1940 - The year the oscars liked Hitchcock?

1940 the start of this classic hollywood decade is ridden with so many wonderful films that I had seen prior to this revisit but also through research I found some extraordinary films too. The year was ultimately won by an Alfred Hitchcock picture if that can be believed. The film in question was Rebecca one of Hitchcock's early american films and while the win is for a Hitchcock picture that doesn't happen to be the case. Produced by David O. Selznick the reigning winner from the year before it is more a win for him rather than Hitchcock given more proof by the film only winning one other prize. The film Rebecca is an exceptional film like most Hitchcock films although not his best it's still a brilliant film to watch introducing the world to Joan Fontaine in just an all time performance. As with early years there were 10 nominees and the other nominees up for the picture prize where All This, and Heaven Too, Foreign Correspondent, The Grapes of Wrath, The Great Dictator, Kitty Foyle, The Letter, The Long Voyage Home, Our Town and The Philadelphia Story. As is clear this was a very varied list of picture nominees from the great comedies like Philadelphia Story and the exceptional dramas like Foreign Correspondent, Grapes of Wrath and The Letter. This is quite the impressive list of nominees even if films like Kitty Foyle and Our Town are the nominees I have the most problem with because they are rather dated and not all time great like some of the films singled out on this list.

Even though I approve of most of the list there are two gigantic omissions I feel are not included on this list. The first my favourite film of the year is Howard Hawks's brilliant screwball comedy His Girl Friday. The film is one of the greatest comedies ever crafted and takes the original play The Front Page changes one of the leads to female and lets the ball role from there. There is so much to love in His Girl Friday from the dynamic duo of Cary Grant and especially Rosalind Russell. There's also Howard Hawks who probably the greatest director in terms of variety proves with this why I love him. The second omissions is my runner up Fantasia. The film was a passion project for Walt Disney and the guy really put his all into getting this film done and thankfully so because this is incredible animation mixed with even greater music. The film is a combination of many vignette's set to classical music. The combination of all this is some incredible film creation. Rebecca the picture winner is my third favourite feature of this year. The film like I mentioned is classic Hitchcock suspence and drama. Fontaine is the star but is matched by the likes of Olivier and Anderson who also give incredible work. The next film to make my personal top 5 is John Ford's The Grapes of Wrath. The film like most early Ford sound pictures is homely tale of family and they are stronger together than apart. Based on the classic novel of the same name Ford is able to film this impecably to the point where it's a near perfect film that due to Ford's leading direction is some exceptional work. Shout outs to Fonda and Darwell for their note worthy performances. The final film to make my personal lineup is yet again another film that was up for the picture prize. This film is George Cukor's The Philadelphia Story. Another all time comedy starring the magnetic trio of Grant, Hepburn and Stewart. All incredibly filmed by Cukor and all in top form this adaption of the broadway play is classic cinema and what it is all about. 

36 is the amount of films I was able to see from this year and I would have to say this is an incredible list of films I was able to find. Era defining features all released so close from one another is a great stat. Below is my preferred list of winners and nominees.

OUTSTANDING PICTURE:

1. His Girl Friday (Produced by Howard Hawks)

2. Fantasia (Produced by Walt Disney & Ben Sharpsteen)

3. Rebecca (Produced by David O. Selznick)

4. The Grapes of Wrath (Produced by Darryl F. Zanuck & Nunnally Johnson)

5. The Philadelphia Story (Produced by Joseph L. Mankiewicz)

6. Pinocchio

7. The Letter

8. Waterloo Bridge

9. Olympia

10. The Bank Dick

OUTSTANDING DIRECTOR:

Samuel Armstrong, James Algar, Bill Roberts, Paul Satterfield, Ben Sharpsteen, David D. Hand, Hamilton Luske, Jim Handley, Ford Beebe, T. Hee, Norman Ferguson & Wilfred Jackson for Fantasia

John Ford for The Grapes of Wrath

Howard Hawks for His Girl Friday

Alfred Hitchcock for Rebecca

William Wyler for The Letter

OUTSTANDING LEADING ACTOR:

Fred Astaire as Johnny Brett in "BROADWAY MELODY OF 1940"

W.C. Fields as Egbert Sousé in "THE BANK DICK"

Henry Fonda as Tom Joad in "THE GRAPES OF WRATH"

Cary Grant as Walter Burns in "HIS GIRL FRIDAY"

Laurence Olivier as Maxim de Winter in "REBECCA"

OUTSTANDING LEADING ACTRESS:

Bette Davis as Leslie Crosbie in "THE LETTER"

Joan Fontaine as the second Mrs. de Winter in "REBECCA"

Katharine Hepburn as Tracy Lord in "THE PHILADELPHIA STORY"

Vivien Leigh as Myra in "WATERLOO BRIDGE"

Rosalind Russell as Hildegard "Hildy" Johnson in "HIS GIRL FRIDAY"

OUTSTANDING SUPPORTING ACTOR:

Walter Brennan as Judge Roy Bean in "THE WESTERNER"

Rex Ingram as Djinn in "THE THIEF OF BAGDAD"

Herbert Marshall as Stephen Fisher in "FOREIGN CORRESPONDENT"

George Murphy as King Shaw in "BROADWAY MELODY OF 1940"

George Sanders as Jack Favell in "REBECCA"

OUTSTANDING SUPPORTING ACTRESS:

Judith Anderson as Mrs. Danvers in "REBECCA"

Lucille Ball as Bubbles / Tiger Lily White in "DANCE, GIRL, DANCE"

Jane Durwell as Ma Joad in "THE GRAPES OF WRATH"

Virginia Field as Kitty in "WATERLOO BRIDGE"

Barbara O'Neil as Frances Altarice Rosalba Sébastiani in "ALL THIS, AND HEAVEN TOO"

OUTSTANDING ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY:

Mahatma Kane Jeeves for The Bank Dick

Vicki Baum, Frank Davis & Tess Slesinger for Dance, Girl, Dance

Charlie Chaplin for The Great Dictator

Preston Sturges for The Great McGinty

Niven Busch, Jo Swerling, W.R. Burnett, Lillian Hellman & Oliver La Farge for The Westerner

OUTSTANDING ADAPTED SCREENPLAY:

Screenplay by Nunnally Johnson; Based on The Grapes of Wrath by John Steinbeck, The Grapes of Wrath

Screenplay by Charles Lederer; Based on The Front Page by Ben Hecht & Charles MacArthur, His Girl Friday

Screenplay by Donald Ogden Stewart; Based on The Philadelphia Story by Philip Barry, The Philadelphia Story

Screenplay by Philip MacDonald & Michael Hogan; Story by Joan Harrison & Robert E. Sherwood; Based on Rebecca by Daphne du Maurier, Rebecca

Screenplay byS. N. Behrman, Hans Rameau & George Froeschel; Based on Waterloo Bridge by Robert E. Sherwood, Waterloo Bridge

OUTSTANDING ART DIRECTION:

Kenneth Anderson, Bruce Bushman, Arthur Byram, Tom Codrick, Robert Cormack, Harold Doughty, Yale Gracey, Hugh Hennesy, John Hubley, Dick Kelsey, J. Gordon Legg, Kay Nielsen, Lance Nolley, Ernest Nordli, Kendall O'Connor, Charles Payzant, Curtiss D. Perkins, Charles Philippi, Thor Putnam, Herbert Ryman, Zack Schwartz, Terrell Stapp, McLaren Stewart & Al Zinnen for Fantasia

Cedric Gibbons for The Philadelphia Story

Cedric Gibbons for Pride and Prejudice

Lyle Wheeler for Rebecca

Vincent Korda for The Thief of Bagdad

OUTSTANDING BREAKTHROUGH/DEBUT:

Jona Fontaine (Rebecca)

Ruth Gordon (Abe Lincoln in Illinois)

Maureen O'Hara (Dance, Girl Dance)

Eleanor Powell (Broadway Melody of 1940)

Martha Scott (Our Town)

OUTSTANDING CINEMATOGRAPHY:

James Wong Howe for Fantasia

Tony Gaudio for The Letter

George Barnes for Rebecca

Georges Périnal for The Thief of Bagdad

Joseph Ruttenberg for Waterloo Bridge

OUTSTANDING COSTUME DESIGN:

Orry George Kelly for The Letter

Adrian Adolph Greenburg for The Philadelphia Story

Eugene Joseff for Rebecca

John Armstrong, Oliver Messel & Marcel Vertes for The Thief of Bagdad

Adrian Adolph Greenburg, Gile Steele & Irene for Waterloo Bridge

OUTSTANDING DOCUMENTARY:

Olympia (Directed by Leni Riefenstahl)

OUTSTANDING ENSEMBLE OF THE YEAR:

The Grapes of Wrath (Henry Fonda, Jane Darwell, John Carradine, Charley Grapewin, Dorris Bowdon, Russell Simpson, O.Z. Whitehead, John Qualen, Eddie Quillan, Zeffie Tilbury, Frank Sully, Frank Darien, Darryl Hickman, Shirley Mills, Roger Imhof, Grant Mitchell, Charles D. Brown, John Arledge, Ward Bond, Harry Tyler, William Pawley, Charles Tannen, Selmer Jackson, Charles Middleton, Eddy Waller, Paul Guilfoyle, David Hughes, Cliff Clark, Joe Sawyer, Frank Faylen, Adrian Morris, Hollis Jewell, Robert Homans, Irving Bacon, Kitty McHugh)

His Girl Friday (Cary Grant, Rosalind Russell, Ralph Bellamy, Alma Kruger, Gene Lockhart, Clarence Kolb, Abner Biberman, John Qualen, Helen Mack, Porter Hall, Ernest Truex, Cliff Edwards, Roscoe Karns, Frank Jenks, Regis Toomey, Frank Orth, Billy Gilbert, Pat West, Edwin Maxwell, Marion Martin)

The Philadelphia Story (Cary Grant, Katharine Hepburn, James Stewart, Ruth Hussey, John Howard, Roland Young, John Halliday, Mary Nash, Virginia Weidler, Henry Daniell, Lionel Pape, Rex Evans, David Clyde)

Rebecca (Joan Fontaine, Laurence Olivier, Judith Anderson, George Sanders, Reginald Denny, Gladys Cooper, C. Aubrey Smith, Nigel Bruce, Florence Bates, Edward Fielding, Melville Cooper, Leo G. Carroll, Leonard Carey, Lumsden Hare, Forrester Harvey, Philip Winter)

The Shop Around the Corner (Margaret Sullavan, James Stewart, Frank Morgan, Joseph Schildkraut, Sara Haden, Felix Bressart, William Tracy, Inez Courtney, Charles Halton, Charles Smith, Sarah Edwards, Edwin Maxwell)

OUTSTANDING FILM EDITING:

Robert Simpson for The Grapes of Wrath

Willard Nico for The Great Dictator

Gene Havlick for His Girl Friday

W. Dnn Hayes for Rebecca

George Boemler for Waterloo Bridge

OUTSTANDING FOREIGN LANGUAGE FILM:

The Baker's Wife (Directed by Marcel Pagnol)

Daybreak (Directed by Marcel Carné)

OUTSTANDING ORIGINAL SCORE:

Max Steiner for The Letter

Charles Chaplin & Meredith Wilson for The Great Dictator

Leigh Harline & Paul J. Smith for Pinocchio

Franz Waxman for Rebecca

Herbert Stothart for Waterloo Bridge

OUTSTANDING ORIGINAL SONG:

Broadway Melody of 1940, "I Concentrate on You" (Music and Lyrics by Cole Porter)

Broadway Melody of 1940, "I've Got My Eyes on You" (Music and Lyrics by Cole Porter)

Pinocchio, "Give a Little Whistle" (Music by Leigh Harline; Lyrics by Ned Washington)

Pinocchio, "I've Got No Strings" (Music by Leigh Harline; Lyrics by Ned Washington)

Pinocchio, "When You Wish Upon a Star" (Music by Leigh Harline; Lyrics by Ned Washington)

OUTSTANDING PERFORMER OF THE YEAR:

Bette Davis (All This, and Heaven Too, The Letter)

Errol Flynn (Santa Fe Trail, The Sea Hawk, Virginia City)

Cary Grant (His Girl Friday, My Favorite Wife, The Philadelphia Story)

James Stewart (The Mortal Storm, The Philadelphia Story, The Shop Around the Corner)

John Wayne (Dark Command, The Long Voyage Home, Seven Sinners, Three Faces West)

OUTSTANDING SOUND RECORDING:

William E. Garity, J.N.A. Hawkins & C.O. Slyfield for Fantasia

Glenn Rominger & Percy Townsend for The Great Dictator

Pinocchio

Jack Noyes for Rebecca

Fred Lau for The Westerner

OUTSTANDING SPECIAL EFFECTS:

Ralph Hammeras for The Great Dictator

R. T. Layton, Ray Binger & Thomas T. Moulton for The Long Voyage Home

Jack Cosgrove & Arthur Johns for Rebecca

Byron Haskin & Nathan Levinson for The Sea Hawk

Lawrence Butler for The Thief of Bagdad

For the past two months I've been posting these revisits up till 2 times a week but now as I move into August my time is becoming less so I will instead be posting theses posts once a week on a Sunday. I hope those who read continue to and to keep you informed till next week I will be revisiting 1963 next. This year was one by the British expert Tom Jones.

