#4 — Bonnie and Clyde (Arthur Penn, 1967) “We rob banks.” It’s a beautiful line of dialogue: so simple, so direct and yet so revealing. When delivered by Faye Dunaway as Bonnie Parker, there’s a disarming pride to it, a hint of boastfulness and a charming, even sexy certainty to the words, as if they weren’t a report of criminality. Warren Beatty brings just a slight sheepishness to the words, a testing out of a shift from outlaw to folk hero when he speaks those words to a man whose been forced out of his home by one of the … Continue reading Top Ten Films of the 60s — Number Four

#38 — The Miracle Worker (Arthur Penn, 1962) Much as I can exult in films that are edgy and daring, bending the very parameters of cinematic narrative–and these were in no short supply in the nineteen-sixties, thanks largely to the French New Wave and all that in influenced–I also admire it when a work effectively employs tried and true methods to resonant impact. Indeed, there’s almost something more impressive about a film that engenders a strong emotional response through familiar means. It’s not stirring the viewer through technique trickery, dazzling with sheer audacity. Instead, it’s setting hearts aquiver or tugging … Continue reading Top Fifty Films of the 60s — Number Thirty-Eight