If you put a gun to my head and asked me what my favourite film of all time was then the answer would probably be 12 Angry Men. It's one of those films that I could just watch over and over again while it's also incredibly well-made. Shockingly, I've watched very few of director Sidney Lumet's other films and that's one mistake I've been able to correct with the help of this project. This post will look over the two Oscar-nominated films that he directed in the 1970s.
One of the things that makes 12 Angry Men so effective is that it's almost entirely set in the jury room and I felt the same way about Dog Day Afternoon. Though it's not restricted to one setting, Dog Day Afternoon is almost wholly set in and around a bank that is being robbed. The film begins with Sal and Sonny robbing a bank and attempting to commit the crime without being caught. Things soon go awry when they discover that there's hardly any money left in the bank and instead decides to steal a bunch of traveller's cheques. However, as Sonny tries to burn off the bank's register on the cheques, smoke starts to billow from the bank which in turn alerts locals that something's not right at the bank. Soon the pair are discovered and the police descend on the bank and, as they attempt to diffuse the situation, we learn more about our central pair. As Sonny is the man that the police are in constant contact with, he comes out of the bank on several occasions to talk to Detective Moretti, the policeman in charge of handling the hostage situation. Sonny soon becomes a local hero as he is attempting to stand up for the common man. Sonny later becomes a gay icon as we discover he married a man in a secret ceremony and has robbed the bank in order to pay for his wife Leon's sexual reassignment surgery. However, Leon is less than thrilled with this revelation and it seems as if he's been trying to escape Sonny for years. Meanwhile, the more menacing Sal is getting increasingly agitated as he doesn't really care for Sonny's flamboyance and his need to be a friend to all of their hostages. Soon, the stage is set for the final act in which Sonny and Sal attempt to escape, while the police endeavour to stop them.
I found Dog Day Afternoon to be a slow burning story that took its time to develop. It was only after Moretti and his team arrived that I really started to get involved in the film. Lumet and writer Frank Piersen create an intriguing anti-hero in Sonny, a character who we begin to learn more of once the hostage situation is in full swing. Throughout the film our perception of Sonny changes as we learn that, in an odd sort of way, he's trying to do the best for everyone. The character of Sal is more interesting, as we have to make our own minds up about him, and he really isn't as in your face as Sonny is. The pairing of Al Pacino and John Cazale is a great one and their loud and calm double act contrasts their roles in The Godfather films. I found Pacino to be more captivating here than he was in The Godfather films and I found that the character of Sonny really tested him. Meanwhile Chris Sarandon was brilliant in his handful of scenes as Leon, the pre-op transsexual who wanted nothing to do with his new husband. The claustrophobic nature of the over-heated bank added to the tense feel of the film as Sonny started to lose his head. As I'd never seen the film before, I have to admit that the final sequence had me on the edge of my seat. I felt that Dog Day Afternoon perfectly enforced my views that Lumet is an assured director who gets the best out of his actors and utilises his setting to full effect.
If I hadn't thought that already then I would've definitely to come that conclusion after watching Network. Of all of Lumet's films Network definitely did the best at the Oscars and Paddy Chayefsky's script is still widely regarded as one of the best of all time. Though I'd never seen Network before I was aware that it centred around Peter Finch's Howard Beale and the fact that he claimed he was going to commit suicide live on air. What I didn't realise was that the main story was a lot bigger than that and involved the UBS Network's head of programming Diana Christensen and her wish to put Beale back on the air after he becomes one of the biggest talking points in the country. Christensen is portrayed as a woman who puts her career before anything else and can't seem to sustain a relationship with anyone. Even her affair with the married former head of news Max Schumacher doesn't satisfy her and he eventually tries to act as the voice of reason in the film. Meanwhile Beale's power over the masses has no ends and he soon attempts to block a merger between UPS' owner CCA and Saudi Arabians. Obviously the CCA aren't happy about this and attempt to put end to Beale once and for all. But, as Network shows us throughout, people are guided by television and trust it more than they do the people in their own lives.
Coming into Network, I was expecting it to all revolve around Peter Finch as Howard Beale, but I was wrong. Even though Finch rightfully won the Best Actor Oscar, I would've said he was more of a supporting performer while William Holden was the real star of the show. Holden's Schumacher is the wise old sage of the film and he is the only person who doesn't always think about what's best for ratings. Chayefsky's satirical look at the world of television is incredibly witty and the dialogue is written with a sort of beat at the heart of it. Finch is utterly spellbinding as the crazy Beale while Faye Dunaway puts in an Oscar-winning performance as Diana. I found Dunaway to be great here also, playing the strong woman in a man's world she was almost the tragic heroine of the piece as she discovered that she couldn't be anything other than her job. Robert Duvall as the company' money man and Ned Beatty as CCA's chairman both put in great supporting turns with the latter really playing the film's version of the devil incarnate. In fact, the only cast member not to make much of an impression was Beatrice Straight, odd seeing as she won the Best Supporting Actress Oscar for her role in the film. Straight does hold the record for appearing on screen for the shortest time. Network continues Lumet's love of filming inside a certain location, with the UPS network buildings housing the majority of the film. Once again these buildings feel quite claustrophobic as they contain rooms full of people talking about meaningless statistics and programme concepts. Overall, I found Network to be a more wholly enjoyable film than Dog Day Afternoon even if it wasn't as intriguing or gripping. Network, and in particular its script, has influenced a whole generation of directors and screenwriters, many of whom have mocked the industry in which they made their name. Though Network is an incredibly influential film, it still holds up today in its own right and I do think people should seek it out if they haven't already seen it.
Next time we take things a bit easier with a lightweight comedy about the afterlife.
Friday, 20 September 2013
Friday, 13 September 2013
Matt's Big Oscar Challenge Day 231: Boxing Clever
So far in the 1970s we've seen a lot of worthy winners of the Best Picture accolade - The French Connection, One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest and The Godfather films. However, not all Best Picture winners can meet the lofty heights of these cinematic masterpieces. A case in point is the next film on the list - Rocky, which is often regarded as one of the films that shouldn't have won the award. I've personally viewed Rocky as a sports movie but boxing does play a very small part in the first part of the franchise.
Like with Star Wars, I feel that Rocky is sometimes judged a series of films rather than just one alone. While the sequels had a sort of camp value to them, the first Rocky film has a simple story and a good heart. Though I'm guessing most of you would've seen the film, the Rocky of the title is Sylvester Stallone's debt collector and amateur boxer Rocky Balboa. The majority of the movie is based on the current state of Rocky's life as he is kicked out of the gym he's trained at for years and chastised by his boss for being too kind. Indeed, Rocky's one pleasure life is going to his local pet store mainly because he's in love with shop assistant Adrian, the timid sister of Rocky's best friend Paulie. Rocky' life changes after world champion Apollo Creed selects Rocky to be his opponent in a special match, following the injury of Apollo's top title contender. While Apollo views the bout as nothing more than a show, Rocky treats it as a fight and trains the hardest he's ever trained. At the same time, Rocky and Adrian grow closer and I feel that the film is just as much a love story as it is a film about boxing.
It's fair to say that the most memorable scenes from Rocky are the ones involving the boxing match and Rocky's training for it. We remember his punching of the meat and his running up down the steps as well as the iconic 'Gonna Fly Now', which was nominated for Best Original song. What we don't recall is that the majority of the film is simply about Rocky going about his daily life and trying to make something of himself. His courtship with Adrian are some of the film's most compelling scenes as Rocky explains how he came to be a boxer in the first place. Though he probably lost sight of the character in later films, Sylvester Stallone really made Rocky a sympathetic character who you wanted to follow. Stallone's script was simplistic but at the same time believable and I never felt bored. All in all the film received four acting nominations for Stallone alongside Burgess Meredith as long-in-the-tooth coach Mickey and Burt Young as Paulie. For me though the best performance came from Talia Shire who transformed from meek wallflower into Rocky's gorgeous girlfriend. While I liked the film, I can't really say it was a masterpiece and it didn't really feel like a film that deserved winning Best Picture. Ultimately Rocky is a great character study with some memorable set pieces and fine performances which makes it more than just a sports movie. But you'll just have to wait and see to find out who I thought should have won Best Picture at the 1977 ceremony.