1990 - The year the oscars rewarded the "all american" tale

1990 was the beginning and ending of a lot of cinema releated things. It was the official end of the 80's which was quite the transitional decade for hollywood with the more riskier pictures being less budgeted by studios and more blockbuster films being made by these many studios. 1990 itself sort of represents this with the choice by the academy which was actor turned director Kevin Costner's Dances with Wolves. The choice is rather odd nowadays which I can agree with having finally seen the film which admitadly was a struggle to get through. The film is so underdeveloped from a script level and Costner clearly lacks the direction skills to elevant it past this. Such a typical academy choice that I have to disagree with so harshly because Costner really has proven himself so much more being an actor and this picture just didn't work for me. The other choices for picture other than the obvious didn't inspire much adoration from me because clearly it was more about what made money this year. The other nominees were Awakenings, Ghost, Godfather Part II and Goodfellas. Other than Goodfellas this lineup is so off putting in terms of quality. Awakenings is average oscar bait that I feel doesn't work, Ghost aside from Whoopi Goldberg's oscar winning turn is a run of the mile romance and Godfather III just pails to it's predecesors and simply got in on name recongition rather than actually deserving a slot. Goodfellas is the only picture I fully agree with to a point like many I consider it to be one of the worst oversights by the academy because they waited so long to reward Scorsese when they had so many opportunities they just didn't take.

While the academy reflected the wrong side of hollywood film making there were some impressive cinematic feats to come out this year. Top of my list is the great foreign film Cinema Paradiso which premiered first in 1988 but didn't arrive stateside till this year. I believe if you love film and all the magic of it there is no way you cannot fall head over heals for this film. It's just filled the brime of clear adoration for cinema through these extended flashbacks of a young child learning to love cinema. While the film is filled with tragdegy every time the camera falls for cinema I can't help but agree with every department of this film. Just expert work from Giuseppe Tornatore who probably made the great love story for film of all time. Next in my list is Martin Scorsese's Goodfellas. The mob culture has never been looked upon the same since this film came out and for good reason. While Godfather first showed america the mob way Goodfellas did it by capturing it in the most modern way as the film takes place from 1955 up till 1980. The film is filled with sweeping camera shots that even though copied to death today is never the same as when Scorsese directs them. Scorsese is the star of this film but he fills it the brime with character after character that in any other film would come across as cliche but from the creative mind of Scorsese is a cast of enjoyable characters that on each rewatch I discover a new love for each of them. Next is Jane Campion's Sweetie one of her pre-The Piano films is a complete Campion picture. She mixes zainy comedy with deep trauma like no other director. The trauma comes from the titular character of Sweetie and the zainy atmosphere comes from the universe building of Campion who fills the screen with vibrant colors, characters and just a general tone that no director but Campion is able to achieve. Wild at the Heart easily the oddest choice in my top five is David Lynch completly letting loose. He goes mad to the point sanity with his version of The Wizard of Oz story but through the eyes of Lynch is the oddest version of it. I just out right love this film even if some find issues with it because it's such a Lynchian picture and his particular style is something that just agrees with my inner oddness. Whether it's Diane Ladd going absolutely mad or Willem Dafoe hand rapping Laura Dern. Such a dark and twisted romance is Wild of Heart, The final film to make my top 5 is again another odd film Tim Burton's Edward Scissorhands. Yet again another unconventional love story this is one of Burton's crowning achievements before he lost the subtance. This film is full of life and character as well as plenty of death typical of a Burton film. This is Burton and Depp before they stopped caring and together the two create the weirdest of love stories that due to it's emotional highs will make me cry each time I watch this feature .As you can tell from my list so far of favourites from the year there is plenty of crossover in terms of themes and tones.

48 is the amount of films I saw from 1990 and all together it's an impressive list of films from some of the great directors. The year features a lot of signature films from these directors which is cool considering they all come in the same year. Below is the list of winners and nominees I would've chosen from the academy awards.

OUTSTANDING PICTURE:

1. Cinema Paradiso (Produced by Franco Cristaldi & Giovanna Romagnoli)

2. Goodfellas (Produced by Irwin Winkler)

3. Sweetie (Produced by John Maynard)

4. Wild at Heart (Produced by Steve Golin, Monty Montgomery & Sigurjon Sighvatsson)

5. Edward Scissorhands (Produced by Tim Burton & Denise Di Novi)

6. War Requiem

7. Postcards from the Edge

8. Metropolitan

9. Tie Me Up! Tie Me Down a.k.a. Atame

10. Miller's Crossing

OUTSTANDING DIRECTOR:

Jane Campion for Sweetie

Derek Jarman for War Requiem

David Lynch for Wild at Heart

Martin Scorsese for Goodfellas

Giuseppe Tornatore for Cinema Paradiso

OUTSTANDING LEADING ACTOR:

Alec Baldwin as Frederick J. Frenger Jr. in "MIAMI BLUES"

Johnny Depp as Edward Scissorhands in "EDWARD SCISSORHANDS"

Danny Glover as Harry in "TO SLEEP WITH ANGER"

Richard Harris as "Bull" McCabe in "THE FIELD"

Jeremy Irons as Claus von Bülow in "REVERSAL OF FORTUNE"

OUTSTANDING LEADING ACTRESS:

Mary Alice as Suzie in "TO SLEEP WITH ANGER"

Kathy Bates as Annie Wilkes in "MISERY"

Sandra Bernhard as Herself in "WITHOUT YOU I'M NOTHING"

Laura Dern as Lila Pace Fortune in "WILD AT HEART"

Julia Roberts as Vivian Ward in "PRETTY WOMAN"

OUTSTANDING SUPPORTING ACTOR:

Willem Dafoe as Bobby Peru in "WILD AT HEART"

Brad Dourif as The Gemini Killer in "THE EXORCIST III"

Philippe Noiret as Alfredo in "CINEMA PARADISO"

Joe Pesci as Tommy DeVito in "GOODFELLAS"

Harry Dean Stanton as Johnnie Farragut in "WILD AT HEART"

OUTSTANDING SUPPORTING ACTRESS:

Whoopi Goldberg as Oda Mae Brown in "GHOST"

Diane Ladd as Marietta Fortune in "WILD AT HEART"

Geneviève Lemon as Dawn aka Sweetie in "SWEETIE"

Shirley MacLaine as in "POSTCARDS FROM THE EDGE"

Sheryl Lee Ralph as Linda in "TO SLEEP WITH ANGER"

OUTSTANDING ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY:

Giuseppe Tornatore for Cinema Paradiso

Tim Burton & Caroline Thompson for Edward Scissorhands

Whit Stillman for Metropolitan

Jane Campion & Gerard Lee for Sweetie

Charles Burnett for To Sleep with Anger

OUTSTANDING ADAPTED SCREENPLAY:

Screenplay by Nicholas Pileggi & Martin Scorsese; Based on Wiseguy by Nicholas Pileggi, Goodfellas

Screenplay by William Goldman; Based on Misery by Stephen King, Misery

Screenplay by Carrie Fisher; Based on Postcards from the Edge by Carrie Fisher, Postcards from the Edge

Screenplay by Nicholas Kazan; Based on Reversal of Fortune: Inside the von Bülow Case by Alan M. Dershowitz, Reversal of Fortune

Screenplay by David Lynch; Based on Wild at Heart by Barry Gifford, Wild at Heart

OUTSTANDING ART DIRECTION:

Production Design by Richard Sylbert; Set Design by Rick Simpson for Dick Tracy

Production Design by Bo Welch; Set Design by Cheryl Carasik for Edward Scissorhands

Production Design by Kristi Zea; Set Design by Les Bloom for Goodfellas

Production Design by Dennis Gassner; Set Design by Nancy Haigh for The Grifters

Production Design by Patricia Norris for Wild at Heart

OUTSTANDING BREAKTHROUGH/DEBUT:

Ethel Ayler (To Sleep with Anger)

Lorraine Bracco (Goodfellas)

Geneviève Lemon (Sweetie)

Sheryl Lee Ralph (To Sleep with Anger)

Tilda Swinton (War Requiem)

OUTSTANDING CINEMATOGRAPHY:

Blasco Giurato for Cinema Paradiso

Michael Ballhaus for Goodfellas

Sally Bongers for Sweetie

Richard Greatrex for War Requiem

Frederocl Elmes for Wild at Heart

OUTSTANDING COSTUME DESIGN:

Colleen Atwood for Edward Scissohands

Richard Bruno for Goodfellas

Marilyn Vanice for Pretty Woman

Judianna Makovsky for Reversal of Fortune

Amy Stofsky for Wild at Heart

OUTSTANDING DOCUMENTARY:

American Dream (Directed by Barbara Kopple and Arthur Cohn)

OUTSTANDING ENSEMBLE OF THE YEAR:

Goodfellas (Ray Liotta, Robert De Niro, Joe Pesci, Lorraine Bracco, Paul Sorvino, Frank Sivero, Frank Vincent, Tony Darrow, Mike Starr, Chuck Low, Frank DiLeo, Johnny Williams, Samuel L. Jackson, Frank Adonis, Catherine Scorsese, Gina Mastrogiacomo, Debi Mazar, Margo Winkler, Welker White, Julie Garfield, Paul Herman, Detective Ed Deacy, Christopher Serrone, Charles Scorsese, Michael Vivalo, Michael Imperioli, Tony Sirico, Frank Pellegrino, Tony Ellis, Elizabeth Whitcraft, Illeana Douglas, Anthony Powers, Assistant U.S. Attorney Ed McDonald, Tony Lip, Joseph Bono, Kevin Corrigan, Tobin Bell, Henny Youngman, Vito Picone)

Metropolitan (Carolyn Farina, Edward Clements, Chris Eigeman, Taylor Nichols, Allison Parisi, Dylan Hundley, Isabel Gillies, Bryan Leder, Will Kempe, Ellia Thompson, Stephen Uys, Roger W. Kirby)

Miller's Crossing (Gabriel Byrne, Marcia Gay Harden, Albert Finney, John Turturro, Jon Polito, J. E. Freeman, Steve Buscemi, John McConnell, Mike Starr, Al Mancini, Olek Krupa, Michael Jeter, Michael Badalucco, Frances McDormand, Sam Raimi)

Sweetie (Geneviève Lemon, Karen Colston, Tom Lycos, Jon Darling, Dorothy Barry, Michael Lake, Andre Pataczek, Jean Hadgraft, Paul Livingston, Louise Fox, Ann Merchant, Robin Frank, Bronwyn Morgan, Sean Fennell, Sean Callinan)

To Sleep with Anger (Danny Glover, Paul Butler, DeVaughn Nixon, Mary Alice, Reina King, Cory Curtis, Richard Brooks, Sheryl Lee Ralph, Carl Lumbly, Paula Bellamy, Vonetta McGee, Wonderful Smith, Ethel Ayler)

OUTSTANDING FILM EDITING:

Mario Morra for Cinema Paradiso

Thelma Schoonmaker for Goodfellas

Veronika Jenet for Sweetie

Rick Rlgood for War Requiem

Duwayne Dunham for Wild at Heart

OUTSTANDING FOREIGN LANGUAGE FILM:

Cinema Paradiso (Directed by Giuseppe Tornatore)

Cyrano de Bergerac (Directed by Jean-Paul Rappeneau)

The Killer (Directed by John Woo)

Tie Me Up! Tie Me Down a.k.a. Atame (Directed by Pedro Almodóvar)

The Vanishing (Directed by George Sluizer)

OUTSTANDING MAKEUP:

Michèle Burke and Jean-Pierre Eychenne for Cyrano de Bergerac

John Caglione, Jr. & Doug Drexler for Dick Tracy

Ve Neill & Stan Winston for Edward Scissorhands

Michelle Buhler for Wild at Heart

John Stephenson & The Creature Shop for The Witches

OUTSTANDING ORIGINAL SCORE:

Ennio Morricone for Cinema Paradiso

John Barry for Dances With Wolves

Danny Elfman for Edward Scissorhands

Elmer Bernstein for The Grifters

Mark Isham for Reversal of Fortune

OUTSTANDING ORIGINAL SONG:

Dick Tracy, "Sooner or Later (I Always Get My Man)" (Music and Lyrics by Stephen Sondheim)

Dick Tracy, "What Can You Lose" (Music and Lyrics by Stephen Sondheim)

The Godfather, Part III, "Promise Me You'll Remember" (Music by Carmine Coppola; Lyrics by John Bettis)

Postcards from the Edge, "I'm Checkin' Out" (Music and Lyrics by Shel Silverstein)

Young Guns II, "Blaze of Glory" (Music and Lyrics by Jon Bon Jovi)

OUTSTANDING PERFORMER OF THE YEAR:

Alec Baldwin (Alice, The Hunt for Red October, Miami Blues)

Kathy Bates (Dick Tracy, Men Don't Leave, Misery, White Palace)

Glenn Close (Hamlet, Reversal of Fortune)

Robert De Niro (Awakenings, Goodfellas, Stanley & Iris)

Anjelica Huston (The Grifters, The Witches)

OUTSTANDING SOUND EDITING:

Richard L. Anderson, Michael J. Benavente, James Christopher & Dave Stone for Edward Scissorhands

Clayton Collins & Leslie Shatz for Ghost

Cecelia Hall and George Watters II for The Hunt for Red October

Stephen H. Flick for Total Recall

Luis Colina, Ken Fischer & Richard Hymns for Wild at Heart

OUTSTANDING SOUND MIXING:

Petur Hliddal, Stanley Kastner &  Steve Maslow for Edward Scissorhands

Tom Fleischman & James Sabat for Goodfellas

Allan Byer & Lee Dichter for Miller's Crossing

Nelson Stoll, Michael J. Kohut, Carlos Delarios & Aaron Rochin for Total Recall

Randy Thom, Richard Hymns, Jon Huck & David Parker for Wild at Heart

OUTSTANDING VISUAL EFFECTS:

Visual Effects Team for Dick Tracy

Stan Winston for Edward Scissohands

Bruce Nicholson, John T. Van Vliet, Richard Edlund & Laura Buff for Ghost

Eric Brevig, Rob Bottin, Tim McGovern & Alex Funke for Total Recall

Next I'm gonna go back half a century to 1940. The year an Alfred Hitchcock film won best picture and one other award. The academy really never wanted to reward Hitchcock and really this was an award for David O. Selznik. The film was Rebecca and did it deserve it's prize or was there another film deserving of a win.

