The Best Films of 1964 according to The Village Voice
A compilation of various Top Ten lists from various independent filmmakers and critics of the time, although they were most likely friends of Mekas.
This was taken from a column by Jonas Mekas.
Listed in the order it appeared in the article.
Missing: "Divinations" (couldn't find), "Plastic Haircut" (couldn't find), "The Last Clean Shirt" (dir. Alfred Leslie - not listed on IMBd), "Opus II" (couldn't find), "Search for Icarus" (dir. Michael Mideke - not listed on IMDb), "Himself as Himself" (listed in the article as a work in progress this probably become Himself as Herself), "Strange Sightings" (dir. Frank Stranges - not listed on IMDb), "Follow the Leader" (dir. Bruce Conner - not listed on IMDb), "Nightspring Daystar" (dir. David Brooks - not listed on IMDb), "Annunciation" (dir. Andy Meyer - not listed on IMDb), "The Movie Set" (dir. Bill Ault - not listed)
This was taken from a column by Jonas Mekas.
Listed in the order it appeared in the article.
Missing: "Divinations" (couldn't find), "Plastic Haircut" (couldn't find), "The Last Clean Shirt" (dir. Alfred Leslie - not listed on IMBd), "Opus II" (couldn't find), "Search for Icarus" (dir. Michael Mideke - not listed on IMDb), "Himself as Himself" (listed in the article as a work in progress this probably become Himself as Herself), "Strange Sightings" (dir. Frank Stranges - not listed on IMDb), "Follow the Leader" (dir. Bruce Conner - not listed on IMDb), "Nightspring Daystar" (dir. David Brooks - not listed on IMDb), "Annunciation" (dir. Andy Meyer - not listed on IMDb), "The Movie Set" (dir. Bill Ault - not listed)
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- DirectorJean-Luc GodardStarsBrigitte BardotJack PalanceMichel PiccoliA French writer's marriage deteriorates while working on Fritz Lang's version of "The Odyssey", as his wife accuses him of using her to court favor with the film's brash American producer.
- DirectorRichard LesterStarsJohn LennonPaul McCartneyGeorge HarrisonOver two "typical" days in the life of The Beatles, the boys struggle to keep themselves and Sir Paul McCartney's mischievous grandfather in check while preparing for a live TV performance.
- DirectorBernardo BertolucciStarsAdriana AstiFrancesco BarilliAllen MidgetteFollowing the death of his friend, an Italian youth grows increasingly closer to his young aunt.
- DirectorAndy WarholStarsRobert IndianaThis art experiment by Andy Warhol captures the simple act of a man eating mushrooms. This one-man show starring Robert Indiana presents the actor slowly eating some mushrooms, having an enjoyable time not only with the food but also with a friendly cat that from time to time comes to see what the man is doing.
- DirectorJohn FrankenheimerStarsFrank SinatraLaurence HarveyJanet LeighAn American POW in the Korean War is brainwashed as an unwitting assassin for an international Communist conspiracy.
- DirectorPhilippe de BrocaStarsJean-Paul BelmondoClaudia CardinaleJess HahnThe story of a kid from the back streets who wants to become king of Paris. Brought up among petty thieves, he becomes their leader through an audacious and elegant coup which wins him the love of the beautiful Venus.
- DirectorJacques DemyStarsJeanne MoreauClaude MannPaul GuersJean is a clerk in a bank. His colleague Caron is a gambler and gives him the virus. In the casinos, Jean meets Jackie. Their love affair will follow their luck at the roulette.
- DirectorJacques DemyStarsCatherine DeneuveNino CastelnuovoAnne VernonA young woman separated from her lover by war faces a life-altering decision.
- DirectorLuis BuñuelStarsJeanne MoreauGeorges GéretMichel PiccoliA sophisticated and self-assured woman from Paris joins a middle-class rural estate as a maid and causes quite a stir among the variously uptight, perverse and violent inhabitants.
- DirectorKenneth AngerStarsErnie AlloBruce ByronFrank CarifiA gang of Nazi bikers prepares for a race as sexual, sadistic, and occult images are cut together.
