Oscars 2018

(But I still see it as a much more conventional film than the three runners-up I mentioned.)

Both of you are right.

According to the new Saturday Night Fever Bee Gees bio I just finished, Avildsen was first pick to direct but was fired for already trying to turn every project into a Balboa picture.

Saturday Night Fever is a film that I'd be more inclined to describe the way casino describes Rocky--misremembered as just a big box-office entertainment, but in fact very much aligned with its era, almost as dark and nasty as Taxi Driver at times.

agreed.

it's funny that Rocky won, looking at the rest of the awards which were basically the Network show....

know you balk at these statements, darraghmac, but there are certain films that get talked about and debated much more than others. Do the Right Thing, Thelma & Louise, Get Out--such films are big deals.

I ball, if I do, because you've already admitted this is at best subjective and at worst and a little less generously wilfully....if not elitist call it rather selective....about what counts as "talked about" and, I'd suspect, by whom

I ball baby u better believe it

Rocky is as iconic a film as it gets, imo. Unlike many best picture winners. From theme to several scenes, if only for the training montage.

Agree that Saturday Night Fever is daaaaaark, a gritty '70s films juxtaposed with the least gritty '70s music.

SNF is a tough movie I'd say moreso than taxi driver which at least has an outsider protagonist

Rocky was iconic to Tony Manero, who had the poster up in his bedroom in SNF

Rocky is one of the most popular films the second half of the 20th century, spawned a franchise that earned Stallone an Oscar nod in 2015 fergodsake

Here's a list of Best Picture winners ranked by estimated tickets sold (source here: http://www.boxofficemojo.com/alltime/adjusted.htm?adjust_yr=1&p=.htm):

1. Gone with the Wind (1st overall)
2. The Sound of Music (3rd overall)
3. Titanic (5th overall)
4. Ben-Hur (14th overall)
5. The Sting (20th overall)
6. The Godfather (25th overall)
7. Forrest Gump (26th overall)
8. Around the World in 80 Days (50th overall)
9. The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King (55th overall)
10. My Fair Lady (61st overall)
11. The Greatest Show on Earth (62nd overall)
12. West Side Story (75th overall)
13. Lawrence of Arabia (79th overall)
14. Rocky (81st overall)
15. The Best Years of Our Lives (83rd overall)

As you can tell, I'm not much of a Rocky. So maybe I'm letting my own opinion interfere too much there.

Oops! "much of a Rocky fan"--the other goes without saying.

(I think I want "As you can tell, I'm not much of Rocky" on my tombstone, though.)

Ha

Rocky still >> Network

Network is sooooo good except for the stuff that's pretty dumb. Or rather, there's a mismatch between the OTT satire stuff and the human drama stuff with Bill Holden (which both are viable in themselves). They collide in his big talking-at-her takedown speech with Faye Dunaway and it suddenly becomes a much meaner-spirited, lecturey movie. A slower build with the craziness of the Beale Show would also work better. I'd be okay with it winning but I also think Rocky is cool.

See: 1976 Oscar Nominees

Rocky owes a considerable debt to every boxing picture ever made (especially the shallow ones) as well as On the Waterfront.

(and Marty)

(haha Paddy Chayefsky, you got played by your own formula)

1969 Oscars: Actresses sound off on lack of roles for women. pic.twitter.com/5Gxilt3CKZ

— izzycc (@lookwhoitiz) March 5, 2018

Network isnt too far off three billboards folks.

otm

That's a great clip from '69, and credit to the five actresses for being 50 years ahead of where we are now, but I'm not sure if 2001 or The Battle of Algiers are the best films to target (or the complaint that a newcomer has the lead in Romeo and Juliet). I know, I know, it's meant to be partly lighthearted.

I mean, they could've at least nominated Polanski for Rosemary's Baby or Cassavetes for Faces to short circuit the argument if only a tad.

Also ...

5. The Sting (20th overall)
6. The Godfather (25th overall)

I know I've seen it spelled out time and again, but I can not fathom The Sting being the culture-swallowing event that by all indications it was.

It had two huge movie stars and there was the whole Scott Joplin revival, I guess. That's it. I was there!

It's a function of a movie sticking around in theaters for 18 months and people saying "let's go see Newman and Redford." I believe there was also a re-release tagline, "The con is better the second time around."

The Sting is - how you say? - a piffle.

xpost Maybe that was the tag for the sequel?

I mean, there are worse simple entertainments. Like The Sting II, I suppose.

I don't think it was for the sequel.

The sting is great fun I wouldn't necessarily defend it as best picture tbf

1973 was a weak Bedt Picture year. Only Cries and Whispers is remotely great.

my god A Touch of Class.

The Sting might be the most movie-as-comfort-food endeavor I've seen

like your average Dozvzhenko?

Is it really any lesser than Butch Cassidy? (Maybe a little.) It just gets dumped on for winning the Oscar.

It's a lot tighter than butch cassidy

well, BC&SK is more languorous, what the kidz call a hangout movie. It has that unforgivable bike/Bacharch scene; George Roy Hill was all about musical anachronisms.

The Sting is a good flick, it aired all the time on TV when i was a kid and i thought it was pretty breezy entertainment. pretty lightweight though i mean some woman gets shot through the head iirc, so it wasn't exactly totally lightweight.

Redford's only Best Actor nod

and James Earl Jones' dad gets killed in the first 15 minutes.

(xpost) Didn't know that. He certainly would have been a better nominee in '72 for The Candidate than the two Sleuth guys (a film I don't mind, but Best Actor nominations?), and I'm kind of amazed neither guy was nominated for All the President's Men. I'd take them over everyone else except De Niro, although I guess I can see why they were passed over (probably had to be both or neither, and stepping back, I'm not sure which two of the five '76 nominees you'd eliminate).

The Shape of Water is going to be a Rain Man BP winner, remembered for one thing: she fucked the fish.

I don't ... remember Dustin Hoffman doing that?

lol

remembered for one thing i mean.

https://youtu.be/_V0VM-cwzBI?t=1m2s