1971 - The year oscar loved themselves a car chase

1971 like most years in this spectacular decade was quite the discovery having previously seen a handful of films from the year and now being introduced to some truly explosive feature films from all countries, genres and individual film makers. The oscars this year focused in most of their attention on William Friedkin's The French Connection. Having seen the film before this revisit I was sort of thrown by the academy going to in full for it just because it's great and outside the camera the film is your typical cop thriller. I guess the filming of the car chase being the greatest of all time is an advantage in the film in making it standout. The best picture lineup this year was spread out in terms of covering all it's bases. The other nominees along with French Connection where A Clockwork Orange, Fiddler on the Roof, The Last Picture Show and Nicholas and Alexandra. These films are a mixed bag for me. Clockwork and Picture Show are all time greats for me. Fiddelr and Nicholas however are not as great for me. Overall the lineup and choices in 1971 where mixed for me just because there were so much more films that where greater for me.

As I said there some extremely exceptional 1971 films that today and much more discussed then they probably would've been back then. The best of the year is yet again a Robert Altman film McCabe & Mrs. Miller. Seriously there was no stopping Altman during this decade as he just made great film after great film and so on. McCabe is the most romantic film Altman ever made and when you have the combined star power of Warren Beatty and especially Julie Christie you can't really go wrong because the two are just so good together that they make this sparkle even more then it ever could have. My runner up for the best of 1971 is a more controversial choice Ken Russell's The Devils. For me this is his masterpiece work of weirdness and horror that through his filmography he was so known for. The film has been almost destroyed by the removal of scenes due to uproar by the church but when you watch this as I did I as so blown over by it's wonderful weirdness. The greatness of this film begins and ends with Vanessa Redgrave who in the starring role is a sight to behold. Redgrave has never done better which is saying how great she is here because she has given great work since but nothing compares to the total comitment she gives the project and how she never apologizes for her performance. Next to make my personal lineup is Arthur Hiller's The Hospital. Directed by Hiller from another genius script from Paddy Chayefsky is a deeply disturbed feature completly controlled by Chayefsky. Due to his control you seen the writers influence completly which is never a bad thing when Chayefsky is in charge. Scott matches Chayefsky's words so strongly that the two along with Hiller's direction make for one definative 70's feature. Then there's Hal Ashby's Harold and Maude the most unconventinal love story of all time. One between a young man and someone nearly 60 years his senior. The romance make seem odd today but Ashby has a way with characters that makes this story of true love believable and charming to boot. Who would've believed a story this romantic would be so connected with themes of death. My fifth place film of the year is Milos Forman's Taking Off. The film about the youth experince through parents and children of those parents is a tricky wire act that under the direction of Forman is intoxicating. Really it is an impressive list of female led films (aside from The Hospital which has a complex female lead in Diana Riff) that make the top of my list.

38 is the amount of films I was able to see from this year. Really strong list of films from this year making it again another brilliant 70's year. Below is the list of winners and nominees I would've chosen.

OUTSTANDING PICTURE:

1. McCabe & Mrs. Miller (Produced by Mitchell Brower & David Foster)

2. The Devils (Produced by Ken Russell & Robert H. Solo)

3. The Hospital (Produced by Howard Gottfried)

4. Harold and Maude (Produced by Colin Higgins & Charles B. Mulvehill)

5. Taking Off

6. The Last Picture Show

7. Bananas

8. Walkabout

9. Klute

10. The French Connection

OUTSTANDING DIRECTOR:

Robert Altman for McCabe & Mrs. Miller

Hal Ashby for Harold and Maude

Miloš Forman for Taking Off

Stanley Kubrick for A Clockwork Orange

Ken Russell for The Devils

OUTSTANDING LEADING ACTOR:

Warren Beatty as John McCabe in "MCCABE & MRS. MILLER"

Gene Hackmans as Det. Jimmy 'Popeye' Doyle in "THE FRENCH CONNECTION"

Malcolm McDowell as Alex DeLarge in "A CLOCKWORK ORANGE"

George C. Scott as Dr. Herbert "Herb" Bock in "THE HOSPITAL"

Gene Wilder as Willy Wonka in "WILLY WONKA AND THE CHOCOLATE FACTORY"

OUTSTANDING LEADING ACTRESS:

Lynn Carlin as Lynn Tyne in "TAKING OFF"

Julie Christie as Constance Miller in "MCCABE & MRS. MILLER

Ruth Gordon as Maude in "HAROLD AND MAUDE"

Vanessa Redgrave as Sister Jeanne in "THE DEVILS"

Jessica Walter as Evelyn Draper in "PLAY MISTY FOR ME"

OUTSTANDING SUPPORTING ACTOR:

Jeff Bridges as Duane Jackson in "THE LAST PICTURE SHOW"

John Hurt as Timothy John Evans in "10 RILLINGTON PLACE"

Ben Johnson as Sam the Lion in "THE LAST PICTURE SHOW"

Warren Oates as G.T.O. in "TWO-LANE BLACKTOP"

Roy Schneider as Det. Buddy 'Cloudy' Russo in "THE FRENCH CONNECTION"

OUTSTANDING SUPPORTING ACTRESS:

Eileen Brennan as Genevieve in "THE LAST PICTURE SHOW"

Cloris Leachman as Ruth Popper in "THE LAST PICTURE SHOW"

Rita Moreno as Louise in "CARNAL KNOWLEDGE"

Vivian Pickles as Mrs. Chasen in "HAROLD AND MAUDE"

Cybill Shepherd as Jacy Farrow in "THE LAST PICTURE SHOW"

OUTSTANDING ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY:

Woody Allen for Bananas

Colin Higgins for Harold and Maude

Paddy Chayefsky for The Hospital

Penelope Gilliatt for Sunday, Bloody Sunday

Jean-Claude Carrièr, Miloš Forman, John Guare & Jon Klein for Taking Off

OUTSTANDING ADAPTED SCREENPLAY:

Screenplay by Stanley Kubrick; Based on A Clockwork Orange by Anthony Burgess, A Clockwork Orange

Screenplay by Ken Russell; Based on The Devils of Loudun by Aldous Huxley; The Devils by John Whiting, The Devils

Screenplay by Vittorio Bonicelli; Based on The Garden of the Finzi-Continis by Giorgio Bassani, The Garden of the Finzi-Continis

Screenplay by Larry McMurtry & Peter Bogdanovich; Based on The Last Picture Show by Larry McMurtry for The Last Picture Show

Screenplay by Robert Altman & Brian McKay; Based on McCabe by Edmund Naughton, McCabe & Mrs. Miller

OUTSTANDING ART DIRECTION:

Production Design by John Barry; Art Direction by Russell Hagg & Peter Sheilds for A Clockwork Orange

