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

Rogue, see Hannah and Her Sisters. Now.

 

CEREMONY YEAR: 1987

BEST PICTURE

Children of a Lesser God
Hannah & Her Sisters
The Mission
Platoon ? WINNER
A Room with a View

From the outset, it?s nigh onto impossible for me to quibble with Platoon as best picture of its year; it?s a magnificent, gripping, deeply felt and undeniably powerful film. It?s still probably Stone?s best movie.

Of the other nominees, A Room with a View is a surprisingly great Merchant/Ivory production, perfect in nearly every way, right down the very smallest parts; it?s also a massive improvement on the somewhat lacking novel. The Mission is a show stopper too.

On the unfairly snubbed front, there?s The Fly, which at the time probably looked like a trashy horror remake of a cheesy classic; but in the intervening years, it?s revealed surprising depth of emotion and symbolism. It may be the best horror film of the eighties. Michael Mann?s Manhunter isn?t particularly polished, but it?s a raw, pulsating adaptation of Harris? Red Dragon and it?s superior in every way, except for Ralph Fiennes? performance, to Ratner?s tepid remake. It would also have been nice to see Stand by Me nominated. And while you can see why it wasn?t nominated, Aliens holds up every bit as much as any of these nominated films. And we could say the same for Blue Velvet, probably more so actually.

Locked in a room and being forced to watch Merchant/Ivory is second on my torture list after locked in a room and being forced to watch Capricorn.

"Ruthless People" is one of the funniest farces ever.

BEST ACTOR IN A LEADING ROLE

Dexter Gordon ? ?Round Midnight
Bob Hoskins ? Mona Lisa
William Hurt ? Children of a Lesser God
Paul Newman ? The Color of Money ? WINNER
James Woods ? Salvador

It would have been nice to see Jeff Goldblum nominated for his turn in The Fly; his performance is a surprising one, quirky, but full of passion. He begins as a charming rake, progresses into a somewhat unhinged obsessive and ends as a pitiful wreck. And they say horror isn?t Oscar bait. Controversially, I love William Peterson?s performance in Manhunter, a performance about fifty times better than the one Ed Norton gave in the same role in the remake; he gives us a Will Graham who isn?t just out of his depth, but also practically as loony as the Dragon he?s chasing. Jeremy Irons is pure conviction in The Mission; no one has ever delivered the line, ?God is love? with anything like this kind of power. He could have been nominated without a problem.

Irons or Hoskins. Sean Penn should have been nominated for "At Close Range" in which he is remarkable, and I am by no means a fan of his in the ordinary course.

BEST ACTRESS IN A LEADING ROLE

Jane Fonda ? The Morning After
Marlee Matlin ? Children of a Lesser God ? WINNER
Sissy Spacek ? Crimes of the Heart
Kathleen Turner ? Peggy Sue Got Married
Sigourney Weaver ? Aliens

The nom for Sigourney Weaver is frigging awesome. She totally deserved the nom, but it?s still surprising that the Academy gave it to her.

However, I?m trying to figure how Helena Bonham Carter didn?t get a nom for A Room with a View. It?s probably still her finest performance, subtle, honest, naturalistic, painful.

Weaver, even though she suffers from a bad case of being unable to read a line.

BEST ACTOR IN A SUPPORTING ROLE

Tom Berenger ? Platoon
Michael Caine ? Hannah & Her Sisters ? WINNER
Willem Dafoe ? Platoon
Denholm Elliott ? A Room with a View
Dennis Hopper ? Hoosiers

A slate of very good performances here; but the Hopper nomination is a stand in: the Academy was too afraid to nominate him for his turn as Frank Booth, the screen?s most terrifying villain by my lights, in Blue Velvet. He is good in Hoosiers, no question; but his turn as Frank Booth is his definitive performance and one for the ages. He should have been nominated for that one; and then he should have won.

Setting Hopper aside, I think I?d have given this one to Denholm Elliott who is absolutely perfectly pitched in A Room with a View. Berenger and Dafoe are both near career best in Platoon.

But, great as this slate is,

 

CEREMONY YEAR: 2008

BEST MOTION PICTURE OF THE YEAR

Atonement
Juno
Michael Clayton
No Country for Old Men ? WINNER
There Will Be Blood

I have no problem with the winner this year. No Country for Old Men may be my favorite Coen brothers film and I find it to be an absolutely perfect movie and certainly the best film from 2007 that I?ve seen. It?s a quintessentially American masterpiece, if you ask me.

I?ll throw out a couple of snubs: James Mangold?s criminally underrated remake of 3:10 to Yuma was a rarity in all sorts of ways: a remake that actually worked, a great western flick, a perfectly acted psychological drama. Also, Stardust, the Neil Gaiman riff, which was an entirely sincere, witty and clever movie in a genre that hasn?t seen a really good movie in a very long time. This one deserves to stand up there with The Princess Bride. Great flick.

BEST PERFORMANCE BY AN ACTOR IN A LEADING ROLE

George Clooney ? Michael Clayton
Daniel Day-Lewis ? There Will Be Blood ? WINNER
Johnny Depp ? Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street
Tommy Lee Jones ? In the Valley of Elah
Viggo Mortensen ? Eastern Promises

Good slate of nominees here. It?s particularly gratifying to see Mortensen get a nomination for Eastern Promises; he was totally robbed of a nomination for A History of Violence.

But I think both Russell Crowe and Christian Bale deserved nominations for 3:10 to Yuma. They internalized their characters, a brutal criminal tired of violence and a psychologically damaged farmer aching for redemption, to a powerful degree and they made the men come absolutely to life. What?s even more stunning is how quiet and underplayed their performances here. This is a masterclass in acting, Crowe and Bale both playing their parts close to the chest and very, very quiet, when most actors would have taken both parts to the rafters, particularly Crowe?s part. Great performances.

BEST PERFORMANCE BY AN ACTRESS IN A LEADING ROLE

Cate Blanchett ? Elizabeth: The Golden Age
Julie Christie ? Away from Her
Marion Cotillard ? La Vie en Rose ? WINNER
Laura Linney ? The Savages
Ellen Page ? Juno

Couldn?t say for sure.

BEST PERFORMANCE BY AN ACTOR IN A SUPPORTING ROLE

Casey Affleck ? The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford
Javier Bardem ? No Country for Old Men ? WINNER
Philip Seymour Hoffman ? Charlie Wilson?s War
Hal Holbrook ? Into the Wild
Tom Wilkinson ? Michael Clayton

Particularly thrilling to see Hal Holbrook nominated; he?s always great. In everything. Ever.

Of these, I think Bardem deserved the win; his Chigurh is a great villainous performance. It would have been nice to see Tommy Lee Jones nominated for his role in the same movie; his turn as Ed Tom Bell is probably Jones? best performance in his lengthy and storied career.

Also unfairly overlooked is Ben Foster for his turn as a preening, psychopathic, effeminate gunslinger in 3:10 to Yuma.

BEST PERFORMANCE BY AN ACTRESS IN A SUPPORTING ROLE

Cate Blanchett ? I?m Not There
Ruby Dee ? American Gangster
Saoirse Ronan ? Atonement
Amy Ryan ? Gone Baby Gone
Tilda Swinton ? Michael Clayton ? WINNER

Swinton is always excellent, but it would have been a kick to see Cate Blanchett get this one. Her Bob Dylan impression in I?m Not There was particularly brilliant.

BEST ACHIEVEMENT IN DIRECTING

Paul Thomas Anderson ? There Will Be Blood
Ethan Coen, Joel Coen ? No Country for Old Men ? WINNER
Tony Gilroy ? Michael Clayton
Jason Reitman ? Juno
Julian Schnabel ? The Diving Bell & the Butterfly

Correct one took this. Would have been nice to see James Mangold nominated for 3:10 to Yuma.

BEST ACHIEVEMENT IN MUSIC WRITTEN FOR MOTION PICTURES, ORIGINAL SONG

Falling Slowly ? Once ? WINNER
Happy Working Song ? Enchanted
Raise It Up ? August Rush
So Close ? Enchanted
That?s How You Know ? Enchanted

Right one took this one too. The absolute exuberance of the songwriters upon winning, and Jon Stewart?s hilarious riff on their win, was probably the single biggest highlight of the night.

