1969--The Year in Review

It's an edgy slate of movies closing out this earth-shaking decade. For the Academy's part, they responded well to the sea-change by awarding Best Picture to the chanciest movie ever to top their poll--Midnight Cowboy, John Schlesinger's melancholy tale of crushed dreams and unexpected friendship. It's such a massively moving piece, I have zero animosity for it; even so, one boisterous, bloody work just barely nudges it out of the winner's circle. Sam Peckinpah’s The Wild Bunch bowled me over as it did almost everyone who saw it in the late '60s/early '70s (it's certainly a movie that should be seen at least once at a theater; if you haven't experienced it as such, you're partially abandoning its strength). From its very first scene--that staccato credits sequence portraying the titular bunch trotting past a group of joyful kids cackling as thousands of fire ants overtake two deadly but hapless scorpions (a harbinger of the film's famously chaotic conclusion)--The Wild Bunch aims to encapsulate the brutality of criminally-minded men and, simultaneously, their deeply-held longing to regain some modicum of innocence, honor and compassion. In its dichotomies, and in its steadfast refusal to steer its gaze away from violent acts, Peckinpah's picture is like no other. For better or worse, it set a template for all subsequent cinema. Of course, there were other superb films to challenged these two: Z, Costa-Gavras' expertly constructed thriller about political upheaval in Greece; Salesman, the soaringly dour Maysles Brothers documentary about door-to-door Bible hawkers; The Honeymoon Killers, Leonard Kastle's sole directorial effort (he took over from a fired Martin Scorsese), based on a true story about lonelyhearts killers Ray and Martha Hernandez; Haskell Wexler's stunning Medium Cool, featuring footage of the 1968 Democratic convention riots seamlessly blended into a narrative about a rebellious TV reporter; a tour of ancient oddities courtesy of Fellini Satyricon; They Shoot Horses, Don't They, Sydney Pollack's ultra-downbeat look at a Depression-era dance contest; and perhaps the most widely-loved movie of the year, George Roy Hill's smash-hit buddy western Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid, which basically twins with The Wild Bunch as a temporary farewell to the Western genre. With that, in 2016, we'll start with the greatest decade of movies ever: the 1970s! 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 WILD BUNCH (US, Sam Peckinpah)
(2nd: Midnight Cowboy (US, John Schlesinger), followed by:
Z (Algeria/France, Constantin Costa-Gavras)
Salesman (US, Albert Maysles, David Maysles and Charlotte Zwerin)
Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid (US, George Roy Hill)
The Honeymoon Killers (US, Leonard Kastle)
Medium Cool (US, Haskell Wexler)
Fellini Satyricon (Italy, Federico Fellini)
The Sorrow and the Pity (France, Marcel Ophuls)
They Shoot Horses, Don’t They? (US, Sydney Pollack)
This Man Must Die (France, Claude Chabrol)
Kes (UK, Ken Loach)
My Night with Maud (France, Eric Rohmer)
The Rain People (US, Francis Ford Coppola)
On Her Majesty's Secret Service (UK, Peter Hunt)
Law And Order (US, Frederick Wiseman)
Oh! What a Lovely War (UK, Richard Attenborough)
Army of Shadows (France, Jean-Pierre Melville)
The Sterile Cuckoo (US, Alan J. Pakula)
Easy Rider (US, Dennis Hopper)
Take the Money and Run (US, Woody Allen)
The Passion of Anna (Sweden, Ingmar Bergman)
Bob and Carol and Ted and Alice (US, Paul Mazursky)
Downhill Racer (US, Michael Ritchie)
Women in Love (UK, Ken Russell)
Alice's Restaurant (US, Arthur Penn)
The Italian Job (UK, Peter Collinson)
The Damned (West Germany/Italy, Luchino Visconti)
A Boy Named Charlie Brown (US, Bill Melendez)
The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie (UK, Ronald Neame)
True Grit (US, Henry Hathaway)
Anne of the Thousand Days (UK, Charles Jarrott)
The Learning Tree (US, Gordon Parks)
Sweet Charity (US, Bob Fosse)
Tell Them Willie Boy Is Here (US, Abraham Polonsky)
Last Summer (US, Frank Perry)
The Plot Against Harry (US, Michael Rohmer)
The Valley of Gwangi (US, James O'Connelly)
Journey to the Far Side of the Sun (UK, Robert Parrish)
Goodbye Columbus (US, Larry Peerce)
Marlowe (US, Paul Bogart)
Bloody Mama (US, Roger Corman)
Putney Swope (US, Robert Downey)
The Magic Christian (UK, Joseph McGrath)
The Bed-Sitting Room (UK, Richard Lester)
Age of Consent (Australia/UK, Michael Powell)
Hello Dolly (US, Gene Kelly)
The Reivers (US, Mark Rydell)
Paint Your Wagon (US, Joshua Logan)
More (Luxembourg, Barbet Schroeder)
Mondo Trasho (US, John Waters))



