The Elephant Man (1980, directed by David Lynch)

Ah, the 80s!

Ronald Reagan was president. America was strong. Russia was weak. The economy was booming. The music was wonderful. Many great movies were released, though most of them were not nominated for any Oscars. This is the decade that tends to drive most Oscar fanatics batty.  But you know what?  The Academy didn’t always get it wrong in the 80s.  Here are six times the Academy got it right:

1. Opening The 1989 Ceremony With Rob Lowe and Snow White Singing

Sure, people make fun of this moment but you know what?  33 years later, people are still watching this opening on YouTube and asking themselves, “What the heck was that?”  That’s the power of a good opening and I imagine it will be more memorable than anything we see tonight.

2. Nominating The Elephant Man and David Lynch in 1980

By nominating both The Elephant Man and David Lynch in 1980, the Academy also welcome our greatest surrealist to the mainstream.  Though both the film and Lynch lost to Robert Redford’s Ordinary People, The Elephant Man is still one of my favorite Best Picture nominees.  (I also like both Ordinary People and Raging Bull.  1980 was a good year.)  The Academy also got it right when they nominated Lynch in 1986 for directing Blue Velvet.  The idea of the Academy or any part of mainstream Hollywood honoring a director like Lynch would have been unthinkable in the 50s and the 60s.

3. Robert Duvall Winning Best Actor For 1983’s Tender Mercies

Robert Duvall is one of our finest actors and Tender Mercies is one of his best films.  For someone who was born in California, raised in Maryland, and spent the early part of his career in New York, Duvall is one of the most convincing Texans that I’ve ever seen.

4. Amadeus Wins Best Picture

My personal pick for the best film of 1984 is Sergio Leone’s Once Upon A Time In America but, of the films that were nominated, Amadeus was clearly the best.  If nothing else, it’s victory finally brought Salieri the fame that he is rumored to have felt was stolen from him by Mozart.

5. Fatal Attraction Is Nominated For Best Picture

Fatal Attraction is actually a terrible movie but, by nominating it, the Academy guaranteed a decades worth of enjoyably bad rip-offs.  Every Lifetime film ever made owes a debt to Fatal Attraction.

6. Henry Fonda and Katharine Hepburn Won Best Actor and Best Actress For On Golden Pond

On Golden Pond isn’t even that good of a film and Katharine Hepburn’s performance is one of her least interesting but, if you’re a fan of TCM, you have to love the idea of Fonda and Hepburn picking up two final Oscars in the twilight of their career.  This was only Fonda’s 2nd nomination and his only win.  The fact that he was competing with another underrated veteran actor, Burt Lancaster, makes his win all the more special.  There were definitely better performances that year but sometimes, it’s good to go for the sentimental choice.

Up next: The 90s!

The 1970s!  Where to even being?

The 1970s began with Hollywood embracing the daring and the artistic and it ended with Hollywood moving towards the type of big budget blockbusters that have come to define the industry.  The 1970s saw the birth of modern Hollywood.  Along the way, many great films were released and, for once, many of them were honored by the Academy.

For this decade, the problem isn’t going to be finding 6 things that the Academy got right.  The problem is going to be narrowing the list down to only six.

1. The Godfather and The Godfather Part II win Best Picture in 1972 and 1974

Never has the Academy been more correct than when they named The Godfather and The Godfather Part II as being the best films of their respective years.  For that matter, 1972 and 1974 were both great cinematic years and the Academy deserves a lot of credit for truly nominating the best films of those years.  Some, I know, will point out that The Towering Inferno was nominated in 1974 but you know what?  Even The Towering Inferno is kind of fun.

(Now, of course, if The Towering Inferno had won, they’d have a point….)

2. The 1971 Best Picture lineup

With the exception of Nicholas and Alexandra, the 1971 Best Picture lineup was one of the best that the Academy ever put together.  A Clockwork Orange, Fiddler on the Roof, The French Connection, The Last Picture Show …. just replace Nicholas and Alexandra with Dirty Harry and it would be perfect!

