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The
Academy Awards: My Version by
Paul Notley 1927-1928 The
Passion of Joan of Ar c1 James
Murray, The Crowd 2 Maria
Falconetti, The Passion of Joan of Arc(!!) 3 Director: Sergei Eisenstein, October 4 1928-1929 The
Man with a Movie Camera Buster
Keaton, The Cameraman Louise
Brooks, Pandora’s Box 1929-1930 All
Quiet on the Western Front5 Emil
Jannings, The Blue Angel Louise
Brooks, The Diary of a Lost Girl6 1930-1931 M Peter
Lorre, M (!!) Marlene
Dietrich, Morocco 1931-1932 Vampyr Maurice
Chevalier, One Hour with You Jeannette
MacDonald, One Hour with You 1932-1933
Duck
Soup Groucho
Marx, Duck Soup (!!) Miriam
Hopkins, Trouble in Paradise Director:
Ernst Lubitsch, Trouble in Paradise Supporting
Actor: Chico Marx, Duck Soup7 Supporting
Actress: Margaret Dumont, Duck Soup 1934 The
Thin Man William Powell, The Thin Man
(!!) Myrna Loy, The Thin Man (!!) Director: Josef von Sternberg, The Scarlet Empress 1935
A Night at the Opera Fred Astaire, Top Hat (!!) Ginger Rogers, Top Hat Director: Mark Sanderich,
Top Hat 1936
After the Thin Man Charles Chaplin, Modern Times
(!!) Carole Lombard, My Man Godfrey Victor Moore, Swing Time Paulette Goddard, Modern Times Director: Charles Chaplin, Modern Times 1937
Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs Jean Gabin,
Pepe le Moko Zhou Xuan, Street Angel Edward Everett Horton, Angel,
Shall we Dance Gracie Allen, A Damsel in Distress 1938
Grand Illusion8 Jean Gabin,
Grand Illusion9 Katharine Hepburn, Bringing up
Baby Marcel Dalio,
Grand Illusion Olivia De Havilland, The
Adventures of Robin Hood 1939 The Wizard of Oz Marcel Diallo, The Rules of the
Game Judy Garland, The Wizard of Oz
(!!) Jean Renoir, The Rules of the Game Arletty,
Daybreak Director: Jean Renoir, The Rules of the Game 1940 His Girl Friday Cary Grant, His Girl Friday Katharine Hepburn, The
Philadelphia Story (!!) Frank Morgan, The Shop Around the
Corner Paulette Goddard, The Great
Dictator Director: John Ford, The Grapes of Wrath10 1941 Citizen Kane Humphrey Bogart, The Maltese
Falcon Barbara Stanwyck,
Ball of Fire Joseph Cotton, Citizen Kane Martha Raye, Helzapoppin’
1942 The Magnificent Ambersons James Cagney, Yankee Doodle
Dandy11 Claudette Colbert, The Palm Beach
Story Walter Huston, Yankee Doodle Dandy Agnes Moorhead, The Magnificent Ambersons 1943 Casablanca Humphrey Bogart, Casablanca (!!) Lisbeth Movin,
Day of Wrath Claude Rains, Casablanca12 Lena Horne, Cabin in the Sky Director: Michael Powell, Emeric
Pressburger, The Life and Death of Colonel Blimp13 1944 Ivan the Terrible, Part One Nikolai Cherkasov,
Ivan the Terrible, Part One Lauren Bacall, To Have and to Have
Not Clifton Webb, Laura Margaret O’Brien, Meet me in Saint
Louis 1945 Children of Paradise Jean-Louis Barrault,
Children of Paradise Arletty,
Children of Paradise (!!)14 Pierre Brasseur, Children of
Paradise Anna Magnani,
Rome: Open City 1946 A Day in the Country15 James Stewart, It’s a Wonderful
Life Ingrid Bergman, Notorious Claude Rains, Notorious Myrna Loy, The Best Years of Our
