Mostly, I guess it is remembered for all the major news events of that year, starting with the Tet offensive in Vietnam that irreversibly turned the tide of American public opinion against the war and ending with the hopeful message relayed from Apollo 8 just above the surface of the moon at Christmas.
And, of course, all the events in between — like the assassinations of Martin Luther King and Bobby Kennedy and the Russian invasion of Czechoslovakia.
It was a big year culturally, too. The music that was playing on America’s radios included songs like "The Dock of the Bay" by Otis Redding, "Hey, Jude" by the Beatles, "I Heard It Through the Grapevine" by Marvin Gaye and "Mrs. Robinson" by Simon and Garfunkel.
TV was continuing to expand into more and more American homes, bringing programs like "Mission: Impossible," "Adam-12," "Rowan & Martin's Laugh-In" and "Star Trek" into people's living rooms.
And movies, as always, were a reflection of the times, as both expressions of the things people were thinking and feeling and saying as well as demonstrations of emerging writing talent and directorial creativity and innovation.
Film historian Raymond Benson with Brittanica Blogs has been counting down the top 10 movies of 1968.
More appropriately, Benson is counting down his personal favorite films from that year — one each day. Benson is not promoting his list as a list of the 10 most influential films of 1968 or the 10 most ground-breaking films of 1968 or anything like that.
That’s not intended to be dismissive of the films of 1968 — only to acknowledge that these lists really are a matter of personal preference. Some have the benefit of expert knowledge and contribution, perhaps even the weight of public opinion.
But it’s still a matter of preference. And, although I was only 8 years old through most of 1968, I’ve seen quite a few films from that year. I remember 1968, and I know I saw some of its movies that year. Of course, some of them I didn’t see until I was much older.
So I’ve been working on my own list of my favorite films of 1968. At first, I was tempted to think that this would be a breeze, but, as I’ve delved deeper into my research, I’ve realized that some of my all-time favorite films from that period were not released in 1968 at all.
When I began working on this list, I figured I could get half of my top 10 from 1968 compiled in a matter of minutes. But it turns out that some of the movies I wanted to put on my list wouldn’t qualify because they were released in other years.
"Bonnie and Clyde" came out in 1967, as did "The Graduate." "Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid" came out in 1969; so did "Easy Rider" and "Midnight Cowboy."
And "M*A*S*H" and "Patton" came out in 1970.
So, some of the films from my list aren’t the films I expected to include. But it’s been a good exercise for me to do this research, and I’ll be interested in seeing how my Top 10 stacks up against Benson’s when his is finished next week.
Anyway, here is my Top 10 from 1968:
- "2001: A Space Odyssey" remains my favorite film from 1968 — for many reasons.
For one thing, I’ve been a fan of the work of Stanley Kubrick for a long time. One of the things I always liked about him was his refusal to be pigeon-holed in his work. "2001" was the Kubrick project that followed the brilliant "Dr. Strangelove" and the one immediately before "A Clockwork Orange."
Those three films had virtually nothing in common — except that they were directed by the same man and each bore his distinctive touch.
For another thing, "2001" used ground-breaking special effects to create the most realistic depictions of space that had been seen on film up to that time. Even today, I think the special effects are incredible. In hindsight, it’s not surprising that it took Kubrick more than two years to satisfactorily develop the effects.
And the story itself was engrossing. It was unlike anything I had ever seen. When I saw it for the first time (at the age of about 10 or 11), it wasn’t in a theater or on the TV screen. It was in a special showing in an auditorium on the campus of the small liberal arts college where my father was a professor.
It was part of a campus film series and, as I recall, my father was a member of the faculty panel that selected the films. "2001" was one of the films for which he had lobbied, and he was anxious for the whole family to see it so when it was shown on campus, he brought all of us to the auditorium, where we were treated to the film and a lively discussion of it afterwards. - "The Planet of the Apes" has long been one of my favorite movies.
Actually, I read a paperback copy of Pierre Boule’s 1963 book upon which the film was based before I saw the movie. The story was semi-satirical, and, since I read it when I was about 12 or 13, it was a little over my head. Considering that Blake Edwards (of "The Pink Panther" fame) was the original choice to direct it, I suppose the initial intention was for the movie to be a comedy.
But the director ended up being Franklin J. Schaffner and, while the film had some undeniably funny lines (including some that probably weren’t intended to be funny originally), it was hardly a comedy or a satire. - "The Producers" was a delightful movie. It introduced me to the madcap ways of Mel Brooks and Gene Wilder all at once.
