It's clear that british new cinema of the 60's was starting to take hold in this year because the winning film was Tom Jones a british feature. Tom Jones is a choice that urks me greatly because while the film might've seemed fun back in 1963 having no seen it over 50 years years later I find the humor distasteful and very unappealing. The one thing I would give the film is that it introduced us to Albert Finney an actor who is good in Tom Jones but in the decades following delivered some performances that make the promise he showed in Tom Jones worth the watch. The other nominees are certainly not as awe inspiring as Tom Jones is. The other pictures up for the top award were America America, Cleopatra, How the West Was Won and Lilies of the Field. Of those America America is the only film I consider brilliant. Based on Kazan's own novel America is the perfect coming to America tale for me. Cleopatra is a big scale production and highly publiced due to the Taylor and Burton's on set affair but really the film is an overlong and dull historic film about the women herself. How the West Was Won is a western film but in now way is it a classic western film. The final nominee Lilies of the Field is big for the Poitier win and is a sweet little film that I find even more greatness every time I watch the film.
While the academy found some name pictures that today don't hold up as strong there were some great choices the academy was so close to going for. Firstly is Fellini's 8½ which the academy heavily nominated however found no room for it in there best picture lineup. The film is the greatest film achievement about film making. It pays attention to the great effort that comes from creating film and how life altering it can be. Fellini was not afraid to show the effort that his main character Guido goes through and how his dedication to film making rocks every area of his life. It also shows the great search for inspiration that some artists must experince when creating their art. There is so much to get from this piece and I know each time I watch this film I will grow even more in love with the film. Another film heavily considered by the academy is Martin Ritt's Hud. It's a western set story that unlike some western's is not about the great landscapes of the west of the clashing ideals but more about the family life of the west. It stars Paul Newman in one of his greatest performances as the anti-hero Hud. The film delivers with it's central quartet and Ritt captures this small town life so greatly that these are the times of anti-westerns that force us to revalue the western genre. Stanley Kramer is a director that I found very problematic throughout his entire career usually coming out with a mixed opinion on his films but his film It's a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World is the one film that I find faultless. It's a magneticly staged comedy that grows larger and larger in scale being able to keep everything secure and just right. The cast is a hoot and the scale is set at a feverish pitch which I find so enjoyable with each viewing. As I mentioned above America America is the great nominee the academy actually went for which is something I take no issue with. Kazan the decade and a half before was great at getting strong performances from his actors and while America has these I find his detailed look at the immigrant experience to be directly from the heart and a very personal direction piece for Kazan. The final film I feel deserved a nomination is The Great Escape. Clearly the academy loves having a big scale film in their lineups and of all them The Great Escape is the one I would've chosen. Steve McQueen leads a long list of actors all playing captured men just trying their best to escape. The film is high action and well paced fun that even running quite a long time is a joy to watch every single minute.
35 is the amount of films I was able to see from this year and while I find some of the films exceptional overall the quality is lacking for me and I don't consider it to be an overall strong year.
