1961

Academy winner West Side Story poster

West Side Story

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Should have won Yojimbo poster

Yojimbo

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The Academy's ballot

🏆West Side Story#573.22 🎬Judgment at Nuremberg#279.01 🎬The Hustler#375.73 🎬The Guns of Navarone#1171.6 🎬Fanny#2162.13

Your #1 was Yojimbo (#1).

The full slate

Yojimbo (1961)

⭐ Top-rated🏛️ All-time great

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Dir. Akira Kurosawa · Toshirō Mifune · Tatsuya Nakadai · Yōko Tsukasa · Isuzu Yamada

IMDb 8.2 (143,454 votes) · TMDB 8.1

A nameless ronin, or samurai with no master, enters a small village in feudal Japan where two rival businessmen are struggling for control of the local gambling trade. Taking the name Sanjuro Kuwabatake, the ronin convinces both silk merchant Tazaemon and sake merchant Tokuemon to hire him as a personal bodyguard, then artfully sets in motion a full-scale gang war between the two ambitious and unscrupulous men.

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Judgment at Nuremberg (1961)

🎬 Nominee⭐ Top-rated🏛️ All-time great💰 Box office #8

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Dir. Stanley Kramer · Spencer Tracy · Richard Widmark · Maximilian Schell · Burt Lancaster

IMDb 8.3 (97,158 votes) · TMDB 8.0

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 defense attorney Hans Rolfe, but also from the widow of a Nazi general, an idealistic U.S. Army captain and reluctant witness Irene Wallner.

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The Hustler (1961)

🎬 Nominee⭐ Top-rated

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Dir. Robert Rossen · Paul Newman · Jackie Gleason · Piper Laurie · George C. Scott

IMDb 7.9 (90,024 votes) · TMDB 7.7

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.

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Breakfast at Tiffany's (1961)

⭐ Top-rated💰 Box office #9

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Dir. Blake Edwards · Audrey Hepburn · George Peppard · Patricia Neal · Buddy Ebsen

IMDb 7.5 (204,954 votes) · TMDB 7.6

Holly Golightly is an eccentric New York City playgirl determined to marry a Brazilian millionaire. But when young writer Paul Varjak moves into her apartment building, her past threatens to get in their way.

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West Side Story (1961)

🏆 Winner⭐ Top-rated💰 Box office #2

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Dir. Jerome Robbins · Natalie Wood · Richard Beymer · Russ Tamblyn · Rita Moreno

IMDb 7.6 (127,880 votes) · TMDB 7.228

In Manhattan’s Upper West Side, rival gangs of Polish-Americans and newly arrived Puerto Ricans clash for control of the neighborhood, even as two young members from opposite sides fall dangerously in love.

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La Notte (1961)

⭐ Top-rated

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Dir. Michelangelo Antonioni · Marcello Mastroianni · Jeanne Moreau · Monica Vitti · Bernhard Wicki

IMDb 7.9 (26,639 votes) · TMDB 7.926

A day in the life of an unfaithful married couple and their steadily deteriorating relationship in Milan.

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Through a Glass Darkly (1961)

⭐ Top-rated

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Dir. Ingmar Bergman · Harriet Andersson · Gunnar Björnstrand · Max von Sydow · Lars Passgård

IMDb 7.9 (29,477 votes) · TMDB 7.8

Karin hopes to recover from her recent stay at a mental hospital by spending the summer at her family's cottage on a tiny island. Her husband, Martin, cares for her but is frustrated by her physical withdrawal. Her younger brother, Minus, is confused by Karin's vulnerability and his own budding sexuality. Their father, David, cannot overcome his haughty remoteness. Beset by visions, Karin descends further into madness.

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Viridiana (1961)

⭐ Top-rated

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Dir. Luis Buñuel · Silvia Pinal · Francisco Rabal · Fernando Rey · José Calvo

IMDb 8.0 (28,266 votes) · TMDB 7.7

Viridiana is preparing to start her life as a nun when she is sent, somewhat unwillingly, to visit her aging uncle, Don Jaime. He supports her; but the two have met only once. Jaime thinks Viridiana resembles his dead wife. Viridiana has secretly despised this man all her life and finds her worst fears proven when Jaime grows determined to seduce his pure niece. Viridiana becomes undone as her uncle upends the plans she had made to join the convent.

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The Innocents (1961)

⭐ Top-rated

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Dir. Jack Clayton · Deborah Kerr · Peter Wyngarde · Megs Jenkins · Michael Redgrave

IMDb 7.7 (36,231 votes) · TMDB 7.491

In a mid-19th century Essex country house, a young governess for two children becomes convinced that the house and grounds are haunted by ghosts and that the children are being possessed.

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#10

One Hundred and One Dalmatians (1961)

⭐ Top-rated💰 Box office #1

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Dir. Wolfgang Reitherman · Rod Taylor · J. Pat O'Malley · Betty Lou Gerson · Martha Wentworth

IMDb 7.3 (197,165 votes) · TMDB 7.175

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.

