Best Film 1962 - Best Film 162

[Big Magilla]

1962 was a great year for movies - all kinds of movies, yet I still think Oscar got it right. Lean's exquisitely photographed Lawrence of Arabia with its literate script by Robert Bolt and enigmatic performances by Peter O'Toole and Omar Sharif still thrills though not even the biggest of TV sets can do it justice.

To Kill a Mockingbird comes close, of course, and The Music Man deserved its nomination, if just barely, but The Longest Day goes on so long it might have called The Longest Movie and Mutiny on the Bounty despite its breathtaking cinematography pales in compariosn to the 1935 version.

Other films worthy of considiration include Frankenheimer's deliciously macabre The Manchurian Candidate, Lumet's extraordinary filming of O'Neil's Long Day's Journey Into Night and though it doesn't hold up as well as it once did, the Perrys' investigation of teenage mental problems, David and Lisa, is still unforgettable.

Add Ford's The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance if you can accept Stewart and Wayne as characters twenty to thirty years younger than the actors, Peckinpah's Ride the High Country in which Randolph Scott and Joel McCrea do very well acting their age, Preminger's all-star Advise & Consent, Ustinov's flawed but mesmerizing film of Meliville's Billy Budd, Arthur Penn's well executed screen transfer of The Miracle Worker, Frankenheimer's suspenseful Bird Man of Alcatraz, Basil Dearden's ahead of its time Victim and Richard Brooks' softened yet still powerful version of Tennessee Williams' Sweet Bird of Youth.

Other 1962 films that are worth discovering or re-discovering, even if they weren't in the front ranks of Oscar consideration include Martin Ritt's film of Hemingway's Adventures of a Young Man, Henry Koster's still funny Mr. Hobbs Takes a Vacation, Howard Hawks' jaunty Hatari, the latter two featuring Stewart and Wayne in age appropriate roles, Blake Edwards' well crafted Experiment in Terror and George Seaton's melancholy spy film, The Counterfet Traitor.

I'm less enthusiastic about Edwards' Days of Wine and Roses, except for Henry Mancini's evocative score, as it pales next to the Playhouse 90 production with Cliff Robertson and Piper Laurie, J. Lee Thompson's Cape Fear, though it is certainly superior to Scorsese's mess of a remake and What Ever Happened to Baby Jane excpet for the deliciousness of its lead performances.

[Damien]

Although you wouldn't know it from these nominees (only To Kill A Mockingbird is Best Picture-worthy), 1962 was a great year, with -- in addition to Mockingbird -- major films from such masters as Robert Aldrich, Blake Edwards (2), Arthur Penn, Howard Hawks, Otto Preminger, Sam Fuller, Jerry Lewis, Vincente Minnelli, Don Siegel, Frank Tashlin, George Cukor, and, of course, John Ford. I'm in complete agreement with DWS about The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance being number one; it's head and shoulders above even all these other outstanding '62 releases.

The most interesting Oscar category that year was Black and White Costume Design, with the nominees being Days of Wine and Roses, The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance, The Miracle Worker, Phaedra and the deserved winner, What Ever Happened To Baby Jane?

[Penelope]

To Kill a Mockingbird. None of the others even come close.

[dws1982]

My number two film of 1962: To Kill A Mockingbird.

My favorite of the year overall was The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance, although both are top twenty-five of all time material.

[Snick's Guy]

Vote your best film of 1962