Yearly Archives: 2011
Oscar Vault Monday – To Kill A Mockingbird, 1962 (dir. Robert Mulligan)
1962 is a tough year to talk about because two of the greatest and most beloved films of all-time came out that year: Lawrence of Arabia and To Kill A Mockingbird; both were nominated for Best Picture. I feel the need to mention a few other amazing films from that year that weren’t up for the top prize: Birdman Alcatraz, Days of Wine and Roses, Whatever Happened to Baby Jane?, Long Day’s Journey Into Night, Sweet Bird of Youth, The Manchurian Candidate and Lolita. Also four films that I haven’t yet seen, but have been meaning to: Divorce Italian Style, Last Year At Marienbad, Through a Glass Darkly and The Miracle Worker. The other three films nominated for Best Picture that year were: The Longest Day, The Music Man and Mutiny on the Bounty. I love The Longest Day and have yet to see The Music Man, but I must say the 62 remake of Mutiny on the Bounty has not aged well at all and is waaaay longer than it has any right to be. I guess my point is that 1962 was one heck of year for film and you owe it to yourself to get to know some (if not all) of these great films. This is not a “the Academy got it wrong” post; this is a “how were they even able to choose?!” post. To Kill A Mockingbird was nominated for eight Academy Awards and won three: Best Score, Best B&W Cinematography, Best B&W Art Direction (won), Best Adapted Screenplay (won), Best Supporting Actress Mary Badham, Best Director, Best Actor Gregory Peck (won), Best Director and Best Picture.
Movie Quote of the Day – Crossfire, 1947 (dir. Edward Dmytryk)
Ginny: Okay, where were you when he needed you? Maybe you were someplace having beautiful thoughts. Well, I wasn’t. I was in a stinkin’ gin mill, where all he had to do to see me was walk in, sit down at the table and buy me a drink and that’s all I know about it. I didn’t ask him if he killed anybody.
Movie Quote of the Day – Night and the City, 1950 (dir. Jules Dassin)
Phil Nosseross: You don’t know what you’re walking into.
Helen Nosseross: I know what I’m walking out of.
Movie Quote of the Day – Nightmare Alley, 1947 (dir. Edmund Goulding)
Carny #1: How can a guy sink so low?
Carny #2: He reached too high.
Movie Quote of the Day – Leave Her To Heaven. 1945 (dir. John M. Stahl)
Richard Harland: You killed him. You let Danny drown, didn’t you? Didn’t you?!
Ellen Berent Harland: Yes. Yes, I did and I’d do it again! I didn’t want him around; I didn’t want anyone but you!
Movie Quote of the Day – The Big Clock, 1948 (dir. John Farrow)
Louise Patterson: Isn’t it a pity? The wrong people always have money.
Movie Quote of the Day – The Last Detail, 1973 (dir. Hal Ashby)
Budduskey: I’m gonna kick your ass around the block for drill, man.
Bartender: You try it and I’ll call the shore patrol.
Budduskey: I am the motherfucking shore patrol, motherfucker! I am the motherfucking shore patrol! Give this man a beer.
Movie Quote of the Day – Brute Force, 1947 (dir. Jules Dassin)
Gallagher: It’ll only make things tougher for everybody else.
Joe Collins: I don’t care about everybody else.
Gallagher: That’s cemetery talk.
Joe Collins: Why not, we’re buried, ain’t we? Only thing is, we ain’t dead.
Oscar Vault Monday – Five Easy Pieces, 1970 (dir. Bob Rafelson)
This is such a fantastic film. It would be an interesting companion piece to another Nicholson film from the era – Mike Nichol‘s 1971 film Carnal Knowledge. Both films are sort of America’s answer to Britain’s “Angry Young Man/Kitchen Sink” dramas from a decade earlier. There are probably earlier films that fit that bill as well. What’s interesting to me is that they take a look at a new sort of angst that rose out of the sixties and has never really left – an angst that found its roots in the emerging teenager of the 50s (more on that in a bit). This is definitely one of Nicholson’s best performances and a must for any fan. The film was nominated for four Academy Awards, though it didn’t win any: Best Original Screenplay, Best Supporting Actress Karen Black, Best Actor Jack Nicholson, Best Picture. The other films nominated for Best Picture that year were Airport, Love Story, MASH and winner Patton.
Movie Quote of the Day – The Damned Don’t Cry!, 1950 (dir. Vincent Sherman)
Martin Blackford: There’s such a thing as self-respect.
Ethel Whitehead: Don’t talk to me about self-respect. That’s something you tell yourself you got when you got nothing else. What kind of self-respect is there living on aspirin tablets and chicken salad sandwiches? [beat] Look Marty, the only thing that counts is that stuff you take to the bank, that filthy buck that everybody sneers at, but slugs to get. [beat] I know how you feel. You’re a nice guy. But the world isn’t for nice guys. You’ve got to kick and punch and belt your way up because nobody’s going to give you a lift. You’ve got to do it yourself, cuz nobody cares about us except ourselves.
the diary of a film history fanatic 