1961 in film

Top-grossing films (U.S.)

Top-grossing films by country

Events

• May 13 – Legendary actor Gary Cooper dies at the age of 60 in Los Angeles from colon and prostate cancer. Best known for his appearances in classic films such as Wings, Mr. Deeds Goes to Town, Sergeant York, The Pride of the Yankees and High Noon, Cooper was one of the biggest stars of Hollywood's Golden Age and won two Academy Awards for Best Actor.
• June 28 – Cubby Broccoli and Harry Saltzman sign a multi-picture deal with United Artists to produce a series of films based on the novels of Ian Fleming starting with either Dr. No or Diamonds Are Forever. The series goes on to become the highest-grossing film series of all time.
• July 17 – Trans World Airlines screens Come September to the press aboard one of its jets to introduce in-flight movies.
• October 18 – The film version of the musical West Side Story is released. Directed by Robert Wise and Jerome Robbins and starring Natalie Wood, Richard Beymer, Russ Tamblyn, Rita Moreno and George Chakiris, it becomes the year's highest-grossing film and goes on to win ten Academy Awards, including Best Picture, Best Director, Best Supporting Actor and Best Supporting Actress.

  Awards

1961 film releases

January–March

• January 1961
• *6 January
• **The Marriage-Go-Round
• *16 January
• **The Girl on the Boat
• *21 January
• **Pigs and Battleships
• *24 January
• **His and Hers
• **La Notte
• *25 January
• **One Hundred and One Dalmatians
• *26 January
• **The Mark
• *27 January
• **Jhumroo
• *28 January
• **A Fever in the Blood
• **A Soldier's Prayer
• February 1961
• *1 February
• **The Misfits
• *2 February
• **Garibaldi
• *9 February
• **Girl with a Suitcase
• **Mother Joan of the Angels
• **No Love for Johnnie
• *10 February
• **Cry for Happy
• *15 February
• **The Coachman
• *16 February
• **The Long and the Short and the Tall
• *20 February
• **Nude on the Moon
• **Reptilicus
• *22 February
• **The Great Impostor
• March 1961
• *1 March
• **Posse from Hell
• *2 March
• **The Rebel
• *3 March
• **Lola
• *10 March
• **Five Golden Hours
• **Go Naked in the World
• *15 March
• **The Terror of the Tongs
• *16 March
• **The Absent-Minded Professor
• *20 March
• **Blast of Silence
• *22 March
• **All in a Night's Work
• *23 March
• **Carry On Regardless
• *24 March
• **Town Without Pity
• **Underworld U.S.A.
• *26 March
• **The Hoodlum Priest
• **Konga
• *27 March
• **The Assassin
• *29 March
• **Gorgo
• **Violent Life
• *30 March
• **''One-Eyed Jacks''

  April–June

• April 1961
• *2 April
• **The Sins of Rachel Cade
• *4 April
• **The Greengage Summer
• **Mr. Topaze
• **Two Living, One Dead
• *13 April
• **Madison Avenue
• **Nazrana
• *17 April
• **Master of the World
• *18 April
• **Sanctuary
• *19 April
• **Hercules and the Conquest of Atlantis
• **Please, Not Now!
• *24 April
• **The Secret Ways
• *25 April
• **Yojimbo
• *27 April
• **The Guns of Navarone
• May 1961
• *2 May
• **The Beast of Yucca Flats
• *3 May
• **Atlantis, the Lost Continent
• *4 May
• **Parrish
• *5 May
• **Return to Peyton Place
• **Teen Kanya
• *12 May
• **Mad Dog Coll
• *14 May
• **Angel Baby
• **Goliath Against the Giants
• **Viridiana
• *17 May
• **The Long Absence
• **Professor Mamlock
• **The Right Approach
• *21 May
• **A Bomb Was Stolen
• *24 May
• **The Young Savages
• *26 May
• **Snow White and the Three Stooges
• *27 May
• **The Last Time I Saw Archie
• *29 May
• **A Raisin in the Sun
• June 1961
• *1 June
• **The Pleasure of His Company
• *2 June
• **Gidget Goes Hawaiian
• *5 June
• **Taste of Fear
• *6 June
• **The Deadly Companions
• *7 June
• **The Curse of the Werewolf
• **Scarlet Sails
• *8 June
• **The Last Sunset
• **Romanoff and Juliet
• **Wild in the Country
• *11 June
• **The Big Bankroll
• *13 June
• **The Lovemakers
• *16 June
• **The Colossus of Rhodes
• *21 June
• **The Parent Trap
• **Two Loves
• *22 June
• **Antigone
• **Black Silk
• **Flame in the Streets
• **Magic Boy
• *25 June
• **Last Year at Marienbad
• *28 June
• **Fanny
• **Homicidal
• **The Ladies Man
• **The Naked Edge
• **Question 7
• *29 June
• **''Goodbye Again''