BEST A

 

I think eventually the Academy might regret being so kind to No Country for Old Men. That being said it is a really great film and goes against the Academy's track record for mainly awarding feel good pictures of the past decade or so. I think the choices here were fair enough, nothing strikes me as being robbed. I personally feel that Zodiac should have gotten some Academy recognition but it isn't as if it was snubbed for lesser films.

 

2007 was such a strong year that you could have had 5 other films in there for BP and it still would have been totally satisfying. The fact that Zodiac didn't even get a look in is telling. Films like Sweeney Todd, Before the Devil Knows You're Dead, The Assassination of Jesse James, Gone Baby Gone, The Visitor, The Savages, The Kite Runner, Eastern Promises, The Bourne Ultimatum, Into the Wild, Breach, or even Hot Fuzz and Walk Hard could've got a look in and I wouldn't have complained.

 

CEREMONY YEAR: 2008

BEST MOTION PICTURE OF THE YEAR

Atonement
Juno
Michael Clayton
No Country for Old Men ? WINNER
There Will Be Blood

I have no problem with the winner this year. No Country for Old Men may be my favorite Coen brothers film and I find it to be an absolutely perfect movie and certainly the best film from 2007 that I?ve seen. It?s a quintessentially American masterpiece, if you ask me.

I?ll throw out a couple of snubs: James Mangold?s criminally underrated remake of 3:10 to Yuma was a rarity in all sorts of ways: a remake that actually worked, a great western flick, a perfectly acted psychological drama. Also, Stardust, the Neil Gaiman riff, which was an entirely sincere, witty and clever movie in a genre that hasn?t seen a really good movie in a very long time. This one deserves to stand up there with The Princess Bride. Great flick.

I agree about "3:10" and the winner's fine, I guess, but "The Assassination of Jesse James" should have had at least a nom.

BEST PERFORMANCE BY AN ACTOR IN A LEADING ROLE

George Clooney ? Michael Clayton
Daniel Day-Lewis ? There Will Be Blood ? WINNER
Johnny Depp ? Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street
Tommy Lee Jones ? In the Valley of Elah
Viggo Mortensen ? Eastern Promises

Good slate of nominees here. It?s particularly gratifying to see Mortensen get a nomination for Eastern Promises; he was totally robbed of a nomination for A History of Violence.

But I think both Russell Crowe and Christian Bale deserved nominations for 3:10 to Yuma. They internalized their characters, a brutal criminal tired of violence and a psychologically damaged farmer aching for redemption, to a powerful degree and they made the men come absolutely to life. What?s even more stunning is how quiet and underplayed their performances here. This is a masterclass in acting, Crowe and Bale both playing their parts close to the chest and very, very quiet, when most actors would have taken both parts to the rafters, particularly Crowe?s part. Great performances.

Yes, they are both very good, but how to choose? Day-Lewis was extraordinary, though, despite the film's absurd finish.

BEST PERFORMANCE BY AN ACTRESS IN A LEADING ROLE

Cate Blanchett ? Elizabeth: The Golden Age
Julie Christie ? Away from Her
Marion Cotillard ? La Vie en Rose ? WINNER
Laura Linney ? The Savages
Ellen Page ? Juno

Couldn?t say for sure.

Have seen none of these.

BEST PERFORMANCE BY AN ACTOR IN A SUPPORTING ROLE

Casey Affleck ? The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford
Javier Bardem ? No Country for Old Men ? WINNER
Philip Seymour Hoffman ? Charlie Wilson?s War
Hal Holbrook ? Into the Wild
Tom Wilkinson ? Michael Clayton

Particularly thrilling to see Hal Holbrook nominated; he?s always great. In everything. Ever.

Of these, I think Bardem deserved the win; his Chigurh is a great villainous performance. It would have been nice to see Tommy Lee Jones nominated for his role in the same movie; his turn as Ed Tom Bell is probably Jones? best performance in his lengthy and storied career.

Also unfairly overlooked is Ben Foster for his turn as a preening, psychopathic, effeminate gunslinger in 3:10 to Yuma.

I liked Foster, but this should have gone to Affleck. Though supporting role? What supporting role is this? It's a lead. And Brad Pitt could well have gotten a supporting nom as Jesse James. Affleck has a slow start, in a dislikable role, and by the end, he triumphs.

BEST PERFORMANCE BY AN ACTRESS IN A SUPPORTING ROLE

Cate Blanchett ? I?m Not There
Ruby Dee ? American Gangster
Saoirse Ronan ? Atonement
Amy Ryan ? Gone Baby Gone
Tilda Swinton ? Michael Clayton ? WINNER

Swinton is always excellent, but it would have been a kick to see Cate Blanchett get this one. Her Bob Dylan impression in I?m Not There was particularly brilliant.

Didn't see that one. Amy Ryan.

BEST ACHIEVEMENT IN DIRECTING

Paul Thomas Anderson ? There Will Be Blood
Ethan Coen, Joel Coen ? No Country for Old Men ? WINNER
Tony Gilroy ? Michael Clayton
Jason Reitman ? Juno
Julian Schnab

 

CEREMONY YEAR: 1930

Note: There are, for reasons obscure, two Oscar ceremonies in 1930. The first is in April and seems to cover mostly 1929. The second was in November and seems to cover the bulk of 1930. The ceremony from 1931, covered the remainder of 1930 and the bulk of 1931. It takes a while, as you can see, for the Oscars to settle into their current rhythm. We?ll cover the April 1930 ceremony in this post and the November 1930 one in my next post.

BEST PICTURE

Alibi
The Broadway Melody ? WINNER
The Hollywood Revue of 1929
In Old Arizona
The Patriot

From the outset let me say that I am in the same boat as, I bet, most of you are; I?ve seen very few of the films from this year. Even someone not averse to watching films from the twenties still just doesn?t see as many of them as he or she might from the thirties or forties or on and on. But I?ll make a couple of comments.

Here?s one: the Oscars started snubbing Hitchcock early. Blackmail is not as sophisticated as Hitch?s films from the thirties, but you can see the genius sparking and as early as 1929, Hitch is experimenting with using sound to tell his story and make his points. Blackmail deserved a nomination for Best Picture.

BEST ACTOR IN A LEADING ROLE

George Bancroft ? Thunderbolt
Warner Baxter ? In Old Arizona ? WINNER
Chester Morris ? Alibi
Paul Muni ? The Valiant
Lewis Stone ? The Patriot

Couldn?t say.

BEST ACTRESS IN A LEADING ROLE

Ruth Chatterton ? Madame X
Betty Compson ? The Barker
Jeanne Eagels ? The Letter
Corinne Griffith ? The Divine Lady
Bessie Love ? The Broadway Melody
Mary Pickford ? Coquette ? WINNER

Couldn?t say.

No Supporting Awards were given in the acting category this year

BEST DIRECTOR

Lionel Barrymore ? Madame X
Harry Beaumont ? The Broadway Melody
Irving Cummings ? In Old Arizona
Frank Lloyd ? The Divine Lady, Weary River, Drag ? WINNER
Ernst Lubitsch ? The Patriot

Couldn?t say, but Hitchcock deserved a nomination for Blackmail.

No music awards were given

OTHER FILMS OF NOTE

Applause
Big Business
Blackmail
Die Buchse der Pandora (Pandora?s Box)
The Canary Murder Case
Chelovek s Kino-Apparatom (Living Russia, or The Man with a Camera)
Un Chien Andalou
The Cocoanuts
The Flying Fleet
The Four Feathers
Gold Diggers of Broadway
H2O
Hearts in Dixie
The Iron Mask
The Kiss
Lambchops
Liberty
Little Johnny Jones
The Million Dollar Collar
On with the Show!
Our Modern Maidens
Piccadilly
Rio Rita
Sally
Salute
The Saturday Night Kid
Seven Footprints to Satan
Show Boat
Spite Marriage
Staroye I Novoye (Old & New)
Sunnyside Up
Tagebuch einer Verlorenen (Diary of a Lost Girl)
The Taming of the Shrew
Their Own Desire
They Had to See Paris
Untamed
The Virginian
The Way of Lost Souls
The Wild Party

 

CEREMONY YEAR: 1930

Note: There are, for reasons obscure, two Oscar ceremonies in 1930. The first is in April and seems to cover mostly 1929. The second was in November and seems to cover the bulk of 1930. The ceremony from 1931, covered the remainder of 1930 and the bulk of 1931. It takes a while, as you can see, for the Oscars to settle into their current rhythm. We?ll cover the April 1930 ceremony in this post and the November 1930 one in my next post.

