Category Archives: Oscar Vault Monday
Oscar Vault Monday – A Star Is Born, 1937 (dir. William A. Wellman)
The original version of the twice re-made A Star is Born (though, the plot quite resembles 1932’s What Price Hollywood?), is quite wonderful. Perhaps not as memorable as the George Cukor/Judy Garland 1954 musical adaptation, the 1937 version is miles and miles better than the mediocre 1976 Barbra Streisand version. It’s also in the public domain, so it’s available to watch for free in various quality all over the internet. The film was nominated for seven Academy Awards, winning one: Best Writing Original Story (won), Best Writing Screenplay, Best Actor, Best Actress, Best Assistant Director, Best Director, Best Picture. W. Howard Greene was rewarded an honorary plaque for the color photography of the film, an award that was “recommended by a committee of leading cinematographers after viewing all the color pictures made during the year”. The other films up for Best Picture that year were: The Awful Truth, Captains Courageous, Dead End, The Good Earth, In Old Chicago, Lost Horizon, One Hundred Men and a Girl, Stage Door and winner The Life of Emile Zola.
Oscar Vault Monday – Mystic River, 2003 (dir. Clint Eastwood)
I hadn’t seen this movie until last weekend. I have no idea why I waited so long to see it. I mean, it has a stellar cast and Clint Eastwood is a favorite of mine (as a writer and a director). It’s also based on Dennis Lehane novel (who also wrote the novels on which Shutter Island and Gone Baby Gone were based), with a screenplay written by Brian Helgeland (who shares an Oscar with Curtis Hanson for their on L.A. Confidential). Despite all of that, it took me nearly a decade to actually watch the film. Boy was it worth the wait. It’s probably one of the most tense films I’d ever seen. It was nominated for six Oscars winning two: Best Adapted Screenplay, Best Supporting Actress Marcia Gay Harden, Best Supporting Actor Tim Robbins (won), Best Actor Sean Penn (won), Best Director and Best Picture. Incidentally, this was the first time Best Actor and Best Supporting Actor had come from the same film since 1959’s Ben-Hur. The other films up for Best Picture that year were Lost in Translation, Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World, Seabiscuit and winner The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King.
Oscar Vault Monday – Roman Holiday, 1953 (dir. William Wyler)
This was one of the first films I ever saw. Between this film and Sabrina (my favorite Audrey film) for the longest time the only classic actresses I gave a hoot about were Audrey and Vivien Leigh in Gone With The Wind. I’m talking about me at the age of 6 and 7. Also, because of this film I fell hard for Gregory Peck. He is so gorgeous and so charming in this film. The film was nominated for ten Academy Awards, winning three: Best B&W Art Direction, Best B&W Cinematography, Best B&W Costume Design (won), Best Film Editing, Best Writing – Screenplay, Best Writing – Motion Picture Story (won), Best Supporting Actor Eddie Albert, Best Actress Audrey Hepburn (won), Best Director and Best Picture. The other films up for Best Picture that year were Julius Caesar, The Robe, Shane and winner From Here To Eternity.
Oscar Vault Monday – The More The Merrier, 1943 (dir. George Stevens)
It’s hard to write about any film that was nominated for Best Picture in 1943 since the winner that year is almost universally thought to be one of, if not the greatest film of all time – Casablanca. That being said, there were some other really great films that came out in 1943. I decided to go with one of my favorite recently discovered classic comedies, George Stevens’ The More the Merrier. The film was nominated for six Academy Awards, winning one: Best Writing – Original Story, Best Writing – Screenplay, Best Supporting Actor Charles Coburn (won), Best Actress Jean Arthur, Best Director and Best Picture. The other films nominated for Best Picture that year were: For Whom the Bell Tolls, Heaven Can Wait, The Human Comedy, In Which We Serve, Madame Curie, The Ox-Bow Incident, The Song of Bernadette, Watch on the Rhine and winner Casablanca.
Oscar Vault Monday – 12 Angry Men, 1957 (dir. Sidney Lumet)
I thought it would be fitting to follow up my in memorium Sidney Lumet post with a more prolonged discussion of one of his greatest masterpieces. Like I said in that earlier post, I saw 12 Angry Men for the first time on PBS a few years ago. I couldn’t believe I’d never seen it before. Part of what makes this an undisputed masterpiece is how timeless it feels. Yes, it’s filmed in black and white, but it feels as fresh as if it were filmed today. Amazing, considering it was Lumet’s first feature film. The only other directorial debut I can think of that is equally as amazing is Orson Welles’ Citizen Kane. Surprisingly this film was only nominated for three Academy Awards and lost them all to The Bridge on the River Kwai (something tells me François Truffaut was not happy with the Academy’s decision that year; read his book The Films in My Life and you’ll see why I think this). The awards it was up for were Best Adapted Screenplay, Best Director and Best Picture. The other films up for Best Picture that year were Peyton Place, Sayonara, Witness For The Prosecution and winner The Bridge on the River Kwai. Regardless of its Academy history, the film is ranked #7 on IMDb’s user-generation Top 250 and is generally considered one of the greatest films ever made.