Lives 1947 Black Narcissus Charles Chaplin, Monsieur Verdoux Deborah Kerr, Black Narcissus Edmund Gwenn, Miracle on 34th
Street16 Martha Raye, Monsieur Verdoux 1948 Rope Anton Walbrook,
The Red Shoes Anna Magnani,
L’Amore James Stewart, Rope Jean Simmons, Hamlet Director: Howard Hawks, Red River17 1949 Late Spring Ralph Richardson, The Fallen Idol Setsuko Hara, Late Spring (!!) Ralph Richardson, The Heiress Virginia Mayo, Colorado Territory 1950 Sunset Blvd. George Sanders, All About Eve Gloria Swanson, Sunset Blvd. (!!) Anton Walbrook,
La Ronde Danielle Darrieux,
La Ronde 1951 Alice in Wonderland Robert Walker, Strangers on a
Train Vivien Leigh, A Streetcar Named
Desire18 Ichiro Sagai,
Early Summer Setsuko Hara, The Idiot Director: Jean Renoir, The River19 1952 Singin’ in the
Rain Gene Kelly, Singin’
in the Rain (!!) Simone Signoret,
Casque D’Or Donald O’Connor, Singin’ in the Rain Maria Pia Casillo,
Umberto D 1953 The Band Wagon Jacques Tati, Mr. Hulot’s
Holiday Danielle Darrieux,
The Earrings of Madame De Charles Vanel,
The Wages of Fear Nanette Fabray, The Band Wagon Director: Max Ophuls, The
Earrings of Madame de 1954 The Seven Samurai Takashi Shimura, The Seven
Samurai Ingrid Berman, Voyage in Italy
(!!) Toshiro Mifune,
The Seven Samurai Kinuyo
Tanaka, Sansho the Bailiff 1955 Ordet James Dean, East of Eden (!!)20 Uma Das Gupta, Pather
Panchali Robert Mitchum,
The Night of the Hunter Birgitte
Felderspiel, Ordet 1956 A Man Escaped David Niven, Around the World in
80 Days Karuna Bannerjee, Aparajito Robert Stack, Written on the Wind Dorothy Malone, Written on the
Wind 1957 Twelve Angry Men Henry Fonda, Twelve Angry Men Giulietta
Masina, Nights of Cabiria Gunnar Bjornstrand,
The Seventh Seal Isuzu Yamada, Throne of Blood Director: Federico Fellini, Nights of Cabiria21 1958 Vertigo James Stewart, Vertigo (!!) Kim Novak, Vertigo Orson Welles, Touch of Evil Barbara Bel Geddes, Vertigo 1959 North by Northwest Cary Grant, North by Northwest
(!!) Marilyn Monroe, Some Like it Hot
(!!) James Mason, North by Northwest Sharmila
Tagore, The World of Apu 1960 Breathless Laurence Olivier, The
Entertainer22 Supriya
Choudhury, Cloud Capped Star Roger Livesey,
The Entertainer Janet Leigh, Psycho Director: Michaelangelo
Antonioni, L’Avventura 1961 Last Year in Marienbad Paul Newman, The Hustler Anouk Aimee, Lola Sacha Pitoeff,
Last Year in Marienbad Rita Moreno, West Side Story23 1962 Lawrence of Arabia Peter O’Toole, Lawrence of Arabia
(!!) Jeanne Moreau, Jules et Jim Alec Guinness, Lawrence of Arabia Shelly Winters, Lolita 1963 The Leopard Burt Lancaster, The Leopard (!!) Delphine Seyrig,
Muriel Alain Delon,
The Leopard Claudia Cardinale,
The Leopard 1964 A Hard Day’s Night Peter Sellers, Dr. Strangelove or
How I stopped Worrying and Learned to Love the Bomb Nina Pens Rode, Gertrud (!!) AND Madhabi
Mukherjee, Charulata(!!)24 George C. Scott, Dr. Strangelove
or How I stopped Worrying and Learned to Love the Bomb Gitali
Roy, Charulata Director: Satyajit Ray, Charulata 1965 Help! Jean-Pierre Belmondo,
Pierrot le Fou Catherine Deneuve, Repulsion Leo McKern,
Help! Taji
Ahmadi, The Brick and the Mirror Director: Jean-Luc Godard, Pierrot
