Oscars 2017 Category Breakdown: Best Editing
Every year, as we lead up to the Oscars, I break down each of the 24 categories. I do this to familiarize everyone with the category; what the trends are, how the guilds and stuff help (or don’t), etc. I also do it as a precursor to my giant Oscar ballot. I get most of the heavy lifting out of the way here, so that way when I get to the article, I’m just kind of riffing on how I think it’ll turn out and talking myself into all the bad decisions. It’s like college. And this is the pregame.
How these articles work is — I give you all the previous winners and nominees of each of the categories, then tell you how accurate each of the respective guilds and precursors are in what they vote for versus what wins the Oscar, tell you how each of them voted this year, then give you this year’s category, along with a quick rundown of how we ended up with that category (what was a surprise, etc). After that, I rank each of this year’s nominees in terms of how I see them right now in terms of their likelihood to win. Which is nothing more than my perception (notice that underline, even though you won’t) of how the category seems at the moment based on everything I know and have seen. Which will give you a general sense of the favorites.
Today is Best Editing. I hesitated so much on this one because there are three viable choices for what could win (technically four). And I waited to see if anything would sway me before I straight up announced this as a possible 2011 scenario all over again.
Year | Best Editing Winners | Other Nominees |
1934 | Eskimo/Mala the Magnificent | Cleopatra
One Night of Love |
1935 | A Midsummer Night’s Dream | David Copperfield
The Informer Les Misérables Lives of a Bengal Lancer Mutiny on the Bounty |
1936 | Anthony Adverse | Come and Get It
The Great Ziegfeld Lloyd’s of London A Tale of Two Cities Theodora Goes Wild |
1937 | Lost Horizon | The Awful Truth
Captains Courageous The Good Earth One Hundred Men and a Girl |
1938 | The Adventures of Robin Hood | Alexander’s Ragtime Band
The Great Waltz Test Pilot You Can’t Take It with You |
1939 | Gone With the Wind | Goodbye, Mr. Chips
Mr. Smith Goes to Washington The Rains Came Stagecoach |
1940 | North West Mounted Police | The Grapes of Wrath
The Letter The Long Voyage Home Rebecca |
1941 | Sergeant York | Citizen Kane
Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde How Green Was My Valley The Little Foxes |
1942 | The Pride of the Yankees | Mrs. Miniver
The Talk of the Town This Above All Yankee Doodle Dandy |
1943 | Air Force | Casablanca
Five Graves to Cairo For Whom the Bell Tolls The Song of Bernadette |
1944 | Wilson | Going My Way
Janie None but the Lonely Heart Since You Went Away |
1945 | National Velvet | The Bells of St. Mary’s
The Lost Weekend Objective, Burma! A Song to Remember |
1946 | The Best Years of Our Lives | It’s a Wonderful Life
The Jolson Story The Killers The Yearling |
1947 | Body and Soul | The Bishop’s Wife
Gentleman’s Agreement Green Dolphin Street Odd Man Out |
1948 | The Naked City | Joan of Arc
Johnny Belinda Red River The Red Shoes |
1949 | Champion | All the King’s Men
Battleground Sands of Iwo Jima The Window |
1950 | King Solomon’s Mines | All About Eve
Annie Get your Gun Sunset Boulevard The Third Man |
1951 | A Place in the Sun | An American in Paris
Decision Before Dawn Quo Vadis The Well |
1952 | High Noon | Come Back, Little Sheba
Flat Top The Greatest Show on Earth Moulin Rouge |
1953 | From Here to Eternity | Crazylegs
The Moon is Blue Roman Holiday The War of the Worlds |
1954 | On the Waterfront | The Caine Mutiny
The High and the Mighty Seven Brides for Seven Brothers 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea |
1955 | Picnic | Blackboard Jungle
The Bridges at Toko-Ri Oklahoma! The Rose Tattoo |
1956 | Around the World in 80 Days | The Brave One
Giant Somebody Up There Likes Me The Ten Commandments |
1957 | The Bridge on the River Kwai | Gunfight at the O.K. Corral
Pal Joey Sayonara Witness for the Prosecution |
1958 | Gigi | Auntie Mame
Cowboy The Defiant Ones I Want to Live! |
1959 | Ben-Hur | Anatomy of a Murder
North by Northwest The Nun’s Story On the Beach |
1960 | The Apartment | The Alamo
Inherit the Wind Pepe Spartacus |
1961 | West Side Story | Fanny
The Guns of Navarone Judgment at Nuremberg The Parent Trap |
1962 | Lawrence of Arabia | The Longest Day
The Manchurian Candidate The Music Man Mutiny on the Bounty |
1963 | How the West Was Won | The Cardinal
Cleopatra The Great Escape It’s a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World |
1964 | Mary Poppins | Becket
Father Goose Hush… Hush, Sweet Charlotte My Fair Lady |
1965 | The Sound of Music | Cat Ballou
Doctor Zhivago The Flight of the Phoenix The Great Race |
1966 | Grand Prix | Fantastic Voyage
The Russians are Coming, the Russiands are Coming The Sand Pebbles Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf? |
1967 | In the Heat of the Night | Beach Red
The Dirty Dozen Doctor Dolittle Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner |
1968 | Bullitt | Funny Girl
The Odd Couple Oliver! Wild in the Streets |
1969 | Z | Hello, Dolly!