Next time a double bill of films from the director of one of my favourite films of all time.
Like with Star Wars, I feel that Rocky is sometimes judged a series of films rather than just one alone. While the sequels had a sort of camp value to them, the first Rocky film has a simple story and a good heart. Though I'm guessing most of you would've seen the film, the Rocky of the title is Sylvester Stallone's debt collector and amateur boxer Rocky Balboa. The majority of the movie is based on the current state of Rocky's life as he is kicked out of the gym he's trained at for years and chastised by his boss for being too kind. Indeed, Rocky's one pleasure life is going to his local pet store mainly because he's in love with shop assistant Adrian, the timid sister of Rocky's best friend Paulie. Rocky' life changes after world champion Apollo Creed selects Rocky to be his opponent in a special match, following the injury of Apollo's top title contender. While Apollo views the bout as nothing more than a show, Rocky treats it as a fight and trains the hardest he's ever trained. At the same time, Rocky and Adrian grow closer and I feel that the film is just as much a love story as it is a film about boxing.
It's fair to say that the most memorable scenes from Rocky are the ones involving the boxing match and Rocky's training for it. We remember his punching of the meat and his running up down the steps as well as the iconic 'Gonna Fly Now', which was nominated for Best Original song. What we don't recall is that the majority of the film is simply about Rocky going about his daily life and trying to make something of himself. His courtship with Adrian are some of the film's most compelling scenes as Rocky explains how he came to be a boxer in the first place. Though he probably lost sight of the character in later films, Sylvester Stallone really made Rocky a sympathetic character who you wanted to follow. Stallone's script was simplistic but at the same time believable and I never felt bored. All in all the film received four acting nominations for Stallone alongside Burgess Meredith as long-in-the-tooth coach Mickey and Burt Young as Paulie. For me though the best performance came from Talia Shire who transformed from meek wallflower into Rocky's gorgeous girlfriend. While I liked the film, I can't really say it was a masterpiece and it didn't really feel like a film that deserved winning Best Picture. Ultimately Rocky is a great character study with some memorable set pieces and fine performances which makes it more than just a sports movie. But you'll just have to wait and see to find out who I thought should have won Best Picture at the 1977 ceremony.
Next time a double bill of films from the director of one of my favourite films of all time.
Thursday, 12 September 2013
Matt's Big Oscar Challenge Day 229-230: The Rise of the Summer Blockbuster
Throughout my reviews of 1970s films I've noted how many of the stars and directors would go on to change the cinematic landscape. One such film-maker was Steven Spielberg who, in 1975, essentially created the summer blockbuster. At the time Spielberg had only directed one cinematic feature, The Sugarland Express, and so nobody expected his film about a shark to be particularly historical. But, by putting the film out over the summer, traditionally the time in which studios dumped their less-appealing films, Spielberg capitalised on a new market. His film went on to become the most successful film of all time, for at least two years, and essentially created what we know today as the summer blockbuster.
That film was of course Jaws, adapted from the book by Peter Benchley, and focusing on a shark which threatens the residents of the close-nit Amity Island. Amity's Chief of Police Martin Brody is the first to identify a shark attack after a young girl is killed. But the island's mayor is keen not to close the beach as summer season is on its way. The mayor also clashes with Brody, who was once a cop in the big city, as he doesn't think he understands island life. Following another death by shark, Brody calls in marine biologist Matt Hooper who is able to identify the type of shark the islanders should be looking for. With summer trade at its busiest, the shark strikes again and it's only then that the mayor instructs Brody to hunt down the animal. Brody hires old sea dog Quint and he and Hooper join him on the hunt for the shark. Obviously the search is hard and the mismatched trio don't always live harmoniously together. Indeed Quint's old-fashioned mentality and Hooper's gadgetry aren't best suited to one another while Brody's hatred of the water doesn't exactly make him the ideal candidate to look for a shark.
One of the joys of watching Jaws is the simplicity of the story and the way in which the shark is introduced through the trickery of the screen. Indeed, it is John Williams' score that created the iconic shark and every time those notes are played you know the threat is imminent. Spielberg's high-concept plot meant that audiences didn't have to think too much about what was going on and instead enjoyed the first real summer blockbuster. However, Jaws isn't a blockbuster in the way we know today and isn't chocked full of special effects and wafer-thin characters. The story was the most important thing for Spielberg, who hired many people to edit Benchley's original script, and he wanted the first two thirds of the story to build up to the three men in a boat adventure. I found this build-up to be incredibly masterfully produced with the islanders willing to ignore the threat of the shark until it was right there in front of them. As Brody, Roy Scheider provided the world-weariness of a man who just wanted to do the right thing and was thwarted at every corner. The then unknown Richard Dreyfuss was a ball-of-energy as the enigmatic Hooper and was the perfect antidote to Robert Shaw's cantankerous Quint. Jaws is primarily a film about three men at different stages in their life who just happen to be chasing a man-eating shark. Jaws definitely still looks as good today as it did when it was released and it proves that most blockbusters just need a good story and an effective way to signify the main villain.
John Williams was back two years later signifying the main villain in another summer blockbuster, which overtook Jaws as the most successful film of all time. That film was Star Wars, a movie that has become incredibly famous to the extent where I feel I don't really need to review it. This is because that everybody has their own memory of when they first watched Star Wars and for me it was watching the trilogy back-to-back just before The Phantom Menace was released in 1999. Though I've caught it on the TV in the following years, this was my chance to watch it through a film graduate's eyes and change some of my memories of the film. It's actually quite hard to write about Star Wars without hurting someone's feelings but the first thing I should say is that it's not that spectacular. I feel when people reminisce about Star Wars they're thinking about the whole trilogy but judging the first film by itself is a lot different. Obviously the film is made great by the special effects, which at the time were ground-breaking, and there's no denying that watching someone pull out a lightsaber for the first time is a truly magical experience. Similarly characters like Chewbacca or Darth Vader just didn't exist in normal mainstream cinema back then and I feel that audiences would've been intrigued by their presence. Obviously John Williams reserves some credit for the aforementioned score which instantly brings back memories of both the film's opening and Darth Vader's legendary strut down the death star.
Director George Lucas was really able to create an incredible universe of characters, planets and spaceships with the mythology of the Star Wars universe seeming vast and mysterious. At the same time the characters of Luke, Leia and Han feel fairly simplistic while the central plot is incredibly basic. However, Lucas was lucky with his choice of actors all of whom share great chemistry. Harrison Ford was an inspired choice to play the swaggering Han Solo and he was totally believable as a gambling drunk. Wide-eyed Mark Hammil perfectly encapsulated the innocent Luke while Carrie Fisher combined sexiness with strength to play Leia who could easily hold her own amongst the boys. Bringing gravitas to proceedings was Alec Guinness as Jedi Knight Obi-Wan Kenobi though his casting was mainly to appease the studio heads who didn't like the fact he was casting unknowns. Acting and visuals aside; my 2013 viewing experience of Star Wars was pleasant enough but it didn't blow me away. I can understand how audiences at the time would've been dazzled by everything they saw on screen but today I feel that Star Wars, if judged as a film on its own, is nothing more than an entertaining two hour romp. A while back I had an argument with a friend who was trying to explain to me why Star Wars should have won Best Picture over the film that eventually triumphed. His argument was based on the film's legacy but, at the time, there was no legacy to speak off and the Academy purely had to go on the quality of the overall film. It seemed the Oscars did acknowledge the film's main strengths and gave it six awards mainly in the sound, visual effects and art direction categories. However, I would argue that the film itself isn't exactly a masterpiece even if it influenced hundreds of sci-fi films that would come after it.
