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…)
The Oscar Quest: Best Director – 1938
1938 feels like a “motions” year. One of those ones where you just feel the Academy going through the motions. The Oscars feels a lot like Hollywood itself a lot of the time. That is, they find a formula that works, or one they like, and they ride that formula for a while until they transition to something else. You notice it with the type of films they make, and in their Best Picture choices as well. You really can notice a pattern in what they nominate and what they vote for.
I’ve already said that 1928-1933 were the Academy figuring itself out. I’d also say that 1934-1938 were the Academy counteracting the Depression. Of course, as is always the case with AMPAS, you’ll see the standard “Oscar” picture thrown in as well, as well as a choice that defies all logic. But, there are choice years that really point out what the “trend” was at that point in film history. This is a huge reason why I love the Oscars. You can really get a snapshot of what the prevailing trend in — well, not Hollywood overall, but, this portion of it.
So, 1938. You Can’t Take It With You wins Best Picture. Now it’s perhaps thought of as a weak choice. And unlike most of the years they consider poor choices, this one isn’t directed so much at the quality of the film but rather at how “safe” a choice it was, and how generic a Best Picture it is. And that’s the reason I see it as part of the “Depression” trend, because, after this year, Hollywood transitioned to the “war” picture era, 1940-1946. It feels like when someone pulls back to reference a joke that was funny the first three times it was referenced, but now it feels as though people are going through the motions. Sure, it’s funny, but lets not beat it into the ground. (more…)
The Oscar Quest: Best Director – 1936
1936 is a tough year. There are a lot of good films that were nominated. I’d say, of all the Best Picture nominees, there were only three I didn’t care for. And even of those three — two of them were just monotonous for me, and the other was, whatever. 7 out of 10 is pretty good.
The only thing is, it’s tough to guess what should have won, because — the Best Picture choice, The Great Ziegfeld, is the first biopic to ever win an Oscar. That’s one thing it had going for it. Two is that it’s actually a good movie. It’s a nice mixture of drama, comedy, and larger than life musical numbers. (Larger than life meaning not like Busby Berkeley, but rather — literally larger than life. The sets are fucking huge.) The downsides to it are — it’s long, three hours, and, there are much more “watchable” films on the list. By that I mean, they’re films you’d want to watch more often than the film that won. So ultimately the decision is, which do you vote for? Because the film is a standard “Oscar” film, and an enjoyable one at that (at least, compared to some other epic Best Picture winners), but, on the other hand — there are alternatives.
That aside, we have this category, which, strangely, split from Best Picture. I feel it says a lot when the Best Picture winner and Director split. It’s like they were compelled to vote for the film that seemed most obvious, then went with what they liked for the other choice.
Oh, yeah, Best Actor was Paul Muni for The Story of Louis Pasteur, and Best Actress was Luise Rainer for The Great Ziegfeld. Oh, yeah — the Supporting categories are here. First time ever. The first Best Supporting Actress winner was Gale Sondergaard, for Anthony Adverse, and the first Best Supporting Actor winner — very fittingly too — was Walter Brennan, for Come and Get It. (more…)
The Oscar Quest: Best Director – 1935
1935 is one of those years — I don’t know — I guess you can’t really fault the Academy that much, but, I think general consensus is, while they didn’t make a bad choice (kinda, maybe, sorta), there was a choice that has held up as a better choice after the fact. It’s tough. I think it might have been tough back then too, since there was a Picture/Director split between the two films.
For those not in the know, the two films are Mutiny on the Bounty and The Informer. I’ll talk about them both down there. Mutiny on the Bounty won Best Picture — and it makes sense that they’d choose it, being the type of film that it is — but The Informer is one of those films — it’s a very strong picture. I guess it’s kind of a toss-up, historically. I don’t know. But I feel The Informer has held up better. Mostly because it’s never been remade, and still looks great.
Anyway, the other awards for this year were — the last year before supporting categories were invented, mind you — Victor McLaglen for The Informer and Bette Davis for Dangerous. Those aren’t as important as these two are. I feel like this race is a classic example of — well, the same type of race that we had in 2010 — the “Oscar” film vs. the — whatever the other type was.
