1970--The Year in Review

Here we go into my favorite decade of cinema, and of course, the entire ten years really belonged to one American director, who seemed back in 1970 as if he’d come wholly into being fully voiced somehow out of nowhere, spectacularly formed, even though Robert Altman had been expressing his expertise in the film and TV business for over two prior decades. Actually, this choice was pretty painful, considering that Rafelson’s aching film, the landmark Maysles/Zwerin doc, and Bertolucci’s masterpiece are nearly equal to Altman’s work in quality. But Altman takes the prize for being the transforming element for American cinema throughout the coming decade, and specifically for so effectively poking at the deadly folly of Vietnam without ever actually doing so. 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: M*A*S*H (US, Robert Altman)
(2nd: Five Easy Pieces (US, Bob Rafelson)
followed by: Gimme Shelter (US, Albert Maysles, David Maysles and Charlotte Zwerin)
The Conformist (Italy, Bernardo Bertolucci)
Claire’s Knee (France, Eric Rohmer)
Ryan’s Daughter (US, David Lean)
Patton (US, Franklin J. Schaffner)
Woodstock (US, Michael Wadleigh)
The Garden of the Finzi Continis (Italy, Vittorio de Sica)
Husbands (US, John Cassavetes)
Wanda (US, Barbara Loden)
Deep End (UK, Jerzy Skolimowski)
Trafic (France, Jacques Tati)
Le Boucher (France, Claude Chabrol)
King: A Filmed Record…Montgomery to Memphis (US, Sidney Lumet and Joseph L. Mankiewicz)
Le Cercle Rouge (France, Jean-Pierre Melville)
7 Plus Seven (UK, Michael Apted)
Investigation of a Citizen Under Suspicion (Italy, Elio Petri)
Lovers and Other Strangers (US, Cy Howard)
Goin’ Down The Road (Canada, Donald Shebib)
Catch-22 (US, Mike Nichols)
Let It Be (UK, Michael Lindsay-Hogg)
Valerie and Her Week of Wonders (Czechoslovakia, Jaromil Jires)
El Topo (Mexico, Alejandro Jodorowsky)
Beyond the Valley of the Dolls (US, Russ Meyer)
Trash (US, Paul Morrissey)
Tristana (Spain/France, Luis Buñuel)
The Spider’s Stratagem (Italy, Bernardo Bertolucci)
The Private Life of Sherlock Holmes (US, Billy Wilder)
Dodes’ka-den (Japan, Akira Kurosawa)
Little Big Man (US, Arthur Penn)
The Ballad of Cable Hogue (US, Sam Peckinpah)
Diary of a Mad Housewife (US, Frank Perry)
Joe (US, John G. Avildsen)
The Confession (France, Costa-Gavras)
The Twelve Chairs (US, Mel Brooks)
The Landlord (US, Hal Ashby)
The Wild Child (France, François Truffaut)
The Lickerish Quartet (US/UK, Radley Metzger)
Performance (UK, Nicolas Roeg and Donald Cammell)
Two Mules for Sister Sara (US, Don Siegel)
Daughters of Darkness (Belgium/France, Harry Kumel)
Cotton Comes to Harlem (US, Ossie Davis)
Brewster McCloud (US, Robert Altman)
The Go-Between (UK, Joseph Losey)
Bed and Board (France, François Truffaut)
Zabriskie Point (US, Michelangelo Antonioni)
Kelly's Heroes (US, Brian G. Hutton)
The Music Lovers (UK, Ken Russell)
Leo The Last (UK, John Boorman)
Sometimes a Great Notion (US, Paul Newman)
Even Dwarves Started Small (West Germany, Werner Herzog)
Alex in Wonderland (US, Paul Mazursky)
Watermelon Man (US, Melvin Van Peebles)
I Never Sang for My Father (US, Gilbert Cates)
The Great White Hope (US, Martin Ritt)
The Aristocats (US, Wolfgang Reitherman)
The Baby Maker (US, James Bridges)
Tora! Tora! Tora! (US/Japan, Richard Fleischer, Kenji Fukasaku, and Toshiro Masuda)
Airport (US, George Seaton)
Love Story (US, Arthur Hiller)
Tell Me That You Love Me, Junie Moon (US, Otto Preminger)
I Walk the Line (US, John Frankenheimer)
A Man Called Horse (US, Elliot Silverstein)
They Call Me Trinity (Italy, Enzo Barboni)
The Phantom Tollbooth (US, Chuck Jones, Abe Levitow, and Dave Monihan)
Soldier Blue (US, Ralph Nelson)
Where's Poppa? (US, Carl Reiner)
The Out-of-Towners (US, Arthur Hiller)
The Strawberry Statement (US, Stuart Hagman)
Little Fauss and Big Halsey (US, Sidney J. Furie)
Bloody Mama (US, Roger Corman)
The Bird with the Crystal Plumage (Italy, Dario Argento)
Cherry, Harry and Raquel (US, Russ Meyer)
Equinox (US, Jack Woods)
Trog (US, Freddie Francis)
Myra Breckinridge (US, Michael Sarne))

