The Oscar Quest: Best Supporting Actor – 1953
1953 is one of my personal favorite years for films. There’s such great stuff that came out this year. From Here to Eternity won Best Picture, and while that wouldn’t be my choice for Best Picture, it is without a doubt a great film and a classic.
Just to show you how great a year 1953 was — here’s a list of films that came out this year (Note: You may not know them all, but, I promise, by the end of this Oscar Quest, you will): Roman Holiday, Shane, The Robe, Peter Pan, The Band Wagon, How to Marry a Millionaire, Gentlemen Prefer Blondes, Mogambo, The Moon is Blue, Julius Caesar, House of Wax, Stalag 17, The Glenn Miller Story, The Big Heat, The Naked Spur, The Earrings of Madame de…, Hondo, Trouble Along the Way, Lili, I Vitelloni, Beat the Devil, M. Hulot’s Holiday, Pickup on South Street, Tokyo Story, Ugetsu, The Wages of Fear, and some little film called War of the Worlds. Pretty fucking strong, wouldn’t you say? This ranks right up there with 1939 for me as tops for film.
To recap the Oscar year, which, as you can imagine was so insanely strong it really becomes a matter of personal preference and no bad decisions — Best Actor was William Holden for Stalag 17, Best Actress was Audrey Hepburn for Roman Holiday, Best Supporting Actress was Donna Reed and Best Director was Fred Zinnemann, both for From Here to Eternity. I am in awe of this year.
BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR – 1953
And the nominees were…
Eddie Albert, Roman Holiday
Brandon de Wilde, Shane
Jack Palance, Shane
Frank Sinatra, From Here to Eternity
Robert Strauss, Stalag 17 (more…)
The Oscar Quest: Best Actress – 1988
Best Director month is over. Back to the potpourri. It’s all gonna be jumbled again. Random category every day. This is where most of the work gets done on this. Hopefully, by the time the summer is over, I’ll have knocked out many of the categories. I’m trying to save the Best Pictures for last — or at least, at the point where there are only unavailables left and no more finished categories to do. Until then, let’s go back to the well. I’ve got lots of categories finished.
1988. We talked about this a little while ago. Rain Man won Best Picture and Best Director. Good film, product of a weak year. (Probably.) Solid choice, though, based on the category. Best Actor was Dustin Hoffman. Didn’t go full retard. Best Supporting Actor was Kevin Kline in A Fish Called Wanda and Best Supporting Actress was Geena Davis in The Accidental Tourist. It feels like a solid, low-key year. Nothing overtly spectacular, but on the whole, good. Like a Best Picture nominee film, but one that clearly was never going to win.
BEST ACTRESS – 1988
And the nominees were…
Glenn Close, Dangerous Liaisons
Jodie Foster, The Accused
Melanie Griffith, Working Girl
Meryl Streep, A Cry in the Dark
Sigourney Weaver, Gorillas in the Mist (more…)
The Oscar Quest: Best Director – 1998
Oh, 1998. The year that lives in infamy. I think I can sum it all up with three words: Shakespeare in Love.
Personally, I don’t know why people hate on the decision so much. I mean, sure Saving Private Ryan is a film most people prefer, but as films, I think they rate about even. Private Ryan has that amazing opening sequence, but the film peters out by the end. That last battle is kind of meh. Shakespeare, however, is a great film. It’s funny, entertaining, and really well made. The problem is though it’s a bit too — I don’t know, on the nose, maybe. There’s something that keeps it from being a “perfect” film. Plus, even though Private Ryan didn’t win Best Picture, it won the award that really mattered for it — Best Director. The split is really what makes this year okay for me. I will say though, that the fact that this one was (aliteration) the way it was, was one of the reasons that 2010 was not okay for any reason. Fool me twice — fuck you two. It would have been a lot more palatable if there was a Picture/Director split. But there wasn’t. And that’s why 2010 will — probably — I hope — go down as a greater offense in Academy history than 1998 did.
Oh yeah, also, Best Actor was Roberto Benigni for Life is Beautiful (not gonna say a word), Best Actress and Supporting Actress were Gwyneth Paltrow and Judi Dench for Shake-a-spere, and Best Supporting Actor was James Coburn for Affliction.