BEST PICTURE

Alibi
The Broadway Melody ? WINNER
The Hollywood Revue of 1929
In Old Arizona
The Patriot

From the outset let me say that I am in the same boat as, I bet, most of you are; I?ve seen very few of the films from this year. Even someone not averse to watching films from the twenties still just doesn?t see as many of them as he or she might from the thirties or forties or on and on. But I?ll make a couple of comments.

Here?s one: the Oscars started snubbing Hitchcock early. Blackmail is not as sophisticated as Hitch?s films from the thirties, but you can see the genius sparking and as early as 1929, Hitch is experimenting with using sound to tell his story and make his points. Blackmail deserved a nomination for Best Picture.

"Broadway Melody" and "The Hollywood Revue" are early talkie musicals; "Alibi" seems experimental; "In Old Arizona" is a Western, and no one has seen "The Patriot", a Lubitsch-directed film, because it's lost.

BEST ACTOR IN A LEADING ROLE

George Bancroft ? Thunderbolt
Warner Baxter ? In Old Arizona ? WINNER
Chester Morris ? Alibi
Paul Muni ? The Valiant
Lewis Stone ? The Patriot

Couldn?t say.

I have seen none of these movies. Chester Morris was an early MGM star of no discernable charm or talent; Warner Baxter is pretty good in "The Prisoner of Shark Island", though. He won for a Western, too, which is some kind of amazing. Bancroft played a small role in "Stagecoach." Muni is hammy, and Stone (usually) pious.

BEST ACTRESS IN A LEADING ROLE

Ruth Chatterton ? Madame X
Betty Compson ? The Barker
Jeanne Eagels ? The Letter
Corinne Griffith ? The Divine Lady
Bessie Love ? The Broadway Melody
Mary Pickford ? Coquette ? WINNER

Couldn?t say.

Again, seen none of these, except Love in excerpts from "Melody" (it's awful). Chatterton's only role remembered today is Fran Dodsworth in "Dodsworth" in which she is very convincing as a selfish narcissistic idiot. Eagels died shortly after this movie, but I remember Pauline Kael's review describing her 'strangely corrupt beauty.' Griffith was one of those genteel and good-looking types. Never seen her. Pickford's role was a career award--even the critics of the day didn't think much of the film.

No Supporting Awards were given in the acting category this year

BEST DIRECTOR

Lionel Barrymore ? Madame X
Harry Beaumont ? The Broadway Melody
Irving Cummings ? In Old Arizona
Frank Lloyd ? The Divine Lady, Weary River, Drag ? WINNER
Ernst Lubitsch ? The Patriot

Couldn?t say, but Hitchcock deserved a nomination for Blackmail.

Lionel Barrymore was better known as a director in the silents. Hammy as an actor. Raoul Walsh was supposed to direct "Arizona" but was injured in a car crash in which he lost his eye. Lloyd is a hack, but they tended to give awards for more work rather than good work. Of this lot, Lubitsch is the good director, but the movie itself is a drama, not really his strong suit (though he did lots of silent ones.) I agree re: Hitchcock. I have seen "Blackmail" recently, and it holds up and then some.

No music awards were given

OTHER FILMS OF NOTE

Applause is a famous Mamoulian film;
Blackmail is an excellent early Hitchcock.
Die Buchse der Pandora (Pandora?s Box) and Tagebuch einer Verlorenen (Diary of a Lost Girl) are both films directed by G. W. Pabst and star Louise Brooks. They are both famous. Seen only one Pabst film ("The Threepenny Opera"), but

 

CEREMONY YEAR: 1930

This is, as noted previously, the second of two ceremonies held in 1930. This one, coming in November, seems to be mainly focused on films released during 1930, but a few from 1929 sneak in as well. I?m basically entirely unsure about the methodology on selection at this point.

BEST PICTURE

All Quiet on the Western Front ? WINNER
The Big House
Disraeli
The Divorcee
The Love Parade

Undeniably the best film of the year actually won the prize this year. All Quiet is a masterpiece that holds up to this day. It?s a gripping, wonderful, devastating film.

The Marx Brothers? Animal Crackers hasn?t held up as well as a lot of their other movies, but it?s still held up as well as most of the nominated films, I?d say.

Also worthy of a nomination is Zemlya (Earth), a fantastic Soviet film about the conflict between a group of old fashioned farmers and a group of young Communists. It?s a fascinating, visceral film, full of the vibrant montages, iconography and energetic passion of the best Soviet cinema. It?s an unjustly forgotten masterpiece.

BEST ACTOR IN A LEADING ROLE

George Arliss ? Disraeli, The Green Goddess ? WINNER
Wallace Beery ? The Big House
Maurice Chevalier ? The Big Pond, The Love Parade
Ronald Colman ? Bulldog Drummond, Condemned
Lawrence Tibbett ? The Rogue Song

It?s interesting that now, of course, an actor can only be nominated for one role, while back in the old days, it was quite common; here you?ll note that three of the five nominees, including the winner, are nominated for two films.

I haven?t seen any of these, but it still seems very strange that Lew Ayres isn?t nominated for All Quiet on the Western Front; it?s a great film, but Ayres performance is surprisingly good too, not as stagy as you might expect.

BEST ACTRESS IN A LEADING ROLE

Nancy Carroll ? The Devil?s Holiday
Ruth Chatterton ? Sarah & Son
Greta Garbo ? Anna Christie, Romance
Norma Shearer ? The Divorcee, Their Own Desire ? WINNER
Gloria Swanson ? The Trespasser

Garbo probably deserved this one. And why wasn?t Dietrich nominated for The Blue Angel?

No supporting acting awards were given.

BEST DIRECTOR

Clarence Brown ? Anna Christie, Romance
Robert Z. Leonard ? The Divorcee
Ernst Lubitsch ? The Love Parade
Lewis Milestone ? All Quiet on the Western Front ? WINNER
King Vidor ? Hallelujah!

Milestone?s directing is stunning, vibrant and heartbreaking; from the long tracking shots of soldiers charging into machine gun fire to the hands reaching for the butterfly at the climax, Milestone?s direction is full of surprisingly sophisticated touches. He definitely deserves the award this year.

No music awards were given.

OTHER FILMS OF NOTE

Abraham Lincoln
L?Age d?Or
Animal Crackers
Another Fine Mess
The Big Trail
Der Blaue Engel (The Blue Angel)
City Girl
DuBarry, Woman of Passion
The Floradora Girl
Follow Thru
Free & Easy
From Stump to Ship
Hell?s Angels
A Lady to Love
Laughter
Le Petit Chaperon Rouge (Little Red Riding Hood)
Liliom
Madam Satan
Menschen am Sonntag (People on Sunday)
Monte Carlo
Murder!
Not So Dumb
Our Blushing Brides
Prix le Beaute (Beauty Prize)
Pups is Pups
Raffles
Le Roman de Renard (The Story of the Fox)
So This Is London
Soup to Nuts
The Texan
The Unholy Three
Way Out West
Zemlya (Earth)

 

CEREMONY YEAR: 1930

This is, as noted previously, the second of two ceremonies held in 1930. This one, coming in November, seems to be mainly focused on films released during 1930, but a few from 1929 sneak in as well. I?m basically entirely unsure about the methodology on selection at this point.

BEST PICTURE

All Quiet on the Western Front ? WINNER
The Big House
Disraeli
The Divorcee
The Love Parade

Undeniably the best film of the year actually won the prize this year. All Quiet is a masterpiece that holds up to this day. It?s a gripping, wonderful, devastating film.

The Marx Brothers? Animal Crackers hasn?t held up as well as a lot of their other movies, but it?s still held up as well as most of the nominated films, I?d say.

Also worthy of a nomination is Zemlya (Earth), a fantastic Soviet film about the conflict between a group of old fashioned farmers and a group of young Communists. It?s a fascinating, visceral film, full of the vibrant montages, iconography and energetic passion of the best Soviet cinema. It?s an unjustly forgotten masterpiece.

