1962--The Year in Review

1962 saw a Hollywood-generated blowback against the influence of world cinema, with its native filmmakers obviously feeling challenged to deliver equally serious work. The American scene was dotted with glorious pictures--Robert Mulligan's To Kill a Mockingbird, Morton Da Costa's The Music Man (in my heart of hearts, still my favorite musical ever), Sam Peckinpah's arrival with Ride The High Country (a forsaken B-picture at the time), John Ford's then-critically-drubbed The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance, John Frankenheimer's chilling Cold War tale The Manchurian Candidate, Sidney Lumet's ambitious Long Day's Journey Into Night, Robert Aldrich's Whatever Happened to Baby Jane? (a progenitor for a whole slew of later quasi-horror films that would star fading actresses), and David and Lisa, an oddly moving early indie film by husband-and-wife team Frank and Eleanor Perry (theirs was the first independent film to get such major recognition). But none could brook the breathtaking work done by David Lean. His massive yet achingly intimate film about a reluctant British hero working out complex personal issues against the backdrop of a World War I sideshow in the Middle East would become the point against which all epics would subsequently be measured (especially since it contained a brilliant debut by Peter O'Toole, and another breakthrough performance by Omar Sharif). It was an astonishing year, though, for cinema from other countries, with films from Luis Bunuel (whose absurd dark comedy about insatiable bourgeoisie appetites still captivates), Truffaut, Godard, Ozu, Kobayashi, and Serge Bourguignon, a filmmaker who barely even tried to match his chancy tale about a chaste love affair between a shell-shocked war veteran and an abandoned 12-year-old girl (it would win the Oscar for Best Foreign Film, even though it's a movie that could never be made--or, for some, even viewed--today). Yet I have to give its lead actress the top award, as Patricia Gozzi's performance always moves me to stinging tears (it was a stupendous year for young actresses, with To Kill A Mockingbird's Mary Badham, The Miracle Worker's Patty Duke, and Lolita's Sue Lyon all contributing remarkable work). The UK film world, too, was ratcheting up to an upcoming explosion, with the country's "kitchen sink" dramas and the first James Bond film both being early clues to a new direction. On the short film front, the offerings were becoming much more daring, with Chris Marker stunningly elegant 27-minute sci-fi tale La Jatee told in a devastating series of still photographs. Meanwhile, on the animated front, former Oscar-winners Chuck Jones and the Hubleys are bested by a French film that conveys a challenging, emotionally draining peer into the Holocaust--one that turned out to be a deep influence on the animated work of Monty Python veteran Terry Gilliam. NOTE: These are MY choices for each category, and are only occasionally reflective of the selections made by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (aka The Oscars). When available, the nominee that actually won the Oscar will be highlighted in bold. 

PICTURE: LAWRENCE OF ARABIA (UK, David Lean)
(2nd: The Music Man (US, Morton Da Costa), followed by: 
Ride the High Country (US, Sam Peckinpah)
The Exterminating Angel (Mexico, Luis Buñuel)
To Kill a Mockingbird (US, Robert Mulligan)
The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance (US, John Ford)
Sundays and Cybele (France, Serge Bourguignon)
Knife in the Water (Poland, Roman Polanski)
Harakiri (Japan, Masaki Kobayashi)
David and Lisa (US, Frank Perry)
The Manchurian Candidate (US, John Frankenheimer)
Jules and Jim (France, François Truffaut)
Lolita (UK, Stanley Kubrick)
An Autumn Afternoon (Japan, Yasujiro Ozu)
Billy Budd (UK, Peter Ustinov)
Whatever Happened to Baby Jane? (US, Robert Aldrich)
Cleo from 5 to 7 (France, Agnès Varda)
L’Eclisse (Italy, Michelangelo Antonioni)
Vivre sa Vie (France, Jean-Luc Godard)
Advise and Consent (US, Otto Preminger)
Dog Star Man (US, Stan Brakhage)
Ivan’s Childhood (USSR, Andrei Tarkovsky)
Mamma Roma (Italy, Pier Paolo Pasolini)
Carnival of Souls (US, Herk Hervey)
Dr. No (UK, Terence Young)
The Loneliness of the Long Distance Runner (UK, Tony Richardson)
Chushingura (Japan, Hiroshi Inagaki)
Le Doulos (France, Jean-Pierre Melville)
The Miracle Worker (US, Arthur Penn)
Merrill's Marauder's (US, Samuel Fuller)
Cape Fear (US, J. Lee Thompson)
Long Day’s Journey into Night (US, Sidney Lumet)
Days of Wine and Roses (US, Blake Edwards)
Birdman of Alcatraz (US, John Frankenheimer)
Lonely Are the Brave (US, David Miller)
The Intruder (US, Roger Corman)
The L-Shaped Room (UK, Bryan Forbes)
The Trial (France/US, Orson Welles)
The World’s Greatest Sinner (US, Timothy Carey)
Heaven and Earth Magic (US, Harry Smith)
A Kind of Loving (UK, John Schlesinger)
The Connection (US, Shirley Clarke)
Gay Purr-ee (US, Abe Levitow)
The Longest Day (Andrew Marton, Bernard Wicki, Ken Annikin and Darryl L. Zanuck)
How the West Was Won (US, Henry Hathaway, John Ford and George Marshall)
Two for the Seesaw (US, Robert Wise)
The Phantom of the Opera (UK, Terence Fisher)
Eegah! (US, Arch Hall Sr.)
Wild Guitar (US, Ray Dennis Steckler))