le Fou 1966 A Man for all Seasons Paul Scofield, A Man for all
Seasons (!!) Liv Ullmann, Persona (!!) Leo McKern,
A Man for all Seasons Anne Wiazemsky,
Au Hasard Balthazar Director: Ingmar Bergman, Persona 1967 Two for the Road Albert Finney, Two for the Road Audrey Hepburn, Two for the Road25 Peter Cook, Bedazzled Francoise Dorleac,
The Young Girls of Rochefort Director: Jean-Luc Godard, Weekend 1968 Yellow Submarine Douglas Rain, 2001: A Space Odyssey Liv Ullmann, Shame Boris Karloff, Targets Ruth Gordon, Rosemary’s Baby Director: Stanley Kubrick, 2001: A Space Odyssey 1969 Andrei Rublev26 Dustin Hoffman, Midnight Cowboy Maggie Smith, The Prime of Miss
Jean Brodie Jean-Louis Trintignat,
Z Simone Signoret,
Army of Shadows 1970 The Confession Yves Montand,
The Confession Catherine Deneuve, Tristana Mick Jagger, Performance Karen Black, Five Easy Pieces 1971 The Sorrow and the Pity Malcolm McDowell, A Clockwork
Orange Juliet Berto,
Out 1 Michael Lonsdale, Out 1 Lea Massari,
Murmur of the Heart 1972 The Godfather Al Pacino, The Godfather (!!) Liza Minnelli, Cabaret Robert Duvall, The Godfather Natalya Bondarchuk,
Solaris Director: Luis Bunuel, The Discreet Charm of the
Bourgeoisie 1973 Cries and Whispers Jean-Pierre Leaud,
The Mother and the Whore (!!) Ana Torrent, The Spirit of the
Beehive (!!) Robert Shaw, The Sting Ingrid Thulin,
Cries and Whispers 1974 Murder on the Orient Express Albert Finney, Murder on the
Orient Express (!!)27 Dominique Labourier,
Celine and Julie Go Boating (!!) John Cazale,
The Conversation, The Godfather Part II Lauren Bacall, Murder on the
Orient Express 1975 Barry Lyndon Michael Caine, The Man who Would
Be King Delphine Seyrig,
Jeanne Dielman, 2300 Quai du Commerce, 1080 Bruxelles (!!) Michael Palin, Monty Python and
the Holy Grail Lily Tomlin, Nashville Cinematography: John Alcott, Barry Lyndon 1976 All the President’s Men Robert De Niro,
Taxi Driver Ana Torrent, Cria
Cuervos Jason Robards,
All the President’s Men Geraldine Chaplin, Cria Cuervos 1977 Annie Hall Woody Allen, Annie Hall Diane Keaton, Annie Hall (!!) Dirk Bogarde,
Providence Vanessa Redgrave, Julia 1978 Days of Heaven Peter Ustinov, Death on the Nile28 Liv Ullmann, Autumn Sonata John Cazale,
The Deer Hunter Maggie Smith, Death on the Nile,
California Split 1979 Apocalypse Now Peter Sellers, Being There Sally Field, Norma Rae Marlon Brando, Apocalypse Now Shirley MacLaine, Being There 1980 Tess Robert De Niro,
Raging Bull Natassja
Kinski, Tess (!!) Philip Stone, The Shining Barbara Sukowa, Berlin Alexanderplatz 1981 The Raiders of the Lost Ark Warren Beatty, Reds Isabelle Adjani, Possession David Rappaport, Time Bandits Maureen Stapleton, Reds 1982 Pink Floyd: the Wall Ben Kingsley, Gandhi (!!) Julie Andrews, Victor/Victoria James Mason, The Verdict Jessica Lange, Tootsie Director: Richard Attenborough, Gandhi Art Direction: Blade Runner 1983 Fanny and Alexander Bertil Guive, Fanny and Alexander Jane Alexander, Testament Erland
Josephson, Fanny and Alexander Grun Wallgreen, Fanny and Alexander 1984 Splash Tom Hanks, Splash Daryl Hannah, Splash (!!) James Woods, Once Upon a Time in
