My Favorite Movies of 1961
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- DirectorStanley KramerStarsSpencer TracyBurt LancasterRichard WidmarkIn 1948, an American court in occupied Germany tries four Nazis judged for war crimes.
- DirectorRobert RossenStarsPaul NewmanJackie GleasonPiper LaurieAn up-and-coming pool player plays a long-time champion in a single high-stakes match.
- DirectorDaniel PetrieStarsSidney PoitierClaudia McNeilRuby DeeA substantial insurance payment could mean either financial salvation or personal ruin for a poor black family.
- DirectorBilly WilderStarsJames CagneyHorst BuchholzPamela TiffinIn West Berlin during the Cold War, a Coca-Cola executive is given the task of taking care of his boss' socialite daughter.
- DirectorBlake EdwardsStarsAudrey HepburnGeorge PeppardPatricia NealA young New York socialite becomes interested in a young man who has moved into her apartment building, but her past threatens to get in the way.
- DirectorWilliam WylerStarsAudrey HepburnShirley MacLaineJames GarnerA rebellious student at a girls' school accuses two teachers of lesbianism.
- DirectorElia KazanStarsNatalie WoodWarren BeattyPat HingleThe love of high school sweethearts Deanie and Bud is weighed down by the oppressive expectations of their parents and society in smalltown Kansas in 1928, threatening the future of their relationship.
- DirectorJ. Lee ThompsonStarsDavid NivenGregory PeckAnthony QuinnA team of Allied saboteurs is assigned an impossible mission: infiltrate an impregnable Nazi-held Greek island and destroy the two enormous long-range field guns that prevent the rescue of 2,000 trapped British soldiers.
- DirectorAnthony MannStarsCharlton HestonSophia LorenRaf ValloneThe fabled Spanish hero Rodrigo Diaz de Vivar (a.k.a. El Cid) overcomes a family vendetta and court intrigue to defend Christian Spain against the Moors.
- DirectorDelbert MannStarsRock HudsonDoris DayTony RandallA series of misunderstandings leaves an advertising executive with a campaign for a product which has not yet been invented, while he romances his rival in the guise of its inventor.
- DirectorDavid SwiftStarsHayley MillsMaureen O'HaraBrian KeithTeenage twin sisters swap places and scheme to reunite their divorced parents.
- DirectorJohn FrankenheimerStarsBurt LancasterDina MerrillEdward AndrewsA district attorney investigates three white teenagers accused of murdering a blind Puerto Rican kid.
- DirectorNicholas RayStarsJeffrey HunterSiobhan McKennaHurd HatfieldThe temporary physical life of the Biblical Savior, Jesus Christ.
- DirectorRichard FleischerStarsAnthony QuinnSilvana ManganoArthur KennedyGovernor Pontius Pilate gave the populace a choice to spare either Barabbas, a criminal, or Jesus, condemned as a heretic, from crucifixion. The masses chose Barrabas, and he is haunted by the image of Jesus for the rest of his life.
- DirectorJohn FordStarsJames StewartRichard WidmarkShirley JonesA corrupt marshal is pressured by his army friend into negotiating the release of white captives of the Comanches, but finds that their reintegration into society has its consequences.
- DirectorMichael CurtizJohn WayneStarsJohn WayneStuart WhitmanIna BalinTexas Ranger Jake Cutter arrests gambler Paul Regret, but soon finds himself teamed with his prisoner in an undercover effort to defeat a band of renegade arms merchants and thieves dealing with the Comanches known as Comancheros.
- DirectorHerbert ColemanStarsAudie MurphyJohn SaxonZohra LampertBanner Cole is a tough sheriff's deputy who forms a small posse to go after 4 death cell escapees who killed the sheriff , along with 3 other men, and kidnapped a woman with rape in mind.
- DirectorMichael CurtizStarsBradford DillmanDolores HartStuart WhitmanIn 13th century Italy, Francis Bernardone, the son of an Assisi merchant, renounces a promising army career in favor of a monastic life and starts his own religious order, sanctioned by the Pope.
- DirectorPhilip DunneStarsElvis PresleyHope LangeTuesday WeldA troubled young man discovers that he has a knack for writing when a counselor encourages him to pursue a literary career.
- DirectorJosé FerrerStarsCarol LynleyJeff ChandlerEleanor ParkerThe residents of Peyton Place are not happy when its most famous resident, Alison Mackenzie, writes a "shocking" novel detailing the sinful secrets of the town.
