2011 Alternate Oscars

Of all the people I've covered in this blog over the last fifteen years, no one has fallen farther in my esteem than Woody Allen. Not, mind you, because of the accusations against him (which may very well be true, I couldn't tell you), nor because the undisputed facts that have emerged lead one to conclude that he's, at best, creepy. Here at the Monkey — where I will happily praise the art while beating the artist with a hammer — the fact that Woody Allen might perhaps deserve to spend the rest of his life in jail doesn't mean he didn't make great movies.

No, the problem for me are the movies themselves.

The older I get, the more the "Woody Allen" character — not the screwball nincompoop of the early comedies, but the neurotic, cultured, "wise" Woody of the middle years, Manhattan especially — seems more like the kvetching of an immature, half-smart misanthrope than the epitome of New York sophistication the adolescent me (who knew nothing about nothing) seemed to think he was.

In that sense, the perfect actor to play the "Woody" character isn't Woody Allen but a young Timothée Chalamet in 2019's A Rainy Day in New York because if there's anything more annoying than listening to a teenage kid explaining the meaning of life to you ... well, it's probably reading an old man's blog complaining about teenage kids explaining the meaning of life to you.

And that's what "Woody Allen" sounds like to my ears now — snotty, self-absorbed, brimming with unearned self-confidence yet insecure as only a kid can be, and name-checking the classics without any real sense of what they're about, which can be amusing, even endearing, out of the mouth of a nineteen year old kid, but is ridiculous and sadly pathetic from a man in his forties, fifties and beyond.

Maybe that's why I've come to prefer the Woody Allen movies Woody Allen isn't in. Midnight in Paris, for example.

Gil Pender (Owen Wilson) is an American writer traveling in Paris with his fiancée (Rachel McAdams) and her rich, pompous parents (Kurt Fuller, Mimi Kennedy). Gil has romanticized notions about Paris, specifically Paris of the 1920s when Hemingway, Fitzgerald and Gertrude Stein drank absinthe in the bars and argued about art and literature. His ever practical bride-to-be has romanticized notions only about the handsome know-it-all (Michael Sheen) lecturing at Versailles.

After an argument, Gil finds himself wandering the cobblestone streets of the Latin Quarter when, at the stroke of midnight, a time-traveling Peugeot pulls to the curb and the half-drunk couple inside invite Gil to join them at a fun little party their friends are hosting.

Friends like Ernest Hemingway, F. Scott Fitzgerald, Gertrude Stein — and a beautiful French brunette (Marion Cotillard) who sparks something in Gil that his rich, stuffy fiancee never has.

Owen Wilson is the rare lead in a Woody Allen movie who doesn't play like he's doing a bad Woody Allen imitation — reportedly, Allen rewrote the part to fit Wilson when the actor came aboard, and you can tell: Wilson seems comfortable in his own skin in a way the likes of Colin Firth, Jason Biggs and Kenneth Branagh never did.

Equally good is Corey Stoll who is hilarious as Hemingway, macho and pretentious at the same time, and grumbling perfectly ludicrous Bad Hemingway to Gil's awestruck delight.

"And then the man who is brave and true looks death squarely in the face, like some rhino-hunters I know or Belmonte, who is truly brave. It is because they make love with sufficient passion to push death out of their minds until it returns, as it does to all men, and then you must make really good love again."

As a lifelong Hemingway fan, I laughed so hard every time Corey Stoll was on the screen, I thought I'd have a stroke — because let's face it, while nobody was better at conveying action through words, when he started pontificating about life, nobody was more full of shit than Ernest Hemingway.

Pitch perfect takedowns of F. Scott Fitzgerald, Gertrude Stein, Salvador Dalí, Zelda Fitzgerald, Luis Buñuel, among others, played perfectly by, respectively, Tom Hiddleston, Kathy Bates, Adrien Brody, Alison Pill and Adrien de Van.

And if that's all there was to Midnight in Paris, I'd still say it's the funniest movie Woody Allen has made since he saw his first Ingmar Bergman film.

But he also has some insightful things to say about the false promise of nostalgia and the trap of always living a life of "if only (fill in the blank), then I'd be happy."

First, be happy. Life will fill in the blanks.