- DirectorGuy HamiltonStarsSean ConneryGert FröbeHonor BlackmanWhile investigating a gold magnate's smuggling, James Bond uncovers a plot to contaminate the Fort Knox gold reserve.
- DirectorMario MonicelliStarsMarcello MastroianniRenato SalvatoriGabriella GiorgelliA former high school teacher turned unionist tries to organize workers laboring with inhuman conditions at a late 19th Century textile factory.
- DirectorAkira KurosawaStarsToshirô MifuneTakashi ShimuraKeiko AwajiDuring a sweltering summer, a rookie homicide detective tries to track down his stolen Colt pistol.
- DirectorAndrzej MunkWitold LesiewiczStarsAleksandra SlaskaAnna CiepielewskaJan KreczmarWhile aboard a transatlantic passenger ship, a German woman, Liza, notices someone who looks like Marta, a former inmate at Auschwitz, where Liza used to be a guard.
- DirectorRobert BressonStarsPaul BernardMaría CasaresElina LabourdetteA society lady engineers a marriage between her lover and a cabaret dancer who is essentially a prostitute.
- DirectorErmanno OlmiStarsAnna CanziCarlo CabriniDespite his fiancee's reluctance, a young man moves to Sicily for a better job, but soon starts questioning his decision.
- DirectorStan VanderbeekStarsBuster KeatonAn apocalyptic vision using cartoons and other imagery
- DirectorMarie Menken
- DirectorWesley BarryStarsDon MegowanErica ElliottFrances McCannIn a post holocaust society, robots take it on their own to help the dying human race by giving them android bodies.
- DirectorEdward DmytrykStarsGeorge PeppardAlan LaddRobert CummingsJonas Cord is a disagreeable young tycoon who's building planes, directing films, and catting around on the corporate make in 1930s Hollywood.
- DirectorRobert RossenStarsWarren BeattyJean SebergPeter FondaA war veteran gets work at a mental institution, where he meets the beautiful and eccentric Lilith.
- DirectorJonas MekasJudith MalinaStarsWarren FinnertyJim AndersonHenry HowardA ultra-realistic depiction of life in a Marine Corps brig (or jail) at a camp in Japan in 1957. Marine prisoners are awakened and put through work details for the course of a single day, submitting in the course of it to extremely harsh and shocking physical and mental degradation and abuse.
- DirectorDouglas HeyesStarsAnn-MargretJohn ForsythePeter BrownA rising political star faces scandal and blackmail when the young woman he tries to help turns out to be a juvenile delinquent.
- DirectorNorman TaurogStarsTroy DonahueConnie StevensTy HardinCollege students on spring break in Palm Springs pursue romantic entanglements. Jim falls for Bunny, Biff for Amanda. Gayle poses as a student while Eric courts her. Their coach flirts with a motel owner amid her son's antics.
- DirectorDelmer DavesStarsJames FranciscusSuzanne PleshetteGeneviève PageArthur Hawke works as a coal truck driver in Kentucky, he in the process trying to protect his widowed mother Sarah Hawke's property rights against his wealthy and cutthroat paternal uncles' mineral rights. Sarah, however, may be more astute in the matters of business than her son. In his spare time, Arthur is writing a novel under the pen name Youngblood Hawke, it, his first, which he is able to sell to a New York publishing house. As such, Arthur moves to New York City while he works on the necessary rewrites and contemplates his next novel, which he knows can and will pour out of him. Even before that first novel, Alms of Oblivion, is published, Arthur is the toast of certain literary circles in New York. Naive to the ways of the business, he gets caught up in this new life, in having to deal with the publishers, agents, managers, lawyers, critics, theater people who want him to translate the work into a play, and movie types who want to purchase the movie rights. He has to decide whose advice to follow in these matters, he potentially being overextended in he wanting to do and have it all. He does not realize until he is ensconced within this life that there was a latent passion associated with his work, the women around him who can smell it ooze off of him. The feminine advances for who he ultimately falls is that of Frieda Winter, a wealthy, married socialite and a frequent patron of the arts. In his affair with Frieda which needs to be hidden at every turn, Arthur may not yet realize that what he feels for his story editor, Jeanne Green, who initially discovered his unsolicited manuscript, is more than just professional gratitude. Through it all, Arthur may eventually come to the understanding that his standing in this world is solely judged on the success or failure of his latest work.