BEST DIRECTOR – 1998
And the nominees are…
Roberto Benigni, Life is Beautiful
John Madden, Shakespeare in Love
Terrence Malick, The Thin Red Line
Steven Spielberg, Saving Private Ryan
Peter Weir, The Truman Show (more…)
The Oscar Quest: Best Director – 1997
1997. Titanic. I think that about covers it.
Sure it’s not a perfect film, but, this isn’t Best Picture. This is Best Director. I don’t think many people would argue that Cameron didn’t direct the hell out of the movie. The only real issue with Cameron is his weak and/or contrived scripts. But he wasn’t nominated for that, was he?
Also in 1997, Jack Nicholson and Helen Hunt won Best Actor and Best Actress for As Good As It Gets, Robin Williams won Best Supporting Actor for Good Will Hunting, and Kim Basinger won Best Supporting Actress for L.A. Confidential. All around good films there. And yet, Titanic. It sucks when such good films are up against a film that can’t lose. (Gee, how many times has that happened?)
BEST DIRECTOR – 1997
And the nominees were…
James Cameron, Titanic
Peter Cattaneo, The Full Monty
Atom Egoyan, The Sweet Hereafter
Curtis Hanson, L.A. Confidential
Gus Van Sant, Good Will Hunting (more…)
The Oscar Quest: Best Director – 1996
1996 was a good year punctuated by shitty decisions. So many good films came out, and yet — does anyone even think The English Patient is a great movie? Good? Fine. The minimum allowable to be considered good. But better than Fargo, it is not. Hell, better than Jerry Maguire it is not. These are the kind of years that really upset me. Because it’s like the Academy is striving to meet the standard of what they think their reputation is, and yet, they’re perpetuating this reputation by picking such shitty films.
And don’t think this poor decision-making ends at Best Picture. Best Actor went to Geoffrey Rush for Shine, a performance that lasts for about, oh, fifteen minutes. The rest of the time the character is played by two different actors. This wouldn’t be a big deal except, here’s who he beat: Tom Cruise (Jerry Maguire), Ralph Fiennes (The English Patient), Woody Harrelson (The People vs. Larry Flynt) and Billy Bob Thornton (Sling Blade). Every single one of them would have been a better choice. I mean, have they seen Sling Blade?
Best Actress went to Frances McDormand for Fargo. They threw at least one bone. Best Supporting Actor was Cuba Gooding Jr. for Jerry Maguire, an okay decision, though some people would probably prefer William H. Macy for Fargo. Best Supporting Actress was Juliette Binoche for The English Patient. Most people, including herself, were not expecting her to win. That’s 1996 in a nutshell. Even the good decisions are questionable, and the bad ones are terrible.
BEST DIRECTOR – 1996
And the nominees are…
Joel & Ethan Coen, Fargo
Miloš Forman, The People vs. Larry Flynt
Scott Hicks, Shine
Mike Leigh, Secrets & Lies
Anthony Minghella, The English Patient (more…)
The Oscar Quest: Best Director – 1995
At first glance, you’d think maybe they fucked up 1995. After all, this is one of six years where the DGA Best Director award and the Oscar for Best Director didn’t coincide. In fact, this is the second time in (exactly) a decade where the DGA winner wasn’t even nominated for Best Director at the Oscars. 1985 Steven Spielberg (rightfully) won the DGA for The Color Purple, and wasn’t even nominated for the Oscar. This year, Ron Howard won the DGA for Apollo 13 and wasn’t nominated for the Oscar.
Now — notice how I said “at first glance” — I really don’t think this is that big a deal. I think we’ve all established (see: 2001) that the Academy just fucking loves Ron Howard. However, I didn’t love the direction of Apollo 13. I mean, yeah, it’s a great movie, I watch it all the time, but, aside from having awesomely shot space sequences, the movie is about as generic as a Michael Bay movie in terms of character development. It’s so superficial it’s crazy. So, I’m kinda glad he wasn’t on this list of nominees, just so I wouldn’t have to worry about where I’d put him in my rankings.
