The 1997 Retro Hollmann Awards: The Winners

The biggest gap from the beginning of a year to its conclusion in a while. Nevertheless, here we are: you've seen my take on the Academy Award nominees in six categories, my Top Ten, and my nominees. Now, here are my winners, the best of the best, for the 1997 Retro Hollmann Awards:

The 1997 Retro Hollmann Awards: The Nominees

Here they are, 31 films across 18 categories, the nominees for the 1997 Retro Hollmann Awards: 

Top Ten of 1997

Finally, after much writing, rewriting, and thought, my Top Ten of 1997. It almost included Alien Resurrection, Cop Land, Deconstructing Harry, The Postman, and The Sweet Hereafter, but ultimately does not. In alphabetical order:

Oscars 1997: Best Picture

There was no beating the Titanic juggernaut for Best Picture, not in 1997:

But here's how I'd rank 'em:

1997 Oscars: Best Supporting Actress

Best Supporting Actress was a tight race between two very different performers and performances. In one corner, the beauty demonstrating her thesping abilities in the throwback noir L.A. Confidential, Kim Basinger (some still may consider her role a leading lady part); in the other, the veteran whose career was older than 20th Century Fox, emotionally anchoring the narrative of the epic box office titan (!) Titanic, Gloria Stuart! Indeed, at the Screen Actors Guild Awards, they both won, a rare awards season tie.

Oscar did not go the same way.

It’s an interesting lineup overall, with three Best Picture nominees, a dramedy, and a studio comedy all in the mix. Here's how I'd rank 'em:

1997 Oscars: Best Actress

Best Actress '97 was one of those where everyone won something. Julie Christie and Helena Bonham-Carter won critics' prizes, Helen Hunt and Judi Dench won Golden Globes, and Kate Winslet won the box office. If you were around in the late 90s, though, you may recall how unstoppable Helen Hunt was. She was the star of the TV hit Mad About You, for which she won four consecutive Emmys, 1996-99, and of the 1996 film, Twister. TV and movie stardom - isn't an Oscar the logical next step?

The nominees, ranked by me:

1997 Oscars: Best Director

We now start our journey through the 50th Academy Awards, celebrating the films of 1997. Next week we'll do Best Picture, this week we'll do the Acting categories, but today: Best Director.

Now, if you recall, it was a director who set me on this path of 1990, 1997, and 2003: Kevin Costner. Readers voted the years in which he directed a film as the project to follow my The Winner Is John Ford series. Sadly, as we noted yesterday, The Postman was little appreciated in its time, though Costner did "win" Worst Director at the Razzies and its overseas equivalent, Spain's Yoga Awards. Unfair and unjust.

Two directors who missed the Oscar lineup: James L. Brooks for Best Picture nominee As Good As It Gets and Steven Spielberg for Amistad, both nominated at the Directors Guild of America Awards and at the Golden Globes. The Boxer's Jim Sheridan was also nominated at the Golden Globes while missing out at the Academy Awards. And then there's Baz Luhrmann, whose 1996 Romeo + Juliet was no awards favorite in the States but qualified for the next year's BAFTAs, where he was nominated for Best Director against Curtis Hanson, Peter Cattaneo, and James Cameron...and won. 

But there can be only one King of the World at the Oscars: 

Here's how I'd rank 'em:

1997: The Big One

Today we cover the last month of films in 1997, including two Best Picture nominees and Kevin Costner's second directorial effort.

December 19, 1997, is one of the most important dates in cinema history, as it is the release date of James Cameron's Titanic. People forget this, but at the time, disaster was expected. The film went over $100M over budget, shooting went two months over schedule, and the release date was pushed back multiple times before being given an inauspicious pre-Christmas date. "Cameron's ego's done him in this time!" people thought. It soon became the world's highest-grossing film in history, a title it would hold until...James Cameron's Avatar in 2009, another film that people thought would bomb its release (people online said with Avatar: The Way of Water, this time the long-foretold end of Cameron's career would finally take place, it's bound to be a flop, no one cares about these movies! both Avatar films rank above Titanic in all-time box office). The movie was the #1 film at the box office for 15 weekends in a row, 3.75 straight months of Titanic dominance.

But just because something wasn't #1 doesn't mean it didn't make a lot of money. As Good As It Gets came out Christmas Day. The fourth film by James L. Brooks, it follows the unlikely relationship between an obsessive-compulsive ornery romance writer, his big-hearted but sharp-tongued waitress, and his gay artist neighbor. A heartfelt rom-com with very little in the way of special effects, it wound up a sensation, grossing over $300M and winning Oscars for lead actors Jack Nicholson and Helen Hunt.

That was just one of several Christmas Day releases, including The Postman. It had been seven years since Kevin Costner had made his directorial debut with (and won the Oscar for) Dances with Wolves. In the years between, though he didn't direct, he produced many of the films he starred in, some of which (Wyatt Earp, Waterworld) people bring up when talking about Costner as a filmmaker. No one made that error with his films immediately following Dances with Wolves: Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves, JFK, and The Bodyguard. I think the reason is obvious: they were hits, and people want to associate Costner the Director with less-than-successful, big-budgeted epics. Something about the success of Dances with Wolves seemed to stick in people's craw.

