Must-sees of 1959
The titles hereby listed have been selected out of 137 1959-released works seen.
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52 titles
- DirectorYasujirô OzuStarsGanjirô NakamuraMachiko KyôHaruko SugimuraThe head of a Japanese theatre troupe returns to a small coastal town where he left a son who thinks he is his uncle, and tries to make up for the lost time, but his current mistress grows jealous.
- DirectorAlain ResnaisStarsEmmanuelle RivaEiji OkadaStella DassasA French actress filming an anti-war film in Hiroshima has an affair with a married Japanese architect as they share their differing perspectives on war.
- DirectorLuis BuñuelStarsFrancisco RabalMarga LópezRita MacedoA priest in a poor community lives a charitable life in accordance with his religious principles, but many others do not return the favor.
- DirectorRobert WiseStarsHarry BelafonteRobert RyanGloria GrahameIn need of quick money, a fallen former cop recruits a hard-bitten ex-con and a debt-ridden nightclub singer to pull off a bank job. But as the animosity between them boils over, the entire plan threatens to implode.
- DirectorValerio ZurliniStarsEleonora Rossi DragoJean-Louis TrintignantLilla BrignoneSummer 1943: The war is in full swing in southern Italy. Together with friends, Carlo enjoys a carefree summer in youthful naïveté. He falls in love with Roberta, whose husband was killed in the war.
- DirectorFrançois TruffautStarsJean-Pierre LéaudAlbert RémyClaire MaurierA young boy, left without attention, delves into a life of petty crime.
- DirectorHoward HawksStarsJohn WayneDean MartinRicky NelsonA small-town sheriff in the American West enlists the help of a disabled man, a drunk, and a young gunfighter in his efforts to hold in jail the brother of the local bad guy.
- DirectorMario MonicelliStarsAlberto SordiVittorio GassmanBernard BlierThe Italian Army fought against the Austrians during World War I.
- DirectorBilly WilderStarsMarilyn MonroeTony CurtisJack LemmonAfter two male musicians witness a mob hit, they flee the state in an all-female band disguised as women, but further complications set in.
- DirectorKon IchikawaStarsEiji FunakoshiMantarô UshioYoshihiro HamaguchiIn the closing days of WWII, remnants of the Japanese army in Leyte are abandoned by their command and face certain death by starvation.
- DirectorJohn FordStarsJohn WayneWilliam HoldenConstance TowersIn 1863, a Union outfit is sent behind Confederate lines in Mississippi to destroy enemy railroads but a captive southern belle and the unit's doctor cause frictions within ranks.
- DirectorMasaki KobayashiStarsTatsuya NakadaiMichiyo AratamaChikage AwashimaA Japanese pacifist, unable to face the dire consequences of conscientious objection, is transformed by his attempts to compromise with the demands of war-time Japan.
- DirectorJean RenoirStarsJean-Louis BarraultTeddy BilisSylviane MargolléMr. Joly, doctor Cordelier's lawyer, is amazed to discover that his client and friend leaves his possessions to a stranger, Opale, a sadistic criminal. He needs this man to prove that people's behavior can be adjusted at will...
- DirectorAlfred HitchcockStarsCary GrantEva Marie SaintJames MasonA New York City advertising executive goes on the run after being mistaken for a government agent by a group of foreign spies, and falls for a woman whose loyalties he begins to doubt.
- DirectorDouglas SirkStarsLana TurnerJohn GavinSandra DeeAn aspiring white actress takes in an African American widow whose mixed-race daughter is desperate to be seen as white.
- DirectorRobert BressonStarsMartin LaSalleMarika GreenJean PélégriMichel passes the time by picking pockets, careful to never be caught despite being watched by the police. His friend Jacques may suspect, while both men may have their eyes on Jeanne, the pretty neighbor of Michel's ailing mother.
- DirectorNobuo NakagawaStarsShigeru AmachiNoriko KitazawaKatsuko WakasugiThe ghost of a samurai's wife takes revenge on her husband.
- DirectorBudd BoetticherStarsRandolph ScottKaren SteelePernell RobertsA bounty hunter (Randolph Scott) escorts a killer (James Best) to be tried for murder, but allows the man's outlaw brother (Lee Van Cleef) to catch up with them to have a showdown over a previous shocking murder.