Definitely the best of those nom'd. "The Big House" is a MGM prison melodrama. "Disraeli" is the Warner Brothers bio, very dated. "The Divorcee" is unbelievably twee. "The Love Parade" is actually very good, but lightweight.

BEST ACTOR IN A LEADING ROLE

George Arliss ? Disraeli, The Green Goddess ? WINNER
Wallace Beery ? The Big House
Maurice Chevalier ? The Big Pond, The Love Parade
Ronald Colman ? Bulldog Drummond, Condemned
Lawrence Tibbett ? The Rogue Song

It?s interesting that now, of course, an actor can only be nominated for one role, while back in the old days, it was quite common; here you?ll note that three of the five nominees, including the winner, are nominated for two films.

I haven?t seen any of these, but it still seems very strange that Lew Ayres isn?t nominated for All Quiet on the Western Front; it?s a great film, but Ayres performance is surprisingly good too, not as stagy as you might expect.

George Arliss is completely forgotten today, with reason. He was a stage actor, with a line in bio-pics (the Duke of Wellington, the Rothschilds, Richelieu, etc.) Wallace Beery is no favorite of mine. Chevalier isn't really an actor, though he is an entertainer. Never seen Tibbett, who was a famous singer. Colman is the best actor in this bunch.

BEST ACTRESS IN A LEADING ROLE

Nancy Carroll ? The Devil?s Holiday
Ruth Chatterton ? Sarah & Son
Greta Garbo ? Anna Christie, Romance
Norma Shearer ? The Divorcee, Their Own Desire ? WINNER
Gloria Swanson ? The Trespasser

Garbo probably deserved this one. And why wasn?t Dietrich nominated for The Blue Angel?

Shearer is a weird case. I've seen her in two silents--"He Who Gets Slapped" and "The Student Prince" both good performances, especially the latter. And she had some decent late performances--"Marie Antoinette" and "The Women". But in the early talkies, she's a blight, and this particular movie is rotten (yup, I've actually endured some of it.) Ruth Chatterton again--no idea about this one or the Swanson one. Garbo isn't particularly good in "Anna Christie" and I haven't seen "Romance".

No supporting acting awards were given.

BEST DIRECTOR

Clarence Brown ? Anna Christie, Romance
Robert Z. Leonard ? The Divorcee
Ernst Lubitsch ? The Love Parade
Lewis Milestone ? All Quiet on the Western Front ? WINNER
King Vidor ? Hallelujah!

Milestone?s directing is stunning, vibrant and heartbreaking; from the long tracking shots of soldiers charging into machine gun fire to the hands reaching for the butterfly at the climax, Milestone?s direction is full of surprisingly sophisticated touches. He definitely deserves the award this year.

Sergei Eisenstein's sour comment on "All Quiet"--'a good PhD thesis' has clouded its reputation, unfairly, I think. Brown and Leonard are hacks (in general), Lubitsch is very good, and Vidor has a good reputation, but I don't like his stuff.

No music awards were given.

OTHER FILMS OF NOTE

Abraham Lincoln (directed by D. W. Griffith, but

 

CEREMONY YEAR: 1961

BEST PICTURE

The Alamo
The Apartment ? WINNER
Elmer Gantry
Sons & Lovers
The Sundowners

I don?t understand why The Apartment would win this; in retrospect, it?s a light comedy, with too much sentiment for its own good. Fred MacMurray is excellent and there are laughs, but it?s probably at least half an hour too long and a lot of angst could be cut out without losing anything. Elmer Gantry is similarly flawed; Lancaster has visceral energy and presence, but the film is pretty muddled on what exactly it?s up to. It?s a good film, but like The Apartment, falls far short of a great one in my opinion.

Five films better than any of these nominated films: Inherit the Wind, Spartacus, Psycho, The Magnificent Seven & Peeping Tom. Now that?s a Best Picture slate that isn?t embarrassing fifty years later.

BEST ACTOR IN A LEADING ROLE

Trevor Howard ? Sons & Lovers
Burt Lancaster ? Elmer Gantry ? WINNER
Jack Lemmon ? The Apartment
Laurence Olivier ? The Entertainer
Spencer Tracy ? Inherit the Wind

Okay, before we go any farther . . . Anthony Perkins = not nominated for Psycho = Oscars lose all credibility forever. The end. I mean, seriously.

Of these, I actually prefer Frederic March over Spencer Tracy in Inherit the Wind, though Tracy?s good too. Lemmon?s performance is strange, neurotic and not the kind to usually get an Oscar nomination. He has some good moments, but on the whole I don?t think he belongs here. Of these, the clear winner is definitely Lancaster who has a field day with Elmer Gantry. I?m not entirely clear on whether he?s ?good? or not, but . . . he deserves an Oscar, even if he isn?t.

Couple others who might have been worth a nom: Carl Boehm as the psychopathic Mark Lewis in Peeping Tom and maybe Yul Brynner for his steely personification of badass in The Magnificent Seven.

BEST ACTRESS IN A LEADING ROLE

Greer Garson ? Sunrise at Campobello
Deborah Kerr ? The Sundowners
Shirley MacLaine ? The Apartment
Melina Mercouri ? Never on Sunday
Elizabeth Taylor ? Butterfield 8 ? WINNER

Anna Massey might be considered supporting for her role as the downstairs neighbor girl to the homicidal maniac in Peeping Tom, but it?s such a good performance that I have no problem bumping her up to lead. She deserved a nomination at least. MacLaine isn?t bad in The Apartment.

BEST ACTOR IN A SUPPORTING ROLE

Peter Falk ? Murder, Inc.
Jack Kruschen ? The Apartment
Sal Mineo ? Exodus
Peter Ustinov ? Spartacus ? WINNER
Chill Wills ? The Alamo

I refuse to quibble with Ustinov winning for Spartacus; he?s absolutely delightful in his performance there. It would have been nice to see Olivier nominated too though; I think his turn as Crassus in Spartacus is actually far and away his best performance, truly venal, never less than shallow and utterly cold.

The pick of Kruschen for The Apartment is very odd; about the only person involved with The Apartment that actually deserved a nomination was Fred MacMurray, legitimately fantastic, cast against type as the slimy, amoral philanderer. He?s by far the best thing in the movie; I don?t know about MacMurray ? he should have played these kinds of parts more often, instead of the milktoast stuff. He really shines in this and Double Indemnity, two rare instances of him playing heavies of a sort. Why he wasn?t nominated, I do not understand. He definitely should have been; it?s the one Oscar The Apartment deserved a nomination for.

Reaching a bit farther, I love Gene Kelly?s slimy, arrogant turn in Inherit the Wind; by all accounts, he wasn?t that likable in real life and, if that?s the case, this is a rare example of him letting all the warts through on camera. Also, Eli Wallach is perhaps not any ?good? in The Magnificent Seven, but he?s blisteringly effective and a total live wire. He could have been nominated, as far as I?m concerned.

BEST ACTRESS IN A SUPPORTING ROLE

Glynis Johns ? The Sundowners
Shirley Jones ? Elmer Gantry ? WINNER
Shirley Knight ? The Dark at the Top of the Stairs
Janet Leigh ? Psyc

 

CEREMONY YEAR: 1961

BEST PICTURE

The Alamo
The Apartment ? WINNER
Elmer Gantry
Sons & Lovers
The Sundowners

I don?t understand why The Apartment would win this; in retrospect, it?s a light comedy, with too much sentiment for its own good. Fred MacMurray is excellent and there are laughs, but it?s probably at least half an hour too long and a lot of angst could be cut out without losing anything. Elmer Gantry is similarly flawed; Lancaster has visceral energy and presence, but the film is pretty muddled on what exactly it?s up to. It?s a good film, but like The Apartment, falls far short of a great one in my opinion.

Five films better than any of these nominated films: Inherit the Wind, Spartacus, Psycho, The Magnificent Seven & Peeping Tom. Now that?s a Best Picture slate that isn?t embarrassing fifty years later.

"The Apartment" is not a light comedy; it's bathos with laughs. "Elmer Gantry" I agree with you on--great performances do not a movie make. "Inherit the Wind" can stay unnom'd, in my opinion. A lot too smug and schematic. Haven't seen "Peeping Tom"--the other three are fine.

