The Movie Journal

  Night of the Living Dead (1968) George A. Romero’s Night of the Living Dead revolutionized the horror genre…for better or worse. You get the cheap, modern horror films that no one likes. But you have the likes of Halloween and Friday the 13 th that owe their debts to this terrifying zombie film. Made in 1968 and under a very miniscule budget, the film holds up well today. I won’t lie when I say some of the zombie scenes actually scared me…and that is coming from someone who has seen countless horror movies. The black-and-white cinematography led to some of these scares and of course led to the frightening overall atmosphere. I can’t imagine how children and adults for that matter reacted to the film upon release. Yeah, you have those 50’s monster films but they do not hold a candle to Romero’s revolutionary flick. How did this young man attending Carnegie University in Pittsburgh change the genre or filmmaking itself as people knew it? Firstly, it is considered to be one of t...

  Danger: Diabolik (1968) Danger: Diabolik is a cheesy, campy exploitation film that makes you scratch your head wondering how on earth this film was greenlighted. On paper, the film should have been a horrible James Bond spinoff….but I was down for every second of this movie. What if James Bond was a Bond villain with some Batman attributes? From the opening helicopter action sequence, that is what this movie feels like. Based off a long-running Italian comic strip, the movie was released during a time where the 1960’s counterculture movement was prevalent. Diabolik is an anti-hero, not a government contracted person. Considering the Italians were losers of a major war only two decades earlier, faith in the institution of government was not high and that can be seen within the actions and movements of our silver screen heroes. I mentioned how I wonder how the film was given the greenlight. Once it received the greenlight, there was plenty of production problems. Producer Dino de L...

2001: A Space Odyssey (1968) When it comes to discussing influential movies of all time, I’d call you crazy if you did not mention 2001: A Space Odyssey. This film influenced science fiction of the future, so without this film there would be no Star Wars. This film influenced the style of future directors like Steven Spielberg and Ridley Scott, whom are fantastic filmmakers. Not only is the film influential, it’s also a great movie in general. When it was first released in 1968, it was met with mixed reviews. People saw a vision that has not been seen before, and they had no idea what to think of it. I read reports of walkouts at the premiere that occurred and those who remained complained of boredom. The film is deliberately slow-paced, but my interest was held over the duration of the film. I loved the film very much, but there are so many complicated ideas. Your brain is meant to be put to use because of all these abstract ideas. I’ve seen the film three times alrea...

The Odd Couple (1968) There are many things in life that are meant for each other. Things such as me and my movies or Albert Einstein and science. In cinematic terms, you can add Walter Matthau and Jack Lemmon to the list. In terms of pure comedy, the matchups of Matthau and Lemmon over many decades resulted in great comedy films. They are like very close brothers because they have been in so many films together. One such film is The Odd Couple. The movie is based of the smash Broadway hit which was written by Neil Simon. Simon also wrote the screenplay for the film, which is one of the highlights of the films. As older people may remember, the film share many similarities with the Broadway play. The play was directed by Mike Nichols, and it’s been told the two share a sense of similar direction despite this film being directed by Gene Saks. Walter Matthau acted as the character Oscar in both mediums. I’ve also read they even shared the same sets. So basically, this film i...

Oliver! (1968) The first time I saw Oliver!, I was not too fond of it. I must have been in a foul mood that day or perhaps my younger brain didn’t appreciate the film as I do today. It’s not a perfect film by any stretch of the imagination, but it’s a fun, harmless musical that brings the words of Charles Dickens to life-musically speaking of course. Those who are familiar with classic literature will know that this film is based of the classic Dickens novel, Oliver Twist. The novel was previously made in a film adaptation by David Lean (which I have yet to see), and that was more of a straightforward narrative, while this film acts more like a musical. This film is a musical, and its damn proud to be one. The tone of the film is relatively dark and serious at times especially in the second act, but I was able to detect some lightness in the tone. I attribute that because of the music, which was overseen by John Green who overseen musicals at MGM during the heyday of musica...