Oh, yeah, recap. Best Picture went to Braveheart, a film I still can’t get a bead on. I like it, I like watching it, but is it really a Best Picture worthy film? I think the answer is yes and no. Yes, because this year was weak as fuck and it was the best choice, and no because, just, no. I don’t know. It just doesn’t feel like a Best Picture film to me. So, there’s that. Best Actor went to Nicolas Cage for Leaving Las Vegas. This year was stacked in terms of Best Actor and there were several good choices that could have been made. Best Actress went to Susan Sarandon for Dead Man Walking. I’ll speak my piece on that when the time comes. Best Supporting Actor was Kevin Spacey for The Usual Suspects. Kind of a lead, but, I think we’ll all take that one. That movie is boss. And Best Supporting Actress was Mira Sorvino for Mighty Aphrodite, a Woody Allen film I actually like. Gasp. I know. I was surprised too. (more…)
The Oscar Quest: Best Director – 1993
1993 is just one of those years — game over, man. There’s nothing you can do. It’s fucking Schindler’s List. There’s nothing else that wins here. So, really, what this year is gonna be is, kind of like a math problem — Schindler’s List is X, that’s the given, and what we’re gonna do, is just let x be there, and then talk about everything else, and try to find some good stuff around it. It’s still clearly the winner, but, let’s see what might get overlooked because of the big, Jewish elephant in the room. Babarshkowitz.
Note: If I were Jewish, that would have been a much better pun.
So, we know about Best Picture. Best Actor was Tom Hanks for Philadelphia, which I’ve spoken about already. Best Actress and Best Supporting Actress were Holly Hunter and Anna Paquin for The Piano, and Best Supporting Actor was Tommy Lee Jones for The Fugitive. I guess, because, they wanted to have fun amidst the dour mood of Dumberg over there. (Wow, I really need to up my Jew pun ratio. Catholicism has so much more to work with. Oh, sorry, too soon?)
BEST DIRECTOR – 1993
And the nominees are…
Robert Altman, Short Cuts
Jane Campion, The Piano
James Ivory, The Remains of the Day
Jim Sheridan, In the Name of the Father
Steven Spielberg, Schindler’s List (more…)
The Oscar Quest: Best Director – 1992
1992 is a great year. I think they got pretty much everything right here. The degrees of getting it right are specific to each category, but I think every category was genuinely on the mark. I wonder how many years that’s happened with. I guess that’s another thing I’ll do at the end of all this. Tally up which years I agree with and disagree with the most. This one will be one of the better ones, I’m sure.
Unforgiven won Best Picture this year, and Gene Hackman won Best Supporting Actor for it as well. Best Actor was one of the biggest makeup Oscars in the world, to Al Pacino in Scent of a Woman. Best Actress was Emma Thompson, in Howards End. Best Supporting Actress was Marisa Tomei for My Cousin Vinny. Great year, right?
BEST DIRECTOR – 1992
And the nominees are…
Robert Altman, The Player
Martin Brest, Scent of a Woman
Clint Eastwood, Unforgiven
James Ivory, Howards End
Neil Jordan, The Crying Game (more…)
The Oscar Quest: Best Director – 1990
Oh, you knew this day would come. The day where we talk about how Dances With Wolves beat Goodfellas. Yeah. Don’t worry, I’ll be brief about it. I think it’s all pretty understood by now. Plus, we’re gonna have to do it again once Best Picture rolls around. Let’s save it all until then.
So, to recap the rest of the year that isn’t the big two abominations, Best Actor went to Jeremy Irons for Reversal of Fortune. It’s widely regarded as a makeup Oscar for a film he wasn’t even nominated for. (I’ll tell you what that is when we get to Best Actor for this year. I’ll give you a hint. He mentions it in his acceptance speech.) Best Actress was Kathy Bates for Misery. She’s crazy as fuck in that movie. Best Supporting Actor was Joe Pesci for Goodfellas. That pretty much speaks for itself. And Best Supporting Actress was Whoopi Goldberg for Ghost, because, well, I guess they really like the magical negro. I don’t know. So that’s 1990. Let’s get into the film bashing…
BEST DIRECTOR – 1990
And the nominees were…
Francis Ford Coppola, The Godfather Part III
Kevin Costner, Dances with Wolves
Stephen Frears, The Grifters
Barbet Schroeder, Reversal of Fortune
Martin Scorsese, Goodfellas (more…)
