There are little Easter Eggs in Sim 66 scattered here and there which are references to movies and TV shows from that era. I won't tell you which ones; you can discover them for yourselves, but I have watched a lot of Sixties shows and some have been a real inspiration for the story. I'd like to share my list of films and TV programmes that have helped my story along since it began.
1. BLOW UP (1966)
This movie, set in London and filmed in 1966 was directed by the Italian movie maker Michaelangelo Antonioni and stars David Hemmings, Vanessa Redgrave, John Castle, Peter Bowles, Sarah Miles, Jane Birkin, Gillian Hills, the real life fashion models Veruschka and Peggy Moffit and the rock group, The Yardbirds. Hemmings plays Thomas, a self-important top photographer whose range includes high fashion and what he thinks is 'social realism'. One day he goes to a park and candidly photographs a couple frolicking around. The woman (Redgrave), sees Thomas and becomes panicked; demanding he hands the roll of film over to her. He refuses and heads back to his studio where he develops the photographs and discovers he may have captured a murder attempt on the man on film.
This isn't a conventional mystery thriller and you may be disappointed if you see Blow Up if you want something by the numbers. It's movie of moods, of psychological drama and, above all, fantastic visuals. The cinematography is fantastic but of note to aficionados of the Swinging Sixties are the fashions. Antonioni has captured the look of that period of Mod styling perfectly, which is showcased in the scene of him photographing fashion models in his studios, the two teenage girls who pester him for a photoshoot (and a bit more) and a nightclub scene where the Swinging Sixties style is everywhere. That part of the movie features one of the best bands of that era; The Yardbirds, here with both Jeff Beck and Jimmy Page in the line-up.
2. HERE WE GO ROUND THE MULBERRY BUSH (1967)
My all time favourite teenage coming of age movie. A British comedy/drama set in the town of Stevenage and starring Barry Evans as Jamie, a teenage boy who is coming to the end of his time at secondary school and who is perpetually on the lookout for a girlfriend...to the point of distraction. He's not short of potential candidates either, as you can see from the publicity still from the film above, but the problem is that something always gets in the way or sabotages his chances. His story arc isn't just about a horny teenage boy...he learns that he can aim for "right here, right now" or he can be more discerning and not just fall for any pretty face but look for something lasting and deeper. It's an episodic movie, but fun throughout and even though there's plenty of Sixties "wackiness" with his psychedelic daydreams it's a very accurate depiction of a teenage boy on the verge of manhood and in a town just outside of London which is too far away for him to enjoy the Swinging lifestyle he hears about. There's a soundtrack by the pop groups Traffic and The Spencer Davis Group (the latter appear as themselves in one scene) but another star of the film are the fashions: Not just with the girls but the guys as well.
3. TO SIR, WITH LOVE (1967)
Another British movie made just at the right time to showcase the youth of the 1960s, this stars Sidney Poitier as a West Indian teacher who has come to the UK to teach in a school located in a run down part of London. Of course, he's not well liked at the start as he has to overcome the disrespect of his students (who are an unruly, hormonal lot), living in another country and, inevitably, racism. But he's persistent and dedicated and bonds of trust and respect are forged over the course of the film. Poitier's main co-stars are Judy Geeson (who was also in Here We Go Round The Mulberry Bush) and the pop singer, Lulu (who also sings the title song). Again, you have some great looks among the students and Poitier, as always, looks so sharp in his Sixties suits.
4. COOGAN'S BLUFF (1968)
I love crime thrillers from the late Sixties and early 70s. I could have included such seminal crime dramas from that era such as Shaft, Villain, Get Carter, Madigan, Dirty Harry or The French Connection but on my recommendation list here is Clint Eastwood's first major Hollywood film after making the trio of Spaghetti Westerns in the mid-Sixties: Coogan's Bluff.
He plays the title character; a no-nonsense US Marshall from Arizona who is sent to New York to help recapture an escaped convict he once put behind bars. It's a fish-out-of-water scenario as Coogan's rural, wilderness and blunt ways of policing clash with the bureaucratic and slapdash style of his New York counterparts. It's also a contrast between Coogan's conservatism and the Swinging, psychedelic style of the times and this is why I recommend this film for the Sixties aficionado: It embraces the era and the fashions, especially in a scene set in a nightclub called The Pigeon-Toed Orange Peel.
