Matt's Big Oscar Challenge Days 291-292: Ford Focuses

So far in this challenge we've seen Harrison Ford play the all-action hero both as Han Solo in Star Was and as Indiana Jones in Raiders of the Lost Ark. Although he's played a supporting role in other genres, such as small roles in American Graffiti and The Conversation, for the most part he's been all abut the action. However, towards the end of the decade, Ford began to broaden his repertoire playing a cop desperate to protect a young boy and a businessman who has his head turned in an unlikely direction.

Ford received his only ever Oscar nomination for his role in Best Picture nominee Witness where he played a by-the-book police officer. Ford's John Book is drafted in to investigate the murder of a fellow officer in the toilets of 30th Street Station in Philadelphia. The murder's only witness is eight-year-old Samuel Lapp, a member of the Amish community who has rarely been outside of his family's farm. His widowed mother Rachel is unhappy with the way that Book is using Samuel to find the killer and wants to get out of the city as soon a possible. Samuel later discovers that the man he saw was a police officer which leads to Book finding out about a number of corrupt officers including his own boss. Realising that these corrupt officers will try to get to Samuel, an injured Book drives them to safety as they return to their family home. Rachel's father-in-law agrees to take Book in until heals, partly as he wants to protect Samuel. Rather predictably Rachel starts developing feelings for Book, however this doesn't sit well with the elders of the community who feel she may be shunned as a result of this relationship. Book is similarly attracted to Rachel but realises that any romance would cost her a way of life that both she and Samuel have become accustomed to. A violent altercation soon alerts the corrupt officers to Book's whereabouts which leads to an intense showdown in a cow barn.

In the wrong hands, Witness could have just been a paint by numbers thriller that was nothing more than a bit of mindless entertainment. Luckily writers  Earl W. Wallace and William Kelley alongside director Peter Weir had a vision for the film that they more than successfully pulled off. Weir excels at putting together several set pieces which perfectly drive along the action of the film. These set pieces include the brilliantly choreographed opening murder scene in the bathroom and later the rather tender moment where Book and Rachel dance in the barn. It's this romance between Book and Rachel that raises Witness above the simple thriller story and really offers up some interesting themes about desire and community. The way the Amish community is treated in modern society is another area that the film looks at it great detail. Due to their horse-drawn carts and distinctive costume, the Amish are treated as fools by some and as tourist attractions by others. It's arguably Book's understanding of the Amish culture that helps him get through his difficult time and even aids him in bumping off one of his attackers. Ford is really great in the role of Book as he transforms him over the period of the film into someone who is a lot more tolerant of others' beliefs. Ford shares brilliant chemistry with Kelly McGillis as the naive Rachel who herself puts in an excellent performance. McGillis was cruelly overlooked in the Best Actress category which is a shame as I feel her role is the more sympathetic and she was particularly brilliant during the more tender moments. Young Lukas Haas' wide-eyed expressions lent a believability to the role of Samuel as he was able to portray his innocence of modern life with ease. The film was bolstered by some fantastic cinematography from John Seale who let his camera capture every detail of Amish country. Similarly beneficial was the Oscar-nominated score from the legendary Maurice Jarre which perfectly suited the tone of the film. Witness did have a few minor problems, most notably the fact that the corrupt officers felt a little clichéd, but I found it involving from beginning to end. More than anything it proved that Ford could thrive in a role in which he was able to do more than simply run around and offer the odd quip when needed.

Ford later proved that he was the perfect comedy straight man as the only central male figure in another Best Picture nominee, Working Girl. The film itself primarily focused on Tess McGill, a young working-class woman who is hoping to rise from her position as a secretary. Tess has a business degree from night school but still isn't taken seriously by her male superiors who view her mainly as a piece of skirt. Fired from yet another position, Tess is given the job of assistant to financial executive Katharine Parker. Katharine initially seems like the perfect boss and wants her and Tess to work as a team. Tess comes to Katharine with the idea of having their client Trask Industries invest in a radio station with Katharine seemingly on board with the idea. Katharine later tells Tess that the idea was rejected by her superiors but she later discovers that her boss is simply going to pass the idea off as her own. When Katharine is injured on a skiing holiday, Tess gains access to her home and dresses up in her clothes to transform herself into an executive. Posing as one of Katharine's colleagues, Tess goes to a party in the hope of meeting Ford's Jack Trainer with whom she will later have a meeting with. Their initial meeting ends up with Tess waking up in Jack's bed but she later discovers that his team are on board with her idea. As Tess and Jack begin working together, an attraction grows between the pair and they are soon able to convince Trask to meet with them after crashing his daughter's wedding. However, Katharine's return brings with it a whole heap of problems not least the fact that she and Jack were involved in a relationship prior to her injury. At the end of the day it's up to Tess to break through the class barrier and prove that she does belong in a boardroom with the other financial executives.