BEST ACTOR IN A LEADING ROLE

Trevor Howard ? Sons & Lovers
Burt Lancaster ? Elmer Gantry ? WINNER
Jack Lemmon ? The Apartment
Laurence Olivier ? The Entertainer
Spencer Tracy ? Inherit the Wind

Okay, before we go any farther . . . Anthony Perkins = not nominated for Psycho = Oscars lose all credibility forever. The end. I mean, seriously.

Of these, I actually prefer Frederic March over Spencer Tracy in Inherit the Wind, though Tracy?s good too. Lemmon?s performance is strange, neurotic and not the kind to usually get an Oscar nomination. He has some good moments, but on the whole I don?t think he belongs here. Of these, the clear winner is definitely Lancaster who has a field day with Elmer Gantry. I?m not entirely clear on whether he?s ?good? or not, but . . . he deserves an Oscar, even if he isn?t.

Couple others who might have been worth a nom: Carl Boehm as the psychopathic Mark Lewis in Peeping Tom and maybe Yul Brynner for his steely personification of badass in The Magnificent Seven.

I agree re: Lancaster. It's a striking performance of some variety, and he's extremely well cast as a charismatic charlatan, but I'm just not sure what's going on in the movie, and the director and screenwriter appear to share the confusion. Brynner doesn't act, exactly; he gives a confident star performance, though. I prefer March to Tracy, too; Tracy being the liberal white knight in this case. Of the two, March has the better role. It might have been a more interesting movie had they switched the two roles, and then type-casting would not have protected them so much, and a clearer evaluation could be made. In the only movie in which I've seen Tracy play a villain (the Fleming "Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde") he was quite unsettling as Hyde, so he was capable of much more subtlety that he usually got to show. And yes, Perkins is better than any of them, but he's playing a serial killer in a Hitchcock movie. As Joseph Cotten and Robert Walker could have told him, not the way to Hollywood acclaim.

BEST ACTRESS IN A LEADING ROLE

Greer Garson ? Sunrise at Campobello
Deborah Kerr ? The Sundowners
Shirley MacLaine ? The Apartment
Melina Mercouri ? Never on Sunday
Elizabeth Taylor ? Butterfield 8 ? WINNER

Anna Massey might be considered supporting for her role as the downstairs neighbor girl to the homicidal maniac in Peeping Tom, but it?s such a good performance that I have no problem bumping her up to lead. She deserved a nomination at least. MacLaine isn?t bad in The Apartment.

She isn't good, either, but the movie conspired against her in this case. Deborah Kerr.

BEST ACTOR IN A SUPPORTING ROLE

Peter Falk ? Murder, Inc.
Jack Kruschen ? The Apartment
Sal Mineo ? Exodus
Peter Ustinov ? Spartacus ? WINNER
Chill Wills ? The Alamo

I refuse to quibble with Ustinov winning for Spartacus; he?s absolutely delightful in his performance there. It would have been nice to see Olivier nominated too though; I think his turn as C

 

Not sure why I forgot to comment on Psycho under the best score. I think Hermann's best is Vertigo, but Psycho is a stark, menacing, brilliant score. Should have been nominated; any year without The Magnificent Seven, it should have won.

 

Forgot that, too. Great music.

 

Honestly, I'd give the edge to "Psycho" over "The Magnificent Seven". Herrmann's score ranges from the shrill and bombastic to the quieter, more quiet evil that is living underneath the surface.

 

CEREMONY YEAR: 1949

BEST PICTURE

Hamlet ? WINNER
Johnny Belinda
The Red Shoes
The Snake Pit
The Treasure of the Sierra Madre

Of these I?ve seen only Hamlet and The Treasure of the Sierra Madre. Of those two, Sierra Madre is far superior. Olivier?s Hamlet is not very good, frankly; the best thing about it is the fantastic, bleak set design. I?m a Shakespeare aficionado, but I barely made it through this one.

I wouldn?t have minded a nomination for the ultra-serious docudrama Call Northside 777, with Jimmy Stewart as a journalist reopening a ten year old murder case. Less serious, but still better than Hamlet are:

Mr. Blandings Builds His Dream House, in which Cary Grant loses his mind in the minutiae of construction
Rope, in which Hitchcock has a subpar script and subpar actors and decides to go hog wild with his direction
The Big Clock, which is a noir film with a great, tense hook

BEST ACTOR IN A LEADING ROLE

Lew Ayres ? Johnny Belinda
Montgomery Clift ? The Search
Dan Dailey ? When My Baby Smiles at Me
Laurence Olivier ? Hamlet ? WINNER
Clifton Webb ? Sitting Pretty

I don?t know why on earth Bogart wasn?t nominated for The Treasure of the Sierra Madre; it?s one of his best performances, a feral, mean turn that stands out even in a career full of them. He probably should have won this year actually; he definitely should have won over Olivier?s fey Hamlet. Not terrible, but not great either.

I?d make a case for Jimmy Stewart for Rope; the film is a lesser Hitchcock, of course, but Stewart?s turn, as a philosophically hypocritical professor that unwittingly inspires a murder, is a pretty dark one. The less said about everyone else in the movie, the better.

You could conceivably nominate Cary Grant for Mr. Blandings.

BEST ACTRESS IN A LEADING ROLE

Ingrid Bergman ? Joan of Arc
Olivia de Havilland ? The Snake Pit
Irene Dunne ? I Remember Mama
Barbara Stanwyck ? Sorry, Wrong Number
Jane Wyman ? Johnny Belinda ? WINNER

Joan of Arc is incredibly stagy and has all the flaws of costume dramas of the period; but Bergman is very good in it. I don?t contest her nomination. I also don?t contest Stanwyck, who is very good in the tense thriller Sorry Wrong Number, in which she plays an invalid who overhears a murder plot over crossed wires on her telephone and then spends a good hour and a half trying to get someone to believe her. The movie is not perfect and you can tell that it?s been expanded from a half hour radio play, but Stanwyck is game for anything.

I really don?t know how the Academy overlooked Myrna Loy?s wonderful performance in Mr. Blandings Builds His Dream House; the scene in which she goes through a lengthy litany of all the different paint colors she wants is comedy gold. She?s wonderful and charming and deserved a nom at least.

BEST ACTOR IN A SUPPORTING ROLE

Charles Bickford ? Johnny Belinda
Jose Ferrer ? Joan of Arc
Oskar Homolka ? I Remember Mama
Walter Huston ? The Treasure of the Sierra Madre ? WINNER
The Luck of the Irish ? Cecil Kellaway

Walter Huston?s performance in Sierra Madre is probably not a ?good? performance, but it?s damned entertaining, so I have no problem with this. Ferrer is pretty bland in Joan of Arc; weird nomination.

A couple of other obscure performances that I?d have loved to have seen nominated:

Dan O?Herlihy for his performance as Macduff in Orson Welles? horrible Macbeth; Welles? Macbeth is an awful movie (Jeannette Nolan is Lady Macbeth, if that?s any kind of clue) but O?Herlihy gives a real performance as Macduff; the scene where he finds out about the massacre of his family is the movie?s only really great scene

George Coulouris, for his strange, menacing performance in Sleep, My Love; Sleep, My Love is about Don Ameche trying to drive his wife, Claudette Colbert, round the bend. It?s at times a gloriously silly movie, but Coulouris, one of my favorite character actors, is absolutely wonderful in the couple of scenes he gets as a strange, mysterious figure who may, or may not, be a hallucination. I might call Coulouris? perfo

 

CEREMONY YEAR: 1949

BEST PICTURE

Hamlet ? WINNER
Johnny Belinda
The Red Shoes
The Snake Pit
The Treasure of the Sierra Madre

Of these I?ve seen only Hamlet and The Treasure of the Sierra Madre. Of those two, Sierra Madre is far superior. Olivier?s Hamlet is not very good, frankly; the best thing about it is the fantastic, bleak set design. I?m a Shakespeare aficionado, but I barely made it through this one.

I wouldn?t have minded a nomination for the ultra-serious docudrama Call Northside 777, with Jimmy Stewart as a journalist reopening a ten year old murder case. Less serious, but still better than Hamlet are:

Mr. Blandings Builds His Dream House, in which Cary Grant loses his mind in the minutiae of construction
Rope, in which Hitchcock has a subpar script and subpar actors and decides to go hog wild with his direction
The Big Clock, which is a noir film with a great, tense hook

I haven't seen "The Snake Pit", and of the rest, "The Red Shoes" and "The Treasure of the Sierra Madre" are the best. "Fort Apache", "Letter From an Unknown Woman", "Oliver Twist" and "Red River" should have nom'd.