Midnight in Paris is my favorite Woody Allen movie, and proof that no matter how false the artist, the art in this case is true.

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. Best animated feature winners are noted with an @. A historical winner who won in a different category is noted with a ✱.

1979 Alternate Oscars

I wrote this nearly five years ago about the films of 1979:

As I look at my list of movies from 1979, I find it interesting just how many of them — Apocalypse Now, Manhattan, North Dallas Forty, All That Jazz, even the robot in Alien — were about the destructive nature of what we now call toxic masculinity. So, of course, the Academy (always with a finger on the pulse of its own product) gave all the Oscars to the movie about toxic feminism, Kramer vs. Kramer. Pee-yew!

Okay, I exaggerate. But Kramer vs. Kramer was, at its heart, comfort food for men in need of reassurance when what they desperately needed was a cold, hard slap in the face.

For years, I had Woody Allen's Manhattan down as the best picture of the year (I first saw it forty years ago, the summer I turned eighteen), but in revisiting it recently, I saw not the wistful romance I remembered but the uncomfortable story of a sweet seventeen year old girl (Mariel Hemingway) who finds herself in the clutches of a creepy, balding homunculus twenty-five years her senior (Woody Allen). Woody works overtime to remake the girl in his own crabbed, misanthropic image, but — good for her! — she wriggles free of his grasp at the last minute. The cinematography (Gordon Willis) is gorgeous, the Gershwin music sublime, and maybe I'm just cranky because both Mariel Hemingway and I are now old enough to be the girl's grandparents, but I don't find this stuff amusing anymore.

To that I would add:

The story of a seventeen year old girl seduced by an older man could be a fine movie (see, e.g., 2009's An Education, starring Carey Mulligan and Peter Sarsgaard in the Mariel Hemingway and Woody Allen roles, respectively) if the movie knew that's what it was about. Which I'm 99% sure Manhattan doesn't. Which is perhaps why Woody Allen was horrified when he saw the first cut of it, begging the studio to bury it.

Joan Didion saw through Manhattan immediately. That's why she was a genius. Me, it took a little longer.

These days I prefer Francis Ford Coppola's Apocalypse Now (the original theatrical release, not the bloated director's cut Apocalypse Now Redux). Based on Joseph Conrad's brilliant novella Heart of Darkness, this tale of the Vietnam War is a violent, funny, profane, and always exciting study of the dark underbelly of our best intentions.

I, too, love the smell of napalm in the morning, especially if it smells like waffles and bacon.

You might also try Alien, the sci-fi horror classic which introduced one of the all-time great monster villains, as well as the greatest kickass heroine of movie history, Sigourney Weaver's Ripley.

Or how about a pair of my favorite comedies, Monty Python's irreverent satire of religion, Life of Brian, and the screwball odd couple comedy, The In-Laws. Don't forget to serpentine!

But whatever you pick, you can't go wrong. It was a great year for 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 ✱.

A Top Five List Inspired By Chris Rock's Top Five

Sullivan's Travels (1941)
Tired of churning out crowd-pleasing comedies such as Ants in Your Plants of 1939, director John Sullivan (Joel McCrea) vows to make an important movie about economic injustice and class struggle. Unfortunately for him, his only brush with poverty is the first of every month when he mails an alimony check to his ex-wife. So he and a down-on-her-luck Veronica Lake set off on a cross-country adventure to learn what's-what. The result is the best comedy of Preston Sturges's illustrious career.

"What do they know in Pittsburgh?"

"They know what they like."

"If they knew what they liked, they wouldn’t live in Pittsburgh."

8½ (1963)
Everyone is ready for Guido (Marcello Mastroanni) to direct another hit movie — the cast, the crew, the press, the studio, his wife, his mistress, his other mistress. Everyone except Guido, that is. He thinks and thinks, and hasn't got an idea left in his overstuffed head. My favorite Fellini film, chock full of those crazy visuals (a man floating through the sky like a balloon, anyone?) that make Fellini so much nutty fun.

"I don't understand. He meets a girl that can give him a new life and he pushes her away?"

"Because he no longer believes in it."

"Because he doesn't know how to love."

"Because it isn't true that a woman can change a man."

"Because he doesn't know how to love."

"And above all because I don't feel like telling another pile of lies."