3. The Exorcist And Jaws Are Nominated For Best Picture

Often ignored in the past, the horror genre was finally acknowledged in the 70s.  Of course, both The Exorcist and Jaws had to make a huge amount of money in order to be accepted but no matter.  I still love that they were nominated.

4. Sissy Spacek Is Nominated For Best Actress For 1976’s Carrie

Speaking of the horror genre, Sissy Spacek not only deserved to be nominated but, along with Piper Laurie, she probably should have won.  Spacek’s performance remains powerful to this day.  I’ve always felt that the film version of Carrie was far superior to Stephen King’s novel and that’s because Spacek plays the role with an empathy that’s missing from the book.  Carrie White is both frightening and sympathetic and for that, Spacek deserved the Oscar.

5. John Travolta Is Nominated For Best Actor For 1977’s Saturday Night Fever

Somehow, he lost to Richard Dreyfuss’s manic turn in The Goodbye Girl but just the fact that Travolta was nominated is still one of the Academy’s best decisions.  It’s just unfortunate that the Academy’s music branch didn’t show the same respect for the movie’s soundtrack.

6. Christopher Walken Wins Best Supporting Actor For 1978’s The Deer Hunter

I’m a bit biased because I just watched this film a few nights ago but no matter.  If you’re ever tempted to dismiss Walken as being more of an eccentric personality than an actor, I suggest you watch The Deer Hunter.  His performance is as brilliant as it is heart-breaking.

Next up: the 80s!

The 1960s were a time of turmoil for both America and the Academy.  The decade started with optimism and it ended with chaos.  In order to keep up with the films coming in from Europe, Hollywood finally abandoned the Production Code but Hollywood also tried to keep alive the old fashioned spectacle that proved profitable in the 40s and the 50s.  The Academy often found itself torn between honoring the new wave of filmmakers and acknowledging some of the most overdone productions to ever come out of the major studios.

It was a crazy decade and it’s one that continues to fascinate cultural historians.  Here are 6 things that Hollywood got right in the 60s.

1. Dr. Strangelove: Or How I Learned To Stop Worrying And Love The Bomb is nominated for Best Picture

In the 40s and the 50s, it would have been unthinkable to nominate a film like Dr. Strangelove.  And, even in 1964, it was a controversial nomination.  That said, Dr. Strangelove had held up in a way that many other films released that year have not.  It’s the dark satire by which all other dark satires are judged.  That it lost to My Fair Lady is a disappointing fact but that it was nominated at all is a bit of a miracle.

2. Mike Nichols wins Best Director for 1967’s The Graduate

It’s kind of amazing to think that The Graduate competed for Best Picture with Dr. Doolittle.  Of course, they both lost to the well-intentioned In The Heat of the Night.  Still, Mike Nichols changed the face of American cinema with his direction of The Graduate.  The Academy made the right decision when they honored him.

3. Julie Christie wins Best Actress for 1965’s Darling

For many, the 1960s were defined by the British invasion and that was true when it came to the movies as well.  Julie Christie was the forefront of that invasion and she certainly deserved her Oscar for her amazing lead performance in Darling.  In Darling, Christie was everything that was chic about Britain during the first half of the 60s.  Reportedly, Christie was also considered for a role in Thunderball, which was itself a part of the British invasion.  When she either turned down or was turned down for the latest Bond film (the specifics depend on who you ask), she did Darling and won her Oscar.

4. Michael Caine Is Nominated For Best Actor For 1966’s Alfie

While Julie Christie represented everything chic about the UK, Caine represented the working class.  He became a star with Alfie and he also earned the first of his many Oscar nominations for his performance in that film.  His nominated heralded the arrival of a new type of star.

5. Jack Nicholson Is Nominated For Best Supporting Actor in 1969’s Easy Rider

After spending a decade toiling in Hollywood and getting nowhere, Nicholson was on the verge of retiring from acting when agreed, at the last minute, to replace Rip Torn in Easy Rider.  Nicholson not only became a star but he also received his first Oscar nomination.  Much as with Caine, Nicholson’s nomination heralded the arrival of a new cinematic age.