The Oscar Quest: Best Director – 1989
1989. A number. Another summer. Why that wasn’t nominated, I have no idea. But, you know, shit happens.
1989 goes down as one of the worst Best Picture choices of all time, and rightfully so. It was a terrible choice. It’s not a bad movie, but it’s not a Best Picture movie. The movie was Driving Miss Daisy, which beat out such films as My Left Foot, Field of Dreams, Born on the Fourth of July and Dead Poet’s Society to win Best Picture. It’s the last (and really only) film to win Best Picture without a Best Director nomination. Not win. Nomination. The only other films to do that are Grand Hotel (which only got the one nomination for Best Picture) and Wings (which was in first Oscar year). Both of those came really before the Academy figured themselves out. Assuming the Oscars as we know them really started in 1934, Driving Miss Daisy is the only film to win Best Picture without even a Best Director nomination. Thus ends the bad decisions of the 80s. Then the 90s came and they only made mistakes on like, two out of the ten years. Which is pretty good.
Best Actor went to Daniel Day-Lewis for My Left Foot, and Brenda Fricker won Best Supporting Actress for that film as well. Best Actress went to Jessica Tandy for Miss Daisy, because — well, she was old. Best Supporting Actor went to Denzel Washington for Glory. Not really bad decisions on anything except Best Picture there. I mean, Tandy wasn’t the best choice, but the category didn’t have a clear winner to take away from the sentimentality of the veteran nomination. So, you know, it doesn’t seem so bad.
BEST DIRECTOR – 1989
And the nominees were…
Woody Allen, Crimes and Misdemeanors
Kenneth Branagh, Henry V
Jim Sheridan, My Left Foot
Oliver Stone, Born on the Fourth of July
Peter Weir, Dead Poet’s Society (more…)
The Oscar Quest: Best Director – 1988
I love 1988. I was born in 1988. Therefore I feel extra invested in what won this year. Why? I don’t know. It wasn’t a particularly strong year for movies. And the movie that won isn’t necessarily a “great” picture, but it is, at the same time, a great picture. In a different year it would almost certainly never hold up. But you know, whatever.
Rain Man won Best Picture this year. Everybody loves Rain Man, right? It’s a good picture. Maybe a bit too, sentimental, but, hey, whatever. Best Actor went to Dustin Hoffman, since — well, I guess he didn’t go full retard. Best Actress was Jodie Foster for The Accused. Best Supporting Actress went to Geena Davis (why?) for The Accidental Tourist, and Best Supporting Actor went to Kevin Kline for A Fish Called Wanda. I’m very ambivalent about this year. I think I agree with most of the choices, but then, maybe I don’t. Maybe it’s just a factor of, I like them because the year isn’t stronger. I don’t know. This year was always tough for me to call. I was too busy — marinating. And then, you know, sleeping and crying and throwing up all over the place (I was a puker). But, you know, it’s the 80s, so we don’t really expect too much. The Oscars are much like me in the 80s — we barely got out alive.
BEST DIRECTOR – 1988
And the nominees were…
Charles Crichton, A Fish Called Wanda
Barry Levinson, Rain Man
Mike Nichols, Working Girl
Alan Parker, Mississippi Burning
Martin Scorsese, The Last Temptation of Christ (more…)
The Oscar Quest: Best Director – 1987
1987 is another one of those generic 80s years. It’s not that they made a bad choice. The Last Emperor is a very good film. It’s just — not everyone is gonna go out and watch The Last Emperor. I bet it’s one of the least watched Best Picture choices of all time. It’s certainly the least-grossing Best Picture winner of all time. So it’s got that going for it.
Best Actor of this year was Michael Douglas for Wall Street. Best Actress was Cher for Moonstruck. Olympia Dukakis won Best Supporting Actress for that film too. Best Supporting Actor was Sean Connery for The Untouchables. So, clearly they got the men right this year. The women — up for discussion.