"Because he doesn't know how to love."

Stardust Memories (1980)
By 1980, Woody Allen was sick of making funny movies, sick of a public that only liked funny movies, and above all, sick of a universe that only makes sense as the punchline of some sort of decidedly-unfunny, existential joke — so, of course, he made a comedy about it. The critics blasted Stardust Memories in its initial release but its stature has grown over the years. Or anyway, I like it, which is all that really counts, right?

"But shouldn't I stop making movies and do something that counts, like-like helping blind people or becoming a missionary or something?"

"Let me tell you, you're not the missionary type. You'd never last. And-and incidentally, you're also not Superman; you're a comedian. You want to do mankind a real service? Tell funnier jokes."

The Simpsons "Krusty Gets Busted" (Season One, Episode 12) (1990)
Laughs are all well and good but what about poetry, what about literature, what about not getting another pie thrown in your face? Sideshow Bob (the voice of Kelsey Grammer) is fed up and he frames his boss Krusty the Clown, takes over the show and talks to the kids about feelings and philosophy and crap like that. Probably the best episode of The Simpsons first season, way back when the show was actually funny.

"Yes I admit it, I hated him. His hackneyed shenanigans robbed me of my dignity for years. I played the buffoon, while he squandered a fortune on his vulgar appetites. That's why I framed Krusty. I would've gotten away with it too if it weren't for these meddling kids."

"Take him away boys."

"Treat kids like equals, they're people too. They're smarter than what you think! They were smart enough to catch me!"

Top Five (2014)
Comedian Andre Allen (Chris Rock) doesn't feel funny anymore, and who can blame him — his movie's a flop, his love life is a TV show, his relatives have their hands out, and his fans just want him to put the bear costume back on. But, hey, at least his day can't get any worse. Right? Raunchy, hilarious and a pretty biting send-up of modern culture, Top Five was last year's most overlooked comedy.

"You coming to the party right?"

"Some people got to work. I'll tell you what — I'll come to your next bachelor party."

"That's not funny, man."

"Tell me somethin' — your next wife, she gonna be white or she gonna be Asian?"

"It's still not funny, man."

"Oh, it's only funny when you say mean shit. Right?"

"Who was that?"

"My father."

The Sociopath In Row L

Aside from being on the wrong end of an 8-0 score, yesterday's game reminded me a lot of this scene from Annie Hall—with, surprisingly, Katie-Bar-The-Door in the Woody Allen role ...

The Great Directors Tournament—The Final Four

Well, the final four is set and there are a couple of surprises.

As I would have guessed, Alfred Hitchcock continued his dominance of the Classic Hollywood bracket, soundly defeating Howard Hawks, 38-11.

And Akira Kurosawa easily dispatched Stanley Kubrick, 29-16, in the Art House Favorites bracket.

Of course, as Erik Beck of the Boston Becks pointed out, different seeding would likely have given us entirely different results.

The other two brackets resulted in mild upsets, at least in terms of the early Vegas betting line. Woody Allen edged Martin Scorsese by a single vote, 26-25, to win the Modern Era bracket. I confess, as a Woody Allen fan, I'm not unhappy about the result. Just mildly surprised.

In the Silent Era bracket, D.W. Griffith defeated one of my personal favorites, the always popular Buster Keaton, 24-22—and right after the Great Stone Face's birthday, at that! Personally, I didn't think Griffith had a chance. But if you've read my posts about him, you know I've come to the conclusion that Griffith belongs on the Mt. Rushmore of film directors, The Birth of a Nation notwithstanding.

All that aside, it's time for the Final Four matchups:

Alfred Hitchcock versus D.W. Griffith
Akira Kurosawa versus Woody Allen

You have until Sunday, October 23, to cast your vote.

The Greatest Directors Tournament: Round Two

The match-ups in second round of the greatest directors tournament are set:

Martin Scorsese versus Woody Allen
Stanley Kubrick versus Akira Kurosawa
Alfred Hitchcock versus Howard Hawks
Buster Keaton versus D.W. Griffith

Cast your votes on the right hand side of the page. You have until next Wednesday evening.

The Great Directors Tournament: Modern Era Bracket—Round One

You have until Sunday to vote in this one. (And don't forget to vote in the Classic Hollywood round.)