And, as much as I respect the talents of Nathan Lane and Matthew Broderick, I didn’t feel that their 2005 remake was half as good as the original. The story was the same, but the treatment was different in the hands of Brooks, Wilder and Zero Mostel. - In 1966, audiences were introduced to the comedy team of Walter Matthau and Jack Lemmon in "The Fortune Cookie." In 1968, the two were partnered in one of my favorite films of the year, "The Odd Couple."
Just about everyone in the family liked the movie. It spawned a popular TV show starring Jack Klugman and Tony Randall — a show my parents loved.
And my grandmother frequently quoted her favorite scene from the movie — in which Oscar (Matthau) and Felix (Lemmon) are arguing about whether Felix’s pasta dish is linguini or spaghetti. Oscar picks up the bowl of the pasta and throws it against the wall in the kitchen, then looks at Felix and says, "Now it’s garbage."
And then my grandmother would giggle like a schoolgirl!
I never fail to laugh when I watch that movie. - "Oliver!" was, for me, an introduction to many things, not the least of which was the timelessness — and the possibilities — of the stories of Charles Dickens.
The film was a movie version of a successful stage musical that was based on Dickens’ "Oliver Twist." It was one of the biggest box office hits of 1968 — and, in addition to being a major hit, the film did pretty well at the Oscars, too, winning five, including Best Picture and Best Director.
I saw it during its theatrical run. It was hugely entertaining — and the songs from the film enjoyed remarkable popularity as well. - "I Love You, Alice B. Toklas" is a cult classic, one of the few films I can remember from that year that satirized the current culture and its counterculture. I saw it for the first time with my college buddies about 13 years after it was released theatrically, and I've loved it ever since.
Peter Sellers was one of my all-time favorite comedic actors, and I've always felt he was hilarious as the uptight, square, fortysomething Jewish attorney who has a fling with a twentysomething, hash brownie-baking hippie girl.
I especially enjoyed his performances in Blake Edwards' "Pink Panther" movies. In 1968, Sellers really was in the early portion of an 11-year break from the role of Inspector Clouseau. But he continued to collaborate with Edwards and that produced another one of my favorite films from 1968 ... - "The Party" may have helped cement Sellers' reputation as a bumbling foreigner, although the accident-prone French Inspector Clouseau was nowhere to be found.
In "The Party," Sellers played a clumsy actor from India who stumbles from one disaster to another after being mistakenly invited to a movie producer's party.
It's one of my favorite films from 1968 because Edwards deliberately structured it to allow Sellers plenty of room to improvise. That's why, when you watch it, you'll see that many of the funniest scenes have little or no dialogue. - "Once Upon A Time In The West" marked a real departure for Henry Fonda. Known mostly for his good-guy roles, Fonda played a villainous, sadistic killer in Sergio Leone's epic masterpiece — but, reportedly, Fonda hated the role so much that he refused to discuss it.
Even so, it was a great movie. I saw it many years later, and I have no recollection of anything that was said or written about the film, but I'm sure it was controversial in its day.
By the way, I may be pressing the issue a bit on this film. It was released to the European market in late 1968, but it wasn't released in the United States until the spring of 1969. - Cliff Robertson won the Best Actor Oscar for his performance in "Charly" — and deservedly so — as a mentally retarded bakery worker who agrees to participate in an experiment that involves a radical form of brain surgery (which turns out to be only temporarily successful).
When I was in school, it was S.O.P. for teachers to assign the book upon which the movie was based, "Flowers for Algernon," for students to read.
I saw the movie several years after it was released — shortly after reading the book. In hindsight, there are probably many elements of the story that I wouldn't have understood if I had seen it when I was 8 years old.
It was a touching love story that took a unique approach to the subject. In many ways, it seems to me that Robertson's "Charly" was the forerunner to Tom Hanks' "Forrest Gump" — a character who was sweet, earnest and naïve. - "The Lion in Winter" was the fictional story of England's King Henry II, starring Peter O'Toole, Katharine Hepburn and Anthony Hopkins.
If you watch the movie, do not make the mistake of assuming that it is dramatizing actual events. This is not a recreation of history. But, as a work of historical fiction, it's hard to beat.
Of the quality of the film, all that really needs to be said is that it was nominated for seven Oscars and won four of them.