America Peggy Ashcroft, A Passage to India Director: Wim Wenders,
Paris, Texas 1985 Shoah Jonathan Pryce, Brazil Norma Aleandro,
The Official Story Michael Palin, Brazil Mieko Harada, Ran 1986 Aliens Erland
Josephson, The Sacrifice Sigourney Weaver, Aliens Dennis Hopper, Blue Velvet Laura Dern, Blue Velvet 1987 Angel Heart Babek
Ahmed Poor, Where is the Friend’s Home? Holly Hunter, Raising Arizona R. Lee Emery, Full Metal Jacket Meg Ryan, Inner Space 1988 A Fish Called Wanda John Cleese, A Fish Called Wanda
(!!) Isabelle Huppert, The Story of
Women Kevin Kline, A Fish Called Wanda Lena Olin, The Unbearable
lightness of Being 1989 Henry V Tom Cruise, Born on the Fourth of
July Dorota Segda, My Twentieth Century Sean Connery, Indiana Jones and
the Last Crusade Lena Olin, Enemies, A Love Story Director: Hou Hsiao-Hsien,
A City of Sadness 1990 C’est la vie Jeremy Irons, Reversal of Fortune Julie Bataille,
C’est la Vie (!!) Danny Glover, To Sleep with Anger Lorraine Bracco,
Goodfellas Director: Martin Scorsese, Goodfellas 1991 JFK Michel Piccoli,
La Belle Noiseuse Jodie Foster, The Silence of the
Lambs Gary Oldman, JFK Christina Ricci, The Addams Family 1992 Bram Stoker’s Dracula Jack Lemmon, Glengarry Glen Ross Pernilla
August, The Best Intentions Robin Williams, Aladdin Miranda Richardson, The Crying
Game 1993 Schindler’s List Bill Murray, Groundhog Day Emma Thompson, The Remains of the
Day, Much Ado about Nothing Tommy Lee Jones, The Fugitive Joanne Woodward, The Age of
Innocence 1994 Pulp Fiction Donald Sutherland, The Puppet
Masters Sandra Bullock, Speed Samuel L. Jackson, Pulp Fiction Rachel Griffiths, Muriel’s Wedding Cinematography: Chris Doyle, Chungking Express 1995 Richard III Morgan Freeman, Se7en (!!) Susan Sarandon, Dead Man Walking Kevin Spacey, The Usual Suspects Gwyneth Paltrow, Se7en Director: Bryan Singer, The Usual Suspects 1996 Matilda Ralph Fiennes, The English Patient Mara Wilson, Matilda (!!) Derek Jacobi, Hamlet Marianne Jean-Baptiste, Secrets
and Lies Director: Andy and Larry Wachowski, Bound 1997 L.A. Confidential Kevin Spacey, L.A. Confidential Gudrun Geyer, Mother and son Steve Martin, The Spanish Prisoner Julianne Moore, Boogie Nights Director: Alexander Sokurov,
Mother and Son 1998 Saving Private Ryan Bruno Ganz, Eternity and a Day+ Cameron Diaz, There’s Something
about Mary Geoffrey Rush, Elizabeth Thandie
Newton, Beloved Director: Aleksei German, Khrustalyov, my Car! 1999 Time Regained Marcello Mazzarella,
Time Regained Hilary Swank, Boys Don’t Cry John Malkovich, Time Regained,
Being John Malkovich Melora
Walters, Magnolia Costume Design: The Matrix 2000 Requiem for a Dream John Cusack, High Fidelity Julia Roberts, Erin Brockovich Joe Pantoliano,
Memento Aurelia Petit, La Commune Paris
1871 Director: Peter Watkins, La Commune Paris 1871 2001 A.I. Joel Haley Osment,
A.I. Naomi Watts, Mulholland Drive Ian McKellen,
The Lord of the Rings: the Fellowship
of the Ring Marisa Tomei, In the Bedroom Director: David Lynch, Mulholland Drive 2002 The Pianist Adrian Brody, The Pianist (!!) Mania Akbari, Ten Sergei Dontsov,