That’s really it. If you know The Last Emperor, you know there really isn’t much more to say about 1987.
BEST DIRECTOR – 1987
And the nominees were…
Bernardo Bertolucci, The Last Emperor
John Boorman, Hope and Glory
Lasse Hallström, My Life as a Dog
Norman Jewison, Moonstruck
Adrian Lyne, Fatal Attraction (more…)
The Oscar Quest: Best Director – 1984
Just like the rest of the 80s, 1984 would be a hugely forgettable year if not for a good decision on Best Picture. Seriously, looking at the nominees they had to choose from, you almost have to sigh and go, “Thank god they didn’t screw that up.” Because they really did fuck up the 80s. I think America did as a country. You just have to be grateful when something good came out of it.
Just so we’re on the same page, Best Picture for 1984 was Amadeus, and F. Murray Abraham won Best Actor for it as well. Best Actress was Sally Field for Places in the Heart — yeah, we’ll get to that at some point. Best Supporting Actor was Haing S. Ngor for The Killing Fields, one of the categories I’ve actually done already, and Best Supporting Actress was Peggy Ashcroft in A Passage to India. Notice what I mean about a boring year aside from Best Picture? Yeah… the 80s are all about that.
BEST DIRECTOR – 1984
And the nominees were…
Woody Allen, Broadway Danny Rose
Robert Benton, Places in the Heart
Miloš Forman, Amadeus
Roland Joffé, The Killing Fields
David Lean, A Passage to India (more…)
The Oscar Quest: Best Director – 1981
God, I hate 1981. This year ends — actually, it doesn’t — it sits in the middle of a really terrible, five year stretch of Best Picture winners. Worst five-year plan this side of the Pacific. 1979 is Kramer vs. Kramer, a good film but not a Best Picture winner. 1980 is Ordinary People, one of the worst decisions of all time. 1981 is Chariots of Fire, perhaps the worst decision of all time. (When I get to it, though, in context it will make more sense than some of the other decisions. As a choice though, it’s the opposite of Sam Adams.) 1982 was Gandhi, a boring choice. 1983 was Terms of Endearment, a good film, but a weak choice in a weak year for nominees. Then, we got Amadeus, which broke the streak.But then the rest of the 80s were also a disaster (’85, ’87 and ’89 sucked, while ’86 and ’88 are up for discussion when the time comes), so, really, we had a really big cold streak after this too. This is just our lowest point.
I won’t even hide the fact that I hate this decision. Most times I’ll try to keep my opinions concealed enough so that when I get to Best Picture for this year there’s some sort of intrigue. Not here. This is universally proclaimed one of the top five, perhaps top three, worst Best Picture winners of all time. It’s that bad. We’re talking straight film. Nothing else. It really was bad. The rest of 1981 wasn’t so hot either. Sort of.
Best Actor went to Henry Fonda for On Golden Pond. It was the only choice, really, since they only nominated him once before — for The Grapes of Wrath — and he lost because of a blatant makeup Oscar for Jimmy Stewart. So there was no way he wasn’t winning here, and that’s that. Best Actress was Kate Hepburn, which was really insult to injury, since this was her fourth Oscar, and third in the span of 14 years. Right? ’67-’81? That span. She won three in that time. She also won for On Golden Pond. Best Supporting Actor was John Gielgud for Arthur, a decision I’m over the moon about. I love that movie so much. And Best Supporting Actress was Maureen Stapleton for Reds, which, to me, always felt like a career achievement Oscar mixed with a, “Hey, we know we don’t want to vote for you to win Best Picture, but we actually did like you more than we liked that other thing we voted for, so here’s another consolation prize.” The acting awards I guess weren’t so bad. I’ll need to look specifically to make my final decisions. But, overall, 1981 is a decent year marred by a horrible Best Picture choice. (more…)
The Oscar Quest: Best Director – 1980
1980 will always go down as one of the worst Oscar years of all time. One of the worst years of all time.
I will sum it up by saying this. Have you heard of Ordinary People? If you have, would you consider that an amazing film? Or is it just a good film that’s pretty plain? Now know that the film it beat for Best Picture was Raging Bull. That’s it.