5. HEAD (1968)
Hey, hey, that really is The Monkees in their only big screen movie. I recommend checking out their TV series as well but Head is something altogether different from that. It's a whacky deconstruction of the band and their personas via a series of short sketches and vignettes that don't really mesh into an overarching plot...there's no plot at all...to the point that their cute antics of the show are shown to be just a fake facade, like the band themselves. Sounds depressing watching your favourites bringing themselves down? Well, don't be because Head is filled with fun moments, brilliant editing, great songs and the whole thing feels like The Monkees' farewell gig and they want to go out in some style...even if a lot of that is silly. Again, enjoy the fashions, the music and the psychedelic visuals.
6. THE NAME OF THE GAME (1966. 1968-70)
Originally a TV movie made in 1966 called "Fame Is The Name Of The Game", starring Anthony Franciosa as crusading reporter, Jeff Dillon and Susan St. James as his plucky and resourceful assistant, Peggy, it was successful enough to spawn a series which ran for 3 seasons between 1968 to 1970, abbreviated to "The Name Of The Game". The format was tweaked from following a single reporter solving mysteries and crusading for justice to following 3 men who all worked for the same publishing company and the the cast was expanded to include Robert Stack as crime reporter, Dan Farrell, and Gene Barry as their boss, publisher Glenn Howard. This new format meant that each episode would feature one of the trio...with Peggy usually assisting them...either getting involved in some high society drama (Glenn), investigating an unsolved crime (Dan) or uncovering a scandal (Jeff).
The flexible format means that you get a multi-dimensional view of late 60s Los Angeles from the lowlife crimes on the street to high society and Hollywood royalty trying to bury a scandal and everything in between so the look and the feel of the show captures that late 60s aesthetic from various perspectives. Plus Susan St. James looks terrific in her mod gear and the guys? Well, just check out those threads in that publicity still.
7. THAT GIRL. (1966-71)
The crazy misadventures of aspiring actress, Anne Marie (Marlo Thomas) and her straight laced and accident prone boyfriend, Don Hollinger (Ted Bessel) pretty much is the definitive American sitcom of the late 1960s that doesn't involve magic or sorcery. Thomas is adorable in the lead role; often scatterbrained, great at fast-talking babble, cute as a button and she's well supported by Bessel who is terrific at deadpan humour and slapstick at the same time. That Girl is the prototype of the independent but goofy female sitcom character in American TV, influencing the Mary Tyler Moore Show right through to Monica, Rachel and Phoebe of "Friends" and Zooey Deschanel in "New Girl". Thomas' look in the series is fantastic; a real time capsule of late 60s fashion which came about because she was starring in the London production of "Barefoot In The Park" and became a huge fan of Carnaby Street fashions. Against the initial wishes of the network, who wanted a more conservative look for the character, Thomas started wearing miniskirts, go-go boots and fishnet tights on the show and popularised such fashion items in the U.S.
8. DEPARTMENT S (1968-69)
A detective show with a difference. Department S were a branch of Interpol who specialised in "unsolvable" crimes and mysteries and consisted of American detective, Stewart Sullivan (Joel Fabiani), computer expert Annabelle Hurst (Rosemary Nicholls) and playboy novelist turned detective Jason King (Peter Wyngarde). Most of the episodes are interesting and intriguing, especially as they all have cold opening pre-title sequences that hook the viewer in but the real stand out in the series is Wyngarde as Jason King. He's charismatic, gets all the best lines, flamboyant, vain, and a bit of a paper tiger but it's his wardrobe and style that are the real stars here. His clothing, hairstyle and moustache are all at the extreme edge of late 60s male fashion and it only got more extreme when the character got his own spin off series a couple of years later called "Jason King". Yes, that's Jason King on the right of that picture.
9. THE PARTY (1968)
Peter Sellars plays Hrundi V. Bakshi, an accident prone Indian actor now living in Hollywood. After wrecking the production of a remake of the movie, "Gunga Din", he finds himself on a producer's blacklist...or would be if the producer's secretary hadn't accidentally written his name on an invite to an exclusive Hollywood party by mistake.