Russian Ark Catherine Zeta-Jones, Chicago Director: Hayao Miyazaki,
Spirited Away Editing: Russian Ark 2003 The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King Johnny Depp, The Pirates of the
Caribbean: The Curse of the Black
Pearl Samantha Morton, In America John Hurt, Dogville Yeo Jin-Ha,
Spring, Summer, Fall, Winter…and Spring 2004 A Very Long Engagement Mathieu Amalric,
Kings & Queen Imelda Staunton, Vera Drake Michael Gambon, Layercake, The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou, Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban Catherine Deneuve, Kings &
Queen 2005 Kiss Kiss Bang Bang Robert Downey Jr., Kiss Kiss Bang Bang Q’orianka
Kilcher, The New World Ed Harris, A History of Violence Rachel Weisz, The Constant
Gardener Director: David Cronenberg,
A History of Violence 2006 Tell No One Francois Cluzet,
Tell No One Helen Mirren, The Queen Mark Wahlberg, The Departed Rinko
Kikuchi, Babel 2007
There will be Blood Daniel Day-Lewis, There will be
Blood Anamaria
Marinca, 4 Months, 3 weeks and 2 Days Paul Dano,
There will be Blood Hafsia Herzi, The Secret of the Grain 2008
Ponyo Phillip Seymour Hoffmann,
Synecdoche, New York Sally Hawkins, Happy-go-Lucky Heath Ledger, The Dark Knight Edith Scob,
Summer Hours 2009
The Imaginarium of Dr. Parnassus George
Clooney, Fantastic Mr. Fox Meryl Streep, Julie & Julia Christoph Waltz, Inglourious Basterds Melanie Laurent, Inglourious Basterds 2010 Mysteries of Lisbon Jesse Eisenberg, The Social Network Juliette Binoche, Certified Copy Adriano Luz, Mysteries of Lisbon Olivia Williams, The Ghost Writer 2011 The Tree of Life Peyman Moaadi, A Separation Kirsten Dunst, Melancholia Anton Adasinksy,
Faust Charlotte Gainsbourg,
Melancholia 2012 To the Wonder Philip Seymour Hoffmann, The
Master Rin Takanashi, Like Someone in Love Christoph Waltz, Django Unchained Edith Scob,
Holy Motors 2013 Blue is the Warmest Colour Leonardo DiCaprio, The Wolf of
Wall Street Adele Exarchopoulos,
Blue is the Warmest Colour Wu Jiang, A Touch of Sin Lea Seydoux, Blue is the Warmest Colour Original Score: Under the Skin 2014 The
Tale of the Princess Kaguya Ralph Fiennes, The Grand Budapest
Hotel Nina Hoss, Phoenix Edward
Norton, Birdman or (the Unexpected Virtue of Ignorance), The Grand Budapest Hotel Kirsten
Stewart, The Clouds of Sils Maria 2015 Inside Out Michael Fassbender,
Steve Jobs Rooney Mara, Carol Steve Carell, The Big Short Lou Roy-Lecollinet,
My Golden Days Director, Todd Haynes, Carol 2016 Paterson Shahab Hosseini, The Salesman Cynthia Nixon, A Quiet Passion Tom Bennett, Love &
Friendship Golshifteh
Farahani, Paterson 2017 November Daniel Day-Lewis, Phantom Thread Juliette Binoche, Let the Sunshine
In Jeffrey Tambor,
The Death of Stalin Lesley Manville, Phantom Thread Director: Agnes Varda,
Faces Places 2018 Long Day’s Journey into Night29 Adam Driver, The Man who Killed
Don Quixote Zhao Tao, Ash is Purest White Steven Yeun,
Burning Emma Stone, The Favourite 1
For the first five years, the Academy Awards covered films released from
September 1 to August 31 of the next year.