- DirectorDelmer DavesStarsClaudette ColbertTroy DonahueKarl MaldenIn the Connecticut River Valley, Parrish McLean and his mother are newly employed by the Sala Post tobacco farm that is engaged in a competition war with the neighboring Judd Raike tobacco corporation.
- DirectorPierre-Dominique GaisseauStarsGerard DelloyeTony SaulnierHerve de MaigretIn September, 1959, six Europeans leave Cook's Bay on the southern coast of Dutch New Guinea, now West Papua or Irian Jaya, to trek north to the far side of the island. The journey (450 miles, as a crow flies) across unmapped territory took seven months; three Muyu porters died. Near both coasts, the expedition met villagers who invited them to observe rituals and live with them. In the interior, all villagers kept them at bay, and they depended on air lifts from Hollandia for food and supplies. They climbed above 10,000 feet, built 14 bridges, and fought leeches and malaria. The narrator focuses on describing Stone Age savages, headhunters, and cannibals.AKA - The Sky Above, The Mud Below
- DirectorRichard ThorpeFerdinando BaldiStarsVictor MatureOrson WellesLiana OrfeiTartan and Viking forces clash in what is modern-day Russia.AKA - The Tartars
- DirectorJosé QuinteroStarsVivien LeighWarren BeattyCoral BrowneAn aging actress travels to Rome with her husband; after he suddenly dies during the flight, she begins a passionate affair with a young gigolo.
- DirectorBasil DeardenStarsDirk BogardeSylvia SymsDennis PriceA closeted lawyer risks his career to bring a blackmailer to justice.
- DirectorGeorge PalStarsSal PontiJoyce TaylorJohn DallWelcome to Atlantis, where royal guardsmen wear uniforms that could easily be from the wardrobe of Ming the Merciless and some unfortunate slaves are turned into bovine-headed beasts.
- DirectorFrank CapraStarsGlenn FordBette DavisHope LangeA New York gangster and his girlfriend attempt to turn street beggar Apple Annie into a society lady when the peddler learns her daughter is marrying royalty.
- DirectorNorman TaurogStarsElvis PresleyJoan BlackmanAngela LansburyAfter arriving back in Hawaii from the Army, Chad Gates (Elvis Presley) defies his parents' wishes for him to work at the family business and instead goes to work as a tour guide at his girlfriend's agency.
- DirectorDelmer DavesStarsTroy DonahueDorothy McGuireConnie StevensPremarital sex, secrets, and society. At 17, shy Susan Slade is on her way to California after a 10-year stay at a remote Chilean mine where her father was chief engineer. Onboard ship, she's romanced by Conn White, a handsome mountain climber on his way to Alaska. Home in Monterey, Susan longs to hear from Conn. Two locals also take a shine to her: Hoyt Brecker, a horse wrangler who's the son of a criminal; and Wells Corbett, a sweet guy who lives in his high-society parents' shadow. Jump ahead two years: Susan has a desperate secret that her socially-conscious mother won't let her share. Can Susan find happiness--and what is it really that turns a girl into a woman?
- DirectorDavid MillerStarsSusan HaywardJohn GavinVera MilesIn Lincoln, the ambitious aspirant-designer Rae Smith has an incident with a wolf department store businessman and is rescued by the Marine Paul Saxon. They immediately fall in love with each other and spend the night together. On the next morning, Paul needs to return to Chicago and calls Rae to go with him. However she misses the plane and Paul travels alone. Soon she learns that he is married with children and she is convinced by her sister to move to New York where she succeeds in the fashion world. Paul, who owns a department store chain, stumbles upon her on the street and their love is rekindled. However, Rae decides to leave New York and her boss and partner convinces her to open a store in Rome. Some time later, they meet each other again and Rae learn that Paul is indeed unhappily married with the alcoholic Liz Saxon. They have a love affair and Paul buys a country house at the countryside of France where they spend their leisure time together. But their lives shatter when Paul's son discovers their love affair.
- DirectorJoseph M. NewmanStarsRichard BooneGeorge HamiltonLuana PattenThe trials and tribulations of bitter veteran Captain Maddocks and argumentative rookie Lieutenant McQuade at a cavalry desert outpost.
- DirectorEdmond O'BrienStarsJeffrey HunterDavid JanssenStella StevensTwo Korean War veterans re-unite to pull off a heist at a San Francisco airport but find themselves running for their lives.
- DirectorAkira KurosawaStarsToshirô MifuneEijirô TônoTatsuya NakadaiA crafty ronin comes to a town divided by two criminal gangs and decides to play them against each other to free the town.