The Tale of the Tape:

Woody Allen
Born: December 1, 1935 (Brooklyn, New York)
Directorial Debut: What's Up, Tiger Lily? (1966)
Academy Awards: 21 nominations (6 for direction): 3 wins, including one for direction—Annie Hall (1977)
Katie-Bar-The-Door Awards (for direction): 2 wins—Annie Hall (1977) and Manhattan (both for Comedy/Musical)
Three More To See: Sleeper, Hannah and Her Sisters and Match Point

The Coen Brothers
Born: Joel Coen— December 29, 1954 (Minneapolis, Minnesota); Ethan Coen—September 21, 1957 (Minneapolis, Minnesota)
Directorial Debut: Blood Simple (1984) (Ethan credited as producer)
Academy Awards: 13 nominations each: 4 wins (including one for direction)—No Country For Old Men (2007)
Katie-Bar-The-Door Awards (for direction): 2 wins—Fargo (1996) and The Big Lebowski (1998) (both for Comedy/Musical)
Three More To See: Raising Arizona, Miller's Crossing and O Brother, Where Art Thou?

Martin Scorsese
Born: November 17, 1942 (Queens, New York)
Directorial Debut: Vesuvius VI (short) (1959)
Academy Awards: 8 nominations (6 for direction): 1 win—The Departed (2006)
Katie-Bar-The-Door Awards (for direction): 2 wins—Raging Bull (1980) and Goodfellas (1990) (both for Drama)
Three More To See: Mean Streets, Taxi Driver and The Age of Innocence

Steven Spielberg
Born: December 18, 1946 (Cincinnati, Ohio)
Directorial Debut: The Last Gun (short) (1959)
Academy Awards: 12 nominations (6 for direction): 3 wins (including 2 for direction)—Schindler's List (1993) and Saving Private Ryan (1998)
Katie-Bar-The-Door Awards (for direction): 3 wins— Raiders of the Lost Ark (1981), Schindler's List (1993) and Saving Private Ryan (1998) (all for Drama)
Three More To See: Jaws, Close Encounters of the Third Kind and Jurassic Park

That's Typing Tuesday Wednesday # 16: Blade Runner

"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 ...

31 Days Of Oscar

Turner Classic Movies' annual "31 Days Of Oscar" marathon starts tomorrow morning at 6 a.m. Here's the schedule:

All Times Eastern

The Right Direction
1 Tuesday
6:00 AM Eskimo (1933)
8:00 AM Hide-Out (1934)
9:30 AM Manhattan Melodrama (1934)
11:15 AM Thin Man, The (1934)


Self-Made Men
1:00 PM Citizen Kane (1941)
3:00 PM Great Dictator, The (1940)
5:15 PM Richard III (1955)

What A Character!
8:00 PM Private Life Of Henry VIII, The (1933)
10:00 PM Man for All Seasons, A (1966)
12:15 AM Anne Of The Thousand Days (1969)

Love At First Sight
2:45 AM Last Summer (1969)
4:30 AM Anthony Adverse (1936)

2 Wednesday
7:00 AM Great Waltz, The (1938)
8:45 AM Little Foxes, The (1941)
11:00 AM Nicholas and Alexandra (1971)
2:15 PM Heart Is A Lonely Hunter, The (1968)
4:30 PM Lonelyhearts (1958)
6:15 PM Moon Is Blue, The (1953)

Most Nominated Actor
8:00 PM Five Easy Pieces (1970)
10:00 PM Terms of Endearment (1983)
12:30 AM Easy Rider (1969)
2:15 AM Last Detail, The (1973)


Husbands And Wives
4:15 AM Guardsman, The (1931)

3 Thursday
6:00 AM Witness For The Prosecution (1957)
8:00 AM Who's Afraid Of Virginia Woolf? (1966)

Four In One
10:30 AM Guess Who's Coming to Dinner (1967)
12:30 PM Johnny Belinda (1948)
2:30 PM For Whom The Bell Tolls (1943)
5:30 PM Streetcar Named Desire, A (1951)

1929-1930
8:00 PM Love Parade, The (1929)
10:00 PM All Quiet On The Western Front (1930)
12:30 AM Big House, The (1930)
2:00 AM Divorcee, The (1930)
3:30 AM Disraeli (1929)

