The 40 most popular 1960s adventure movies, ranked. Click any film for ratings, reviews, trailers, and where to watch.


2001: A Space Odyssey
1968 · 2h 29m
country: United Kingdom
Humanity finds a mysterious object buried beneath the lunar surface and sets off to find its origins with the help of HAL 9000, the world's most advanced super computer.


One Hundred and One Dalmatians
1961 · 1h 19m
country: United States
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.


The Jungle Book
1967 · 1h 18m
country: United States
The boy Mowgli makes his way to the man-village with Bagheera, the wise panther. Along the way he meets jazzy King Louie, the hypnotic snake Kaa and the lovable, happy-go-lucky bear Baloo, who teaches Mowgli "The Bare Necessities" of life and the true meaning of friendship.


Lawrence of Arabia
1962 · 3h 48m
country: United Kingdom
During World War I, English officer Thomas Edward 'T.E.' Lawrence sets out to unite and lead the diverse, often warring, Arab tribes to fight the Turks.


Planet of the Apes
1968 · 1h 52m
country: United States
Astronaut Taylor crash lands on a distant planet ruled by apes who use a primitive race of humans for experimentation and sport. Soon Taylor finds himself among the hunted, his life in the hands of a benevolent chimpanzee scientist.


Dr. No
1962 · 1h 50m
country: United Kingdom
Agent 007 battles mysterious Dr. No, a scientific genius bent on destroying the U.S. space program. As the countdown to disaster begins, Bond must go to Jamaica, where he encounters beautiful Honey Ryder, to confront a megalomaniacal villain in his massive island headquarters.


You Only Live Twice
1967 · 1h 57m
country: United Kingdom
A mysterious spacecraft captures Russian and American space capsules and brings the two superpowers to the brink of war. James Bond investigates the case in Japan and comes face to face with his archenemy Blofeld.


From Russia with Love
1963 · 1h 55m
country: United Kingdom
Agent 007 is back in the second installment of the James Bond series, this time battling a secret crime organization known as SPECTRE. Russians Rosa Klebb and Kronsteen are out to snatch a decoding device known as the Lektor, using the ravishing Tatiana to lure Bond into helping them. Bond willingly travels to meet Tatiana in Istanbul, where he must rely on his wits to escape with his life in a series of deadly encounters with the enemy.


Labyrinth
1969 · 13m
country: France
The landscape surveyed here might be the estranged interior of your typical East-European émigré animator’s skull; with its deranged narrative values, artfully disturbed graphic style, and aggressive "musique concrète" sonorities, Kamler's are among the most astounding works you'll ever see... In company of Walerian Borowczyk, Peter Foldes & Arcady, Kamler is the successor to a prestigious tradition of East European émigré animators (think: Alexieff, Bartosch, Starewycz). Like their precursors, they are also among the most distinguished artists in cinema, celebrated for their graphic style and narrative experiment.


On Her Majesty's Secret Service
1969 · 2h 22m
country: United Kingdom
With the help of Marc-Ange Draco, head of the Unione Corse crime syndicate, and Draco's troubled daughter Tracy, James Bond tracks his archnemesis, Ernst Stravro Blofeld, to a mountaintop retreat in the Swiss Alps, where he is training an army of beautiful, lethal women.


The Magnificent Seven
1960 · 2h 8m
country: United States
An oppressed Mexican peasant village hires seven gunfighters to help defend their homes.


Goldfinger
1964 · 1h 50m
country: United Kingdom
Special agent 007 comes face to face with one of the most notorious villains of all time, and now he must outwit and outgun the powerful tycoon to prevent him from cashing in on a devious scheme to raid Fort Knox -- and obliterate the world's economy.


The Great Escape
1963 · 2h 53m
country: United States
The Nazis, exasperated at the number of escapes from their prison camps by a relatively small number of Allied prisoners, relocate them to a high-security 'escape-proof' camp to sit out the remainder of the war. Undaunted, the prisoners plan one of the most ambitious escape attempts of World War II. Based on a true story.


