They seem unable to help themselves, don't they?  Perhaps it all began with Chaplin and the balls he talked about the Soviet Union.

Those 60s English films are, on the whole, pretty dire.  'Alfie' (not mentioned?) is probably the best of a bad bunch but that's only because it has some superb actresses in it: Vivien Merchant being one of them.  But all that 'let it all hang out', self-indulgent, Swinging London tripe - ecch.  Hollywood, of course, was turning out thousands of reels of crap by the 60s too, it goes without saying. 
Low culture was perhaps best: the Italians with their shameless rip-offs of everything - but often done better: like their westerns.  'A Fistful Of Dollars' with that great music and cheesy graphics.  Us with Bond (still okay until OHMSS), Hammer (going off the boil) but really not much else. 
The 50s were often dire: still trying to convince ourselves that we won the war without the aid of anyone else.

Perhaps a question of when one is born.  I saw my first Bond in around 1964 - fell asleep during 'From Russia With Love'.  My father had the Pan paperbacks.  I began picking those up long before taking my Eleven Plus. 
Hammer - at eleven, I hung my nose over the FOH stills for 'Scars Of Dracula' at the local ABC (long gone, but where 'Quadrophenia' was shown some years later).  The 'novelization' was at a pocket money price.  I waited years to see the movie - which turned out to be terrible. 
I re-read all the Bond novels and watched some of the films with Roger Moore during the early phase of 'lockdown'.  I also read a biography of Fleming, plus his travel books.  Realised how bored I'd become of it all.

Yeah definitely. Probably a thing with the wardrobe department. If you want him to look like ‘The Sixties’, you put him in a button down and tie clip.
They do the same thing with girls. Make them all look like go go dancers.

Those David Bailey shots are great.

I suppose there was an element of the new version that had Jo Cole cast as Caine and Palmer.

My absolute favourite current TV is The Very Secret Service on Netflix, its about a naive young chap who joins the French Secret Service in the early 60s as France is divesting itself of the remants of its empire. Subtitled, its a gentle comedy and not meant to be taken seriously. The clothes, sets and cars are excellent and the depiction of Paris in that era is (I imagine) spot on. Its all very French and is worth watching for the very nice ladies alone. Check it out.

^ This sounds good. I regret my decision to not have Netflix.

Guess I’ll just wait for it to come out on video.