BEST DIRECTOR – 1935
And the nominees are…
Michael Curtiz, Captain Blood (write-in)
John Ford, The Informer
Henry Hathaway, The Lives of a Bengal Lancer
Frank Lloyd, Mutiny on the Bounty (more…)
The Oscar Quest: Best Director – 1932-1933
This is gonna be a quick one. Most because — fuck, I hate this year. I really, really do.
This is an Academy year where there was little-to-no interesting nomination whatsoever. Of the ten Best Picture nominees, I’d say there are — maybe two, worth voting for. Maybe a third. Of all the acting nominees, I’d say I enjoyed one of them (but even that was out of obscene love for the film).
For recap purposes, Cavalcade won Best Picture (which meant the Director pair-up was inevitable). It’s a British drama about a family between New Year’s 1890-something and 1933, and we see them going through all the major events of the early 20th century, as well as seeing their kids grow and all that. Decent film and all, but — let’s put it this way — of all the Best Picture winners, this is the only one with fewer than 1,000 votes on IMDB. No one even remembers this film. Of all the Best Picture nominees, I guarantee that this is the most forgotten of the bunch (next to The Life of Emile Zola). Oh, and Charles Laughton won Best Actor for The Private Life of Henry VIII (look at all the Brits — this is how cinema was back then. British meant respectable), and Kate Hepburn won Best Actress for Morning Glory. That’s that starmaking role I was telling you about when I went over it. Yeah, weak all around, this year. (more…)
The Oscar Quest: Best Director – 1931-1932
1931-1932. Not much to say about this one. Grand Hotel — an “Oscar” film if there ever was one. Only film to ever win Best Picture without gaining a single nomination in any other category. That’s interesting. The film was designed for one purpose and achieved that purpose. In today’s world — that would never happen.
We actually covered one of the categories in these year very recently. Best Actor this year was the tie between Frederic March and Wallace Beery. Remember that? That saves us some time on one of the nominees. Best Actress was Helen Hayes for The Sin of Madelon Claudet. That’s 1932. Let’s get into it.
BEST DIRECTOR – 1931-1932
And the nominees are…
Frank Borzage, Bad Girl
King Vidor, The Champ
Josef von Sternberg, Shanghai Express
Borzage — There’s a reason I picked this one for the weekend. It doesn’t have films most people would ever see. Like, ever. Even though I like them and love one of them a lot — they’re not films a regular person would put on. Starting with this one. (more…)
The Oscar Quest: Best Director – 1930-1931
It’s Best Director month here at the B+ Movie Blog. The reason for that is, one — how do you really talk about Best Director? Do you go by innovation? Best film? Most stylistic? How do you judge? Best Director is perhaps the most nebulous of the awards. Logic dictates that — well, the best film, by default, had the Best Director. But sometimes it doesn’t. How does one mediate? Also — what exactly does a director do? Film is a collaborative medium. How much are we to say is the choice of the director and not, say, the writer, or the DP, or the set designer, or even producers or the actors. Sometimes the producer will say, “We need more action here,” or the actor will refuse to shoot a scene a certain way and the director will have to change it to suit the actor. Where do you draw the line at what a director does?
So, not really having an answer to that, along with the fact that — it needs to be done — I’m just gonna lump all the Best Directors as closely as possible. There are 83 of them. Eleven are already done. I’m doing thirty this month. That leaves — quick, math whizzes, crunch the numbers — 42 left from May. That’s not bad. Another Director month around, say — November — or maybe sooner if I really want to be rid of them — along with a few interspersed here and there — we’ll be done in no time. (more…)
The Oscar Quest: Best Actor – 1966
I liken 1966 to 1999. I think it’s because the film that won Best Picture that year is a very — stagy — film. Not that it’s a bad film, but — it goes back to that old cinematic vs. theatrical distinction. By and large, I usually prefer films to be cinematic, because, cinema is a different entity than plays. Which, also — here’s the difference, if you don’t get it — Martin Scorsese movie, like, The Departed — cinematic. There are irises, zoom ins, tracking shots, all of it. (Also, another great example people will recognize quickly — Fight Club — very cinematic.) Doubt — theatrical film. Revolutionary Road — theatrical film. Films that feel like plays. Because, very often, they were. They’re often directed by actors or actual playwrights. Ya follah?