Next up we get into the ring with a contender that became a Best Picture Winner.
That film was of course Jaws, adapted from the book by Peter Benchley, and focusing on a shark which threatens the residents of the close-nit Amity Island. Amity's Chief of Police Martin Brody is the first to identify a shark attack after a young girl is killed. But the island's mayor is keen not to close the beach as summer season is on its way. The mayor also clashes with Brody, who was once a cop in the big city, as he doesn't think he understands island life. Following another death by shark, Brody calls in marine biologist Matt Hooper who is able to identify the type of shark the islanders should be looking for. With summer trade at its busiest, the shark strikes again and it's only then that the mayor instructs Brody to hunt down the animal. Brody hires old sea dog Quint and he and Hooper join him on the hunt for the shark. Obviously the search is hard and the mismatched trio don't always live harmoniously together. Indeed Quint's old-fashioned mentality and Hooper's gadgetry aren't best suited to one another while Brody's hatred of the water doesn't exactly make him the ideal candidate to look for a shark.
One of the joys of watching Jaws is the simplicity of the story and the way in which the shark is introduced through the trickery of the screen. Indeed, it is John Williams' score that created the iconic shark and every time those notes are played you know the threat is imminent. Spielberg's high-concept plot meant that audiences didn't have to think too much about what was going on and instead enjoyed the first real summer blockbuster. However, Jaws isn't a blockbuster in the way we know today and isn't chocked full of special effects and wafer-thin characters. The story was the most important thing for Spielberg, who hired many people to edit Benchley's original script, and he wanted the first two thirds of the story to build up to the three men in a boat adventure. I found this build-up to be incredibly masterfully produced with the islanders willing to ignore the threat of the shark until it was right there in front of them. As Brody, Roy Scheider provided the world-weariness of a man who just wanted to do the right thing and was thwarted at every corner. The then unknown Richard Dreyfuss was a ball-of-energy as the enigmatic Hooper and was the perfect antidote to Robert Shaw's cantankerous Quint. Jaws is primarily a film about three men at different stages in their life who just happen to be chasing a man-eating shark. Jaws definitely still looks as good today as it did when it was released and it proves that most blockbusters just need a good story and an effective way to signify the main villain.
John Williams was back two years later signifying the main villain in another summer blockbuster, which overtook Jaws as the most successful film of all time. That film was Star Wars, a movie that has become incredibly famous to the extent where I feel I don't really need to review it. This is because that everybody has their own memory of when they first watched Star Wars and for me it was watching the trilogy back-to-back just before The Phantom Menace was released in 1999. Though I've caught it on the TV in the following years, this was my chance to watch it through a film graduate's eyes and change some of my memories of the film. It's actually quite hard to write about Star Wars without hurting someone's feelings but the first thing I should say is that it's not that spectacular. I feel when people reminisce about Star Wars they're thinking about the whole trilogy but judging the first film by itself is a lot different. Obviously the film is made great by the special effects, which at the time were ground-breaking, and there's no denying that watching someone pull out a lightsaber for the first time is a truly magical experience. Similarly characters like Chewbacca or Darth Vader just didn't exist in normal mainstream cinema back then and I feel that audiences would've been intrigued by their presence. Obviously John Williams reserves some credit for the aforementioned score which instantly brings back memories of both the film's opening and Darth Vader's legendary strut down the death star.
Director George Lucas was really able to create an incredible universe of characters, planets and spaceships with the mythology of the Star Wars universe seeming vast and mysterious. At the same time the characters of Luke, Leia and Han feel fairly simplistic while the central plot is incredibly basic. However, Lucas was lucky with his choice of actors all of whom share great chemistry. Harrison Ford was an inspired choice to play the swaggering Han Solo and he was totally believable as a gambling drunk. Wide-eyed Mark Hammil perfectly encapsulated the innocent Luke while Carrie Fisher combined sexiness with strength to play Leia who could easily hold her own amongst the boys. Bringing gravitas to proceedings was Alec Guinness as Jedi Knight Obi-Wan Kenobi though his casting was mainly to appease the studio heads who didn't like the fact he was casting unknowns. Acting and visuals aside; my 2013 viewing experience of Star Wars was pleasant enough but it didn't blow me away. I can understand how audiences at the time would've been dazzled by everything they saw on screen but today I feel that Star Wars, if judged as a film on its own, is nothing more than an entertaining two hour romp. A while back I had an argument with a friend who was trying to explain to me why Star Wars should have won Best Picture over the film that eventually triumphed. His argument was based on the film's legacy but, at the time, there was no legacy to speak off and the Academy purely had to go on the quality of the overall film. It seemed the Oscars did acknowledge the film's main strengths and gave it six awards mainly in the sound, visual effects and art direction categories. However, I would argue that the film itself isn't exactly a masterpiece even if it influenced hundreds of sci-fi films that would come after it.
Next up we get into the ring with a contender that became a Best Picture Winner.
Monday, 19 August 2013
Matt's Big Oscar Challenge Day 228: The Ladies in Red
It's a real rarity to see films not in the English language being nominated for Best Picture, as they're usually confined to their own specific category. Indeed, the last subtitled film I watched for this project was La Grand Illusion back in the 1930s. During the 1970s ceremonies three European films were nominated for Best Picture however, due to access issues, I've only been able to watch one of the trio.
That film is Ingmar Bergman's Cries and Whispers, a film with an incredibly unique style and a very unusual narrative. I felt watching Cries and Whispers fairly refreshing, especially after my last two films were 'issue-based' mainstream American movies. This film sees sisters Karin and Maria return home to be with their sibling Agnes, who is dying of cancer. However, due to their own emotional issues, neither sister wants to be too close to Agnes as they're worried about their own mortality. It is only maid Anna who will allow herself to get close to Agnes and there is an insinuation made that the two have had some sort of lesbian relationship in the past. Meanwhile, Anna herself is coping with the grief of losing her own daughter some years previously. While at the house, both sisters have to deal with their own issues as the image-obsessed Maria worries about growing old and the emotionless Karin has to mutilate her own body in order to avoid being touched by her husband. The film amps up the oddness in its final chapter by having Agnes return from the dead to confront her sisters who both finally leave the cold and desolate mansion behind them.
The mansion almost becomes a character itself as its cold, emotionless rooms hang heavy over the lives of the three sisters and Anna. My abiding memory of the movie has to be the colour red which covers every wall of the house while the colour is also used to fade in and out of the main characters' flashbacks. The four central performances were all brilliant with my favourite being that of Kari Sylwan as religious maid Anna who was dealing with some unresolved feelings towards Agnes. Bergman's direction was a joy to watch as he took the viewer on a sometimes uncomfortable journey to explore the true emotions of Karin and Maria. Karin's story in particular was a hard watch, especially that mutilation scene, but Ingrid Thulin was believable in the role of this woman who hated to be touched. Liv Ullman gave a good turn as the more glamorous sister, but at the same time she gave us a look at how her actions have had an impact on those around her. The film was nominated for five Oscars including nods for the film itself and Bergman's direction; while Sven Nykvist successfully won an award for his cinematography. Overall, while never a film you can particularly enjoy, Cries and Whispers is still a film that you need to watch if only to see the way that the cinematic art can be used to provoke a lot of different emotions.