ACTOR: Dustin Hoffman, MIDNIGHT COWBOY (2nd: Jon Voight, Midnight Cowboy, followed by: William Holden, The Wild Bunch; John Wayne, True Grit; Paul Newman, Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid; Robert Redford, Downhill Racer; Tony Lobianco, The Honeymoon Killers)

ACTRESS: Shirley Knight, THE RAIN PEOPLE (2nd: Maggie Smith, The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie, followed by: Jane Fonda, They Shoot Horses, Don’t They?; Liza Minnelli, The Sterile Cuckoo; Glenda Jackson, Women in Love (won in 1970); Shirley Stoler, The Honeymoon Killers; Shirley MacLaine, Sweet Charity) 
 

SUPPORTING ACTOR: Gig Young, THEY SHOOT HORSES, DON'T THEY? (2nd: Jack Nicholson, Easy Rider, followed by: James Caan, The Rain People; Ernest Borgnine, The Wild Bunch; Robert Ryan, The Wild Bunch; Red Buttons, They Shoot Horses, Don't They?; Elliott Gould, Bob and Carol and Ted and Alice)

SUPPORTING ACTRESS: Mary Jane Higby, THE HONEYMOON KILLERS (2nd: Catherine Burns, Last Summer, followed by: Susannah York, They Shoot Horses, Don’t They?; Dyan Cannon, Bob and Carol and Ted and Alice; Goldie Hawn, Cactus Flower; Chita Rivera, Sweet Charity; Sylvia Miles, Midnight Cowboy) 

 

DIRECTOR: Sam Peckinpah, THE WILD BUNCH (2nd: John Schlesinger, Midnight Cowboy, followed by: Constantin Costa-Gavras, Z; Albert Maysles, David Maysles and Charlotte Zwerin, Salesman; Leonard Kastle, The Honeymoon Killers; Haskell Wexler, Medium Cool; George Roy Hill, Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid)



NON-ENGLISH-LANGUAGE FILM: Z (Algeria/France, Constantin Costa-Gavras) (2nd: Fellini Satyricon (Italy, Federico Fellini), followed by: This Man Must Die (France, Claude Chabrol); My Night with Maud (France, Eric Rohmer); Army of Shadows (France, Jean-Pierre Melville); The Passion of Anna (Sweden, Ingmar Bergman))



DOCUMENTARY FEATURE: SALESMAN (US, Albert Maysles, David Maysles and Charlotte Zwerin) (2nd: The Sorrow and the Pity (France, Marcel Ophuls), followed by: Law And Order (US, Frederick Wiseman))



ANIMATED FEATURE: A BOY NAMED CHARLIE BROWN (US, Bill Melendez) 



ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY: William Goldman, BUTCH CASSIDY AND THE SUNDANCE KID (2nd: Sam Peckinpah and Walon Green, The Wild Bunch, followed by: Eric Rohmer, My Night With Maud; Paul Mazursky and Larry Tucker, Bob and Carol and Ted and Alice; Francis Ford Coppola, The Rain People)



ADAPTED SCREENPLAY: Waldo Salt, MIDNIGHT COWBOY (2nd: Jorge Semprun, Z, followed by: Ken Loach, Barry Hines, and Tony Bartlett, Kes; James Poe and Robert E. Thompson, They Shoot Horses, Don't They?; Claude Chabrol and Paul Gegauff, This Man Must Die)



LIVE ACTION SHORT FILM: TOPS (US, Charles and Ray Eames) (2nd: A Day with the Boys (US, Clu Gulager), followed by: Lemon (US, Hollis Frampton); A Test of Violence (UK, Stuart Cooper); The Story (US, Homer Groening); Invocation of My Demon Brother (US, Kenneth Anger))



ANIMATED SHORT FILM: WALKING (Canada, Ryan Larkin) (2nd: The Ant and the Aardvark (US, Friz Freling), followed by: Of Men and Demons (US, John and Faith Hubley); Bambi Vs. Godzilla (US, Marv Newland); It's Tough to Be a Bird (US, Ward Kimball))

CINEMATOGRAPHY: Lucien Ballard, THE WILD BUNCH (2nd: Conrad Hall, Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid, followed by: Giuseppe Rotunno, Fellini Satyricon; Haskell Wexler, Medium Cool; Adam Hollander, Midnight Cowboy) 

ART DIRECTION: THEY SHOOT HORSES, DON'T THEY? (2nd: Oh! What a Lovely War, followed by: Anne of a Thousand Days, Hello Dolly, Journey to the Far Side of the Sun)