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#11

The Guns of Navarone (1961)

🎬 Nominee⭐ Top-rated💰 Box office #4

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Dir. J. Lee Thompson · Gregory Peck · David Niven · Anthony Quinn · Stanley Baker

IMDb 7.5 (59,814 votes) · TMDB 7.3

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.

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#12

One, Two, Three (1961)

⭐ Top-rated

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Dir. Billy Wilder · James Cagney · Horst Buchholz · Pamela Tiffin · Arlene Francis

IMDb 7.8 (24,771 votes) · TMDB 7.5

In Cold War-era West Berlin, American Coca-Cola executive C.R. 'Mac' MacNamara is tasked with playing babysitter to his boss' spoiled 17-year-old daughter Scarlett, who proves more difficult than anticipated when she reveals that she is pregnant by a Communist.

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#13

The Children's Hour (1961)

⭐ Top-rated

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Dir. William Wyler · Shirley MacLaine · Audrey Hepburn · James Garner · Miriam Hopkins

IMDb 7.8 (20,890 votes) · TMDB 7.6

An unruly student at a private all-girls boarding school scandalously accuses the two women who run it of having a romantic relationship.

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#14

Splendor in the Grass (1961)

⭐ Top-rated

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Dir. Elia Kazan · Natalie Wood · Warren Beatty · Pat Hingle · Audrey Christie

IMDb 7.7 (22,962 votes) · TMDB 7.5

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.

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#15

Last Year at Marienbad (1961)

⭐ Top-rated

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Dir. Alain Resnais · Delphine Seyrig · Giorgio Albertazzi · Sacha Pitoëff · Françoise Bertin

IMDb 7.6 (27,060 votes) · TMDB 7.4

At a weekend gathering, a man tells a woman that they had spent time there together a year prior. But, the woman has no recollection whatsoever and is convinced that he is simply fabricating the encounter. The more he speaks about their activities the previous year however, the more compelling he becomes. The question remains however – did they meet previously or not?

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#16

The Parent Trap (1961)

💰 Box office #3

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Dir. David Swift · Hayley Mills · Maureen O'Hara · Brian Keith · Charles Ruggles

IMDb 7.2 (26,403 votes) · TMDB 7.0

Two identical twin sisters, separated at birth by their parents' divorce, are reunited years later at a summer camp, where they scheme to bring their parents back together. The girls, one of whom has been living with their mother and the other with their father, switch places after camp and go to work on their plan, the first objective being to scare off a gold-digger pursuing their father.

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#17

The Misfits (1961)

💰 Box office #10

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Dir. John Huston · Marilyn Monroe · Clark Gable · Eli Wallach · Montgomery Clift

IMDb 7.2 (24,529 votes) · TMDB 7.0

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 decide to move into Guido's half-finished desert home together. When grizzled ex-rodeo rider Perce Howland arrives, the unlikely foursome strike up a business capturing wild horses.

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#18

El Cid (1961)

💰 Box office #5

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Dir. Anthony Mann · Charlton Heston · Sophia Loren · Raf Vallone · Geneviève Page

IMDb 7.2 (17,248 votes) · TMDB 6.8

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.

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#19

King of Kings (1961)

💰 Box office #7

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Dir. Nicholas Ray · Jeffrey Hunter · Siobhán McKenna · Hurd Hatfield · Ron Randell

IMDb 7.0 (10,079 votes) · TMDB 7.141

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.

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#20

Lover Come Back (1961)

💰 Box office #6

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Dir. Delbert Mann · Rock Hudson · Doris Day · Tony Randall · Edie Adams

IMDb 7.1 (9,703 votes) · TMDB 6.967

Jerry Webster and Carol Templeton 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, revenge prompts her to infiltrate his secret "VIP" campaign in order to persuade the mystery product’s scientist to switch to her firm.

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#21

Fanny (1961)

🎬 Nominee

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Dir. Joshua Logan · Leslie Caron · Maurice Chevalier · Charles Boyer · Horst Buchholz

IMDb 6.8 (2,969 votes) · TMDB 6.716

Almost 19-year-old Marius feels himself in a rut in Marseille, his life planned for him by his cafe'-owning father, and he longs for the sea. The night before he is to leave on a 5-year voyage, Fanny, a girl he grew up with, reveals that she is in love with him, and he discovers that he is in love with her. He must choose between an exciting life at sea, and a boring life with the woman he loves. And Fanny must choose between keeping the man she loves, and letting him live the life he seems to want.

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How scoring works: films are ranked by a composite of a weighted (Bayesian) IMDb rating — the same method as the IMDb Top 250, so a high score from few voters can't outrank a strong score from many — blended with TMDB. Box office is a tiebreaker and a badge, never part of the score. Raw IMDb ratings and vote counts are shown on each card.