Up next we return to America for two films that changed the landscape of cinema due to their broad appeal to the masses.
That film is Ingmar Bergman's Cries and Whispers, a film with an incredibly unique style and a very unusual narrative. I felt watching Cries and Whispers fairly refreshing, especially after my last two films were 'issue-based' mainstream American movies. This film sees sisters Karin and Maria return home to be with their sibling Agnes, who is dying of cancer. However, due to their own emotional issues, neither sister wants to be too close to Agnes as they're worried about their own mortality. It is only maid Anna who will allow herself to get close to Agnes and there is an insinuation made that the two have had some sort of lesbian relationship in the past. Meanwhile, Anna herself is coping with the grief of losing her own daughter some years previously. While at the house, both sisters have to deal with their own issues as the image-obsessed Maria worries about growing old and the emotionless Karin has to mutilate her own body in order to avoid being touched by her husband. The film amps up the oddness in its final chapter by having Agnes return from the dead to confront her sisters who both finally leave the cold and desolate mansion behind them.
The mansion almost becomes a character itself as its cold, emotionless rooms hang heavy over the lives of the three sisters and Anna. My abiding memory of the movie has to be the colour red which covers every wall of the house while the colour is also used to fade in and out of the main characters' flashbacks. The four central performances were all brilliant with my favourite being that of Kari Sylwan as religious maid Anna who was dealing with some unresolved feelings towards Agnes. Bergman's direction was a joy to watch as he took the viewer on a sometimes uncomfortable journey to explore the true emotions of Karin and Maria. Karin's story in particular was a hard watch, especially that mutilation scene, but Ingrid Thulin was believable in the role of this woman who hated to be touched. Liv Ullman gave a good turn as the more glamorous sister, but at the same time she gave us a look at how her actions have had an impact on those around her. The film was nominated for five Oscars including nods for the film itself and Bergman's direction; while Sven Nykvist successfully won an award for his cinematography. Overall, while never a film you can particularly enjoy, Cries and Whispers is still a film that you need to watch if only to see the way that the cinematic art can be used to provoke a lot of different emotions.
Up next we return to America for two films that changed the landscape of cinema due to their broad appeal to the masses.
Matt's Big Oscar Challenge Days 226-227: Growing Quite Fonda Jane
Continuing our retrospective on stars who have more than one film nominated for Oscar in the 1970s, we come to one Jane Fonda. Jane, daughter of Henry Fonda, had come to prominence in the 1960s and at the 1972 Oscar Ceremony won her first Best Actress Oscar for playing a high-class call girl in the movie Klute. By the late 1970s, a period in which both these nominated films were released, Fonda was only making films relating to serious issues and here we saw her try to evade the Nazis and care for soldiers who'd be wounded in Vietnam. It was interesting for me to go back and watch these films as I'm only aware of Fonda through her exercise videos and her comeback in ropey movies such as Monster-in-Law and Georgia Rule. What I found was an actress who gave extremely big performances that weren't necessarily suitable for the roles she was playing.
First up we have Fonda portraying playwright Lillian Hellman, in a film based on a chapter in the author's book Pentimento, in which we see her tortured relationship with childhood friend and titular character Julia. The film sees Lillian and Julia take different paths in life with the latter journeying to Vienna to complete a medical degree while the former attempting to write a play at the same time as living with famed author Dashiell Hammett. After serving some time in Europe, Julia become involved in the battle against the Nazis and is injured in a blast at an apartment building. Lillian, having arrived in Paris, attempts to make contact with her friend but finds the task difficult. Eventually, Lillian hears from Julia, who wants to meet her in Berlin and asks for her help carrying an item across the border. The two eventually meet in a cafe, however their meeting is tense due to Lillian's nervousness surrounding the mission she's been given. Lillian later discovers Julia has had a daughter and sets out to find the child in order to give it a better home.
Interestingly the story of Julia is one that has been criticised as pure fiction and many have claimed that Hellman never had a childhood friend nor did she have to endure the tricky ride from Paris to Berlin that she did here. I found the majority of the film to be fairly melodramatic and lacking in any really compelling form of storytelling. I thought that Fonda's performance as Lillian was completely over-the-top and I didn't really find her that believable, or indeed likeable. I found that the scene on the train took far too long and I was really bored by the time that Lillian had to execute the mission she has been given. When she was on screen, I felt that Vanessa Redgrave's Julia was the complete antithesis of Fonda's character in that she was calm and reasonable. In fact I would've liked to have seen a lot more from Julia, though in fact Redgrave only appears in a handful of scenes which is a shame. I'm surprised then to learn that Redgrave won the Best Supporting Actress award for her role in Julia, as she didn't make much of an impression on me at all. Similarly Jason Robards, as Hammett, won the Best Supporting Actor award with his role being confined to a couple of scenes in which he attempted to calm down the hysterical Lillian. What I did enjoy was the style of the whole piece, it was well-shot and Georges Delerue's score was fairly memorable. The problem was that the lead character was neither that compelling nor particularly likeable and part of me would attribute that to the fact that director Fred Zinneman felt utter hatred towards Hellman by the end of their working relationship together. One fun Oscar-related fact is that Julia saw the film debut of a woman by the name of Meryl Streep, who we'll be talking a lot more about from here on in.
One year later, Fonda starred in Coming Home a film in which she played Sally Hyde, loyal wife to Marine Captain Bob. As Bob journeys to Vietnam, Sally changes aspects about her life - she buys a new car, stops straightening her hair and gets a new apartment near the beach. Sally also starts working as a volunteer at the VA Hospital where she meets an old school acquaintance in Luke Martin, who lost the use of his legs in Vietnam. Luke has since become a depressive who lashes out at everyone around him, but Sally's presence in his life sees him being lifted from his depression. As their relationship grows, Sally and Luke find themselves attracted to one another but Sally is forced to meet up with Bob in Hong Kong. However, on her return, she finds out that Luke has been released from hospital and now has his own apartment. But the death of one of the hospital's patients has a profound effect on Luke who decides to start protesting the war. Sally tries to stand by him, but Bob's return from the war sees her torn between the men in her life.
I have to say I really enjoyed Coming Home however, once again, I felt that Jane Fonda overplayed her role as Sally, for which she won the Best Actress Oscar at that year's ceremony. In fact, her performance was really the only negative in a film that had a lot to say about the Vietnam War and why people were protesting it. While Hal Ashby's political views were somewhat overtly portrayed, I never found the film to be particularly preachy and the fact that the film's hero was incredibly flawed was a good move. Best Actor winner Jon Voight was absolutely excellent in his role as the depressive Luke with the actor successfully portraying Luke's transition from angry cripple to inspiring public speaker. The supporting performances were equally as good with Bruce Dern giving a great turn as Bob, the archetypal military man and the complete opposite of Luke. I also enjoyed Penelope Milford as Sally's friend Vi, who was portrayed as a freeing influence on Sally but at the same time had moments of drama due to her brother's death. One of the reviews I read of Coming Home said that the soundtrack was overly explicit, but I personally felt every track added to the mood of the film. From 'Hey Jude' and 'Ruby Tuesday' to 'Born to Be Wild' and the excellent 'Just Like a Woman' this was a bumper collection of 1960s rock classics and I enjoyed every one of them. On the whole Hal Ashby's film had a lot of great moments, performances and songs but again was let down by an OTT performance from Fonda.
After watching these two films, I have to say I'm not overly taken by Fonda's style, but at the same time I feel it's quite harsh to judge an actress by two films alone. Fonda will pop up again in the 1980s and I'm willing to give her acting another chance but these two films led be to believe that her acting style was often melodramatic and didn't really lend itself to the tone of the film in which she appeared.
