1974's Oscar Nominees

Skyscraper! the only dud

Between gfii and chinatown right now chinatown

this poll was made for clemenza

forget it clem

chinatown. i don't even mind towering inferno being up there as a representative of lol 70s.

I wish all sops to blockbusterism in future best picture races were as much tacky fun as Irwin Allen.

If it boils down to Chinatown vs. The Godfather the 2nd, yeah, backing the former.

oh my yes!

But I voted Towering because that's who I am.

you always pick the worst cept Amour got snubbed!

Forgot to link the old ones:

Picture 1939: 1939's Oscar Nominees
Picture 1940: 1940's Oscar Nominees
Picture 1962: 1962's Oscar Nominees
Picture 1967: 1967's Oscar Nominees (inspired by "Pictures at a Revolution")
Picture 1975: 1975's Oscar Nominees
Picture 1976: 1976 Oscar Nominees
Picture 1979: 1979's Oscar Nominees
Picture 1982: 1982's Oscar Nominees
Picture 1989: 1989's Oscar Nominees
Picture 1991: 1991's Oscar Nominees
Picture 1994: 1994's Oscar Nominees
Picture 1995: 1995's Oscar Nominees
Picture 1997: http://www.ilxor.com/ILX/ThreadSelectedControllerServlet?boardid=40&threadid=76886
Picture 1998: 1998's Oscar Nominees
Picture 2005: 2005's Oscar Nominees
Picture 2007: 2007's Oscar Nominees
Picture 2012: 2012's Oscar Nominees

Wrong thread but you need a brain drip if you think Amour is worse than Mental Health Dancing and Les Miz

3-way split for me, probly voting Godfather II, kinda crazy that Coppola had those 2 movies in the same year

xp Yeah, and you can't hide behind the "some movies don't count" defense either, poopyhead!

i'd say Lenny was the least good of these 5 but then i can't remember much about it

we've just been agreeing too much this week, boo

xp

You think you have poop for a head too?

can't believe wizard of oz won the 39 poll, gimme a break

Yeah, you guys are messing with my mind...I can't think of any three nominees ever that are closer for me than the first three. Whichever way I order them, it's like 100%, 99.9%, 99.8%. Unfortunately, I'm also a bit tired of all three from seeing them so many times.

chinatown

never seen Lenny, still remember seeing Towering Inferno in the theater, rare instance of the whole family going to the movies together

SCTV did wonderful extended parodies of three of these: The Towering Inferno, The Godfather (as "Network Wars") and Chinatown (as "Polynesian Town").

Polynesian Town was the best of those parodies, too.

That silly Towering Inferno spot could have taken up by any of the following: The Sugarland Express (my first pick), Thieves Like Us, California Split, Harry and Tonto, The Parallax View, Alice Doesn't Live Here Anymore, or Young Frankenstein. Those are just the obvious ones, and sticking to American films.

I can't describe how happy Inferno's nomination makes me.

My BP lineup from that year would've been (no idea on "eligibility"):

Ali: Fear Eats the Soul
Female Trouble
The Parallax View
The Texas Chain Saw Massacre
A Woman Under the Influence

Ali and Bring Me the Head of Alfredo Garcia would've been on mine.

And then three empty slots?

wkiw

http://www.libertasfilmmagazine.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/05/towering2.jpg

Forgot A Woman Under the Influence--that was another obvious possibility. I was going to add Chainsaw, with an "in another universe" asterisk. My five would be the first three, plus The Sugarland Express, plus California Split; I'd put Chainsaw next in line.

I'm also a big fan of The Gambler, though it is kind of heavy-handed.

I miiiiiiight put Towering over Lenny

i mean it's got newman AND mcqueen, and richard chamberlain def should have had an acting nom

OJ saving a cat is pretty memorable.

ok i didn't know astaire had a nom for Inferno over Chamberlain that is bullshit

I found Lenny tedious when I watched it again last year, so its absence wouldn't bother me a bit. I've never seen it myself, but in terms of disaster films, Kael liked Richard Lester's Juggernaut from '74.

xp Jennifer Jones would've been the really logical choice

Not that anyone in the movie has a patch on Shelly Winters.

Kael liked Earthquake best iirc. Rightfully so.

of what i've seen of the 1974 films mentioned (including all five actual noms) i guess my top 5 would be Conversation, Godfather Part II, Alice Doesn't Live Here Anymore, Harry & Tonto, and one of the two movies about a dude with a busted nose in California.

