Thursday, July 03, 2008

Movies Of The Year Awards: 1958

Best Picture:

The End: Touch Of Evil
Oscar: Gigi

Best Director:

The End: Orson Welles, Touch Of Evil
Oscar: Vincente Minnelli, Gigi

Actor:

The End: James Stewart, Vertigo
Oscar: David Niven, Separate Tables

Actress:

The End: Shirley MacLaine, Some Came Running
Oscar: Susan Hayward, I Want To Live!

Supporting Actor:

The End: Dean Martin, Some Came Running
Oscar: Burl Ives, The Big Country

Supporting Actress:

The End: Marlene Dietrich, Touch Of Evil
Oscar: Wendy Hiller, Separate Tables

Original Screenplay:

The End: Sergei Eisenstein, Ivan The Terrible, Part II
Oscar: Nedrick Young & Harold Smith, The Defiant Ones

Adapted Screenplay:

The End: Orson Welles, Touch Of Evil
Oscar: Alan Lerner, Gigi

Foreign Language Film:

The End: Jacques Tati, Mon Oncle
Oscar: Jacques Tati, Mon Oncle

Film Editing:

The End: Esfir Tobak, Ivan the Terrible, Part II
Oscar: Adrienne Fazan, Gigi

Black And White Cinematography:

The End: Russell Metty, Touch Of Evil
Oscar: Sam Leavitt, The Defiant Ones

Color Cinematography:

The End: Robert Burks, Vertigo
Oscar: Joseph Ruttenberg, Gigi

Art Direction:

The End: Henri Schmitt, Mon Oncle
Oscar: William A. Horning, E. Preston Ames, Henry Grace, F. Keogh Gleason, Gigi

Costume Design:

The End: Edith Head, Vertigo
Oscar: Cecil Beaton, Gigi

Sound:

The End: Touch Of Evil 
Oscar: South Pacific

Original Score:

The End: Bernard Hermann, Vertigo
Oscar: Dimitri Tiomkin, The Old Man And The Sea

Soundtrack:

The End: Vertigo
Oscar: Gigi

Special Effects:

The End: A Night To Remember
Oscar: Tom Thumb

Non-Oscar categories:

Breakthrough Performance:

Paul Newman, The Left-Handed Gun 

Villain:

Orson Welles, Touch Of Evil

Movies Of The Year Awards: 1957

Best Picture:

The End: Throne Of Blood
Oscar: The Bridge On The River Kwai

Best Director:

The End: Akira Kurosawa, Throne Of Blood
Oscar: David Lean, The Bridge On The River Kwai

Actor:

The End: Burt Lancaster, The Sweet Smell Of Success
Oscar: Alec Guinness, The Bridge On The River Kwai

Actress:

The End: Giulietta Masina, Nights Of Cabiria
Oscar: Joanne Woodward, The Three Faces Of Eve

Supporting Actor:

The End: Bengt Ekerot, The Seventh Seal
Oscar: Red Buttons, Sayonara

Supporting Actress:

The End: Kay Thompson, Funny Face
Oscar: Miyoshi Umeki, Sayonara

Original Screenplay:

The End: Yasujiro Ozu and Kogo Noda, Tokyo Twilight
Oscar: Geogre Wells, Designing Woman

Adapted Screenplay:

The End: Shinobu Hashimoto, Ryuzo Kikushima, Hideo Oguni & Akira Kurosawa, Throne Of Blood
Oscar: Pierre Boulle, Carl Foreman, Michael Wilson, The Bridge On The River Kwai

Foreign Language Film:

The End: Throne Of Blood
Oscar: Nights Of Cabiria

Film Editing:

The End: Akira Kurosawa, Throne Of Blood
Oscar: Peter taylor, The Bridge On The River Kwai

Cinematography:

The End: Sergei Urusevsky, Cranes Are Flying
Oscar: Jack Hildyard, The bridge On The River Kwai

Art Direction:

The End: Toshiro Muraki, Throne Of Blood
Oscar: Ted Haworth, Robert Priestly, Sayonara

Costume Design:

The End: Edith Head and Givenchy, Funny Face
Oscar: Orry-Kelly, Les Girls

Sound:

The End: Paths Of Glory
Oscar: Sayonara

Original Score:

The End: Elmer Bernstein, The Sweet Smell Of Success
Oscar: Malcolm Arnold, The Bridge On The River Kwai

Live-Action Short:

The End: François Truffaut, Les Mistons
Oscar: Larry Lansburgh, The Wetback Hound

Special Effects:

The End: 20 Million Miles To Earth
Oscar: The Enemy Below

Non-Oscar categories:

Soundtrack:


Funny Face

Breakthrough Performance:

Sidney Lumet, 12 Angry Men

Villain:

Adolphe Menjou, Paths Of Glory

Wednesday, July 02, 2008

RIP Seattle Supersonics

Movies Of The Year Awards: 1956

Best Picture:

The End: The Searchers
Oscar: Around The World In 80 Days

Best Director:

The End: John Ford, The Searchers
Oscar: George Stevens, Giant

Actor:

The End: John Wayne, The Searchers
Oscar: Yul Brynner, The King And I

Actress:

The End: Deborah Kerr, The King And I and Tea And Sympathy
Oscar: Ingrid Bergman, Anastasia

Supporting Actor:

The End: James Dean, Giant
Oscar: Anthony Quinn, Lust For Life

Supporting Actress:

The End: Machiko Kyo, Street Of Shame
Oscar: Dorothy Malone, Written On The Wind

Original Screenplay:

The End: Yasujiro Ozu and Kogo Noda, Early Spring
Oscar: Albert Lamorisse, The Red Balloon

Adapted Screenplay:

The End: Frank S. Nugent, The Searchers
Oscar: James Poe, SJ Perelman & John Farrow, Around The World In 80 Days

Black And White Cinematography:

The End: Lucien Ballard, The Killing
Oscar: Joseph Ruttenberg, Somebody Up There Likes Me

Color Cinematography:

The End: Winton C. Hoch, The Searchers
Oscar: Lionel Lindon, Around The World In 80 Days

Black And White Art Direction:

The End: Street Of Shame
Oscar: Somebody Up There Likes Me

Color Art Direction:

The End: Written On The Wind
Oscar: The King And I

Black And White Costume Design:

The End: Street Of Shame
Oscar: The Solid Gold Cadillac

Color Costume Design:

The End: Elena et les hommes
Oscar: The King And I

Sound:

The End: The Searchers
Oscar: The King And I

Film Editing:

The End: Betty Steinberg, The Killing
Oscar: Gene Ruggiero and Paul Weatherwax, Around The World In 80 Days

Original Score:

The End: Joseph Kosma, Elena et les hommes
Oscar: Victor Young, Around The World In 80 Days

Soundtrack:

The End: The King And I
Oscar: The King And I

Special Effects:

The End: The Red Balloon
Oscar: The Ten Commandments

Foreign Language Film:

The End: Early Spring
Oscar: La Strada

Non-Oscar Categories:

Breakthrough Performance:


Don Siegel, Invasion Of The Body Snatchers

Villain:

Robert Stack, Written On The Wind

Movies Of The Year Awards: 1955

Best Picture:

The End: Kiss Me Deadly
Oscar: Marty

Best Director:

The End: Charles Laughton, Night Of The Hunter
Oscar: Delbert Mann, Marty

Actor:

The End: James Dean, Rebel Without A Cause and East Of Eden
Oscar: Ernest Borgnine, Marty

Actress:

The End: Machiko Kyo, Yang Kwei-fei
Oscar: Anna Magnani, The Rose Tatoo

Supporting Actor:

The End: Preben Lerdorff Rye, Ordet
Oscar: Jack Lemmon, Mr. Roberts

Supporting Actress:

The End: Lillian Gish, Night Of The Hunter
Oscar: Jo Van Fleet, East Of Eden

Original Screenplay:

The End: Orson Welles, Mr. Arkadin
Oscar: William Ludwig and Sonya Levein, Interrupted Melody

Adapted Screenplay:

The End: AI Bezzerides, Kiss Me Deadly
Oscar: Paddy Chayevsky, Marty

Black And White Cinematography:

The End: Stanley Cortez, Night Of The Hunter
Oscar: James Wong Howe, The Rose Tatoo

Color Cinematography:

The End: Christian Matras, Lola Montes
Oscar: Robert Burks, To Catch A Thief

Black And White Art Direction:

The End: Kiss Me Deadly
Oscar: The Rose Tatoo

Color Art Direction:

The End: Yang Kwei-fei
Oscar: Picnic

Black And White Costume Design:

The End: Ordet
Oscar: I'll Cry Tomorrow

Color Costume Design:

The End: Yang Kwei-fei
Oscar: Love Is A Many-Splendored Thing

Sound:

The End: Kiss Me Deadly
Oscar: Oklahoma!

Film Editing:

The End: Michael Luciano, Kiss Me Deadly
Oscar: Charles Nelson, Picnic

Original Score:

The End: Walter Schumann, Night Of The Hunter
Oscar: Alfred Newman, Love Is A Many-Splendored Thing

Soundtrack:

The End: It's Always Fair Weather
Oscar: Oklahoma!

Non-Oscar Categories:

Foreign-Language Film:


Ordet

Breakthrough Performance:

Stanley Kubrick, Killer's Kiss

Villain:

Robert Mitchum, Night Of The Hunter

Movies Of The Year Awards: 1954


A great year for movies, led by a lot of foreign language films that were, of course, ignored by the Academy.

