Favorite Films of 1959
by bertramsharp | created - 10 Jul 2011 | updated - 11 Aug 2022 | PublicUpdated: 08/11/2022
I have watched 33 films with a 1959 release date. I have listed them here ranked from best to worst (in my opinion).
- Instant Watch Options
- Genres
- Movies or TV
- IMDb Rating
- In Theaters
- Release Year
- Keywords
1. North by Northwest (1959)
Approved | 136 min | Action, Adventure, Mystery
A New York City advertising executive goes on the run after being mistaken for a government agent by a group of foreign spies, and falls for a woman whose loyalties he begins to doubt.
Director: Alfred Hitchcock | Stars: Cary Grant, Eva Marie Saint, James Mason, Jessie Royce Landis
Votes: 345,792 | Gross: $13.28M
2. The 400 Blows (1959)
Not Rated | 99 min | Crime, Drama
A young boy, left without attention, delves into a life of petty crime.
Director: François Truffaut | Stars: Jean-Pierre Léaud, Albert Rémy, Claire Maurier, Guy Decomble
Votes: 127,978
3. Rio Bravo (1959)
Passed | 141 min | Drama, Western
A small-town sheriff in the American West enlists the help of a disabled man, a drunk, and a young gunfighter in his efforts to hold in jail the brother of the local bad guy.
Director: Howard Hawks | Stars: John Wayne, Dean Martin, Ricky Nelson, Angie Dickinson
Votes: 67,980 | Gross: $12.54M
4. Sleeping Beauty (1959)
G | 75 min | Animation, Adventure, Family
After being snubbed by the royal family, a malevolent fairy places a curse on a princess which only a prince can break, along with the help of three good fairies.
Directors: Les Clark, Clyde Geronimi, Eric Larson, Wolfgang Reitherman, Hamilton Luske | Stars: Mary Costa, Bill Shirley, Eleanor Audley, Verna Felton
Votes: 160,726 | Gross: $51.60M
5. Ghost of Dragstrip Hollow (1959)
Approved | 65 min | Comedy, Horror
Hot rods, monsters and rock'n'roll... In this teen-oriented picture, a gang of greasers hole up in a reputedly haunted mansion after getting evicted from their clubhouse.
Director: William J. Hole Jr. | Stars: Jody Fair, Russ Bender, Henry McCann, Martin Braddock
Votes: 743
6. Some Like It Hot (1959)
Passed | 121 min | Comedy, Music, Romance
After two male musicians witness a mob hit, they flee the state in an all-female band disguised as women, but further complications set in.
Director: Billy Wilder | Stars: Marilyn Monroe, Tony Curtis, Jack Lemmon, George Raft
Votes: 283,280 | Gross: $25.00M
7. Mysteries of the Deep (1959)
Approved | 24 min | Family, Documentary, Short
In this Oscar®-nominated short, a submerged reef is the home of many strange creatures. We see mating, birth, and development of the young into adults, with the laws of nature being fulfilled as the battle for survival goes continually on.
Star: Winston Hibler
Votes: 90
8. House on Haunted Hill (1959)
Approved | 75 min | Crime, Horror, Mystery
A millionaire offers $10,000 to five people who agree to be locked in a large, spooky, rented house overnight with him and his wife.
Director: William Castle | Stars: Vincent Price, Carol Ohmart, Richard Long, Alan Marshal
Votes: 30,800
9. Alias Jesse James (1959)
Approved | 92 min | Comedy, Western
Outlaw T.J. "Jesse" James tries to kill insurance agent Milford Farnsworth, who has been mistaken for him in order to collect on a big policy.
Director: Norman Z. McLeod | Stars: Bob Hope, Rhonda Fleming, Wendell Corey, Gloria Talbott
Votes: 1,595
10. Operation Petticoat (1959)
Approved | 124 min | Comedy, Romance, War
During World War II, a commander finds himself stuck with a decrepit (and pink) submarine, a con man executive officer, and a group of army nurses.
Director: Blake Edwards | Stars: Cary Grant, Tony Curtis, Joan O'Brien, Dina Merrill
Votes: 15,862 | Gross: $23.30M
11. Jungle Cat (1960)
Approved | 69 min | Documentary, Family
This documentary chronicles the life of a female spotted jaguar in the South American jungle.