Thought you would have had The Phantom of Liberty on your list, Eric. I looked at an expanded list of films, and here are some others I like: Alice in the Cities and The Enigma of Kaspar Hauser (been a while since I saw either), The Apprenticeship of Duddy Kravitz (a new print just about to be released here), Hearts and Minds (actually won documentary), and Cockfighter. For pure entertainment, I'd rank The Taking of Pelham One, Two, Three with almost anything from that year.

What an astounding year. Probably more movies I love from '74 than there are from the past five (ten?) years.

Excellent Academy Awards show, too. That was the year Bert Schneider read his telegram from Saigon, to the utter horror of Carson or Sinatra or John Wayne (I forget).

Telegram from the Viet Cong, I should say.

I think it was Bob Hope who got super pissed off. Or maybe he just read the disclaimer.

my family went to see Inferno during orig run, too.

croup, he's Fred fucking Astaire, stfu

'wizard' winning for 39 isn't that weird, it's better than anything else in that poll ('regle du jeu' obv not eligible). 'lenny' is OK but it's kind of a cleaned-up, nicey-nicey version of bruce. 'chinatown' all the way here.

1974 was also the year of Airport '75, so probably the best year for disaster movies ever. The idea of an Airport movie getting a Best Picture nomination may seem crazy, but as some may remember, the original one of 1970 did just that. And Helen Hayes won Best Supporting Actress for her role in it.

but the '70 Airport is really a Grand Hotel melo riff, w/ the disaster saved for what, the last 30 mins?

Burt Lancaster: "I don`t know why Airport (1970) was nominated for any Oscars - it`s the biggest piece of junk ever."

I'm fine with Grey beating Pacino in a head-to-head in either category. Pacino didn't really bloom in the role until the second one imo.

I guess I'll save that talk until 2015 when I poll 1972.

Strasberg is incredible in G2, i guess i've just become inured to prime de Niro over the years

I find his first scene especially memorable. This little old guy sitting quietly in a small bungalow, watching college football as his wife attends to him. And how quietly he says "Sit down, Michael," just barely looking up from the TV screen.

yeah, the slow reveal from elderly mentor to baddest of the bad is beautifully done

decent recreation of a North Miami or North Miami Beach neighborhood too.

isnt he watching baseball?

He's watching Cabaret.

Definitely college football. Baseball comes into the scene here.

Now that I think about it, how in the world was Huston overlooked for Supporting Actor? That would seem to be a lock, both on the merits and in terms of narrative. My five would have been the three GF II guys, plus Cazale, plus Huston. I'd be fine replacing Gazzo with Allen Garfield in The Conversation ("C'mon, Harry, show and tell"), and, in the best of all possible worlds, finding room for Polanski somewhere.

Best Director

this poll was made for clemenza
― the little prince of inane false binary hype (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Tuesday, February 26, 2013 9:54 AM (Yesterday)

I'm just getting warmed up--I'll be moving on to art direction very shortly. I know Polanski was up for best director, but he probably makes a more indelible impression in Chinatown than 97% of the people who have ever won Supporting Actor. Is Beatrice Straight's part in Network that much longer in terms of screen time?

No question he was overlooked.

Polanski's in Chinatown roughly 37 seconds, so yeah, Straight's part is longer.

Huston, that is

xpost

Huston, otoh, I def would've nominated and I guess likely awarded.

John P. Ryan, It's Alive
Gena Rowlands, A Woman Under the Influence
Gerrit Graham, Phantom of the Paradise
Edith Massey, Female Trouble

Er, I guess I meant to type him in but my fingers wouldn't obey.

I realize you can't realistically nominate someone for a brief cameo (even less likely when it's someone who's not primarily an actor). Straight's performance ran five minutes and 40 seconds according to Wikipedia. I've seen Network two or three times and don't remember much beyond the fact she's upset and arguing with Holden. Polanski's scene is arguably the best 37 seconds in a phenomenal film. Anyway, no room at the inn that particular year.

I'll grant the context of Network makes it sort of hard to see women at all, but damn, you have to be actively not looking at them to think that Straight, Marlene Warfield and (in a limited role that gets quoted here every other week) Conchata Ferrell don't make a huge impression.