COSTUME DESIGN: FELLINI SATYRICON (2nd: Anne of a Thousand Days, followed by: Sweet Charity, They Shoot Horses Don't They, Oh! What a Lovely War) 



FILM EDITING: THE WILD BUNCH, Midnight Cowboy, Z, Medium Cool, Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid 

SOUND: BUTCH CASSIDY AND THE SUNDANCE KID, The Wild Bunch, Sweet Charity, Hello Dolly, Marooned) 

ORIGINAL SCORE: Burt Bacharach, BUTCH CASSIDY AND THE SUNDANCE KID (2nd: Jerry Fielding, The Wild Bunch, followed by: John Barry, Midnight Cowboy; Mikis Theodorakis, Z; Jerome Moross, The Valley of Gwangi)

ADAPTED OR MUSICAL SCORE: John Green and Albert Woodbury, THEY SHOOT HORSES, DON'T THEY? (2nd: Cy Coleman, Sweet Charity, followed by: Alfred Ralston, Oh! What a Lovely War; Vince Guaraldi, Rod McKuen, and John Scott Trotter, A Boy Named Charlie Brown; Nelson Riddle, Paint Your Wagon)



ORIGINAL SONG: "Everybody's Talkin'" from MIDNIGHT COWBOY (Music and lyrics by Fred Neil) (2nd: "Raindrops Keep Fallin' On My Head" from Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid (Music by Burt Bacharach, lyrics by Hal David), followed by: “A Boy Named Charlie Brown” from A Boy Named Charlie Brown (Music and lyrics by Rod McKuen); "Something in the Air" from The Magic Christian (Music and lyrics by John Keen); "Mama Tried" from Killers Three (Music and lyrics by Merle Haggard); “Jean” from The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie (Music and lyrics by Rod McKuen); "Come and Get It" from The Magic Christian (Music and lyrics by Paul McCartney); "Come Saturday Morning" from The Sterile Cuckoo (Music by Fred Karlin, lyrics by Dore Previn); “We Have All The Time in the World” from On Her Majesty’s Secret Service (Music by John Barry, lyrics by Hal David); “The Ballad of Easy Rider” from Easy Rider (Music by Roger McGuinn, lyrics by Bob Dylan and Roger McGuinn))



SPECIAL EFFECTS: THE VALLEY OF GWANGI, Marooned, Journey to the Far Side of the Sun

MAKEUP: FELLINI SATYRICON, The Illustrated Man

1968--The Year in Review

An incredible year…maybe my favorite of the decade. Music takes over in a new way, with Head, Oliver!, Yellow Submarine, Monterey Pop, Wild in the Streets, Sympathy for the Devil, Petulia, Funny Girl, and even The Producers. Horror comes into a new age with Targets, Rosemary's Baby, Hour of the Wolf, Night of the Living Dead, Witchfinder General, and The Devil Rides Out. The crime movie is re-imagined with Bullitt, Coogan's Bluff, The Detective, Pretty Poison, The Split, The Thomas Crown Affair, and The Boston Strangler. But one profound, gorgeous movie justifiably towers over all. There are many masterpieces surrounding it–in fact, the first 20 works I list are mandatory viewing. But, for me, this year’s victor will always be the single best film that’s ever been made. There is no question about it. 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: 2001: A SPACE ODYSSEY (UK/US, Stanley Kubrick)
(2nd: Once Upon a Time in the West (US/Italy, Sergio Leone), followed by:
Oliver! (UK, Carol Reed)
Targets (US, Peter Bogdanovich)
Petulia (US, Richard Lester)
The Color of Pomegranates (USSR, Sergei Paradjanov)
Head (US, Bob Rafelson)
Rosemary’s Baby (US, Roman Polanski)
if… (UK, Lindsay Anderson)
Yellow Submarine (UK, George Dunning)
Monterey Pop (US, D.A. Pennebaker)
Night of the Living Dead (US, George A. Romero)
Shame (Sweden, Ingmar Bergman)
High School (US, Frederick Wiseman)
Faces (US, John Cassavetes)
Bullitt (US, Peter Yates)
Planet of the Apes (US, Franklin J. Schaffner)
Stolen Kisses (France, Francois Truffaut)
Hour of the Wolf (Sweden, Ingmar Bergman)
Romeo and Juliet (UK/Italy, Franco Zeffirelli)
Mandabi (France/Senegal, Ousmane Sembene)
The Lion in Winter (UK, Anthony Harvey)
Witchfinder General (UK, Michael Reeves)
Les Biches (France, Claude Chabrol)
In the Year of the Pig (US, Emile de Antonio)
The Milky Way (France/Spain, Luis Buñuel)
Rachel, Rachel (US, Paul Newman)
The Swimmer (US, Frank Perry)
Pretty Poison (US, Noel Black)
The Producers (US, Mel Brooks)
Dark of the Sun (UK, Jack Cardiff)
Signs of Life (West Germany, Werner Herzog)
The Odd Couple (US, Gene Saks)
Hell in the Pacific (US, John Boorman)
Wild in the Streets (US, Barry Shear)
Play Dirty (US, André de Toth)
Danger: Diabolik (Italy/France, Mario Bava)
Isadora (UK, Karel Reisz)
Symbiopsychotaxiplasm (US, William Greaves)
Madigan (US, Don Siegel)
Memories of Underdevelopment (Cuba, Tomas Gutierrez Aléa)
The Party (US, Blake Edwards)
Je T’Aime, Je T’Aime (France, Alain Resnais)
Sympathy for the Devil (France/UK, Jean-Luc Godard)
Coogan's Bluff (US, Don Siegel)
The Shooting (US, Monte Hellman)
The Split (US, Gordon Flemyng)
The Thomas Crown Affair (US, Norman Jewison)
The Subject Was Roses (US, Ulu Grosbard)
Funny Girl (US, William Wyler)
The Detective (US, Gordon Douglas)
The Devil Rides Out (UK, Terence Fisher)
The Heart is a Lonely Hunter (US, Robert Ellis Miller)
Greetings (US, Brian De Palma)
The Great Silence (Italy, Sergio Corbucci)
Where Eagles Dare (US, Brian G. Hutton)
Countdown (US, Robert Altman)
Thérèse and Isabelle (France, Radley Metzger)
The Killing of Sister George (UK, Robert Aldrich)
The Night They Raided Minsky’s (US, William Friedkin)
The Boston Strangler (US, Richard Fleischer)
Barbarella (France/UK, Roger Vadim)
Charly (US, Ralph Nelson)
Psych-Out (US, Richard Rush))