6. Midnight Cowboy Wins Best Picture Of 1969

You can debate whether or not Midnight Cowboy was truly the best film of the year but, by honoring it, the Academy finally choose a side in the culture war that it had spent a decade trying to avoid.

Up Next: The 70s!

Midnight Cowboy (1969; D; John Schlesinger)

My favorite scene from All About Eve

The 1950s don’t get much respect from film historians.  The decade is often written off as being an age of conformity, when Hollywood reacted to the treat of television by producing empty spectacle.  In some instance, that may have been the case but I think it can also be argued that the 50s saw its share of good films and good performances and some of them were even honored by the Academy.

Here are six times that the Academy got it right in the 50s.

1. All About Eve and Sunset Boulevard are nominated for Best Picture of 1950

The decade got off to a good start with the Academy two of the best films ever for Best Picture.  Personally, I think All About Eve was the correct winner but I don’t think anyone, even all these years later, would have complained if the Oscar had gone to Sunset Boulevard instead.  Somehow, neither Bette Davis nor Gloria Swanson won Best Actress that year.

2. Gloria Grahame wins Best Supporting Actress For The Bad and the Beautiful

Grahame’s role was a small one and she didn’t even appear in the film until it was close to over but she more than deserved to win her Oscar for 1952’s The Bad and The Beautiful.  The often-underrated Grahame gave a wonderful performance as the writer’s wife, who is tragically seduced by Hollywood.  Along with her nominated performance in Crossfire and her unnominated work in It’s A Wonderful Life, The Bad and the Beautiful features the underrated Grahame at her best.

Oscar, in happier times

3. Audrey Hepburn wins Best Actress for Roman Holiday

The great Audrey Hepburn’s performance in 1953’s Roman Holiday is one of my favorite Oscar-winning performances of all time.

4. James Dean Is Nominated For East of Eden and Giant

It’s tempting to speculate about what type of career James Dean would have had if not for his tragic and early death.  Would he have gone on to become a Brando-style eccentric or would he have become a more conventional leading man?  Would he still be as powerful an actor once he was no longer a young rebel but instead a middle-aged suburbanite?  One likes to think that Dean would have continued to be an icon but it’s easy to imagine him getting lost in the Hollywood counter culture like Dennis Hopper did for most of the 60s.

All that’s just speculation though.  What we do know is that James Dean received two posthumous Oscar nominations after his death, one for 1955’s East of Eden and one for 1956’s Giant.  The Academy, long-derided as being out of touch, obviously understood that Dean was a phenomena.

5. Peyton Place Is Nominated For Best Picture of 1957

Yes, it’s incredibly trashy and a little dumb but I don’t care.  I love it.  It’s exactly the type of overproduced, overheated, but fun film that deserves to be nominated but which doesn’t necessarily deserve to win.

6. The Academy Nominates 1959’s Anatomy of a Murder

Personally, I wish it had won but you know what?  I’ll be happy with the nomination.  Jimmy Stewart received his final Oscar nomination for his role in Anatomy of a Murder.  Again, I wish he had won but, at the same time, I’m also happy that it at least got a nomination.

Up next: The 60s!

The 1940s began with America going to war and it ended with the world entering the Atomic age.  It was an interesting decade for the movies, as visions of optimistic patriotism and downbeat noir often went head to head at the box office and at the Oscars.

Here are 6 times that the Academy got it right in the 1940s!

1. Casablanca Wins Best Picture

You knew that this was going to be the first thing that I was going to list.  In 1943, Casablanca won the Academy Award for Best Picture.  Though the film’s victory obviously had a lot to do with its anti-Nazi theme, it’s also one of the best acted and most quotable films ever made.  Humphrey Bogart and Ingrid Bergman were never better.  Claude Rains was never more charming.  And Conrad Veidt perfectly embodied everything that the Allies were fighting against in Europe.  This one of the rare Oscar victories that no one can complain about.

2. James Stewart wins Best Actor For The Philadelphia Story

He deserved it for the scene where he sings Somewhere Over The Rainbow.  This is award is usually cited as the first instance of the Academy giving someone an award to make up for an earlier snub, in this case Stewart not winning for Mr. Smith Goes To Washington.  That’s probably true but still, it’s a charming performance and how can you not be happy about Jimmy Stewart receiving an Oscar?