I was almost immediately charmed by Working Girl during its opening sequence which featured commuters on the Staten Island Ferry making their daily trip into work. The whole sequence was accompanied by Carly Simon's 'Let the River Run' which would later go on to win the Oscar for Best Song. One of the film's greatest attributes is Kevin Wade's brilliantly paced script which engrosses you from the word go. He creates four or five characters who feeling incredibly realistic and all of whom you're willing to spend just under two hours with. Tess in particular is a character that I'm sure a vast majority of people can identify with namely a lowly worker who is a lot smarter than those who are promoted above her due to who they know rather than what they can do. Melanie Griffith is fantastic as Tess and excels in a film in which she appears in almost every scene. She brings a certain sense of style to the role which is perfect for a character who sometimes thinks before she acts. Sigourney Weaver is equally fantastic as Katharine a woman who appears to be everybody's friend but in actuality is simply out for herself. Weaver's cool exterior is the perfect balance with Griffith's more zany antics which makes you believe that they are complete polar opposites. Joan Cusack lends great support as Griffith's similarly wacky friend Cynthia whilst Alec Baldwin puts in a memorable turn as Tess' cheating boyfriend. Griffith, Weaver and Cusack all received nominations for their roles in the film as did director Mike Nichols who here presents another perfectly constructed piece of work. Meanwhile, though not recognised by the Academy, Ford was able to showcase another side of his personality and was the perfect foil for both Griffith and Weaver's romantic affections. At points it seemed that Ford was simply there to act as eye candy but I felt he held his own and has some wonderful chemistry with his leading ladies. Ultimately I found Working Girl to be an intelligent comedy which had a lot to say about class and gender whilst at the same time making a star out of its leading lady.

In the coming years, Ford would mainly be known for more roles in action films which is a shame as both Witness and Working Girl demonstrate that he's an actor who can turn his hand to many different genres.

Next time we have a Best Picture winner that really struck a chord with the Academy voters.

Matt's Big Oscar Challenge Day 205: Top of the Class

As I've noted throughout my journey round the 1960s Oscar nominees, it seems that this decade was a time of great change within the industry. Though the same colourful epics were being made, there appeared to be a move to more character-based stories which employed innovative camera techniques. I would say that a film that definitely fell into the latter category was The Graduate, which was nominated for the Best Picture prize at the 1968 ceremony. The film has a very basic story as it follows Benjamin Braddock's return to his LA home following his graduation from a college on the East Coast. It sees him attempting to decide what to do with the rest of his life while beginning an affair with the much older, married Mrs Robinson, a friend of his parents. As the affair continues, Ben realises that he and the unhappy Mrs Robinson have very little in common and she's later appalled when he's forced into a date with her daughter Elaine. Benjamin initially attempts to sabotage the date, but later bonds with Elaine and falls in love with her. When Mrs Robinson finds out about their growing relationship, she threatens to tell Elaine everything but Benjamin gets there first. The rest of the film sees Benjamin trying to win Elaine back against the wishes of both her parents and the new man in her life.

From the opening sequence, in which the camera tracks Benjamin as he journeys through the airport, I fell in love with The Graduate. It's a film that it's incredibly hard not to like as it combines a simple story with a number of complex characters and plenty of visual flair. There are so many scenes that I love so I won't name them all, but one that sticks in my mind is Ben jumping into his parents' pool wearing a diving helmet. This scene is so great as we watch everything from Ben's point of view, so the sound is muted and all we see are the expressions on the other characters' faces. Obviously the final ten minutes is particularly iconic and has often been copied but never bettered. The film more than benefits from the score by Simon and Garfunkel with both 'The Sound of Silence' and 'Mrs Robinson' going onto become massive hits for the group. The Graduate was the first film to put Dustin Hoffman on the map and even though he was playing a much younger character, he was 30 at the time, he was still utterly believable. Hoffman perfectly exemplifies Benjamin's nervous energy and you never really tire of watching him even though he's in every single scene. Meanwhile Anne Bancroft was perfectly cast as the cold, calculating Mrs Robinson who was only interested in bedding a younger man to break up her monotonous life. I also though Katharine Ross put in a great turn as Elaine, who was a lot more open and was everything her mother wasn't. Buck Henry and Calder Willingham's script was just superb as it jumped from comedy to tragedy with great ease. Unfortunately The Graduate was nominated for the Oscar in a fairly strong year so didn't win the top prize, however Mike Nichols did take home the Best Director trophy which in my eyes makes it the second best film of that year.