Up next we journey abroad to watch an alternative style of film to the mainstream American movies we've been watching up to this point.
First up we have Fonda portraying playwright Lillian Hellman, in a film based on a chapter in the author's book Pentimento, in which we see her tortured relationship with childhood friend and titular character Julia. The film sees Lillian and Julia take different paths in life with the latter journeying to Vienna to complete a medical degree while the former attempting to write a play at the same time as living with famed author Dashiell Hammett. After serving some time in Europe, Julia become involved in the battle against the Nazis and is injured in a blast at an apartment building. Lillian, having arrived in Paris, attempts to make contact with her friend but finds the task difficult. Eventually, Lillian hears from Julia, who wants to meet her in Berlin and asks for her help carrying an item across the border. The two eventually meet in a cafe, however their meeting is tense due to Lillian's nervousness surrounding the mission she's been given. Lillian later discovers Julia has had a daughter and sets out to find the child in order to give it a better home.
Interestingly the story of Julia is one that has been criticised as pure fiction and many have claimed that Hellman never had a childhood friend nor did she have to endure the tricky ride from Paris to Berlin that she did here. I found the majority of the film to be fairly melodramatic and lacking in any really compelling form of storytelling. I thought that Fonda's performance as Lillian was completely over-the-top and I didn't really find her that believable, or indeed likeable. I found that the scene on the train took far too long and I was really bored by the time that Lillian had to execute the mission she has been given. When she was on screen, I felt that Vanessa Redgrave's Julia was the complete antithesis of Fonda's character in that she was calm and reasonable. In fact I would've liked to have seen a lot more from Julia, though in fact Redgrave only appears in a handful of scenes which is a shame. I'm surprised then to learn that Redgrave won the Best Supporting Actress award for her role in Julia, as she didn't make much of an impression on me at all. Similarly Jason Robards, as Hammett, won the Best Supporting Actor award with his role being confined to a couple of scenes in which he attempted to calm down the hysterical Lillian. What I did enjoy was the style of the whole piece, it was well-shot and Georges Delerue's score was fairly memorable. The problem was that the lead character was neither that compelling nor particularly likeable and part of me would attribute that to the fact that director Fred Zinneman felt utter hatred towards Hellman by the end of their working relationship together. One fun Oscar-related fact is that Julia saw the film debut of a woman by the name of Meryl Streep, who we'll be talking a lot more about from here on in.
One year later, Fonda starred in Coming Home a film in which she played Sally Hyde, loyal wife to Marine Captain Bob. As Bob journeys to Vietnam, Sally changes aspects about her life - she buys a new car, stops straightening her hair and gets a new apartment near the beach. Sally also starts working as a volunteer at the VA Hospital where she meets an old school acquaintance in Luke Martin, who lost the use of his legs in Vietnam. Luke has since become a depressive who lashes out at everyone around him, but Sally's presence in his life sees him being lifted from his depression. As their relationship grows, Sally and Luke find themselves attracted to one another but Sally is forced to meet up with Bob in Hong Kong. However, on her return, she finds out that Luke has been released from hospital and now has his own apartment. But the death of one of the hospital's patients has a profound effect on Luke who decides to start protesting the war. Sally tries to stand by him, but Bob's return from the war sees her torn between the men in her life.
I have to say I really enjoyed Coming Home however, once again, I felt that Jane Fonda overplayed her role as Sally, for which she won the Best Actress Oscar at that year's ceremony. In fact, her performance was really the only negative in a film that had a lot to say about the Vietnam War and why people were protesting it. While Hal Ashby's political views were somewhat overtly portrayed, I never found the film to be particularly preachy and the fact that the film's hero was incredibly flawed was a good move. Best Actor winner Jon Voight was absolutely excellent in his role as the depressive Luke with the actor successfully portraying Luke's transition from angry cripple to inspiring public speaker. The supporting performances were equally as good with Bruce Dern giving a great turn as Bob, the archetypal military man and the complete opposite of Luke. I also enjoyed Penelope Milford as Sally's friend Vi, who was portrayed as a freeing influence on Sally but at the same time had moments of drama due to her brother's death. One of the reviews I read of Coming Home said that the soundtrack was overly explicit, but I personally felt every track added to the mood of the film. From 'Hey Jude' and 'Ruby Tuesday' to 'Born to Be Wild' and the excellent 'Just Like a Woman' this was a bumper collection of 1960s rock classics and I enjoyed every one of them. On the whole Hal Ashby's film had a lot of great moments, performances and songs but again was let down by an OTT performance from Fonda.
After watching these two films, I have to say I'm not overly taken by Fonda's style, but at the same time I feel it's quite harsh to judge an actress by two films alone. Fonda will pop up again in the 1980s and I'm willing to give her acting another chance but these two films led be to believe that her acting style was often melodramatic and didn't really lend itself to the tone of the film in which she appeared.
Up next we journey abroad to watch an alternative style of film to the mainstream American movies we've been watching up to this point.
Wednesday, 14 August 2013
Matt's Big Oscar Challenge Days 223-225: The Jack Pack
It's a rare feat for an actor to win three Oscars in his lifetime and indeed only three men have accomplished this. One of these is Jack Nicholson who has two Best Actor wins under his belt and a third for Best Supporting Actor. Nicholson's rise to prominence really started with Easy Rider, for which he was nominated for a Supporting Actor Award, while the next year he starred in Five Easy Pieces - arguably his first memorable leading role. This post will look at the three Best Picture nominees that Nicholson starred in during the 1970s and each also saw him give an Oscar-nominated performance.
We'll start with Five Easy Pieces in which Nicholson plays oil worker Bobby Dupea who spends most of his free time with ditzy waitress girlfriend Rayette or drinking with best buddy Elton. Though Bobby is initially portrayed as a slacker, we later learn that he is a talented pianist and comes from a family of eccentric musicians. After learning that his father is incredibly ill, Bobby returns home and is forced to take Rayette with him after she threatens suicide. Feeling that Rayette is too common for his family, he leaves her in a nearby motel and journey's to his childhood home. Here he meets and falls in love with his brother Carl's fiancée Catherine, a young pianist who is wowed by Bobby's playing abilities. As time goes on, we begin to realise why Bobby left home in the first place and why he's never been back. The house is full of intellectuals and people who he feels talk a lot of nonsense. Meanwhile Bobby's father is incredibly ill and he's unsure whether or not he can actually be heard when he lays a few home truths to his dear old dad. Eventually, Rayette appears at the house and her arrival isn't welcomed by Bobby who is still intent on chasing Catherine. Like all three of the films in the post, Five Easy Pieces doesn't have a particularly happy ending as we get an ambiguous conclusion for Bobby.
Five Easy Pieces is the only one of the three Nicholson films in this post that I haven't previously seen. It definitely has the feel of an early 1970s experimental piece as the first thirty minutes passes without much incident. Instead all of the first third of the film is intent on presenting Bobby as sort of a working class man who loves bowling, drinking and having sex. It's only after the revelation of his musical ability that the film opens itself a bit more as we meet the quirky members of the Dupea family. The role of Bobby is perfect for Nicholson and sort of saw his transition from supporting player to leading man. He excels playing the quiet and brooding Bobby, who every so often snaps at those around him. Ultimately he is presented as a man who is unable to feel passionate about the music he plays or the people around him. Nicholson earned his first ever Best Actor nomination for his role in the film and I feel that it's more than deserved. For her portrayal of Rayette, Karen Black also received a Supporting Actress nod and again I really enjoyed her turn here. Rayette's unrefined persona was the complete antithesis of the characters that frequented Bobby's family home and this mismatch provided some of the film's best moments. Black made Rayette a memorable character and one who was much more than just a dumb bimbo. Unfortunately, the day I watched the film was the same day that Black tragically passed away which puts a downer on my whole memory of the film. Despite only being 96 minutes long, I did find that Five Easy Pieces dragged occasionally, most notably during Bobby and Rayette's journey to his family home where they pick up a couple of hitch-hikers. Overall though this was 1970s film-making at its most raw and was an interesting exploration of Nicholson's early acting career.
