Goldfinger, Hard Days Night, Fistful of Dollars, Mary Poppins
Academy Awards 1964
Picture:"MY FAIR LADY", "Becket", "Dr. Strangelove or: How I Learned To Stop Worrying...", "Mary Poppins", "Zorba the Greek"
Actor: REX HARRISON in "My Fair Lady", Richard Burton in "Becket", Peter O'Toole in "Becket", Anthony Quinn in "Zorba the Greek", Peter Sellers in "Dr. Strangelove or: How I Learned To Stop Worrying..."
Actress: JULIE ANDREWS in "Mary Poppins", Anne Bancroft in "The Pumpkin Eater", Sophia Loren in "Marriage Italian Style", Debbie Reynolds in "The Unsinkable Molly Brown", Kim Stanley in "Seance on a Wet Afternoon"
Supporting Actor: PETER USTINOV in "Topkapi", John Gielgud in "Becket", Stanley Holloway in "My Fair Lady", Edmond O'Brien in "Seven Days in May", Lee Tracy in "The Best Man"
Supporting Actress: LILA KEDROVA in "Zorba the Greek", Gladys Cooper in "My Fair Lady", Edith Evans in "The Chalk Garden", Grayson Hall in "The Night of the Iguana", Agnes Moorehead in "Hush...Hush, Sweet Charlotte"
Director: GEORGE CUKOR for "My Fair Lady", Michael Cacoyannis for "Zorba the Greek", Peter Glenville for "Becket", Stanley Kubrick for "Dr. Strangelove or: How I Learned To Stop Worrying...", Robert Stevenson for "Mary Poppins"
Top Box Office 1964
The Carpetbaggers - From the 1961 Harold Robbins book loosely based on the high rolling Hollywood lives of Howard Hughes and Jean Harlow. Starring George Peppard, Carol Baker and Allan Ladd in his last movie.
Goldfinger - Sean Connery stars in the third Bond film which became the first blockbuster and the template for all that followed. It had everything, Honor Blackman with the wonderful name of Pussy Galore, Gert Forbe as the evil ugly Goldfinger, Harold Sakata as his man monster with the killer frisbee hat, a laser beam to the crotch, a gold painted naked dead woman and the great song by Shirley Bassey.
Zorba the Greek - Irish Mexican actor Anthony Quinn plays the lead as Zorba the Greek who has the answers to life for supporting actor Alan Bates. Lila Kedrova won the Oscar for Best Supporting Actress.
Marry Poppins
The Unsinkable Molly Brown
Tom Jones
It's a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World
Charade
My Fair Lady
New Movies 1964
Viva Las Vegas - Elvis Presley and Ann-Margret star in what is considered Elvis' best post military service movie. The on screen chemistry between Presley and Ann-Margret, much to the pain of Priscilla Presley, went off screen as well.
The Americanization of Emily
At Midnight I'll Take Your Soul
Bedtime Story
The Best Man
Blood and Black Lace
Circus World
The Patsy, starring Jerry Lewis
The Disorderly Orderly, starring Jerry Lewis
Ensign Pulver
The Fall of the Roman Empire
Father Goose
Good Neighbor Sam
Hamlet
The Incredible Mr. Limpet
In Harm's Way
John Goldfarb, Please Come Home
Kissin' Cousins, starring Elvis Presley
Roustabout, starring Elvis Presley
Marnie
Nothing But the Best
One Potato, Two Potato
The Pumpkin Eater
Robin and the 7 Hoods
Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer
Séance on a Wet Afternoon
Seven Up!
The Thin Red Line
Topkapi
The Unsinkable Molly Brown
The Visit
Welcome, or No Trespassing
What a Way to Go!
Woman in the Dunes
The Yellow Rolls-Royce
Yesterday, Today, and Tomorrow
Zorba the Greek
Zulu
Allan Ladd, most famous for his portrayal of the ultimate good cowboy in Shane, died of an accidental alcohol and barbiturate overdose on January 29, 1964. He had recently played his last part as Nevada Smith in the movie The Carpetbaggers. The downward spiral notes that in November of 1962 he was found in a pool of blood with a bullet wound near his heart with little explanation.
A Hollywood war of sorts breaks out when Jack Warner decided to cast Audrey Hepburn in the role of Eliza Dolittle in the film version of My Fair Lady rather than Julie Andrews who was the lead in the successful Broadway stage version. Julie Andrews won the Academy Award for best actress in Mary Poppins while Audrey Hepburn - who lip synced her part - received no nominations as a rebuke to Warner. Walt Disney's Mary Poppins becomes Disney's biggest moneymaker, and winner of five Academy Awards and the first to be nominated for Best Picture.
Elizabeth Taylor has her 5th wedding and marries Richard Burton
Good Movies 1964
Dr. Strangelove - Director Stanley Kubrick with writer Terry Southern bring us the end of the world. Peter Sellers plays three parts with Sterling Hayden and George C. Scott playing US Military war nuts.
"Gentlemen, you can't fight in here. This is the War Room!" President Merkin Muffley (Peter Sellers)
"I can no longer sit back and allow Communist infiltration, Communist indoctrination, Communist subversion and the international Communist conspiracy to sap and impurify all of our precious bodily fluids." General Jack Ripper (Sterling Hayden)
"Gee, I wish we had one of them doomsday machines." General "Buck" Turgidson (George C. Scott)
A Fistful of Dollars - Italian director Sergio Leone gives us the first Spaghetti Western with his Man With No Name trilogy filmed in Spain and staring Clint Eastwood. Though released in Europe in 1964 it was not released in the U.S. until 1967. It was followed by For a Few Dollars More (1965) and The Good, the Bad and the Ugly (1966).
A Shot in the Dark - The second in Blake Edwards' Pink Panther series stars Peter Sellers as the bumbling Inspector Clouseau (the silly French accent appears) and Elke Summers. Herbert Lom as the Commissioner and Burt Kwouk as Cato the servant are introduced to the the series.
A Hard Day's Night - Riding Beatlemania this movie named after a Ringo Starr quip advanced rock movies beyond the horrible beach movies. It became the impetus for not only the Monkees TV show but music videos for years to come. Starring Paul McCartney, John Lennon, George Harrison and Ringo Starr
Fail-Safe- Sidney Lumet directs the serious version of Dr. Strangelove with Henry Fonda as a President facing nuclear war. Both films in black and white.
B Movies 1964
The Flesh Eaters
Mothra vs. Godzilla is the fourth in the Godzilla series and introduces the good monster Mothra who appears more often than any other over the Godzilla years. The same year
Ghidorah, the Three Headed Monster comes out which places Godzilla as Japan's savior for the first time.
The Masque of the Red Death - Roger Corman and Vincent Price bring yet another Edgar Allan Poe story to the screen.