Oscar Flashback 2014

Time for my annual day after the Oscars journey back through time to revisit past ceremonies to see if they got it right.  Every year I take ten year leaps back to look at what the Academy thought at then and if time has changed how we look at those movies.

2009 (5 years ago)

            Best Picture: The Hurt Locker

                        Other Nominations: Avatar, The Blind Side, District 9, An Education, Inglourious Basterds, Precious, A Serious Man, Up, Up In The Air

            Best Actor: Jeff Bridges-Crazy Heart

                        Other Nominations: George Clooney-Up In The Air, Colin Firth-A Single Man, Morgan Freeman-Invictus, Jeremy Renner-The Hurt Locker

            Best Actress: Sandra Bullock-The Blind Side

                        Other Nominations: Helen Mirren-The Last Station, Carey Mulligan-An Education, Gabourey Sidibe-Precious, Meryl Streep-Julie & Julia

            This was one of those great years for movies.  I certainly can’t argue with The Hurt Locker as best film, but Avatar, An Education, Inglourious Bastards, Precious and Up In The Air could have all easily won as well.  If I remember right, there was a lot of talk about Up In The Air winning, but I don’t remember The Hurt Locker being a surprise.  The interesting thing is how many of these have kind of been forgotten.  Nobody really talks about these movies much anymore.  Our deposable society continues to make me wonder if there will be such things as classics anymore.  Of all these movies, it seems like the most lasting movie would be Avatar or Up, so looking back maybe we can say one of those two should have won.

            Remember when Gabourey Sidibe got nominated and everyone proclaimed that it was opening the door for over weight girls to get good roles in Hollywood?  Ask Gabby how her career turned out.  I’m not saying she isn’t a good actress, after seeing her in other roles and in interviews, her turn as Precious was amazing, the point is, Hollywood has no interest in casting over weight women unless it’s a comedy or that once in a life time character like Precious.  Let’s look at this year’s nominations… color aside, would Sidibe have been any worse in Emma Stone’s role?  I bet she would have been ten times better since I’ve never seen Emma Stone play anything other than Emma Stone, but I will also bet no casting director in Hollywood would have even considered her.  Every five years or so the Academy decides to throw a bone to an over weight actor or an actor of race and then we get to hear how the industry is changing.  Well, as this year proved, that’s just not the case.  Hollywood is a white male world and the Academy just perpetuates that ideal.

And Sandra Bullock?!?  I feel her getting the award is like Tony Perez getting elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame, it kind of lowers the honor for everyone else.  Carey Mulligan was my favorite of this bunch, but of course, Meryl could easily have taken the prize.  Jeff Bridges was given a life time achievement award for a role that nobody even remembers happened.  This was Clooney’s award.

2004 (10 years ago)

            Best Picture: Million Dollar Baby

                        Other Nominations: The Aviator, Finding Neverland, Ray, Sideways

            Best Actor: Jamie Foxx-Ray

                        Other Nominations: Don Cheadle-Hotel Rwanda, Johnny Depp-Finding Neverland, Leonardo DiCaprio-Aviator, Clint Eastwood-Million Dollar Baby

            Best Actress: Hilary Swank-Million Dollar Baby

                        Other Nominations: Annette Bening-Being Julia, Catalina Sandino Moreno-Maria Full of Grace, Imelda Staunton-Vera Drake, Kate Winslet-Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind

            I remember everyone going crazy for The Aviator and me just not getting it.  I loved Million Dollar Baby at the time and know that I was ecstatic that it won.  Again, I don’t know that any of these movies have had any type of shelf life.  Sideways is the only one that I continue to hear people talk about.  Finding Neverland was a piece of crap made for TV movie that somehow got put on the big screen.  I have no idea how it got so many nominations.  Same thing goes for Ray, it had a great performance but it was a terrible movie.  All in all, I would say the best movie won.

            Jamie Fox was a no brainer for his performance in Ray, but if I reviewed these awards today I would go on a tirade about how he was just imitating.  There might be something to that argument since I can’t name another role in the last 20 years that Jamie Foxx was memorable in.  The thing is none of the other nominations are very strong.  Don Cheadle was probably the only other one that felt like an award worth turn.  Same goes for the ladies.  There just isn’t much to comment on.  I do find it interesting that the Best Actress category is traditionally filled with a bunch of movies that aren’t mentioned in any other category.  In other words, the movies that are up for Best Picture, Best Director, Best Screenplay, are also in Best Actor, but most of the Best Actress nominations come from a totally different set of movies.  For example, this year 4 of the 5 Best Actors came from Best Picture nominated movies.  Only one of the Best Actress nominations came from the same list.  Wouldn’t it be nice to see a movie up for Best Picture or Best Screenplay that has a Best Actress in it but not a Best Actor?  Just a little more fodder for those who are upset by the Selma snubs this year.