Four years later, Nicholson appeared in another Oscar-nominated film which arguably saw his transition from character actor to leading man. The film was Chinatown, a film noir set in the early 1930s and very reminiscent of movies such as Scarlet Street and Double Indemnity. Here Nicholson starred as Jake Gittes, a former cop turned private detective who is initially tasked with exploring the infidelity of Hollis Mulwray, chief engineer for the LA Department of Water and Power. Little does Gittes know that the woman who has paid him to investigate the case is not Mulwray's wife and he is soon being sued by his real wife Evelyn for deformation of character. Soon Hollis turns up dead and Evelyn asks him to investigate the murder while Evelyn's father Noah Cross, who was also Mulwray's business partner, doubles Evelyn's fee to get him to find Hollis' unnamed young lover. Gittes starts to see how the story of Mulwray and Cross plays into the drought that LA is currently experiencing and he starts to play a dangerous game with some very influential people. Though Gittes does solve the murder, not everybody comes out of the case and unscathed, meaning that we don't quite get our happy ending once again.
Similarly to Rebecca, I found the title of Chinatown fairly misleading as only really the final scenes of the movie take place in the district. What Chinatown did have was one of the best screenplays of all time, written by Robert Towne. Towne was originally asked to adapt The Great Gatsby, but declined the offer instead creating this original piece of great storytelling. Towne plays the audience perfectly as the pieces begin to fit together gradually building to that famous final scene in Chinatown. Oddly, it was director Roman Polanski who decided on the melancholy final scene with Towne wanting something a little bit more upbeat. Towne was rewarded for his work with a Best Screenplay Oscar, which was the only Oscar the film won. Nicholson's performance here was a lot more captivating as he played the smart, everyman who wanted to make it clear that he was just trying to earn an honest living. Nicholson initially plays Gittes as someone who doesn't let their emotions get in the way of the job, however gradually his feelings for Evelyn cloud his judgement. Faye Dunaway is perfectly cast as the classic noir heroine - a mixture of femme fatale and damsel in distress, who goes from being a fairly emotionless character to someone who acts in the heat of the moment in order to keep a loved one safe. John Huston adds fantastic support as the seedy Noah Cross while Jerry Goldsmith's score enhances the period vibe of the whole piece. I find it's a shame that Chinatown was nominated in such a strong year, as it does feel like a film that in any other year would be a Best Picture winner. Despite this the film has lived on due to the outstanding script and infamous scenes which mean that, unlike Gittes, we will never forget Chinatown.
Thankfully, Nicholson didn't have to wait long to win his first Best Actor Oscar, as the next year he starred in a film which became one of only three films to win the 'Big Five' Oscars. That film was One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest which went onto win Best Picture, Best Actress, Best Director and Best Screenplay. Here, Nicholson stars as Randle McMurphy, a low-rent convict who has been serving time on a prison farm for statuary rape. McMurphy has been admitted to a mental asylum for evaluation, while he hopes that his time there will be an easy ride where he will avoid going back to prison. However, McMurphy didn't factor in the cold and calm Nurse Ratched, who runs the ward and who manages her patients through a strict diet of medication and humiliation. It's clear that Ratched doesn't like the affect that McMurphy has on the patients as he tries to lift their spirits by taking them on fishing trips and organising card games between them. After learning that he could be staying at the asylum longer than he first thought, McMurphy decides to escape however his attachment to one of his fellow patients means that he ends up making the ultimate sacrifice. This is the third film in a row not to have a happy ending for Nicholson's character, but at least the conclusion does provide a moment of hope for one of the asylum's long-term residents.
One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest is a film that has stayed with me for a long time and is one that I have written essays about in the past. I personally feel that this film is a masterpiece and perfectly combines well-rounded characters, a confined setting and a brilliant set of performances. Milos Forman's direction gives you a sense of place almost instantly as the white walls of the asylum gives you a real claustrophobic feel for this particular institution. The creepy music that plays during medication time and the awkward group sessions also stick in the mind and add to the feeling that this is a place of routine. Of the three films, Nicholson gives his biggest performance here as the slightly unhinged and worldly-wise McMurphy. Nicholson plays Randle as somebody whose personality is infectious and he's easily implanted as the leader of the group. Nicholson's Oscar was well-deserved especially in the latter scenes in which McMurphy chooses to stick up for young, nervous Billy rather than escaping from the asylum. Nurse Ratched, who I believe to be one of cinema's greatest villains, is beautifully written and expertly played by Louise Fletcher. What makes Ratched so chilling is that she never raises her voice and we know nothing of her apart from her job in the asylum. The film is fleshed out by a whole group of memorable supporting characters as all of the patients on the ward are given very different identities. Among the most famous are William Redfield's cultured Harding, Christopher Lloyd's deranged Taber and Danny DeVito's delusional Martini. Best of all is Brad Dourif as the tragic Billy, who was nominated but never won the Best Supporting Actor Award. If you've never seen One Flew, I can't recommend it enough and it really is film-making at its very best.
That isn't the end for Nicholson who'll pop up throughout the remaining decades, winning two more Oscars along the way. But next up is a focus on an actress who herself one two Oscars, both of them in the 1970s.
We'll start with Five Easy Pieces in which Nicholson plays oil worker Bobby Dupea who spends most of his free time with ditzy waitress girlfriend Rayette or drinking with best buddy Elton. Though Bobby is initially portrayed as a slacker, we later learn that he is a talented pianist and comes from a family of eccentric musicians. After learning that his father is incredibly ill, Bobby returns home and is forced to take Rayette with him after she threatens suicide. Feeling that Rayette is too common for his family, he leaves her in a nearby motel and journey's to his childhood home. Here he meets and falls in love with his brother Carl's fiancée Catherine, a young pianist who is wowed by Bobby's playing abilities. As time goes on, we begin to realise why Bobby left home in the first place and why he's never been back. The house is full of intellectuals and people who he feels talk a lot of nonsense. Meanwhile Bobby's father is incredibly ill and he's unsure whether or not he can actually be heard when he lays a few home truths to his dear old dad. Eventually, Rayette appears at the house and her arrival isn't welcomed by Bobby who is still intent on chasing Catherine. Like all three of the films in the post, Five Easy Pieces doesn't have a particularly happy ending as we get an ambiguous conclusion for Bobby.
Five Easy Pieces is the only one of the three Nicholson films in this post that I haven't previously seen. It definitely has the feel of an early 1970s experimental piece as the first thirty minutes passes without much incident. Instead all of the first third of the film is intent on presenting Bobby as sort of a working class man who loves bowling, drinking and having sex. It's only after the revelation of his musical ability that the film opens itself a bit more as we meet the quirky members of the Dupea family. The role of Bobby is perfect for Nicholson and sort of saw his transition from supporting player to leading man. He excels playing the quiet and brooding Bobby, who every so often snaps at those around him. Ultimately he is presented as a man who is unable to feel passionate about the music he plays or the people around him. Nicholson earned his first ever Best Actor nomination for his role in the film and I feel that it's more than deserved. For her portrayal of Rayette, Karen Black also received a Supporting Actress nod and again I really enjoyed her turn here. Rayette's unrefined persona was the complete antithesis of the characters that frequented Bobby's family home and this mismatch provided some of the film's best moments. Black made Rayette a memorable character and one who was much more than just a dumb bimbo. Unfortunately, the day I watched the film was the same day that Black tragically passed away which puts a downer on my whole memory of the film. Despite only being 96 minutes long, I did find that Five Easy Pieces dragged occasionally, most notably during Bobby and Rayette's journey to his family home where they pick up a couple of hitch-hikers. Overall though this was 1970s film-making at its most raw and was an interesting exploration of Nicholson's early acting career.