Kerr Trouble
5:00 AM Edward, My Son (1949)

4 Friday
7:00 AM Separate Tables (1958)
9:00 AM Sundowners, The (1960)


Like Kissing Your Sister
11:30 AM Champ, The (1931)
1:00 PM Dr. Jekyll And Mr. Hyde (1932)
2:45 PM Lion In Winter, The (1968)
5:15 PM Funny Girl (1968)

An All-Knighter
8:00 PM Heiress, The (1949)
10:00 PM Bridge On The River Kwai, The (1957)
1:00 AM Ryan's Daughter (1970)
4:30 AM Mourning Becomes Electra (1947)

5 Saturday
7:15 AM Othello (1965)
10:15 AM Becket (1964)

The Good Luck Charm
1:00 PM Mr. Deeds Goes to Town (1936)
3:00 PM One Hour With You (1932)
4:30 PM Awful Truth, The (1937)
6:15 PM Father Of The Bride (1950)

Real Men
8:00 PM Stand And Deliver (1988)
10:00 PM Gandhi (1982)
1:30 AM Ali (2001)
4:30 AM Lust For Life (1956)

6 Sunday
7:00 AM Conquest (1937)
9:00 AM Abe Lincoln In Illinois (1940)
11:00 AM Jolson Story, The (1946)
1:15 PM Birdman Of Alcatraz (1962)
3:45 PM Viva Zapata! (1952)
5:45 PM Pride Of The Yankees, The (1942)


Retired Categories
8:00 PM Sunrise (1927)
10:00 PM Wings (1927)
12:30 AM House on 92nd Street, The (1945)
2:15 AM Viva Villa! (1934)
4:15 AM Damsel In Distress, A (1937)

All Or Nothing
7 Monday
6:00 AM Here Comes the Navy (1934)
7:30 AM Trader Horn (1931)
10:00 AM House of Rothschild, The (1934)
12:00 PM Libeled Lady (1936)

Picture Perfect
1:45 PM Black Swan, The (1942)
3:15 PM Snows Of Kilimanjaro, The (1952)
5:15 PM South Pacific (1958)


Playing Out The String
8:00 PM Blossoms In The Dust (1941)
10:00 PM Mrs. Miniver (1942)
12:30 AM Madame Curie (1943)
2:45 AM Mrs. Parkington (1944)
5:00 AM Valley Of Decision, The (1945)

The Most Nominations ... Without Winning
8 Tuesday
7:00 AM Shoes of the Fisherman, The (1968)
9:45 AM Seven Brides For Seven Brothers (1954)
11:30 AM 2010 (1984)
1:30 PM Hanging Tree, The (1959)
3:30 PM On the Beach (1959)
5:45 PM Caine Mutiny, The (1954)


Winners In Both Leading And Supporting Roles
8:00 PM Gaslight (1944)
10:00 PM Kramer vs. Kramer (1979)
12:00 AM Glory (1989)
2:30 AM Sin Of Madelon Claudet, The (1931)

Alien Invasions
4:30 AM Red (1994)

9 Wednesday
6:30 AM Woman In The Dunes (1964)
8:45 AM Battaglia di Algieri, La (1967)
11:00 AM Z (1969)


The Write Stuff
1:30 PM Ball Of Fire (1941)
3:30 PM Foreign Affair, A (1948)
5:30 PM Fortune Cookie, The (1966)

Memorable Oscar Moments
8:00 PM Come Back, Little Sheba (1952)
10:00 PM Cavalcade (1933)
12:00 AM What Ever Happened to Baby Jane? (1962)

Sweet Music
2:30 AM Some Came Running (1958)
5:00 AM Robin And The 7 Hoods (1964)

10 Thursday
7:15 AM Rich, Young And Pretty (1951)
9:00 AM Because You're Mine (1952)
11:00 AM Tonight and Every Night (1945)
12:45 PM Romance On The High Seas (1948)
2:30 PM Anchors Aweigh (1945)
5:00 PM Star! (1968)