Production Design by Derek Jarman Art Direction by Robert Cartwright for The Devils

Production Design by Leon Ericksen; Art Direction by Al Locatelli & Philip Thomas for McCabe & Mrs. Miller

Production Design by John Box; Art Direction by Ernest Archer, Jack Maxsted & Gil Parrondo for Nicholas and Alexandra

Screenplay by Roald Dahl; Based on Charlie and the Chocolate Factory by Roald Dahl, Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory

OUTSTANDING BREAKTHROUGH/DEBUT:

Timothy Bottoms (The Last Picture Show)

Jeff Bridges (The Last Picture Show)

Ellen Burstyn (The Last Picture Show)

Malcolm McDowell (A Clockwork Orange)

Cybill Shepherd (The Last Picture Show)

OUTSTANDING CINEMATOGRAPHY:

John Alcott for A Clockwork Orange

David Watkin for The Devils

Owen Roizman for The French Connection

Robert Surtees for The Last Picture Show

Vilmos Zsigmond for McCabe & Mrs. Miller

OUTSTANDING COSTUME DESIGN:

Piero Tosi for Death in Venice

John Furniss for The Go-Between

Margaret Furse for Mary, Queen of Scots

Ilse Richter for McCabe & Mrs. Miller

Yvonne Blake for Nicholas and Alexandra

OUTSTANDING ENSEMBLE OF THE YEAR:

Bananas (Woody Allen, Louise Lasser, Carlos Montalban, Natividad Abascal, Jacobo Morales, Miguel Ángel Suárez, David Ortiz, René Enríquez, Jack Axelrod, Howard Cosell, Roger Grimsby, Don Dunphy, Charlotte Rae, Stanley Ackerman, Dan Frazer, Dorothi Fox, Martha Greenhouse, Axel Anderson, Tigre Pérez, Baron De Beer, Arthur Hughes, John Braden, Ted Chapman, Dagne Crane, Eddie Barth, Nicholas Saunders, Conrad Bain, Allen Garfield)

The French Connection (Gene Hackman, Fernando Rey, Roy Scheider, Tony Lo Bianco, Marcel Bozzuffi, Frédéric de Pasquale, Bill Hickman, Ann Rebbot, Harold Gary, Arlene Farber, Eddie Egan, André Ernotte, Sonny Grosso, Benny Marino, Patrick McDermott, Alan Weeks, Andre Trottier)

The Last Picture Show (Ben Johnson, Jeff Bridges, Timothy Bottoms, Cybill Shepherd, Cloris Leachman, Ellen Burstyn, Eileen Brennan, Randy Quaid, Clu Gulager, Bill Thurman, Frank Marshall, Sam Bottoms, Sharon Taggart)

McCabe & Mrs. Miller (Warren Beatty, Julie Christie, René Auberjonois, Michael Murphy, Antony Holland, Bert Remsen, Shelley Duvall, Keith Carradine, Hugh Millais, Jace Van Der Veen, Manfred Schulz, Corey Fischer, William Devane, John Schuck, Jackie Crossland, Elizabeth Murphy, Carey Lee McKenzie, Thomas Hill, Linda Sorenson, Elisabeth Knight, Janet Wright, Maysie Hoy, Linda Kupecek, Jeremy Newson, Wayne Robson, Jack Riley, Robert Fortier, Wayne Grace)

Taking Off (Lynn Carlin, Buck Henry, Georgia Engel, Tony Harvey, Audra Lindley, Paul Benedict, Vincent Schiavelli, David Gittler, Ike Turner, Tina Turner, Linnea Heacock, Rae Allen, Frank Berle, Phillip Bruns, Gail Busman, Carly Simon, Bobo Bates, Shellen Lubin)

OUTSTANDING FILM EDITING:

Bill Butler for A Clockwork Orange

Michael Bradsell for The Devils

Gerald B. Greenberg for The French Connection

Donn Cambern for The Last Picture Show

Louis Lombardo for McCabe & Mrs. Miller

OUTSTANDING FOREIGN LANGUAGE FILM:

Death in Venice (Directed by Luchino Visconti)

The Garden of the Finzi-Continis (Directed by Vittorio de Sica)

W.R.: Mysteries of the Organism (Directed by Dušan Makavejev)

OUTSTANDING MAKEUP:

Barbara Daly, George Partleton & Fred Williamson for A Clockwork Orange

Charles E. Parker for The Devils

Ed Butterworth, Robert Jiras & Phyllis Newman for McCabe & Mrs. Miller

Raimund Stangl for Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory

OUTSTANDING ORIGINAL/ADAPTATION SCORE:

Walter Carlos for A Clockwork Orange

John Williams for Fiddler on the Roof

Michel Legrand for The Go-Between

Jerry Fielding for Straw Dogs

Ron Geesin for Sunday, Bloody Sunday

OUTSTANDING ORIGINAL SONG:

Bedknobs and Broomsticks, "The Age of Not Beleving" (Music and Lyrics by Richard M. Sherman and Robert B. Sherman)

Diamonds Are Forever, "Diamonds Are Forever" (Music by John Barry; Lyrics by Don Black)

Harold and Maude, "Trouble" (Music and Lyrics by Cat Stevens)

McCabe & Mrs. Miller, "The Stranger Song" (Music and Lyrics Leonardo Cohen)

Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory, "Pure Imagination" (Music and Lyrics by Leslie Bricusse & Anthony Newley)

OUTSTANDING PERFORMER OF THE YEAR:

Julie Christie (The Go-Between, McCabe & Mrs. Miller)

Glenda Jackson (The Boy Friend, Mary, Queen of Scots, The Music Lovers, Sunday Bloody Sunday)

Walter Matthau (Kotch, A New Leave, Plaza Suite)

Vivian Pickles (Harold and Maude, Nicholas and Alexandra, Sunday Bloody Sunday)

Vanessa Redgrave (The Devils, Mary, Queen of Scots, The Trojan Women)

OUTSTANDING SOUND MIXING:

Eddie Haben, John Jordan & Bill Rowe for A Clockwork Orange

Gordon K. McCallum for The Devils

David Hildyard & Gordon McCallum for Fiddler on the Roof

Theodore Soderberg & Christopher Newman for The French Connection

Chris Newman for Klute

OUTSTANDING SPECIAL EFFECTS:

Danny Lee, Eustace Lycett & Alan Maley for Bedknobs and Broomsticks

John Richardson for The Devils

Logan R. Frazee for Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory

Next I'm going 19 years after 71 to 1990 when Kevin Costner turned director and directed Dances with Wolves. The film beat Scorsese for what many consider to be his best will I agree with the academy or is there another film I feel deserved the picture prize.

