1965--The Year in Review

It's no surprise that Robert Wise's immensely popular The Sound of Music garnered most of the 1965 awards; a box-office smash, it's the most loved movie of its period, with scads of fans still attending sing-a-longs while watching the original film. Maybe it IS the correct choice for Best Picture, but I've never much cottoned to it, even though Julie Andrews is photographed sublimely while jaunting about its impressive landscapes (seeing it with an adoring audience sure helps one understand its appeal, though the experience rarely converts those unready for overripe sentiment). For me, this year connotes a race between two harrowing films: Repulsion, Roman Polanski's horrific tale of isolation (starring a seriously diseased Catherine Deneuve, run ragged by her director) and Sidney Lumet's nearly-forgotten prison yarn The Hill involving a band of imprisoned British soldiers rising up against their sadistic jailers (the cast is led by Sean Connery, taking a break from Bond to show he could REALLY act, alongside a superb lineup of character performers who deserved to own the Supporting Actor category). Others might see David Lean's Russian epic Doctor Zhivago as the best of the year (it looks and sounds glorious but is seriously flabby around its midsection), or Godard's perfectly odd one-two punch of Pierrot le Fou and Alphaville. Other contenders included Orson Welles' last lavish movie Chimes at Midnight, or even Richard Lester's Palme D'Or winner at Cannes, a sly British sex comedy called The Knack, and How to Get It. And the year was punctuated by fantastic works from artistically-freed Czechoslovakian masters Jan Kadar, Milos Forman, Jiri Trinka, Jan Lenica, and Ivan Passer. But, in the end, Polanski had to take the top prize for the most intense of his many claustrophobic masterpieces. Even so, among the most lasting of 1965 titles were lesser-talked-about films: The War Game, Peter Watkins' sickening account of a possible nuclear-devastated Britain; Jim Henson's amusingly experimental work Time Piece, and perhaps the most universally loved movie of the year A Charlie Brown Christmas, which many see, even 50 years on, as a work they have to experience again before their holiday feels complete. There was no way I could choose between that film's sweetly jazzy score by Vince Guaraldi and the sweeping work of Doctor Zhivago composer Maurice Jarre, so I had to result in a rare tie in the Original Score race. Meanwhile, in the newly lively Best Song category, the Beatles battle in a VERY tight competition which they easily could've lost. 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: REPULSION (UK, Roman Polanski)
(2nd: The Hill (US/UK, Sidney Lumet), followed by:
The Knack, And How to Get It (UK, Richard Lester)
The War Game (UK, Peter Watkins)
Pierrot le Fou (France, Jean-Luc Godard)
Chimes at Midnight (Spain/US, Orson Welles)
Doctor Zhivago (US/UK, David Lean)
War and Peace (USSR, Sergei Bondarchuk)
Alphaville (France, Jean-Luc Godard)
Rapture (UK, John Guillermin)
The Flight of the Phoenix (US, Robert Aldrich)
The Loved One (UK, Tony Richardson)
The Shop on Main Street (Czechoslovakia, Jan Kadar)
It Happened Here (UK, Kevin Brownlow and Andrew Mollo)
Loves of a Blonde (Czechoslovakia, Milos Forman)
The Sound of Music (US, Robert Wise)
Intimate Lighting (Czechoslovakia, Ivan Passer)
Mickey One (US, Arthur Penn)
Juliet of the Spirits (Italy, Federico Fellini)
The Bedford Incident (US, James B. Harris)
The Pawnbroker (US, Sidney Lumet)
The Agony and the Ecstasy (UK, Carol Reed)
Shakespeare Wallah (UK, James Ivory)
Faster, Pussycat, Kill! Kill! (US, Russ Meyer)
Othello (UK, Lawrence Olivier)
The Ipcress File (UK, Sidney J. Furie)
For a Few Dollars More (Italy, Sergio Leone)
The Collector (US/UK, William Wyler)
Ride in the Whirlwind (US, Monte Hellman)
Tokyo Olympiad (Japan, Kon Ichikawa)
The Saragossa Manuscript (Poland, Wojciech Has)
The Eleanor Roosevelt Story (US, Richard Kaplan)
Help! (UK, Richard Lester)
The Nanny (UK, Seth Holt)
Darling (UK, John Schlesinger)
Bunny Lake is Missing (UK, Otto Preminger)
Thunderball (UK, Terence Young)
The Naked Prey (US/UK, Cornel Wilde)
A Patch of Blue (US, Guy Green)
Inside Daisy Clover (US, Robert Mulligan)
The Slender Thread (US, Sydney Pollack)
The Spy Who Came In From the Cold (UK/US, Martin Ritt)
The Great Race (US, Blake Edwards)
The Greatest Story Ever Told (US, George Stevens)
Who Killed Teddy Bear? (US, Joseph Cates)