The Postman, at least, would finally prove them right. He got the job directing because the source novel's original author, David Brin, felt Costner channeled his titular hero throughout his filmography. The hero being a drifter in a post-apocalyptic United States who is mistaken for a postal service worker, and in a world without mail or phones, he represents healing, communication, hope. Sentimental and sincere, critics hated it and audiences didn't see it. It grossed less than half its budget...worldwide. It would be another six years before he directed again.

But there were more than just three December releases. There were also these:

1953 Retro Hollmann Awards: Part 3 -- The End!

Here endeth my month-long celebration of the films of 1953. Of the twelve categories we've seen so far, eight films have been honored: The Cruel Sea (Sound), The Importance of Being Earnest (Costume Design, Ensemble), Man on a Tightrope (Makeup), Mogambo (Actor), Pickup on South Street (Supporting Actress, Original Screenplay, Editing), The Robe (Score, Production Design), Titanic (Supporting Actor) and War of the Worlds (Visual Effects).

Now, we come to the Big Four -- Picture, Director, Actress, Adapted Screenplay -- plus Cinematography, and just to mess with ya, Original Song.

BEST ORIGINAL SONG

5. "Kid's Song/Because We're Kids" from The 5,000 Fingers of Dr. T
Music by Friedrich Hollaender
Lyrics by Dr. Seuss


3. "The Deadwood Stage" from Calamity Jane
Music by Sammy Fain
Lyrics by Paul Francis Webster


2. "Just Blew in from the Windy City" from Calamity Jane

Music by Sammy Fain

Lyrics by Paul Francis Webster

4. "Hi-Lili, Hi-Lili, Hi-Lo" from Lili
Music by Bronislau Kaper
Lyrics by Helen Deutsch


1. "The Blue Pacific Blues" from Miss Sadie Thompson
Music by Lester Lee
Lyrics by Allan Roberts


Weren't that lovely? Continue after the jump, as we wrap up 1953...

1953 Retro Hollmann Awards: Part 1

And so begins the first day of the Retro Hollmann Awards of 1953!

It was a long process, a marathon of "this one, no this one!" Constant changes, choices worthy of Sophie. Finally culminating in what you now see here.

What did I have to choose from, though? You know I saw more than just the Academy Award Nominees. Here is the complete list of 1953 releases I saw, in alphabetical order:

The 5,000 Fingers of Dr. T

Above and Beyond

All the Brothers were Valiant

The Band Wagon

Battles of Chief Pontiac

Beneath the 12-Mile Reef

The Big Heat

The Bigamist

A Blueprint for Murder

Calamity Jane

Call Me Madam

Captain Scarface

The Captain's Paradise

City That Never Sleeps

The Cruel Sea

The Desert Rats

Fear and Desire

From Here to Eternity

Gentlemen Prefer Blondes

Girl on the Run

Glen or Glenda?

The Hitch-Hiker

Hondo

House of Wax

How to Marry a Millionaire

I, the Jury

I Confess

The Importance of Being Earnest

Invaders from Mars

Jennifer

The Joe Louis Story

Julius Caesar

Kiss Me Kate

Knights of the Round Table

Lili

The Limping Man

Little Fugitive

The Man in the Attic

Man on a Tightrope

Martin Luther

The Maze

Miss Sadie Thompson

The Mississippi Gambler

Mogambo

The Moon is Blue

The Naked Spur

Niagara

Peter Pan

Pickup on South Street

The Robe

Roman Holiday

Salome

Seminole

Shane

Sins of Jezebel

Small Town Girl

Stalag 17

The Story of Three Loves

Titanic

Torch Song

Vicki

War of the Worlds

Wicked Woman

The Wild One

Young Bess

That's a total of 65 films, the usual amount for the Retro series. I know that seems low, but I do what I can.

The first six categories, for a total of 18, are: Best Sound, Best Visual Effects (an honorary award to War of the Worlds, that year, but I'll give it a full category), Best Supporting Actor, Best Costume Design, Best Ensemble (not an Academy category), and Best Editing!

Shall we begin?

Story and Screenplay, 1953

The Story and Screenplay category -- five contenders, and not a single one a Best Picture nominee! And boy they run the gamut: a movie I still haven't seen; a MUSICAL (how often do those get nods anymore?); a British war drama; a western with a small ensemble; and Titanic, accomplishing what the later 1997 film could not: get credit for the writing.

Shall we?

Black-and-White Art Direction, 1953

It's here! My look at the Academy Award nominees of 1953 is here!

Our journey begins with the nominees for Best Art Direction-Set Decoration, Black-and-White. Ah, yes, that era when the color line divided Costumes, Art Direction and Cinematography. It makes sense -- color really does have the edge when it comes to those first two, since it can use reds and blues and greys to make a statement. 

But those black-and-white artists weren't just putzin' around, as you'll see.