Best Movies of 1961

This page is updated regularly. Subscribe, so you don't miss new recommendations. The list of "Best Movies of 1961" contains films with the following parameters. Style: serious, realistic, black and white, vintage, retro and suspenseful. Plot: kiss, dishonesty, family relations, cigarette smoking, bare chested male, love and romance, couples, telephone call, murder and danger. Genre: Drama, Romance and Comedy. Country: USA, UK and Italy.
Best Movies of 1961
Best Movies of 1961
TOP Movies: West Side Story (1961), Judgment at Nuremberg (1961), Breakfast at Tiffany's (1961), The Hustler (1961), Lover Come Back (1961), 101 Dalmatians (1961), Splendor in the Grass (1961), The Guns of Navarone (1961), The Innocents (1961), One, Two, Three (1961), The Parent Trap (1961), A Raisin in the Sun (1961), The Children's Hour (1961), The Misfits (1961), One-Eyed Jacks (1961), A Taste of Honey (1961), King of Kings (1961), El Cid (1961), The Comancheros (1961), Pocketful of Miracles (1961).
Type:
TV Shows

List of Best Movies

Watch Trailers From This List to Choose a Movie
 7.6
 121K
West Side Story (1961)
Genre: Crime, Drama, Musical, Romance
Country: USA
Duration: 153 min.
Story: In the slums of the upper West Side of Manhattan, New York, a gang of Polish-American teenagers called the Jets compete with a rival gang of recently immigrated Puerto Ricans, the Sharks, to "own" the neighborhood streets. Tensions are ...
Style: stylized, tear jerker, bad ending, retro, suspense ...
Audience: teens, date night, chick flick, adult
Plot: forbidden love, tragic love, gang, broadway, rivalry, shakespeare, interracial relations, dancing, dance, racism, music, young love ...
Time: 20th century, 1950s, year 1961, 50s
Place: new york, usa, manhattan new york city, empire state building manhattan new york city
Is relevant ?
Judgment at Nuremberg (1961)
Genre: Drama, War
Country: USA
Duration: 179 min.
Story: In 1947, four German judges who served on the bench during the Nazi regime face a military tribunal to answer charges of crimes against humanity. Chief Justice Haywood hears evidence and testimony not only from lead defendant Ernst Janning and his ...
Style: black and white, political, suspenseful, emotional, disturbing ...
Plot: courtroom drama, judge, genocide, holocaust, justice, lawyer, court, legal, courtroom, trial, politics, nazi ...
Time: 20th century, year 1946, 1940s, year 1961, 60s ...
Place: germany, europe
Is relevant ?
Breakfast at Tiffany's (1961)
Genre: Comedy, Drama, Romance
Country: USA
Duration: 115 min.
Story: Fortune hunter Holly Golightly finds herself captivated by aspiring writer Paul Varjak, who's moved into her building on a wealthy woman's dime. As romance blooms between Paul and Holly, Doc Golightly shows up on the scene, revealing ...
Style: sentimental, sweet, feel good, touching, stylized ...
Audience: chick flick, date night, girls' night, kids, teens
Plot: fashion, love story, woman, cat, love of one's life, writers, love, love and romance, broken engagement, shopping, adultery, social climber ...
Time: 60s, year 1961, 20th century
Place: new york, manhattan new york city, usa, brazil, los angeles
Is relevant ?
 8.0
 86K
The Hustler (1961)
Genre: Drama, Sport
Country: USA
Duration: 134 min.
Story: Fast Eddie Felson is a small-time pool hustler with a lot of talent but a self-destructive attitude. His bravado causes him to challenge the legendary Minnesota Fats to a high-stakes match.
Style: black and white, atmospheric, suspense, psychological, cynical ...
Audience: manly, boys' night
Plot: billiards, gambling, hustler, suicide, success, ambition, lifestyle, rivalry, championship, cons and scams, obsession, idealism ...
Time: 20th century, year 1961, 60s
Place: usa, california, louisville kentucky, san francisco, kentucky
Is relevant ?
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Lover Come Back (1961)
Genre: Comedy, Drama, Romance
Country: USA
Duration: 107 min.