BEST ACTOR IN A LEADING ROLE

Lew Ayres ? Johnny Belinda
Montgomery Clift ? The Search
Dan Dailey ? When My Baby Smiles at Me
Laurence Olivier ? Hamlet ? WINNER
Clifton Webb ? Sitting Pretty

I don?t know why on earth Bogart wasn?t nominated for The Treasure of the Sierra Madre; it?s one of his best performances, a feral, mean turn that stands out even in a career full of them. He probably should have won this year actually; he definitely should have won over Olivier?s fey Hamlet. Not terrible, but not great either.

I?d make a case for Jimmy Stewart for Rope; the film is a lesser Hitchcock, of course, but Stewart?s turn, as a philosophically hypocritical professor that unwittingly inspires a murder, is a pretty dark one. The less said about everyone else in the movie, the better.

You could conceivably nominate Cary Grant for Mr. Blandings.

Bogart for "Treasure", Henry Fonda for "Fort Apache" or John Wayne for "Red River". Van Heflin in "Act of Violence"

BEST ACTRESS IN A LEADING ROLE

Ingrid Bergman ? Joan of Arc
Olivia de Havilland ? The Snake Pit
Irene Dunne ? I Remember Mama
Barbara Stanwyck ? Sorry, Wrong Number
Jane Wyman ? Johnny Belinda ? WINNER

Joan of Arc is incredibly stagy and has all the flaws of costume dramas of the period; but Bergman is very good in it. I don?t contest her nomination. I also don?t contest Stanwyck, who is very good in the tense thriller Sorry Wrong Number, in which she plays an invalid who overhears a murder plot over crossed wires on her telephone and then spends a good hour and a half trying to get someone to believe her. The movie is not perfect and you can tell that it?s been expanded from a half hour radio play, but Stanwyck is game for anything.

I really don?t know how the Academy overlooked Myrna Loy?s wonderful performance in Mr. Blandings Builds His Dream House; the scene in which she goes through a lengthy litany of all the different paint colors she wants is comedy gold. She?s wonderful and charming and deserved a nom at least.

Wyman is good, but Joan Fontaine in "Letter From an Unknown Woman is also a possibility.

BEST ACTOR IN A SUPPORTING ROLE

Charles Bickford ? Johnny Belinda
Jose Ferrer ? Joan of Arc
Oskar Homolka ? I Remember Mama
Walter Huston ? The Treasure of the Sierra Madre ? WINNER
The Luck of the Irish ? Cecil Kellaway

Walter Huston?s performance in Sierra Madre is probably not a ?good? performance, but it?s damned entertaining, so I have no problem with this. Ferrer is pretty bland in Joan of Arc; weird nomination.

A couple of other obscure performances that I?d have loved to have seen nominated:

Dan O?Herlihy for his performance as Macduff in Orson Welles? horrible Macbeth; Welles? Macbeth is an awful movie (Jeannette Nolan is Lady Macbeth, if that?s any kind of clue) but O?Herlihy gives a real performance as Macduff; the scene where he finds out about the massacre of his family is the movie?s only really great scene

George Coulouri

 

CEREMONY YEAR: 1970

BEST PICTURE

Anne of the Thousand Days
Butch Cassidy & the Sundance Kid
Hello, Dolly
Midnight Cowboy ? WINNER
Z

Butch Cassidy & the Sundance Kid is a near perfect buddy movie; Midnight Cowboy is probably the most depressing American movie ever made and a fine work of art. Z is a magnificent paranoid thriller that, in my opinion, is the one that should have won the Oscar this year.

Would have loved to have seen On Her Majesty?s Secret Service, still one of the two or three best James Bond movies ever, nominated. And The Wild Bunch most definitely deserved a nomination; if not for Z, I?d give the Oscar to The Wild Bunch without hesitation. Z barely nudges it out, though.

BEST ACTOR IN A LEADING ROLE

Richard Burton ? Anne of the Thousand Days
Dustin Hoffman ? Midnight Cowboy
Peter O?Toole ? Goodbye, Mr. Chips
Jon Voight ? Midnight Cowboy
John Wayne ? True Grit ? WINNER

Wayne?s a heckuva of a lot of fun in True Grit; no one, but no one, could deliver that ?fill your hand, you sonuvabitch? like he did. I?d bet that Voight and Hoffman split the vote, though, both being nominated from Midnight Cowboy. Wayne?s fun, but Hoffman and Voight are both revelatory. Voight has definitely never been better; maybe not Hoffman either.

A couple of others that definitely should have been nominated:

William Holden, for his career best turn as the aging, weary leader of the gang in The Wild Bunch
Jean-Louis Trintignant for his work as the icy, calculating investigator in Z; his barked ?Nom, prenom, profession? has entered my personal canon of great movie lines and his stare would freeze a lava flow

And, though this one?s a bit of a stretch, what about James Garner for his charismatic, affable presence in Support Your Local Sheriff? It?s not exactly ?Great Acting,? but it?s incredibly fun to watch.

BEST ACTRESS IN A LEADING ROLE

Genevieve Bujold ? Anne of the Thousand Days
Jane Fonda ? They Shoot Horses, Don?t They?
Lize Minnelli ? The Sterile Cuckoo
Jean Simmons ? The Happy Ending
Maggie Smith ? The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie ? WINNER

Maggie Smith is a force of nature in The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie. I have no trouble with her winning. Also, what kind of a movie title is The Sterile Cuckoo?

BEST ACTOR IN A SUPPORTING ROLE

Rupert Crosse ? The Reivers
Elliott Gould ? Bob & Carol & Ted & Alice
Jack Nicholson ? Easy Rider
Anne of the Thousand Days ? Anthony Quayle
Gig Young ? They Shoot Horses, Don?t They? ? WINNER

Nicholson is a hoot in Easy Rider.

Here?s a few other options:

Jack Elam in a finely tuned comic performance in Support Your Local Sheriff!
Yves Montand as the doomed politician in Z; he?s barely in the movie, but the impression is stark and vivid

Actually, I think the guy who should have won this year was Robert Ryan, for his outstanding performance as the haunted outlaw turned outlaw hunter in The Wild Bunch. Wasn?t even nominated. Idiots.

BEST ACTRESS IN A SUPPORTING ROLE

Catherine Burns ? Last Summer
Dyan Cannon ? Bob & Carol & Ted & Alice
Goldie Hawn ? Cactus Flower ? WINNER
Sylvia Miles ? Midnight Cowboy
Susannah York ? They Shoot Horses, Don?t They?

Couldn?t say.

BEST DIRECTOR

Costa-Gavras ? Z
George Roy Hill ? Butch Cassidy & the Sundance Kid
Arthur Penn ? Alice?s Restaurant
Sydney Pollack ? They Shoot Horses, Don?t They?
John Schlesinger ? Midnight Cowboy ? WINNER

Costa-Gavras probably deserved the win. But where?s Peckinpah for his slow motion massacres in The Wild Bunch. Deserved a nom, at the very least, and maybe a win.

BEST MUSIC, ORIGINAL SONG

Come Saturday Morning ? The Sterile Cuckoo
Jean ? The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie
Raindrops Keep Fallin? on my Head ? Butch Cassidy & the Sundance Kid ? WINNER
True Grit ? True Grit
What Are You Doing for the Rest of Your Life? ? The Happy Ending
Even knowing that my reputation will never quite recover after I say this, I?m going to go ahead: I kind of love Raindrops Keep Fallin? on My Head. The song from Jean Brodie isn?t much of anything. Probably What Are You Doing for the

 

CEREMONY YEAR: 1970

BEST PICTURE

Anne of the Thousand Days
Butch Cassidy & the Sundance Kid
Hello, Dolly
Midnight Cowboy ? WINNER
Z

Butch Cassidy & the Sundance Kid is a near perfect buddy movie; Midnight Cowboy is probably the most depressing American movie ever made and a fine work of art. Z is a magnificent paranoid thriller that, in my opinion, is the one that should have won the Oscar this year.

