Welcome back to the ’60s at the Harbor Theater where, for the next six months, we will take you through a selection of movies that represent the breadth and depth of filmmaking in this iconic decade, beginning with “The Apartment.”

1960 was a year of continuing relative stability, embodying the sensibility of the ’50s. Against this backdrop of white gloves and pill box hats and families glued to their TVs for “Gunsmoke” on Monday nights and “Wagon Train” on Wednesday nights, Billy Wilder wrote, produced, and directed “The Apartment.” It swept the major Oscars. The film won five awards including best picture, best director, and best screenplay. Its stars, Jack Lemmon and Shirley MacLaine, won Golden Globes for their performances.

While both a critical and box office hit, its popularity is somewhat surprising in light of the “buttoned up” tenor of the times. Though considered part of the romantic comedy genre, the film actually deals with the less than acceptable themes of adultery and infidelity. In the film, Jack Lemmon finds himself in a terrible jam when he agrees to rent out his apartment to his bosses for their extramarital trysts. It is a credit to Wilder’s writing genius that such a premise could result in a wonderful, poignant story about two young underlings looking for happiness in the cut-throat corporate world. We hope you will join us for this smart, thoughtful look at love that still holds up today.

Dr. Jon Cavallero, Associate Professor and Chair of Rhetoric, Film, and Screen Studies at Bates College will once again provide introductions for each of the films and, on the occasions when he is able to be with us in person, will host an after-film discussion.

By popular demand, this year we are scheduling classic films twice a week—on the second Thursday and Saturday of the month. All showtimes are 2 p.m. Dates for “The Apartment” are Thursday, Nov. 10 and Saturday, Nov. 12.

Please join us during the cold gray days ahead for a couple of afternoon hours each month to go back to (or get introduced to) the 1960s and the many memories these wonderful movies bring back. You can look forward to “Goldfinger” on Dec. 8 and 10; “Dr. Strangelove” on Jan. 12 and 14; “Charade” on Feb. 9 and 11; “Manchurian Candidate” on March 9 and 11; and “The Graduate” on April 13 and 15.