Director: James Algar | Star: Winston Hibler
Votes: 417
12. The Shaggy Dog (1959)
Approved | 104 min | Comedy, Family, Fantasy
A teenage boy is cursed with periodically turning into a sheepdog.
Director: Charles Barton | Stars: Fred MacMurray, Jean Hagen, Tommy Kirk, Annette Funicello
Votes: 5,567 | Gross: $0.10M
13. The Bat (1959)
Approved | 80 min | Horror, Mystery, Thriller
A crazed killer known as "The Bat" is on the loose in a mansion full of people.
Director: Crane Wilbur | Stars: Vincent Price, Agnes Moorehead, Gavin Gordon, John Sutton
Votes: 6,191
14. A Bucket of Blood (1959)
Approved | 66 min | Comedy, Crime, Horror
A dimwitted busboy at a beatnik cafe passes off a cat he accidentally killed and covered in plaster as a sculpture, prompting a demand for more art that compels him to commit murders.
Director: Roger Corman | Stars: Dick Miller, Barboura Morris, Antony Carbone, Julian Burton
Votes: 7,879
15. The Hound of the Baskervilles (1959)
Not Rated | 87 min | Horror, Mystery
When a nobleman is threatened by a family curse on his newly inherited estate, detective Sherlock Holmes is hired to investigate.
Director: Terence Fisher | Stars: Peter Cushing, André Morell, Christopher Lee, Marla Landi
Votes: 12,366
16. The Stranglers of Bombay (1959)
Approved | 80 min | Action, Adventure, History
In the 1830s, a captain in the East India Company lobbies to investigate the criminal Thugee Cult of Kali, an organized crime group of stranglers and thieves.
Director: Terence Fisher | Stars: Guy Rolfe, Allan Cuthbertson, Andrew Cruickshank, George Pastell
Votes: 1,266
17. Plan 9 from Outer Space (1957)
Not Rated | 79 min | Horror, Sci-Fi
Evil aliens attack Earth and set their terrible "Plan 9" into action. As the aliens resurrect the dead of the Earth, the lives of the living are in danger.
Director: Edward D. Wood Jr. | Stars: Gregory Walcott, Tom Keene, Mona McKinnon, Duke Moore
Votes: 40,381
18. The Horse Soldiers (1959)
Approved | 120 min | Adventure, Drama, Romance
In 1863, a Union outfit is sent behind Confederate lines in Mississippi to destroy enemy railroads but a captive southern belle and the unit's doctor cause frictions within ranks.
Director: John Ford | Stars: John Wayne, William Holden, Constance Towers, Judson Pratt
Votes: 11,642 | Gross: $1.75M
19. Return of the Fly (1959)
Unrated | 80 min | Drama, Fantasy, Horror
Philippe Delambre, the now-adult son of "The Fly", does some transportation experimentation of his own.
Director: Edward Bernds | Stars: Vincent Price, Brett Halsey, David Frankham, John Sutton
Votes: 5,177
20. Ben-Hur (1959)
G | 212 min | Adventure, Drama
After a Jewish prince is betrayed and sent into slavery by a Roman friend in 1st-century Jerusalem, he regains his freedom and comes back for revenge.
Director: William Wyler | Stars: Charlton Heston, Jack Hawkins, Stephen Boyd, Haya Harareet
Votes: 253,421 | Gross: $74.70M
21. The Tingler (1959)
Not Rated | 82 min | Horror, Sci-Fi
An obsessed pathologist discovers and captures a parasitic creature that grows when fear grips its host.
Director: William Castle | Stars: Vincent Price, Judith Evelyn, Darryl Hickman, Patricia Cutts
Votes: 9,448
22. The Giant Gila Monster (1959)
Not Rated | 74 min | Horror, Sci-Fi, Thriller
A giant lizard terrorizes a rural Texas community and a heroic teenager attempts to destroy the creature.