Four years later, Nicholson appeared in another Oscar-nominated film which arguably saw his transition from character actor to leading man. The film was Chinatown, a film noir set in the early 1930s and very reminiscent of movies such as Scarlet Street and Double Indemnity. Here Nicholson starred as Jake Gittes, a former cop turned private detective who is initially tasked with exploring the infidelity of Hollis Mulwray, chief engineer for the LA Department of Water and Power. Little does Gittes know that the woman who has paid him to investigate the case is not Mulwray's wife and he is soon being sued by his real wife Evelyn for deformation of character. Soon Hollis turns up dead and Evelyn asks him to investigate the murder while Evelyn's father Noah Cross, who was also Mulwray's business partner, doubles Evelyn's fee to get him to find Hollis' unnamed young lover. Gittes starts to see how the story of Mulwray and Cross plays into the drought that LA is currently experiencing and he starts to play a dangerous game with some very influential people. Though Gittes does solve the murder, not everybody comes out of the case and unscathed, meaning that we don't quite get our happy ending once again.
Similarly to Rebecca, I found the title of Chinatown fairly misleading as only really the final scenes of the movie take place in the district. What Chinatown did have was one of the best screenplays of all time, written by Robert Towne. Towne was originally asked to adapt The Great Gatsby, but declined the offer instead creating this original piece of great storytelling. Towne plays the audience perfectly as the pieces begin to fit together gradually building to that famous final scene in Chinatown. Oddly, it was director Roman Polanski who decided on the melancholy final scene with Towne wanting something a little bit more upbeat. Towne was rewarded for his work with a Best Screenplay Oscar, which was the only Oscar the film won. Nicholson's performance here was a lot more captivating as he played the smart, everyman who wanted to make it clear that he was just trying to earn an honest living. Nicholson initially plays Gittes as someone who doesn't let their emotions get in the way of the job, however gradually his feelings for Evelyn cloud his judgement. Faye Dunaway is perfectly cast as the classic noir heroine - a mixture of femme fatale and damsel in distress, who goes from being a fairly emotionless character to someone who acts in the heat of the moment in order to keep a loved one safe. John Huston adds fantastic support as the seedy Noah Cross while Jerry Goldsmith's score enhances the period vibe of the whole piece. I find it's a shame that Chinatown was nominated in such a strong year, as it does feel like a film that in any other year would be a Best Picture winner. Despite this the film has lived on due to the outstanding script and infamous scenes which mean that, unlike Gittes, we will never forget Chinatown.
Thankfully, Nicholson didn't have to wait long to win his first Best Actor Oscar, as the next year he starred in a film which became one of only three films to win the 'Big Five' Oscars. That film was One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest which went onto win Best Picture, Best Actress, Best Director and Best Screenplay. Here, Nicholson stars as Randle McMurphy, a low-rent convict who has been serving time on a prison farm for statuary rape. McMurphy has been admitted to a mental asylum for evaluation, while he hopes that his time there will be an easy ride where he will avoid going back to prison. However, McMurphy didn't factor in the cold and calm Nurse Ratched, who runs the ward and who manages her patients through a strict diet of medication and humiliation. It's clear that Ratched doesn't like the affect that McMurphy has on the patients as he tries to lift their spirits by taking them on fishing trips and organising card games between them. After learning that he could be staying at the asylum longer than he first thought, McMurphy decides to escape however his attachment to one of his fellow patients means that he ends up making the ultimate sacrifice. This is the third film in a row not to have a happy ending for Nicholson's character, but at least the conclusion does provide a moment of hope for one of the asylum's long-term residents.
One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest is a film that has stayed with me for a long time and is one that I have written essays about in the past. I personally feel that this film is a masterpiece and perfectly combines well-rounded characters, a confined setting and a brilliant set of performances. Milos Forman's direction gives you a sense of place almost instantly as the white walls of the asylum gives you a real claustrophobic feel for this particular institution. The creepy music that plays during medication time and the awkward group sessions also stick in the mind and add to the feeling that this is a place of routine. Of the three films, Nicholson gives his biggest performance here as the slightly unhinged and worldly-wise McMurphy. Nicholson plays Randle as somebody whose personality is infectious and he's easily implanted as the leader of the group. Nicholson's Oscar was well-deserved especially in the latter scenes in which McMurphy chooses to stick up for young, nervous Billy rather than escaping from the asylum. Nurse Ratched, who I believe to be one of cinema's greatest villains, is beautifully written and expertly played by Louise Fletcher. What makes Ratched so chilling is that she never raises her voice and we know nothing of her apart from her job in the asylum. The film is fleshed out by a whole group of memorable supporting characters as all of the patients on the ward are given very different identities. Among the most famous are William Redfield's cultured Harding, Christopher Lloyd's deranged Taber and Danny DeVito's delusional Martini. Best of all is Brad Dourif as the tragic Billy, who was nominated but never won the Best Supporting Actor Award. If you've never seen One Flew, I can't recommend it enough and it really is film-making at its very best.
That isn't the end for Nicholson who'll pop up throughout the remaining decades, winning two more Oscars along the way. But next up is a focus on an actress who herself one two Oscars, both of them in the 1970s.
Wednesday, 7 August 2013
Matt's Big Oscar Challenge Days 221-222: A Couple of Herbert's
In the days of five films being nominated for Best Picture, it was quite a rarity for two works by the same director to pop up in the category. One year where this did happen was 1978 where Herbert Ross' films The Goodbye Girl and The Turning Point were both nominated for Best Picture. Ross started off on the stage as both an actor and choreographer and these influences play into both of these films. As these films were nominated in the same year, I decided to tackle them alphabetically but chronologically they are in the reverse order so read the following post whichever you want.
I start with The Goodbye Girl, which was scripted by Neil Simon, a writer who Ross had previously worked with several times. The story concerns dancer and single mother Paula McFadden who is about to leave her New York apartment in order to join her married lover Tony in L.A. However, her plans are dashed when Tony changes his plans and Paula, along with her daughter Lucy, are stuck in an apartment which has already been subletted to Elliot - an actor friend of Tony's. Despite paying for the whole apartment, Elliot lets Paula and Lucy stay though they struggle to cope with his quirky behaviour. While Paula attempts to revive her dancing career, Elliot is cast in a production of Richard III however his director's vision for the character is vastly different from Elliot's. Predictably, Elliot and Paula become close as he becomes attached to Lucy, though she's less than happy to see her mother start another potentially disastrous relationship.
The Goodbye Girl is an interesting film and I personally feel that it influenced a lot of the romantic comedies that are released today. However, unlike most of those films, The Goodbye Girl is both romantic and funny though it does drag in some places. The film's main strength is definitely Richard Dreyfuss' performance who, as Elliot, really capitalises on his ability to use physical comedy. Dreyfuss' turn in the film rightfully won him a Best Actor prize and he became the youngest man to win the accolade until 2002. Neil Simon keeps the action ticking along nicely with both Elliot and Paula experiencing the highs and lows of being a performer in New York. Marsha Mason, who was nominated for Best Actress, plays her part well though did make it hard for me to like Paula at times. Though I feel her and Dreyfuss really played their scenes together well and made me believe in the burgeoning relationship. Watching in 2013, I found some of the set pieces incredibly cheesy; most notably Elliot attempting to have a chat with Lucy by hiring a horse-drawn carriage but I think at the time these would've been seen as a lot more adorable. Talking of adorable, I didn't really warm to Quinn Cummings as Lucy but I do find it hard to like a lot of child performers especially when the character in question acts like an adult. Ultimately The Goodbye Girl is an easy-to-watch film which didn't set my world alight but was charming and witty enough to fill up two hours of my time.