Best Picture:

The End: Seven Samurai
Oscar: On The Waterfront

Best Director:

The End: Akira Kurosawa, Seven Samurai
Oscar: Elia Kazan, On The Waterfront

Actor:

The End: Marlon Brando, On The Waterfront
Oscar: Marlon Brando, On The Waterfront

Actress:

The End: Judy Garland, A Star Is Born
Oscar: Grace Kelly, The Country Girl

Supporting Actor:


The End: Seiji Miyaguchi, Seven Samurai
Oscar: Edmund O'Brien, The Barefoot Contessa

Supporting Actress:

The End: Eva Marie Saint, On The Waterfront
Oscar: Eva Marie Saint, On The Waterfront

Original Screenplay:

The End: Akira Kurosawa, Shinobu Hashimoto & Hideo Oguni, Seven Samurai
Oscar: Budd Schulberg, On The Waterfront

Adapted Screenplay:

The End: John Michael Hayes, Rear Window
Oscar: George Seaton, The Country Girl

Black And White Cinematography:

The End: Kazuo Miyagawa, Sansho The Bailiff
Oscar: Boris Kaufman, On The Waterfront

Color Cinematography:

The End: William Clothier, Track Of The Cat
Oscar: Milton Krasner, Three Coins In The Fountain

Black And White Art Direction:

The End: Seven Samurai
Oscar: On The Waterfront

Color Art Direction:

The End: Rear Window
Oscar: 20,000 Leagues Under The Sea

Black And White Costume Design:

The End: Seven Samurai
Oscar: Sabrina

Color Costume Design:

The End: Rear Window
Oscar: Gate Of Hell

Sound:


The End: Seven Samurai
Oscar: The Glenn Miller Story

Film Editing:

The End: Akira Kurosawa, Seven Samurai
Oscar: Gene Milford, On The Waterfront

Original Score:

The End: Fumio Hayasaka, Seven Samurai
Oscar: Dimitri Tiomkin, The High And The Mighty

Soundtrack:

The End: Brigadoon
Oscar: Seven Brides For Seven Brothers

Non-Oscar Categories:

Foreign Language Film:


Seven Samurai

Breakthrough Performance:

Giulietta Masina, La Strada

Villain:

Ray Milland, Dial M For Murder

Movies Of The Year: Best Of The 70s

There are people out there who will claim that the 70s was a golden age of cinema. generally these people are filmmakers who produced their most successful work in that decade, or critics who began their careers then, or just people who were in their twenties and listened to a lot of Grand Funk Railroad and/or ABBA.

I was born in 1976, and I've seen fewer films from 1970-79 than any decade since the thirties. There are some great films here, of course, and I have quite a few films from the decade I want to see, but there's nothing Golden about the 70s. That's a self-serving baby boomer myth.

Anyway, as with the 50s and 60s, I'm ranking each year of each film decade, by both the quality of the year's best films (peak) and the volume of good to great films the year has (depth). I am, as always, limited by what I've actually managed to see.


1970 - The weakest peak of the decade, and nearly the shallowest as well. There are five very good films (Patton, MASH, Woodstock, The Wild Child, The Conformist), a few interesting movies (Catch-22, Dodes'ka-den, Five Easy Pieces) that seem to be missing something and the Roger Ebert-written classic Beyond The Valley Of The Dolls. Best: Patton. Most Underrated: Patton. Most Overrated: Five Easy Pieces.


1977 - The shallowest year of the decade, only manages to avoid the bottom spot by virtue of its hosting two of my all-time favorite movies: Annie Hall and Star Wars. There are also the very good New York, New York, Close Encounters Of The Third Kind and A Bridge Too Far. Otherwise, this year is essentially empty. Best: Annie Hall. Most Underrated: New York, New York. Most Overrated: Saturday Night Fever


1971 - Only a slight improvement in the depth area, there are a few more pretty good films this year, led by Monte Hellman's masterpiece Two-Lane Blacktop and Robert Altman's McCabe & Mrs. Miller. There's also Stanley Kubrick's arguably anti-human A Clockwork Orange, and some good comedies (Bananas, Harold & Maude, Willy Wonka, Shaft). Best: Two-Lane Blacktop. Most Underrated: Two-Lane Blacktop. Most Overrated: The French Connection.


1976 - Another year with a decent peak and mediocre depth. Clint Eastwood's first great western The Outlaw Josey Wales and Martin Scorsese's justly famous Taxi Driver top the list, but there's also a pair of solid William Goldman-written films starring Dustin Hoffman (Marathon Man, All The President's Men) and one of the greatest sports movies of all-time (The Bad News Bears). Hell, even Brian DePalma managed to make a good film this year (Carrie). Best: Taxi Driver. Most Underrated: The Outlaw Josey Wales. Most Overrated: Network.


