00 Week: Whatever happened, he would put up no resistance to his old skin being sloughed off him on the other side of the world

YOU ONLY LIVE TWICE

1967

Directed by Lewis Gilbert

Written by Roald Dahl and Harold Jack Bloom (based on the novel by Ian Fleming)

Spoilers: severe

00 Week: The scent and smoke and sweat of a casino are nauseating at three in the morning

CASINO ROYALE

1967

Directed by John Huston, Ken Hughes, Val Guest, Joe McGrath, and Robert Parrish

Written by Wolf Mankowitz, John Law, Michael Sayers, Ben Hecht, Joseph Heller, Terry Southern, Billy Wilder, and Woody Allen ("based on" the novel by Ian Fleming)

Spoilers: high, I guess, but also largely meaningless

A lovely sort of death

THE TRIP

1967

Directed by Roger Corman

Written by Jack Nicholson and Charles B. Griffith

Spoilers: moderate, somewhat inapplicable

It's an almost vanished way of life, not easy to hold onto... and terribly expensive to maintain

FITZWILLY

1967

Directed by Delbert Mann

Written by Isobel Lennart (based on the novel A Garden of Cucumbers by Poyznt Tyler)

Spoilers: moderate

Rio, Rififi-style

GRAND SLAM

aka Ad ogna costi (At Any Cost)

1967

Directed by Giuliano Montaldo

Written by Mino Roli

Spoilers: moderate

Dancing about architecture

PLAYTIME

1967

Directed by Jacques Tati

Written by Jacques Lagrange, Art Buchwald, and Jacques Tati

Spoiler alert: oh, very inapplicable

Walt Disney, part XXIV: How lucky I was that he had been out of the office, I would have felt really bad if I had told him to go to hell or something during what were the last few days of his life

THE JUNGLE BOOK

1967

Directed by Wolfgang Reitherman

Written by Bill Peet, Larry Clemons, Ken Anderson, Ralph Wright, and Vance Gerry (based on the short stories by Rudyard Kipling)

Spoiler: well, he's not terribly likely to bang a wolf, is he?

Masaki Kobayashi: Don't take my wife... please!

SAMURAI REBELLION

Joi-uchi: Hairyozuma shimatsu

Maybe not every samurai movie is about how lousy samurai society actually was, but most of the good ones are.  Rebellion is one of the best.  As you'd expect, frankly, given the man who made it.

1967

Directed by Masaki Kobayashi

Written by Shinobu Hashimoto (based on the novel Hairyozuma shimatsu by Yashuhiko Takaguchi)

With Tohsiro Mifune (Isaburo Sasahara), Yoko Tsukasa (Ichi Sasahara), Go Kato (Yogoro Sasahara), Michiko Otsuka (Suga Sasahara), Tatsuo Matsumura (Lord Masakata Matsudaira), Shigeru Koyama (Geki Takahashi), and Tatsuya Nakadai (Tatewaki Asano)

Spoiler alert: moderate

We've been eating Gamera, part III: Tempted by the red mist

Gamera isn't the most important, or the most influential, or the most popular Japanese monster.  That just means the Guardian of the Universe may have to content himself with simply being the best.  This series of reviews is dedicated to my very favorite turtle. 

GAMERA VS. GAOS
(Daikaiju kuchusen: Gamera tai Gyaosu)

This is the turning point.  Gamera vs. Gaos brings it all: spectacular high-camp science fantasy; the franchise's most iconic foemonster; a new, improved Kenny; and a novel emphasis upon Gamera as the hero of his own movies.  But most importantly, it brings Noriaki Yuasa and Nisan Takahashi back to full control of their monster's destiny.  This is the definitive entry in the Showa series.

1967
Directed by Noriaki Yuasa
Written by Nisan Takahashi
With Teruo Aragaki (Gamera), Naoyuki Abe (Kenny Eiichi Kanamura), Kojiro Hongo (Shiro Tsutsumi), Kichijiro Ueda (Tatsuemon Kanamura), Reiko Kasahara (Sumiko Kanamura), and Yoshiro Katahara (Dr. Aoki)

Spoiler alert: severe