As I pondered a recent post at The Cynic Speaks that noted the resurgence of wayfarer sunglasses as in the days of John Kennedy and Bob Dylan, I began to draw parallels between our current political and cultural situations and those of the ‘60s. One notable aspect about that time is that people cannot seem to agree on when “the ‘60s” began or ended. Did the era begin in 1960? Or in 1963, or perhaps not until 1968? That’s a question that I may deal with in another piece. For now, I’ll go with a stock decade classification. So, if you’re taking a break from the healthcare debate going on in the TDI blogosphere right now, sample what I consider are the best carry-overs from the 1960s to the present, proof that a bygone era can be revamped with authority, without the hippie-ness. A random assortment of some top trends:   

Fidel Castro

The American public, and, it seems, the Cuban central government, both thought this guy would recede into the background as his younger brother Raul took over. But remember who we are talking about here. Fidel (below) not only practically incarnated the Cuban Revolution back in 1959, but he withstood challenges to his authority by both Kennedy and Khrushchev during the Cuban Missile Crisis in 1962. He also built his state on intimidation, anti-Americanism, torture, and a cult of the personality. Some things have not changed, as evidenced by his still-prevalent influence in Cuban affairs. As in the ‘60s, American policy towards Cuba is really still the same: we love your cigars, but not your system. For my take on Cuba’s legacy since the Revolution, go here.

Spy Films Engage with Realism Again

The 1960s was a time in which two momentous changes happened in spy films: audiences first experienced James Bond onscreen, while some artists seriously critiqued that glamorized picture of espionage, delivering first-rate masterpieces in the process. It was a wonderfully creative time for the genre. As the emphasis in the Bond films centered more and more on fakeness, do-it-all gadgets, and sexually-explicit character names, one writer set off a trend that would place the Cold War espionage battle of shadows in its realistic, gritty context. That man, of course, was John Le Carre, who I blogged about here, and whom you can probably tell is my favorite author ever. In Le Carre’s The Spy Who Came in from the Cold, published in 1963, the hero, Alec Leamas, is not a tuxedo-clad dandy, but a rough-hewn, experienced hand who bravely goes into the moral vortex of the East-West conflict. The 1965 film version stars Richard Burton as Leamas, in what is perhaps one of the finest roles of his career. It signaled the first time that Hollywood was concerned about exploring the psychological side of spying, and it seems that in the last ten years the studios have drawn on this theme again, with excellent results. The popularity of the Bourne trilogy finds the hero, like Leamas in another era, caught up in a web of deceit involving brutally efficiency, intellectual sophistication, and moral dilemmas. And James Bond has also undergone a transformation too, with the entrance of Daniel Craig into the starring role. Craig’s Bond takes part in the espionage dialectic created during the 1960s, combining the gentlemanly, traveling spy with the embittered spy who gets beat up and thrown into the gutter once and a while. The result has been a synthesis of the two personas that ultimately makes for a more believable character. And Craig does this in a creative fashion that is, quite honestly, refreshing after the efforts of Pierce Brosnan, who was just trying too hard to look the part of the English upper class. Craig puts on Englishness much better, primarily because his character embodies the universal qualities that define the English spy: reserved, cold at times, abrupt, and always with a sense that his mission depends on underhandedness. We can thank the ‘60s for initiating the artistic debate that made this modern Bond a reality.

Bond:                                                                                   Leamas (at left):

Bourne:                                                                Bond:    

European Actresses Are Worth Their Salt Again

In the 1960s, European actresses like Sophia Loren (below, left) and Brigitte Bardot were known for their talents as well as their exotic postal codes. Now, Penelope Cruz (below, right) is an Oscar-winner, Marion Cotillard has starred alongside Johnny Depp in a film on John Dilinger, and Audrey Tautou plays Coco Chanel. Which reminds this Foreign Correspondent exactly why he took a liking to the countries Over There in the first place.

How I Learned to Love Drinking at Work, or Mad Men

AMC’s award-winning show Mad Men, which makes its third-season debut this Sunday, is a statement on classiness. The sets evoke 1960s Madison Avenue style, and the term “smoke-filled room” takes on literal meaning. Shows set in the modern era are finding the executives of Sterling Cooper worthwhile inspirations, as Jeremy Piven’s Ari Gold took in a daytime office drink in a recent episode of Entourage. Don Draper (below) would be proud.

Now make like a ‘60s ad exec and click through the Mad Men iTunes logo on our page.