Story: Rock Hudson and Doris Day are together again! Jerry Webster (Hudson) and Carol Templeton (Day) are rival Madison Avenue advertising executives who each dislike each other’s methods. After he steals a client out from under her cute little nose, ...
Style: sex comedy, funny, sexy, retro, witty ...
Audience: date night
Plot: screwball, advertising, couples, workplace, satire, wine, mistaken identity, corruption, identity, business, breakup, office work ...
Time: year 1961, future, 60s, 20th century
Place: new york, usa, manhattan new york city, canada
Is relevant ?
 7.3
 181K
101 Dalmatians (1961)
Genre: Animation, Adventure, Comedy, Family
Country: USA
Duration: 79 min.
Story: When a litter of dalmatian puppies are abducted by the minions of Cruella De Vil, the parents must find them before she uses them for a diabolical fashion statement.
Style: fairy tale, entertaining, sweet, light, feel good ...
Audience: family outing, kids, family friendly, toddlers, pre-teens ...
Plot: dog, dalmatian, pets, puppy, female villain, chase, animal, talking animal, christmas, cat, love, good versus evil ...
Time: year 1961, 60s, 20th century
Place: england, london, united kingdom, europe, scotland yard ...
Is relevant ?
Splendor in the Grass (1961)
Genre: Drama, Romance
Country: USA
Duration: 124 min.
Story: A fragile Kansas girl's unrequited and forbidden love for a handsome young man from the town's most powerful family drives her to heartbreak and madness.
Style: sad, touching, emotional, sentimental, romantic ...
Audience: teens, date night, girls' night
Plot: coming of age, teenager, small town, adolescence, love story, sexual repression, mental illness, unrequited love, forbidden love, suicide attempt, small town life, promiscuity ...
Time: 1920s, 1930s, 20th century, year 1961, future
Place: kansas, yale university, new york, connecticut, usa
Is relevant ?
The Guns of Navarone (1961)
Genre: Action, Adventure, Drama, War
Country: UK, USA
Duration: 158 min.
Story: A team of allied saboteurs are assigned an impossible mission: infiltrate an impregnable Nazi-held island and destroy the two enormous long-range field guns that prevent the rescue of 2,000 trapped British soldiers.
Style: suspense, exciting, tense, intense, serious ...
Audience: boys' night
Plot: world war two, behind enemy lines, resistance, nazi, military, island, mercenary, wartime, world war, war, battles, allies ...
Time: year 1961, 20th century, 1940s, year 1943
Place: greece, fictional island, germany, hellas, mediterranean sea ...
Is relevant ?
Related movie lists
 7.8
 33K
The Innocents (1961)
Genre: Horror
Country: UK
Duration: 100 min.
Story: A young governess for two children becomes convinced that the house and grounds are haunted.
Style: gothic, black and white, scary, suspense, atmospheric ...
Plot: supernatural, haunted house, haunting, macabre, children, haunted, old mansion, ghost story, hide and seek, schizophrenia, insanity, paranoid ...
Time: 19th century, victorian era, 1800s, year 1961, 1890s
Place: england, britain, europe, london
Is relevant ?
One, Two, Three (1961)
Genre: Comedy
Country: USA
Duration: 104 min.
Story: A Coca-Cola executive in West Berlin tries to keep the boss's daughter from marrying a Communist.
Style: funny, fast paced, black and white, talky, biting ...
Audience: kids
Plot: cold war, iron curtain, satire, coca cola, communism, capitalist, farce, corporate executive, race against time, voice over narration, cold war era, psychological torture ...
Time: year 1961, 20th century, 60s
Place: berlin germany, west berlin west germany, germany, east berlin, east germany ...
Is relevant ?
The Parent Trap (1961)
Genre: Comedy, Family, Romance
Country: USA
Duration: 129 min.
Story: Hayley Mills plays twins who, unknown to their divorced parents, meet at a summer camp. Products of single parent households, they switch places (surprise!) so as to meet the parent they never knew, and then contrive to reunite them.
Style: touching, feel good, sweet, light, sentimental ...
