One Flew Over The Cuckoo's Nest 1975

The Film:

It's the second of only three films so far to win the "Big Five" awards (and the first was way back in the mid-thirties). It's another personal favourite of mine and an absolute masterclass in acting and directing.

Jack Nicholson had already been around for a few years (this was his fifth nomination!) but this was the film that really cemented his place in Hollywood history (filed under "legend"). He is remarkable in this film and I am mainly looking forward to seeing it again for his performance.

My office-mate Mark (who has been mentioned here before, and probably will be again), on hearing that this was next on the list, just said "that's a very sad film". I can't disagree with that, but I do remember laughing once or twice last time I watched it. And it's a film that I enjoy. I'm not sure how those things can fit together.....

The Ceremony:

March 29th at the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion - hosted by Walter Matthau, Robert Shaw, George Segal, Goldie Hawn and Gene Kelly. How incredibly 70s is that line-up?!

The whole thing kicked off with a song and dance number led by 72 year old Ray Bolger (sort of like Neil Patrick Harris at the Tonys, but without any irony whatsoever) and ended with Liz Taylor, Gene Kelly and a whole Marching Band! (it's all there on Youtube!)

Somewhere in the middle of all this an honorary award was presented to 83 year old Mary Pickford - one of the first Hollywood Megastars and the first female Hollywood Mogul. She received it from her home - and the footage of this (including a bit of a guided tour) is definitely worth checking out on Youtube!


Other Notable Winners That Night:

Cuckoo's Nest took all the big ones - so what was left for everyone else?

The Big Five (although technically there's only four here -
two producers and no screenwriters!)

To lighten the mood, the two Supporting Acting Awards went to comedy performances - George Burns in "The Sunshine Boys" and Lee Grant in "Shampoo". "Dog Day Afternoon" took the other Screenplay award whilst "Barry Lyndon" and "Jaws" were the only films other than Cuckoo's Nest to take more than one Oscar - the former mainly for artsy categories, the latter for Sound, Film Editing and *that* Score, giving John Williams his second Oscar, but first (of four) for Original Score.

It was also the first time (but definitely not the last!) that a British animator won an Oscar - the great Bob "Roobarb" Godfrey took the Animated Short Film award for "Great" - a half hour musical film about Isambard Kingdom Brunel. I vaguely remember watching it many years ago. Here's an excerpt:

Best Song:

Robert Altman's Nashville was nominated for five awards, including the two big ones. It won one, for Best Song, "I'm Easy" - written and performed by Keith Carradine (and performed with varying degrees of competence at many folkie evenings since!)

What We Could/Should Have Been Watching:

She's dead...

It goes without saying that we had the right winner on the night. I personally don't think any of the other nominees were ever really in contention. There's Altman's "Nashville" - which is one of his best, but is still very episodically Altman and more than a bit marmite because of it. Then there's Kubrick's "Barry Lyndon" - overlong and overboring. "Dog Day Afternoon" is a really good film that still gets rave reviews today, but may have confused some of the Academy back in the day (by its dark "dramedy" tone as much as the transgender storyline). My runner-up award probably should go to Dog Day Afternoon, but I'm going to have to go all populist and give it to the other nominated film - the mighty Jaws. Because people still talk about it and watch it more than 40 years on. I was watching a Netflix thing the other day with Carol Burnett and a bunch of precocious young kids, and one of them (aged about 6) was obsessing about wanting to watch Jaws and be scared, but not wanting to watch it coz it might be too scary. For a film to still have that affect on someone who hasn't even seen it that long after it was released - well, it deserves something!

Our Verdict:

Earning every bit of that Oscar!

I think this is about the fourth time I've seen this film. I can confirm everything I said above - Jack Nicholson is remarkable, it is a very sad film, it made me laugh and I really enjoyed it. The seemingly impossible mix of all of those things is what makes it a truly great film. I have no doubt that I will watch it again sometime in the not too distant future.

Based (loosely and contentiously) on Ken Kesey's novel, the basic premise is that McMurphy is a habitual criminal who pleads insanity to try and get himself an easier sentence for his most recent crimes. He gets sent to a high security mental institution which is run by the cold and compassionless Nurse Ratched (Louise Fletcher).

Watching the World Series.

The film follows Mac as he gets his head around exactly what he has let himself in for. He meets a varied and interesting assortment of fellow patients (including several played by actors who went on to more famous roles in the 80s - Danny DeVito, Christopher Lloyd, Vincent Schiavelli, Michael Berryman) and he  bonds with them through a combination of treating them all as perfectly reasonable individuals and refusing to blindly follow Ratched's rules without questioning them.