- DirectorOtto PremingerStarsJames StewartLee RemickBen GazzaraAn upstate Michigan lawyer defends a soldier who claims he killed an innkeeper due to temporary insanity after the victim raped his wife. What is the truth, and will he win his case?
- DirectorSatyajit RayStarsSoumitra ChatterjeeSharmila TagoreAlok ChakravartyThis final installment in Satyajit Ray's Apu Trilogy follows Apu's life as an orphaned adult aspiring to be a writer.
- DirectorPietro GermiStarsPietro GermiClaudia CardinaleFranco FabriziA police detective and his team attempt to solve two crimes committed within a day of each other in neighboring apartment rooms.
- DirectorMauro BologniniStarsRosanna SchiaffinoElsa MartinelliLaurent TerzieffIn Rome, small-time thieves Scinttilone and Ruggeretto steal four rifles and catch prostitutes Anna and Supplizia on the street to mislead the police. They seek the jobber Mosciarella, but he is at a funeral and gives them no attention. But Gino "Bellabella" overhears them and offers to deal the merchandise with another contact. He fails and the whores present a deaf-mute acquaintance who lives on the outskirts of Rome to buy the guns; the prostitute Nicoletta who was with the man returns to Rome with the quintet. When the youngsters propose to have sex in the middle of nowhere, the prostitutes believe that they intend to leave them there. Scinttilone, Ruggeretto, and Bellabella sneak out to the car and leave the women in the countryside. Later they discover that the women stole their money. They seek them out on the streets and fight against another gang. However, when the police arrive, the six youngsters leave the place together and head to the house of one of them, and Ruggeretto falls for the host's sister. However, Bellabella steals the host's bountiful wallet and Ruggeretto fights him to get the wallet and return it to the host. While they are fighting, Scinttilone flees with the wallet to the house of his girlfriend Rossana. Ruggeretto chases Scinttilone along a night of alienation, illusions, and adventures.
- DirectorFrancesco RosiStarsAlberto SordiBelinda LeeRenato SalvatoriMario is in Hannover to work as a miner but after loosing his job he decides to go back to Italy. When Totonno steals his passport to avoid the police and later on he offers him a new job as "magliaro" (cloth seller), Mario changes his mind and decides to follow Totonno to Hamburg. In Hamburg, Totonno and his friends have to sell Mayer's cloth but they meet with the hostility of a Polish gang and Mario falls in love with Paula Mayer.
- DirectorGianni FrancioliniStarsPeppino De FilippoTitina De FilippoVittorio De SicaIn 1806 Naples, King Ferdinand I of the Two Sicilies is frowned upon by the people, especially the comic theatrical Pulcinella, who continually delivers hard sermons, earning a reputation among the Neapolitans.
- DirectorCamillo MastrocinqueStarsVittorio GassmanSylva KoscinaUgo TognazziThe well-known financier Pierluigi Bruscatelli is arrested after having paid two fraudsters with a bill of 100 000 lire.
- DirectorRobert ParrishStarsRobert MitchumJulie LondonGary MerrillA honorable drifter constantly on the run finds his enemies closing in around him.
- DirectorAndré De TothStarsRobert RyanBurl IvesTina LouiseBlaise Starrett is a rancher at odds with homesteaders when outlaws hold up the small town. The outlaws are held in check only by their notorious leader, but he is diagnosed with a fatal wound and the town is a powder keg waiting to blow.
- DirectorGeorges FranjuStarsPierre BrasseurPaul MeurisseJean-Pierre MockyIn order to get rid of his troublesome son François, Maître Gérane manages to have him committed to a mental hospital owned by Dr. Varmont, a supporter of traditional treatments, in constant conflict with Dr. Emery, whose therapy takes the psychology of patients into account. François soon makes friends with Heurtevent, a sweet epileptic, and both decide to escape from the place. Their attempt is a failure and Heurtevent, unable to get over what he considers a return to hell, commits suicide. But rebellious François tries again and this time around he is successful. He finds shelter at his friend Stephanie's home...
- DirectorTony RichardsonStarsRichard BurtonClaire BloomMary UreA disillusioned, angry university graduate comes to terms with his grudge against middle-class life and values.
- DirectorRenato CastellaniStarsAnna MagnaniGiulietta MasinaCristina GaioniA harsh study about the grim realities of life in a female prison environment. The story concerns a young girl sent to prison who experiences the entire prison subculture. The inmates she befriends vary from tough dangerous dames to smaller submissive women who are totally lost in prison life.
- DirectorFrancesco Maselli
- DirectorRichard FleischerStarsOrson WellesDean StockwellDiane VarsiTwo wealthy law-school students go on trial for murder in this version of the Leopold-Loeb case.
- DirectorBlake EdwardsStarsCary GrantTony CurtisJoan O'BrienDuring World War II, a commander finds himself stuck with a decrepit (and pink) submarine, a con man executive officer, and a group of army nurses.
- DirectorMario CameriniStarsCarla GravinaLorella De LucaRaf MattioliVarious sentimental events of a group of young people in Rome.
- DirectorTomu UchidaStarsUshio AkashiNoriko AobaHideo Ayuba
- DirectorKeisuke KinoshitaStarsKeiko KishiIneko ArimaYoshiko KugaA flashback story of a young man, from his disgraced birth, his harsh life and his forbidden love, until when broken-hearted, can break out in search of a place where to live means more than being alive.
- DirectorKeisuke KinoshitaStarsTeiji TakahashiYoshiko KugaKanzaburô NakamuraA young wife looses patience with her career-minded husband and returns to her parents' home while an unpaid mortgage forces the couple to rent out their home for the summer to the husband's boss.
- DirectorJoseph L. MankiewiczStarsElizabeth TaylorKatharine HepburnMontgomery CliftA surgeon is assigned the case of a young woman whose aunt wants her lobotomized to cover up a family secret.
- DirectorGuy DebordStarsJean HarnoisGuy DebordClaude BrabantA semi-autobiographical Situationist short combines images of Paris, of director Debord and his friends, and of an advertisement for soap.
- DirectorBudd BoetticherStarsRandolph ScottVirginia MayoKaren SteeleIn 1864 Capt. John Hayes goes to Colorado to take over the stagecoach line and keep the flow of Western gold flowing and help the North win the Civil War.
- DirectorEdward DmytrykStarsRichard WidmarkHenry FondaAnthony QuinnA famous gunman becomes the marshal of Warlock to end a gang's rampages, but is met with some opposition by a former gang member turned deputy sheriff who wants to follow only legal methods.
- DirectorNagisa ÔshimaStarsFumio WatanabeYuki TominagaKakuko ChinoA young man runs a scam selling pigeons that always return to his home. A rich girl takes an interest in him and tries to help him find a good job.
- DirectorYasujirô OzuStarsKeiji SadaYoshiko KugaChishû RyûTwo boys begin a silence strike to press their parents into buying them a television set.
- DirectorMauro BologniniStarsPeppino De FilippoLaura AdaniCristina GaioniIn post-war Italy during the 1950s, finding a house to rent is so difficult that a family ends up living in a former brothel.
- DirectorJaromil JiresStarsVlastimil BrodskýVladimír ZavázalA burglar breaks into a home and is caught by a young boy. The burglar then poses as the boy's uncle in order not to get caught by the parents.
- DirectorDino RisiStarsMaurizio ArenaRenato SalvatoriLorella De LucaSalvatore has an accident that makes him lose his memory and becomes director of the department store where his brother-in-law works.
- DirectorDino RisiStarsAlberto SordiFranca ValeriLivio LorenzonA mediocre businessman who's married to a much more successful businesswoman relies heavily on her financial support for his bad business ideas, and to pay off his mounting debt, but both of them have had enough of each other.
- DirectorMasaki KobayashiStarsTatsuya NakadaiMichiyo AratamaKokinji KatsuraAs a conscript in war-time Japan's military, a pacifist struggles to maintain his determination to keep his ideals.
- DirectorBuichi SaitôStarsAkira KobayashiRuriko AsaokaSanae NakaharaArriving in the town of Hakodate, a wandering musician, Shinji Taki, is soon recruited by the local gang as a hired hand. However, with the arrival of a sinister gunman, Taki's mysterious past catches up with him.
- DirectorRobert RossenStarsGary CooperRita HayworthVan HeflinAn army major, himself guilty of cowardice, is asked to recommend soldiers for the Congressional Medal of Honor during the Mexican Border Incursion of 1916.
- DirectorKazuo MoriStarsKazuo HasegawaRaizô IchikawaShintarô KatsuAn all-star cast from Daiei Film Company has made "the ultimate Jirocho movie" about the legendary yakuza Shimizu no Jirocho, the biggest Boss in the Tokaido area.