Diamonds on the Beach Cutting Your Feet, Making You Laugh While the Tears Stream Down Your Face

Five Films of the 1960s That Have Never Received Their Just Dues

Written by Andrew Williams

There are certain touchstone films from the 1960s that have earned their place amongst the ages: nuclear comedies (black, no sugar or cream)--"Dr Strangelove;" more lighthearted but still satirical fare--"A Hard Day's Night," "Help!," "What's New, Pussycat," "Yellow Submarine;" reedited and dubbed foreign films--"What's Up Tiger Lily," and utter antediluvian silliness--"The Great Race," "Those Magnificent Men In Their Flying Machines," "Those Daring Young Men In Their Jaunty Jalopies,"  "Chitty Chitty, Bang Bang" and so there. But there are (by this writer's count) five films that also belong in that pantheon that are not often found there. Since the asworn purpose of aboutcultfilm.com is to bring such gems out of the earth and polish them to their full, shining brilliance, I am herewith unlocking my word vault to let you inside to catch a brief glimpse of these underseen and -valued masterworks.

1)"Bedazzled" (1967) Director: Stanley Donen. Stars: Peter Cook, Dudley Moore, Raquel Welch, Eleanor Bron.
Dudley Moore and Peter Cook were already famous worldwide for their participation in the *Beyond The Fringe* comedy revue when they made this, their first film together. It's a play on the old Faust legend, with Moore as the Faust character, a short-order cook in a chip shop who is smitten with co-worker Eleanor Bron ("Help!", "Absolutely Fabulous") but can't work up the gumption to approach her. Enter Peter Cook as the Horned One, very stylish, very groovy. This is a Swinging Devil, ready to help us mortals make it. But, as in the legends, every scheme Cook devises for Moore ends with Moore upstaged by the suave, sophisticated, sexy Bill Z. Bub. A classic sequence shows Moore as a teen idol on telly, coming on to the Sheilas like a locomotive, only to be followed by Cook as a moody, introspective caped figure (think Peter Murphy in London Mod garb) who really grabs the girls with his unreachable demeanor. Raquel Welch appears in a cameo as one of the seven sins (guess which one?). Director Donen, best known for "Singin' In The Rain," makes an impressive cult film debut.

2)"The Loved One" (1965) Director: Tony Richardson. Stars: Robert Morse, Anjanette Comer, Jonathan Winters, Rod Steiger, Robert Morley, Tab Hunter, Milton Berle, Lionel Stander, Dana Andrews, Liberace, James Coburn, Sir John Gielgud.
An all-star cast fleshes out this brilliant adaptation by Terry Southern and Christopher Isherwood of Evelyn Waugh's novel, which scathingly depicts the ethically questionable machinations of the American mortuary industry. Jonathan Winters almost steals the show as both the director of a pet cemetery and his brother, a charismatic minister who is the real boss. Rod Steiger is an absolute scream and scream again as Mr. Joyboy, the head mortician of Whispering Pines, who dresses the corpses and feeds his overweight mother. Anjanette Comer (one of those great sexy women of the 1960s who could also act) plays Amy Planatagenet, the young cosmetician who is torn between Steiger and Robert Morse as an expatriate English poet and "artificial insemination donor" who initially comes to her attention when he makes funeral arrangements for his uncle (Gielgud, in a masterfully understated performance). He is initially bewildered by all the behind-the-scenes Machiavellianisms but eventually teams up with Winters the director to establish (with the help of a Boy Genius) a means to shoot human remains into "eternal orbit." Cameos from Tab Hunter, Liberace and James Coburn lend further spice to this wonderfully bizarre scenario.

3)"The Magic Christian" (1970) Director: Joseph McGrath. Stars: Peter Sellers, Ringo Starr, Christopher Lee, Raquel Welch, Richard Attenborough, Roman Polanski, Yul Brynner.
Another brilliant Southern adaptation, this time of his own novel. The theme of the film is this: Just how low are people willing to go to get The Almighty Buck? How easily are they manipulated in pursuit of it by status and greed? Sir Guy Grand (Peter Sellers) decides to spend part of his immense fortune to find out. To that end, he brings in a homeless man (Ringo Starr) to be his adopted son and co-conspirator. More brilliant cameos from Raquel Welch, Christopher Lee, Roman Polanski and Yul Brynner, whose appearance in the bar scene is a definite highlight of the film. And keep your eyes out for Pythons John Cleese and Graham Chapman, who contributed to the screenplay.

4)"Casino Royale" (1967) Directors(!): John Huston, Ken Hughes, Robert Parrish, Joseph McGrath, Val Guest. Stars: Peter Sellers, Ursula Andress, David Niven, Woody Allen, Orson Welles, Deborah Kerr, George Raft, Joanna Pettit, William Holden, Charles Boyer, John Huston, Jean-Paul Belmondo.
Though it's regarded as one of the oddest and weakest entries in the Bond canon--no doubt due in part to the myriad directors who helmed the production--it's still a hoot. Will the real James Bond please stand up? Is it (drumroll) a) Peter Sellers, b)David Niven, c)Orson Welles, d)Woody Allen, e) Peter Sellers (oops, sorry) or f)None of the above? Features George Raft in a brilliant sight gag. Also Deborah Kerr in a hot clinch with Niven. Allen is hysterical as the would-be world conqueror. Plot? What plot? Oh, yes, there is a plot--as well as an excellent score by Henry Mancini.

5)"The Bed-Sitting Room" (1969) Director: Richard Lester. Stars: Dudley Moore, Peter Cook, Rita Tushingham, Harry Secombe, Roy Kinnear, Spike Milligan, Sir Ralph Richardson.
A devastating (literally) nuclear-war satire from former Goon Spike Milligan and John Antrobus reunites two of the three Goons under the directorial aegis of the brilliant Richard Lester (A Hard Day's Night, Help!, The Three Musketeers, ffolkes). In the aftermath of WWIII, a war-torn England uses all its pluck to get from day to day. But the radiation is wreaking havoc on the survivors as they begin transforming into objects: closets, chairs, and the aforementioned bedsit room. Harry Secombe (the other Goon) keeps it underground in his underground bunker. Peter Cook and Dudley Moore fly through the film as gov't lackeys whose job it is to keep everyone moving--or else. Rita Tushingham (a popular English actress during the 1960s who was, as the British would say, a "tasty bit of crumpet" and a damned good actress) represents the Hope for Humanity as a young woman who's been pregnant for 18 months. And Sir Ralph Richardson embodies the film's title. Funnier than it sounds and just as surreal.