Mmmmm Juicy Fruit!

The interactions with the other patients are brilliantly handled. Whenever Mac leads a little (or slightly bigger) rebellion, I'm willing them all on. Even though we know that Mac is inside for violence and statutory rape it is very difficult to not like him. (This seems to be a recurring theme in the 70s - the fourth year in a row that I'm cheering for criminals!) The relationship he builds up with Chief Bromden is brilliantly done - and a great example of how to deal effectively (Mac) and ineffectively (Ratched) with selective mutism.

The film has a dark note running all the way through it, which is shown subtly in the first half of the film in the character of Nurse Ratched. When Louise Fletcher won her Oscar she thanked everyone for hating her so much - and she plays the role with such coldness and controlled power that she could almost be classed as evil. (Although not quite)

Some villains are not quite as obvious as others -
but no less deadly!

Her attitude towards the patients - and to young Billy Bibbit in particular - leads to several tragedies in the second half of the film. All arguably entirely of her making, and certainly avoidable if she had behaved differently. The fact that we don't know the reason why she behaves the way she does, and that we don't really find out how the events have affected her personally, just adds to the cold and detached nature of the character. That's a credit to the screenwriter, director and actress! (Although there is a small part of me that would love to see a film following everything from Ratched's perspective - I sort of want to feel sympathetic towards her, but I'm given no reason to do so, so I can't. Which is both brilliant and frustrating!)

This film deserved every one of its awards and it is right up there in my Top Ten in this challenge. The ending is almost unbearably sad, but with just enough of a glimmer of hope to make the previous two hours worth every second. A triumph!

The Godfather Part II 1974

The Film:

So here we go. The ongoing debate - Is this the best sequel of all time? (possibly) Is it even better than the first installment? (very much not so, in my opinion). Is it really as good as people say it is.....

Well, it still remains (technically) the only sequel to have won Best Picture - although Peter Jackson sort of spoilt that when the third part of the Lord of the Rings trilogy took the big prize. It is currently ranked third on IMDb - just behind Part 1, with both of them a whisker behind the mighty Shawshank (which I will return to in twenty films' time....)

I've seen this film a fair few times and I'm looking forward to seeing it again. I like it far more than Andy did when I first showed it to him (and he was very disappointed by it) but I'm very much more a fan of the first one and would even go as far as to suggest (controversially) that this one only got the number of awards that it did in order to make up for Fosse and co swiping several of them first time round.

The Ceremony:

As the poster says, the ceremony was held on Tuesday April 8th. It was at the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion again and was presented by - wait for it - Bob Hope! Along with Shirley McLaine, Sammy Davis Jr and Frank Sinatra. That's one hell of a line up - just watch the finale below! (sponsored by Ernest and Julio Gallo among others!)

This year holds the distinction of being the only time that all nominees for one award were from the same studio (Costume Design - dominated by Paramount.)

It is also the last time to date that one film has had three nominations in the same acting category - in this case De Niro fought off competition from Lee Strasberg (who didn't do much in my opinion, but don't get me started....) and Michael V Gazzo (a much more worthy contender!).

Other Notable Winners That Night:

A handful of Oscars - do you think he called them
Sonny, Michael and Fredo?

Having had to share the spoils with Cabaret two years earlier, tonight was Francis' night. He personally took three - for Film, Director and Screenplay - putting him in a select group who have done the "auteur triple" (a name I've just come up with!). A fair few films have won these three awards, but all three have only been given to the same person in the same year on seven occasions. We've seen two so far (Leo McCarey and Billy Wilder). Film buffs might be able to guess one of the other four (ok, I guessed!) but I'm surprised by the others (there's one in the 80s, two in the 00s and one in the 10s!)

Although the family pretty much cleaned up, three of the four acting awards went elsewhere - to Art Carney (seeing off Nicholson, Pacino and Hoffman!), Ellen Burstyn and Ingrid Bergman - winning her third Oscar 40 years after her first.

Best Song:

Remember Maureen McGovern going down with the ship singing the Oscar winner two years ago (last time The Godfather won)? This time she's been hired for the opening of The Glass Tower (the one that very quickly becomes an Inferno!). Seriously people, stop hiring Maureen McGovern to sing at your events!

