Last week, in response to my alternate Oscar polls, my old law school roommate texted me to the effect that they sure don't make movies like that anymore. I'm translating for your benefit — his comment was earthier and far more succinct.
But I got to thinking about it and decided there's a lot of truth in them thar hills. The 1960s saw the demise of the studio system, the end of the production code (whereby filmmakers self-censored their product), the rise of the French then American New Wave directorial styles with their handheld cameras, improvised dialogue and, more to the point, explicit themes, as well as the drift away from classical Hollywood continuity editing. Tastes changed, mores changed.
Not to mention Hollywood's Mount Rushmore of postwar directors — Alfred Hitchcock, John Ford, Howard Hawks and Billy Wilder — all lost their way, artistically and commercially, in the mid-1960s, allowing a new crop of directors less beholden to the old ways (Steven Spielberg, Martin Scorsese, Francis Ford Coppola, etc) to take their place.
But to a degree, the notion that they don't make em like that anymore is also an illusion. Sturgeon's Law states that "90% of everything is crap" and believe me, if Turner Classic Movies with its deep-dives into the past has proved anything, Hollywood made more than their fair share of lousy movies back in the day.
The difference is, we have to wade through the 90%-of-everything-is-crap on our own nickel whereas time has done the hard work for us with old movies. You know what I mean? We pretty much all know Citizen Kane is the best movie of 1941, but who can say with any certainty what the best movie of 2022 is? I think it takes ten years at least, and even better, twenty, to really get a sense of what was built to last, what was overlooked, and what was empty hype.
No point beyond that. Just (1) they don't make em like that anymore, but (2) keep your eyes peeled and your mind open for the good ones they do make.
My choices are noted with a ★. A tie is indicated with a ✪. Historical Oscar winners are noted with a ✔. Best foreign-language picture winners are noted with an ƒ. A historical winner who won in a different category is noted with a ✱.
Edith Evans' performance in The Whisperers may be good, bad or indifferent, but the notion that she could legitimately wind up with more votes than any other actress in this entire project strikes me as too fanciful to seriously contemplate. And while I'm back in 1967, I thought I would re-do all of the acting categories.
For the curious, Bonnie and Clyde, in a splintered vote, won the poll for best picture of 1967, but just like in real life, Mike Nichols won for directing The Graduate. (Click here to see the results.)
Oh, and check out Alexander's Blog by the Monkey's latest follower, who writes a blog about movies ...
My choices are noted with a ★. A tie is indicated with a ✪. Historical Oscar winners are noted with a ✔. Best foreign-language picture winners are noted with an ƒ. A historical winner who won in a different category is noted with a ✱.
My choices are noted with a ★. A tie is indicated with a ✪. Historical Oscar winners are noted with a ✔.
Hollywood had been sneaking out of the Production Code's bathroom window for a while now but in 1967, it kicked the entire rotting edifice to the ground and defiantly announced, "Dad, I'm pregnant!"
Or something like that.
In any event, the look and feel of Hollywood movies changed radically in 1967, which was both good and bad, depending on who was making the movie. Not everyone knows what to do with their freedom, but them that do — whoa, Nellie!
I've got nothing in particular to say about this milestone in music history except that thirty (-ish) years ago I was eating breakfast in a hotel lobby in my hometown of Nashville, Tennessee, and some local radio station was broadcasting live in honor of Sgt. Pepper and asked the assembled throng whether any of us knew anything about the Beatles. My "pals" volunteered me and I wound up on the radio answering Beatles questions and won $125. Good for me.
Great record, by the way. Established once and for all that rock n roll was a lasting art form. Not to mention it wedded pop to the avant garde (and classical, Indian and a lot of other influences) in a way that sold eleventy thrillion copies and guaranteed the future relevance of all those musical forms, which had been threatening to vanish up their own backsides for some time.
Yeah, you can argue that the Velvet Underground was more inventive or that the Beatles Revolver was a better record or any of the other things people like to say when they slag Sgt. Pepper. But a cultural awakening comes when it comes and it wasn't the Velvet Underground or Revolver or anything else that smacked people in the face.
Beyond that, I've got nothing to say and it's okay. Good morning, good morning.
I'm currently writing a glowing review of My Lunches With Orson: Conversations Between Henry Jaglom and Orson Welles which will be up in a day or two. In the meantime, if you don't know Welles as well as you should, here are some recommendations:
Indispensable
Citizen Kane (1941)—love it or hate it (I love it), you can no more call yourself a film buff without seeing Kane than you can call yourself literate without knowing the alphabet. As Jean-Luc Godard said of Welles, "Everyone will always owe him everything."
