The Oscar Quest: Best Director – 1975
Ever see the video of Steven Spielberg watching the nominees be announced this year? It’s great. He’s like, “I got beaten out by Fellini!” Even he can’t believe he wasn’t nominated. That about describes this category. How the hell are you not gonna nominate Jaws? But I digress. Let’s recap.
One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest pretty much sweeps all the awards, winning Best Picture, Best Actor for Jack Nicholson (talked about here), Best Actress for Louise Fletcher (talked about here), and this category. The awards it didn’t win were Best Supporting Actor, which went to George Burns for The Sunshine Boys (talked about here), and Best Supporting Actress, which went to Lee Grant for Shampoo. Both were strong decisions. Pretty much this entire year was really strong.
The only category I really have a problem with this year is this category. I know the Picture/Director link-up is nice and all, but — it didn’t need to happen here. Cuckoo’s Nest is a very stagy film. I think they could easily have split Picture and Director, and the two acting wins would have stopped anyone from thinking twice about it. Especially if they gave this to one of the two people they should have. It wouldn’t have mattered at all. (But seriously — no Jaws — that’s laughable.)
BEST DIRECTOR – 1975
And the nominees were…
Robert Altman, Nashville
Federico Fellini, Amarcord
Milos Forman, One Flew over the Cuckoo’s Nest
Stanley Kubrick, Barry Lyndon
Sidney Lumet, Dog Day Afternoon (more…)
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