Oscar Vault Monday – Jerry Maguire, 1996 (dir. Cameron Crowe)
I’ve been reticent to discuss 1996 because my all-time favorite film came out that year: The English Patient. In fact, it won Best Picture. So in my eyes, Oscar got it very right that year. That being said, there is a film that came out in 1996 and was nominated for Best Picture that I absolutely adore. I saw Jerry Maguire in theaters when I was ten and loved it and as soon as it came out on VHS (remember, this was nearly 15 years ago) I bought it and watched it over and over and over. I have seen this film so many times I have every line of dialogue and every little nuance of every performance memorized. The film was nominated for five Academy Awards, winning one: Best Editing, Best Original Screenplay, Best Supporting Actor Cuba Gooding, Jr. (won), Best Actor Tom Cruise and Best Picture. The other films nominated that year were: Fargo, Secrets and Lies, Shine and winner The English Patient.
Oscar Vault Monday – Atonement, 2007 (dir. Joe Wright)
I remember seeing the trailer for this movie and feeling compelled to read the book because it just looked so utterly fantastic. The book is now one of my favorites (all of the other Ian McEwan books I’ve read I thoroughly hated). I guess part of what I loved about the book was imagining the characters the way they were in the trailer. So when it came for the film to actually open I was so full of apprehension; would it live up to the book? or at the very least to the promise of its trailer? Rest assured, I did not feel let down. The film was nominated for seven Academy Awards, winning one: Best Score (won), Best Art Direction, Best Cinematography, Best Costume Design, Best Supporting Actress Saoirse Ronan, Best Adapted Screenplay, Best Picture. The other films up for Best Picture that year were: Juno, Michael Clayton, There Will Be Blood and winner No Country For Old Men.
Oscar Vault Monday – Hannah and Her Sisters, 1986 (dir. Woody Allen)
I remember distinctly the first time I saw this film: it was about two days before I was moving away from San Francisco (that story is a whole other kettle of fish) and it came on PBS and I decided I would watch it. I was blown away. At that point I think I’d only seen about 8 other Woody Allen films (I’ve seen 31 now) and I just loved this film to pieces. I rewatched it again Saturday as part of TCM’s The Essentials and I fell in love with it all over again. Woody Allen won his only sole Oscar for Best Original Screenplay for this film (his only other writing win was for Annie Hall, which he shared with Marshall Brickman). The film was nominated for seven Academy Awards, winning three: Best Art Direction, Best Film Editing, Best Supporting Actor Michael Caine (won), Best Supporting Actress Dianne Wiest (won), Best Original Screenplay (won), Best Director, Best Picture. The films also nominated for Best Picture that year were Children of a Lesser God, The Mission, A Room with a View and winner Platoon.
Oscar Vault Monday – Apocalypse Now, 1979 (dir. Francis Ford Coppola)
While nothing can replace The Thin Red Line as my all-time favorite war film, I think this movie would be a close second, even if I did just see it for the first time on Saturday (I know, I know). I’d like to point out first off that I watched the Redux version and not the theatrical version, so this post will be based on that version of the film. I’m also not going to talk a lot about some of the behind the scenes stories (there are a lot) and probably won’t cover all the themes in the film because I feel like the only way to do everything about this film justice would be to write 100 pages. I will, however, talk about the main performances and a couple of scenes that I really loved. The film was nominated for eight Academy Awards, winning two: Best Sound (won), Best Cinematography (won), Best Art Direction, Best Film Editing, Best Adapted Screenplay, Best Supporting Actor Robert Duvall, Best Director and Best Picture. The other films nominated for Best Picture that year were All That Jazz, Breaking Away, Norma Rae and winner Kramer Vs. Kramer. Side note: I really love Kramer Vs. Kramer, so this is not a “this film is better than the winner” post; it’s more like a “this film is equally as awesome” post.
Oscar Vault Monday – High Noon, 1952 (dir. Fred Zinnemann)
So I hadn’t seen this movie until yesterday, despite having heard nothing but great things about it for years. I cannot believe I waited so long to watch it. I guess it was because the film is classified as a “Western,” but it’s about as much a typical Western as The Thin Red Line is a typical War film. Another great aspect of the film is that it’s filmed in real time; it’s 84 minutes to be exact. The first hour goes by at a nice languid, yet tense pace; the last twenty minutes cram in as much action and intensity as if it were a whole other hour. Fabulous. The film was nominated for seven Academy Awards, winning four: Best Original Song (won), Best Original Score (won), Best Film Editing (won), Best Screenplay, Best Actor (won), Best Director and Best Picture. The other nominees for Best Picture that year were: Ivanhoe, Moulin Rouge, The Quiet Man and winner The Greatest Show On Earth. Side note: The Greatest Show On Earth is probably one of the most mediocre films to even be nominated for Best Picture, let alone win.
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