1979 - Things are starting to pick up here. '79 has a great peaks with three of my favorites: Woody Allen's Manhattan, Francis Ford Coppola's Apocalypse Now and Monty Python's The Life Of Brian. There's also Ridley Scott's best movie (Alien), Werner Herzog's Murnau homage Nosferatu, The Vampyre, John Woo's first great film (Last Hurrah For Chivalry) and a beautiful gem from my childhood in Carroll Ballard's The Black Stallion. This year even boasts what is arguably the worst James Bond film ever made: Moonraker. Best: Manhattan. Most Underrated: The Black Stallion. Most Overrated: Kramer Vs. Kramer.


1978 - One of those rare years without a film I've seen that I'd consider "bad". Terrence Malick's Days Of Heaven and Lau Kar-leung's The 36th Chamber Of Shaolin constitute a solid peak, with Animal House, The Last Waltz and The Deer Hunter rounding out the Top 5. There's some good genre film fun as well, with Superman, Dawn Of The Dead, Halloween, The Five Deadly Venoms, Grease and Woody Allen's Interiors. Not bad at all (for the 70s). Best: Days Of Heaven. Most Underrated: The 36th Chamber Of Shaolin. Most Overrated: Coming Home.


1975 - Finally a year that can compete with the worst of the 50s and 60s. There are five great films at the top, led by Steven Spielberg's best film (Jaws), one of the best films of Jack Nicholson's remarkable early 70s run (The Passenger), Monty Python's The Holy Grail, Robert Altman's great epic Nashville and Stanley Kubrick's Barry Lyndon, a film that might be a masterpiece (having seen it twice, I'm still undecided). There's good depth too: Love And Death, one of Woody Allen's funniest comedies, Peter Weir's creepy Picnic At Hanging Rock, Akira Kursawa's quite pretty Dersu Uzala, Milos Forman's solid One Flew Over The Cuckoo's Nest, Sidney Lumet's Dog Day Afternoon, featuring one of Al Pacino's best performances and Hal Ashby's Shampoo, a film I'd really like to see again.


1973 - I don't know why, but the films encompassing Richard Nixon's second term are head and shoulders the best of this decade. I suspect it has something to do with Watergate and Vietnam and disco. Anyway, '73 is led by what is still my favorite Scorsese film (Mean Streets) along with Terrence Malick's first movie (Badlands), arguably Woody Allen's best comedy (Sleeper) and great films from Robert Altman (The Long Goodbye) and George Lucas (American Graffiti) and solid efforts from Sam Peckinpah, Clint Eastwood, François Truffaut, Bruce Lee and Hal Ashby. This year also features the best ever Bond theme song, "Live And Let Die" by Wings. Best: Mean Streets. Most Underrated: Mean Streets. Most Overrated: The Exorcist.


1972 - Four masterpieces top this year, led by Coppola's The Godfather, Werner Herzog's Aguirre: The Wrath Of God, Luis Buñuel's The Discreet Charm Of The Bourgeoisie and Andrei Tarkovsky's Solaris. There still isn't the great depth we saw in the best years of previous decades, but there's at least a dozen good films from this year, ranging from Five Fingers Of Death to Cries And Whispers to Cabaret to Tout va bien. Best: The Godfather. Most Underrated: Play It Again, Sam. Most Overrated: The Godfather.


1974 - Far and away the best year of the decade, with four masterpieces, nine really great films and thirteen pretty good ones. Coppola's The Godfather Part II heads the list, like it's other half, it manages to be both overrated and great at the same time. There's also Jacques Rivette's magical Celine And Julie Go Boating, Roman Polanski's noir-reviving Chinatown and Orson Welles's last great film (F For Fake). In the "great" category we have Coppola, again, with The Conversation, Robert Bresson's Arthurian epic (!) Lancelot du lac, Herzog's Every Man For Himself And God Against All, Tobe Hooper's genre-defining Texas Chain Saw Massacre and Sam Peckinpah's nihilist (and decade-defining?) classic Bring Me The Head Of Alfredo Garcia. Best: The Godfather Part II. Most Underrated: F For Fake. Most Overrated: Lenny?

Director Roundup:

Martin Scorsese: 5
Woody Allen: 5
Francis Ford Coppola: 4
Robert Altman: 4
Werner Herzog: 3
Lau Kar-leung: 2
Wolfgang Reitherman: 2
Terry Jones: 2
Steven Spielberg: 2
Clint Eastwood: 2
Robert Clouse: 2
Sam Peckinpah: 2
George Lucas: 2
Terrence Malick: 2
Herbert Ross: 2
Peter Bogdanovich: 2
Hal Ashby: 2
Stanley Kubrick: 2
Akira Kurosawa: 2
François Truffaut: 2