La Dolce Vita (1960)

Federico Fellini’s startling, iconic drama seems hugely innovative in terms of structure and subject matter. 

Rather than one linear plot, we see a series of connected episodes. Brilliantly, these episodes dovetail with the fact that the protagonist Marcello Rubini (Marcello Mastroianni) is a journalist. We observe what he observes across a few days and nights living and working in Rome. 

The section starring Anita Ekberg as the Swedish-American film star Sylvia (including the famous moment at the Trevi Fountain) is especially vivid. 

Its commentary on the invasive role of the media and paparazzi (the word itself comes from this film’s character Paparazzo, played by Walter Santesso) seems ahead of its time. 

It can be interpreted many ways. There are flashes of surreal humour and darker undercurrents – sometimes cleverly combined, such as a segment dedicated to a sighting of the Madonna by two children.

There’s also an appearance by Nico, looking younger and more radiant than you ever thought she could.

Saturday Night and Sunday Morning (1960)

Kitchen-sink drama, written as a novel and then adapted for film by Alan Sillitoe, starring Albert Finney as Arthur Seaton. A smooth-talking factory worker who is dating two women, including the wife of a work colleague, Arthur lives life to the full until events begin to catch up with him.

It’s superbly scripted, with sharp, rapid-fire dialogue bringing the characters to life. There’s plenty of wit and pathos throughout. The fairground sequence – in which Seaton fails to evade two soldiers intent on beating him up – is especially dynamic.

It’s also an amazingly vivid portrait of industrial England in the post-war years – a grey and grim world that would soon undergo modernisation.

Breathless (1960)

Unusual French drama written and directed by Jean-Luc Godard. Petty criminal Michel Poiccard (Jean-Paul Belmondo) goes on the run after killing a policeman. In Paris he stays with an American (Jean Seberg as Patricia Franchini) and the film explores their strange relationship as the net tightens around him.

It’s more of a character study than a conventional crime thriller, and one extended scene in Patricia’s flat goes on and on – almost as if the film takes place in real time.

I’m not sure you’re meant to like the characters at all, so it’s difficult to warm to, but the edgy energy of the film is striking.

Spartacus (1960)

I had never seen this Stanley Kubrick classic, so was curious. It deserves all the hype, pretty much. Kirk Douglas is shiny and reasonably charismatic in the lead role. Jean Simmons is appealing as his delicate love interest, often shown in soft focus. The smouldering scenes in which the pair fall in love at the gladiator training centre are remarkable because almost no words are exchanged between them. Tony Curtis, Charles Laughton, Laurence Olivier and Peter Ustinov make up what is the very definition of an all-star cast. They are all on excellent form, but Curtis seems weirdly underused despite being built up as important because he’s different to the others.

At over three hours – and with amazing crowd scenes with hundreds of extras amassing for battle on huge landscapes – it’s epic in every sense.

Like many classics, it’s odder than you might expect. The lighting is all over the place, with some strangely illuminated interior scenes jarringly placed amid the exterior locations. There are also some peculiar scenes showing “ordinary life” within the slave camp. The senate is surprisingly small and low-key for a film that specialises in grand gestures. But it works because it keeps the themes of idealism (the idea of Rome) and political corruption (greed for power) on a scale you can relate to.

There’s a fascinating scene in which bisexuality is alluded to. Crassus says to Antoninus: “It is all a matter of taste, isn't it? And taste is not the same as appetite, and therefore not a question of morals. My taste includes both snails and oysters.” Strong stuff for a “PG”, as are the gory moments and the points at which Jean Simmons tastefully de-robes.

Tackling big issues of freedom, democracy and class, it’s a rich film. There’s a moving finale that manages to offer both a happy and a sad ending.