ACTOR: George C. Scott, PATTON (2nd: Jack Nicholson, Five Easy Pieces, followed by: Jean-Louis Trintignant, The Conformist; Peter Boyle, Joe; James Earl Jones, The Great White Hope; Alan Arkin, Catch-22; Robert Mitchum, Ryan’s Daughter)

ACTRESS: Barbara Loden, WANDA (2nd: Carrie Snodgress, Diary of a Mad Housewife, followed by: Holly Woodlawn, Trash; Dominique Sanda, The Garden of the Finzi-Continis; Stéphane Audran, Le Boucher; Sarah Miles, Ryan’s Daughter; Julie Christie, The Go-Between) 

SUPPORTING ACTOR: Richard Costellano, LOVERS AND OTHER STRANGERS (2nd: Chief Dan George, Little Big Man, followed by: Melvyn Douglas, I Never Sang for My Father; Richard Jaekel, Sometimes a Great Notion; Richard Mulligan, Little Big Man; Yves Montand, Le Cercle Rouge; John Mills, Ryan’s Daughter)

 

SUPPORTING ACTRESS: Sally Kellerman, M*A*S*H (2nd: Karen Black, Five Easy Pieces, followed by: Beatrice Arthur, Lovers and Other Strangers; Dominique Sanda, The Conformist; Lee Grant, The Landlord; Béatrice Romand, Claire’s Knee; Maureen Stapleton, Airport)  

 

DIRECTOR: Robert Altman, M*A*S*H (2nd: Bernardo Bertolucci, The Conformist, followed by: Bob Rafelson, Five Easy Pieces; Albert Maysles, David Maysles and Charlotte Zwerin, Gimme Shelter; Michael Wadleigh, Woodstock; Eric Rohmer, Claire’s Knee; Franklin J. Schaffner, Patton)



NON-ENGLISH-LANGUAGE FILM: THE CONFORMIST (Italy, Bernardo Bertolucci) (2nd: Claire’s Knee (France, Eric Rohmer), followed by: The Garden of the Finzi Continis (Italy, Vittorio de Sica); Trafic (France, Jacques Tati); Le Boucher (France, Claude Chabrol); Le Cercle Rouge (France, Jean-Pierre Melville); Investigation of a Citizen Under Suspicion (Italy, Elio Petri); Valerie and Her Week of Wonders (Czechoslovakia, Jaromil Jires); El Topo (Mexico, Alejandro Jodorowsky); Tristana (Spain/France, Luis Buñuel); The Spider’s Stratagem (Italy, Bernardo Bertolucci); Dodes’ka-den (Japan, Akira Kurosawa); The Confession (France, Constantin Costa-Gavras); The Wild Child (France, François Truffaut); Bed and Board (France, François Truffaut); Even Dwarves Started Small (West Germany, Werner Herzog))



DOCUMENTARY FEATURE: GIMME SHELTER (US, Albert Maysles, David Maysles and Charlotte Zwerin) (2nd: Woodstock (US, Michael Wadleigh), followed by: King: A Filmed Record…Montgomery to Memphis (US, Sidney Lumet and Joseph L. Mankiewicz); 7 Plus Seven (UK, Michael Apted); Let It Be (UK, Michael Lindsay-Hogg))

ANIMATED FEATURE: THE ARISTOCATS (US, Wolfgang Reitherman) (2nd: The Phantom Tollbooth (US, Chuck Jones, Abe Levitow, and Dave Monihan)



ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY: Carol Eastman and Bob Rafelson, FIVE EASY PIECES (2nd: Francis Ford Coppola and Edmund H. North, Patton, followed by: Eric Rohmer, Claire's Knee; John Cassavetes, Husbands; Norman Wexler, Joe) 



