My Top Ten Films of 1969

This is part of my continuing series looking back on films from the years before I began this blog.
The ten films below are unranked and listed in no particular order. Enjoy.

Midnight Cowboy - The only rated-X Best Picture winner is emblematic of a new generation of filmmakers in ascension, embracing post-Code content freedoms and a new status quo in Hollywood. Of course, that rating would be changed years later, once standards shifted, but the remarkable thing was, in 1969 the taboo rating ultimately didn't matter. The film about New York lowlifes is that powerful, and its performances that resonant. Ratso Rizzo remains my favorite Dustin Hoffman role, for his pride and his despair, and for the greatest moment of improv ever caught camera.

Z - A chilling chronicle of a fictional European country that falls to Fascism, based on the Greek political clashes of the 1960s. Even if you know nothing about the background events, the film is a riveting watch, full of twists and turns with a bleak ending that is still far too relevant in today's political climate. Director Costa Gravas's use of jarring match cuts and Hollywood style suspense sequences keep the adrenaline pumping, but it's his commitment to dramatizing the relentless mechanisms of repression that make "Z" one of the most vital and timeless political dramas ever made.

Boy - Based on real events, "Boy" is a deeply troubling look at a family of grifters who involve their two young sons in a series of dangerous scams. While not as formally daring or politically charged as most of Nagisa Oshima's work, I appreciate its kid's eye view of the world and strong social critiques. The most disturbing scenes aren't the ones of criminal activity, but of our protagonist's home life and his deeply dysfunctional interactions with both parents. And then there's what's going on in the head of our young hero himself, which is often ambiguous even as his situation becomes more dire.

The Color of Pomegranates - One of the most visually striking films ever made, full of obscure symbols and abstract images. Its original title is "Sayat Nova," the name of the Armenian poet whose life is dramatized in the film. However, the narrative is totally unorthodox and largely impenetrable, with director Sergei Paradjanov preferring poetic impressions to literal representation. He uses the same actors to play multiple parts, repeats objects and compositions, and creates fantastical environments that never existed. As a result, the film is utterly unique, unknowable, and eternal.

The Cremator - One of the greats of the Czechoslovak New Wave, "The Cremator," is about a funeral director who is recruited and radicalized by the invading Nazis. It combines moments of surrealism, satire, horror, and melodrama in an extraordinarily affecting way to show the main character's mental and spiritual deterioration. The violence and the absurdity would be farcical if it weren't paired with a political extremism that is so frightfully real and familiar. The film finally resurfaced after being banned for years by the Soviets, but is still terribly obscure and unseen by the wider film community.

They Shoot Horses Don't They? - A marathon dance competition during the Great Depression turns into a hellish ordeal and existential crisis for its participants. This is one of the most absorbing, disturbing stories of greed and media exploitation I've ever seen, and I'm surprised that it has become so obscure in an era where it remains so relevant. Then again, watching the movie feels like a harrowing ordeal, one where there's little respite and the lack of a definitive ending is the point. The only real winner is the emcee, played by Gig Young, whose cries of "Yowza, yowza, yowza!" still echo in my ears.

Kes - Ken Loach has made a career out of examining the miseries of contemporary lower class Britons, and "Kes" is still his most famous and defining work. It plays out unlike most other films where a child forms a bond with an animal, and the story is primarily used to shed light on the bleakness of the protagonist's home life and the limited prospects he faces. Both the film and its source novel pointedly take place in a Yorkshire mining town, and are set against the crushing poverty of the times. And it's rendered with such touching realism, it can be difficult to remember the characters as fictional.

Last Summer - Four idle teenagers, left to their own devices on vacation, become friends. However, escalating social and sexual tensions result in cruelty and tragedy. As coming-of-age films go, "Last Summer" is very simple, very well-acted, and makes excellent use of loosening content restrictions and four excellent young actors. One of several high-profile X-rated films released in 1969, it's an unusually daring and sobering examination of adolescent peer pressure and sexuality. Perhaps it was a little too daring, as the film has almost completely disappeared from the public consciousness - a true cult classic.

Easy Rider - I can't hope to quantify the importance of "Easy Rider" to American cinema, or really to American culture. It's not so much the psychedelic filmmaking or the counterculture story or the performances - great as they all are. It's something about the underlying generational change of that era that Dennis Hopper and company managed to capture on film, that ineffable longing for the illusory freedom of the open road that became such a major touchstone of the '60s. Long before I saw the film, I knew the image of Fonda and Hopper riding to "Born to be Wild," and it's even more potent in context.

The Italian Job - It's the consummate British heist film, one with such style and such whimsy, but also a terribly cruel ending that delivers a delicious comeuppance. I adore Michael Caine as the amoral leader of the gang. I sat rapt through the overlong Mini Cooper chase sequence and wished it was longer. I loved all the planning and plotting and the rousing rendition of "Getta Bloomin' Move On! (The Self Preservation Society)." The rest of the films on this year's list are pretty miserable, so I'm happy to finish it off with a little fun.

Honorable Mention
The Wild Bunch

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