1978 Alternate Oscars

Best Picture of 1978 (Poll Closed)

• Coming Home  8.24%  (7 votes)  
   
• Dawn of the Dead  3.53%  (3 votes)  
   
• Days of Heaven  15.29%  (13 votes)  
   
• ✔ The Deer Hunter  27.06%  (23 votes)  
   
• Grease  3.53%  (3 votes)  
   
• Halloween  8.24%  (7 votes)  
   
• Invasion of the Body Snatchers  1.18%  (1 votes)  
   
• Midnight Express  7.06%  (6 votes)  
   
• ★ National Lampoon's Animal House  16.47%  (14 votes)  
   
• Superman  9.4%  (8 votes)  
   

 

Total Votes: 85

 

Best Actor of 1978 (Poll Closed)

• Gary Busey (The Buddy Holly Story)  9.43%  (5 votes)  
   
• Robert De Niro (The Deer Hunter)  22.64%  (12 votes)  
   
• Dustin Hoffman (Straight Time)  0%  (0 votes)  
   
• Christopher Reeve (Superman)  11.32%  (6 votes)  
   
• ★ ✔ Jon Voight (Coming Home)  56.6%  (30 votes)  
   

 

Total Votes: 53

 

Best Actress of 1978

Ingrid Bergman (Autumn Sonata)

★ Jill Clayburgh (An Unmarried Woman)

✔ Jane Fonda (Coming Home)

Margot Kidder (Superman)

Romy Schneider (A Simple Story)

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Best Director of 1978 (Poll Closed)

• Hal Ashby (Coming Home)  8.86%  (7 votes)  
   
• ★ John Carpenter (Halloween)  36.71%  (29 votes)  
   
• ✔ Michael Cimino (The Deer Hunter)  30.38%  (24 votes)  
   
• Philip Kaufman (Invasion of the Body Snatchers)  2.53%  (2 votes)  
   
• Terrence Malick (Days of Heaven)  21.52%  (17 votes)  
   

 

Total Votes: 79

 

Best Supporting Actor of 1978

John Belushi (National Lampoon's Animal House)

Gene Hackman (Superman)

John Vernon (National Lampoon's Animal House)

★ ✔ Christopher Walken (The Deer Hunter)

Jack Warden (Heaven Can Wait)

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Best Supporting Actress of 1978

Veronica Cartwright (Invasion of the Body Snatchers)

Stockard Channing (Grease)

★ Geraldine Page (Interiors)

✔ Maggie Smith (California Suite)

Meryl Streep (The Deer Hunter)

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Special Award

Harold Ramis, Douglas Kinney and Chris Miller (National Lampoon's Animal House) (original screenplay)

Elmer Bernstein (National Lampoon's Animal House) (score)

National Lampoon's Animal House (movie most strangely reminiscent of my legal career)

John Farrar and Andy Gibb (original songs), Jim Jacobs and Warren Casey (adapted songs). Bill Oakes (music supervisor) (Grease) (original song score and adapted song score)

Grease (best sing-a-long movie to take your wife to on her birthday)

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My choices are noted with a ★. Historical Oscar winners are noted with a ✔.

I probably saw fifty movies in the theater in 1978 — I had a driver's license and matinees were incredibly cheap back then. If my memory serves, these were the ten most talked about movies at the time.

Unlike a lot of years when the best picture is obvious, I've been going round and round with this one. Rather than re-write this post every time I change my mind, let's just see what happens ...

Trivia: Ingrid Bergman received her final Oscar nomination for 1978's Autumn Sonata while Meryl Streep received her first for The Deer Hunter. How often do two such lengthy, celebrated careers overlap so neatly?

1977 Alternate Oscars

Best Picture of 1977

✔ Annie Hall

Close Encounters of the Third Kind

The Late Show

Saturday Night Fever

Slap Shot

Soldier of Orange

★ Star Wars (original theatrical release)

Stroszek

Suspiria

That Obscure Object of Desire

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Best Actor of 1977

Woody Allen (Annie Hall)

Art Carney (The Late Show)

✔ Richard Dreyfuss (The Goodbye Girl and Close Encounters of the Third Kind)

Paul Newman (Slap Shot)

★ John Travolta (Saturday Night Fever)

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Best Actress of 1977

Shelley Duvall (3 Women)

★ ✔ Diane Keaton (Annie Hall and Looking for Mr. Goodbar)

Marsha Mason (The Goodbye Girl)

Gena Rowlands (Opening Night)

Lily Tomlin (The Late Show)

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Best Director of 1977

★ ✔ Woody Allen (Annie Hall)

John Badham (Saturday Night Fever)

Luis Buñuel (That Obscure Object of Desire)