And therein lies the rub. When your favorite film of the year (or at least, of the nominees. One you feel is deserving of winning Best Picture) is a very stagy film — more so than the usual standards — and a fellow nominee is a very cinematic film, but you just didn’t love it as much — what do you do? Bringing it back to a primordial level — say you always sided with good, but, in one instance, evil actually was right. (I’m not calling one thing out and out “evil” — though I will say, you don’t want a movie to be like a play, just like you don’t want a play to be like a movie. It’s like reading a novel that’s written like a movie. (Looking at you, Dan Brown.) It’s a fun read (for most), but you’re not giving it a book award. Shit. I could have saved all that space if I made that analogy first. But, I’ll get more into this issue when I deal with the year itself.
Now, this cinematic vs. theatrical problem does extend over to the acting categories as well. Which person would you rather see win an Academy Award — the dude who plays Hamlet in a film, and basically just takes the entire text of the play as he’s done it on stage and puts it on film, or the dude who plays a migrant worker who goes down to Mexico with his friend and an old prospector, finds lots of gold and slowly loses his mind because he starts to think the other two are going to kill him and steal his share of the gold? See what I mean? Who you gonna wanna vote for — Othello or Atticus Finch? It’s a tough choice to make, and is exponentially tougher when, you actually kinda want to vote for Othello.
The Oscar Quest: Best Supporting Actress – 1999
I think this is the most recent category I’ve done since before the Oscars this year. I like to throw in one everyone knows amidst all the older ones.
If we recall, 1999 is one of those years that had a lot of good films, and really, there were a lot of good choices they could have made. A lot of people didn’t like the choice for Best Picture, even though a lot did. I think American Beauty was a fine choice. Did Sam Mendes need to also win Best Director? That’s up for discussion. But, they often coincide, so, it’s not that surprising. Best Actor was Kevin Spacey, which is a point of debate amongst people, which, I’ll make my feelings known whenever I get to it. Best Actress was Hilary Swank for Boy’s Don’t Cry, and Best Supporting Actor was Michael Caine for The Cider House Rules. I’m trying not to give my opinions away, because, at this rate, it’s so recent, everyone’s seen the movies, so I don’t need to pimp them, so really all they amount to is who the vote is for and what the rankings are. So there’s really not that much to say as preface.
BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS – 1999
And the nominees were…
Toni Collette, The Sixth Sense
Angelina Jolie, Girl, Interrupted
Catherine Keener, Being John Malkovich
Samantha Morton, Sweet and Lowdown
Chloë Sevigny, Boys Don’t Cry (more…)
The Oscar Quest: Best Actor – 1931-1932
And we’re back with another three nominee category. I’m trying to accomplish two things with these: one, spread them out as much as possible, because, a three-person category feels like a cheat (and, if it’s like this one, really fucking difficult to pick, because, really, can you really say which one was the best?), and two, getting them out of the way as quickly as possible. Sure, a three-person category means less for me to write, but, it’s just less interesting. Plus I love talking about it, as much as the thought of actually writing because I have to feels like work, it’s easy once I get going. Seriously, get me talking about movies or Oscars, and I can just keep going.
So, 1931-1932, or as it’s best known in most circles, 1932. This is the year that made history that’s never been repeated (and never will). Grand Hotel won Best Picture without garnering a single nomination in any other category. That is — not win, surely other Oscar movies have won Best Picture without winning any other categories — the film won Best Picture without getting a single nomination outside of Best Picture. That’s — wow.
Other winners this year include Frank Borzage for Bad Girl — Borzage is one of the premier silent film directors and was a powerhouse in this era (he has two Best Director statues to prove it), but, I bet that unless you took a film class (or bought that awesome Murnau/Borzage at Fox boxset), you really have no idea who he is. Which is a shame — Helen Hayes for The Sin of Madelon Claudet, and that’s it. Remember, no supporting categories at this point. They were still figuring shit out. (more…)
The Oscar Quest: Best Supporting Actor – 1975
1975 is the kind of year you just glance at and then move on. It’s one of those years where, at face value, nothing is wrong, and then after the fact, you think, “Wait, were those the droids I was looking for?”
What I mean by that is — all of the choices they made (well, most of them. One of them — whatever), you look at them and immediately go, “Yeah, good choices. There’s nothing really wrong here.” But, when you do think about it, are they actually good choices?