- DirectorDaniel MannStarsSusan HaywardDean MartinWilfrid Hyde-WhitePolitical drama about a honest but naive gubernatorial candidate who is manipulated by his corrupt campaign manager and is forced to temporarily cede power to his wife, a woman of integrity despite her shameful past.
- DirectorRoger CormanStarsVincent PriceBarbara SteeleJohn KerrIn the sixteenth century, Francis Barnard travels to Spain to clarify the strange circumstances of his sister's death after she had married the son of a cruel Spanish Inquisitor.
- DirectorCy EndfieldStarsMichael CraigJoan GreenwoodMichael CallanDuring the Civil War a group of Union soldiers, a Confederate and a civilian escape the stockade using a hot-air balloon and end up on a strange Pacific island.
- DirectorRobert MulliganStarsRock HudsonGina LollobrigidaSandra DeeYounger generation vs. "older" folks on vacation at an Italian villa.
- DirectorIrwin AllenStarsWalter PidgeonJoan FontaineBarbara EdenWhen the Earth is threatened by a burning Van Allen Radiation Belt, U.S. Navy Admiral Harriman Nelson plans to shoot a nuclear missile at the Belt, using his experimental atomic submarine, the Seaview.
- DirectorJack CoufferDon HaldaneStarsJean CoutuÉmile GenestUriel LuftThe rugged Canadian wilderness is the backdrop to this story of a dog separated from his owner.
- DirectorMario BonnardStarsDaniela RoccaAntonio CifarielloYvonne SansonThe leader of a gang of Spanish mercenaries falls for a beautiful princess.AKA - Rome 1585
- DirectorJoshua LoganStarsLeslie CaronMaurice ChevalierCharles BoyerYoung Marius dreams of leaving his dull provincial life and seeing the world. When the beautiful Fanny declares her adoration for him, Marius must choose between an adventurous life at sea and the grandest adventure of all: love.
- DirectorJerry LewisStarsJerry LewisHelen TraubelPat StanleyA clueless, recently-single graduate unwittingly takes a job as a servant in a mansion inhabited by dozens of young women.
- DirectorRobert AldrichStarsRock HudsonKirk DouglasDorothy MaloneAt a Mexican ranch, fugitive O'Malley and pursuing Sheriff Stribling agree to help rancher Breckenridge drive his herd into Texas where Stribling could legally arrest O'Malley, but Breckenridge's wife complicates things.
- DirectorSam PeckinpahStarsMaureen O'HaraBrian KeithSteve CochranAn ex-army officer accidentally kills a woman's son and tries to make up for it by escorting the funeral procession through dangerous Indian territory.
- DirectorWilliam WitneyStarsVincent PriceCharles BronsonHenry HullIn 1868, an American scientist and his team become hostages of fanatical pacifist Robur who uses his airship Albatross to destroy military targets on Earth.
- DirectorMarlon BrandoStarsMarlon BrandoKarl MaldenPina PellicerAfter robbing a bank in Mexico, Dad Longworth absconds with the loot leaving his partner Rio to be captured by the Rurales. Rio escapes prison but struggles with his conflicting desires to love Dad's stepdaughter Louise and to get revenge.
- DirectorRobert StevensonStarsFred MacMurrayNancy OlsonKeenan WynnA college professor invents an anti-gravity substance which a corrupt businessman wants for himself.
- DirectorGordon DouglasStarsClint WalkerRoger MooreLetícia RománIn Seven Saints, Utah, McCracken's outlaw gang is vying for fur trappers Jim Rainbolt and Shaun Garrett's gold nugget fortune that also catches the eye of Mexican bandit Gondora and his caballeros.
- DirectorJohn HustonStarsClark GableMarilyn MonroeMontgomery CliftA divorcée falls for an over-the-hill cowboy who is struggling to maintain his romantically independent lifestyle.
- DirectorDon ChaffeyStarsDonald CrispLaurence NaismithAlex MackenzieThe remarkable veritable story of a terrier named Bobby and the enduring friendship he forges with a tenderhearted shepherd known simply as Old Jock---unbroken even by the kindly old man's death.
- DirectorFernando CerchioStarsJeanne CrainVincent PriceEdmund PurdomChronicles the rise and fall of the woman who eventually became known as Queen Nefertiti.AKA - Queen of the Nile
- DirectorMichael LandonStarsMelissa GilbertDean ButlerRichard BullWhile Charles and Caroline are visiting Walnut Grove, the townspeople learn that a land development tycoon has acquired title to all the land in Hero Township. They are inspired by Laura to vent their anger at this injustice.
- DirectorNorman LeeDocumentary to show the youth of 1934 the horrors of warfare, using contemporary film and interviews with veterans.