1988 - The year oscar loved them something special

1988 came with a lot of films I had seen before the revisit and a lot of even greater films I was just seeing for the very first time. The year in relation to the academy awards seemed to focus on a small list of films and just about nominate those films in every category it was eligible for. In the end the academy ended up choosing Barry Levinson's Rain Man. The film I'd seen before this revisit and even seeing it again left me quite negative on the film because it is just so typical and unsurprising that it being the academy's choice is band in retrospective. The picture lineup wasn't much better then Rain Man as the other nominees were The Accidental Tourist, Dangerous Liaisons, Mississippi Burning and Working Girl. The list outside of Liaisons is quite an awful lineup. Accidental Tourist I just don't get the love for because it's so flat and run of the mill. As I said Liaisons is brilliant and easily makes me own top 5. Mississippi Burning is so uninspired considering the subject matter of race relations which has just been done before and after in more thrilling ways. Working Girl while not on the level of Dangerous is my second favourite nominee and a film that is of it's time and vertually unmakeable in today's cinematic climate. Really the lineup outside of one stellar choice is rather dated and doesn't stand as strong as it probably did during the year as they seemed to embrace more commercially successful films.

The 61st academy awards was quite the awful affair with nothing in any major category inspiring anything merit from me which is why I was more pulled over by the critical success' of the year as there were plenty of them and many of them were great. My choice for the best film of the year is Philip Kaufman's The Unbearable Lightness of Being. The film itself has a lot to say that comes directly from the novel but Kaufman and his three beautiful leads made for some greatly underrated film making that while I've seen the film the one time is a film I know I will continue to appreciate when I eventually watch it again. Dangerous Liaisons like I said is marvelous and in my opinion the peak of Stephen Frears career. Glenn Close and John Malkovich in the dueling leading roles are at the height of their powers and so great that while Close got the nom (should've won) the snub of Malkovich is quite pointed as without him Close wouldn't be able to push it as far as she does. Dead Ringers has become my favourite David Cronenberg film mixing both his style for the weirdness in life and his story telling that can be quite compelling even if his direction style is so over powering. Jeremy Irons is most beloved for his oscar winning turn but if people want to witness him be so impactful see his duel performance as the twins this film follows and you'll wonder less why people are so blown away by his screen presence because through Cronenberg's camera we see Irons so expertly make these twins so different that you start to believe two actors are playing these roles. The main theme of my top 3 films is they are all rather depressing but when it comes to what's in my number 4 position it is Pedro Almodóvar's Women on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown. The film is a massive achievement in spanish cinema. Both a traditional comedy and dark black comedy it's Almodóvar better than he has ever been. He has an eye for the female experience like no director and juggling all the women in these film and just about everything this film has to say is a feet and Pedro at this age was fully campable of achieving greatness and he did with Women on the Verge.... The final film to make my picture lineup is Bull Duram again another fun film. It's a rich comedy that actually earns it's laughs but like no american film in 1988 did it perfectly capture the lives of americans but also how baseball is such a part of the experience. Sarandon in one of her rare oscar snubs is so great and makes the role of Annie Savoy iconic. As you see this was an impressive year for films that featured complex female characters in a decade that stayed clear of these types of female roles but films like these showed how not all female characters have to just defined by a man or rather relationship of sorts.

37 is the amount of films I was able to see released in this year. The films from all countries all over the world go to show for the most part the greatness of the films from the decade and due to my overpowering love for just about every film in my top 10 I consider this a supremely strong year for cinema. Below is my list of nominees and winners which up to this point is probably the most I've disagreed with the academies choices which is reflected in the acting lineups which match 4 nominees out of a possible 20.

OUTSTANDING PICTURE:

1. The Unbearable Lightness of Being (Produced by Saul Zaentz)

2. Dangerous Liaisons (Produced by Norma Heyman & Hank Moonjean)

3. Dead Ringers (Produced by Marc Boyman & David Cronenberg)

4. Women on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown (Produced by Pedro Almodóvar)

5. Bull Durham (Produced by Thom Mount & Mark Burg)

6. Another Woman

7. Big

8. A Fish Called Wanda

9. The Last Temptation of Christ

10. Salaam Bombay

OUTSTANDING DIRECTOR:

Pedro Almodóvar for Women on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown

David Cronenberg for Dead Ringers

Stephen Frears for Dangerous Liaisons

Philip Kaufman for The Unbearable Lightness of Being

Ron Shelton for Bull Durham

OUTSTANDING LEADING ACTOR:

Kevin Costner as "Crash" Davis in "BULL DURHAM"

Daniel Day-Lewis as Tomas in "THE UNBEARABLE LIGHTNESS OF BEING"

Tom Hanks as Josh Baskin in "BIG"

Jeremy Irons as Beverly Mantle / Elliot Mantle in "DEAD RINGERS"

John Malkovich as Vicomte de Valmont in "DANGEROUS LIAISONS"

OUTSTANDING LEADING ACTRESS:

Glenn Close as Marquise de Merteuil in "DANGEROUS LIAISONS"

Carmen Maura as Pepa Marcos in "WOMEN ON THE VERGE OF A NERVOUS BREAKDOWN"

Michelle Pfeiffer as Angela de Marco in "MARRIED TO THE MOB"

Gena Rowlands as Marion in "ANOTHER WOMAN"

Susan Sarandon as Annie Savoy in "BULL DURHAM"

OUTSTANDING SUPPORTING ACTOR:

Kevin Kline as Otto West in "A FISH CALLED WANDA"

Michael Palin as Ken Pile in "A FISH CALLED WANDA"

Alan Rickman as Hans Gruber in "DIE HARD"

Harry Dean Stanton as Saul / Paul in "THE LAST TEMPTATION OF CHRIST"

Dean Stockwell as Anthony "Tony the Tiger" Russo in "MARRIED TO THE MOB"

OUTSTANDING SUPPORTING ACTRESS:

Genevieve Bujold as Claire Niveau in "DEAD RINGERS"

Sandy Dennis as Claire in "ANOTHER WOMAN"

Barbara Hershey as Mary Magdalene in "THE LAST TEMPTATION OF CHRIST"

Lena Olin as Sabina in "THE UNBEARABLE LIGHTNESS OF BEING"

Mercedes Ruehl as Connie Russo in "MARRIED TO THE MOB"

OUTSTANDING ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY:

Woody Allen for Another Woman

Ron Shelton for Bull Durham

John Cleese & Charles Crichton for A Fish Called Wanda

Barry Strugatz & Mark R. Burns for Married to the Mob

Pedro Almodóvar for Women on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown

OUTSTANDING ADAPTED SCREENPLAY:

Screenplay by Gabriel Axel; Based on a story by Karen Blixen, Babette's Feast

Screenplay by Christopher Hampton; Based on Les liaisons dangereuses by Christopher Hampton & Les Liaisons dangereuses by Pierre Choderlos de Laclos, Dangerous Liaisons

Screenplay by David Cronenberg & Norman Snider; Based on Twins by Bari Wood & Jack Geasland, Dead Ringers

Screenplay by Anna Hamilton Phelan & Tab Murphy; Based on the book by Dian Fossey and the article by Harold T.P. Hayes, Gorillas in the Mist

