1972--The Year in Review

This one was WAY easy, even though its competitors were imposingly large. But how could it go any other direction? By the way, I see Brando’s Vito Corleone as a supporting performance, so I voted as such (and this allowed me to give Klaus Kinski his due). I feel sorry that Bergman’s resilient Cries and Whispers didn’t fare better in my ballot, though; but, really, are we to give this greatest of filmmakers the top prize each and every year? Incidentally, my tie vote for supporting actress is only my fifth tie in all of the ballots I’ve put forth. I just could not choose between Ms. Winters (who, with her physicality and voice, makes me laugh and cry every time I see The Poseidon Adventure) and Ms. Berlin (who manages to make an irritating character also undeniably lovable and, with her final scene, pitiable). And now I confess: The Poseidon Adventure is defiantly one of my favorites, as a child and as an adult; it may seem cheesy, but I love it, and I think it has a profoundly moral undercurrent to it, so I encourage you all to check it out again, because it’s terrifically entertaining, strongly crafted on all levels, but it also has a mean religious umph. I confess also to a special connection with Robert Altman's Images, a totally forgotten masterpiece of psychological horror that needs to be rediscovered by all genre fans (and I could not give the top award to Liza Minnelli--as great as she is--with Susannah York's descent into madness right there in front)! As for the short films, Chantal Ackerman's epic 360-degree pan bests the likes of Eames, Brakhage, and Anger, while Japan's Oni remains a major jawdropper in the realm of stop-motion animation. 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: THE GODFATHER (US, Francis Ford Coppola)
(2nd: Cabaret (US, Bob Fosse)
followed by: Cries and Whispers (Sweden, Ingmar Bergman)
Deliverance (US, John Boorman)
Aguirre, The Wrath of God (West Germany, Werner Herzog)
Solaris (USSR, Andrei Tarkovsky)
The Discreet Charm of the Bourgeoisie (France, Luis Buñuel)
Images (Ireland/US, Robert Altman)
Last Tango in Paris (France, Bernardo Bertolucci)
What’s Up, Doc? (US, Peter Bogdanovich)
The Candidate (US, Michael Ritchie)
The Poseidon Adventure (US, Ronald Neame)
The Heartbreak Kid (US, Elaine May)
Tomorrow (US, Joseph Anthony)
Sleuth (UK, Joseph L. Mankiewicz)
Bad Company (US, Robert Benton)
Slaughterhouse-Five (US, George Roy Hill)
Marjoe (US, Sarah Kernochan and Howard Smith)
The Other (US, Robert Mulligan)
Frenzy (UK, Alfred Hitchcock)
The Harder They Come (Jamaica, Perry Henzell)
Fat City (US, John Huston)
The King of Marvin Gardens (US, Bob Rafelson)
Play It Again, Sam (US, Herbert Ross)
State of Siege (France, Costa-Gavras)
Chloe in the Afternoon (France, Eric Rohmer)
Prime Cut (US, Michael Ritchie)
Pink Flamingos (US, John Waters)
Sounder (US, Martin Ritt)
Malcolm X (US, Arnold Perl and Melvin Worth)
The Ruling Class (UK, Peter Medak)
Hickey and Boggs (US, Robert Culp)
Super Fly (US, Gordon Parks)
Across 110th Street (US, Barry Shear)
The New Land (Sweden, Jan Troell)
Cisco Pike (US, Bill L. Norton)
Pocket Money (US, Stuart Rosenberg)
Elvis on Tour (US, Pierre Adidge and Robert Abel)
Tales from the Crypt (UK, Freddie Francis)
The Cowboys (US, Mark Rydell)
Manson (US, Robert Henderson and Lawrence Merrick)
Lady Sings the Blues (US, Sidney J. Furie)
The Effect of Gamma Rays on Man-in-the-Moon Marigolds (US, Paul Newman)
The New Centurions (US, Richard Fleischer)
Ulzana’s Raid (US, Robert Aldrich)
The Bitter Tears of Petra Von Kant (West Germany, Rainer Werner Fassbinder)
Junior Bonner (US, Sam Peckinpah)
Everything You Always Wanted to Know About Sex (But Were Afraid to Ask) (US, Woody Allen)
Pete 'n' Tillie (US, Martin Ritt)
Ludwig (Italy, Luchino Visconti)
The Getaway (US, Sam Peckinpah)
The Offence (UK, Sidney Lumet)
The Seduction of Mimi (Italy, Lina Wertmuller)
Fellini Roma (Italy, Federico Fellini)
Jeremiah Johnson (US, Sydney Pollack)
Boxcar Bertha (US, Martin Scorsese)
The Hot Rock (US, Peter Yates)
Fillmore (US, Richard T. Heffron)
Young Winston (UK, Richard Attenborough)
1776 (US, Peter Hunt)
La Vallée (France, Barbet Schroeder)
Dr. Phibes Rises Again (UK, Robert Fuest)
Snoopy Come Home (US, Bill Melendez)
The Mechanic (US, Michael Winner)
The Big Bird Cage (US, Jack Hill)
Kansas City Bomber (US, Jerrold Freedman)
The War Between Men and Women (US, Melville Shavelson)
Last House on the Left (US, Wes Craven)
Deep Throat (US, Gerard Damiano))