The Most Decorated Decorator
8:00 PM Annie Get Your Gun (1950)
10:00 PM American in Paris, An (1951)
12:00 AM Too Young To Kiss (1951)
2:00 AM Picture of Dorian Gray, The (1945)
4:00 AM Thousands Cheer (1943)

11 Friday
6:15 AM National Velvet (1944)
8:30 AM Yearling, The (1946)
10:45 AM Random Harvest (1942)
1:00 PM Quo Vadis (1951)
4:00 PM Executive Suite (1954)
5:45 PM Little Women (1949)

Any Regrets?
8:00 PM Graduate, The (1967)
10:00 PM Forrest Gump (1994)
12:30 AM Pretty Woman (1990)
2:45 AM Cat Ballou (1965)


Brother And Sister Acts
4:30 AM Free Soul, A (1931)

12 Saturday
6:15 AM None but the Lonely Heart (1944)

The Best Of The Best
8:15 AM Dark Victory (1939)
10:00 AM Of Mice and Men (1939)
12:00 PM Ninotchka (1939)
2:00 PM Wuthering Heights (1939)
4:00 PM Stagecoach (1939)
5:45 PM Mr. Smith Goes to Washington (1939)
8:00 PM Wizard Of Oz, The (1939)
10:00 PM Gone With the Wind (1939)
2:00 AM Goodbye, Mr. Chips (1939)
4:00 AM Love Affair (1939)


They Shoot, He Scores
13 Sunday
6:00 AM Cowboy And The Lady, The (1938)
8:00 AM Keys of the Kingdom, The (1945)
10:30 AM Camelot (1967)
1:45 PM Daddy Long Legs (1955)
4:00 PM Coney Island (1943)
6:00 PM Mother Wore Tights (1947)

It Takes Two
8:00 PM Miracle On 34th Street (1947)
10:00 PM Going My Way (1944)
12:30 AM Here Comes Mr. Jordan (1941)
2:15 AM Story of Louis Pasteur, The (1935)

Oscar Falls In Love
4:00 AM Room With a View, A (1985)

14 Monday
6:00 AM Alice Adams (1935)
8:00 AM Flirtation Walk (1934)
10:00 AM More the Merrier, The (1943)
12:00 PM Talk Of The Town, The (1942)
2:00 PM Bishop's Wife, The (1947)
4:00 PM Philadelphia Story, The (1940)
6:00 PM Goodbye Girl, The (1977)


All In The Family
8:00 PM Rachel, Rachel (1968)
10:00 PM Casablanca (1942)
12:00 AM Treasure of the Sierra Madre, The (1948)
2:15 AM Victor/Victoria (1982)

French Kisses
4:45 AM Cousin, Cousine (1975)

15 Tuesday
6:30 AM Au Revoir, Les Enfants (1987)
8:15 AM Last Metro, The (1980)
10:30 AM Black Orpheus (1959)
12:30 PM Mon Oncle (1958)

The Most Writing Nominations
2:30 PM Alice (1990)
4:30 PM Radio Days (1987)
6:00 PM Hannah and Her Sisters (1986)


Oscar Firsts
8:00 PM My Man Godfrey (1936)
10:00 PM Cimarron (1931)
12:15 AM Lilies of the Field (1963)
2:00 AM Kiss of the Spider Woman (1985)
4:15 AM Two Women (1960)

16 Wednesday
6:00 AM Grand Illusion (1937)
8:00 AM Chang (1927)
9:30 AM Lady For A Day (1933)
11:15 AM Life Of Emile Zola, The (1937)
1:15 PM Since You Went Away (1944)
4:15 PM Sounder (1972)
6:15 PM Swing Time (1936)

It's An Honor Just To Be Nominated
8:00 PM My Favorite Year (1982)
10:00 PM Lawrence of Arabia (1962)
2:00 AM Stunt Man, The (1980)
4:15 AM Ruling Class, The (1972)

17 Thursday
7:00 AM Goodbye, Mr. Chips (1969)


How To Earn An Oscar Nomination?
10:00 AM Never On Sunday (1960)
12:00 PM Butterfield 8 (1960)
2:00 PM Street Angel (1928)
4:00 PM Anna Christie (1930)
5:30 PM Irma La Douce (1963)