OUTSTANDING PICTURE:
1. 8½ (Produced by Angelo Rizzoli)
2. Hud (Produced by Irving Ravetch & Martin Ritt)
3. It's a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World (Produced by Stanley Kramer)
4. America America (Produced by Elia Kazan)
5. The Great Escape (Produced by John Sturges)
6. This Sporting Life
7. Vivre sa vie
8. High and Low
9. Billy Liar
10. The Birds
OUTSTANDING DIRECTOR:
Federico Fellini for 8½
Elia Kazan for America America
Stanley Kramer for It's a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World
Akira Kurosawa for High and Low
Martin Ritt for Hud
OUTSTANDING LEADING ACTOR:
Stathis Giallelis as Stavros Topouzoglou in "AMERICA AMERICA"
Richard Harris as Frank Machin in "THIS SPORTING LIFE"
Marcello Mastroianni as Guido Anselmi in "8½"
Paul Newman as Hud Bannon in "HUD"
Peter Sellers as Inspector Jacques Clouseau in "THE PINK PANTHER"
OUTSTANDING LEADING ACTRESS:
Julie Harris as Eleanor "Nell" Lance in "THE HAUNTING"
Tippi Hedren as Melanie Daniels in "THE BIRDS"
Anna Karina as Nana Kleinfrankenheim in "VIVRE SA VIE"
Patricia Neal as Alma Brown in "HUD"
Rachel Roberts as Margaret Hammond in "THIS SPORTING LIFE"
OUTSTANDING SUPPORTING ACTOR:
Brandon De Wilde as Lonnie Bannon in "HUD"
Melvyn Douglas as Homer Bannon in "HUD"
Donald Pleasance as Flt. Lt. Colin Blythe in "THE GREAT ESCAPE"
Phil Silvers as Otto Meyer in "IT'S A MAD, MAD, MAD, MAD WORLD"
Tsutomu Yamazaki as Ginjirô Takeuchi in "HIGH AND LOW"
OUTSTANDING SUPPORTING ACTRESS:
Anouk Aimée as Luisa Anselmi in "8½"
Linda Marsh as Thomna Sinnikoglou in "AMERICA AMERICA"
Ethel Merman as Mrs. Marcus in "IT'S A MAD, MAD, MAD, MAD WORLD"
Suzanne Pleshette as Annie Hayworth in "THE BIRDS"
Jessica Tandy as Lydia Brenner in "THE BIRDS"
OUTSTANDING ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY:
Federico Fellini, Ennio Flaiano, Tullio Pinelli & Brunello Rondi for 8½
Carlo Bernari, Pasquale Festa Campanile, Massimo Franciosa. Nanni Loy & Vasco Pratolini for The Four Days of Naples
Eijiro Hisaita, Ryuzo Kikushima, Akira Kurosawa & Hideo Oguni for High and Low
William Rose & Tania Rose for It's a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World
Maurice Richlin & Blake Edwards for The Pink Panther
OUTSTANDING ADAPTED SCREENPLAY:
Screenplay by Elia Kazan; Based on America America by Elia Kazan America America
Screenplay by James Clavell & W. R. Burnett; Based on The Great Escape by Paul Brickhill, The Great Escape
Screenplay by Irving Ravetch & Harriet Frank, Jr.; Based on Horseman, Pass By by Larry McMurtry, Hud
Screenplay by David Storey; Based on This Sporting Life by David Storey This Sporting Life
Screenplay by Jean-Luc Godard & Marcel Sacotte; Based on Où en est la prostitution by Marcel Sacotte, Vivre sa vie
OUTSTANDING ART DIRECTION:
Production Design by Piero Gherardi; Set Design by Vito Anzalone for 8½
Production Design by Robert Boyle; Set Design by George Milo for The Birds
Production Design by Lyle Wheeler; Set Design by Gene Callahan for The Cardinal
Production Design by John De Cuir; Set Design by Paul S. Fox, Ray Moyer & Walter M. Scott for Cleopatra
Production Design by Rudolph Sternad; Set Design by Joseph Kish for It's a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World
OUTSTANDING BREAKTHROUGH/DEBUT:
Julie Christie (Billy Liar)
Stathis Giallelis (America America)
Tippi Hedren (The Birds)
Suzanne Pleshette (The Birds)
Maggie Smith (The V.I.P's)
OUTSTANDING CINEMATOGRAPHY:
Gianni Di Venanzo for 8½
Haskell Wexler for America America
Ted Moore for Dr. No
Daniel L. Fapp for The Great Escape
James Wong Howe for Hud
OUTSTANDING COSTUME DESIGN:
Piero Gherardi & Leonor Fini for 8½
Edith Head for The Birds
Irene Sharaff, Vittorio Nino Novarese & Renie for Cleopatra
Piero Tosi for The Leopard
Annalisa Rocca for The Pink Panther
OUTSTANDING ENSEMBLE OF THE YEAR:
The Great Escape (Steve McQueen, James Garner, Richard Attenborough, James Donald, Charles Bronson, Donald Pleasence, James Coburn, Hannes Messemer, David McCallum, Gordon Jackson, John Leyton, Angus Lennie, Nigel Stock, Robert Graf, Jud Taylor, Hans Reiser, Harry Riebauer, William Russell, Robert Freitag, Ulrich Beiger, George Mikell, Lawrence Montaigne, Robert Desmond, Til Kiwe, Heinz Weiss, Tom Adams, Karl-Otto Alberty)
High and Low (Toshiro Mifune, Tatsuya Nakadai, Kyoko Kagawa, Tatsuya Mihashi, Isao Kimura, Kenjiro Ishiyama, Yutaka Sada, Takeshi Kato, Takashi Shimura, Tsutomu Yamazaki, Minoru Chiaki)
Hud (Paul Newman, Melvyn Douglas, Brandon De Wilde, Patricia Neal, Whit Bissell, Crahan Denton, John Ashley, Val Avery, George Petrie, Curt Conway, Sheldon Allman, Pitt Herbert, Carl Low, Robert Hinkle, Don Kennedy, Sharyn Hillyer , Yvette Vickers)
It's a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World (Spencer Tracy, Edie Adams, Milton Berle, Sid Caesar, Buddy Hackett, Ethel Merman, Dorothy Provine, Mickey Rooney, Dick Shawn, Phil Silvers, Terry-Thomas, Jonathan Winters, Eddie "Rochester" Anderson, Jim Backus, Barrie Chase, William Demarest, Jimmy Durante, Peter Falk, Paul Ford)
Lilies of the Field (Sidney Poitier, Lilia Skala, Lisa Mann, Isa Crino, Francesca Jarvis, Pamela Branch, Stanley Adams, Dan Frazer)
OUTSTANDING FILM EDITING:
Leo Catozzo for 8½
Roger Cherrill for Billy Liar
Ferrris Webster for The Great Escape
Frank Bracht for Hud
Gene Fowler Jr., Robert C. Jones & Frederic Knudtson for It's a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World
OUTSTANDING FOREIGN LANGUAGE FILM:
8½ (Directed by Federico Fellini)
The Four Days of Naples (Directed by Nanni Loy)
High and Low (Directed by Akira Kurosawa)
Pickpocket (Directed by Robert Bresson)
Vivre sa vie (Directed by Jean-Luc Godard)
OUTSTANDING MAKEUP:
Otello Fava for 8½
Howard Smit for The Birds
Alberto de Rossi & Robert J. Schiffer for Cleopatra
Emile LaVigne for The Great Escape
Bob Lawrence for This Sporting Life
OUTSTANDING ORIGINAL/ADAPTION SCORE:
Nino Rota for 8½
Monty Norman & John Barry for Dr. No
Elmer Bernstein for The Great Escape
Elmer Bernstein for Hud
Ernest Gold for It's a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World
OUTSTANDING ORIGINAL SONG:
Bye Bye Birdie, "Bye Bye Birdie" (Music by Charles Strouse; Lyrics by Lee Adams)
Charade, "Charade" (Music by Henry Mancini; Lyrics by Johnny Mercer)
How the West Was Won, "Home in the Meadow" (Music by Robert Emmett Dolan; Lyrics by Sammy Cahn)
It's a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World, "It's a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World" (Music by Ernest Gold; Lyrics by Mack David)
The Pink Panther, "It Had Better Be Tonight" (Music by Henry Mancini; Lyrics by Johnny Mercer)
OUTSTANDING PERFORMER OF THE YEAR:
James Garner (The Great Escape, Move Over, Darling, The Thrill of It All, The Wheeler Dealers)
Steve McQueen (The Great Escape, Love with the Proper Stranger, Soldier in the Rain)
Gregory Peck (Captain Newman, M.D., How to West Was Won)
Thelma Ritter (For Love or Money, How the West Was Won, Move Over, Darling, A New Kind of Love)
John Wayne (Donovan's Reef, How the West Was Won, McLintock!)
OUTSTANDING SOUND EDITING:
Remi Gassmann & Oskar Sala for The Birds
Archie Ludski for Dr. No
Wayne Fury for The Great Escape
Walter Elliott for It's a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World
Gilbert D. Marchant for The Pink Pather
OUTSTANDING SOUND MIXING:
Bernard Herrmann for The Birds
James Corcoran & Fred Hynes for Cleopatra
John Dennis & Wally Milner for Dr. No
Wayne Fury for The Great Escape
Roy Granville, Clem Portman & Vinton Vernon for It's a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World
OUTSTANDING VISUAL EFFECTS:
Lawrence A. Hampton for The Birds
Emil Kosa, Jr. for Cleopatra
Frank George for Dr. No
Paul Pollard for The Great Escape
Danny Lee & Chuck Gaspar for It's a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World
Now having done another look into the 1960's I'm next going to 1955. This year was ruled by the low key choice of Marty. Did the film deserve it's wins or did something larger in scale deserve to win.
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