Amph Hindsight is 20-20: Oscar Ceremonies of the Past (Disc. 1977)

The Best Picture nod for The Fugitive really gets me.

It's a great film and totally deserved it. It's just sad to realize the film is lucky it came out when it did, because if it had come out in the last decade the Academy would have completely ignored it.

 

It's certainly a more surprising nominee, in the vein of The Towering Inferno. But I always like it when they do something like that. Provided the film is actually good, and not the kind of mainstream twaddle that secured Best Picture nominations for the most recent ceremony.

 

CEREMONY YEAR: 1994

BEST PICTURE

The Fugitive
In the Name of the Father
The Piano
The Remains of the Day
Schindler?s List ? WINNER

Okay, really BIG year. Let?s get started. First off, I?ve only seen The Fugitive and Schindler?s List of this roster. If had ten slots:

Carlito?s Way (a return to form for De Palma; a climax of absolute tragedy meeting absolute suspense)
Farewell, My Concubine (astounding Chinese drama; forty years of history seen through the lens of two dysfunctional opera stars; a gripping, fascinating epic)
The Fugitive (ripping good thriller)
Gettysburg (historical war film, done as they should be done)
Groundhog Day (still Murray?s funniest film? I think so)
Jurassic Park (I can?t fathom them not nominating this; I mean, God!)
Much Ado About Nothing (Branagh does one of Shakespeare?s comedies and, surprisingly, proves just as good at that as he is at the drama; energetic, vibrant, sparkling, above all, hilariously funny)
Naked (descent into the abyss; mentally ill sexual predator roams London over a long weekend ? a more disturbing, hilarious, apocalyptic film you will perhaps never see) - WINNER
Schindler?s List (gripping, horrifying drama that is only slightly overrated, quite an achievement)
Shadowlands (more or less true story about C.S. Lewis, one of the great authors of all time, and his middle aged discovery of both love and loss; amazingly effecting film)

It has cut me to the quick to leave out Tombstone, an iconic breath of fresh, fairly non-ironic, air to the Western; Mrs. Doubtfire, one of the most consistently hilarious movies of the past twenty years; In the Line of Fire, a almost entirely perfect pulp thriller; and The Age of Innocence, Scorsese?s brilliant adaptation of Wharton?s equally brilliant novel.

Not Mrs. Doubtfire (gag); "In the Name of the Father" of those nom'd; "A Perfect World"; "Addams Family Values"

BEST ACTOR IN A LEADING ROLE

Daniel Day-Lewis ? In the Name of the Father
Laurence Fishburne ? What?s Love Got To Do With It
Tom Hanks ? Philadelphia ? WINNER
Anthony Hopkins ? The Remains of the Day
Liam Neeson ? Schindler?s List

Hanks is very good in Philadelphia and Neeson is the same in Schindler?s List. I think Hopkins performance of the year was in Shadowlands as C.S. Lewis, a personal hero of mine, wrestling with middle aged stirrings of love and then of devastation. Also, Al Pacino deserved a nomination for giving one of his rare late performances with no ham in it in Carlito?s Way; this is how he should have done The Godfather, Part III. Then there?s Leslie Cheung and Fengyi Zhang as the two leads in Farewell, My Concubine; I?m honestly unsure which of them has the harder part or which of them is more frigging transcendent. They both deserved nominations. And, if we can be lowbrow for a second, Robin Williams for Mrs. Doubtfire? If you won?t tumble for that, may I float Johnny Depp for Benny & Joon, not so much a performance as a feature length ballet; wrongheaded as the movie was, Depp was a delight.

But the winner this year for me is unapologetically and unquestionably David Thewlis for his harrowing, violent, twitchy performance in Naked. This is not just the best performance of its year, but one of the best film performances of all time. If you only know him from Harry Potter, do yourself a favor and check out Naked, in which he is a revelation.

Not Robin Williams, for godsakes. Neeson or Hopkins or Day-Lewis. Kevin Costner for "A Perfect World" (and you know what I generally think of him); Dennis Quaid in "Wilder Napalm" (though you need a different mind-set)

BEST ACTRESS IN A LEADING ROLE

Angela Bassett ? What?s Love Got To Do With It
Stockard Channing ? Six Degrees of Seperation
Holly Hunter ? The Piano ? WINNER
Emma Thompson ? The Remains of the Day
Debra Winger ? Shadowlands

Can a throw a little love at Emma Thompson for another movie, namely Much Ado About Nothing in which she gets to fully showcase her capacity for dry wit and be perhaps as sexy as she?s ever been in any role as the sharp tongued, very ineligible Beatrice? And K

 

Elijah Wood gives one of the best child performances I've ever seen in "The Good Son", & though the film is awful, he says the crap dialogue like it's Shakespeare.

