Directed by J. Lee Thompson
Starring Gregory Peck, Anthony Quinn, David Niven

• Paris Belongs to Us (1961)
Paris nous appartient
Directed by Jacques Rivette
Starring Betty Schneider, Giani Esposito, Françoise Prévost

• Divorce Italian Style (1961)
Divorzio all'italiana
Directed by Pietro Germi
Starring Marcello Mastroianni, Daniela Rocca, Stefania Sandrelli

• My Son, the Hero (1961)
Los hermanos Del Hierro
Directed by Ismael Rodríguez
Starring Antonio Aguilar, Julio Alemán, Patricia Conde

• Call Me Genius (1961)
The Rebel
Directed by Robert Day
Starring Tony Hancock, George Sanders, Paul Massie

Once again, Cinema60 communes with the dead in order to highlight some notable opinions on film. Tonight’s ghost guest is Susan Sontag and her seminal Sight and Sound review on Ingmar Bergman’s Persona. Known primarily as an author, filmmaker and intellect, in the 1960s Sontag was just beginning her illustrious career as a writer – her essay “Notes on ‘Camp’” helped to define the camp aesthetic to the public at large. Simiarly, her 1967 review of Persona has endured throughout the ages, rising above other contemporary voices to help audiences (old and new alike) better derive meaning from Bergman’s rather abstract film.

In this episode, Bart and Jenna use Sontag’s article as a sounding board to dissect Bergman’s filmmaking and explore the depths of Persona. Easy enough for Bart, who likely would have chosen this film himself if the episode had been about his favorite ‘60s pick. Meanwhile, Jenna muses on the idea that all cinema must have a “point” – even if sometimes the point is that there is no point.

The following film is discussed:

• Persona (1966)
Directed by Ingmar Bergman
Starring Bibi Andersson, Liv Ullmann, Margaretha Krook

Also mentioned:

• Journey to Italy (1954)
Viaggio in Italia
Directed by Roberto Rossellini
Starring Ingrid Bergman, George Sanders, Maria Mauban

• L'avventura (1960)
Directed by Michelangelo Antonioni
Starring Monica Vitti, Gabriele Ferzetti, Lea Massari

• Last Year at Marienbad (1961)
L'année dernière à Marienbad
Directed by Alain Resnais
Starring Delphine Seyrig, Giorgio Albertazzi, Sacha Pitoëff

• Through a Glass Darkly (1961)
Såsom i en spegel
Directed by Ingmar Bergman
Starring Harriet Andersson, Gunnar Björnstrand, Max von Sydow

• The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance (1962)
Directed by John Ford
Starring James Stewart, John Wayne, Vera Miles

• Winter Light (1963)
Nattvardsgästerna
Directed by Ingmar Bergman
Starring Ingrid Thulin, Gunnar Björnstrand, Gunnel Lindblom

• The Silence (1963)
Tystnaden
Directed by Ingmar Bergman
Starring Ingrid Thulin, Gunnel Lindblom, Birger Malmsten

• Hour of the Wolf (1968)
Vargtimmen
Directed by Ingmar Bergman
Starring Max von Sydow, Liv Ullmann, Gertrud Fridh

• Shame (1968)
Skammen
Directed by Ingmar Bergman
Starring Liv Ullmann, Max von Sydow, Sigge Fürst

• Duet for Cannibals (1969)
Duett för kannibaler
Directed by Susan Sontag
Starring Adriana Asti, Lars Ekborg, Gösta Ekman

• The Passion of Anna (1969)
En passion
Directed by Ingmar Bergman
Starring Liv Ullmann, Bibi Andersson, Max von Sydow

• Brother Carl (1971)
Bröder Carl
Directed by Susan Sontag
Starring Geneviève Page, Gunnel Lindblom, Keve Hjelm

• The Point (1971)
Directed by Fred Wolf
Starring Ringo Starr, Mike Lookinland, Lennie Weinrib

• Promised Lands (1974)
Directed by Susan Sontag

• Inland Empire (2006)
Directed by David Lynch
Starring Laura Dern, Justin Theroux, Jeremy Irons

Here at Cinema60 we’ve embraced the endless task of putting a pin in the entirety of Sixties cinema. However, one area where we have been remiss in our duties is documentaries – a genre that truly came into its own during this decade. Films like Robert Drew’s Primary and Jean Rouch & Edgar Morin’s Chronicle of a Summer began to break from the popular “voice of God” expository mode, giving way to a greater variety of non-fiction documentary filmmaking techniques. By the end of the decade, the narrated newsreel style was relegated primarily to television, and movie theaters were home to the newer forms.