- DirectorTerence YoungStarsSean ConneryUrsula AndressBernard LeeA resourceful British government agent seeks answers in a case involving the disappearance of a colleague and the disruption of the American space program.
- DirectorTerence YoungStarsSean ConneryRobert ShawLotte LenyaJames Bond willingly falls into an assassination plot involving a naive Russian beauty in order to retrieve a Soviet encryption device that was stolen by S.P.E.C.T.R.E.
- DirectorVictor TrivasStarsHorst FrankKarin KernkeHelmut SchmidA scientist invents a serum that keeps a dog's head alive after its body dies.
- DirectorCharles BoultenhouseStarsLouis FalcoAnna DuncasNicholas MagallanesCharles Boultenhouse, strongly fascinated by literature and poetry, uses all means to translate the Dionysus myth into an experimental film spectrum, such as hand-held camera, slow pivoting camera movements and blending.
- DirectorStan BrakhageStarsStan BrakhageThe second part of Dog Star Man (1964), an experimental film wherein a man climbs a mountain along with his dog.
- DirectorCarl Linder
- DirectorRoger CormanStarsVincent PriceHazel CourtJane AsherA European prince terrorizes the local peasantry while using his castle as a refuge against the "Red Death" plague that stalks the land.
- DirectorKenji MizoguchiStarsNarutoshi HayashiRaizô IchikawaTatsuya IshiguroAfter his father is not rewarded for his military achievements, Taira Kiyomori rebels against the court and the monks who rule the country. He also falls in love with Tokiko and discovers unsettling revelations about his parentage.
- DirectorStan BrakhageStarsStan BrakhageJane WodeningThe third part of Dog Star Man (1964), an experimental film wherein a man climbs a mountain along with his dog.
- DirectorStanton KayeStarsLynn AverillMark ChekaStanton KayeA German WWII veteran and émigré to the United States depicts the increasingly downward progression of his family and life through the lens of his battlefield camera, including his own death during a stateside military protest.
- DirectorJoseph P. MawraStarsAudrey CampbellRickey BellDolly SimmonsRuthless narcotics dealer and white slavery ring leader Olga keeps her harem of girls in line by hooking them on addictive drugs. Olga suspects an informant in their midst and uses various brutal methods of torture to weed out the squealer. Meanwhile, several of Olga's girls plot their revenge against Olga for her continual sadistic treatment of them.
- DirectorJohn RawlinsStarsJon HallMaria MontezSabuThe caliph of Baghdad must go into hiding with a group of traveling performers when his brother usurps the throne. Both brothers desire a beautiful dancing girl, who is torn between power and true love.
- DirectorJosef von SternbergStarsGary CooperMarlene DietrichAdolphe MenjouA cabaret singer and a Legionnaire fall in love, but their relationship is complicated by the results of his womanizing and the appearance of a rich man who wants her for himself.
- DirectorBusby BerkeleyStarsDick PowellRosemary LaneLola LaneRonny Bowers, a saxophonist in Benny Goodman's band, has won a talent contest and a ten week contract with a film studio. On his first evening he is supposed to go with the studio's star Mona Marshall to a movie premiere. But she doesn't want to go, so the bosses decide to use a double for her: Virginia. When Mona finds out next morning that happened, she insisted to fire her double and Ronny. Ronny finds work as a singing waiter in a drive-in, and is spotted by a director of the same studio, who wants him to lend his voice for a leading actor in a musical. After the first screening Louella Parsons invites him to sing on her program, "Hollywood Hotel". He accepts, not knowing that Ronny Bowers does not want to lend him his voice again. So everybody starts to play his little game to solve his own problems.
