Tom Jones (1963) - 1 star

One Sentence Plot Summary: Lots of Britishly clever (but never funny), unlikely events in the life of a womanizing orphan.

Starring: Albert Finney, Susannah York, Hugh Griffith, Edith Evans, Diane Cilento, Joyce Redman

Best of: There is one funny scene where two lovers seductively eat chicken. Okay, maybe it's not that funny.

Worst of: The British comedy-of-errors genre really should have died with Shakespeare.

I would have liked it better if: it had a different script, cast, score and director.

Lawrence of Arabia (1962) - 5 stars

One Sentence Plot Summary: The story follows British eccentric T.E. Lawrence as he leads an Arabian army against the Turks in WWI.

Starring: Peter O'Toole, Omar Sharif, Alec Guinness, Anthony Quinn, Anthony Quayle, José Ferrer, Arthur Kennedy, Claude Rains.

Best of: Well-acted, genius screenplay, beautiful cinemantography, and creative and meticulous directing.

Worst of: Peter O'Toole's eyeliner...more drag queen than soldier/adventurer.

Notable: The film doesn't have a single female speaking role.

Also Nominated: To Kill A Mockingbird.

West Side Story (1961) - 3 stars

One Sentence Plot Summary: Romeo and Juliet, but with ballet-dancing gangs (no, really).

Starring: Natalie Wood, Richard Beymer, Russ Tamblyn, Rita Moreno, George Chakiris

Best of: A tremendous score by Leonard Bernstein.

Worst of: Surprisingly weak vocals from the male cast. Apparently, it takes about one second to fall completely in love.

Notable: Many of the vocals are not sung by the actors, but dubbed by professional singers.

The Apartment (1960) - 4 stars

One Sentence Plot Summary: A mild mannered, ambitious business man's apartmemt becomes THE place for office bigshots to bring their mistresses.

Starring: Jack Lemmon, Shirley MacLaine, Fred MacMurray, Jack Kruschen.

Best of: Great story, great script...engaging throughout. Shirley MacLaine was hot? Why did no one ever inform me of this odd fact before?

Worst of: The best scenes are all at the start of the film.

Notable: This was the last black and white movie to win Best Picture until Schindler's List.

Ben Hur (1959) - 4 stars

One Sentence Plot Summary: John 3:16.

Starring: Charlton Heston, Stephen Boyd, Haya Harareet, Jack Hawkins, Martha Scott, Cathy O'Donnell, Sam Jaffe, Hugh Griffith

Best of: The absolute definition of "epic." The chariot scene is, of course, fantastic. Epic plot, epic themes, epic personalities...a whole lot of fun.

Worst of: I actually liked all the Jesus stuff, but I'd listen to an argument about it being corny.

Notable: No one died during the chariot scene...that's just a hard to kill urban legend.