Screenplay by Jean-Claude Carrière & Philip Kaufman; Based on The Unbearable Lightness of Being by Milan Kundera, The Unbearable Lightness of Being

OUTSTANDING ART DIRECTION:

Production Design by Stuart Craig; Set Design by Gérard James for Dangerous Liaisons

Production Design by Carol Spier; Set Decoration by Elinor Rose Galbraith, Dead Ringers

Production Design by Anna Asp for Pelle the Conqueror

Production Design by Roger Cain & Elliot Scott for Who Framed Roger Rabbit

Set Design by Emilio Cañuelo & Félix Murcia for Women on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown

OUTSTANDING BREAKTHROUGH/DEBUT:

Annabeth Gish (Mystic Pizza)

Alan Rickman (Die Hard)

Julia Roberts (Mystic Pizza)

Winona Ryder (Beetlejuice)

Lili Taylor (Mystic Pizza)

OUTSTANDING CINEMATOGRAPHY:

Phillippe Rousselot for Dangerous Liaisons

Peter Suschitzky for Dead Ringers

Michael Ballhaus for The Last Temptation of Christ

Sven Nykbist for The Unbearable Lightness of Being

Henri Alekan for Wings of Desire

OUTSTANDING COSTUME DESIGN:

James Acheson for Dangerous Liaisons

Joyce Carter, Danielle Garderes, Claude Gastine, Judith Loom, Sally Neale, Jackie Smith & Barbara Sonnex for Little Dorrit

Colleen Atwood for Married to the Mob

Joanna Johnson for Who Framed Roger Rabbit

José Mª. de Cossío for Women on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown

OUTSTANDING DOCUMENTARY:

The Thin Blue Line (Directed by Errol Morris)

OUTSTANDING ENSEMBLE OF THE YEAR:

Another Woman (Gena Rowlands, Ian Holm, Mia Farrow, Blythe Danner, Betty Buckley, John Houseman, Sandy Dennis, Frances Conroy, Philip Bosco, Martha Plimpton, Harris Yulin, Gene Hackman, David Ogden Stiers)

Beetlejuice (Michael Keaton, Alec Baldwin, Geena Davis, Winona Ryder, Catherine O'Hara, Jeffrey Jones, Annie McEnroe, Glenn Shadix, Sylvia Sidney, Robert Goulet, Maree Cheatham, Dick Cavett, Susan Kellermann, Adelle Lutz, Simmy Bow, Carmen Filpi, Patrice Martinez, Tony Cox)

Dangerous Liaisons (Glenn Close, John Malkovich, Michelle Pfeiffer, Uma Thurman, Swoosie Kurtz, Keanu Reeves, Mildred Natwick, Peter Capaldi, Valerie Gogan, Laura Benson, Joe Sheridan, Joanna Pavlis, Harry Jones, François Montagut)

A Fish Called Wanda (John Cleese, Jamie Lee Curtis, Kevin Kline, Michael Palin, Maria Aitken, Tom Georgeson, Patricia Hayes, Cynthia Cleese, Geoffrey Palmer, Roger Brierley, Llewellyn Rees, Stephen Fry)

Women on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown (Carmen Maura, Antonio Banderas, Julieta Serrano, Rossy de Palma, María Barranco, Fernando Guillén, Kiti Manver, Ana Leza, Chus Lampreave)

OUTSTANDING FILM EDITING:

Robert Leighton & Adam Weiss for Bull Durham

Mick Audsley for Dangerous Liaisons

Ronald Sanders for Dead Ringers

Thelma Schoonmaker for The Last Temptation of Christ

José Salcedo for Women on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown

OUTSTANDING FOREIGN LANGUAGE FILM:

My Neighbor Totoro (Directed by Hayao Miyazaki)

Pelle the Conqueror (Directed by Bille August)

Salaam Bombay (Directed by Mira Nair)

Women on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown (Directed by Pedro Almodóvar)

Wings of Desire (Directed by Wim Wenders)

OUTSTANDING MAKEUP:

Ve Neill, Steve LaPorte & Robert Short for Beetlejuice

Jean-Luc Russier for Dangerous Liaisons

Eva Coudouloux & Shonagh Jabour for Dead Ringers

Nancy Broadfoot, Chuckie Dennis & Van Smith for Hairspray

Manlio Rocchetti for The Last Temptation of Christ

OUTSTANDING ORIGINAL SCORE:

Howard Shore for Big

George Fenton for Dangerous Liaisons

Howard Shore for Dead Ringers

Maurice Jarre for Gorillas in the Mist

Mark Adler for The Unbearable Lightness of Being

OUTSTANDING ORIGINAL SONG:

Bull Durham, "When a Man Loves a Women" (Music and Lyrics by Bernard Hanighen, Gordon Jenkins and Johnny Mercer)

Buster, "Two Hearts" (Music by Lamont Dozier; Lyric by Phil Collins)

Oliver & Company, "Why Should I Worry?" (Music and Lyrics by Dan Hartman and Charlie Midnight)

Working Girl, "Let the River Run" (Music and Lyrics by Carly Simon)

OUTSTANDING PERFORMER OF THE YEAR:

Alec Baldwin (Beetlejuice, Married to the Mob, Talk Radio, Working Girl)

Joan Cusack (Married to the Mob, Stars and Bars, Working Girl)

Barbara Hershey (Beaches, The Last Temptation of Christ, Shy People, A World Apart)

Martha Plimpton (Another Woman, Running on Empty, Shy People, Stars and Bars)

Sigourney Weaver (Gorillas in the Mist, Working Girl)

OUTSTANDING SOUND EDITING:

Stephen Hunter Flick & Richard Shorr for Die Hard

Don Sharpe for Gorillas in the Mist

Laura Civiello, Bitty O'Sullivan Smith, Dan Sable for Married to the Mob

David Franklin Bergad, Luis Colina, Richard Hymns & Pat Jackson for The Unbearable Lightness of Being

Charles L. Campbell & Louis L. Edemann for Who Framed Roger Rabbit

OUTSTANDING SOUND MIXING:

Les Fresholtz, Dick Alexander, Vern Poore & Willie D. Burton for Bird

Don J. Bassman, Kevin F. Cleary, Richard Overton & Al Overton Jr. for Die Hard

Andy Nelson, Brian Saunders & Peter Handford for Gorillas in the Mist

Amelio Verona for The Last Temptation of Christ

Robert Knudson, John Boyd, Don Digirolamo & Tony Dawe for Who Framed Roger Rabbit

OUTSTANDING VISUAL EFFECTS:

Peter Kuran, Alan Munro, Robert Short & Ted Rae for Beetlejuice

Richard Edlund, Al Di Sarro, Brent Boates & Thaine Morris for Die Hard

Ken Ralston, Richard Williams, Ed Jones & George Gibbs for Who Framed Roger Rabbit

Next year I'm going to is 1971 the year in which William Friedkin directed an oscar winning film. The films of his that followed would make you question why he won but the academy in the 70's ended up going for his film The French Connection. Come back and see if they made the right choice.