Best Actor went to Robert De Niro for Raging Bull. That is one of those decisions that’s impossible to fuck up. Best Actress went to Sissy Spacek for Coal Miner’s Daughter. Probably a good decision, I haven’t fully made up my mind on that one. (I’m not not voting for her, I just may think I prefer someone else. Still, good decision.) Best Supporting Actor went to Timothy Hutton for Ordinary People, which isn’t so much a bad decision as much as it is, he’s the lead of the movie. And the category ends up being so weak that just by being the lead and being pretty good he ends up dominating the category. Which is kind of annoying. And Best Supporting Actress went to Mary Steenburgen for Melvin and Howard. Weak category. Really weak category.
BEST DIRECTOR – 1980
And the nominees were…
David Lynch, The Elephant Man
Richard Rush, The Stunt Man
Roman Polanski, Tess
Robert Redford, Ordinary People
Martin Scorsese, Raging Bull (more…)
The Oscar Quest: Best Director – 1978
1978 is one of those years people look at and go, “Hmm, yeah,” as though it were a good decision. I know I do. I love The Deer Hunter. I think it was one of the best Best Picture choices they ever made. Though I’m sure there are people who don’t care for the film as I do. Meh.
Best Actor went to Jon Voight for Coming Home. I don’t necessarily understand the strength of the performance, but I like that Jon Voight has an Oscar. Plus De Niro would win his two years later anyway. The other three really weren’t in contention. Jane Fonda won Best Actress for Coming Home. Which, surprises me. They gave her two before they gave her father one. That’s, strange. Best Supporting Actor was Christopher Walken for The Deer Hunter. I fully support Christopher Walken winning an award for anything, so that’s awesome. And Best Supporting Actress was Maggie Smith for California Suite. Maggie Smith is awesome.
That’s really it. Overall a strong set of winners, and the whole, “who should have beat who” is just a matter of personal preference. I like that in my Oscar years. I’d rather it be, “Yeah, I like (this) better, but I can see why that won.” I like being able to understand and not get angry.
BEST DIRECTOR – 1978
And the nominees were…
Woody Allen, Interiors
Hal Ashby, Coming Home
Warren Beatty & Buck Henry, Heaven Can Wait
Michael Cimino, The Deer Hunter
Alan Parker, Midnight Express (more…)
The Oscar Quest: Best Director – 1977
We’re gonna take a break for the weekend on the Tron thing. I’m gonna be honest and just say, I drank very heavily last night and will be drinking very heavily again tonight, so, I’m really not in the mood for heavy analysis. Don’t let anyone tell you these things are written like, way in advance. It’s not true. It’s written like, a day in advance. It’s just like in school. That’s why all my ideas aren’t well-developed. And if you think what I’m saying sounds great — that’s just my natural magic, baby.
So, 1977. Annie Hall wins Best Picture. There’s a story to this, but not now. Diane Keaton wins Best Actress for it. Best Actor went to Richard Dreyfuss for The Goodbye Girl. Best Supporting Actor was Jason Robards and Best Supporting Actress was Vanessa Redgrave, both for Julia. That’s it, really. Most of the year’s intrigue is in Best Picture.
BEST DIRECTOR – 1977
And the nominees were…
Woody Allen, Annie Hall
George Lucas, Star Wars
Herbert Ross, The Turning Point
Steven Spielberg, Close Encounters of the Third Kind
Fred Zinnemann, Julia (more…)
The Oscar Quest: Best Director – 1971
If 1967 was when we transitioned to a grittier Hollywood, 1971 is when we transitioned to the 70s. As in, the 70s as we know them. Because 1968 was Oliver!, big musical holdover, in a year the Academy didn’t want to adapt to the changing times. 1969 was Midnight Cowboy, sort of adapting. Then 1970 was Patton, right back to the comfort zone. Now, 1971, they went straight 70s.