What We Could/Should Have Been Watching:

Ouch - that nose!

A real mix of films in contention this year. Fosse was back with "Lenny", but didn't manage to rain on Francis' parade again this time. "The Towering Inferno" was also nominated - unusually for that type of blockbuster-disaster movie, but it is a particularly fine example of the genre. Coppola was actually nominated twice as producer, with his other nomination coming for "The Conversation". All of them fine films with very fine casts! None of them were ever really likely to cause an upset, but if there was a runner-up prize it would probably have gone to Polanski's "Chinatown", which was joint-most-nominated film that year and is still highly regarded today (despite the current status of its director!). It's a long time since I saw Chinatown. I need to watch it again....

Our Verdict:

Beautiful iconic shot!

Vito and Clemenza, off to find a new carpet.....

 I know I'm going to upset a few people with this one, but the fact remains. I don't think Part 2 is anywhere near as good as Part 1. Maybe it's because the first one stands on its own, but the second one needs you to know the first one. Maybe its because the Michael sections of the second one get needlessly complicated with too many characters and situations - or maybe its because the Vito sections are so good I just keep waiting to get back to them. I've now seen this film nearly as many times as I've seen the original and I still don't love it the way that other fans of the series do.

It's all going to end in tears!

Robert De Niro is by far the best thing in the film and he thoroughly deserved his Oscar (far more than Brando did for playing the same character two years previously). He hardly utters a word of English and yet, even for those of us with very limited Italian, we are able to pick up every nuance and inflection in what he's saying, even as we read the subtitles. He's also amazing at reproducing many of the vocal characteristics and other distinctive tics that Brando gave to the older Vito, without ever actually doing an impression of him. As I said before, the Vito parts of the story are superbly done and, for me, are what makes this film great. Some people prefer to watch the whole saga chronologically, and with the chopping about that goes on here between Vito and Michael I can see the appeal - but watching young Vito with the hindsight of what he becomes adds such rich layers to both the acting and the storytelling.

This, however, is only half of the film, and I'm not as impressed with the other parts, which follow Michael as head of the Family in the late 50s. There's a lot going on and Michael's character - and his gradual rise/fall (however you want to look at it) - is developed really well. The continuing bad decisions from Fredo and the predicaments of Frankie Pentangeli (and the fates of both of them) keep the 50s story going for me, but I keep waiting for the timeline to shift back to young Vito, which sort of spoils things for me.

The birth of a Dynasty.

I'm also disappointed that more wasn't done with Diane Keaton (who had one great dramatic scene and really that was it) and Talia Shire (who was nominated for an Oscar for, basically, having a new hair-do and whingeing a bit). Two good actresses on the rise (we'll see both of them again this decade) and they had very little to do....(I know, be careful what you wish for - Sophia Coppola isn't quite the actress that her aunt is!)

I'm probably sounding far too negative in my review here. This is a great film. If you watch it alongside the first Godfather film, then that's probably the best six and a half hours of cinematic storytelling that's out there - and the time will fly by. However, in comparison to what is possibly the greatest film ever (not my favourite, but the greatest), the sequel falls a little short for me.

The Sting 1973

The Film:

It's another film that I love and know well. Newman, Redford and Hill made two films together. I prefer the other one (Butch and Sundance) as I've said previously, but this is also fab!

It's no surprise that I'm a big fan of Paul Newman - I've been shoehorning pictures of him on this blog where ever I can since the 50s. He doesn't actually get his Oscar for a fair while yet, but he's finally in a Best Picture, so I'm going to make the most of it!

The film itself is one I first knew about because of its soundtrack, which I had on vinyl (and as a piano score!) when I was quite young. A particular guitar-version of Joplin's Maple Leaf Rag is an indelible part of my childhood memories and this soundtrack introduced me to more of his music. It's lovely stuff and is a fundamental part of the whole experience of watching this film. Which I am looking forward to doing for the first time in ages!

The Ceremony:

One of David Niven's coolest moments!

April 2nd at Dorothy Chandler Pavilion. Hosted by Burt Reynolds, Diana Ross, John Huston and David Niven.

David Niven was the one of these four presenters that secured his place in Oscar history that night, because of his suave, witty and totally unruffled response to a particularly memorable stage invasion.

One of the weirdest cultural phenomena of the 1970s was the "art" of streaking, which reached its peak in US colleges in 1974. Oscar had its own streaker - a photographer named Robert Opel - who ran behind David Niven making a peace sign. Niven's response was superb - "The only laugh that man will ever get in his life is by stripping off and showing his shortcomings"



Other Notable Winners That Night:

Butter wouldn't melt.