  July–September

• July 1961
• *3 July
• **The Miracle of Father Malachia
• *8 July
• **Panda and the Magic Serpent
• *9 July
• **Armored Command
• *12 July
• **Francis of Assisi
• **Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea
• *13 July
• **The Exiles
• *14 July
• **Alakazam the Great
• *16 July
• **The Big Gamble
• *19 July
• **By Love Possessed
• **Invasion of the Neptune Men
• *20 July
• **Whistle Down the Wind
• *26 July
• **Tammy Tell Me True
• **Two Rode Together
• *30 July
• **Mothra
• *31 July
• **And Love Has Vanished
• August 1961
• *9 August
• **Come September
• **The Frightened City
• *12 August
• **The Pit and the Pendulum
• *15 August
• **Marines, Let's Go
• *23 August
• **The Fascist
• **The Honeymoon Machine
• **The Young Doctors
• *25 August
• **Ada
• **Gunga Jumna
• *26 August
• **The Houseguest and My Mother
• *29 August
• **The Black Monocle
• *30 August
• **Victim
• *31 August
• **Accattone
• September 1961
• *4 September
• **Peace to Him Who Enters
• *6 September
• **A Woman Is a Woman
• *8 September
• **Harry and the Butler
• **Striped Trip
• *15 September
• **A Taste of Honey
• *16 September
• **Immortal Love
• *20 September
• **Claudelle Inglish
• **Man-Trap
• **Nefertiti, Queen of the Nile
• *21 September
• **The Fabulous Baron Munchausen
• *22 September
• **Léon Morin, Priest
• *25 September
• **The Hustler
• *26 September
• **Murder, She Said
• **A Thunder of Drums
• *27 September
• **Paris Blues
• *30 September
• **''Then Nilavu''

  October–December

• October 1961
• *5 October
• **Breakfast at Tiffany's
• *8 October
• **The Last War
• *10 October
• **Splendor in the Grass
• *11 October
• **Back Street
• **The Explosive Generation
• **King of Kings
• *16 October
• **Through a Glass Darkly
• *17 October
• **Bridge to the Sun
• **What a Whopper
• *18 October
• **The Devil at 4 O'Clock
• **Mr. Sardonicus
• **West Side Story
• *21 October
• **Dersu Uzala
• **Il Posto
• *23 October
• **Johnny Nobody
• *26 October
• **The Last Judgment
• *28 October
• **The Mask
• *29 October
• **The End of Summer
• November 1961
• *1 November
• **The Comancheros
• *2 November
• **Bachelor in Paradise
• *8 November
• **Susan Slade
• **Too Late Blues
• *9 November
• **Flower Drum Song
• *16 November
• **Hercules in the Haunted World
• **Summer and Smoke
• *22 November
• **Blue Hawaii
• **The George Raft Story
• **Valley of the Dragons
• *23 November
• **The Day the Earth Caught Fire
• *24 November
• **The Innocents
• *28 November
• **The Errand Boy
• December 1961
• *6 December
• **El Cid
• **Tintin and the Golden Fleece
• *7 December
• **Five Minutes to Live
• *13 December
• **Paris Belongs to Us
• **The Young Ones
• *14 December
• **Babes in Toyland
• **Judgment at Nuremberg
• **The Outsider
• *15 December
• **One, Two, Three
• *19 December
• **The Children's Hour
• **A Difficult Life
• **Pocketful of Miracles
• **When the Trees Were Tall
• *20 December
• **Cash on Demand
• **Divorce Italian Style
• **Everything's Ducky
• **Lover Come Back
• **Mysterious Island
• **Sail a Crooked Ship
• **Something Wild
• *22 December
• **The Second Time Around
• **Two Women
• *23 December
• **Barabbas
• *27 December
• **A Majority of One
• *28 December
• **Flight of the Lost Balloon
• *30 December
• **''The Steamroller and the Violin''