The French Connection wins Best Picture. It would be the first of many great 70s choices. Gene Hackman wins Best Actor for the film as well. Best Actress went to Jane Fonda for Klute, a very 70s movie. Best Supporting Actor went to Ben Johnson and Best Supporting Actress went to Cloris Leachman, both for The Last Picture Show. So, you have two 70s movies and an auteur 70s movie. That’s fucking ballsy. This from an Academy who rushes to nominate and vote in any kind of historical epic for Best Picture whenever they can.
BEST DIRECTOR – 1971
And the nominees were…
Pete Bogdanovich, The Last Picture Show
William Friedkin, The French Connection
Norman Jewison, Fiddler on the Roof
Stanley Kubrick, A Clockwork Orange
John Schlesinger, Sunday Bloody Sunday (more…)
The Oscar Quest: Best Director – 1967
1967 was a landmark Oscar year. It’s the year Oscar went from the big-budget musicals of the 60s to the “modern” era. That is, the early 60s was sort of the last gasp of studio power. The studios went down in the early 50s once the Paramount Decision was passed, had to divest of all their theaters. Then all the independent films started popping up in drive-ins and stuff. And TV was around now, too. Then, once the 60s started, Hollywood realized they couldn’t just keep pumping out the same product, because the kids went to all these drive-in movies to see all the low-budget monster flicks and exploitation flicks and stuff.
So they — don’t worry, I’m telling you this for a reason. You’ll notice a parallel in a second — doubled down and decided, “Let’s just maks everything bigger.” And you got these mega budget films like Cleopatra and How the West Was Won, just, huge budgets, grand epic films, because, television is sapping audiences and the kids are going to drive-ins, where they aren’t regulated by adult supervision and could do what all kids want to do when they go to the movie, talk, fuck around and make out with each other (actually watching the films isn’t exactly the primary goal). So, they said, “We’ll differentiate the product,” we’ll make our films so big they’re worth a trip to the theater. And then you had these huge fucking musicals of the 60s like My Fair Lady, Sound of Music, Doctor Dolittle and Hello, Dolly! — not to mention the huge budgeted comedies of the decade, like It’s a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World. These were films that cost shitloads to make and were expected to make shitloads more to cover costs. And then, people quickly became inured to films like this, because — let’s face it, they’re all variations on a theme. And then 1967 came, and that’s when everything changed. (more…)
The Oscar Quest: Best Director – 1963
You can tell a year is a bad one when only two of the Best Picture nominees got nominations for Best Director. The only other times that’s happened since the switch to five nominees (ie, between 1944 and 2008) was in 1954 (only On the Waterfront and The Country Girl were nominated for Best Director, while Seven Brides for Seven Brothers, Three Coins in the Fountain and The Caine Mutiny, were not), 1955 (only Marty and Picnic were, while Mister Roberts, The Rose Tattoo and Love is a Many-Splendored Thing were not), and 1966 (A Man for All Seasons and Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf? were, while The Russians are Coming, The Russians Are Coming, Alfie and The Sand Pebbles were not). All other years, at least three Best Picture nominees were also nominated for Best Director.
Not much of a pattern there, except two of them were very weak years, and two were landslides, basically. Waterfront was not losing, so it didn’t really matter what else was nominated (plus Three Coins in the Fountain is a really boring romance that I don’t know how it was nominated, so that probably explains something), and Man for All Seasons and Virginia Woolf were far and away the best two choices that year. The other two, though, it’s clear how weak they were. And this year, 63, is by far the weakest year in Academy history (probably next to 1968, which still isn’t as weak as this is).
The Best Picture for 1963 was Tom Jones. Which is unusual. It makes no sense on any level except, they nominated shitty films and that’s the one they enjoyed the most. Best Actor was Sidney Poitier for Lilies of the Field, which I’ve talked about before. Best Actress was Patricia Neal for Hud. Best Supporting Actor was Melvyn Douglas for Hud, and Best Supporting Actress was Margaret Rutherford for The V.I.P.s. Pretty ho-hum year. Not memorably in any sense. (more…)
The Oscar Quest: Best Director – 1959
1959 is one of those years that I mentioned yesterday — what are you gonna do? I mean, Best Picture was Ben-Hur. Can you really not just give it Best Picture and Best Director? It’s an Epic with a capital E. Cast of thousands, grand spectacle of the theater — there was no way it wasn’t winning.