Audience: kids, family outing, teens, pre-teens, preschool
Plot: twins, divorce, summer, summer camp, family life, sisters, women, teenage girl, childhood, mischievous children, parents and children, youth ...
Time: year 1961, 60s
Place: california, massachusetts, boston, monterey california
Is relevant ?
A Raisin in the Sun (1961)
Genre: Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 128 min.
Story: Walter Lee Younger is a young man struggling with his station in life. Sharing a tiny apartment with his wife, son, sister and mother, he seems like an imprisoned man. Until, that is, the family gets an unexpected financial windfall...
Style: black and white, retro, aesthetic, existential, social ...
Plot: racism, african american, poverty, racial segregation, civil rights, black, black history, working class family, race issues, family relations, segregation, dysfunctional family ...
Time: year 1961, 50s, 20th century
Place: chicago, africa, usa, nigeria, illinois
Is relevant ?
The Children's Hour (1961)
Genre: Drama, Romance
Country: USA
Duration: 108 min.
Story: A troublemaking student at a girl's school accuses two teachers of being lesbians.
Style: sad, emotional, touching, realistic, talky ...
Plot: lesbian, gay, gender, girls' school, bigotry, unrequited love, false accusation, evil child, bullying, prejudice, tragedy, women ...
Time: year 1961, 20th century, 60s
Is relevant ?
 7.2
 23K
The Misfits (1961)
Genre: Drama, Romance, Western
Country: USA
Duration: 125 min.
Story: While filing for a divorce, beautiful ex-stripper Roslyn Taber ends up meeting aging cowboy-turned-gambler Gay Langland and former World War II aviator Guido Racanelli. The two men instantly become infatuated with Roslyn and, on a whim, the three ...
Style: atmospheric, black and white, realistic, serious, sincere ...
Plot: desert, divorce, cowboy, fall in love, aging, modern west, older man younger woman relationship, moral dilemma, ranch, stallion, couples, death ...
Time: 20th century, year 1961, 60s
Place: nevada, usa, las vegas, reno nevada
Is relevant ?
 7.1
 13K
One-Eyed Jacks (1961)
Genre: Drama, Western
Country: USA
Duration: 141 min.
Story: Running from the law after a bank robbery in Mexico, Dad Longworth finds an opportunity to take the stolen gold and leave his partner Rio to be captured. Years later, Rio escapes from the prison where he has been since, and hunts down Dad for ...
Style: intense, serious, suspenseful, rough, realistic ...
Audience: boys' night
Plot: bank robber, betrayal, vengeance, greed, bank robbery, stolen gold, going straight, haunted by the past, criminal's revenge, on the run, obsessive quest, rivalry ...
Time: 19th century, year 1961, 60s, 20th century, 1880s
Place: california, monterey california, mexico, latin america, usa ...
Is relevant ?
A Taste of Honey (1961)
Genre: Drama
Country: UK
Duration: 101 min.
Story: Focuses on a working class girl who is struggling to create a life for herself with her gay co-worker after becoming pregnant from a one-night stand with a black sailor.
Style: independent film, black and white, talky, realistic, serious ...
Plot: kitchen sink realism, coming of age, working class, social realism, interracial relations, friendship, single parent, family relations, single mother, dysfunctional family, mother, social injustice ...
Time: year 1961, 60s
Place: england, britain, europe
Is relevant ?
King of Kings (1961)
Genre: Biography, Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 168 min.
Story: Who is Jesus, and why does he impact all he meets? He is respected and reviled, emulated and accused, beloved, betrayed, and finally crucified. Yet that terrible fate would not be the end of the story.
Style: biblical, epic, suspenseful, christian film, serious ...
Plot: jesus, ancient history, christianity, jesus christ, religion, bible, christian, redemption, betrayal, state affairs, ancient, roman empire ...
Time: 1st century, ancient times, biblical epic, year 1961, 1st century b.c.
Place: israel, greece, ancient greece, rome italy, middle east ...
Is relevant ?
 7.2
 16K
El Cid (1961)
Genre: Biography, Drama, History, Romance, War
Country: Italy, USA
Duration: 182 min.