George Lucas got his first nominations this year, Glenda Jackson and Jack Lemmon both won their second Oscars and, other than The Sting (which won seven), the awards were fairly evenly distributed among a variety of films.

Best Supporting Actor went to 71 year old John Houseman for The Paper Chase. Best Supporting Actress went to Tatum O'Neill for Paper Moon - who was more than 60 years younger than Houseman. At ten years old, O'Neill is still the youngest ever winner of a competitive Oscar (yes, younger than Anna Paquin!) and, in my opinion, was a very worthy winner. I love Paper Moon and she is the best thing in it. What a shame she reached her peak aged 10....


Best Song:

It's Barbra singing the song that was everywhere that year (and for several years after). It became the go-to song for comedy performances and parodies of really bad singers right through to the eighties (it's the song Doris' mom makes her sing in the film of Fame). It's a Marvin Hamlisch classic, but it's not as good as Live And Let Die which would have got my vote that year! All together now....."Memries, in the corners of our minds....."

What We Could/Should Have Been Watching:

Don't go in there - they're cooking socks in hell!

My vote would have been with The Sting all the way, although there's an interesting mix of nominees this year, including very 70s comedy "A Touch of Class", very Ingmar Bergman "Cries and Whispers" and early George Lucas classic "American Graffiti".

I could possibly have gone for American Graffiti but, following on from the previously-banned theme of a couple of years ago, I'm giving this one to The Exorcist. Aside from it being Dr Kermode's favourite film (and one I have chatted personally with him about!) it is a very good film, a very cleverly made film (pre computer effects - that cold breath is there because they packed the room with ice!) and people still watch it, talk about it, write about it, make documentaries about it, parody it etc today.

Our Verdict:

The lovely Mr Newman

I make no apologies for making the most of the opportunity to share more pictures of one of our leading men here - he is very lovely to look at. He also does a great, understated, job here of keeping the film going and drawing the audience in - almost by under-acting and letting the story and the ensuing action just do its thing.

Although I prefer Butch and Sundance (just about), The Sting is a great film that - like its predecessor - benefits from being such a classy and clever period piece that it manages to throw in contemporary references to the time it was made whilst still being able to stand the test of time and hold up to viewings nearly five decades later.

This film is set in the 1930s and involves two con-men (younger Johnny Hooker and more experienced Henry Gondorff) setting up a long con aimed at bringing down a bigger criminal in revenge for the murder of Hooker's mentor (played by James Earl Jones' dad Robert!). The plot is detailed and, in parts, complicated - but it hooks the viewer in, which makes it an easy, accessible and satisfying watch. I can't say very much more without giving away far too many of the twists and turns....

Gratuitous Newman shot number two

There are three key things that make this film great. Firstly, the pairing of Newman and Redford is such a great one. Redford got a deserved Best Actor nomination in the slightly bigger part, but Newman is also clearly enjoying playing a character who could so easily have become far less sympathetic in less nuanced hands. The supporting cast are also great (including Eileen Brennan who will now forever be Jack's acting coach from Will and Grace in my mind!) but the whole thing is carried by the two superb leads.

I know, I know, but hey....

I'll let Redford get a look in as well!

The second key thing is the period look and feel of the film. It has been criticised for not being authentically mid-30s (as it apparently veers a good decade forward and back from there in its details). However, I don't think that matters. The overall effect is of something that is both of its time and also timeless. And it looks good. The suits, the cars, the hotel rooms, the train carriages, the cocktails. It's all a backdrop to the serious-but-not-too-serious tone of the story.

The third thing is - of course - the music. Scott Joplin was definitely not 1930s (he died in 1917) but his music is used to great effect throughout the film, setting the scene, highlighting tension, tenderness and comedy in all the right places. It made a big hit out of The Entertainer - and it introduced me to Joplin's music which I still love today. (The Maple Leaf Rag and Bethena - neither of which are on this soundtrack - have become big favourites!).

Various critics have questioned the choice of The Sting as a winner over its (arguably) more worthy fellow nominees. It's seen as being a populist choice, as it was a ridiculously big Box Office hit (particularly in Ireland, apparently, where some people went to see it every week for over a year....). However, I love it and I'm very glad that it won - if only so that the Newman/Redford/Hill trinity got the recognition it deserved.