1978 the penultimate year of the great 70's decade of cinema was a film full of male centric pictures in relation to the academy awards. The year was mostly new to me having previously seen the the cult classic Grease and the great Malick movie Days of Heaven. These two films have aged well but I was quite ecstatic to revisit the year with so many new films coming to my mind. The 51st academy awards was quite an odd case where the two big films both covered similar topics. Those two features where Michael Cimino's The Deer Hunter and Hal Ashby's Coming Home. The former ended up winning the big prizes however it is quite a close for people nowadays to state which is their favourite which is something quite odd especially considering both features tackle the subject of the Vietnam War. Of these two I prefer The Deer Hunter which isn't much of a knock of Coming Home because I still respond great to that film just less so than Deer Hunter. The other nominees for best picture where Warren Beatty/Buck Henry's Heaven Can Wait, Alan Parker's Midnight Express and Paul Mazursky's An Unmarried Women. Of the five nominated my choice would be with An Unmarried Women which is an underrated gem I feel outside the Jill Claybourgh performance. It was a good lineup like most in this decade even if I wouldn't personally nominate any of the films other than An Unmarried Women which I believe to be the best.
1978 did have it's great films which when looking at my list is such a stark difference from the academy which chose more male led pictures where as I believe the best film achievements from this year for the most part to be about the female experience. My choice for the best of the year is Ingmar Bergman's glorious Autumn Sonata. Featuring the unmatched work by Ingrid Bergman in her final film performance is quite a heart breaking tale of one relationship between a mother and her daughter. It is just like most Bergman films great but with Ingmar working with Ingrid one of the greatest actresses to grace the big screen I felt her winning work brought out another level in his later career. My runner up for the best film is An Umarried Women, Clayburgh is next level great in the film but seeing the journey of this women of divorce being single again is just a once in a lifetime film that without Mazursky would not be as truly great as it is. Next in my picture lineup would be Terrence Malick's Days of Heaven. Only his second film and last film until 1998 this is something so early Malick. It's visually stunning like most Malick movies are and while the story is not up with the visuals both for the best part play off one another and unlike some recent Malick films goes full into experimental film but due to the newness of this film it just stands so strong in Malick's filmography. The next film is Chantel Akerman's Les Rendez-vous d'Anna, this film like all of Akerman's work is overlooked for the worse. People just don't seem to respond to Akerman pictures but if you actually sit down and watch her work you will discover that her films are all time great. The final film to complete my 5 picture lineup is Martin Scorsese's concert feature The Last Waltz. Last Waltz is my favourite concert film which is no surprise being made during Scorsese's prime and boy is this a great documentary that only could come from the mind of Scorsese who is unlike any other.
25 might be a low list of films to see from one year but there where some impressive works by some of the greats of this decade. Below is my list and would be nominees and winners.
OUTSTANDING PICTURE:
1. Autumn Sonata (Produced by Ingmar Bergman)
