2. Black Lizard; 3. The Comic; 4. They Shoot Horses, Don't They?; 5. Once Upon a Time in the West The Damned takes its aristocrats from chic to ghoulish, all in the way they apply their makeup - and how much of it they're using. Martin's drag, Sophie's increasingly painted face, the blood (God the blood) - it's all perfect.
In second, Black Lizard gives you face. In third, The Comic's early cinema pancake and convincing old age. In fourth, the dried makeup and frazzled hair on tired, sticky faces in They Shoot Horses, Don't They?. In fifth, the sweat and beards of Once Upon a Time in the West. The rest of the show, after the jump....
Day One of my awards for the best of 1969. For further context, check out the full list of nominees and my Top Ten. With the exception of the first category, all are presented in the order they appeared at the corresponding Academy Awards ceremony.
Best Ensemble
Bob & Carol & Ted & Alice
2. The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie; 3. Z; 4. Hello, Dolly!; 5. If....
Difficult to name a best in show for Bob & Carol & Ted & Alice - so I won't! The central four are terrific - including one of my favorite performances given by Natalie Wood - perfectly in sync with their characters' shared history, fantasies, morals. The ensemble surrounding them is just as perfect: Dyan Cannon's therapist, perfectly stone-faced, a challenge; Wood's tennis pro, young and handsome and willing and comically nervous; everyone at the retreat in the opening sequence, from guru to attendee, each on the wavelength that makes this film dryly funny without being condescending. In second, Miss Brodie and her "gehls" in The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie. In third, Z's political pawns and opponents. In fourth, screwball perfection embodied by Hello, Dolly's ensemble. In fifth, the students and clueless adults of If..... Score, Supporting Actor, and more, after the jump...
Finally - the nominees for the 1969 Retro Hollmann Awards!
Best Director Robert Altman That Cold Day in the Park Costa-Gavras Z Sergio Leone Once Upon a Time in the West Paul Mazursky Bob & Carol & Ted & Alice Luchino Visconti The Damned
25 more films in 17 more categories, after the jump!
Apologies to the honorable mentions for not finding room for them: Blind Beast, Goodbye, Mr. Chips, Hello, Dolly!, If...., Laughter in the Dark, Medium Cool, Oh! What a Lovely War, Paint Your Wagon, The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie, Salesman, Stolen Kisses, They Shoot Horses, Don't They? and The Wild Bunch.
The ten, in alphabetical order, after the jump....
It doesn't happen all that often. So where were the members of last year's class? Lynn Carlin was doing television; she'd be back on the big screen the next year in ...tick...tick...tick.... Sondra Locke was filming a movie that also wouldn't come out 'til 1970, Cover Me Babe. Estelle Parsons, who had ridden her 1967 Oscar win to a follow-up 1968 nomination, was upgraded to leading lady status for the comedy Don't Drink the Water. Reigning winner Ruth Gordon also had an arguably lead role, playing the thorn in psycho-biddy Geraldine Page's side in the thriller What Ever Happened to Aunt Alice?. Only Kay Medford had a definite supporting role in a 1969 film - Angel in My Pocket, a little-seen Andy Griffith film that resulted in the latter ending his film deal with Universal.
And so that left the field open for five newcomers, none of whom were Brenda Vaccaro. Why mention Brenda Vaccaro? Well, believe it or not, either of these names could have been hers. Vaccaro has, perhaps, the most screentime of any woman in Midnight Cowboy, appearing as a party girl who brings Joe Buck home with her. She was nominated for a Golden Globe for the performance, but co-star Sylvia Miles got the Oscar nod. Meanwhile, Goldie Hawn's Cactus Flower performance wound up winning the Oscar:
But did you know that Vaccaro originated that role on Broadway? She was even nominated for the Tony Award for Best Featured Actress in a Play, losing out to Zoe Caldwell for Tennessee Williams' Slapstick Tragedy (Caldwell also won the Tony for originating The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie on Broadway). Vaccaro would have to wait another six years for an Oscar nomination, when she was honored for her work in Once is Not Enough. Her fellow nominee that year? Midnight Cowboy's own Sylvia Miles...
Further thoughts on some of the 1969 films discussed earlier this week.
Alice's Restaurant
dir: Arthur Penn
pr: Hillard Elkins / Joseph Manduke
scr: Venable Herndon and Arthur Penn, from the song by Arlo Guthrie
cin: Michael Nebbia
Overall an admirable, if cautious and somewhat skeptical, attempt to humanize and sympathize with a misunderstood movement, balancing clear-eyed observations about using "freedom" and "protest" to excuse shirking your own responsibilities with criticism of the establishment's adherence to form and appearance. If only Penn could consistently pay off on the characters he introduces, or handle the tonal whiplash between the comedy of the song and the drama of his and Herndon's additions. Guthrie proves a surprisingly compelling presence on screen.
We wrap up this first week with 1969 with a look at Best Supporting Actor:
Fifty years later, one name rings out above all the rest: Jack Nicholson. While he was no newcomer to Hollywood - he made his movie debut 11 years earlier in The Cry Baby Killer and contributed to the screenplay for the Monkees film Head - Easy Rider announced him as a true presence to be reckoned with, a Star for the ages. He may be approaching his tenth year of retirement, but Nicholson still looms large in the industry - my God, I still hear twenty-somethings debate his performance in Batman, get bowled over by One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest, quote Anger Management.
Also worth mentioning: Rupert Crosse's nomination makes it the first in this category for a black actor. Crosse was an Actor's Studio alum who trained under John Cassavetes and is best known for his work in the director's Shadows...although, sadly, I first knew him as the actor who had to drop out of The Last Detail due to cancer. It would be another 12 years before another black actor was nominated (Howard Rollins, Ragtime) and another year after that before one would win (Lou Gossett, Jr., An Officer and a Gentleman). Fifty years later, Mahershala Ali stands as the reigning Best Supporting Actor champ, the only black actor to win it twice. Here is the legacy of Rupert Crosse.
Nicholson, Crosse, and the rest of the competition - after the jump...
Starting Monday, we celebrate a LOT of 50th anniversaries with the 1969 Retrospective! The first two weeks take us through the Oscar nominees in eleven categories, followed by a week of talk on other movies, culminating in my personal Top Ten and Retro Hollmann Awards in week four.
Week One: the nominees for Best Original Song, Best Actor, Best Adapted Screenplay, Best Director, and Best Supporting Actor, featuring...