           

1994 (20 years ago)

            Best Picture: Forrest Gump

                        Other Nominations: Four Weddings and a Funeral, Pulp Fiction, Quiz Show, The Shawshank Redemption

            Best Actor: Tom Hanks-Forrest Gump

                        Other Nominations: Morgan Freeman-The Shawshank Redemption, Nigel Hawthorne-The Madness of King George, Paul Newman-Nobody’s Fool, John Travolta-Pulp Fiction

            Best Actress: Jessica Lang-Blue Sky

                        Other Nominations: Jodie Foster-Nell, Miranda Richardson-Tom & Viv, Winona Ryder-Little Women, Susan Sarandon-The Client

            This year is one of the years that caused me to start this exercise of looking back years later at who got the awards and who should have.  Forrest Gump is a perfectly fine movie that was very fun and very much a cultural phenomenon when it came out, but is there anyone today who would argue it was a better movie than The Shawshank Redemption or Pulp Fiction, two movies that are now considered two of the all time greats?  If we gave this award out today it would be a tight race between Shawshank and Pulp Fiction, I think Shawshank would win, but Gump would not even be in the conversation.  Time has proven that this award went to the wrong movie.

            That being said, I would still give the Best Actor to Hanks.  None of the other performances blew me away.  Morgan Freeman’s role has kind of become iconic, but it’s just Morgan Freeman being Morgan Freeman.  The only of the female performances I’ve seen was Susan Sarandon and nothing about what I remember from The Client was Oscar worthy.  Just to keep the tally going, 3 of the 5 men were in Best Picture movies… none of the women.

1984 (30 years ago)

            Best Picture: Terms of Endearment

                        Other Nominations: The Big Chill, The Dresser, The Right Stuff, Tender Mercies

            Best Actor: Robert Duvall-Tender Mercies

                        Other Nominations: Michael Caine-Educating Rita, Tom Conti-Reuben, Reuben, Tom Courtenay-The Dresser, Albert Finney-The Dresser

            Best Actress: Shirley MacLaine-Terms of Endearment

                        Other Nominations: Jane Alexander-Testament, Meryl Streep-Silkwood, Julie Walters-Educating Rita, Debra Winger-Terms of Endearment

            This is another year where the movie that won was a big deal when it came out but hasn’t really lasted the test of time.  The Big Chill and The Right Stuff seem like they would probably win if we held this race today.  That’s not even mentioning that Silkwood didn’t get a Best Picture nod.  I’m sure there are plenty of people that would argue with me about this one, but honestly, when was the last time you heard someone talk about how great a movie Terms of Endearment was?

            As far as the other awards go, I haven’t heard of hardly any of these movies, forget about seen them.  I know this was before Meryl Streep was Meryl Streep, or at least about when she was becoming Meryl Streep, but I find it kind of surprising that she lost to Shirley MacLaine.  Something tells me it was a life time achievement win for MacLaine, but today Streep’s turn in Silkwood would be a hands down winner.  The other thing I find interesting is that The Big Chill got a Best Picture nob but its star studded cast only got one Supporting Actress nomination.  I would have thought that it would have been recognized for multiple acting performances.

1974 (40 years ago)

            Best Picture: The Godfather Part II

                        Other Nominations: Chinatown, The Conversation, Lenny, The Towering Inferno

            Best Actor: Art Carney-Harry and Tonto

                        Other Nominations: Albert Finney-Murder on the Orient Express, Dustin Hoffman-Lenny, Jack Nicholson-Chinatown, Al Pacino-The Godfather Part II

            Best Actress: Ellen Burstyn-Alice Doesn’t Live Here Anymore

                        Other Nominations: Diahann Carroll-Claudine, Faye Dunaway-Chinatown, Valerie Perrine-Lenny, Gena Rowlands-A Woman Under the Influence

            Um… we’re going to skip over the Best Picture.  It sucks for Chinatown that it was released the same year as The Godfather Part II, but anyone who argues that The Godfather shouldn’t have won it insane.  And I’m just going to ignore that Towering Inferno is on this list.  What really blows my mind this year is the Best Actor award.  This has to be one of the biggest upsets in the history of the Oscars.  I can only assume that this was a life time achievement style win for Carney, but look at the performances he was up against.  Pacino in The Godfather, Nicholson in Chinatown, Hoffman in Lenny, Finney in Orient Express.  These are some of the greatest performances in film and they lost to a movie I’ve never heard of.  If this award is given out today I would think that Nicholson would win.  But, of all these performances… Carney?  Really?  This is beyond silly.