The Third Man (1949)—Welles didn't direct this suspense classic (Carol Reed did), but his supporting performance as the charming arch-criminal Harry Lime is one of the most memorable in movie history.
Highly Recommended
The Magnificent Ambersons (1942)—the studio re-shot the ending and the film flopped at the box office, but this story of a spoiled rich kid and his tragic comeuppance is a masterpiece anyway.
The Lady From Shanghai (1948)—starring his soon-to-be ex-wife Rita Hayworth, this film noir thriller boasts the legendary shoot-out in a hall of mirrors.
Touch of Evil (1958)—from the twilight of the film noir era, Welles is a cop run amok terrorizing both good guys (Charlton Heston) and bad guys (Akim Tamiroff).
Chimes at Midnight a.k.a. Falstaff (1965)—the least seen of his classic films, Welles plays Shakespeare's fat fool as a tragic-comic figure and a meta-commentary on his own career.
Recommended
The Stranger (1946)—Suspected Nazi (Welles) plays a deadly game of wits with Nazi hunter (Edward G. Robinson).
Macbeth (1948)—One of Welles's three Shakespeare films, this atmospheric interpretation made a lot more sense after it was restored in the 1990s.
Othello (1952)—personally, I think the only way for a white actor to play Othello is the way Patrick Stewart did it at the Shakespeare Theater back in 1997: with an otherwise all-black cast. Except for the matter of pigmentation, Othello was right in Welles's wheelhouse.
Mr. Arkadin a.k.a. Confidential Report (1955)—the studio messed around so much with this whodunit about a private detective hot on the trail of the mysterious Mr Arkadin, that the Criterion dvd contains three versions.
Compulsion (1959)—another acting-only movie, Welles plays a lawyer defending two killers based on the infamous Leopold and Loeb.
Meh
Journey Into Fear (1943)—director only. Joseph Cotten should have chosen a different cruise line: this one is full of Nazis and nonsense.
Jane Eyre (1944)—acting only. Welles is pretty good as Mr. Rochester, but Joan Fontaine obviously didn't read the novel about a feisty girl who marries above her station.
Tomorrow is Forever (1946)—acting only. I waited forever for this three-hanky weeper to finish. Co-starring Claudette Colbert.
Catch-22 (1970)—acting only. Alan Arkin is good, but the screenplay makes too much sense to capture the flavor of the classic Joseph Heller novel.
F for Fake (1973)—Welles's last feature-length directorial effort, this documentary about art forger Elmyr de Hory and his biographer Clifford Irving who got rich off a fake autobiography of Howard Hughes is beloved by some, but I'm not some.
Burn Before Watching
The V.I.P.'s (1963)—acting only. One of those group-of-strangers-stuck-in-one-place potboilers, this time in a fog-bound airport. Worst layover ever. Glossy, high-toned stupidity starring Richard Burton and Elizabeth Taylor at their worst.
Casino Royale (1967)—no, not the Daniel Craig classic. This is the swingin' 60s spoof. Incoherent, self-indulgent and painfully unfunny. Acting only.
It Happened One Christmas (1977)—made for tv remake of It's A Wonderful Life with Welles as Mr. Potter and Marlo Thomas in the Jimmy Stewart role. Saw it as a teenager and was scarred for life. Acting only.
Strother Martin may be the first winner of a Katie-Bar-The-Door Award to also appear as a guest star on the television show Lost in Space (on that show's first episode broadcast in color, no less).
You may better remember him for this iconic scene from Cool Hand Luke.
Postscript: Actually, I did a bit of research and it turns out that Mercedes McCambridge, who not only won the Katie Award for best supporting actress of 1949 for All the King's Men, but the Oscar as well, was in an episode of Lost in Space several months before Strother Martin. Jeepers!
By the way, there's another Lost in Space alumnus on the list of Katie (and Oscar) nominees in 1967—Michael J. Pollard, who provided memorable support in Bonnie and Clyde.