ACTOR:  Klaus Kinski, AGUIRRE, THE WRATH OF GOD (2nd: Marlon Brando, Last Tango in Paris, followed by: Al Pacino, The Godfather; Robert Duvall, Tomorrow; Woody Allen, Play It Again, Sam; Peter O’Toole, The Ruling Class; Charles Grodin, The Heartbreak Kid; Michael Caine, Sleuth; Laurence Olivier, Sleuth; Robert Redford, The Candidate)

ACTRESS: Susannah York, IMAGES (2nd: Liza Minnelli, Cabaret, followed by: Liv Ullmann, Cries and Whispers; Diana Ross, Lady Sings the Blues; Ingrid Thulin, Cries and Whispers; Barbra Streisand, What’s Up, Doc?; Cicely Tyson, Sounder; Olga Bellin, Tomorrow; Joanne Woodward, The Effect of Gamma-Rays on Man-in-the-Moon Marigolds)

SUPPORTING ACTOR: Marlon Brando, THE GODFATHER (won as Best Actor) (2nd: Joel Grey, Cabaret, followed by: Ned Beatty, Deliverance; Robert Duvall, The Godfather; James Caan, The Godfather; Eddie Albert, The Heartbreak Kid; Burt Reynolds, Deliverance; David Lochary, Pink Flamingos; Peter Cushing, Tales From the Crypt; Bruce Dern, The Cowboys) 

SUPPORTING ACTRESS: (TIE) Jeanne Berlin, THE HEARTBREAK KID and Shelley Winters, THE POSEIDON ADVENTURE (2nd: Harriet Andersson, Cries and Whispers, followed by: Diane Keaton, Play It Again, Sam; Madeline Kahn, What’s Up, Doc?; Susan Tyrell, Fat City; Valerie Perrine, Slaughterhouse-Five; Diane Keaton, The Godfather; Eileen Heckart, Butterflies Are Free)

DIRECTOR: Francis Ford Coppola, THE GODFATHER (2nd: Bob Fosse, Cabaret, followed by: Ingmar Bergman, Cries and Whispers; Werner Herzog, Aguirre, The Wrath of God; Andrei Tarkovsky, Solaris; John Boorman, Deliverance; Bernardo Bertolucci, Last Tango in Paris; Luis Bunuel, The Discreet Charm of the Bourgeoisie; Robert Altman, Images; George Roy Hill, Slaughterhouse-Five)



NON-ENGLISH-LANGUAGE FILM: CRIES AND WHISPERS (Sweden, Ingmar Bergman) (2nd: Aguirre, The Wrath of God (West Germany, Werner Herzog), followed by: Solaris (USSR, Andrei Tarkovsky); The Discreet Charm of the Bourgeoisie (France, Luis Buñuel); State of Siege (France, Costa-Gavras); Chloe in the Afternoon (France, Eric Rohmer); The New Land (Sweden, Jan Troell); The Bitter Tears of Petra Von Kant (West Germany, Rainer Werner Fassbinder); Ludwig (Italy, Luchino Visconti); The Seduction of Mimi (Italy, Lina Wertmuller))