Auspicious Debuts
8:00 PM 12 Angry Men (1957)
10:00 PM Chariots Of Fire (1981)
12:15 AM Room at the Top (1959)
2:15 AM American Beauty (1999)

Oscar ♥ New York
4:15 AM Do the Right Thing (1989)

18 Friday
6:30 AM Naked City (1948)
8:15 AM Dead End (1937)
10:00 AM Five Star Final (1931)
11:45 AM On the Town (1949)
1:30 PM It's Always Fair Weather (1955)
3:15 PM My Sister Eileen (1942)
5:00 PM Producers, The (1968)
6:30 PM It Should Happen To You (1954)


The Most Writing Wins
8:00 PM Hospital, The (1971)
10:00 PM Marty (1955)
12:00 AM Network (1976)
2:15 AM Goddess, The (1958)

The Most Best Actor Nominations
4:15 AM San Francisco (1936)

19 Saturday
6:15 AM Bad Day At Black Rock (1955)
7:45 AM Old Man and the Sea, The (1958)
9:15 AM Inherit The Wind (1960)
11:30 AM Captains Courageous (1937)

The Most Supporting Actor
1:30 PM Come And Get It (1936)
3:30 PM Westerner, The (1940)
5:30 PM Sergeant York (1941)

Clean Sweeps
8:00 PM Gigi (1958)
10:00 PM Lord of the Rings: Return of the King (2003)
1:30 AM Last Emperor, The (1987)

Nominated For Best Director, Not Best Picture
4:15 AM Blow-Up (1966)

20 Sunday
6:15 AM 2001: A Space Odyssey (1968)
9:00 AM Summertime (1955)
11:00 AM Morocco (1930)
12:45 PM In Cold Blood (1967)
3:15 PM Third Man, The (1949)
5:15 PM Inn of the Sixth Happiness, The (1958)


From Stage To Screen
8:00 PM Born Yesterday (1950)
10:00 PM My Fair Lady (1964)
1:00 AM Auntie Mame (1958)
3:30 AM Hasty Heart, The (1950)
5:30 AM Night Must Fall (1937)

21 Monday
7:30 AM Subject Was Roses, The (1968)
9:30 AM Sweet Bird Of Youth (1962)
12:00 PM Watch On The Rhine (1943)
2:00 PM Magnificent Yankee, The (1950)
3:30 PM Bad Seed, The (1956)
6:00 PM Member of the Wedding, The (1952)

Oscar Onlys
8:00 PM State Fair (1945)
10:00 PM Best Years Of Our Lives, The (1946)
1:00 AM Pygmalion (1938)
2:45 AM Two Arabian Knights (1927)
4:30 AM Midsummer Night's Dream, A (1935)

22 Tuesday
7:00 AM Divine Lady, The (1929)
8:45 AM Limelight (1952)
11:15 AM Day At The Races, A (1937)
1:15 PM Ship of Fools (1965)
3:45 PM Devil and Daniel Webster, The (1941)
5:45 PM Skippy (1931)
7:15 PM Red Balloon,The (1956)


Two In One
8:00 PM Defiant Ones, The (1958)
10:00 PM Amadeus (1984)
1:00 AM Thelma & Louise (1991)
3:15 AM Giant (1956)

23 Wednesday
6:45 AM Suddenly, Last Summer (1959)

Sound Bites
8:45 AM Too Many Husbands (1940)
10:15 AM Lost Horizon (1937)
12:30 PM You Were Never Lovelier (1942)
2:15 PM Sahara (1943)
4:00 PM Cover Girl (1944)
6:00 PM Song to Remember, A (1945)

Best Picture, But Not Most Academy Awards
8:00 PM All the King's Men (1949)
10:00 PM You Can't Take It With You (1938)
12:15 AM Great Ziegfeld, The (1936)

Most Honored Foreign Director
3:30 AM Amarcord (1973)

24 Thursday
6:00 AM 8 1/2 (1963)
8:30 AM La Strada (1954)


Awards By Association
10:30 AM Lavender Hill Mob, The (1951)
12:00 PM Great Expectations (1946)
2:00 PM Cromwell (1970)
4:30 PM Doctor Zhivago (1965)

Most Directing Nominations
8:00 PM Dodsworth (1936)
10:00 PM Ben-Hur (1959)
2:00 AM Friendly Persuasion (1956)
4:30 AM Collector, The (1965)