All of this is quite true, but you left out what stands out to me most about Elijah's performance. It is in sharp contrast to the performance of Macauley Culkin in that film who is one of the worst child actors in the history of show business. When the two perform together in the same frame it's like watching a really brilliant concert pianist playing Mozart next to an untalented beginner playing Chopsticks. I once read the director of that film fought a mighty battle to keep Culkin out of the film because he couldn't act. But the director lost because Culkin was such a big name.

 

What you say is also true, but this thread is about who deserves an Oscar, not a Razzie. And yes, I would say "The Good Son" put paid to Culkin's career; he could memorize dialogue but couldn't *say* it, and the contrast was painful. I've seen adult actors perform miracles with silly dialogue, but rarely--okay never--a child one.

Ironically, Culkin's daddy dearest demanded the role for him and got it, thinking to expand his range, no doubt. Not realizing that he *has* no range.

 

Oof. I've never seen any of Culkin's films, and this little nugget pretty much settles that question for me.

Having just seen Inception over the weekend, I'm inclined to think Joseph Gordon-Levitt will be one of the biggest child-star-turned-credible-adult-actor successes Hollywood's ever seen. Isn't he about the same age as Culkin?

 

I don't know. But yes, he's good. He was good as a kid, and he's good as adult.

 

I dunno, I would think Leonardo DiCaprio has already claimed that honour. And possibly Jodi Foster.

(in regards to age, that's correct - Gordon-Levitt is 29 and Culkin is 30)

 

I'd say Elizabeth Taylor, actually...

Christian Bale would be another contender, I although I know the "credible" part seems to be a point of contention in regards to him. For whatever reason.

 

I haven't seen much of Bale's stuff as a child, but I think he's one of the best actors working right now. He's entirely credible as far as I'm concerned.

 

Oh, agreed entirely. I just know that's not quite a universal viewpoint.

Whatever Empire of the Sun's flaws might be, I find Bale to be extraordinary there. Almost nuanced.

 

I didn't like the movie, but it certainly wasn't his fault; the only time I saw a hesitation was when Spielberg asked him to do something that the script called for but felt wrong, like the "I surrender' scenes. A really remarkable performance by a child. However, I don't think he was a 'child star'.

What struck me about Wood's performance in "The Good Son" was the genuine feeling he got into it. He had the less effective part, and used it to wipe the floor with the wooden Culkin.

 

I haven't seen The Good Son. But I've seen the trailer, fairly recently, and I have to admit that Wood blew me away even in the trailer. He seems to actually understand all the emotional and spiritual import of the film (or that the film wanted to have anyway).

 

GIANT HINT>>>><<<<!!!!

 

My bad.

 

Singing="I'm getting out the cattle prods, I'm heating them twice; Gonna find out who's naughty or nice..."[/singing]

 

CEREMONY YEAR: 1960

BEST PICTURE

Anatomy of a Murder
Ben-Hur ? WINNER
The Diary of Anne Frank
The Nun?s Story
Room at the Top

The very first thing one says here is that North By Northwest should have been nominated and probably should have won. The second thing is that Some Like It Hot should have been too. Ben-Hur probably deserves its nomination, but I don?t know if it deserved the win. I?d love to have seen Last Train From Gun Hill, a dark, suspenseful film noir by way of the western, nominated.

BEST ACTOR IN A LEADING ROLE

Laurence Harvey ? Room at the Top
Charlton Heston ? Ben-Hur ? WINNER
Jack Lemmon ? Some Like It Hot
Paul Muni ? The Last Angry Man
James Stewart ? Anatomy of a Murder

Lemmon probably should have won this one. Heston is better than usual in Ben-Hur, probably his second best performance after Planet of the Apes. Cary Grant deserved a nomination for North By Northwest. And Kirk Douglas deserved a nomination for his turn as an obsessed, vengeance seeking lawman in Last Train From Gun Hill.

BEST ACTRESS IN A LEADING ROLE

Doris Day ? Pillow Talk
Audrey Hepburn ? The Nun?s Story
Katharine Hepburn ? Suddenly, Last Summer
Simone Signoret ? Room at the Top ? WINNER
Elizabeth Taylor ? Suddenly, Last Summer

Actually, it?s kind of great to see Doris Day nominated for a comedic role in such a light, fun film. Eva Marie-Saint probably deserved a nom for North By Northwest.

BEST ACTOR IN A SUPPORTING ROLE

Hugh Griffith ? Ben-Hur ? WINNER
Arthur O?Connell ? Anatomy of a Murder
George C. Scott ? Anatomy of a Murder
Robert Vaughn ? The Young Philadelphians
Ed Wynn ? The Diary of Anne Frank

Stephen Boyd gave the best performance in Ben-Hur, a vicious, seething, homo-erotically repressed villain; he probably should have won this year. Griffith was funny, but the performance is mostly schtick. James Mason deserved at least a nomination for his own villainous performance in North By Northwest, a performance that set the template for every Bond villain to come after him. Also, it would have been nice to see Tony Curtis get a nomination at least for Some Like It Hot, in which he does a riotiously funny Cary Grant impression. Other possibilities: Martin Landau for a minimal, incredibly creepy turn as an obviously homosexual villain in North By Northwest; Joe E. Brown as the irrepresible millionaire in Some Like It Hot; Orson Welles as the flamboyant Clarence Darrow figure from Compulsion.

BEST ACTRESS IN A SUPPORTING ROLE

Hermione Baddeley ? Room at the Top
Susan Kohner ? Imitation of Life
Juanita Moore ? Imitation of Life
Thelma Ritter ? Pillow Talk
Shelley Winters ? The Diary of Anne Frank ? WINNER

Thelma Ritter probably should have won for this. And for every other movie she?s ever been in.

BEST DIRECTOR

Jack Clayton ? Room at the Top
George Stevens ? The Diary of Anne Frank
Billy Wilder ? Some Like It Hot
William Wyler ? Ben-Hur ? WINNER
Fred Zinnemann ? The Nun?s Story

Wyler does a fantastic job with Ben-Hur. If it weren?t for Hitchcock?s North By Northwest being this year, Wyler would be the obvious winner. As it stands, Hitchcock should have got this.

BEST MUSIC, ORIGINAL SONG

The Best of Everything ? The Best of Everything
The Five Pennies ? The Five Pennies
The Hanging Tree ? The Hanging Tree
High Hopes ? A Hole In the Head ? WINNER
Strange Are the Ways of Love ? The Young Land

I?ve heard only the winner, which isn?t bad.

BEST MUSIC, SCORING OF A MUSICAL PICTURE

The Five Pennies ? Leith Stevens
Li?l Abner ? Nelson Riddle, Joseph J. Lilley
Porgy & Bess ? Andre Previn, Ken Darby ? WINNER
Say One For Me ? Lionel Newman
Sleeping Beauty ? George Bruns

It?s refreshing to see Sleeping Beauty nominated; animated it is, but Bruns? Tchaikovsky pastiche is indeed marvelous. I wouldn?t have minded to see it win, actually.

BEST MUSIC, SCORING OF A DRAMATIC OR COMEDY PICTURE

Ben-Hur ? Miklos Rozsa ? WINNER
The Diary of Anne Frank ? Alfred Newma

 

An impressive battery of nominations, particularly for Best Picture. North by Northwest is my favourite of that year, but it's not an Oscar film of any stripe.

That being said, this year does hold one of the most eyebrow-raising decisions in the Academy's history: Pillow Talk winning of the likes of The 400 Blows, North by Northwest, and Wild Strawberries.

 

BEST PICTURE

Anatomy of a Murder
Ben-Hur ? WINNER
The Diary of Anne Frank
The Nun?s Story
Room at the Top

I enjoy "Ben-Hur" and all that, but I would never describe it as a great movie, or anything. "Anatomy" and "The Nun's Story" are both decent movies, as is "Room at the Top". "The Diary of Anne Frank" is just plain misguided. Yes, "North by Northwest" and "Some Like it Hot" should have been nominated. And what about "Rio Bravo"?

BEST ACTOR IN A LEADING ROLE

Laurence Harvey ? Room at the Top
Charlton Heston ? Ben-Hur ? WINNER
Jack Lemmon ? Some Like It Hot
Paul Muni ? The Last Angry Man
James Stewart ? Anatomy of a Murder

Lemmon or Grant. Or Curtis. Or Alec Guinness in "Our Man in Havana"

BEST ACTRESS IN A LEADING ROLE

Doris Day ? Pillow Talk
Audrey Hepburn ? The Nun?s Story
Katharine Hepburn ? Suddenly, Last Summer
Simone Signoret ? Room at the Top ? WINNER
Elizabeth Taylor ? Suddenly, Last Summer

Eva Marie Saint, Hepburn, or Signoret.

BEST ACTOR IN A SUPPORTING ROLE

Hugh Griffith ? Ben-Hur ? WINNER
Arthur O?Connell ? Anatomy of a Murder
George C. Scott ? Anatomy of a Murder
Robert Vaughn ? The Young Philadelphians
Ed Wynn ? The Diary of Anne Frank

Rogue, the Romans didn't repress it; they practiced it openly. Boyd isn't any hell, IMO. Gore Vidal claims he introduced this into the script (and that they didn't dare tell Heston. I doubt it. Sounds a fake story to me.) Lots of better performances in this category this year: Scott is excellent is "Anatomy" as is the un-nominated Ben Gazzara; Dean Martin is very good in "Rio Bravo"; Pernell Roberts gives a very good performances in "Ride Lonesome"; Mason and Landau are both fine in "North by Northwest"; Tony Randall is fine in "Pillow Talk"; or Peter Finch in "The Nun's Story"; or Joe E. Brown.

BEST ACTRESS IN A SUPPORTING ROLE

Hermione Baddeley ? Room at the Top
Susan Kohner ? Imitation of Life
Juanita Moore ? Imitation of Life
Thelma Ritter ? Pillow Talk
Shelley Winters ? The Diary of Anne Frank ? WINNER

Ritter. Or Lee Remick in "Anatomy". Or Carolyn Jones in "Last Train from Gun Hill"

BEST DIRECTOR

Jack Clayton ? Room at the Top
George Stevens ? The Diary of Anne Frank
Billy Wilder ? Some Like It Hot
William Wyler ? Ben-Hur ? WINNER
Fred Zinnemann ? The Nun?s Story

Billy Wilder or Alfred Hitchcock.

BEST MUSIC, ORIGINAL SONG

The Best of Everything ? The Best of Everything
The Five Pennies ? The Five Pennies
The Hanging Tree ? The Hanging Tree
High Hopes ? A Hole In the Head ? WINNER
Strange Are the Ways of Love ? The Young Land

Only know the winner.

BEST MUSIC, SCORING OF A MUSICAL PICTURE

The Five Pennies ? Leith Stevens
Li?l Abner ? Nelson Riddle, Joseph J. Lilley
Porgy & Bess ? Andre Previn, Ken Darby ? WINNER
Say One For Me ? Lionel Newman
Sleeping Beauty ? George Bruns

Dunno.

BEST MUSIC, SCORING OF A DRAMATIC OR COMEDY PICTURE

Ben-Hur ? Miklos Rozsa ? WINNER
The Diary of Anne Frank ? Alfred Newman
The Nun?s Story ? Franz Waxman
On the Beach ? Ernest Gold
Pillow Talk ? Frank De Vol

Not my department.

 

CEREMONY YEAR: 1997

BEST PICTURE

The English Patient ? WINNER
Fargo
Jerry Maguire
Secrets & Lies
Shine

The best thing about The English Patient was the episode of Seinfeld spoofing it; Elaine squirms in agony as Peterman brokenly sobs, ?I thought I knew what love was!? Jerry Maguire is surprisingly great and Shine is a great little biopic, elevated by above average direction and Rush?s astounding performance. Fargo is the best of this slate, however.

If we could expand the slate to ten, I?d make room for Sling Blade, a surprisingly brilliant and nuanced little thriller/drama. The Rock is a superlative, epic thriller that has held up almost perfectly. And The Birdcage is one of the four or five funniest movies of the nineties and one of the few American remakes to utterly exceed the original. Sayles? Southwestern Gothic Lone Star probably deserved a nomination. It pains me to admit that De Palma?s sleek, stylish, spy thriller Mission: Impossible isn?t quite good enough for a nom, near to perfect though it is. Also, Branagh?s Hamlet is the definitive version of the greatest play of all time; I think that means it deserves a nomination for Best Picture.

BEST ACTOR IN A LEADING ROLE

Tom Cruise ? Jerry Maguire
Ralph Fiennes ? The English Patient
Woody Harrelson ? The People Vs. Larry Flynt
Geoffrey Rush ? Shine ? WINNER
Billy Bob Thornton ? Sling Blade

It?s hard to quibble with a performance as brilliant as Rush in Shine; Thornton?s performance in Sling Blade is perhaps the more remarkable, however, since Rush is consistently excellent and Thornton is rarely as good as he was in Sling Blade. Cruise, believe it or not, actually deserved a nomination; he was very good in Jerry Maguire.