While there were some allusions made to how tough the world of ballet was in The Goodbye Girl, The Turning Point makes that point its key theme. The Turning Point stars Shirley MacLaine, as DeeDee a former professional dancer who left the ballet behind to raise a family with fellow dancer Wayne. The pair now co-own a studio together in Oklahoma and are delighted when their old friends from the American Ballet Company come to town. DeeDee is also reunited with her old friend Emma, who has stayed with the company and become one of the most renowned dancers in the country. Their reunion stirs up memories for both as DeeDee feels that Emma convinced her to have a family because she was a better dancer while Emma disagrees. Meanwhile, Emma encourages DeeDee's elder daughter Emilia to become a dancer herself and she joins the company and is paired with Russian dancer Yuri. Yuri and Emilia begin an affair however she later starts to get upset when she realises that he sleeps with other girls as well as her. DeeDee also embarks on an affair with an old friend, which angers Emilia who feels that her mother and father should remain faithful to one another. At the end of the film stars are made and others end their career but the ballet is always the most important thing to the majority of the characters.
Indeed, the ballet sequences are possibly the most memorable element of The Turning Point as Ross uses them to narrate his story. As someone whose personally not a big fan of the ballet, I felt these segments went a bit long but were necessary for the story to progress. I felt the film was at its strongest when either Emma or DeeDee were on screen as it's always a joy to see Anne Bancroft and Shirley MacLaine in a film. Both were nominated for Best Actress and both nominations were more than deserved. MacLaine excelled at playing a woman who was unsure of her place in the world and regretted a lot of the decisions she'd made. Meanwhile Bancroft was great as the fading star, unsure of where her life would take her next and unable to cope with the changing face of her industry. Professional dancer Leslie Browne proved to be a fairly captivating presence as Emilia, an innocent who was thrust into the harsh world of dance and struggled to cope. Though Browne deserved her Best Supporting Actress nod, I don't think Mikhail Baryshnikov really deserved his nomination for Supporing Actor. Indeed, I feel Baryshnikov was nominated more for his outstanding dance skills than he was for his acting, which left a lot to be desired. The Turning Point was a stronger visual spectacle than The Goodbye Girl and therefore it was given a lot more nominations. In fact it holds the records for the film with the most nominations, including a director nod for Ross, without winning a single award. However, I feel that The Goodbye Girl had more heart and kept my attention while the extended ballet scenes in The Turning Point ruined the pace a little.
Overall I feel Ross is an under-rated director who really gets the best out of his actors and I'm really not sure why he's not a name that's as remembered as some other directors who were big in the 1970s. Next time I'll continue to look at another body of work this time by an actor who has amassed an impressive twelve acting nominations at the awards.
I start with The Goodbye Girl, which was scripted by Neil Simon, a writer who Ross had previously worked with several times. The story concerns dancer and single mother Paula McFadden who is about to leave her New York apartment in order to join her married lover Tony in L.A. However, her plans are dashed when Tony changes his plans and Paula, along with her daughter Lucy, are stuck in an apartment which has already been subletted to Elliot - an actor friend of Tony's. Despite paying for the whole apartment, Elliot lets Paula and Lucy stay though they struggle to cope with his quirky behaviour. While Paula attempts to revive her dancing career, Elliot is cast in a production of Richard III however his director's vision for the character is vastly different from Elliot's. Predictably, Elliot and Paula become close as he becomes attached to Lucy, though she's less than happy to see her mother start another potentially disastrous relationship.
The Goodbye Girl is an interesting film and I personally feel that it influenced a lot of the romantic comedies that are released today. However, unlike most of those films, The Goodbye Girl is both romantic and funny though it does drag in some places. The film's main strength is definitely Richard Dreyfuss' performance who, as Elliot, really capitalises on his ability to use physical comedy. Dreyfuss' turn in the film rightfully won him a Best Actor prize and he became the youngest man to win the accolade until 2002. Neil Simon keeps the action ticking along nicely with both Elliot and Paula experiencing the highs and lows of being a performer in New York. Marsha Mason, who was nominated for Best Actress, plays her part well though did make it hard for me to like Paula at times. Though I feel her and Dreyfuss really played their scenes together well and made me believe in the burgeoning relationship. Watching in 2013, I found some of the set pieces incredibly cheesy; most notably Elliot attempting to have a chat with Lucy by hiring a horse-drawn carriage but I think at the time these would've been seen as a lot more adorable. Talking of adorable, I didn't really warm to Quinn Cummings as Lucy but I do find it hard to like a lot of child performers especially when the character in question acts like an adult. Ultimately The Goodbye Girl is an easy-to-watch film which didn't set my world alight but was charming and witty enough to fill up two hours of my time.
While there were some allusions made to how tough the world of ballet was in The Goodbye Girl, The Turning Point makes that point its key theme. The Turning Point stars Shirley MacLaine, as DeeDee a former professional dancer who left the ballet behind to raise a family with fellow dancer Wayne. The pair now co-own a studio together in Oklahoma and are delighted when their old friends from the American Ballet Company come to town. DeeDee is also reunited with her old friend Emma, who has stayed with the company and become one of the most renowned dancers in the country. Their reunion stirs up memories for both as DeeDee feels that Emma convinced her to have a family because she was a better dancer while Emma disagrees. Meanwhile, Emma encourages DeeDee's elder daughter Emilia to become a dancer herself and she joins the company and is paired with Russian dancer Yuri. Yuri and Emilia begin an affair however she later starts to get upset when she realises that he sleeps with other girls as well as her. DeeDee also embarks on an affair with an old friend, which angers Emilia who feels that her mother and father should remain faithful to one another. At the end of the film stars are made and others end their career but the ballet is always the most important thing to the majority of the characters.
Indeed, the ballet sequences are possibly the most memorable element of The Turning Point as Ross uses them to narrate his story. As someone whose personally not a big fan of the ballet, I felt these segments went a bit long but were necessary for the story to progress. I felt the film was at its strongest when either Emma or DeeDee were on screen as it's always a joy to see Anne Bancroft and Shirley MacLaine in a film. Both were nominated for Best Actress and both nominations were more than deserved. MacLaine excelled at playing a woman who was unsure of her place in the world and regretted a lot of the decisions she'd made. Meanwhile Bancroft was great as the fading star, unsure of where her life would take her next and unable to cope with the changing face of her industry. Professional dancer Leslie Browne proved to be a fairly captivating presence as Emilia, an innocent who was thrust into the harsh world of dance and struggled to cope. Though Browne deserved her Best Supporting Actress nod, I don't think Mikhail Baryshnikov really deserved his nomination for Supporing Actor. Indeed, I feel Baryshnikov was nominated more for his outstanding dance skills than he was for his acting, which left a lot to be desired. The Turning Point was a stronger visual spectacle than The Goodbye Girl and therefore it was given a lot more nominations. In fact it holds the records for the film with the most nominations, including a director nod for Ross, without winning a single award. However, I feel that The Goodbye Girl had more heart and kept my attention while the extended ballet scenes in The Turning Point ruined the pace a little.
Overall I feel Ross is an under-rated director who really gets the best out of his actors and I'm really not sure why he's not a name that's as remembered as some other directors who were big in the 1970s. Next time I'll continue to look at another body of work this time by an actor who has amassed an impressive twelve acting nominations at the awards.
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