Sister Acts
25 Friday
7:00 AM Suspicion (1941)
9:00 AM To Each His Own (1946)

Rookies Of The Year
11:15 AM Marie Antoinette (1938)
2:00 PM Corn Is Green, The (1945)
4:00 PM Search, The (1948)
6:00 PM Bus Stop (1956)

Five For Four
8:00 PM On The Waterfront (1954)
10:00 PM From Here To Eternity (1953)
12:15 AM Tom Jones (1963)
2:30 AM Bonnie and Clyde (1967)

On Second Thought
4:30 AM Mutiny on the Bounty (1962)

26 Saturday
7:45 AM Ivanhoe (1952)
9:45 AM King Solomon's Mines (1950)
11:45 AM Adventures of Robin Hood, The (1938)
1:45 PM Letter, The (1940)
3:30 PM Maltese Falcon, The (1941)
5:30 PM Fanny (1961)


The Big Five
8:00 PM It Happened One Night (1934)
10:00 PM One Flew Over The Cuckoo's Nest (1975)
12:30 AM Silence Of The Lambs, The (1991)

Real Women
2:45 AM Frances (1982)
5:15 AM Silkwood (1983)

27 Sunday
8:00 AM Sister Kenny (1946)
10:30 AM I'll Cry Tomorrow (1955)
12:45 PM I Want To Live! (1958)
3:00 PM Sunrise At Campobello (1960)
5:30 PM Joan Of Arc (1948)

Notable No-Shows
8:00 PM Mildred Pierce (1945)
10:00 PM Annie Hall (1977)
12:00 AM Informer, The (1935)
2:00 AM Morning Glory (1933)


The Lion Roars
3:30 AM Smilin' Through (1932)
5:30 AM Broadway Melody Of 1936 (1935)

28 Monday
7:30 AM David Copperfield (1935)
9:45 AM Tale Of Two Cities, A (1935)
12:00 PM Citadel, The (1938)
2:00 PM Human Comedy, The (1943)
4:00 PM Test Pilot (1938)
6:00 PM Battleground (1949)

Nominations In A Bottle?
8:00 PM Arthur (1981)
10:00 PM Lost Weekend, The (1945)
12:00 AM Days of Wine and Roses (1962)
2:00 AM Under the Volcano (1984)
4:00 AM Dresser, The (1983)

1 Tuesday
6:15 AM Johnny Eager (1942)
8:15 AM Cat On A Hot Tin Roof (1958)


Two By Four
10:30 AM Star Is Born, A (1937)
12:30 PM Star Is Born, A (1954)
3:30 PM Cyrano De Bergerac (1950)
5:30 PM Cyrano de Bergerac (1990)

Oscar Mosts
8:00 PM Emperor Waltz, The (1948)
10:00 PM All About Eve (1950)
12:30 AM Cabaret (1972)
2:45 AM Somebody Up There Likes Me (1956)
4:45 AM Yesterday, Today and Tomorrow (1963)

The Most Honored Producer
2 Wednesday
6:45 AM Yankee Doodle Dandy (1942)
9:00 AM Jezebel (1938)
11:00 AM All This, and Heaven Too (1940)
1:30 PM Captain Blood (1935)
3:45 PM Kings Row (1942)
6:15 PM Four Daughters (1938)

Gone But Not Forgotten
8:00 PM East Of Eden (1955)
10:00 PM Around The World In 80 Days (1956)
1:30 AM Greystoke: The Legend of Tarzan, Lord of the Apes (1984)
4:00 AM Obsession (1976)

3 Thursday
6:00 AM Great Caruso, The (1951)
8:00 AM Merry Widow, The (1952)
10:00 AM Way We Were, The (1973)
12:30 PM North By Northwest (1959)
3:00 PM Kind Lady (1951)
4:30 PM Strip, The (1951)
6:00 PM Shall We Dance (1937)


One And Done
8:00 PM Grand Hotel (1932)
10:00 PM Mutiny on the Bounty (1935)
12:30 AM Broadway Melody, The (1929)

Nominated For Playing A Nominee
2:15 AM Star, The (1952)
4:00 AM California Suite (1978)