Director: Ray Kellogg | Stars: Don Sullivan, Fred Graham, Lisa Simone, Shug Fisher
Votes: 4,324
23. Disneyland '59 (1959 TV Movie)
90 min | Documentary
Walt Disney and Art Linkletter co-host a live celebration of Disneyland's fifth anniversary. Highlights include a mammoth, star-studded parade and the official launching of the Disneyland ... See full synopsis »
Directors: Marshall Diskin, Hamilton Luske | Stars: Eddie Albert, Danny Alguire, Rex Allen, Edgar Bergen
Votes: 92
24. Terror Is a Man (1959)
Approved | 90 min | Horror, Romance, Sci-Fi
A mad scientist transforms a panther into a man-like creature that escapes and goes on a murderous rampage.
Directors: Gerardo de Leon, Eddie Romero | Stars: Francis Lederer, Greta Thyssen, Richard Derr, Oscar Keesee
Votes: 833
25. The Man Who Could Cheat Death (1959)
Approved | 83 min | Drama, Horror, Sci-Fi
A centenarian artist and scientist in 1890 Paris maintains his youth and health by periodically replacing a gland with that of a living person.
Director: Terence Fisher | Stars: Anton Diffring, Hazel Court, Christopher Lee, Arnold Marlé
Votes: 2,422
26. The Giant Behemoth (1959)
Not Rated | 80 min | Horror, Sci-Fi
Marine atomic tests cause changes in the ocean's ecosystem resulting in dangerous blobs of radiation and the resurrection of a dormant dinosaur that threatens London.
Director: Eugène Lourié | Stars: Gene Evans, André Morell, John Turner, Leigh Madison
Votes: 2,902
27. Beast from Haunted Cave (1959)
Approved | 72 min | Crime, Horror, Thriller
A group of gold thieves pull of a heist and flee into the snowy wilderness, only to be pursued by a horrible, spider-like monster.
Director: Monte Hellman | Stars: Michael Forest, Sheila Noonan, Frank Wolff, Wally Campo
Votes: 2,299
28. The Four Skulls of Jonathan Drake (1959)
Approved | 70 min | Horror, Mystery
Anthropologist Jonathan Drake believes that the men of his family have been cursed for generations by the native South American tribe he studies. Shortly after his brother, discovers one of the tribe's shrunken heads, he's found murdered.
Director: Edward L. Cahn | Stars: Eduard Franz, Valerie French, Grant Richards, Henry Daniell
Votes: 1,248
29. It Happened to Jane (1959)
Approved | 97 min | Comedy, Romance
Jane Osgood runs a lobster business, which supports her two young children. Railroad staff inattention ruins her shipment, so with her lawyer George, Jane sues Harry Foster Malone, director of the line and the "meanest man in the world".
Director: Richard Quine | Stars: Doris Day, Jack Lemmon, Ernie Kovacs, Steve Forrest
Votes: 3,093
30. The Killer Shrews (1959)
Approved | 69 min | Horror, Sci-Fi
On an isolated island, a small group of people are terrorized by giant voracious shrews in the midst of a hurricane.
Director: Ray Kellogg | Stars: James Best, Ingrid Goude, Ken Curtis, Gordon McLendon
Votes: 5,652 | Gross: $1.00M
31. The Alligator People (1959)
Approved | 74 min | Horror, Mystery, Sci-Fi
A woman in a hypnotic state recounts to two doctors the details of a horrific experience from her past life that began with the mysterious and sudden disappearance of her husband.
Director: Roy Del Ruth | Stars: Beverly Garland, Bruce Bennett, Lon Chaney Jr., George Macready
Votes: 2,501
32. The Mummy (1959)
Unrated | 88 min | Adventure, Horror
In 1895, British archaeologists find and open the tomb of Egyptian Princess Ananka with nefarious consequences.
Director: Terence Fisher | Stars: Peter Cushing, Christopher Lee, Yvonne Furneaux, Eddie Byrne
Votes: 10,982
33. Attack of the Giant Leeches (1959)
Approved | 62 min | Horror, Sci-Fi
A backwoods game warden and a local doctor discover that giant leeches are responsible for disappearances and deaths in a local swamp, but the local police don't believe them.
Director: Bernard L. Kowalski | Stars: Ken Clark, Yvette Vickers, Jan Shepard, Michael Emmet
Votes: 4,852
Tell Your Friends