George Lucas (Star Wars) (original theatrical release)

Steven Spielberg (Close Encounters of the Third Kind)

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Best Supporting Actor of 1977

Peter Firth (Equus)

Harrison Ford (Star Wars) (original theatrical release)

Alec Guinness (Star Wars)

★ James Earl Jones and David Prowse (Star Wars)

✔ Jason Robards (Julia)

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Best Supporting Actress of 1977

Melinda Dillon (Close Encounters of the Third Kind)

★ Carrie Fisher (Star Wars)

Donna Pescow (Saturday Night Fever)

✔ Vanessa Redgrave (Julia)

Sissy Spacek (3 Women)

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Special Award

Woody Allen and Marshall Brickman (Annie Hall) (original screenplay)

Barry Gibb, Maurice Gibb and Robin Gibb (original songs), David Shire (additional music) (Saturday Night Fever) (song score)

John Williams (Star Wars) (score)

John Stears, John Dykstra, Richard Edlund, Grant McCune and Robert Blalack (Star Wars) (visual effects)

John Barry, Norman Reynolds, Leslie Dilley and Roger Christian (Star Wars) (art direction / set decoration)

C3PO and R2D2 (Star Wars) (best odd couple)

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My choices are noted with a ★. Historical Oscar winners are noted with a ✔.

Annie Hall is a great comedy — arguably Woody Allen's best — and it would have been an easy winner in most any other year. But Star Wars is one of the most iconic movies ever made, and in terms of reshaping everything that came after it, one of the most influential of all time.

By the way, I prefer the hard-to-see original theatrical release of Star Wars to any of George Lucas's re-worked clusterhumps. Han shot first, my friends.

P.S. Katie-Bar-The-Door and I had an opportunity to see a sneak preview of The Best of Enemies down at the AFI-Silver this past Thursday night. Starring Oscar-nominee Taraji P. Henson (Hidden Figures, TV's "Empire") and Oscar-winner Sam Rockwell (Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri), it's based on the true story of civil rights activist Ann Atwater and KKK Exalted Cyclops C.P. Ellis who squared off in Durham, North Carolina, over school integration back in 1971.

The film is witty, moving and avoids the trope of the "white savior." Highly recommended.

Henson (a Washington, D.C. native), writer-director Robin Bissell and producer Dominique Telson spoke afterwards.

Opens nationwide April 5.

1976 Alternate Oscars

Best Picture of 1976

All the President's Men

The Bad News Bears

Carrie

The Front

Kings of the Road

Network

1900

★ The Outlaw Josey Wales

✔ Rocky

Taxi Driver

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Best Actor of 1976

★ Robert De Niro (Taxi Driver)

William Holden (Network)

Walter Matthau (The Bad News Bears)

Sylvester Stallone (Rocky)

John Wayne (The Shootist)

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Best Actress of 1976

★ ✔ Faye Dunaway (Network)

Talia Shire (Rocky)

Sissy Spacek (Carrie)

Ana Torrent (Cria Cuervos)

Liv Ullmann (Face to Face)

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Best Director of 1976

Brian De Palma (Carrie)

★ Clint Eastwood (The Outlaw Josey Wales)

Sidney Lumet (Network)

Alan J. Pakula (All the President's Men)

Martin Scorsese (Taxi Driver)

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Best Supporting Actor of 1976

★ ✱ Peter Finch (Network)

Burgess Meredith (Rocky)

Zero Mostel (The Front)

Richard Pryor (Silver Streak)

✔ Jason Robards (All The President's Men)

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Best Supporting Actress of 1976

Geraldine Chaplin (Cría Cuervos)

Jodie Foster (Taxi Driver)

★ Piper Laurie (Carrie)

Tatum O'Neal (The Bad News Bears)

✔ Beatrice Straight (Network)

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Special Award

Paddy Chayefsky (Network) (original screenplay)

William Goldman, from the book by Carl Bernstein & Bob Woodward (All the President’s Men) (adapted screenplay)

Harlan County, U.S.A. (documentary feature)

"Gonna Fly Now" (Rocky) music by Bill Conti; lyrics by Carol Connors and Ayn Robbins (song)

Murder by Death (best dinner party)

North Valley League Bears (The Bad News Bears) (best bad baseball team)

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My choices are noted with a ★. Historical Oscar winners are noted with a ✔. A historical winner who won in a different category is noted with a ✱.

Lot of good choices this year. Taxi Driver is one of Martin Scorsese's most celebrated films, and for reasons I can't put my finger on, All the President's Men seems more relevant than ever. But I'm going with Network, a scathing look at television and our obsession with celebrity and novelty which was considered pretty far out there back in its day but which plays more like a documentary now.