Peter Sellars and Blake Edwards team up again as they had on the Pink Panther movies to create a movie where physical comedy, prop gags and Sellars' incredible penchant for accents are to the fore. There are so many memorable moments in this film from Steve Franken's increasingly drunk waiter, a lost shoe in the house water feature, a blocked toilet and a roast chicken stuck in a woman's elaborate hairstyle. Oh, and "Birdy num-num". Claudine Longet plays a French actress-singer who is being pestered by a lecherous producer and who Hrundi develops a friendship with but the main co-star of the film is the house itself. I've mentioned Sixties fashions in this list many times and the same goes for this movie but the house design is a mixture of 60s aesthetic but is also massively overcomplicated and over-designed so that comedy is milked from such a pretentious and ludicrous venue.
10. ADAM ADAMANT LIVES (1966-67)
Running for two seasons, Adam Adamant Lives was an action-mystery show where the titular character is a Victorian/Edwardian adventurer and crimefighter who is frozen in a block of ice in 1902 and is thawed out in 1966 where he has to adapt to the Swinging Sixties...and continue to fight crime...along with his swinging mod dolly bird assistant, Georgie. It was meant to be the BBC's answer to ITV's huge hit, The Avengers, in terms of outlandish style and mysteries but it was filmed in black and white on a mixture of videotape and film so not every episode survives to this day. Filmed on a lower budget than the Avengers but what it lacks in polish it makes up for with a superb urbane performance from leading man Gerald Harper as Adam with good support from Juliet Harmer as Georgie. Very hip, very swinging, very Mod.
11. THE AVENGERS (1960-69)
Speaking of The Avengers, this too is a seminal TV programme of the 1960s and its production virtually spans the entire decade. Starting off in 1960 it featured Patrick Macnee as John Steed, a shadowy spy working for the British government and Ian Hendry as Dr David Keel, a man who's out for revenge on those who killed his fiancée. Hendry left the show in 1961 and then Honor Blackman was cast as Cathy Gale, Steed's new companion in crimefighting. Cathy was intelligent, sexy and an expert in karate in judo, making her the first female action hero of television. When Blackman left the show in 1964 in order to star in Goldfinger, the show was a massive success and the producers upped the ante, started shooting the series on 35mm film and cast Diana Rigg as Emma Peel to assist Steed. This was when the show hit its peak and is best remembered for the Macnee/Rigg partnership. When Rigg left the show in 1968 she was replaced for the remainder of the series' run by Linda Thorson as Tara King.
Quintessential 60s viewing where you can see fashion and style change from season to season and it's full of charm and doesn't take itself seriously at all, verging on science fiction in a number of episodes. Macnee is wonderfully charismatic and urbane, and looks great in his tailored Pierre Cardin suits but Blackman, Rigg and Thorson shine in 60s designer gear as well. Part of the show's success is in the equal partnership between Steed and his companions, the witty banter and the women being experts at Judo and Karate.
12. KALEIDOSCOPE (1966)
Look at that publicity still right there. It screams late 60s American youth psychedelia, or at least what Hollywood producers thought that was like. It's a detective show about young crimefighters: Cool, hip and in touch with the Now Generation but it's also an invaluable source of Sixties fashion and street slang. Custom content creators take note: That's your style guide right there in that picture.
The James Bond movies emerged out of the 1960s and took the world by storm and any list of inspirational 1960s movies has to include one of them, so I opted for this one because I think it's more of a time capsule of Sixties style and fashion than the previous 5 Bond movies. George Lazenby was a male model before landing the role of James Bond and he has a poise and swagger that a model has. The tailoring of his suits in the movie is exquisite and he manages to pull off wearing a formal, fitted shirt with a ruffled front. Diana Rigg's outfits and look are a softer variation of her look in The Avengers but she looks fantastic in this film as well. But Sixties style fans should look out for Blofeld's "Angels of Death", who wear a variety of late 60s fashions and the interior design of the villain base, Piz Gloria, is another inspiration for the Sim 66 look.
And to round off this list I include what I think to be the most stylish Hollywood film of the late 1960s. An unconventional tale about a bored millionaire, played by Steve McQueen, who has a vast intellect and plots bank robberies because he's bored with his life. Faye Dunaway plays a dogged insurance investigator who is determined to catch him by any means she deems necessary...which includes some pretty underhanded stuff and her smouldering sexuality.
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