ADAPTED SCREENPLAY: Bernardo Bertolucci, THE CONFORMIST (2nd: Ring Lardner Jr., M*A*S*H, followed by: Vittorio Bonicelli and Ugo Pierro, The Garden of the Finzi Continis; Elio Petri and Ugo Perro, Investigation of a Citizen Under Suspicion; Renee Taylor, Joseph Bologna, and David Zelag Goodman, Lovers and Other Strangers)



LIVE ACTION SHORT FILM: INTERVIEWS WITH MY LEI VETERANS (US, Joseph Strick; won as Best Documentary Short) (2nd: Dad, Can I Borrow The Car? (US, Ward Kimball, part 1, part 2, part 3), followed by: The Resurrection of Broncho Billy (US, James R. Rokos, part 1, part 2; won as Best Live Action Short); Multiple SIDosis (US, Sid Laverents); Spiral Jetty (US, Robert Smithson))



ANIMATED SHORT FILM: IS IT ALWAYS RIGHT TO BE RIGHT? (US, Lee Mishkin) (2nd: Horton Hears a Who! (US, Chuck Jones and Ben Washam), followed by: The Further Adventures of Uncle Sam (US, Dale Case and Robert Mitchell))

CINEMATOGRAPHY: Frederick A. Young, RYAN'S DAUGHTER (2nd: Vittorio Storaro, The Conformist, followed by: Henri Decaë, Le Cercle Rouge; Rafael Corkidi, El Topo; David Watkin, Catch-22)

ART DIRECTION: RYAN'S DAUGHTER, The Conformist, Patton, Tora! Tora! Tora!, The Lickerish Quartet

COSTUME DESIGN: CROMWELL, The Music Lovers, The Conformist, Ryan's Daughter, Valerie and Her Week of Wonders 



FILM EDITING: WOODSTOCK, M*A*S*H, Patton, Gimme Shelter, Airport

SOUND: M*A*S*H, Woodstock, Patton, Tora! Tora! Tora!, Airport



ORIGINAL SCORE: Francis Lai, LOVE STORY (2nd: Jerry Goldsmith, Patton, followed by: Maurice Jarre, Ryan’s Daughter, Alfred Newman, Airport; Lubos Fiser, Valerie and Her Week of Wonders)



ADAPTED OR MUSICAL SCORE: John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison and Ringo Starr, LET IT BE (2nd: Stu Phillips and Bob Stone, Beyond the Valley of the Dolls, followed by: Leslie Bricusse, Ian Fraser and Herbert W. Spencer, Scrooge)



ORIGINAL SONG: "Don't Let Me Down" from LET IT BE (Music and lyrics by John Lennon and Paul McCartney) (2nd: "Suicide is Painless" from M*A*S*H (Music by Johnny Mandel, lyrics by Mike Altman), followed by: "Let It Be" from Let It Be (Music and lyrics by John Lennon and Paul McCartney); "Two of Us" from Let It Be (Music and lyrics by John Lennon and Paul McCartney); "For All We Know" from Lovers and Other Strangers (Music by Fred Karlin, lyrics by Robb Royer and Jimmy Griffin); "Get Back" from Let It Be (Music and lyrics by John Lennon and Paul McCartney); "Another Victim of the Rainbow" from Goin' Down The Road (Music and lyrics by Bruce Cockburn); "I Me Mine" from Let It Be (Music and lyrics by George Harrison); "Across The Universe" from Let It Be (Music and lyrics by John Lennon and Paul McCartney); "The Long and Winding Road" from Let It Be (Music and lyrics by John Lennon and Paul McCartney); "Memo from Turner" from Performance (Music and lyrics by Mick Jagger); "Come With the Gentle People" from Beyond the Valley of the Dolls (Music and lyrics by Bob Stone and Stu Phillips); "Going Down the Road" from Goin' Down the Road (Music and lyrics by Bruce Cockburn); "Pieces Of Dreams" from Pieces of Dreams (Music by Michel Legrand, lyrics by Alan and Marilyn Bergman); "Thank You Very Much" from Scrooge (Music and lyrics by Leslie Bricusse); "In The Long Run" from Beyond the Valley of the Dolls (Music and lyrics by Bob Stone and Stu Phillips))

SPECIAL EFFECTS: TORA! TORA! TORA!, Patton