Take Best Picture and Best Director from this year. One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest. A classic film. A great film. There’s no denying that. Miloš Forman. A great director. Has made some classics — Amadeus, Man on the Moon, Ragtime, The People vs. Larry Flynt, Hair — there’s really no denying that the film and director are great. But — are they really worthy of winning Best Picture? Or more specifically, are they worthy of winning Best Picture this specific year? It’s just a thought. I’ll bring it up later when I actually go over the categories. It’s just something that I’ve been thinking about every time I go back to the categories. If you want to get a head start and try to see what I mean, take a look at what else (and who else) was nominated (and by exclusion, wasn’t). Just take a look. (Hint: My argument is going to have something to do with being cinematic vs. being theatrical.)
Anyway, the other major categories that happened this year basically amounted to a clean sweep for Cuckoo’s Nest. Jack Nicholson and Louise Fletcher took hom Best Actor and Best Actress. Interesting fact on that, because lord knows I’m all about the interesting facts. The only two times Jack Nicholson has won the Best Actor Oscar, his costar also won the Best Actress Oscar as well. That’s an interesting fact, right? Every time Jack has won, he helped his costar win too. That says something, methinks. What, I don’t know. But something. (more…)
The Oscar Quest: Best Actor – 1993
Ah, 1993. The year that no one can ever refute. Is there anyone that can really speak ill of Schindler’s List? It’s weird to find a film so well made and about such an important subject that the only real grounds you have to speak ill of the film end up saying bad things about you as a person. That’s funny. Even I, who takes such glee in not liking films the rest of the world says are masterpieces, can’t speak ill of that film. The worst thing I can say about it is — it’s long, and it’s heavy, so, it’s not the first thing I’m going to pop on to watch when I’m looking for something. Which, doesn’t really say anything about the film as much as it does about — well, my temperament.
Anyway, this was a year that was pretty much ser in stone from the start. For Schindler’s List to have not won Best Picture would have been a bigger deal than whatever it had beaten. I do, however, have several gripes with their acting choices for this year. Three of the four, anyway. The fourth — whatever.
To keep you informed, Best Director, obviously, went to Spielberg. Best Actress and Best Supporting Actress went to Holly Hunter and Anna Paquin (who was 11 at the time) for The Piano, and Best Supporting Actor went to Tommy Lee Jones for The Fugitive. So, before I start discussing my feelings on those categories, I’m gonna get right into the one I should be talking about.
Though one last bit of trivia before I go, because I find things like this fascinating. This year marked Tom Hanks’s first of two back-to-back Oscars. The only other actor to win back-to-back Best Actor Oscars was Spencer Tracy (1937 & 1938). The great fact about these two is that, at the time they won both of their Oscars, they were both the same age — 37 & 38. That is, they won the first of the two Oscars at age 37, and the following year, both aged 38, won the second. That’s fucking awesome that it happened twice. (more…)
The Oscar Quest: Best Actress – 1982
What can I say about 1982 that hasn’t already been said about 1996?
I haven’t actually said anything about 1996, but this year is analogous to that. The big, sweeping, historical epic that beat the great comedy and the really great drama. It’s hard to argue with it, because it’s an Academy-type film — you just have to shrug and say, “It’s what they like.”
As for the acting categories, I’d say, they got one really right, one was the safe choice, one was a bad choice and the final one was a good choice and also a safe choice. I’ll leave you to decide which is which out of this group. Best Actor was Ben Kingsley for Gandhi, which also won Best Picture and Best Director for Richard Attenborough (whom you may remember from such films as The Great Escape, and most notably Jurassic Park, in which he played the old man running the park. He also directed two of my favorite movies — Magic, featuring a jaw-droppingly brilliant performance by Anthony Hopkins and solid supporting work by Ann-Margret and Burgess Meredith, and Chaplin, featuring a jaw-droppingly good performance by Robert Downey Jr. as Charlie Chaplin. You may also know his brother, David, who narrates all the BBC nature documentaries, specifically Planet Earth. Who hasn’t gotten high and watched Planet Earth? David Attenborough’s voice is the soothing alternative to Robert Osborne. Those men can narrate anything. Fuck Morgan Freeman. I’ll take those two any day). Best Supporting Actor went to Lou Gossett Jr., for An Officer and a Gentleman, and Best Supporting Actor went to Jessica Lange for Tootsie. And now this category. I’ll ruin part of the suspense by saying this is the one they got really right. (more…)
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