(in a limited role that gets quoted here every other week) Conchata Ferrell

this has sailed by me.

That's because you're crusty but benign.

nearly hairless and malignant

Straight gets the most overwrought abandoned-wife speech in history, far worse than what I heard from my upstairs neighbor two weeks ago.

		LOUISE
		(stands)
	Then say it!  Don't keep telling me
	you're obsessed, you're infatuated
	-- say you're in love with her!
		MAX
	I'm in love with her.
		LOUISE
		(erupts)
	Then get out, go to a hotel, go
	anywhere you want, go live with
	her, but don't come back!  Because
	after twenty-five years of building
	a home and raising a family and all
	the senseless pain we've inflicted
	on each other, I'll be damned if I'll
	just stand here and let you tell me
	you love somebody else!
	Because this isn't just some con-
	vention weekend with your secretary,
	is it? Or some broad you picked up
	after three belts of booze.  This
	is your great winter romance, isn't
	it?, your last roar of passion be-
	fore you sink into your emeritus
	years.  Is that what's left for me?
	Is that my share?  She gets the great
	winter passion, and I get the dotage?
	Am I supposed to sit at home knitting
	and purling till you slink back like
	a penitent drunk?  I'm your wife,
	damn it!  If you can't work up a
	winter passion for me, then the
	least I require is respect and
	allegiance!  I'm hurt!  Don't you
	understand that?  I'm hurt badly!

vs.

	You're a very nosy fellow, kitty cat. Huh?
	You know what happens to nosy fellows?
	Huh? No? Wanna guess? Huh? No? Okay.
	They lose their noses.

Sorry about your neighbor, Alfred.

ok, i found the Ferrell quote. why would one remember that?

also, calling Roman's wicked cameo the best scene in Chinatown is ridiculous.

It sums up the vapidity of TV better than basically the entire rest of the movie?

sort of a cross between Zorba The Greek and Oliver Wendell Holmes, Jr.

You needn't bother to read this thread's posts, Alfred. I'll tell them to you.

dog bites man xp

i like Network, but Kael had a point about Chayefsky's own vapidities.

back to '74, i do like Cockfighter more than at least 2 of these.

Chinatown is filled with amazing scenes. I don't see how picking one of them and calling it arguably the best is even unreasonable, much less ridiculous.

How about when a scene is your sister AND your daughter?

It's all good! Arguably, arguably..."Where'd you get the midget, Claude?" and "You're a nosy fellow, kitty-kat" are just as brilliant for me.

True: my first alcoholic drink upon turning 21 was a Tom Collins, with lime not lemon.

Friend told me that Chinatown clip shown at '75 Oscars was "SISTER!/DAUGHTER!" Bad spoiler, was reminded of it when they showed the climax of Flight the other night.

best scene in chinatown is i hope you don't mind i believe they should be served with the head on

either that or when he's looking at the photographs on the walls whistling the way you look tonight

Yelburton: After you've worked with a man a certain length of time, you come to know his habits, his values - you come to know him - and either he's the kind who chases after women or he isn't.

Jake Gittes: Mulwray isn't?

Yelburton: He never even kids about it.

Jake Gittes: Well, maybe he takes it very seriousl

heh heh heh. only when you breathe. heh-heh-heh.

delivery on "well maybe he takes it very seriously" is peak of jack btw

which is why the exclamation point in the screenplay is vulgar

"Do you have a ruler? I forgot my glasses, and i like to read across."

and of course the joke at the barber's when Evelyn walks in.

Whistling and looking at photos, that's when he's tormenting Yelburton's secretary, right? Love that scene. Also:

Retirement Home Guy: "We don't accept people of the Jewish faith."
Gittes: "That's okay, neither does dad."

Another guy who could have been nominated: G.D. Spradlin in GF II. "Mr...Cor-lee-one."

"I take a long lunch."

Yeh. Sure. Bad for the glass.

Automatic thread bump. This poll is closing tomorrow.

I voted for The Conversation. The first two Godfathers go together for me--one without the other feels incomplete. I'm guessing Chinatown will win this handily; The Conversation picked a bad year to be a brilliant movie.

Automatic thread bump. This poll's results are now in.

The Godfather Part II, Francis Ford Coppola, Gray Frederickson, Fred Roos (Paramount)	6
The Towering Inferno, Irwin Allen (20th Century Fox/Warner Bros.)	5

I <3 you ILX.