- DirectorRon RiceStarsJack SmithBeverly GrantMario MontezAn experimental film consisting of images of satin, beads, painted faces, and people dancing.
- DirectorPreston SturgesStarsJoel McCreaVeronica LakeRobert WarwickHollywood director John L. Sullivan sets out to experience life as a homeless person in order to gain relevant life experience for his next movie.
- DirectorLuis BuñuelStarsGaston ModotLya LysCaridad de LaberdesqueA surrealist tale of a man and a woman who are passionately in love with each other, but their attempts to consummate that passion are constantly thwarted by their families, the Church, and bourgeois society.
- DirectorMichele LupoStarsMark ForestJosé GreciGiuliano GemmaGoliath battles for the freedom of the Babylonian people.
- DirectorWilliam AsherStarsFrankie AvalonAnnette FunicelloMartha HyerA millionaire sets out to prove his theory that his pet chimpanzee is as intelligent as the teenagers who hang out on the local beach, where he is intending to build a retirement home.
- DirectorWalter GraumanStarsOlivia de HavillandJames CaanJennifer BillingsleyA woman trapped in a home elevator is terrorized by a group of vicious hoodlums.
- DirectorSamuel FullerStarsPeter BreckConstance TowersGene EvansBent on winning a Pulitzer Prize, a journalist commits himself to a mental institution to solve a strange and unclear murder.
- DirectorHenry LevinStarsRobert GouletNancy KwanRobert MorseJay Menlow is jilted at the altar by his fiancée, Cynthia Hampton. His pal, Ross Kingsley, persuades him to use his reserved-in-advance accommodations at the Boca Roca Hotel (honeymooners only) in lieu of the doomed honeymoon. Ross will accompany him to bolster him up and Cynthia will soon beg to have him back. Ross' gesture is not quite as altruistic as it appears. He has been fooling around with Sherry Nugent, his employer Mr. Sampson's girlfriend, and figures that a brief exodus from New York and his boss is in his own best interest. However, Mr. Sampson shows up followed by his ever loving wife who has decided to find out just what goes on on her husband "business" trips. Complications, including schemes to avoid the hotel's "no bachelors allowed" rule also follow.
- DirectorLeslie H. MartinsonStarsJames DarrenPamela TiffinPaul LyndeA wealthy young man tries to woo a university student, while her two uncles work to popularize a local club.
- DirectorAndy WarholStarsRufus CollinsJohnny DoddFred HerkoClose-ups of couples kissing for three minutes each.
- DirectorAlfred HitchcockStarsTippi HedrenSean ConneryMartin GabelMark marries Marnie although she is a habitual thief and has serious psychological problems, and tries to help her confront and resolve them.
- DirectorJean-Luc GodardStarsAnna KarinaJean-Claude BrialyJean-Paul BelmondoAn exotic dancer is desperate to become a mother and accepts her reluctant boyfriend's suggestion that she be impregnated by his best friend.
- DirectorJoseph LoseyStarsDirk BogardeSarah MilesWendy CraigUpper-class Tony hires servant Hugo Barrett, who turns out to have a hidden agenda.
- DirectorJohn FordStarsRichard WidmarkCarroll BakerKarl MaldenThe Cheyenne, tired of broken U.S. government promises, head for their ancestral lands but a sympathetic cavalry officer is tasked to bring them back to their reservation.
- DirectorShirley ClarkeStarsRony ClantonCarl LeeYolanda RodríguezA look at the horrors of Harlem ghetto slum life filled with drugs, violence, human misery, and a sense of despair due to the racial prejudices of American society.
- DirectorJacques BeckerStarsAndré BervilJean KeraudyMichel ConstantinDistrust and uncertainty arise when four long-term inmates cautiously induct a new prisoner into their elaborate prison-break scheme.
- DirectorSamuel FullerStarsConstance TowersAnthony EisleyMichael DanteA former prostitute relocates to a buttoned-down suburb, determined to fit in with mainstream society. But perverse secrets simmer beneath the wholesome surface.