By the way, this coming Saturday, March 23, is the tenth anniversary of the Mythical Monkey. I'll be celebrating by taking a well-deserved nap. You're welcome to join me (but only if you're Katie-Bar-The-Door).

1975 Alternate Oscars

Best Picture of 1975 (Poll Closed)

• Barry Lyndon  13.64%  (9 votes)  
   
• ƒ Dersu Uzala  3.03%  (2 votes)  
   
• Dog Day Afternoon  12.12%  (8 votes)  
   
• Jaws  18.18%  (12 votes)  
   
• Love and Death  0%  (0 votes)  
   
• The Man Who Would Be King  1.52%  (1 votes)  
   
• ★ Monty Python and the Holy Grail  13.64%  (9 votes)  
   
• Nashville  15.15%  (10 votes)  
   
• ✔ One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest  18.18%  (12 votes)  
   
• Picnic at Hanging Rock  4.54%  (3 votes)  
   

 

Total Votes: 66

 

Best Actor of 1975

Michael Caine (The Man Who Would Be King)

★ Graham Chapman, John Cleese, Terry Gilliam, Eric Idle, Terry Jones and Michael Palin (Monty Python and the Holy Grail)

Sean Connery (The Man Who Would Be King)

✔ Jack Nicholson (One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest)

Al Pacino (Dog Day Afternoon)

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Best Actress of 1975 (Poll Closed)

• ★ Isabelle Adjani (The Story Of Adele H.)  38.74%  (43 votes)  
   
• ✔ Louise Fletcher (One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest)  54.05%  (60 votes)  
   
• Carol Kane (Hester Street)  0%  (0 votes)  
   
• Diane Keaton (Love And Death)  1.8%  (2 votes)  
   
• Ann-Margret (Tommy)  5.41%  (6 votes)  
   

 

Total Votes: 111

 

Best Director of 1975 (Poll Closed)

• Robert Altman (Nashville)  32.86%  (23 votes)  
   
• ✔ Milos Forman (One Flew over the Cuckoo’s Nest)  20%  (14 votes)  
   
• John Huston (The Man Who Would Be King)  2.86%  (2 votes)  
   
• Sidney Lumet (Dog Day Afternoon)  10%  (7 votes)  
   
• ★ Steven Spielberg (Jaws)  34.28%  (24 votes)  
   

 

Total Votes: 70

 

Best Supporting Actor of 1975 (Poll Closed)

• ✔ George Burns (The Sunshine Boys)  8%  (6 votes)  
   
• John Cazale (Dog Day Afternoon)  48%  (36 votes)  
   
• ★ Tim Curry (The Rocky Horror Picture Show)  22.67%  (17 votes)  
   
• Brad Dourif (One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest)  10.67%  (8 votes)  
   
• Henry Gibson (Nashville)  10.66%  (8 votes)  
   

 

Total Votes: 75

 

Best Supporting Actress of 1975

Ronee Blakley (Nashville)

✔ Lee Grant (Shampoo)

Barbara Harris (Nashville)

Sylvia Miles (Farewell, My Lovely)

★ Lily Tomlin (Nashville)

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Special Award

John Williams (Jaws) (score)

Pete Townshend (Tommy) (song score)

Graham Chapman, John Cleese, Terry Gilliam, Eric Idle, Terry Jones and Michael Palin (Monty Python and the Holy Grail) (original screenplay)

two empty halves of a coconut (Monty Python and the Holy Grail) (best imitation of a horse)

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My choices are noted with a ★. Historical Oscar winners are noted with a ✔. Best foreign-language picture winners are noted with an ƒ.

Sorry I'm running late today. It was a busy week on the cancer front. I'll try to blog ahead a couple of months so there'll be no future disruptions of service ...

1974 Alternate Oscars

Best Picture of 1974 (Poll Closed)

• Ali: Fear Eats the Soul  0%  (0 votes)  
   
• ƒ Amarcord  6.56%  (4 votes)  
   
• Badlands  1.64%  (1 votes)  
   
• Blazing Saddles  4.92%  (3 votes)  
   
• ★ Chinatown  42.62%  (26 votes)  
   
• The Conversation  1.64%  (1 votes)  
   
• ✔ The Godfather: Part II  31.15%  (19 votes)  
   
• The Texas Chainsaw Massacre  3.28%  (2 votes)  
   
• A Woman Under the Influence  1.64%  (1 votes)  
   
• Young Frankenstein  6.55%  (4 votes)  
   

 

Total Votes: 61

 

Best Actor of 1974 (Poll Closed)

• Gene Hackman (The Conversation)  13.16%  (10 votes)  
   
• ★ Jack Nicholson (Chinatown)  39.47%  (30 votes)  
   
• Warren Oates (Bring Me the Head of Alfredo Garcia)  1.32%  (1 votes)  
   
• Al Pacino (The Godfather: Part II)  35.53%  (27 votes)  
   
• Gene Wilder (Blazing Saddles and Young Frankenstein)  10.52%  (8 votes)  
   

 

Total Votes: 76

 

Best Actress of 1974

✔ Ellen Burstyn (Alice Doesn't Live Here Anymore)

Diahann Carroll (Claudine)

Faye Dunaway (Chinatown)

★ Gena Rowlands (A Woman Under the Influence)

Sissy Spacek (Badlands)

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Best Director of 1974

Mel Brooks (Blazing Saddles and Young Frankenstein)

John Cassavetes (A Woman Under the Influence)

✔ Francis Ford Coppola (The Godfather: Part II and The Conversation)

Rainer Werner Fassbinder (Ali: Fear Eats the Soul)

★ Roman Polanski (Chinatown)

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Best Supporting Actor of 1974

Martin Balsam (The Taking of Pelham One Two Three)

Peter Boyle (Young Frankenstein)

✔ Robert De Niro (The Godfather: Part II)

★ Marty Feldman (Young Frankenstein)

Harvey Korman (Blazing Saddles)

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Best Supporting Actress of 1974

Teri Garr (Young Frankenstein)

★ Madeline Kahn (Blazing Saddles and Young Frankenstein)

Diane Ladd (Alice Doesn't Live Here Anymore)

Cloris Leachman (Young Frankenstein)

Valerie Perrine (Lenny)

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Special Award

Robert Towne (Chinatown) (original screenplay)

John A. Alonso (Chinatown) (cinematography)

Jerry Goldsmith (Chinatown) (original score)

Gene Wilder and Mel Brooks, screen story and screenplay based on characters in the novel Frankenstein by Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley (Young Frankenstein) (adapted screenplay)

Edwin Butterworth, Mary Keats and William Tuttle (Young Frankenstein) (makeup)

Walter Murch and Arthur Rochester (The Conversation) (sound)

The Taking of Pelham One Two Three (best sneeze)

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My choices are noted with a ★. Historical Oscar winners are noted with a ✔. Best foreign-language picture winners are noted with an ƒ.

I suppose One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest is Jack Nicholson's most famous performance, but I think Chinatown is his best — and it's not close.

As for Roman Polanski, he presents me with a bit of a philosophical conundrum. On the one hand, I think Chinatown is the best movie of 1974 (and maybe of the decade). On the other hand, I also think Polanski, the film's director, is a morally-reprehensible human being who should spend the rest of his natural life in an American jail. Can I hand him an award for what showed up on the screen without also making myself complicit in his crime?

I've written about cognitive dissonance before (here) — that uncomfortable feeling caused by holding two contradictory ideas simultaneously:

The farther I get into blogging about movies and their history, the clearer it becomes that the people who made great movies weren't necessarily great people, and certainly what you see on the screen doesn't reflect what you would have seen in their private lives. John Ford was an insufferable bastard, Henry Fonda was a terrible father, Woody Allen married his girlfriend's daughter. ... Jane Greer, on the other hand, was as sweet as chess pie, as loyal as a faithful dog and as brave as your average Marine, but that doesn't mean she wasn't absolutely riveting as the murderous femme fatale Kathy Moffit in the noir classic, Out of the Past.

There are any number of ways you can handle unpleasant information about the people who make movies. My father refused to watch Jane Fonda because of her politics; my mother-in-law wouldn't watch John Wayne because of his. Which is a pity from the point of view of the movie fan because it means you miss out on Klute and The Searchers ...

You can also go the other way and excuse behavior of your heroes you would never forgive of your enemies. Thus you'll find plenty of petitions seeking to free Roman Polanski despite committing a crime you'd insist your neighbor be buried for. Our brains are hard-wired that way, or so scientists tell us, something to remember the next you (or I) want to beat someone senseless for taking a position we don't agree with. There's not much future for the republic if we're forever choosing to behave like territorial pack animals.

In writing this blog, I have opted for a third way. I have in the past and will continue in the future to distill out the professional from the personal, the on-screen persona from the private one, and though I have written about both, and will continue to do so, I've been choosing awards and reviewing movies strictly based on the former. Some of the winners have been creeps and some have been saints, but all of them have done something on screen that I think is worth your time and attention.

It's either that or stop writing about movies altogether. But then anything you write is guaranteed to offend somebody. After all, I imagine there are still some people out there who insist the world is flat. You can't please everybody.

That was true when I wrote it ten years ago. If anything, it's even more true now.