Matt's Big Oscar Challenge Day 178-179: The Further Adventures of Liz and Dick

Those of you who have been following the Big Oscar Challenge since the beginning know that I devote a large part of the 1950s portion of the project to chronicle the career of Elizabeth Taylor. As we all know Taylor's relationship with Richard Burton was almost as famous as her acting career and in the 1960s they starred opposite each other in two very different Oscar-nominated films.

The first of these is quite infamous in itself mainly as it took years to make, almost bankrupt a studio and elicited a negative reaction from its lead actress. That film was Cleopatra an epic that took three years to shoot and whose location had to be moved after Taylor, who ultimately earned a fee of $7 million for her appearance, had had emergency surgery and claimed that the British weather wouldn't help her healing process so all the sets had to be rebuilt in Italy. There were also issues on the direction front as original director Rouben Mamoulain was replaced by Joseph L. Mankiewicz who envisaged his film as a six hour epic. The film was edited down to three hours and then lengthened back to four for the DVD release, which I watched, which separated the film into two very distinct segments. The first told the story of the Egyptian Queen's meeting with Julius Caesar, played by Rex Harrison, who he later marries and has a son with however as we know Caesar's closest allies were planning to kill him off. After Caesar's death his closest ally Anthony, played by Richard Burton, heads over to Egypt and ends up having it off with Cleopatra himself however he then has to battle Caesar's nephew who has been named his heir. As the second half of the film goes on the relationship between deteriorates as they realise that their allies are being killed off. By the end of the film there has been plenty of deaths, fires and costumes however the stories off-screen have somewhat eclipsed what was happening on screen.

Watching the film for the first time I found it to be visually spectacular and deserving of its awards for costume design and special effects, but maybe not for cinematography, and I did find the battle scenes the most stimulating. I also thought Liz Taylor improved as the film went on, perhaps because she was on the mend, really maturing during the second half of the film during Cleopatra's scenes with Anthony. However at the same time I personally believed the first two hours of the film were very slow and Taylor had very little chemistry with Rex Harrison meanwhile some of the dialogue was just laughable. Cleopatra is still in the history books as one of the most expensive films of all time and famously almost bankrupted Fox who eventually clawed back the money after the VHS and DVD releases. Taylor meanwhile wasn't too keen when she saw the film at the London premiere as she actually threw up however it wasn't all bad as she met her next husband in Richard Burton. The two were both married at the time they began their affair on the set of Cleopatra and after they married they began to star in a number of films together one of which would see Taylor pick up her second Best Actress Oscar.


That film was Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf? an adaptation of Edward Albee's play which stars Taylor and Burton as married couple Martha and George who corrupt a young couple who join them for drinks. Despite it being late George and Martha agree to have Nick, the newest professor at the college where George teaches, and his wife Honey around however the night soon descend into accusations and betrayal. As the quartet down more alcohol Martha and George argue about their son while Nick confides in George about his relationship with Honey and why there were married in the first place. As director Mike Nichols didn't have to work within the confines of a theatre he takes the play outside George and Martha's house as the four end up at a road house diner and its adjoining car park before ending up back in the living room.

Personally I still found Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf? an incredibly stagy film but I didn't consider this necessarily a bad thing when the four performers are so good. Taylor became one of the first actresses to change her appearance for a part and then win an Oscar here gaining weight and playing a woman ten years older than she was at the time. The film also became of only one of a handful to get nominations in all four acting categories with Burton and George Segal being nominated and Sandy Dennis rightfully winning a Supporting Actress award for breathing life into the innocent Honey. The Oscar-nominated cinematography was also very well done closing in on the characters at the right moment to add intensity to the more emotional moments of the film. What made the film so great though was the chemistry between Taylor and Burton who actually made you believed that they'd been married for years and that they were as old as the characters they played. Overall I greatly enjoyed this film more than the much more expensive Cleopatra as it felt more intense, more emotional and ultimately a more enjoyable watch. After two marriages Burton and Taylor finally divorced in 1976 however the legacy of their romance lives on in films that have some merit to them whether it be the history of their budget or the brilliance of their performances in them.