The Man Who Made It: Director, 1991

These are the nominees for the Best Director of 1991:

Jonathan Demme, The Silence of the Lambs

Barry Levinson, Bugsy

Ridley Scott, Thelma & Louise

John Singleton, Boyz n the Hood

Oliver Stone, JFK

There are two big stories here, one about a nominee, one about a non-nominee. Let's take the second one first.

When Barbra Streisand screened her directorial debut Yentl in 1983, no less than Steven Spielberg proclaimed it "the greatest directorial debut since Citizen Kane." She even won the Golden Globe, one of only three women (also: Nomadland's Chloe Zhao, The Power of the Dog's Jane Campion) to do so. It took almost a decade for her follow-up, The Prince of Tides, a box office smash that appeared to finally earn Streisand a seat at the table. She was nominated again for the Golden Globe, and, most importantly to her, at the Directors Guild of America Awards, voted on by her fellow auteurs. Indeed, she was the only one of the DGA Awards nominees who didn't make the Oscar cut.

But it's hard to argue with who did.

At only 24 years old, John Singleton became not just the youngest Best Director nominee in history (still!), he became the first Black filmmaker so honored by the Academy. He had been honored with New Director honors by various critics' groups, but the Academy has no such category, and instead of ignoring him gave him the proper plaudits, making history. Since then, six more Black men have been nominated, all in the 21st Century: Lee Daniels (Precious), Steve McQueen (12 Years a Slave), Barry Jenkins (Moonlight), Jordan Peele (Get Out), Spike Lee (BlacKkKlansman), and Ryan Coogler (Sinners). None have won.

For Singleton, as it would have been for Streisand, the nomination was the award. No one was beating Jonathan Demme that year:

My rankings, from fifth to first:

Blockbuster Summer: 1991, Part Three

Summertime is the season for blockbusters, has been since 1975. The biggest hit of 1991 came out Fourth of July weekend, a movie that didn't just spend four weeks at #1, but wound up the #1 movie of the year, the first of three times director James Cameron could claim the top spot of the year. Obviously, I'm talking about Terminator 2: Judgment Day.

After the success of 1984's The Terminator, a sequel may have seemed inevitable, but it was a process getting started. James Cameron didn't want to do one, and besides, he had had a falling-out with the production company that held half the rights (Cameron's ex Gale Ann Hurd held the other half). Arnold Schwarzenegger did want a sequel, and he convinced Carolco Pictures, which had produced Total Recall, to purchase the rights and move forward - they even set a release date for Memorial Day weekend, before a storyline was even set. So, Cameron came back, and soon, it was the typical stories for a James Cameron film: behind schedule, over-budget, with reports that it cost too much to ever see profit. They were finishing post-production all the way up until the star-studded premiere on July 1; two days later, it hit screens.

A juggernaut. Not only did it take the top spot at the box office for the weekend, it broke the record for Fourth of July weekend releases. And everyone saw it, men, women, and children. It held onto the top spot for the entirety of July, sticking around long enough to end the year as 1991's highest grossing film. Right below it? Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves, which had come out three weeks before...and which we'll also discuss below, alongside eleven others: