10 Best Epic Movies of the 1960s

There had been epics made in the first half of the 20th century, as the likes of Metropolis and Gone with the Wind show (for two of the biggest examples), but post-World War II, there seemed to be a particularly large number produced. Maybe it was a sign of more money existing to throw into the film industry, and it could’ve also had something to do with television rising as a popular form of entertainment, with about 9% of households in America having television sets at the start of the 1950s, and close to 86% having them by that decade’s end.

So, movies competed by making aspect ratios wider and having productions get even more extravagant, as you can see in the 1950s with the likes of The Ten Commandments and Ben-Hur. The trend continued in the 1960s, with some of the greatest epics of all time coming out that decade. Hopefully, this rundown of the best epic movies of the 1960s will showcase how great a decade it was for people who liked their cinematic experiences grandiose.

10

‘How the West Was Won’ (1962)

Image via Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer

In a few paragraphs’ time, there is going to be a skimming over of the cast of a movie about an Escape that’s Great, because there are so many famous people in that one. There’s also a movie about a Long Day that has a huge cast… yet neither have casts quite as stacked as the one that was assembled (proto-Avengers-style) for How the West Was Won, to the point where any American actor with a relatively high profile at the time might well have been offended had they not been cast in this.

How the West Was Won has a narrative that spans decades, meaning there are many characters throughout, and roles were given to the likes of Lee J. Cobb, Henry Fonda, Karl Malden, Gregory Peck, Debbie Reynolds, James Stewart, Eli Wallach, John Wayne, and Spencer Tracy, among others. It’s not a perfect Western, but it does deliver a huge amount of spectacle, mostly owing to its cast, the years (and events) it covers, and the ultra-widescreen presentation it uses… which is itself a way to get more famous people in the one frame at the same time.

9

‘Doctor Zhivago’ (1965)

Image via MGM

David Lean’s two best movies were both made a few years before Doctor Zhivago, being (arguably) The Bridge on the River Kwai (1957) and one film from 1962 that’ll appear a little further down this ranking. Doctor Zhivago, though, does remain almost as good, and it’s definitely the kind of thing that qualifies for epic status, since it explores a dramatic time in history, runs for over three hours, and spans quite a bit of time throughout its narrative.

Also, Doctor Zhivago works well as both a war film and a romantic epic, with the love story here being central to the whole thing, and that central romance playing out against a more complicated and explosive backdrop, so to speak. If you’re looking at its influence, you can kind of see it on something like Titanic, which also delivered spectacle and characters going through immense challenges while never straying too far from being a romance film.

8

‘The Longest Day’ (1962)

Image via 20th Century-Fox

The Longest Day was alluded to a bit earlier as one of a handful of particularly strong epics from the 1960s with especially large casts. It differs from How the West Was Won in that it covers a pretty short amount of time, since the focus here is on the D-Day landings that took place during World War II, on June 6, 1944. Comparisons can be made, though, with the cast (with some actors, like John Wayne and Henry Fonda, being in both), and the fact that both movies had three directors.

It thankfully remains consistent, even with multiple filmmakers behind the camera (or cameras), with it being done for a practical reason in The Longest Day: different filmmakers filmed scenes in different languages, since the film’s about several different perspectives on the D-Day landings. It does for D-Day what Dunkirk (2017) did for the Dunkirk evacuation, minus the almost experimental editing, but adding the sense of exploring things from two different sides (as Dunkirk just honed in on the Allied forces).

7

‘Spartacus’ (1960)

Image via Universal International

On the topic of multiple directors helming the one movie, Spartacus is, well, not that, on the surface. Or not officially. Stanley Kubrick is credited as the sole director, but he replaced Anthony Mann after shooting had begun, and so it’s not as Kubrick-esque as most of his other films (certainly not as distinctively a Kubrick-directed epic as the next decade’s Barry Lyndon was). Also, Kirk Douglas, while not officially the director, did hold a certain influence over the production, since he was the star and it was his company, Bryna Productions, that produced the film.

Yet Spartacus is still a great epic, judged just as an epic, rather than judged as a Kubrick film. It’s got a reliable revenge-focused narrative and a sense of escalation throughout, not to mention it’s pretty easy to see its influence on other epic movies released some decades later (namely, Braveheart and Gladiator). Spartacus does feel more old-fashioned than those, which might be unavoidable, considering its age, though it’s old-fashioned in a good way, and does soar for most of its lengthy runtime as a satisfying classic epic movie.

6

‘The Human Condition III: A Soldier’s Prayer’ (1961)

Image via Shochiku

It’s tricky here, because this one’s part of an epic trilogy, and it’s the kind of trilogy where all three parts are basically one film (maybe a little like how you can see The Lord of the Rings as one movie), but the other two films in The Human Condition trilogy came out in 1959. So, it’s only the third one that’s being considered here, owing to its 1961 release, but A Soldier’s Prayer is grand enough in scale to be its own impressive epic.

The runtime here is also epic-length, exceeding three hours (as do the other movies, so you’ll need approximately 10 hours all up to watch the whole thing). Not that you should watch A Soldier’s Prayer on its own, but if you did, it would be a compelling and emotionally hard-hitting epic about one man’s struggle to survive and return home after the country (Japan) he went to war for in World War II surrenders. The context of the other two films goes a long way, yet it’s still very much a successful war (or post-war) epic on its own.

5

‘The Great Escape’ (1963)

Image via United Artists

A great film with the word “Great” quite appropriately in the title, The Great Escape is a necessary pick whenever you’re talking about legendary war movies or all-time great epics. The premise here is nice and simple, admittedly, but there are enough characters and moving pieces narratively (beyond the premise) that keep things exciting, even if it is technically just about some Allied soldiers preparing a daring escape from a prisoner-of-war camp that’s intended to be inescapable.

Steven McQueen gets to play the person who’s closest to main character status, since he gets perhaps a few more memorable (and cool) moments than the others here, yet the whole ensemble cast is remarkable, to the point where it would take too long to try to mention everyone of note. The Great Escape is overall hard to resist, and also proves easy to recommend, even to those who might not usually love war/epic-length/older movies.

4

‘Once Upon a Time in the West’ (1968)

Image via Paramount Pictures

Once Upon a Time in the West serves as a bridge between Sergio Leone’s Dollars trilogy movies and his last two (rather bleak) epics: Duck, You Sucker and Once Upon a Time in America. Once Upon a Time in the West proves a little slower and more somber than his first three Westerns, but it’s not quite miserable or anything, and probably ends up being bittersweet. That’s a good word to use to describe it.

It feels like it’s about the end of the Old West, and the way some people move on and adapt to the times, while others resist the changing times and risk getting left behind, as a result. It’s intentionally slow at times, but never the kind of slow that feels boring, since there is plenty of burn to go with that “slow” (it’s an excellent slow-burn movie, in other words).

3

‘Lawrence of Arabia’ (1962)

Image via Columbia Pictures

Between The Bridge on the River Kwai and Doctor Zhivago was Lawrence of Arabia, which, it’s hopefully not controversial to declare, is David Lean’s greatest film. Like Doctor Zhivago, much of it’s centered around the First World War, but with an obviously very different setting, and also it’s a different genre, really, since romance is very much not explored here.

Okay, same genre in the sense that it’s also an epic, and a war film, but there’s more of a sense of adventure to Lawrence of Arabia, and then it gradually reveals itself as a character study – or maybe even a psychological drama – after some time, too. There’s a real confidence here to just how ambitious the movie’s willing to get, and how much it wants to do, but it succeeds at all that and then some, making the process of creating one of the biggest, best-looking, and most well-acted films of all time seem almost effortless.

2

‘The Good, the Bad and the Ugly’ (1966)

The third film in the Dollars trilogy, and perhaps Sergio Leone’s greatest film overall, The Good, the Bad and the Ugly moves at a mean pace, which sets it apart from Once Upon a Time in the West. There are still parts of The Good, the Bad and the Ugly that build suspense, and are maybe a little patiently paced as a result, and it’s admittedly not an action movie, but the plot is one that keeps the three main characters moving at all times.

They’re all pursuing the same goal, and that might make it sound like one of those “it’s about the journey rather than the destination” movies, yet The Good, the Bad and the Ugly really delivers when it comes to the destination. So, it’s about the journey and the destination. It’s the best of both worlds, not to mention simply one of the best movies of all time, and of any genre, really.

1

‘War and Peace’ (1965–1967)

Image via Mosfilm

Honestly, War and Peace was what spawned the whole idea of doing this ranking. Not to be mixed up with the English-language version from the 1950s, which is indeed an epic, but not nearly as massive or impressive as this four-part Soviet version. Unlike with The Human Condition, all four parts of War and Peace came out in the 1960s, so the entire epic can be considered one of that decade’s releases.

It’s about as good a feature film adaptation of Leo Tolstoy’s novel of the same name could ever be, not necessarily being a direct adaptation, but one that captures enough of the absolutely mammoth book. And then it still finds time and energy to do some weird things, being almost experimental in parts, and having creative and innovative camerawork throughout the entire thing (a little like 1927’s Napoleon). Watching War and Peace is thrilling, because you spend so much of the film wondering, “How the hell did they film this?”, especially during some of the massive set piece sequences. You get at least one per part: a couple of battles in part 1, a huge ball in part 2, an even larger battle than what was seen before in part 3, and a recreation of the Fire of Moscow in part 4.