ACTOR: Sean Connery, THE HILL (2nd: Rod Steiger, The Pawnbroker, followed by: Orson Welles, Chimes at Midnight; Laurence Olivier, Othello; James Stewart, The Flight of the Phoenix; Jean-Paul Belmondo, Pierre Le Fou; Richard Burton, The Spy Who Came In From the Cold)

ACTRESS: Catherine Deneuve, REPULSION (2nd: Julie Andrews, The Sound of Music, followed by: Ida Kaminska, The Shop on Main Street; Giulietta Masina, Juliet of the Spirits; Patricia Gozzi, Rapture; Tura Satana, Faster, Pussycat, Kill! Kill!; Samantha Eggar, The Collector; Julie Christie, Doctor Zhivago)

SUPPORTING ACTOR: Harry Andrews, THE HILL (2nd: Ian Bannen, The Hill, followed by: John Gielgud, Chimes at Midnight; Ossie Davis, The Hill; Ian Hendry, The Hill; Tom Courtenay, Doctor Zhivago; Richard Attenbourough, The Flight of the Phoenix)

SUPPORTING ACTRESS: Shelley Winters, A PATCH OF BLUE (2nd: Peggy Wood, The Sound of Music, followed by: Joyce Redman, Othello; Maggie Smith, Othello; Jill Bennett, The Nanny; Ruth Gordon, Inside Daisy Clover; Joan Blondell, The Cincinatti Kid)

DIRECTOR: Roman Polanski, REPULSION (2nd: Orson Welles, Chimes at Midnight, followed by: Sidney Lumet, The Hill; Richard Lester, The Knack, And How to Get It;  Jean-Luc Godard, Pierrot le Fou; Peter Watkins, The War Game; David Lean, Doctor Zhivago)


 
NON-ENGLISH-LANGUAGE FILM: PIERROT LE FOU (France, Jean-Luc Godard) (2nd: War and Peace (USSR, Sergei Bondarchuk), followed by: Alphaville (France, Jean-Luc Godard); The Shop on Main Street (Czechoslovakia, Jan Kadar); Loves of a Blonde (Czechoslovakia, Milos Forman); Intimate Lighting (Czechoslovakia, Ivan Passer); Juliet of the Spirits (Italy, Federico Fellini); The Saragossa Manuscript (Poland, Wojciech Has))



DOCUMENTARY FEATURE: THE WAR GAME (UK, Peter Watkins (wins in 1966)) (2nd: Tokyo Olympiad (Japan, Kon Ichikawa), followed by: The Eleanor Roosevelt Story (US, Richard Kaplan))

ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY: Ladislav Grosman, THE SHOP ON MAIN STREET (2nd: Jean-Luc Godard, Pierrot le Fou; Roman Polanski, Gerard Brach, and David Stone, Repulsion; Milos Forman, Jaroslav Papousek, Ivan Passer, and Vaclav Sasek, Loves of a Blonde; Jean-Luc Godard, Alphaville)



ADAPTED SCREENPLAY:  Ray Rigby, THE HILL (2nd: Terry Southern and Christopher Isherwood, The Loved One, followed by: James Poe, The Bedford Incident; Robert Bolt, Doctor Zhivago; Charles Wood, The Knack, and How to Get It)


 
LIVE ACTION SHORT FILM: TIME PIECE (US, Jim Henson) (2nd: Now (Cuba, Santiago Alvarez), followed by: To Be Alive! (US, Alexander Hackenschmied and Francis Thompson); Skaterdater (US, Noel Black); The Railrodder (Canada, Gerald Potterton, Buster Keaton and John Spotton))