3. Edmund Gwenn wins Best Supporting Actor For 1947’s Miracle on 34th Street

He is Santa Claus!

4. Orson Welles Wins Best Original Screenplay for Citizen Kane

Yes, I realize he had to share it with Herman Mankiewicz and I realize that there’s a lot of people who think that they’re an expert on what happened because they sat through Mank.  The fact of the matter is that Citizen Kane is an Orson Welles film.  To give all of the credit to Mankiewicz is to ignore all of the talent and vision that Welles brought to shaping the film.  Even if we accept Mank‘s dubious claim that the majority of the script was Mankiewicz’s, Welles was the one who made the film into a portrait of America at its best and worst as opposed to just the bitter ramblings of an old alcoholic.  Citizen Kane and Welles deserved more than one Oscar but considering just how many powerful people in Hollywood tried to stop Citizen Kane, I’m a little amazed that the Academy even gave Welles one Oscar.

5. Crossfire Is Nominated For Best Picture

Even though 1947’s Crossfire lost the award to Gentleman’s Agreement, it still made history as the first “B” movie to receive a nomination for Best Picture.  Crossfire holds up quite well today as a portrait of the evil that comes with prejudice.

6. The Best Years of Our Lives and It’s A Wonderful Life Are Nominated For Best Picture

In 1946, two of the best films made about postwar America were nominated for Best Picture.  The Best Years Of Our Lives won, while It’s A Wonderful Life went on to become a holiday perennial and a cultural touchdown.  Both of them are powerful portraits of Americans trying to find themselves in the years directly after the end of World War II.  Both deserved their nominations.  It’s a shame that both couldn’t win.

Up next: The 1950s!

In previous years, I’ve used Oscar Sunday as a chance to write about what the Academy has gotten wrong over the years, the snubbed classics and the unworthy winners.  This year, though, I want to do something a little different.

I want to take a look at the time that the Academy made the right decision, either by picking the best film for Best Picture or even just by giving a nomination to someone who actually deserved it.  Consider this to be my attempt to add some positivity to what has otherwise been a pretty negative awards season!  We all love to criticize the Academy and goodness knows that much of that criticism has been deserved over the years but occasionally, they do get it right!

Here are 4 times the Academy got it right during the 1920s!

(Before anyone thinks that I’m condemning the Academy with faint praise, the first Oscars were handed out in 1928 so, for this decades, there are really only a handful of winners and nominees to choose from.)

1. All Quiet On The Western Front Wins Best Picture

All Quiet On The Western Front was the third film to win the Oscar for Best Picture and it was the first truly great film to win the award.  If Wings and Broadway Melody were rewarded largely because of internal politics, All Quiet On The Western Front won because it truly deserved it.

2. Sunrise Wins The Academy Award For Unique And Artistic Picture

At the first Oscar ceremony, two awards for Best Picture were given out.  Best Picture went to Wings, which is good but not great.  The award for Unique and Artistic Picture, however, went to F.W. Munrau’s sublime Sunrise.

3. The Racket Is Nominated For Best Picture

The Racket was one of the three films to be nominated for the very first Best Picture Oscar in 1928.  It’s nearly forgotten today but it still remains significant because it was the first gangster film to be nominated for Best Picture and it was also the first genre film.  The Racket started a long tradition of American movies about organized crime, one that includes The Godfather, Goodfellas, The Irishman, and so many other films.  As well, The Racket was long considered to be a lost film until someone stumbled across the last remaining copy in the 70s.  Never stop searching for those lost films!

4. Warner Baxter Win Best Actor For In Old Arizona

The 2nd Academy Awards ceremony was a strange one, largely because only the winners were announced and no one is quite sure how the Academy settled on those winners.  That said, Warner Baxter’s award for starring in In Old Arizona does feel historically significant.  He was the first actor to win for appearing in a western and he won for playing not a lawman but an outlaw.  In fact, his amoral character served as a template for many of the characters who would populate the Spaghetti westerns of the 60s and the 70s.

Up next: the 1930s!