Cinema changed in 1967. In the early to mid-1960s, movies were light and easy: think “Mary Poppins,” (1964), “The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance” (1962) and those James Bond flicks.

“In The Heat of the Night,” “The Graduate” and “Cool Hand Luke” were some of the best movies of 1967, a year that many film historians consider groundbreaking, even revolutionary, as ...