“Quintessential” doesn’t mean either of these.
**Charlie Wayne **: “click bait”
I was surprised nobody had mentioned Altered States, then was surprised to see it was a 1980 release. Seems awfully 60ish.
Yes indeed. Quintessential means, “of or relating to the most perfect embodiment of something”.
But given that definition, I’m still not sure how to differentiate between “the best” and “the quintessential”. I’m not sure how to identify one particular sci fi movie (for example) that represents the most perfect embodiment of a sci fi movie from the 60s.
Thanks John.
My definition is “best captures the essence.” I picked The graduate because it captured the theme of alienation between generations, emblematic of the 60s, more than any other film I can think of, and regardless of the aesthetic qualities of it.
quiescently frozen confection Is something altogether different, though.
In the sense of “just because you’re paranoid doesn’t mean they’re not out to get you,” I’d consider The President’s Analyst. Although the demise of TPC deflated its impact. A bit. For now.
Woodstock (though it was released in early 1970)
The Good The Bad and The Ugly
I think an argument can be made for naming a spaghetti western as the quintessential western from the 1960’s and an even stronger argument can be made for TGB&U as being the quintessential example within the spaghetti western subgenre
I meant to post that one earlier, but couldn’t remember the exact title.
Also: A Clockwork Orange. 1971, but the 60s ended in 1973. 
And:
*Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid.
The Great Escape
Sex and the Single Girl
The Endless Summer
George Girl
Camelot
Two for the Road*
To me, it’s the early Sean Connery Bond movies. The bad guys were usually Eastern Bloc types, the life of the spy was glamorous and dangerous, the latest greatest gadgets were always available, the race to moon was usually given a nod (either manned space ships, satellites turned to evil use, etc.) and Merry Olde England was portrayed as a pretty swingin’ place on the outside.
I’d go with Dr. Strangelove, because it so perfectly embodies what was genuinely new in the 1960’s: the mainstreaming of subversion of the status quo.
There has always been, in art and other human productions, an urge to undercut the power structure. But until the sixties we didn’t see such challenges become massively popular entertainment. Easy Rider; The Manchurian Candidate; Bonnie & Clyde; The Wild Bunch—these, among others, could not have been made (or would not have become hits) in earlier decades.
Dr. Strangelove is the most extremely disrespectful of them all, so it gets my vote.
What’s New Pussycat parodies and embodies the sexual politics of the era. Tongue in cheek vote for me, but not all the way.
The Apartment kinda denotes the beginning of the sexual brouhaha as well.
I sink you have a schexual block with de schpelling of zat naughty name!
I disagree with your assessment of The Apartment. The active sexual appetites of those in the post WW2 business world was known, just not acknowledged in mixed company. The actions of a male, specifically one with power to hire and fire, having sexual interludes with female employees was considered almost a given. This film was trying to say that a man with integrity still exists, but just not in the world of business. It’s more an admonishment on businesses than on the sexual mores.
For me it has to be Cool Hand Luke (1967) since that movie summarizes all the currents at work during the decade. There have been some insightful comments already in this thread and I fully agree with the notion that at least two major themes divide the ten years into separate parts. The 50s overlap the first few years (probably until JFK’s assassination) and the remainder of the years bleed over into the early 70s.
CHL sits squarely in the middle of that time frame with a disdain for the 50s “family values” we saw in TV series of that period, and with a hippie-like disregard for power structures of all sorts.
Not only all that, but Paul Newman was never better! And the audacious “I can eat 50 eggs” taunt with an “anything for a kick” mentality that I identified with in those years sets the movie aside from some truly great movies of that era. Many of the ones already named are among my all-time favorites and it’s only by a head that CHL leads the pack.
The Party
Our Man Flint
It’s not an objective thing. You just have to have a feel for what the genre means and be able to identify which movie best exemplifies it.
For a movie to be the most quintessential movie of the 1960’s, it would have to be about the sixties, at least metaphorically. Lawrence of Arabia, for example, is a great movie - arguably the best movie made in the sixties. But it’s not about the sixties.