Is Meryl Streep in Sophie's Choice my favorite performance of 1982?
Uh, no, that would be Julie Andrews in Victor/Victoria, which along with Mary Poppins, The Sound of Music and The Americanization of Emily belongs on the Mount Rushmore of Dame Julie movies.
But I've already voted Julie Andrews two alternate Oscars (and you've agreed with me), so I'm bypassing her for Streep's most iconic performance.
Gotta give her one, right?
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 ✔. Best foreign-language picture winners are noted with an ƒ.
A great year for science fiction ...
Postscript I'm home from the hospital, four days earlier than expected. The surgery was a complete success, and the recovery so far has, according to my surgeon, "obliterated the benchmark." Apparently my heretofore unknown superpower is fighting cancer.
My new stomach and I are still getting to know each other but so far so good. It looks like I'll be around to chat movies with you for a long, long time. Thanks so much to everyone for their good thoughts. — Mythical Monkey
When I was a kid, sportswriters used to say that a football team that had three quarterbacks was a football team that didn't have a quarterback. And I have to say, a movie with five versions is a movie begging for a sixth.
Still, of all the movies released in 1982, Blade Runner is the one still rattling around in my head.
PICTURE (Drama) winner:Blade Runner (prod. Michael Deeley) nominees: Must-See Drama:
PICTURE (Comedy/Musical) winner:Tootsie (prod. Sydney Pollack and Dick Richards) nominees: Must-See Comedy/Musical:
PICTURE (Foreign Language) winner:Fanny och Alexander (Fanny and Alexander) (prod. Jörn Donner) nominees: Must-See Foreign Language:
ACTOR (Drama) winner: Harrison Ford (Blade Runner) nominees:
ACTOR (Comedy/Musical) winner: Dustin Hoffman (Tootsie) nominees:
ACTRESS (Drama) winner: Jessica Lange (Frances) nominees:
DIRECTOR (Drama) winner: Ridley Scott (Blade Runner) nominees:
DIRECTOR (Comedy/Musical) winner: Sydney Pollack (Tootsie) nominees:
SUPPORTING ACTOR winner: Robert Preston (Victor/Victoria) nominees:
SUPPORTING ACTRESS winner: Teri Garr (Tootsie) nominees:
SCREENPLAY winner: Hampton Fancher and David Webb Peoples, from the novel Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? by Philip K. Dick (Blade Runner) nominees:
"That's Typing" Tuesday, in which I share unpolished, unpublished writings from my vast store of unpolished, unpublished writings. Usually, although not always, on Tuesdays.
When I was a kid, sportswriters used to say that a football team that had three quarterbacks was a football team that didn't have a quarterback. And I have to say, a movie available in five different version is a movie begging for a sixth.
Nevertheless. Raymond Chandler wrote in his introduction to a collection of short stories, Trouble Is My Business: "There are things in my stories which I might like to change or leave out altogether. To do this may look simple, but if you try, you find you cannot do it at all. You will only destroy what is good without having any noticeable effect on what is bad. You cannot recapture the mood, the state of innocence, much less the animal gusto you had when you had very little else."
While a director (or any other artist) might have a right to revisit the work of his youth, at some point the effort becomes counterproductive, not only diminishing the quality of the original work, but also robbing him or her of the energy to create something new. I mean, I can't help wondering what movies Francis Ford Coppola and Ridley Scott could have made and never will while they re-worked Apocalypse Now and Blade Runner.
To quote Woody Allen paraphrasing Balzac, "There goes another novel."
Postscript: By the way, I used to wonder the same thing about George Lucas as he fiddled with the original Star Wars trilogy, speculating idly what movies he could have been making had he not been revisiting old ones. Unfortunately, the answer turned out to be The Phantom Menace ...
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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