2. An Unmarried Woman (Produced by Paul Mazursky)
3. Days of Heaven (Produced by Bert Schneider & Harold Schneider)
4. Les Rendez-vous d'Anna (Produced by Alain Dahan)
5. The Last Waltz (Produced by Robbie Robertson & Jonathan Taplin)
6. The Deer Hunter
7. Coming Home
8. Midnight Express
9. Interiors
10. Halloween
OUTSTANDING DIRECTOR:
Chantal Akerman for Les Rendez-vous d'Anna
Ingmar Bergman for Autumn Sonata
Michael Cimino for The Deet Hunter
Terrence Malick for Days of Heaven
Paul Mazursky for An Unmarried Woman
OUTSTANDING LEADING ACTOR:
Brad Davis as Billy Hayes in "MIDNIGHT EXPRESS"
Robert De Niro as S/Sgt. Michael "Mike" Vronsky in "THE DEER HUNTER"
Laurence Olivier as Ezra Lieberman in "THE BOYS FROM BRAZIL"
Christopher Reeve as Superman / Clark Kent in "SUPERMAN"
Jon Voight as Luke Martin in "COMING HOME"
OUTSTANDING LEADING ACTRESS:
Ingrid Bergman as Charlotte Andergast in "AUTUMN SONATA"
Jill Clayburgh as Erica in "AN UMARRIED WOMAN"
Aurore Clément as Anna Silver in "LES RENDEZ-VOUS D'ANNA"
Jane Fonda as Sally Hyde in "COMING HOME"
Liv Ullman as Eva in "AUTUMN SONATA"
OUTSTANDING SUPPORTING ACTOR:
Michael Caine as Sidney Cochran in "CALIFORNIA SUITE"
Robert Carradine as Bill Munson in "COMING HOME"
Bruce Dern as Captain Bob Hyde in "COMING HOME"
Gene Hackman as Lex Luthor in "SUPERMAN"
Christopher Walken as Cpl. Nikanor "Nick" Chebotarevich in "THE DEER HUNTER"
OUTSTANDING SUPPORTING ACTRESS:
Kelly Bishop as Elaine in "AN UNMARRIED WOMAN"
Stockard Channing as Betty Rizzo in "GREASE"
Jane Fonda as Hannah Warren in "CALIFORNIA SUITE"
Maureen Stapleton as Pearl in "INTERIORS"
Meryl Streep as Linda in "THE DEER HUNTER"
OUTSTANDING ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY:
Ingmar Bergman for Autumn Sonata
Deric Washburn, Michael Cimino, Louis Garfinkle & Quinn K. Redeker for The Deer Hunter
John Carpenter & Debra Hill for Halloween
Chantal Akerman for Les Rendez-vous d'Anna
Paul Mazursky for An Unmarried Woman
OUTSTANDING ADAPTED SCREENPLAY:
Screenplay by Heywood Gould; Based on The Boys from Brazil by Ira Levin, The Boys from Brazil
Screenplay by Bronte Woodard & Allan Carr; Based on Grease by Jim Jacobs & Warren Casey, Grease
Screenplay by Warren Beatty, Elaine May, Robert Towne & Buck Henry; Based on Heaven Can Wait by Harry Segall, Heaven Can Wait
Screenplay by Oliver Stone; Based on Midnight Express by Billy Hayes & William Hoffer, Midnight Express
Screenplay by Mario Puzo, David Newman, Leslie Newman & Robert Benton; Story by Mario Puzo; Based on Superman by Jerry Siegel & Joe Shuster, Superman
OUTSTANDING ART DIRECTION:
Production Design by Paul Sylbert; Set Design by George Gaines for Heaven Can Wait
Production Design by Mel Bourne; Set Design by Mario Mazzola & Daniel Robert for Interiors
Production Design by Bernard Evein for Madame Rosa
Production Design by Geoffrey Kirkland for Midnight Express
Production Design by John Barry; Set Design by Peter Howitt for Superman
OUTSTANDING BREAKTHROUGH/DEBUT:
Jamie Lee Curtis (Halloween)
Brad Davis (Midnight Express)
Mary Beth Hurt (Interiors)
Christopher Reeve (Superman)
Anita Skinner (Girlfriends)
OUTSTANDING CINEMATOGRAPHY:
Sven Nykvist for Autumn Sonata
Nestor Almendros for Days of Heaven
Vilmos Zsigmond for The Deer Hunter
Gordon Willis for Interiors
Jean Penzer for Les Rendez-vous d'Anna
OUTSTANDING COSTUME DESIGN:
Patricia Norris for California Suite
Patricia Norris for Days of Heaven
Albert Wolsky for Grease
Richard Bruno for Heaven Can Wait
Yvonne Blake for Superman
OUTSTANDING DOCUMENTARY:
The Last Waltz (Directed by Martin Scorsese)
OUTSTANDING ENSEMBLE OF THE YEAR:
California Suite (Maggie Smith, Alan Alda, Jane Fonda, Michael Caine, Walter Matthau, Elaine May, Herb Edelman, Denise Galik, Richard Pryor, Bill Cosby, Gloria Gifford, Sheila Frazier, Dana Plato)
The Deer Hunter (Robert De Niro, Christopher Walken, John Savage, John Cazale, Meryl Streep, George Dzundza, Shirley Stoler, Chuck Aspegren, Rutanya Alda)
Grease (John Travolta, Olivia Newton-John, Stockard Channing, Jeff Conaway, Barry Pearl, Michael Tucci, Kelly Ward, Didi Conn, Jamie Donnelly, Dinah Manoff, Eve Arden, Dody Goodman, Sid Caesar, Eddie Deezen, Susan Buckner, Lorenzo Lamas, Dennis C. Stewart, Annette Charles, Joan Blondell, Ellen Travolta, Frankie Avalon, Edd Byrnes, Sha-Na-Na, Alice Ghostley, Darrell Zwerling, Dick Patterson, Fannie Flagg)
Interiors (Geraldine Page, Diane Keaton, Mary Beth Hurt, Kristin Griffith, Richard Jordan, E.G. Marshall, Maureen Stapleton, Sam Waterston)
An Unmarried Woman (Jill Clayburgh, Alan Bates, Michael Murphy, Cliff Gorman, Pat Quinn, Kelly Bishop, Lisa Lucas, Linda Miller, Andrew Duncan, Daniel Seltzer, Matthew Arkin, Penelope Russianoff, Novella Nelson, Raymond J. Barry, Ivan Karp)
OUTSTANDING FILM EDITING:
Sylvia Ingmarsdotter for Autumn Sonata
Don Zimmerman for Coming Home
Peter Zinner for The Deer Hunter
Robert C. Jones & Don Zimmerman for Heaven Can Wait
Stuart Baird & Michael Ellis for Superman
OUTSTANDING FOREIGN LANGUAGE FILM:
Autumn Sonata (Directed by Ingmar Bergman)
Les Rendez-vous d'Anna (Directed by Chantal Akerman)
Madame Rosa (Directed by Moshé Mizrahi)
OUTSTANDING MAKEUP:
Bill Lodge & Christopher Tucker for The Boys from Brazil
Del Acevedo & Ed Butterworth for The Deer Hunter
Eddie Allen & Dan Striepeke for Grease
Mary Hillman & Penny Steyne for Midnight Express
OUTSTANDING ORIGINAL/ADAPTATION SCORE:
Jerry Goldsmith for The Boys from Brazil
Ennio Morricone for Days of Heaven
Stanley Myers for The Deer Hunter
Giorgio Moroder for Midnight Express
John Williams for Superman
OUTSTANDING ORIGINAL SONG:
Animal House, "Shama Lama Ding Dong" (Music and Lyrics by Mark Davis)
Grease, "Hopelessly Devoted to You" (Music and Lyrics by John Farrar)
Grease, "You're the One That I Want" (Music and Lyrics by John Farrar)
Thank God It's Friday, "Last Dance" (Music and Lyrics by Paul Jabara)
Same Time, Next Year, "The Last Time I Felt Like This" (Music by Marvin Hamlisch & Alan Bergman; Lyrics by Marilyn Bergman)
OUTSTANDING PERFORMER OF THE YEAR:
Brooke Adams (Days of Heaven, Invasion of the Body Snatchers)
Jane Fonda (California Suite, Comes a Horseman, Coming Home)
Donald Sutherland (Animal House, The First Great Train Robbery, Invasion of the Body Snatchers)
OUTSTANDING SOUND EDITING:
Frank Warner for Coming Home
Teri E. Dorman & James Fritch for The Deer Hunter
Dick Oswald for Heaven Can Wait
Rusty Coppleman for Midnight Express
Stan Fiferman & John Foster for Superman
OUTSTANDING SOUND MIXING:
Tex Rudloff, Joel Fein, Curly Thirlwell & Willie D. Burton for The Buddy Holly Story
George Ronconi & Barry Thomas for Days of Heaven
Richard Portman, William L. McCaughey, Aaron Rochin & C. Darin Knight for The Deer Hunter
Clive Winter for Midnight Express
Gordon K. McCallum, Graham V. Hartstone, Nicolas Le Messurier & Roy Charman for Superman
OUTSTANDING VISUAL EFFECTS:
Les Bowie, Colin Chilvers, Denys N. Coop, Roy Field, Derek Meddings & Zoran Perisic for Superman
Now having completed another stellar 70's year I'm next moving exactly a decade later to 1988 when Barry Levinson's Rain Man won a lot of major awards. Was this film worthy and does it stand up as well as other films out there.
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