Would have loved to have seen On Her Majesty?s Secret Service, still one of the two or three best James Bond movies ever, nominated. And The Wild Bunch most definitely deserved a nomination; if not for Z, I?d give the Oscar to The Wild Bunch without hesitation. Z barely nudges it out, though.

The Wild Bunch.

BEST ACTOR IN A LEADING ROLE

Richard Burton ? Anne of the Thousand Days
Dustin Hoffman ? Midnight Cowboy
Peter O?Toole ? Goodbye, Mr. Chips
Jon Voight ? Midnight Cowboy
John Wayne ? True Grit ? WINNER

Wayne?s a heckuva of a lot of fun in True Grit; no one, but no one, could deliver that ?fill your hand, you sonuvabitch? like he did. I?d bet that Voight and Hoffman split the vote, though, both being nominated from Midnight Cowboy. Wayne?s fun, but Hoffman and Voight are both revelatory. Voight has definitely never been better; maybe not Hoffman either.

A couple of others that definitely should have been nominated:

William Holden, for his career best turn as the aging, weary leader of the gang in The Wild Bunch
Jean-Louis Trintignant for his work as the icy, calculating investigator in Z; his barked ?Nom, prenom, profession? has entered my personal canon of great movie lines and his stare would freeze a lava flow

And, though this one?s a bit of a stretch, what about James Garner for his charismatic, affable presence in Support Your Local Sheriff? It?s not exactly ?Great Acting,? but it?s incredibly fun to watch.

Wayne's very good. Hoffman is schtick. Voight also very good. But perhaps it should have been William Holden in "The Wild Bunch."

BEST ACTRESS IN A LEADING ROLE

Genevieve Bujold ? Anne of the Thousand Days
Jane Fonda ? They Shoot Horses, Don?t They?
Lize Minnelli ? The Sterile Cuckoo
Jean Simmons ? The Happy Ending
Maggie Smith ? The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie ? WINNER

Maggie Smith is a force of nature in The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie. I have no trouble with her winning. Also, what kind of a movie title is The Sterile Cuckoo?

A bad one. Fonda could have won, but I prefer Smith.

BEST ACTOR IN A SUPPORTING ROLE

Rupert Crosse ? The Reivers
Elliott Gould ? Bob & Carol & Ted & Alice
Jack Nicholson ? Easy Rider
Anne of the Thousand Days ? Anthony Quayle
Gig Young ? They Shoot Horses, Don?t They? ? WINNER

Nicholson is a hoot in Easy Rider.

Here?s a few other options:

Jack Elam in a finely tuned comic performance in Support Your Local Sheriff!
Yves Montand as the doomed politician in Z; he?s barely in the movie, but the impression is stark and vivid

Actually, I think the guy who should have won this year was Robert Ryan, for his outstanding performance as the haunted outlaw turned outlaw hunter in The Wild Bunch. Wasn?t even nominated. Idiots.

A great, great underrated actor gets my vote--Ryan. He's wonderful.

BEST ACTRESS IN A SUPPORTING ROLE

Catherine Burns ? Last Summer
Dyan Cannon ? Bob & Carol & Ted & Alice
Goldie Hawn ? Cactus Flower ? WINNER
Sylvia Miles ? Midnight Cowboy
Susannah York ? They Shoot Horses, Don?t They?

Couldn?t say.

Tough year.

BEST DIRECTOR

Costa-Gavras ? Z
George Roy Hill ? Butch Cassidy & the Sundance Kid
Arthur Penn ? Alice?s Restaurant
Sydney Pollack ? They Shoot Horses, Don?t They?
John Schlesinger ? Midnight Cowboy ? WINNER

Costa-Gavras probably deserved the win. But where?s Peckinpah for his slow motion massacres in The Wild Bunch. Deserved a nom, at the very least, and maybe a win.

Peckinpah.

BEST MUSIC, ORIGINAL SONG

Come Saturday Morning ? The Sterile Cuckoo
Jean ? The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie
Raindrops Keep Fallin? on my Head ? Butch Cassidy & the Sundance Kid ? WINNER
True Grit ? True Grit
What Are You Doing fo

 

CEREMONY YEAR: 1945

BEST PICTURE

Double Indemnity
Gaslight
Going My Way ? WINNER
Since You Went Away
Wilson

Gaslight is fun, but light. Double Indemnity is the clear winner here; it?s such a taut, masterful, grim little thriller that I?m actually shocked that it was nominated. But it?s a great movie, one of the most quotable of all time, and one of the most perfect of all time too. It should have won.

It would have been nice to see Preston Sturges? The Miracle of Morgan?s Creek nominated; it?s a wild, frantic, hysterical farce about sex, religion and patriotism. It?s a miracle that it even got released, so no mystery as to why it wasn?t nominated, but it?s still his best movie and one of the best of this year. Also, though it gives Nevermind hives, what about Arsenic & Old Lace?

Also, Murder, My Sweet, in which Dick Powell is surprisingly great as Philip Marlowe and Laura, in which Dana Andrews becomes obsessed with a murder victim who isn?t quite what she appears to be, are both solid possibilities.

BEST ACTOR IN A LEADING ROLE

Charles Boyer ? Gaslight
Bing Crosby ? Going My Way ? WINNER
Barry Fitzgerald ? Going My Way
Cary Grant ? None But the Lonely Heart
Alexander Knox ? Wilson

Boyer is good in Gaslight; it?s another case of a romantic leading man being surprisingly perfect as an amoral villain. Crosby has charm, but he?s no actor. Grant gets a rare nomination; it?s for a sentimental drama, of course, not one of his comedies.

Unjustly overlooked:
Fred MacMurray, for his pitch perfect, sleazy turn in Double Indemnity; we talked about this when we talked about The Apartment ? MacMurray was at his best playing rotten souls, not the lovable nuts he usually played and this is probably his very best performance.
Eddie Bracken, as the neurotic, clumsy, hysterical heart of The Miracle of Morgan?s Creek; Bracken is often a bit too much for me, but in this manic film, he actually fits perfectly

BEST ACTRESS IN A LEADING ROLE

Ingrid Bergman ? Gaslight ? WINNER
Claudette Colbert ? Since You Went Away
Bette Davis ? Mr. Skeffington
Greer Garson ? Mrs. Parkington
Barbara Stanwyck ? Double Indemnity

Bergman is very, very good in Gaslight and Bette Davis is really too good in Mr. Skeffington: she?s so good as the shallow, superficial Fanny Skeffington that you can hardly stand to watch the movie. Stanwyck should have won this year; she?s the Femme Fatale in Double Indemnity. The scene where her husband is being strangled plays entirely on her face; you believe every second.

BEST ACTOR IN A SUPPORTING ROLE

Hume Cronyn ? The Seventh Cross
Barry Fitzgerald ? Going My Way ? WINNER
Claude Rains ? Mr. Skeffington
Clifton Webb ? Laura
Monty Woolley ? Since You Went Away

Of these, Rains is given the most thankless titular role in history; he?s as good as anyone could be in the part, which is not very. Clifton Webb is a lot of fun in Laura; you actually buy that someone so obviously homosexual could still be obsessed with the title character, which is quite a tough sell.

William Demarest should have been nominated for his riotously funny turn in The Miracle of Morgan?s Creek; Demarest was a Sturges regular and always one of the best things in any Sturges movie he was in, but this part is bigger than his usual ones and is surely the best performance in his career. Also, what about Raymond Massey for his brilliant spoof of Boris Karloff in Arsenic & Old Lace? Another great comedy performance unfairly snubbed.

But the best supporting male performance of the year wasn?t even nominated. I?m talking about Edward G. Robinson in Double Indemnity. How the Academy didn?t even nominate him I don?t know. Only Robinson could sell that character, but he?s riveting to watch. ?Closer than that, Walter; closer than that.?

BEST ACTRESS IN A SUPPORTING ROLE

Ethel Barrymore ? None But the Lonely Heart ? WINNER
Jennifer Jones ? Since You Went Away
Angela Lansbury ? Gaslight
Aline MacMahon ? Dragon Seed
Agnes Moorehead ? Mrs. Parkington

Of these, I?d give the nod to Angela Lansbury w

 

Gaslight or Lifeboat for anything and everything; to hell with the rest of them. I like Laura, but it pales in comparison to what Preminger in the years to come (like, er, Rosebud).