Thunderball
1965 · 2h 10m
country: United Kingdom
A criminal organization has obtained two nuclear bombs and are asking for a 100 million pound ransom in the form of diamonds in seven days or they will use the weapons. The secret service sends James Bond to the Bahamas to once again save the world.


Spartacus
1960 · 3h 17m
country: United States
The rebellious Thracian Spartacus, born and raised a slave, is sold to Gladiator trainer Batiatus. After weeks of being trained to kill for the arena, Spartacus turns on his owners and leads the other slaves in rebellion. As the rebels move from town to town, their numbers swell as escaped slaves join their ranks. Under the leadership of Spartacus, they make their way to southern Italy, where they will cross the sea and return to their homes.


The Dirty Dozen
1967 · 2h 29m
country: United Kingdom
12 American military prisoners in World War II are ordered to infiltrate a well-guarded enemy château and kill the Nazi officers vacationing there. The soldiers, most of whom are facing death sentences for a variety of violent crimes, agree to the mission and the possible commuting of their sentences.


Casino Royale
1967 · 2h 11m
country: United States
Sir James Bond is called back out of retirement to stop SMERSH. In order to trick SMERSH, James thinks up the ultimate plan - that every agent will be named 'James Bond'. One of the Bonds, whose real name is Evelyn Tremble is sent to take on Le Chiffre in a game of baccarat, but all the Bonds get more than they can handle.


Easy Rider
1969 · 1h 36m
country: United States
Wyatt and Billy, two Harley-riding hippies, complete a drug deal in Southern California and decide to travel cross-country in search of spiritual truth.


The Guns of Navarone
1961 · 2h 40m
country: United Kingdom
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.


Where Eagles Dare
1968 · 2h 35m
country: United Kingdom
World War II is raging, and an American general has been captured and is being held hostage in the Schloss Adler, a Bavarian castle that's nearly impossible to breach. It's up to a group of skilled Allied soldiers to liberate the general before it's too late.


Barbarella
1968 · 1h 38m
country: France
In the far future, a highly sexual woman is tasked with finding and stopping the evil Durand-Durand. Along the way she encounters various unusual people.


Island of the Blue Dolphins
1964 · 1h 33m
country: United States
Based on the beloved book by Scott O'Dell, this family movie tells the adventures of a young Native American girl. After her father is killed by a malevolent white trapper, Karana joins her community as they leave their island home in the Pacific to live on the mainland. Upon her departure, Karana realizes that her brother has been left behind. She immediately swims back to be with him and the two remain on the abandoned island. Though Karana is able to domesticate a wolf, her brother is not so fortunate with the animals and is killed by a pack of wild dogs. She is left to survive against the odds.


Apache Gold
1963 · 1h 41m
country: France
The construction of the Great Western Railroad creates heavy conflict between the railway company and neighboring Indian tribes. Worse, criminal gang leader Santer sets his eyes on a gold mine located on holy Indian land and influences the construction supervisor to re-rout the planned railroad straight through Apache land. Old Shatterhand, who works as a measurement technician, discovers the evil plan and searches contact with the Apaches in an effort to avert war.


It's a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World
1963 · 3h 12m
country: United States
A group of strangers come across a man dying after a car crash who proceeds to tell them about the $350,000 he buried in California. What follows is the madcap adventures of those strangers as each attempts to claim the prize for himself.


Jason and the Argonauts
1963 · 1h 44m
country: United States
Jason, a fearless sailor and explorer, returns to his home land of Thessaly after a long voyage to claim his rightful throne. He learns, however, that he must first find the magical Golden Fleece. To do so, he must embark on an epic quest fraught with fantastic monsters and terrible perils.


Candy
1968 · 2h 4m
country: France
A high school girl encounters a variety of kookie characters and humorous sexual situations while searching for the meaning of life.