DOCUMENTARY FEATURE: MARJOE (Howard Smith and Sarah Kernochan) (2nd: Malcolm X (Arnold Perl and Melvin Worth), followed by: Manson (Robert Henderson and Lawrence Merrick); Elvis on Tour (Pierre Adidge and Robert Abel); Fillmore (Richard T. Heffron))

ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY: Ingmar Bergman, CRIES AND WHISPERS (2nd: Luis Bunuel and Jean-Claude Carriere, The Discreet Charm of the Bourgeoisie, followed by: Jeremy Larner, The Candidate; Werner Herzog, Aguirre, The Wrath of God; Peter Bogdanovich, Buck Henry, David Newman and Robert Benton, What’s Up, Doc?)

ADAPTED SCREENPLAY:  Francis Ford Coppola and Mario Puzo, THE GODFATHER (2nd: Jay Presson Allen, Cabaret, followed by: Neil Simon, The Heartbreak Kid; James Dickey, Deliverance; Horton Foote, Tomorrow)



LIVE ACTION SHORT FILM: LA CHAMBRE (Belgium, Chantal Akerman) (2nd: Design Q & A (US, Charles and Ray Eames), followed by: OffOn (US, Scott Bartlett); Lucifer Rising (US, Kenneth Anger); The Process (US, Stan Brakhage))



ANIMATED SHORT FILM: ONI (Japan, Kihachiro Kawamoto) (2nd: Leonardo’s Diary (Czechoslovakia, Jan Svankmajer), followed by: Matrix III (US, John Whitney); Kama Sutra Rides Again (UK, Bob Godfrey); Our Lady of the Sphere (US, Larry Jordan))

CINEMATOGRAPHY: Gordon Willis, THE GODFATHER (2nd: Sven Nykvist, Cries and Whispers, followed by: Vittorio Storaro, Last Tango in Paris; Geoffrey Unsworth, Cabaret; Vilmos Zsigmond, Deliverance) 

ART DIRECTION: CABARET, The Godfather, The Poseidon Adventure, Cries and Whispers, Sleuth

COSTUME DESIGN: CABARET, The Godfather, Cries and Whispers, Ludwig, Lady Sings the Blues

FILM EDITING: THE GODFATHER, Cabaret, Deliverance, The Candidate, The Poseidon Adventure 

SOUND: CABARET, The Godfather, The Poseidon Adventure, Images, The Candidate



ORIGINAL SCORE: John Williams, IMAGES (2nd: Nino Rota, The Godfather, followed by: Curtis Mayfield, Super Fly; John Williams, The Poseidon Adventure; Jerry Goldsmith, The Other) 

 
ADAPTED OR MUSICAL SCORE: Ralph Burns, CABARET (2nd: Jimmy Cliff, Desmond Dekker and Toots Hibbert, The Harder They Come, followed by: Gil Askey, Lady Sings the Blues)



ORIGINAL SONG: “The Harder They Come” from THE HARDER THEY COME (Music and lyrics by Jimmy Cliff) (2nd: “Super Fly” from Super Fly (Music and lyrics by Curtis Mayfield), followed by: "Freddie's Dead" from Super Fly (Music and lyrics by Curtis Mayfield); "You Can Get It If You Really Want" from The Harder They Come (Music and lyrics by Jimmy Cliff); "Trouble Man" from Trouble Man (Music and lyrics by Marvin Gaye); "Many Rivers to Cross" from The Harder They Come (Music and lyrics by Jimmy Cliff); “Money“ from Cabaret (Music and lyrics by John Kander and Fred Ebb); “Across 110th Street“ from Across 110th Street (Music and lyrics by Bobby Womack); “The Morning After” from The Poseidon Adventure (Music and lyrics by Al Kasha and Joel Hirschorn); “Mein Herr” from Cabaret (Music and lyrics by John Kander and Fred Ebb); "Pressure Drop" from The Harder They Come (Music and lyrics by Toots Hibbert); “Ben” from Ben (Music by Walter Scharf, lyrics by Don Black)

SPECIAL EFFECTS: THE POSEIDON ADVENTURE, Solaris 

MAKEUP: THE GODFATHER, Cabaret, 1776