- DirectorDon OwenStarsPeter KastnerJulie BiggsClaude RaeA teenage boy rebels against parental authority and must face a harsh reality when he tries to live on his own.
- DirectorRon RiceStarsTaylor MeadPhilip McKennaElla HenryIdylls of the beats in the Beat Generation scene of San Francisco's North Beach.
- DirectorRon RiceStarsTaylor MeadWinifred BryanJulian BeckAbout protesting the industrial world and having fun doing it. An the hapless, possibly Chaplinesque Atom Man and his Queen are the two main characters who come from different backgrounds act foolish and stupid enjoying the simple pleasures of life and doing what they want to do, not what others want them to do.
- DirectorRon RiceEcstatic travelers journey into the heart of Mexico.
- DirectorJack SmithStarsFrancis FrancineSheila BickJoel MarkmanAn experimental film that features graphic sexual imagery, an earthquake, and a lipstick commercial.
- DirectorFrançois TruffautStarsJeanne MoreauOskar WernerHenri SerreDecades of a love triangle concerning two friends and an impulsive woman.
- DirectorLeo McCareyStarsGroucho MarxHarpo MarxChico MarxRufus T. Firefly is named the dictator of bankrupt Freedonia and declares war on neighboring Sylvania over the love of his wealthy backer Mrs. Teasdale, contending with two inept spies who can't seem to keep straight which side they're on.
- DirectorRobert FrankAlfred LeslieStarsJack KerouacAllen GinsbergGregory CorsoA married couple vainly hopes that their irreverent beat poet friends will behave themselves when the bishop comes to visit.
- DirectorFederico FelliniStarsMarcello MastroianniAnouk AiméeClaudia CardinaleA harried movie director retreats into his memories and fantasies.
- DirectorAndy WarholStarsDeVeren BookwalterWillard MaasAndy Warhol directs a single 35-minute shot of a man's face to capture his facial expressions as he receives the sexual act depicted in the title.
- DirectorJean GenetStarsBravoJean GenetJavaTwo prisoners in complete isolation, separated by the thick brick walls, and desperately in need of human contact, devise a most unusual kind of communication.
- DirectorCharles ChaplinStarsCharles ChaplinClaire BloomNigel BruceA fading comedian and a suicidally despondent ballet dancer must look to each other to find purpose and hope in their lives.
- DirectorStan BrakhageStarsStan BrakhageJane WodeningThe first part of Dog Star Man (1964), an experimental film wherein a man climbs a mountain along with his dog.
- DirectorStan BrakhageStarsStan BrakhageJane WodeningThe fourth and final part of Dog Star Man (1964), an experimental film wherein a man climbs a mountain along with his dog.
- DirectorStan BrakhageStarsStan BrakhageJane WodeningThe prelude to Dog Star Man (1964), an experimental film wherein a man climbs a mountain along with his dog.
- DirectorStan BrakhageAn experimental film with dimming and brightening lights illuminating a woman in a bathrobe. This is part of the Song series by Stan Brakhage.
- DirectorStan BrakhageAn experimental film with images of a dirt road, plants, and trees. This is part of the Song series by Stan Brakhage.
- DirectorStan BrakhageAn experimental film with images of water, streams, rivers, and wet streets. This is part of the Song series by Stan Brakhage.
- DirectorStan BrakhageAn experimental film with flashing images and children playing with a ball in the backyard. This is part of the Song series by Stan Brakhage.
- DirectorStan BrakhageAn experimental film with flashing images and a woman giving birth to a child. This is part of the Song series by Stan Brakhage.
- DirectorStan BrakhageAn experimental film with flashing images of flowers and insects. This is part of the Song series by Stan Brakhage.
- DirectorStan BrakhageAn experimental film with flashing images of the ocean and houses in a beachfront community. This is part of the Song series by Stan Brakhage.
- DirectorStan BrakhageAn experimental film with images of beaches, the ocean, and marine life. This is part of the Song series by Stan Brakhage.