Story: Epic film of the legendary Spanish hero, Rodrigo Diaz ("El Cid" to his followers), who, without compromising his strict sense of honour, still succeeds in taking the initiative and driving the Moors from Spain.
Style: epic, breathtaking, stylized, historically accurate, phantasmagoric ...
Plot: knight, medieval, barbarian, sword fight, spanish history, swashbuckler, islam, battles, duel, historical epic, catholic, betrayal ...
Time: middle ages, 11th century, medieval times, year 1961
Place: spain, europe, valencia spain
Is relevant ?
Related movie lists
The Comancheros (1961)
Genre: Drama, Western
Country: USA
Duration: 107 min.
Story: Texas Ranger Jake Cutter arrests gambler Paul Regret, but soon finds himself teamed with his prisoner in an undercover effort to defeat a band of renegade arms merchants and thieves known as Comancheros.
Style: exciting, suspenseful, rough, realistic, serious ...
Audience: boys' night
Plot: cowboy, texas ranger, renegade, horse, comanche indian, small town, desert, gunfight, shootout, chase, murder, gambler ...
Time: 19th century, 20th century, 1800s, 60s
Place: texas, louisiana, usa, mexico, latin america ...
Is relevant ?
Pocketful of Miracles (1961)
Genre: Comedy, Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 136 min.
Story: Damon Runyon's fairytale, sweet and funny, is told by director Frank Capra. Boozy, brassy Apple Annie, a beggar with a basket of apples, is as much as part of downtown New York as old Broadway itself. Bootlegger Dave the Dude is a sucker for ...
Style: sentimental, touching, light, feel good, semi serious ...
Audience: date night
Plot: gangster, prohibition, high society, deception, christmas, couples, disorder, dishonesty, social differences, homeless, aging, gangster boss ...
Time: 1930s, 20th century, year 1961, 60s
Place: new york, spain, europe
Is relevant ?
 7.7
 7K
Victim (1961)
Genre: Drama
Country: UK
Duration: 100 min.
Story: A prominent lawyer goes after a blackmailer who threatens gay men with exposure in a time when homosexual acts were still being illegal. But he's queer himself.
Style: controversial, neo noir, cynical, disturbing, noir ...
Plot: blackmail, gay, homosexuality, closeted homosexual, lgbtq, barrister, lawyer, lgbt, realism, bookstore, post war, social commentary ...
Time: year 1961, 60s
Place: england, britain, europe, london, united kingdom
Is relevant ?
Pit and the Pendulum (1961)
Genre: Drama, Horror, Mystery
Country: USA
Duration: 80 min.
Story: Francis Barnard goes to Spain, when he hears his sister Elizabeth has died. Her husband Nicholas Medina, the son of the most brutal torturer of the Spanish Inquisition, tells him she has died of a blood disease, but Francis finds this hard to ...
Style: gothic horror, gothic, scary, suspense, suspenseful ...
Plot: castle, spanish inquisition, insanity, vengeance, investigation, macabre, monster, gory, edgar allan poe, conspiracy, religions or cults, hidden identity ...
Time: middle ages, 15th century, 16th century, year 1961, medieval times ...
Place: spain, europe
Is relevant ?
Murder She Said (1961)
Genre: Comedy, Crime, Drama, Mystery
Country: UK
Duration: 87 min.
Story: Miss Marple believes she’s seen a murder in a passing by train yet when the police find no evidence she decides to investigate it on her own. Her inquisitions lead her to a mountain top. The first of four films starring Margaret Rutherford as Miss ...
Style: serious, realistic, suspenseful, clever, black and white ...
Plot: private detective, whodunit, amateur detective, strangulation, murder, murder mystery, police investigation, dishonesty, uncover truth, woman strangled to death, serial killer, law enforcement ...
Time: year 1961, 60s
Place: england, london
Is relevant ?
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Whistle Down the Wind (1961)
Genre: Crime, Drama
Country: UK
Duration: 99 min.
Story: When an injured wife murderer takes refuge on a remote Lancashire farm, the owner’s three children mistakenly believe him to be the Second Coming of Christ.
Style: disturbing, serious, touching, detective, independent film ...