A few other options

Nathan Lane for one of the most finely tuned comic performances of all time in The Birdcage
Sean Connery for bringing the badass back in The Rock, or, alternatively,
Nicolas Cage for a twitchy, neurotic, completely brilliant performance in the same film
Michael Keaton for his brilliantly funny quadruple role as a harried family man and his clones in Multiplicity
Al Pacino for his brilliantly ironic and hilarious performance as a ham (and hamfisted) actor wrestling with Shakespeare?s Richard III in Looking for Richard; some people say this is a documentary ? I say it?s one of the best comedies of its year.
Mel Gibson as the grieving and increasingly unhinged father of a kidnapped child in Howard?s quite wonderful little thriller, Ransom

BEST ACTRESS IN A LEADING ROLE

Brenda Blethyn ? Secrets & Lies
Diane Keaton ? Marvin?s Room
Frances McDormand ? Fargo ? WINNER
Kristin Scott Thomas ? The English Patient
Emily Watson ? Breaking the Waves

A breath of fresh air, McDormand?s win was and one of the best decisions Oscar has made in my lifetime. No quibbles here.

Except . . . subtle it wasn?t, but subtle it shouldn?t have been: Glenn Close deserved a nomination for her fearless, scenery chewing, maniacal, explosive performance as Cruella De Vil in the live action 101 Dalmations. If only the rest of the movie had lived up to her. Also, with this slate, I?m not sure why they couldn?t make a little room for Renee Zellwegger for Jerry Maguire; she was definitely better than Cuba Gooding Jr. and he won an Oscar!

BEST ACTOR IN A SUPPORTING ROLE

Cuba Gooding Jr. ? Jerry Maguire ? WINNER
William H. Macy ? Fargo
Armin Mueller-Stahl ? Shine
Edward Norton ? Primal Fear
James Woods ? Ghosts of Mississippi

I?m about half sure that Macy should have been nominated under the Lead Actor category. These are all good performances; Woods is hammy as hell, but what do we pay James Woods for? Of these, probably Norton?s is the best.

But there were a lot of wonderful performances overlooked this year.

Steve Buscemi for a legitimately supporting role as a hot-headed, idiotic criminal in Fargo
Harve Presnell as a ramrod hardass (also an idiot) in Fargo
Hank Azaria as the preening houseboy in The Birdcage, as great a piece of slap

 

Apart from Doyle (who should have won for this and possibly Henry V), I'd say that Branagh's Hamlet had no business being anywhere near the Oscars, let alone that it was snubbed. Branagh's nomination in Best Adapted Screenplay is quite amusing.

I dislike AMPAS's slate for the most part, with the exceptions of Fargo and Secrets & Lies. Looking for Richard might be my favourite film of that year though - marvelously entertaining and packed with variety.

I hate The English Patient with a passion. Jerry Maguire is decent, but not among the year's best. I don't take to Jan Sardi's Shine structure at all, let alone that Noah Taylor is probably doing more in that film than Geoffrey Rush. But it made the awesome Armin Mueller-Stahl an Oscar nominee, so I forgive it.

I'd also give Hard Eight a look in, especially for Phillip Baker Hall in Best Actor. The People vs. Larry Flynt is also quite solid, I like the Harrelson nod.

John Williams' nomination for Sleepers is embarassing. It's his most cloying, inappropriate score, and it actually spoils the film (which isn't very good to start with).

As bizarre as it might seem, I'd probably nominate Henry Czerny for Mission: Impossible. He is the life-blood of that film, far and away the most entertaining thing in it.

The Birdcage is hilarious. I'd probably have given it some love in the acting categories. Put Hank Azaria next to Henry Czerny in Best Supporting, which would be great fun.

Bottle Rocket, although probably my least favourite Wes Anderson film, wouldn't have gone astray in Best Original Screenplay.

I'm pleased by Emily Watson's nomination, but a matching nom for Stellan Skarsgard from Breaking the Waves would have been great.

Actually, I just remembered who might have been even better than Paddy Doyle, score wise: Alan Menken. The Hunchback of Notre Dame might be ruined by those damn gargoyles (it's impressive filmmaking otherwise), but the score is amazing. "Hellfire" should have won Best Song. But then, Menken already had 9000 Oscars.

Santa with Muscles deserved to sweep the board.

Shove Robert Carlyle into the Best Supporting Actor lineup for Trainspotting as well. Along with Kelly Macdonald in Supporting Actress.

Not really a good year overall, though.

 

Migod, I loved Hamlet. It's one of my top ten movies! I suppose our Shakespearean tastes are flipped in opposition then! Looking for Richard is indeed incredibly entertaining. Silly, but entertaining.

And Henry Czerny for Mission: Impossible? That is the kind of wacky idea I usually come up with. Bravo!

 

Well... I'm guessing that we both like Branagh's Henry V and Much Ado About Nothing.

Actually, Branagh's Henry V is one of the select few Shakespearean films that I'd deem essential.