1976 Oscar Nominees

And their titles?

Here's Dave Kehr on Murder on the Orient Express suggesting that maybe no material requires middlebrow craftsmanship:

"Agatha Christie's novel is nothing more than a sleight-of-hand trick, but you can see how a real artist might have turned it into something interesting: latent in the plotting are the possibilities for a probing critique on the mystery formula and the assumptions that support it. Sidney Lumet isn't that artist: he uses the material only as a pretext for star turns, most of which turn much too heavily and much too slowly (1974)."

But apart from Amadeus and The Queen (2006), and, um, I can't think of anything else, do any middlebrow films (including 12 Angry Men and Network) hold a candle to the work of a stylistic genius (emphasis on genius)?

Mitchell Leisen, Joseph Ruben, and lots of films by Wyler come to mind.

I'll never forgive the Cahiers crowd (abetted by the enfants terribles of seventies cinema) for creating the Cult of the Director.

I'll give you Leisen although I'm not sure how middlebrow his films are but definitely not Wyler. And I had to look up this Joseph Ruben character. Hmmmm...

And don't blame Cahiers. Iris Barry, Jay Leyda, Harry Alan Potamkin, etc. were on to it well before them.

How is Wyler not middlebrow? An adapter of intelligent, sometimes "classic" novels, consistent A-list casts, four Best Director trophies...

Oh he is. I just don't think any of his flicks hold a candle to the work of a stylistic genius.

i can't wait to meet this stylistic genius!

Oh he is. I just don't think any of his flicks hold a candle to the work of a stylistic genius.

The Heiress >>>>>> Welles' Othello

Eh I'll just have to go ahead and disagree with you there. But that is one of my fave Wylers. Andy Milligan dug it too.

Stylistic geniuses can be SO boring.

TAXI DRIVER owns this. Haven't seen Bound For Glory, but I doubt that matters.

I don't really feel like picking among Network, ATPM and Taxi Driver because I dig them all quite a bit. Haven't seen Bound for Glory, and Rocky is surprisingly good for a traditional sports movie.

KJB, I read the Agatha Christie book around the time Murder on the Orient Express came out, and the only director who would've been able to make that work in '74 might've been Mel Brooks. (hence the MAD parody is one I still remember)

you are such a doctrinaire auteurist, you old-fashioned boy. ;)

(also Amadeus is one of the worst Forman movies I've ever seen; Hair is better)

xp kjb: whom do you consider a stylistic genius?

Well the burden of proof's on you there.

KJB, I read the Agatha Christie book around the time Murder on the Orient Express came out, and the only director who would've been able to make that work in '74 might've been Mel Brooks.

Now that would've been worth seeing!

you are such a doctrinaire auteurist, you old-fashioned boy. ;)

It's true. But then there's Curse of the Cat People, The Seventh Victim, Xanadu, The Apple, Marci X, Romy and Michele's High School Reunion, Crazy in Alabama, Twilight, The Gay Deceivers, Joan Crawford, Adrian, etc.

OK, sometimes I exaggerate for effect with you Morbs, but no fucking way Hair is better than Across the Universe (which i haven't seen but looks like ass), much less Amadeus.

Oh look, there are results.

That's odd. How come there wasn't one of those automatic "poll results are in" posts?

All the President's Men over Network, which is no more reactionary and a lot more civilized than Taxi Fucking Driver

Even 12 Angry Men is just 12 great performances locked in a room.

― nu hollywood (Eric H.), Sunday, May 24, 2009 2:49 PM (5 years ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

It may be a tribute to Lumet that you don't notice how much more than that it is

Showed Network to a crowd last night and it was surprisingly well received.

Didn't hurt that the crowd was very full of the core "they don't make them like that anymore" demo.

https://media.giphy.com/media/aEcujXyziE8qk/giphy.gif

Many bathroom breaks during Beatrice Straight's monologue?

Every good word in the English language is in that script.

"wainscoting"?

Crusty ... but benign.

Owen Roizman's nomination doesn't make a lick of sense tho.

Two previous nominations... and got one later for Tootsie. They just liked him.

He did the urban grime thing well, as in French Connection and Pelham 123.

Word is that cinematography guild was the most insular boys club backscratching branch in that era.

Didn't hurt that the crowd was very full of the core "they don't make them like that anymore" demo.

Good news for your audience: Hollywood never stopped making plenty of shrill tirades on "what's the matter with society."

well Wexler won in '76 for Bound for Glory, gotta give em credit for that. xp

Every good word in the English language is in that script.

― "Minneapolis" (barf) (Eric H.

"cocksmanship"

Nine years later, I would change my vote from Taxi Driver to All the President's Men.

It's cool, I just changed my vote from All the President's Men back to Network and now the two are tied for second place!

It's been a busy day.

wd now write in Mikey and Nicky

I wasn't here 9 years ago, but Taxi Driver is still the best and Network still sucks.

were there ever consecutive Best Actress winners who played soulless villains besides Louise Fletcher and Dunaway?

Closest case I could determine was Natalie Portman in Black Swan and Streep's Margaret Thatcher.

Depends on what you think about Katherine Hepburn in On Golden Pond and Meryl Streep in Sophie's Choice

Bette Davis '38/Vivien Leigh '39? Maybe they weren't entirely soulless.

I wasn't here 9 years ago, but Network is still the best and Taxi Driver still sucks.

you can deconstruct Scarlett O'Hara myriad ways, but she is clearly the heroine of GWTW

(and so is BD in Jezebel from what i can recall)

btw I have come to the realization that Holden was about 18 months older than I am now when they shot Network, and no one yet has impugned my cocksmanship.

Date more loquacious programming directors with father complexes.

Basically X agrees

Just curious, which of these should've won against ROCKY?

— Eric Henderson (@ephender) February 14, 2024