In this episode, Cinema60 looks at documentaries in 1969 – examining just how far the genre had progressed in ten years. Using Bill Nichols landmark text Representing Reality (1991) as a guide for describing what documentary looked like at the time, Bart and Jenna delve into the wealth of styles the genre had splintered into and take a look at some of the most exceptional documentaries ever made.

The following films are discussed:

• A Married Couple (1969)
Directed by Allan King
Starring Billy Edwards, Antoinette Edwards, Bogart Edwards

• Salesman (1969)
Directed by Albert Maysles, David Maysles & Charlotte Zwerin
Starring Paul Brennan, Charles McDevitt, James Baker

• In The Year of the Pig (1969)
Directed by Emile de Antonio
Starring Lyndon B. Johnson, Ho Chí Minh, Robert McNamara

• The Sorrow and the Pity (1969)
Le chagrin et la pitié
Directed by Marcel Ophüls
Starring Helmut Tausend, Marcel Verdier, Alexis Grave

• The Olympics in Mexico (1969)
Olimpiada en México
Directed by Alberto Isaac
Starring Enrique Lizalde, Tommie Smith, John Carlos

• Diaries, Notes and Sketches (also known as Walden) (1969)
Directed by Jonas Mekas
Starring Timothy Leary, Edie Sedgwick, Norman Mailer

Bart and Jenna are rarely afraid to dive headfirst into uncharted areas of cinema, but certain movies are just too important for them to toss around in their usual subjective way. Gillo Pontecorvo’s The Battle of Algiers is one such landmark work that seems irresponsible to discuss without a maximum amount of context. That’s why Cinema60 invited African Studies and Decolonization scholar Christopher J. Lee to the podcast to help them unpack the history and politics of the film and the events that it depicts.

In addition, Chris wanted to talk about Ousmane Sembène’s Black Girl, another film from 1966 with a very different, but equally harsh, perspective on French colonialism in Africa. The two films, taken together, give a well-rounded visualization of the revolutionary ideas of political philosopher Frantz Fanon, whose thoughts got to the heart much of the social upheaval of the era. Listen as Chris gives a global backdrop to the rebellious spirit that inspired the big changes in the way people governed themselves, and in the way they made movies, in the mid-20th century.

The following films are discussed:

• The Battle of Algiers (1966)
La battaglia di Algeri
Directed by Gillo Pontecorvo
Starring Brahim Hadjadj, Jean Martin, Yacef Saadi

• Black Girl (1966)
La noire de...
Directed by Ousmane Sembène
Starring Mbissine Thérèse Diop, Anne-Marie Jelinek, Robert Fontaine

Also mentioned:

• The Birth of a Nation (1915)
Directed by D.W. Griffith
Starring Lillian Gish, Mae Marsh, Henry B. Walthall

• De Voortrekkers (a.k.a. Winning a Continent) (1916)
Directed by Harold M. Shaw
Starring Dick Cruikshanks, Caroline Frances Cooke, Jackie Turnbull

• Rome, Open City (1945)
Roma città aperta
Directed by Roberto Rossellini
Starring Anna Magnani, Aldo Fabrizi, Marcello Pagliero

• Paisan (1946)
Paisà
Directed by Roberto Rossellini
Starring Carmela Sazio, Gar Moore, William Tubbs

• Bicycle Thieves (1948)
Ladri di biciclette
Directed by Vittorio De Sica
Starring Lamberto Maggiorani, Enzo Staiola, Lianella Carell