Midnight Cowboy The Secret of Santa Vittoria They Shoot Horses, Don’t They? |
1970 | Patton | Airport
MASH Tora! Tora! Tora! Woodstock |
1971 | The French Connection | The Andromeda Strain
A Clockwork Orange Kotch Summer of ‘42 |
1972 | Cabaret | Deliverance
The Godfather The Hot Rock The Poseidon Adventure |
1973 | The Sting | American Graffiti
The Day of the Jackal The Exorcist Jonathan Livingston Seagull |
1974 | The Towering Inferno | Blazing Saddles
Chinatown Earthquake The Longest Yard |
1975 | Jaws | Dog Day Afternoon
The Man Who Would Be King One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest Three Days of the Condor |
1976 | Rocky | All the President’s Men
Bound for Glory Network Two-Minute Warning |
1977 | Star Wars | Close Encounters of the Third Kind
Julia Smokey and the Bandit The Turning Point |
1978 | The Deer Hunter | The Boys from Brazil
Coming Home Midnight Express Superman |
1979 | All That Jazz | Apocalypse Now
The Black Stallion Kramer vs. Kramer The Rose |
1980 | Raging Bull | Coal Miner’s Daughter
The Competition The Elephant Man Fame |
1981 | Raiders of the Lost Ark | Chariots of Fire
The French Lieutenant’s Woman On Golden Pond Reds |
1982 | Gandhi | Das Boot
E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial An Officer and a Gentleman Tootsie |
1983 | The Right Stuff | Blue Thunder
Flashdance Silkwood Terms of Endearment |
1984 | The Killing Fields | Amadeus
The Cotton Club A Passage to India Romancing the Stone |
1985 | Witness | A Chorus Line
Out of Africa Prizzi’s Honor Runaway Train |
1986 | Platoon | Aliens
Hannah and Her Sisters The Mission Top Gun |
1987 | The Last Emperor | Broadcast News
Empire of the Sun Fatal Attraction RoboCop |
1988 | Who Framed Roger Rabbit | Die Hard
Gorillas in the Mist Mississippi Burning Rain Man |
1989 | Born on the Fourth of July | Driving Miss Daisy
The Fabulous Baker Boys Glory The Bear |
1990 | Dances with Wolves | Ghost
The Godfather Part III Goodfellas The Hunt for Red October |
1991 | JFK | The Commitments
The Silence of the Lambs Terminator 2: Judgment Day Thelma & Louise |
1992 | Unforgiven | Basic Instinct
The Crying Game A Few Good Men The Player |
1993 | Schindler’s List | The Fugitive
In the Line of Fire In the Name of the Father The Piano |
1994 | Forrest Gump | Hoop Dreams
Pulp Fiction The Shawshank Redemption Speed |
1995 | Apollo 13 | Babe
Braveheart Crimson Tide Seven |
1996 | The English Patient | Evita
Fargo Jerry Maguire Shine |
1997 | Titanic | Air Force One
As Good as It Gets Good Will Hunting L.A. Confidential |
1998 | Saving Private Ryan | Out of Sight
Shakespeare in Love The Thin Red Line Life is Beautiful |
1999 | The Matrix | American Beauty
The Cider House Rules The Insider The Sixth Sense |
2000 | Traffic | Almost Famous
Gladiator Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon Wonder Boys |
2001 | Black Hawk Down | The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring
A Beautiful Mind Memento Moulin Rouge! |
2002 | Chicago | Gangs of New York
The Hours The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers The Pianist |
2003 | The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King | City of God
Cold Mountain Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World Seabiscuit |
2004 | The Aviator | Collateral
Finding Neverland Million Dollar Baby Ray |
2005 | Crash | Cinderella Man
The Constant Gardener Munich Walk the Line |
2006 | The Departed | Babel
Blood Diamond Children of Men United 93 |
2007 | The Bourne Ultimatum | The Diving Bell and the Butterfly
Into the Wild No Country for Old Men There Will Be Blood |
2008 | Slumdog Millionaire | The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
The Dark Knight Frost/Nixon Milk |
2009 | The Hurt Locker | Avatar
District 9 Inglourious Basterds Precious: Based on the Novel “Push” by Sapphire |
2010 | The Social Network | Black Swan
127 Hours The Fighter The King’s Speech |
2011 | The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo | The Artists
The Descendants Hugo Moneyball |
2012 | Argo | Life of Pi
Lincoln Silver Linings Playbook Zero Dark Thirty |
2013 | Gravity | American Hustle
Captain Phillips Dallas Buyers Club 12 Years a Slave |
2014 | Whiplash | American Sniper
Boyhood The Grand Budapest Hotel The Imitation Game |
2015 | Mad Max: Fury Road | The Big Short
The Revenant Spotlight Star Wars: The Force Awakens |
2016 | Hacksaw Ridge | Arrival
Hell or High Water La La Land Moonlight |
This year, more than ever, we might have a category more based on the definition of the term ‘editing’ than how this category usually goes. This category has become a weird Best Picture tie-in category, where the major Best Picture nominees need to be nominated here in order to win. Technically the best picture will have the best editing, because editing is what makes a film… but when you think about the vague notion of what editing really is, I feel like it’s more in like with a lot of this category than in other years.