For the sixth year the Academy altered this awkward format and moved
from September 1, 1932 to December 31, 1933, and for the seventh year onward
they followed the chronological year.
As you can see, the first movie here is Carl Dreyer’s The Passion of
Joan of Arc. Ordinarily, the Academy
does not allow foreign films in languages other than English (none have ever
won, and only seven have ever been nominated). Part of the purpose of my Academy awards is
to change that. 2
Actually the best performance was by Charles Chaplin in The Circus. However, the Academy has never given an
award twice to an actor playing the same role. (It did give Marlon Brando and Robert DeNiro Oscars for playing the same character). I was tempted to argue that Chaplin
deserved the award for The Circus and Modern Times, since in the first he is
a tramp who becomes a clown, and the second a worker who becomes a
tramp. But I thought better of
it. For this William Powell, Myrna
Loy, Nikolai Chersakov and Al Pacino only win once,
while Groucho Marx and Fred Astaire also win once, because their various
characters in the thirties are basically variations on the same person. 3
Two exclamation marks (!!) means the performance is one of the 20 best actor
or 20 best actresses and should not be missed on any account. 4
When a Director’s name is not given, one can assume the director is the one
who made the best picture of the year. 5
And for the first time, I agree with the Academy for Best Picture and Best
Director (and anything else, come to think of it). 6
Louise Brooks becomes the first actress to win two Oscars. 7
I’ve decided to include supporting actor awards, systematically from 1936
when the Academy did. But I just had
to include these two first. 8
Foreign films have a capricious record of being released in the United
States. For example, Tokyo Story, one
of the most admired films ever made, officially premiered in the United
States 19 years after it was originally made.
Film fans will realize that Grand Illusion was actually made in 1937,
but it was nominated for the Oscars in 1938.
In general, films will be considered for the year they were
released. However an English-Language
film will be considered for the year it was nominated for an Oscar
(Casablanca won in 1943, and will win here as well, but it was actually first
released in New York in 1942).
Meanwhile a foreign film will be evaluated in the year it was
nominated for either best picture, director, actor and
actress. (Supporting actor and actress
would have been considered, but no supporting actor in a foreign language
film has ever been nominated, and the only supporting actress performance,
Valentina Cortese’ in Day for Night, was in a film
nominated for best director.) This
leads to anomalies, such as Fellini’s Amarcord
being made in 1973, winning the Best Foreign Language Film in 1974, and
Fellini being nominated as best director in 1975, when the film met the
eligibility rules. This means Fellini
will be considered for 1975, or would be if I did not strongly dislike that
movie. 9
And Gabin becomes the first actor to win twice. 10
As it happens, I’m not the biggest John Ford fan.. But as “big picture” “social issues” movies
go, The Grapes of Wrath is actually fairly good, and a good example for the
future, even if it more honored in the breech than in successful
execution. 11
And for the first time, I agree with the Academy for a Best Actor. 12
I have seen Charles Coburn in the actual winner, The More the Merrier, and
critics as varied as Danny Peary, David Thomson and Jonathan Rosenbaum have
praised either him or the movie. But
he is not as good as Rains, in perhaps the greatest supporting performance in
all of film, and the most quotable (“I’d like to think that you killed a man: it’s the romantic in me.” “Make it ten: I’m only a poor corrupt official.” “But
everyone’s having such a wonderful time.”) 13
Given that Casablanca is one of my favorite movies, some justification has to
be given as to why I didn’t give its director the best director prize. Although the first scenes at Rick’s Café
are remarkable, the movie was notoriously improvised, and its charms are a
matter of considerable luck and chemistry.
