50 Years Ago: 1966 in Auteur Film
We all have our lists of filmmakers whose work we keep up with. There are 15 or 20 filmmakers I follow avidly, with an eager eye towards their latest film. But in 1966 that list would have been much longer. In fact, for me, all of the following films would have been must-sees.
It’s a little overwhelming to look back at the U.S. release schedule in 1966 and see how many major filmmakers were working. The year was a bit of a generational crossroad. Many in the old guard tried to adapt to the new youth market, masters with long track records tried to stay in the game, and the next generation of auteurs took early steps.
Here’s the auteur scorecard for 1966, a head-spinningly great year in film:
Michelangelo Antonioni
BLOWUP
Mario Bava
KILL, BABY, KILL
Ingmar Bergman
PERSONA
Robert Bresson
AU HASARD BALTHAZAR
Richard Brooks
THE PROFESSIONALS
Věra Chytilová
René Clément
IS PARIS BURNING?
Francis Ford Coppola
YOU’RE A BIG BOY NOW
Sergio Corbucci
DJANGO
THE HELLBENDERS
NAVAJO JOE
Roger Corman
THE WILD ANGELS
Damiano Damiani
A BULLET FOR THE GENERAL
Vittorio De Sica
AFTER THE FOX
Stanley Donen
ARABESQUE
Blake Edwards
WHAT DID YOU DO IN THE WAR, DADDY?
Terence Fisher
DRACULA, PRINCE OF DARKNESS
John Ford
SEVEN WOMEN
John Frankenheimer
GRAND PRIX
SECONDS
Pietro Germi
THE BIRDS, THE BEES & THE ITALIANS
Jean-Luc Godard
MADE IN USA
MASCULINE-FEMININE
Tomás Gutiérrez Alea
EL DORADO
Monte Hellman
RIDE IN THE WHIRLWIND
THE SHOOTING
Alfred Hitchcock
TORN CURTAIN
King Hu
COME DRINK WITH ME
John Huston
THE BIBLE: IN THE BEGINNING…
Shohei Imamura
THE PORNOGRAPHERS
Phil Karlson
THE SILENCERS
William Klein
WHO ARE YOU, POLLY MAGOO?
Sergio Leone
THE GOOD, THE BAD & THE UGLY
Richard Lester
A FUNNY THING HAPPENED ON THE WAY TO THE FORUM
Jerry Lewis
THREE ON A COUCH
Joseph Losey
MODESTY BLAISE
Sidney Lumet
THE DEADLY AFFAIR
THE GROUP
Ida Lupino
THE TROUBLE WITH ANGELS
Jean-Pierre Melville
LE DEUXIÈME SOUFFLE
Jiří Menzel
CLOSELY WATCHED TRAINS
Mike Nichols
WHO’S AFRAID OF VIRGINIA WOOLF?
Kihachi Okamoto
SWORD OF DOOM
Arthur Penn
THE CHASE
Roman Polanski
CUL-DE-SAC
Sydney Pollock
THIS PROPERTY IS CONDEMNED
Gillo Pontecorvo
BATTLE OF ALGIERS
Powell/Pressburger
THEY’RE A WEIRD MOB
Satyajit Ray
NAYAK: THE HERO
Michael Reeves
THE SHE BEAST
Karel Reisz
YOUNG TÖRLESS
Ousmane Sembène
Sergio Sollima
THE BIG GUNDOWN
Seijun Suzuki
FIGHTING ELEGY
TOKYO DRIFTER
Andrei Tarkovsky
ANDREI RUBLEV
Frank Tashlin
THE GLASS BOTTOM BOAT
Francois Truffaut
FAHRENHEIT 451
Andy Warhol
CHELSEA GIRLS
Orson Welles
CHIMES AT MIDNIGHT
Billy Wilder
THE FORTUNE COOKIE
William Wyler
HOW TO STEAL A MILLION
Fred Zinneman
A MAN FOR ALL SEASONS