- DirectorRobert Breer
- DirectorOwen Land
- DirectorBarbara RubinFor all intents and purposes, "Christmas on Earth" is a performance art film about genital worship. At twenty-nine minutes, Barbara Rubin has created the ultimate study on the celebratory and erotic nature of free love. The film is tinted in various colors (hence the title), and finds various people engaging in sexual activity. Men with women, men with men, women with women, and several orgies throughout.
- DirectorBen Van Meter
- DirectorCurtis HarringtonStarsMarjorie CameronA short film about the actress and artist Cameron (who used just her surname).
- DirectorStorm De HirschStarsRosa PiradellFranco VolpinoDiane StaintonA dramatic feature shot on location in Rome. Centered around the adventures and illusions of three girls living abroad, the film explores their restlessness and personal involvements in assuming the role of woman as hunter.
- CreatorDoug WildeyStarsMike RoadTim MathesonDon MessickThe Quest family and their bodyguard investigate strange phenomena and battle villains around the world.
- DirectorSatyajit RayStarsAnil ChatterjeeMadhavi MukherjeeJaya BachchanLife at home changes when a house-wife from a middle-class, conservative family in Calcutta gets a job as a saleswoman.
- DirectorJean-Luc GodardStarsAnna KarinaClaude BrasseurDanièle GirardTwo crooks with a fondness for old Hollywood B-movies convince a languages student to help them commit a robbery.
- CreatorOsamu TezukaStarsBillie Lou WattMari ShimizuEsperanzita MartínezAs long as trouble's brewing across the universe, the small but powerful robot, Astro Boy, will have adventures, assisted by his mentor, Dr. Elefun.
- StarsSoupy SalesClyde AdlerFrank NastasiSaturday morning comedy for all ages brought to you by comic Soupy Sales and his friends Black Tooth, White Fang and Pookie. Largely one-set production relied heavily on cuts to old film clips and a certain amount of slapstick, as well as amusing improvisation.
- DirectorGeorge Roy HillStarsPeter SellersTippy WalkerMerrie SpaethA mischievous, adventuresome fourteen-year-old girl and her best friend begin following an eccentric concert pianist around New York City after she develops a crush on him.
- DirectorRobert MulliganStarsNatalie WoodSteve McQueenEdie AdamsA salesclerk at Macy's department store finds herself pregnant after a one-night stand with a musician who does not even remember her.
- DirectorFred ZinnemannStarsGregory PeckAnthony QuinnOmar SharifFamous Spanish bandit Artiguez returns to his native Spanish village after 20 years in French exile, but Spanish cop Vinolas sets a trap for him.
- DirectorMichael CacoyannisStarsAnthony QuinnAlan BatesIrene PapasAn uptight English writer travelling to Crete, on a matter of business, finds his life changed forever when he meets the gregarious Alexis Zorba.
- DirectorNikos PapatakisStarsFrancine BergéColette BergéPascale de BoyssonA bourgeois family, who is harassed and humiliated, ruins their young maids without pay for several years.
- DirectorBryan ForbesStarsKim StanleyRichard AttenboroughMargaret LaceyA medium and her husband stage a kidnapping in order for her to pretend to solve the crime and achieve fame.
- DirectorR.G. SpringsteenStarsTony YoungDan DuryeaJo MorrowA rancher is pressured by his cheating wife and a gang leader, into trying to cripple a marshal's gun hand, after that marshal killed his murderous son in self defense.
- DirectorJoseph L. MankiewiczRouben MamoulianStarsElizabeth TaylorRichard BurtonRex HarrisonQueen Cleopatra VII of Egypt experiences both triumph and tragedy as she attempts to resist the imperial ambitions of Rome.
- DirectorAndy WarholStarsFred Herko
- 19641h 35mPG8.4 (519K)97MetascoreDirectorStanley KubrickStarsPeter SellersGeorge C. ScottSterling HaydenAn unhinged American general orders a bombing attack on the Soviet Union, triggering a path to nuclear holocaust that a war room full of politicians and generals frantically tries to stop.