ANIMATED SHORT FILM: A CHARLIE BROWN CHRISTMAS (US, Bill Melendez) (2nd: The Dot and the Line (US, Chuck Jones), followed by: La Gazza Ladra (Italy, Giulio Gianini and Emanuele Luzzati); The Hand (Czechoslovakia, Jiri Trnka); Rhinoceros (Czechoslovakia, Jan Lenica))



BLACK-AND-WHITE CINEMATOGRAPHY: Raoul Coutard, ALPHAVILLE, followed by: David Watkin, The Knack, and How to Get It; Marcel Grignon, Rapture; Haskell Wexler, The Loved One; Oswald Morris, The Hill)

COLOR CINEMATOGRAPHY: Frederick A. Young, DOCTOR ZHIVAGO (2nd: William C. Mellor and Loyal Griggs, The Greatest Story Ever Told, followed by: Ted McCord, The Sound of Music; Anatoli Petritsky, War and Peace; Gianni di Venanzo, Juliet of the Spirits)

BLACK-AND-WHITE ART DIRECTION: THE SPY WHO CAME IN FROM THE COLD, A Patch of Blue, Alphaville, King Rat, Ship of Fools

COLOR ART DIRECTION: DOCTOR ZHIVAGO, The Agony and the Ecstasy, The Sound of Music, War and Peace, Inside Daisy Clover

BLACK-AND-WHITE COSTUME DESIGN: DARLING, Chimes at Midnight, The Slender Thread, Ship of Fools, The Loved One

COLOR COSTUME DESIGN: DOCTOR ZHIVAGO, The Agony and the Ecstasy, War and Peace, Inside Daisy Clover, The Greatest Story Ever Told 

FILM EDITING: THE HILL, The Sound of Music, The Flight of the Phoenix, The Bedford Incident, Pierrot le Fou 

 
SOUND: THE SOUND OF MUSIC, Doctor Zhivago, The Flight of the Phoenix, The Great Race, The Agony and the Ecstasy






ORIGINAL SCORE: TIE: Vince Guaraldi, A CHARLIE BROWN CHRISTMAS and Maurice Jarre, Doctor Zhivago (2nd: John Barry, The Knack, and How to Get It, followed by: Chico Hamilton, Repulsion; Jerry Goldsmith, A Patch of Blue; Georges Delarue, Rapture)  

ADAPTED OR MUSICAL SCORE: Irwin Kostal, THE SOUND OF MUSIC (2nd: George Martin, Help!, followed by: Frank DeVol, Cat Ballou)



ORIGINAL SONG: "Ticket to Ride" from HELP! (Music and lyrics by John Lennon and Paul McCartney) (2nd: "The Shadow of Your Smile" from The Sandpiper (Music by Johnny Mandel, lyrics by Paul Francis Webster), followed by: "You've Got to Hide Your Love Away" from Help! (Music and lyrics by John Lennon and Paul McCartney); "Christmas Time is Here" from A Charlie Brown Christmas (Music by Vince Guaraldi, lyrics by Lee Mendelson); "What's New, Pussycat?" from What's New, Pussycat? (Music by Burt Bacharach, lyrics by Hal David); "Ferry Cross The Mersey" from Ferry Cross The Mersey (Music and lyrics by Gerry Marsden); "Faster, Pussycat" from Faster, Pussycat, Kill! Kill! (Music by Paul Sawtell and Bert Shefter, lyrics by Rick Jarrard); "Help!" from Help!' (Music and lyrics by John Lennon and Paul McCartney); "Thunderball" from Thunderball (Music by John Barry, lyrics by Don Black); "Sunshine, Lollipops and Rainbows" from Ski Party (Music by Marvin Hamlisch, lyrics by Howard Liebling); "Baby, The Rain Must Fall" from Baby, The Rain Must Fall (Music by Elmer Bernstein, lyrics by Ernest Sheldon))

SPECIAL EFFECTS: THUNDERBALL, The Greatest Story Ever Told

MAKEUP: THE WAR GAME, The Flight of the Phoenix, Doctor Zhivago