Plot: farm, on the run, fugitive, faith, innocence, adolescence, hiding, post war, childhood, family relations, mistaken identity, little girl ...
Time: year 1961, 60s
Place: england
Is relevant ?
The Day the Earth Caught Fire (1961)
Genre: Drama, Romance, Sci-Fi
Country: UK
Duration: 99 min.
Story: British reporters suspect an international cover-up of a global disaster in progress... and they're right. Hysterical panic has engulfed the world after the United States and the Soviet Union simultaneously detonate nuclear devices and have ...
Style: bleak, suspense, atmospheric, disturbing, futuristic ...
Audience: boys' night
Plot: end of the world, disaster, cold war, nuclear bomb, newspaper, natural disaster, science, chaos, race against time, danger, nuclear, worldwide chaos ...
Time: 60s, year 1961, distant future, 20th century
Place: london, england, europe, russia, new york ...
Is relevant ?
The Absent Minded Professor (1961)
Genre: Comedy, Family, Sci-Fi, Sport
Country: USA
Duration: 97 min.
Story: Hailed as one of Walt Disney's most hilarious comedies, The Absent-Minded Professor contains two essential elements for laughter - Fred MacMurray and Flubber, his gravity-defying formula for flying rubber!
Style: funny, humorous, black and white, psychotronic, comedy drama ...
Audience: kids, family outing, preschool
Plot: college, basketball, inventor, dog, car, professor, flying car, science and technology, winter, new year, education, college life ...
Time: year 1961, 20th century
Place: washington d.c., usa, pentagon
Is relevant ?
Scream of Fear (1961)
Genre: Horror, Thriller
Country: UK
Duration: 81 min.
Story: A wheelchair-bound young girl returns to her father's estate after ten years, and although she's told he's away, she keeps seeing his dead body on the estate.
Style: scary, suspense, psychological, serious, realistic ...
Plot: murder, disability, chauffeur, father, female protagonist, uncover truth, investigation, corpse, false identity, piano, mistaken identity, parents and children ...
Time: 20th century, year 1961, 60s
Place: france, french riviera, cote d'azur, riviera
Is relevant ?
Mysterious Island (1961)
Genre: Adventure, Family, Fantasy, Sci-Fi
Country: UK
Duration: 101 min.
Story: During the US Civil War, Union POWs escape in a balloon and end up stranded on a South Pacific island, inhabited by giant plants and animals. They must use their ingenuity to survive the dangers, and to devise a way to return home. Sequel to ...
Style: exciting, intense, suspenseful, suspense, retro ...
Audience: family outing
Plot: stranded, giant bird, american civil war, island, submarine, survival, civil war, castaway, ocean, monster, balloon, giant monster ...
Time: 19th century, 1900s, 1800s, year 1961, year 1865 ...
Place: fictional island, pacific ocean
Is relevant ?
Blast of Silence (1961)
Genre: Crime, Drama, Thriller
Country: USA
Duration: 77 min.
Story: A hired killer from Cleveland has a job to do on a second-string mob boss in New York. But a special girl from his past, and a fat gun dealer with pet rats, each gets in his way.
Style: neo noir, noir, christmas horror, crime drama, christmas classics ...
Plot: hitman, christmas, killer, organized crime, loner, big city, loneliness, assassin, politics, criminal, bad father, professional ...
Time: year 1961, 60s
Place: new york, usa, harlem, grand central station manhattan new york city, greenwich village manhattan new york city ...
Is relevant ?
Come September (1961)
Genre: Comedy, Romance
Country: USA
Duration: 112 min.
Story: Robert Talbot, an American millionaire, arrives early for his annual vacation at his luxurious Italian villa. His long-time girlfriend Lisa has given up waiting for him and has decided to marry another man. Meanwhile, his sneaky business associate ...
Style: retro, semi serious, realistic, humorous, feel good ...
Audience: date night
Plot: fall in love, glamour, hotel, summer, fate, in love, millionaire, vacation, couples, young lovers, love and romance, couple relations ...
Time: year 1961, 60s, 20th century
Place: italy, europe, rome italy
Is relevant ?
Watch Trailers From This List to Choose a Movie
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