That said, we must begin by saying that the only Best Picture winners to not be nominated for Best Editing are: It Happened One Night, The Life of Emile Zola, Hamlet, Marty, Tom Jones, A Man for All Seasons, The Godfather Part II, Annie Hall, Ordinary People, and Birdman. So there’s a 90% chance the Best Picture winner will be either The Shape of Water or Three Billboards. And we haven’t even gotten to that category yet. You’re welcome.
Precursor-wise, you look at ACE, the American Cinema Editors, and then a little bit at BAFTA and BFCA, since they also hand out Editing awards. The Eddies (that’s the ACE award) are generally pretty good, though they’ve been somewhat shaky lately. They’re about 70% all time on their awards, but only 60% the past ten years, missing three of the past five. BAFTA, meanwhile, is 8/10 the past ten years, which is pretty solid. And BFCA only started giving out Editing awards in 2009, but has only missed twice since then. Which is solid.
This year, though… precursors are very split. The Eddies went to Dunkirk for Dramatic and I, Tonya for Comedic, BAFTA went to Baby Driver and BFCA was a tie between Dunkirk and Baby Driver.
So, while you’re left with almost no clarity as to what will win this category, you have a solid picture of where each nominee stands. So let’s get into that.
Best Editing
Baby Driver
Dunkirk
I, Tonya
The Shape of Water
Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri
The tough thing about guessing an Editing category is knowing just how many Best Picture nominees are gonna make it. You had to have guessed Three Billboards and Shape of Water on the fact that they seemed like the favorites going in. Dunkirk was on regardless of its status as a Best Picture nominee. Baby Driver, you felt was a likely contender just because of how much editing is there and how much of the action is also edited to specific songs. But that left that fifth spot, where you really had no idea about. I, Tonya was a solid contender, but you had to figure they’d have at least one more Best Picture contender. Maybe Lady Bird, maybe Get Out. One of those kinds of films felt like it would get on. But, in the end, we got this category, which is solid. All around really good work.
Rankings:
5. Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri — Just because a Best Picture contender has to be nominated for Editing doesn’t mean it has to win. I can’t see this getting almost any votes in this category, since even the most ardent Three Billboards supporters don’t feel the need to take it in this category. Zero precursor wins, and this isn’t the kind of film that will be tapped as a winner by an Editing win earlier in the night. This isn’t like Crash. It’s an all-around fifth choice.
4. I, Tonya — It has an Eddie win. But that’s like a Globes win for Best Picture – Comedy. Sure, you have it, but there’s that other one that means more there too. Still, a precursor is a precursor, and we know there’s some support out there for it. But you can’t put it over the other three. Makes no sense to do so, so it becomes a default fourth choice. Since while Three Billboards will have more overall support than this, people saw this and people know how good the editing is. So that’ll get it a few votes to make it a fourth choice. No higher, though.
3. The Shape of Water — If any Best Picture contender stands to make a statement by winning this category, this is the one. You cannot count it out. Argo, The Departed, Crash… these movies rode an Editing win to a Best Picture win. Do not make the mistake of counting this out despite a lack of precursors. At worst it’s a third choice. At best it’s a second. Don’t make it the favorite, but keep it in the hunt, especially if you do the scorecard thing like I do. Don’t get caught with your pants down assuming this has no chance. This could easily take this category en route to the big one.
2. Baby Driver — As much as I want to say The Shape of Water is the second choice here even despite the precursors, this movie is all about editing. People saw it and loved it, and it has broad support among those who’ve seen it. It has two big precursors. I’m surprised it won BAFTA outright. Especially over Dunkirk, which is a quintessentially British film. Right now, this and Dunkirk are tied, precursor-wise. Only two small things separate them. They’re 1A and 1B, as far as I can tell.
1. Dunkirk — This is the favorite over Baby Driver for two reasons. First… I trust the guild over BAFTA. BAFTA’s been better the past decade, but I just trust the editors over a voting body at large in this situation. And second — more importantly — it has 8 overall nominations, it’s a war film (a war film won this category last year), and it just feels like the film that’s gonna win this. It’s the big fish in the pond. I’m gonna call the big fish the favorite unless there’s a legitimate reason for me to not do so. And since it’s tied with Baby Driver for precursors, I can break that tie by saying it is the more feted film with 5 more overall nominations and has the guild win. So that’s what I’ve got. This category could go one of three ways (can’t see it going the full 2011), and unless they’re gonna make a Shape of Water statement, I feel like it’s just a toss up between one or the other. It’s not so bad.
– – – – – – – – – –
I’d put I, Tonya in third. While the Comedy Eddie isn’t that impressive, what is impressive is that it beat out Baby Driver for the Eddie, which shows that it has support.
February 27, 2018 at 10:20 pm