The 1960s brought some of the best movies to the big screen. Science fiction, spaghetti Westerns, and spy movies were some of the most prominent genres during the decade when films became increasingly experimental and daring.
Thanks to films like Bonnie and Clyde, more sex and violence were being shown on screen, and movies like Dr. Strangelover talked about the terrifying events of nuclear war. If you want to check out some of the best 60s movies that explored interesting, new, and classic topics and tropes, these are the best ones.
14. Psycho, Prime Video (1960)
Horror was a prominent genre in the 1960s, and Psycho is one of the finest examples of why as one of the best 60s movies. The horror film was produced and directed by Alfred Hitchcock and is based on the 1959 novel sharing the same name by Robert Bloch.
Psycho follows a Phoenix secretary who embezzles $40,000 from her employer’s client and goes on the run. When she checks into a remote motel, things start to take a dark turn. The motel is run by a young man who has a terrifying past.
13. The Apartment, Pluto (1960)
The 1960s were also full of romantic comedies, like the 1960 film, The Apartment, directed and produced by Billy Wilder.
The story follows an insurance clerk who lends his Upper West Side apartment to his senior coworkers who are having affairs in hopes of climbing the corporate ladder. When he starts to build an attraction to an elevator operator in his office building, things start to get a bit complicated.
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12. Dr. Strangelover or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb, Max (1964)
With a long and wacky title, this is one of the best 60s movies that you can stream today. The 1964 political satire comedy film was produced and directed by Stanley Kubrick and stars Peter Sellers in three roles.
The film satirizes the Cold War fears of a nuclear conflict between the Soviet Union and the United States and is loosely based on the 1958 thriller novel, Red Alert, by Peter George. The story follows two plots: an unhinged United States Air Force general who orders a pre-emptive nuclear attack on the Soviet Union, and the President of the United States along with his advisors who attempt to prevent the crew of a B-52 from bombing the Soviet Union and starting a nuclear war.
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11. The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly, Max (1966)
Directed by Sergio Leone, The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly is one of the most well-known and best 60s movies. The film is known as a spaghetti western, a subgenre of Western films produced in Europe that emerged thanks to Leone’s film-making style and international box-office success.
The story is set during the American Civil War when three men set off to find gold buried in a remote cemetery worth $200,000. The group quickly become rivals and meet in a showdown that takes place amid a major battle between Confederate and Union forces.
10. 2001: A Space Odyssey, Max (1968)
Another incredibly popular genre in the 60s was science fiction. Stanley Kubrick is back at it again with another best 60s movie 2001: A Space Odyssey, a 1968 film inspired by Arthur C. Clarke’s 1951 short story, The Sentinel.
The film follows a spacecraft manned by two men and HAL, an AI supercomputer, who must go to Jupiter to uncover the origins of a mysterious artifact that was uncovered. The movie is highly regarded as one of the greatest and most influential films ever made.
9. Ocean’s Eleven, Max (1960)
Ocean’s is a series of heist films and has been one of the biggest franchises in the industry. But before Pitt, Damon, and Clooney were the stars, and the most recent Bullock, Hathaway, and Kaling, we had the Rat Pack.
Big names Frank Sinatra, Dean Martin, Sammy Davis Jr., Peter Lawford, and Angie Dickinson were the stars of the first film, Ocean’s Eleven in 1960. The story follows a group of World War II comrades who pull off the ultimate Las Vegas heist.
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8. Days of Wine and Roses, Prime Video (1962)
The 1962 romantic drama was directed by Blake Edwards and was adapted from JP Miller’s 1958 Playhouse 90 teleplay sharing the same name. The film was selected for preservation in the United States Film Registry for being “culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant”.
Days of Wine and Roses is one of the best 60s movies that follows a man with a drinking problem. When he marries a young woman, he encourages her to drink so they can share his “passion” together.
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7. The Music Man, Prime Video (1962)
The Music Man is a 1962 musical film directed and produced by Morton DaCosta and is based on Meredith Willson’s 1957 Broadway musical sharing the same name.
The film follows a con man who pretends to be a music professor to take money from the townsfolk. But when his rouse of seducing the local music teacher, Marian, turns out to be true, his schemes start to get tricky to pull off.
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6. My Fair Lady, Paramount (1964)
Another musical, My Fair Lady is based on the 1938 film adaption of the 1913 play Pygmalion by George Bernard Shaw.
The story is set in 1920s London when snobbish phonetics professor Henry Higgins agrees to wager that he can make crude flower girl, Eliza Doolittle, presentable in high society. But despite his cynical nature and difficulty understanding women, Higgins grows attached to her.
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5. The Great Race, Prime Video (1965)
The Great Race is a 1965 Technicolor epic comedy film directed by Blake Edwards starring Jack Lemmon, Tony Curtis, and Natalie Wood. The movie cost $12 million, the most expensive comedy film of all time, as well as one of the best 60s movies, and was inspired by actual 1908 New York to Paris Race.
The story is set in the early 20th century where two rivals, the heroic Leslie and the despicable Professor Fate, engage in an epic automobile race from New York to Paris. The movie is known for one scene that was promoted as “the greatest pie fight ever” and was nominated for five Academy Awards, winning the Academy Award for Best Sound Effects.
4. Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf?, Prime Video (1966)
Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf? is a 1966 black comedy directed by Mike Nichols as his directorial debut and is adapted from Edward Albee’s 1962 play sharing the same name.
The story follows a bitter, aging couple whose charged relationship is defined by verbal battles that are fueled by alcohol. One night when the couple invites Nick and Honey for a nightcap, the couple gets caught up in the abuse.
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3. Bonnie and Clyde, Prime Video (1967)
Bonnie and Clyde‘s success influenced Hollywood and inspired filmmakers to add more sex and violence to their movies.
Bonnie and Clyde was nominated for eight Academy Awards, winning only one (Best Supporting Actress, Estelle Parsons). The movie has one of the most iconic endings in cinematic history and is one of the best 60s movies.
2. Cool Hand Luke, Prime Video (1967)
Cool Hand Luke is a prison drama directed by Stuart Rosenberg and starring Paul Newman. Newman stars as a free-spirited, free-thinking inmate whom the guards and captain go to great lengths to break.
The movie is based on the 1965 novel sharing the same name and was a box office success, winning one Academy Award (Best Supporting Actor, George Kennedy).
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1. Bullitt, Prime Video (1968)
Based on the Mute Witness novel, starring Steve McQueen and a 1968 Mustang Fastback, Bullitt earned $42 million and became the 5th highest-grossing movie of 1968.
This is one of the best 60s movies, winning an Academy Award for Best Film Editing (Frank P. Keller). The film follows a nonconformist San Francisco cop who is determined to find the underworld kingpin who killed the witness under his protection.