• Cry, the Beloved Country (1951)
Directed by Zoltan Korda
Starring Canada Lee, Sidney Poitier, Charles Carson

• Le petit soldat (1961)
Directed by Jean-Luc Godard
Starring Anna Karina, Michel Subor, Henri-Jacques Huet

• Cléo from 5 to 7 (1963)
Cléo de 5 à 7
Directed by Agnès Varda
Starring Corinne Marchand, Antoine Bourseiller, Dominique Davray

• The Umbrellas of Cherbourg (1964)
Les parapluies de Cherbourg
Directed by Jacques Demy
Starring Catherine Deneuve, Nino Castelnuovo, Anne Vernon

• Nanny (2022)
Directed by Nikyatu Jusu
Starring Anna Diop, Michelle Monaghan, Sinqua Walls

Books discussed:

• The Stranger by Albert Camus (1942)

• Prison Notebooks by Antonio Gramchi (1947)

• Black Skin, White Masks by Frantz Fanon (1952)

• God's Bits of Wood by Ousmane Sembène (1960)

• The Wretched of the Earth by Frantz Fanon (1961)

• Frantz Fanon: Toward A Revolutionary Humanism by Christopher J. Lee (2015)

In the immortal words of Betty Rizzo: “Watch it, hey, I’m Doris Day – I was not brought up that way!” While teen stars could always be counted on to keep their pants on in the dying days of Old Hollywood comedy, Doris Day was a unique figure in that she played adult working women who were continually thrown into the most lustful of situations, and never worried audiences that she’d come out the other side without her virtue intact. As one of the biggest box office draws of the era, movie-goers would eagerly await her latest bedroom adventures in which she narrowly escapes certain fornication as frequently as James Bond narrowly escapes certain death. And, like Bond, there’s never any doubt that she’ll get her man.

In this episode, Bart and Jenna delight in some 1960s romcom frivolity as Doris Day turns down every leading man from Rock Hudson and James Garner, to Cary Grant and Rod Taylor. She also manages to do battle with a host of mechanical foes, from Automats and car washes to city-wide blackouts and robot vacuum trash dogs. Our intrepid hosts treat these movies with the seriousness they deserve.

The following films are discussed:

• Lover Come Back (1961)
Directed by Delbert Mann
Starring Doris Day, Rock Hudson, Tony Randall

• That Touch of Mink (1962)
Directed by Delbert Mann
Starring Doris Day, Cary Grant, Gig Young

• Move Over, Darling (1963)
Directed by Michael Gordon
Starring Doris Day, James Garner, Polly Bergen

• Send Me No Flowers (1964)
Directed by Norman Jewison
Starring Doris Day, Rock Hudson, Tony Randall

• The Glass Bottom Boat (1966)
Directed by Frank Tashlin
Starring Doris Day, Rod Taylor, Arthur Godfrey

• Where Were You When the Lights Went Out? (1968)
Directed by Hy Averback
Starring Doris Day, Robert Morse, Patrick O’Neal

In the year 1960, Federico Fellini premiered La Dolce Vita and changed cinema forever. That sounds like hyperbole but it’s really just fact; it was the film that not only spawned a thousand knock-offs, both contemporary and legacy, but launched Fellini’s own career into the stratosphere. Known for his dream-like films, fantastical visuals, introspective storylines and iconic Nino Rota scores, the ‘60s truly defined his unique voice as a director. In finally tackling Fellini, Cinema60 has stared into the face of God and emerged with the heaviness that comes with the gaining of great knowledge and the irrevocable loss of youthful innocence.

In this episode, Bart and Jenna spend almost 30 minutes breaking down La Dolce Vita in great detail and then happily move on to the rest, because they’re all great too. Sure, the two heavy hitters here cast a long shadow over Fellini’s extensive body of work and over the entirety of ‘60s arthouse cinema. But the others that we cover are treasures in their own right – shining even more brightly due their comparative underexposure. I turns out, watching each of these films in order tells a rather gripping story of both the evolution of Fellini as an artist and of the self-immolating ambitiousness of the decade itself.