 

CEREMONY YEAR: 1945

BEST PICTURE

Double Indemnity
Gaslight
Going My Way ? WINNER
Since You Went Away
Wilson

Gaslight is fun, but light. Double Indemnity is the clear winner here; it?s such a taut, masterful, grim little thriller that I?m actually shocked that it was nominated. But it?s a great movie, one of the most quotable of all time, and one of the most perfect of all time too. It should have won.

It would have been nice to see Preston Sturges? The Miracle of Morgan?s Creek nominated; it?s a wild, frantic, hysterical farce about sex, religion and patriotism. It?s a miracle that it even got released, so no mystery as to why it wasn?t nominated, but it?s still his best movie and one of the best of this year. Also, though it gives Nevermind hives, what about Arsenic & Old Lace?

Also, Murder, My Sweet, in which Dick Powell is surprisingly great as Philip Marlowe and Laura, in which Dana Andrews becomes obsessed with a murder victim who isn?t quite what she appears to be, are both solid possibilities.

Not "Arsenic and Old Lace". Of those nom'd: "Double Indemnity" or "Gaslight" of those nom'd. "To Have and Have Not" should have been nom'd.


BEST ACTOR IN A LEADING ROLE

Charles Boyer ? Gaslight
Bing Crosby ? Going My Way ? WINNER
Barry Fitzgerald ? Going My Way
Cary Grant ? None But the Lonely Heart
Alexander Knox ? Wilson

Boyer is good in Gaslight; it?s another case of a romantic leading man being surprisingly perfect as an amoral villain. Crosby has charm, but he?s no actor. Grant gets a rare nomination; it?s for a sentimental drama, of course, not one of his comedies.

Unjustly overlooked:
Fred MacMurray, for his pitch perfect, sleazy turn in Double Indemnity; we talked about this when we talked about The Apartment ? MacMurray was at his best playing rotten souls, not the lovable nuts he usually played and this is probably his very best performance.
Eddie Bracken, as the neurotic, clumsy, hysterical heart of The Miracle of Morgan?s Creek; Bracken is often a bit too much for me, but in this manic film, he actually fits perfectly

Boyer.

BEST ACTRESS IN A LEADING ROLE

Ingrid Bergman ? Gaslight ? WINNER
Claudette Colbert ? Since You Went Away
Bette Davis ? Mr. Skeffington
Greer Garson ? Mrs. Parkington
Barbara Stanwyck ? Double Indemnity

Bergman is very, very good in Gaslight and Bette Davis is really too good in Mr. Skeffington: she?s so good as the shallow, superficial Fanny Skeffington that you can hardly stand to watch the movie. Stanwyck should have won this year; she?s the Femme Fatale in Double Indemnity. The scene where her husband is being strangled plays entirely on her face; you believe every second.

Stanwyck or Bergman; Lauren Bacall in "To Have and Have Not."

BEST ACTOR IN A SUPPORTING ROLE

Hume Cronyn ? The Seventh Cross
Barry Fitzgerald ? Going My Way ? WINNER
Claude Rains ? Mr. Skeffington
Clifton Webb ? Laura
Monty Woolley ? Since You Went Away

Of these, Rains is given the most thankless titular role in history; he?s as good as anyone could be in the part, which is not very. Clifton Webb is a lot of fun in Laura; you actually buy that someone so obviously homosexual could still be obsessed with the title character, which is quite a tough sell.

William Demarest should have been nominated for his riotously funny turn in The Miracle of Morgan?s Creek; Demarest was a Sturges regular and always one of the best things in any Sturges movie he was in, but this part is bigger than his usual ones and is surely the best performance in his career. Also, what about Raymond Massey for his brilliant spoof of Boris Karloff in Arsenic & Old Lace? Another great comedy performance unfairly snubbed.

But the best supporting male performance of the year wasn?t even nominated. I?m talking about Edward G. Robinson in Double Indemnity. How the Academy didn?t even nominate him I don?t know. Only Robinson could sell that character, but he?s riveting to watch. ?Closer than that, Walter; closer than that.?

Robinson.

BEST ACTRESS IN A SUPPORTING ROLE

Ethel Barrymore ? None But the Lone

 

CEREMONY YEAR: 1934

BEST PICTURE

42nd Street
A Farewell to Arms
Cavalcade ? WINNER
I Am a Fugitive from a Chain Gang
Lady for a Day
Little Women
The Private Life of Henry VIII
She Done Him Wrong
Smilin? Through
State Fair

This version of Farewell to Arms is pretty bad, if you ask me. So is She Done Him Wrong, which is a Mae West vehicle that Cary Grant later stated was his worst movie (yes, Nevermind, Grant likes this one even less than Arsenic & Old Lace, which he also hates) and I think he?s not far from wrong there.

Of these, the clear winner is I Am a Fugitive from a Chain Gang, which is a gripping, bleak picture of a man?s life being destroyed; it feels a few decades ahead of its time. It?s a great flick.

The major snub here is King Kong, which is a masterpiece (though I?d still give the win to Chain Gang), but I?d also love to have seen Gold Diggers of 1933 nominated. It?s a pitch perfect pre-Code musical that?s unjustly forgotten.

BEST ACTOR IN A LEADING ROLE

Leslie Howard ? Berkeley Square
Charles Laughton ? The Private Life of Henry VIII ? WINNER
Paul Muni ? I Am a Fugitive from a Chain Gang

Muni, a vastly underrated actor, is magnificent in Chain Gang.

BEST ACTRESS IN A LEADING ROLE

Katharine Hepburn ? Morning Glory ? WINNER
May Robson ? Lady for a Day
Diana Wynyard ? Cavalcade

Would it kill you if I said Fay Wray deserved a nom for King Kong? All jokes aside, she?s game for anything, spends half the movie acting to something that isn?t there and those screams are absolutely iconic.

NO SUPPORTING AWARDS WERE GIVEN FOR PERFORMANCES THIS YEAR

It?s too bad no supporting awards. I?d have nominated Aline MacMahon for her role in Gold Diggers of 1933; she?s the sardonic, witty heart of the movie. Then there?s the marvelous Guy Kibbee. Or what about Warren William as the straight-laced older brother to Dick Powell, who finds himself seductively drawn into the comedic revels? And what about Charley Chase in Laurel & Hardy?s Sons of the Desert? It?s hard to believe anyone could steal a movie from Laurel & Hardy, but Chase?s manic, alcohol fueled performance is riotously funny and brilliant.

BEST DIRECTOR

Frank Capra ? Lady for a Day
George Cukor ? Little Women
Frank Lloyd ? Cavalcade ? WINNER

James Whale deserved a nomination for The Invisible Man. And how King Kong didn?t get a nod here, I don?t know; if you love nothing else in the movie (and I love it entire), you still have to give it up for that masterful, breakneck direction.

NO MUSICAL AWARDS WERE GIVEN THIS YEAR

OTHER FILMS OF NOTE

Baby Face
Bed of Roses
The Bitter Tea of General Yen
Bombshell
The Bowery
Christopher Strong
Counsellor at Law
Dancing Lady
Design for Living
Dinner at Eight
Doctor Bull
Duck Soup
The Eagle & the Hawk
Ekstase (Ecstasy)
Elmer, the Great
The Emperor Jones
Female
Footlight Parade
The Fatal Glass of Beer
Going Hollywood
Gold Diggers of 1933
Hallelujah I?m a Bum
His Double Life
Hold Your Man
Las Hurdes (Land Without Bread)
I?m No Angel
Industrial Britain
International House
The Invisible Man
Island of Lost Souls
The Kennel Murder Case
King Kong
The Kiss Before the Mirror
Lady Killer
Liebelei
The Little Giant
Man?s Castle
Mr. Skitch
The Mummy
The Mystery of the Wax Museum
One Sunday Afternoon
Penthouse
Picture Snatcher
Queen Christina
Rasputin & the Empress
Roman Scandals
The Sin of Nora Moran
Snow-White
The Son of Kong
Sons of the Desert
The Story of Temple Drake
Das Testament des Dr. Mabuse (The Testament of Dr. Mabuse)
Three Little Pigs
Topaze
Tugboat Annie
The Vampire Bat
What-No Beer?
The White Sister
Zero de Conduite: Jeunes Diables au College (Zero for Conduct)