ACTOR: Peter O’Toole, LAWRENCE OF ARABIA (2nd: Robert Preston, The Music Man, followed by: Gregory Peck, To Kill a Mockingbird; Joel McCrea, Ride the High Country; James Mason, Lolita; Hardy Kruger, Sundays and Cybele; Tom Courteney, The Loneliness of the Long Distance Runner; Jack Lemmon, Days of Wine and Roses; Robert Mitchum, Cape Fear; Burt Lancaster, Birdman of Alcatraz)

ACTRESS: Patricia Gozzi, SUNDAYS AND CYBELE (2nd: Bette Davis, What Ever Happened to Baby Jane?, followed by: Katharine Hepburn, Long Day’s Journey into Night; Monica Vitti, L’Eclisse; Anne Bancroft, The Miracle Worker; Shirley Jones, The Music Man; Anna Magnani, Mamma Roma; Leslie Caron, The L-Shaped Room; Jeanne Moreau, Jules and Jim; Lee Remick, Days of Wine and Roses) 

SUPPORTING ACTOR: Omar Sharif, LAWRENCE OF ARABIA (2nd: Peter Sellers, Lolita, followed by: Peter Ustinov, Billy Budd; Charles Laughton, Advise and Consent; Lew Ayres, Advise and Consent; Dean Stockwell, Long Day's Journey Into Night; Lee Marvin, The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance; Ed Begley, Sweet Bird of Youth; Terrence Stamp, Billy Budd; Victor Buono, Whatever Happened to Baby Jane?)



SUPPORTING ACTRESS: Mary Badham, TO KILL A MOCKINGBIRD (2nd: Patty Duke, The Miracle Worker, followed by: Angela Lansbury, The Manchurian Candidate; Shelley Winters, Lolita; Hermione Gingold, The Music Man; Thelma Ritter, Birdman of Alcatraz; Mariette Hartley, Ride the High Country; Sue Lyon, Lolita; Shirley Knight, Sweet Bird of Youth; Cicely Courtenidge, The L-Shaped Room)



DIRECTOR: David Lean, LAWRENCE OF ARABIA (2nd: Luis Bunuel, The Exterminating Angel, followed by: Sam Peckinpah, Ride the High Country; Robert Mulligan, To Kill a Mockingbird; Serge Bourguignon, Sundays and Cybele; Frank Perry, David and Lisa; John Ford, The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance; Masaki Kobayashi, Harakiri; Morton Da Costa, The Music Man; John Frankenheimer, The Manchurian Candidate)

NON-ENGLISH-LANGUAGE FILM: THE EXTERMINATING ANGEL (Mexico, Luis Buñuel) (2nd: Sundays and Cybele (France, Serge Bourguignon), followed by: Knife in the Water (Poland, Roman Polanski); Harakiri (Japan, Masaki Kobayashi); Jules and Jim (France, François Truffaut); An Autumn Afternoon (Japan, Yasujiro Ozu); Cleo from 5 to 7 (France, Agnès Varda); L’Eclisse (Italy, Michelangelo Antonioni); Vivre sa Vie (France, Jean-Luc Godard); Ivan’s Childhood (USSR, Andrei Tarkovsky); Mamma Roma (Italy, Pier Paolo Pasolini); Chushingura (Japan, Hiroshi Inagaki); Le Doulos (France, Jean-Pierre Melville))



ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY: N.B. Stone Jr., RIDE THE HIGH COUNTRY (2nd: Roman Polanski, Jerzy Skolimowski, and Jakub Goldberg, Knife in the Water, followed by: Agnes Varda, Cleo from 5 to 7; J.P. Miller, Days of Wine and Roses; Michelangelo Antonioni, Tonino Guerra, Elio Bartolini, and Ottiero Otterei, L'Eclisse)



ADAPTED SCREENPLAY: Horton Foote, TO KILL A MOCKINGBIRD (2nd: Robert Bolt, Lawrence of Arabia, followed by: Luis Bunuel, The Exterminating Angel; James Gordon Bellah and Willis Goldbeck, The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance; Eleanor Perry, David and Lisa)



LIVE ACTION SHORT FILM: LA JATEE (France, Chris Marker) (2nd: Zoo (Finland, Bert Haanstra), followed by: Window Water Baby Moving (US, Stan Brakhage); The War Game (UK, Mai Zetterling); Dylan Thomas (UK, Jack Howell))



ANIMATED SHORT FILM: LES JEUX DES ANGES (France, Walerian Borowczyk) (2nd: The Hole (US, John and Faith Hubley), followed by: Now Hear This (US, Chuck Jones and Maurice Noble); Self Defense...For Cowards (UK, Gene Deitch); Human Zoo (Japan, Yoji Kuri))

BLACK-AND-WHITE CINEMATOGRAPHY: Lionel Lindon, THE MANCHURIAN CANDIDATE (2nd: Henri Decaë, Sundays and Cybèle, followed by: Yoshio Muyajima, Harakiri; Vadim Yusov, Ivan’s Childhood; Russell Harlan, To Kill a Mockingbird)

COLOR CINEMATOGRAPHY: Frederick A. Young, LAWRENCE OF ARABIA (2nd: Lucien Ballard, Ride the High Country, followed by: Robert Burks, The Music Man; Yahuru Atsuta, An Autumn Afternoon; Harry Stradling Jr., Gypsy)

BLACK-AND-WHITE ART DIRECTION: WHAT EVER HAPPENED TO BABY JANE?, The Manchurian Candidate, To Kill a Mockingbird, Days of Wine and Roses, Harakiri

COLOR ART DIRECTION: LAWRENCE OF ARABIA, The Music Man, Gypsy, Mutiny on the Bounty, That Touch of Mink

BLACK-AND-WHITE COSTUME DESIGN: WHAT EVER HAPPENED TO BABY JANE?, The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance, Days of Wine and Roses, Harakiri, Billy Budd

COLOR COSTUME DESIGN: THE MUSIC MAN, Lawrence of Arabia, Gypsy, My Geisha, Mutiny on the Bounty 

FILM EDITING: LAWRENCE OF ARABIA, The Manchurian Candidate, To Kill A Mockingbird, The Music Man, The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance 

SOUND: LAWRENCE OF ARABIA, The Music Man, The Longest Day, Days of Wine and Roses, The Manchurian Candidate 



ORIGINAL SCORE: Maurice Jarre, LAWRENCE OF ARABIA (2nd: Elmer Bernstein, To Kill a Mockingbird, followed by: Bernard Herrmann, Cape Fear; Henry Mancini, Days of Wine and Roses; John Barry and Monty Norman, Dr. No; Nelson Riddle, Lolita)

 
ADAPTED OR MUSICAL SCORE: Ray Heindorf, THE MUSIC MAN (2nd: Frank Perkins, Gypsy)



ORIGINAL SONG: "Days of Wine and Roses" from DAYS OF WINE AND ROSES (Music by Henry Mancini, lyrics by Johnny Mercer) (2nd: "I've Written a Letter to Daddy” from What Ever Happened to Baby Jane? (Music by Frank DeVol, lyrics by Bob Merrill), followed by: "Peppermint Twist" from Hey Let's Twist (Music and lyrics by Joey Dee and Henry Glover); "Walk on the Wild Side" from Walk on the Wild Side (Music by Elmer Bernstein, lyrics by Mack David); "Tender is the Night" from Tender is the Night (Music by Sammy Fain, lyrics by Paul Francis Webster); "The World's Greatest Sinner" from The World's Greatest Sinner (Music and lyrics by Frank Zappa))

SPECIAL EFFECTS: THE LONGEST DAY, Mutiny on the Bounty

MAKEUP: WHAT EVER HAPPENED TO BABY JANE?, Lawrence of Arabia, My Geisha