And you thought Lost in Space was just another load of television crap! Au contraire, Will Robinson! PICTURE (Drama) winner:Bonnie and Clyde (prod. Warren Beatty) nominees:Cool Hand Luke (prod. Gordon Carroll); In Cold Blood (prod. Richard Brooks); In the Heat of the Night (prod. Walter Mirisch); Point Blank (prod. Judd Bernard and Robert Chartoff)
PICTURE (Comedy/Musical) winner:The Graduate (prod. Lawrence Turman) nominees:The Dirty Dozen (prod. Kenneth Hyman); El Dorado (prod. Howard Hawks); The Jungle Book (prod. Walt Disney); Two for the Road (prod. Stanley Donen)
PICTURE (Foreign Language) winner:Belle de jour (prod. Raymond Hakim and Robert Hakim) nominees:Jôi-uchi: Hairyô tsuma shimatsu (Samurai Rebellion) (prod. Toshirô Mifune and Tomoyuki Tanaka); Koroshi no rakuin (Branded to Kill) (prod. Kaneo Iwai and Takiko Mizunoe); Mouchette (prod. Anatole Dauman); Play Time (prod. Bernard Maurice); Le samouraï (prod. Raymond Borderie and Eugène Lépicier); Voyna i mir (War and Peace) (prod. Mosfilm)
ACTOR (Drama) winner: Sidney Poitier (In the Heat of the Night) nominees: Warren Beatty (Bonnie and Clyde); Alain Delon (Le samouraï); Lee Marvin (Point Blank); Paul Newman (Cool Hand Luke); Rod Steiger (In the Heat of the Night)
ACTOR (Comedy/Musical) winner: Dustin Hoffman (The Graduate) nominees: Albert Finney (Two for the Road); Lee Marvin (The Dirty Dozen); Robert Morse (How To Succeed In Business Without Really Trying); Spencer Tracy (Guess Who's Coming to Dinner)
ACTRESS (Drama) winner: Catherine Deneuve (Belle de jour) nominees: Faye Dunaway (Bonnie and Clyde); Edith Evans (The Whisperers); Audrey Hepburn (Wait Until Dark)
ACTRESS (Comedy/Musical) winner: Anne Bancroft (The Graduate) nominees: Audrey Hepburn (Two for the Road); Vanessa Redgrave (Camelot)
DIRECTOR (Drama) winner: Arthur Penn (Bonnie and Clyde) nominees: John Boorman (Point Blank); Robert Bresson (Mouchette); Richard Brooks (In Cold Blood); Luis Buñuel (Belle de jour); Masaki Kobayashi (Jôi-uchi: Hairyô tsuma shimatsu a.k.a. Samurai Rebellion); Jean-Pierre Melville (Le samouraï); Seijun Suzuki (Koroshi no rakuin a.k.a. Branded to Kill)
DIRECTOR (Comedy/Musical) winner: Mike Nichols (The Graduate) nominees: Robert Aldrich (The Dirty Dozen); Stanley Donen (Two for the Road); Howard Hawks (El Dorado); Jacques Tati (Play Time)
SUPPORTING ACTOR winner: Strother Martin (Cool Hand Luke) nominees: Alan Arkin (Wait Until Dark); John Cassavetes (The Dirty Dozen); Peter Cook and Dudley Moore (Bedazzled); Gene Hackman (Bonnie and Clyde); Murray Hamilton (The Graduate); George Kennedy (Cool Hand Luke); Warren Oates (In the Heat of the Night); Michael J. Pollard (Bonnie and Clyde)
SUPPORTING ACTRESS winner: Angie Dickinson (Point Blank) nominees: Lee Grant (In the Heat of the Night); Julie Harris (Reflections In A Golden Eye); Mildred Natwick (Barefoot in the Park); Estelle Parsons (Bonnie and Clyde); Katharine Ross (The Graduate)
SCREENPLAY winner: Calder Willingham and Buck Henry from the novel by Charles Webb (The Graduate) nominees: Luis Buñuel and Jean-Claude Carrière, from the novel by Joseph Kessel (Belle de jour); David Newman and Robert Benton (Bonnie and Clyde)
SPECIAL AWARDS "Mrs. Robinson" (The Graduate) music and lyrics by Paul Simon (Song)
Named for Katie-Bar-The-Door, the Katies are "alternate Oscars"—who should have been nominated, who should have won—but really they're just an excuse to write a history of the movies from the Silent Era to the present day.
To see a list of nominees and winners by decade, as well as links to my essays about them, click the highlighted links:
Remember: There are no wrong answers, only movies you haven't seen yet.
The Silent Oscars
And don't forget to check out the Silent Oscars—my year-by-year choices for best picture, director and all four acting categories for the pre-Oscar years, 1902-1927.
Look at me—Joe College, with a touch of arthritis. Are my eyes really brown? Uh, no, they're green. Would we have the nerve to dive into the icy water and save a person from drowning? That's a key question. I, of course, can't swim, so I never have to face it. Say, haven't you anything better to do than to keep popping in here early every morning and asking a lot of fool questions?
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