So, there really isn’t going to be much to talk about for this one, other than me suggesting which ones to see of the bunch. Before we get into that, let’s quickly run down the rest of the categories. Charlton Heston won Best Actor for Ben-Hur, Simone Signoret won Best Actress for Room at the Top, Hugh Griffith won Best Supporting Actor, also for Ben-Hur, and Shelley Winters won Best Supporting Actress for The Diary of Anne Frank. So, you can pretty much tell they just went for the sweep with Ben-Hur. It didn’t sweep, but, aside from All About Eve and Return of the King, and maybe Titanic, I think those are the top four Oscar nominated or winning films of all time. Fuck if I know which is which or if it’s both.
BEST DIRECTOR – 1959
And the nominees are…
Jack Clayton, Room at the Top
George Stevens, The Diary of Anne Frank
Billy Wilder, Some Like It Hot
William Wyler, Ben-Hur
Fred Zinnemann, The Nun’s Story
The Oscar Quest: Best Director – 1951
1951 is one of those years where — you can’t understand why they chose the way they did. Sure The American in Paris is an enjoyable movie, but, is it a Best Picture winner? That’s the main question we have for this year. Fortunately I don’t have to answer it now, I only have to deal with Best Director.
Best Actor 1951 was Humphrey Bogart for The African Queen. Kind of a makeup Oscar, kind of a career achievement Oscar. Also kept Brando from winning one. We’ll get to that. Best Actress was Vivien Leigh for A Streetcar Named Desire. Best Supporting Actor was Karl Malden, also for Streetcar, and Best Supporting Actress was Kim Hunter, also for Streetcar. I guess four people winning for the same film would have been a bit much. Especially when they weren’t going to award it Best Picture.
BEST DIRECTOR – 1951
And the nominees are…
John Huston, The African Queen
Elia Kazan, A Streetcar Named Desire
Vincente Minnelli, An American in Paris
George Stevens, A Place in the Sun
William Wyler, Detective Story (more…)
The Oscar Quest: Best Director – 1943
1943 is another one of those years. You can’t really fault their choice, because it’s widely regarded as one of the best films of all time. And even if you did want to say, “Well, it’s not that great,” there’ not really another nominee you could point to as being more worthy. Which is great, because, less I have to write.
The Best Picture of 1943 was Casablanca. Best Actor — surprisingly — went to Paul Lukas, for Watch on the Rhine. I believe this is widely considered to be one of the worst choices of all time. Raise your hand if you know who Paul Lukas is. No cheating.
Best Actress was Jennifer Jones for The Song of Bernadette. Best Supporting Actor was Charles Coburn for The More the Merrier, and Best Supporting Actress was Katina Paxinou for For Whom the Bell Tolls.
I’ll sum up 1943 by saying, when Casablanca is involved, is there really any question what should win?
BEST DIRECTOR – 1943
And the nominees are…
Clarence Brown, The Human Comedy
Michael Curtiz, Casablanca
Henry King, The Song of Bernadette
Ernst Lubitsch, Heaven Can Wait
George Stevens, The More the Merrier (more…)
The Oscar Quest: Best Director – 1939
1939. The “Golden year.” This one will be a quick one. I think we can all agree that — whomever the “director” was — Victor Fleming, George Cukor, Sam Wood or David O. Selznick, that Gone With the Wind was one of the greatest, if not the greatest, directorial achievements of all time. Nothing was going to beat it, as nothing should have. I also think it should be mentioned — do you see this Murderer’s Row of directors we have here? That’s impressive, isn’t it?
Also, for context’s sake, Gone With the Wind won Best Picture, Best Actress and Best Supporting Actress this year, while Best Actor was Robert Donat for Goodbye, Mr. Chips, and Best Supporting Actor was Thomas Mitchell for Stagecoach.
BEST DIRECTOR – 1939
And the nominees are…
Frank Capra, Mr. Smith Goes to Washington
Victor Fleming, Gone With the Wind
John Ford, Stagecoach
Sam Wood, Goodbye, Mr. Chips
William Wyler, Wuthering Heights (more…)
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