The following films are discussed:

• La dolce vita (1960)
Directed by Federico Fellini
Starring Marcello Mastroianni, Anita Ekberg, Anouk Aimée

• Boccaccio '70 (1962)
Segment: "Le tentazioni del Dottor Antonio"
Directed by Federico Fellini
Starring Anita Ekberg, Peppino De Filippo, Antonio Acqua

• 8½ (1963)
Directed by Federico Fellini
Starring Marcello Mastroianni, Anouk Aimée, Claudia Cardinale

• Juliet of the Spirits (1965)
Giulietta degli spiriti
Directed by Federico Fellini
Starring Giulietta Masina, Sandra Milo, Mario Pisu

• Spirits of the Dead (1968)
Histoires extraordinaires - segment: "Toby Dammit"
Directed by Federico Fellini
Starring Terence Stamp, Marina Yaru, Salvo Randone

• Fellini Satyricon (1969)
Directed by Federico Fellini
Starring Martin Potter, Hiram Keller, Max Born

Bonus Topics:

• Spirits of the Dead (1968)
Histoires extraordinaires - segment: "Metzengerstein"
Directed by Roger Vadim
Starring Jane Fonda, Peter Fonda, Serge Marquand

• Spirits of the Dead (1968)
Histoires extraordinaires - segment: "William Wilson"
Directed by Louis Malle
Starring Alain Delon, Brigitte Bardot, Katia Christine

• Fellini: A Director's Notebook (1969)
Directed by Federico Fellini
Starring Federico Fellini, Giulietta Masina, Marcello Mastroianni

After Godzilla leapt to the big screen in 1954, he quickly became Japan’s most recognizable pop culture expression of lasting trauma and remorse over the nuclear end of their involvement in WWII. In the 1960s, Godzilla-inspired kaiju movies took this same metaphor of an unstoppable destructive force that indiscriminately kills both the innocent and the guilty with equal fury, and made it fun! Carlo Vanstiphout of Back Row Cinema and CRUD Buddies shares his expertise on his favorite era of Japanese monster movies and help us understand how Japan learned to stop worrying and love the atomic monsters. While Godzilla is discussed in detail, Carlo focuses mostly on Big G’s Toho friends, as well as a certain fire-powered turtle and a stone giant from Daiei (Toho Studio’s main kaiju competition).

In this episode, Carlo navigates through the several dozen kaiju movies made in the Sixties and chooses six that he truly enjoys and thinks best represent what was happening in the genre at the time. Left to their own devices, Bart and Jenna could have blundered through these movies and perhaps drawn a few conclusions about the appeal of rubber monsters in the ‘60s. But thankfully Carlo is on hand to explain what the hell is going on in these colorful, outrageously fun, and often perplexing batch of films.

The following films are discussed:

• Mothra (1961)
モスラ
Directed by Ishirô Honda
Starring Furankî Sakai, Hiroshi Koizumi, Kyôko Kagawa

• Frankenstein vs. Baragon (a.k.a. Frankenstein Conquers The World) (1965)
フランケンシュタイン対地底怪獣
Directed by Ishirô Honda
Starring Nick Adams, Kumi Mizuno, Tadao Takashima

• Daimajin (1966)
大魔神
Directed by Kimiyoshi Yasuda
Starring Miwa Takada, Yoshihiko Aoyama, Jun Fujimaki

• Ebirah, Horror of the Deep (a.k.a. Godzilla vs. the Sea Monster) (1966)
ゴジラ・エビラ・モスラ 南海の大決闘
Directed by Jun Fukuda
Starring Akira Takarada, Kumi Mizuno, Chôtarô Tôgin

• King Kong Escapes (1967)
キングコングの逆襲
Directed by Ishirô Honda
Starring Rhodes Reason, Mie Hama, Linda Miller

• Gamera vs. Guiron (1969)
ガメラ対大悪獣ギロン
Directed by Noriaki Yuasa
Starring Nobuhiro Kajima, Miyuki Akiyama, Christopher Murphy