1964 (50 years ago)

            Best Picture: My Fair Lady

                        Other Nominations: Becket, Dr. Strangelove, Mary Poppins, Zorba the Greek

            Best Actor: Rex Harrison-My Fair Lady

                        Other Nominations: Richard Burton-Becket, Peter O’Toole-Becket, Anthony Quinn-Zorba the Greek, Peter Sellers-Dr. Strangelove

            Best Actress: Julie Andrews-Mary Poppins

                        Other Nominations: Anne Bancroft-The Pumpkin Eater, Sophia Loren-Marriage Italian Style, Debbie Reynolds-The Unsinkable Molly Brown, Kim Stanley-Séance on a Wet Afternoon

            Another fantastic year in film with four of these being all time classics and a third that has two great performances.  For me Dr. Strangelove is clearly the best of this bunch, but pretty much anyone could argue that My Fair Lady and Mary Poppins should win here.  Zorba the Greek has its following as well.  My Fair Lady isn’t my cup of tea but I really can’t argue with it winning.  I guess the same goes for Rex Harrison winning Best Actor, but I really find it hard to say anyone in this group was better than Peter Sellers.  He played three roles in the film and made them so distinct there is never a moment where you realize he’s doing it.  It is one of the best performances in film history, let alone of 1964.  As far as the women go… aside from Julie Andrews, I have no idea what these film are.  Once again, 5 out of 5 male nominations from Best Picture, one woman.  So far this post 21 men and 9 ladies.

1954 (60 years ago)

            Best Picture: On the Waterfront

                        Other Nominations: The Caine Mutiny, The Country Girl, Seven Brides for Seven Brothers, Three Coins in the Fountain

            Best Actor: Marlon Brando-On the Waterfront

                        Other Nominations: Humphrey Bogart-The Caine Mutiny, Bing Crosby-The Country Girl, James Mason-A Star is Born, Dan O’Herlihy-Robinson Crusoe

            Best Actress: Grace Kelly-The Country Girl

                        Other Nominations: Dorothy Dandridge-Carmen Jones, Judy Garland-A Star is Born, Audrey Hepburn-Sabrina, Jane Wyman-Magnificent Obsession

            This is turning out to be quite a run of ceremonies.  I would like to say that On the Waterfront is the hands down winner here, but The Caine Mutiny and Seven Brides for Seven Brothers could certainly argue they deserve the prize as well.  In my attempts to be as informed for this post as possible I saw Three Coins in the Fountain… it doesn’t hold up and is by no standards an Oscar movie, but the other movies are great.  I’m pretty sure no one will argue the Best Actor and Actress awards, even though Audrey Hepburn in Sabrina was more in lines with my taste than Grace Kelly.

1944 (70 years ago)

            Best Picture: Going My Way

                        Other Nominations: Double Indemnity, Gaslight, Since You Went Away, Wilson

            Best Actor: Bing Crosby- Going My Way

                        Other Nominations: Charles Boyer-Gaslight, Barry Fitzgerald-Going My Way, Cary Grant-None But the Lonely Heart, Alexander Knox-Wilson

            Best Actress: Ingrid Bergman-Gaslight

                        Other Nominations: Claudette Colbert-Since You Went Away, Bette Davis-Mr. Skeffington, Greer Garson-Mrs. Parkington, Barbara Stanwyck-Double Indemnity

            This is obviously a ceremony that was a product of the era in movie making.  Going My Way is a song and dance musical that is totally out of style today and a movie that nobody would even think of making, forget about nominating, in today’s Hollywood.  There is zero doubt in my mind that if this was voted on today Double Indemnity would win.  Gaslight would probably run a distant second, even thought it is a well acted, very creepy movie.  I think the same would go for the Best Acting award.  I really can’t imagine Bing Crosby beating out Carey Grant or Charles Boyer if we voted today.  I’m not sure what that really says about Going My Way as a movie.  The fact that it was rewarded in an era where this was a popular style of movie speaks to how well made it was but at the same time it obviously isn’t timeless, a trait I think is important when considering movie greatness.  I don’t really have to say anything about Bergman.  She was fantastic in Gaslight.

1934 (80 years ago)

            Best Picture: It Happened One Night

                        Other Nominations: The Barretts of Wimpole Street, Cleopatra, Flirtation Walk, The Gay Divorcee, Here Comes the Navy, The House of Rothschild, Imitation of Life, One Night of Love, The Thin Man, Viva Villa!, The White Parade

            Best Actor: Clark Gable-It Happened One Night

                        Other Nominations: Frank Morgan-The Affairs of Cellini, William Powell-The Thin Man

            Best Actress: Claudette Colbert-It Happened One Night

                        Other Nominations: Bette Davis-Of Human Bondage, Grace Moore-One Night of Love, Norma Shearer-The Barretts of Wimpole Street

            Part of the fun of doing this post is being able to see what films have been able to last the test of time.  When you get to the 30’s, very few of the films stand up.  The Thin Man was an extremely popular series of movies at the time, but watching it now, it just doesn’t hold up.  Same goes for Bette Davis in Of Human Bondage.  It just isn’t good acting by our standards today.  It Happened One Night is a classic for a reason, though.  Of all these movies, this one stands out and still feels like it works today.  A lot of it feels like cliché, but then you realize that this is the movie that every rom-com took its clichés from.  The chemistry between Gable and Colbert feels fresh and real, something that wasn’t always the case in the early day of film.  These weren’t caricatures like in Cleopatra, these felt like real people.  It was funny and interesting and clearly the Best Picture.

            By the way, the final tally over the ceremonies that I wrote about… out of 43 nominations 30 men came from Best Picture nominations, and only 15 woman.  Do with that what you will.