By contrast, Powell and Pressburger show a
more inventive and challenging structure. 14
Three movies have won the biggest four Academy awards (Picture, Director,
Actor and Actress): It Happened One
Night, One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest and The Silence of the Lambs. Whatever the (genuine) merits of these
films, the last two are a poor choice for this particular honor, since the
characters Louise Fletcher and Anthony Hopkins play are really supporting
ones. Here is the first of my three
choices to win the top four. 15
The best movie made in 1946 was Eisenstein’s Ivan the Terrible, Part
Two. Indeed it was such a good
portrait of a megalomaniacal tyrant that it was promptly banned by the Soviet
authorities for twelve years. By the
time it was released it was not the best picture of the year. Besides, Eisenstein wouldn’t have benefited
since he had been dead for a decade. 16
And Gwenn becomes the first Academy Supporting Actor I agree with. 17
The Academy was shabby in its treatment of Hawks. But where to praise him? Bringing up Baby is certainly the best
American movie of 1938, but it’s not as good as Grand Illusion. His Girl Friday is certainly more enjoyable
than The Grapes of Wrath , but despite Hawks’ change
of the story and the way the dialogue is run together, he is still directing
a movie that was (a) based on a stage play and (b) had already been filmed
before. So I don’t think it was unfair
to give Ford the award. So, I’ll give
it to Hawks here. After all Rope is
also a filmed stage play, and Hitchcock will get his reward in due course. 18
And for the first time, I agree with the Academy with its choice for Best
Actress. 19
Six categories, six different movies:
that’s striking. And we see it
again in 1989, and 1998. 20
And thereby becoming my least favorite movie to have a truly great
performance. 21
Fellini joins Ford in my pantheon of overrated directors, but this is an
exception. 22
At the time, Olivier was an obvious nominee over Anthony Perkins in
Psycho. Perkins wasn’t nominated at
all (though Janet Leigh was), while the winner was Burt Lancaster in Elmer
Gantry. Now the position is reversed,
and given the plague of serial killers in movies, and Olivier’s superior
acting abilities, I’m not sure this is fair. 23
And for the first time I agree with the Academy for best supporting Actress 24
The Academy has had two acting ties.
Here’s mine for Best Actress 25
And Hollywood
finally produces a Best Actress after seven years overseas. 26
Actually Andrei Rublev was made in 1966,
immediately shelved for three years, and was officially “released” by being
showing on the very last night of the 1969 Cannes film festival. It would take until 1971 for Russians and
1973 for Americans to see it. 27
Now here is an award that calls out for a defense. 1974 was an unusually good year for acting
performances. Some people like the
actual winner, Art Carney, in Harry and Tonto, though I don’t agree. Dustin Hoffmann was good as Lenny Bruce in
Lenny. And Peter Falk gave his best
performance ever in A Woman under the Influence, while Erland
Josephson was superb in a not dissimilar role in Scenes from a Marriage. But the most admired performances of the
year were the best single performance by the three greatest actors of my
lifetime: Gene Hackman in The
Conservation, Jack Nicholson in Chinatown, and Al Pacino in The Godfather
Part II. Even more striking, while
Hackman has been good is virtually everything he’s ever been in, Pacino’s and
Nicholson’s performances are so different from the frankly hammy performances
they would later show by the eighties.
So how I can justify giving the award to Finney, who has already won
from me, while Nicholson and Hackman don’t get a best actor award from me at
all? In my defense, I would say Finney
gave a remarkable performance. Here
after all is a man best known for playing working class rebels portraying a
fussy smug Belgian Catholic bourgeois.
The two really have nothing in common aside from their height. And Poirot is
more complex than he appears (or Christie thinks). Although he could easily give his solution
to Bianchi and Dr. Constantine, he gives his solution to all the passengers
in such a way as to torment them, simply so he can show off his brilliance. In his fine dress, meticulous attention to
detail, carefully clipped speech, it is rather appropriate that he should
show off in luxurious surroundings for the most elegant lynching in movie
history. 28On
a previous version, I pointed out years where I hadn’t seen either the
winners or enough movies to be sure.
But now I think I’ve seen enough to put that aside. I will say that I have not seen nine Best
Actor winners and thirteen Best Actress winners, the most impressive
apparently being Coming Home, Tender Mercies and The Accused. 29
Preliminary suggestions only.
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