Mike’s Top Ten of 1977
1977 changed moviemaking forever. This is when the blockbuster began. Technically Jaws is the grandfather, but this is the year the floodgates broke open, and the one that changed cinema forever. Ironically, this is the year that ended whatever future the auteur era of the 70s had. After this, the studios all got bought by conglomerates, and we moved toward where we are today, a cinema built on franchises and tentpoles. There are still some twists and turns along the way, but that’s what this year ultimately led to.
The big movies take a bit of the air out of the room this year, and you also start to see a bit of the changing of the guard anyway. The auteur works that defined 1971 to 1976 are all starting to look a little stale. They aren’t working as well as they used to, and you start to see a couple of big failures start to happen, which is what will ultimately (after 1980) push Hollywood away from that system and a more studio-driven format.
Still, there’s some cool stuff here. (more…)
The Oscar Quest: Best Picture – 1977
1977 is a tough year to recap, especially in the Best Picture category. There are certain things to take into account. Even though some people would go, “Wow, how did Star Wars not win?!”, you have to realize — Annie Hall was actually a huge upset winner. The film with the most nominations that most people were expecting to win was The Turning Point, which is literally the worst film on this list and the one that has not held up at all. So, in a way, the Academy made perhaps the second best decision, considering. Which makes me go a lot easier on this category than I might have otherwise.
Aside from Best Picture, Annie Hall wins Best Director for Woody Allen (talked about here) and Best Actress for Diane Keaton (talked about here). The Allen win is par for the course (you have to realize, back then, Star Wars winning any of these categories would have been like Transformers winning now. The voting Academy thought it was just a mainstream adventure film. It really had no shot at the big awards), while the Keaton win is actually really terrific, since she also gave an amazing performance in an almost completely forgotten movie called Looking for Mr. Goodbar. Watch that performance alongside Annie Hall and you’ll see why she deserved the award this year. Best Actor was Richard Dreyfuss for The Goodbye Girl (talked about here), which was really the only decision that could have been made in the category. Best Supporting Actor was Jason Robards for Julia (talked about here), which was a good decision in a very weak category. Vanessa Redgrave also won Best Supporting Actress for the film (talked about here), which, while I don’t love the performance, has held up as a good decision (she’s had the best career of all the nominees).
So, now, while I will be voting for Star Wars, since, while I’m not a huge fan of the franchise (really, I only like this and Empire — the rest are just entertainment for me), you can’t deny the lasting impact it’s had on cinema. Annie Hall is a great film, but I just feel like Star Wars has held up better. (Though, really, against The Turning Point, both were amazing decisions. So let’s applaud the Academy for that averted near-disaster.)
BEST PICTURE
And the nominees were…
Annie Hall (United Artists)
The Goodbye Girl (Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, Warner Bros.)
Julia (20th Century Fox)
Star Wars (20th Century Fox)
The Turning Point (20th Century Fox) (more…)
The Oscar Quest: Best Actor – 1977
Oh, 1977. Annie Hall beats Star Wars. Isn’t that cute?
I really have no opinion on this year. I hate Woody Allen films and I hate what Star Wars has become. I mean, it clearly should have won Best Picture over Annie Hall, because it’s just superior in every way (except neurotic Jewish people. But — C-3PO…almost). Woody Allen should not have won Best Director over George Lucas (talked about here), either. Diane Keaton should have won Best Actress, though (talked about here), only she should have won it for Looking for Mr. Goodbar instead.
Best Supporting Actor this year was Jason Robards for Julia, which I don’t really care about, as I said here. And Best Supporting Actress was Vanessa Redgrave, also for Julia, which, as I said here, I don’t really care about either.
Which brings us to this category. Well — at least Woody didn’t win. And good thing Richard Dreyfuss did.
BEST ACTOR – 1977
And the nominees were…
Woody Allen, Annie Hall
Richard Burton, Equus
Richard Dreyfuss, The Goodbye Girl
Marcello Mastroianni, A Special Day
John Travolta, Saturday Night Fever (more…)
The Oscar Quest: Best Supporting Actress – 1977
Oh I know I must almost be done with this year. I’ve talked about everything but Best Actor. And Best Picture, but you should be able to guess that those are coming last, because you need to end with your good stuff. But, if we all didn’t know by now, this is the year Annie Hall beat Star Wars. And that about says it all.
Richard Dreyfuss wins Best Actor for The Goodbye Girl, Diane Keaton wins Best Actress for Annie Hall (written about here), Jason Robards wins Best Supporting Actor for Julia (written about here), and Woody Allen wins Best Director for Annie Hall (bemoaned here). I like being mostly done. I don’t really have to do the big intro.
This is one of those categories — hell, this is one of those years, aside from the bad Best Picture choice (but also, good Best Picture choice, which I’ve sort of explained in the other ones, since The Turning Point was the expected winner) — that people just ignore, because it’s business as usual. It’s not particularly exciting. But we’ll do our best to make it interesting.
BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS – 1977
And the nominees were…
Leslie Browne, The Turning Point
Quinn Cummings, The Goodbye Girl
Melinda Dillon, Close Encounters of the Third Kind
Vanessa Redgrave, Julia
Tuesday Weld, Looking for Mr. Goodbar (more…)
The Oscar Quest: Best Supporting Actor – 1977
1977. A year I try to mentally skip over whenever I see it. It conjures up bad memories. Annie Hall wins Best Picture this year, beating out Star Wars. That’s why. Now, granted, The Turning Point was the “favorite” to win, and by all accounts, Star Wars never had a chance, but, either way — come on.
Woody Allen wins Best Director and Diane Keaton wins Best Actress for Annie Hall, both of which I’ve talked about. Best Actor was Richard Dreyfuss for The Goodbye Girl, a decision I like, and Best Supporting Actress went to Vanessa Redgrave for Julia. I’d have gone another way, but that’s probably just because the category contained a type of performance that I almost always go for. Still, that’s cool, I guess.
Overall, this isn’t a terrible year, especially considering what it could have been, but it’s still not a good year, because — really, how does Star Wars not win?
BEST ACTOR – 1977
And the nominees were…
Mikhail Baryshnikov, The Turning Point
Peter Firth, Equus
Alec Guinness, Star Wars
Jason Robards, Julia
Maximilian Schell, Julia (more…)
The Oscar Quest: Best Actress – 1977
Ah, 1977. Star Wars loses to Annie Hall. Or rather, Star Wars had no shot at winning Best Picture and Annie Hall upsets the presumed favorite, The Turning Point, a melodrama about aging ballerinas. Yeah, everybody makes mistakes.
What’s most interesting about this category in particular, is that the winner won for the wrong film. It’s not that Annie Hall was a bad film, it’s just, Diane Keaton wasn’t really acting in it. The other film she did this year, Looking for Mr. Goodbar, is, however, a fucking phenomenal performance and one that would have won this category hands down. But, in typical Academy fashion, they went with the “lighter” of the two performances because, well, I guess they can’t take depressing films.
The other winners this year were Richard Dreyfuss as Best Actor for The Goodbye Girl, Jason Robards and Vanessa Redgrave as Best Supporting Actress and Best Supporting Actor for Julia (Robards won this category two years running on this one), and Woody Allen winning Best Director for Annie Hall. I know. But we’ll try not to talk about it.
BEST ACTRESS – 1977
And the nominees are…
Anne Bancroft, The Turning Point
Jane Fonda, Julia
Diane Keaton, Annie Hall
Shirley MacLaine, The Turning Point
Marsha Mason, The Goodbye Girl (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…)
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