The Professionals
1966 · 1h 57m
country: United States
An arrogant Texas millionaire hires four adventurers to rescue his kidnapped wife from a notorious Mexican bandit.


The Bible: In the Beginning...
1966 · 2h 55m
country: Italy
Covering only the first 22 chapters of the Book of Genesis, vignettes include: Adam and Eve frolicking in the Garden of Eden until their indulgence in the forbidden fruit sees them driven out; Cain murdering his brother Abel; Noah building an ark to preserve the animals of the world from the coming flood; and Abraham making a covenant with God.


The Alamo
1960 · 3h 22m
country: United States
The legendary true story of a small band of soldiers who sacrificed their lives in hopeless combat against a massive army in order to prevent a tyrant from smashing the new Republic of Texas.


Asterix and Cleopatra
1968 · 1h 12m
country: France
Popular animated hero Asterix and his faithful sidekick Obelix travel to ancient Egypt to help Cleopatra build a new summer home. Cleopatra and Julius Caesar have made a bet, with Caesar wagering the project cannot be completed in a few weeks time. With the help of a magic potion, Asterix comes to the rescue of the Queen of the Nile as Caesar and an angry architect plot against them.


Chitty Chitty Bang Bang
1968 · 2h 24m
country: United Kingdom
A hapless inventor finally finds success with a flying car, which a dictator from a foreign government sets out to take for himself.


The Time Machine
1960 · 1h 43m
country: United States
A Victorian Englishman travels to the far future and finds that humanity has divided into two hostile species.


Mackenna's Gold
1969 · 2h 8m
country: United States
A bandit kidnaps a Marshal who has seen a map showing a gold vein on Indian lands, but other groups are looking for it too, while the Apache try to keep the secret location undisturbed.


Old Shatterhand
1964 · 2h 2m
country: France
Renegades trying to get the army to abandon their fort get the Indians addicted to whiskey, then convince them to attack and drive out the soldiers.


Fantastic Voyage
1966 · 1h 41m
country: United States
In order to save an assassinated scientist, a submarine and its crew are shrunk to microscopic size and injected into his bloodstream.


Asterix the Gaul
1967 · 1h 8m
country: France
In the year 50 BC, Gaul is occupied by the Romans - nearly. But the small village of Asterix and his friends still resists the Roman legions with the aid of their druid's magic potion, which gives superhuman strength. Learning of this potion, a Roman centurion kidnaps the druid to get the secret formula out of him.


Doctor Dolittle
1967 · 2h 31m
country: United States
A veterinarian who can communicate with animals travels abroad to search for a giant sea snail.


Swiss Family Robinson
1960 · 2h 6m
country: United States
After being shipwrecked, the Robinson family is marooned on an island inhabited only by an impressive array of wildlife. In true pioneer spirit, they quickly make themselves at home but soon face a danger even greater than nature: dastardly pirates.


Mutiny on the Bounty
1962 · 3h 5m
country: United States
The Bounty leaves Portsmouth in 1787. Its destination: to sail to Tahiti and load bread-fruit. Captain Bligh will do anything to get there as fast as possible, using any means to keep up a strict discipline. When they arrive at Tahiti, it is like a paradise for the crew, something completely different than the living hell aboard the ship. On the way back to England, officer Fletcher Christian becomes the leader of a mutiny.


The Flight of the Phoenix
1965 · 2h 22m
country: United States
A cargo aircraft crashes in a sandstorm in the Sahara with less than a dozen men on board. One of the passengers is an airplane designer who comes up with the idea of ripping off the undamaged wing and using it as the basis for a replacement aircraft they need to build before their food and water run out.
The 1960s broke the old rules everywhere at once — the French New Wave, the collapse of the Hollywood Production Code, and new waves across Europe and Japan reshaping what a film could show and say.
Adventure films are built on journey and discovery: lost worlds, long voyages, and heroes far from home. The genre overlaps heavily with fantasy and action, but its engine is always forward motion into unfamiliar territory.