ACTOR: Boris Karloff, TARGETS (2nd: Henry Fonda, Once Upon a Time in the West, followed by: Steve McQueen, Bullitt; George C. Scott, Petulia; Alan Arkin, The Heart is a Lonely Hunter; Peter O’Toole, The Lion in Winter; Vincent Price, Witchfinder General; Zero Mostel, The Producers; Malcolm McDowell, if…; Ron Moody, Oliver!) 

 
ACTRESS: Mia Farrow, ROSEMARY'S BABY (2nd: Joanne Woodward, Rachel, Rachel, followed by: Katharine Hepburn, The Lion in Winter; Tuesday Weld, Pretty Poison; Liv Ullmann, Shame; Vanessa Redgrave, Isadora; Julie Christie, Petulia; Barbra Streisand, Funny Girl; Stéphane Audran, Les Biches; Patricia Neal, The Subject Was Roses)



SUPPORTING ACTOR: Gene Wilder, THE PRODUCERS (2nd: Douglas Rain, 2001: A Space Odyssey, followed by: Jack Wild, Oliver!; Roddy McDowall, Planet of the Apes; Harry Secombe, Oliver!; Seymour Cassel, Faces; Jack Albertson, The Subject Was Roses; Kenneth Mars, The Producers; Sidney Blackmer, Rosemary’s Baby; Tim O'Kelly, Targets)



SUPPORTING ACTRESS: Ruth Gordon, ROSEMARY'S BABY (2nd: Lynn Carlin, Faces, followed by: Kim Hunter, Planet of the Apes; Shirley Knight, Petulia; Estelle Parsons, Rachel, Rachel; Sondra Locke, The Heart is a Lonely Hunter; Billie Whitelaw, Charlie Bubbles; Coral Browne, The Killing of Sister George; Kay Medford, Funny Girl; Lee Remick, The Detective)



DIRECTOR: Stanley Kubrick, 2001: A SPACE ODYSSEY (2nd: Sergio Leone, Once Upon a Time in the West, followed by: Richard Lester, Petulia; Carol Reed, Oliver!; Sergei Bondarchuck, War and Peace; Sergei Paradjanov, The Color of Pomegranates; Roman Polanski, Rosemary's Baby; Peter Bogdanovich, Targets; Lindsay Anderson, if...; Bob Rafelson, Head)



NON-ENGLISH-LANGUAGE FILM: WAR AND PEACE (USSR, Sergei Bondarchuk) (2nd: The Color of Pomegranates (USSR, Sergei Paradjanov), followed by: Shame (Sweden, Ingmar Bergman); Stolen Kisses (France, Francois Truffaut); Hour of the Wolf (Sweden, Ingmar Bergman); Mandabi (France/Senegal, Ousmane Sembene); Les Biches (France, Claude Chabrol); The Milky Way (France/Spain, Luis Buñuel); Signs of Life (West Germany, Werner Herzog); Memories of Underdevelopment (Cuba, Tomas Gutierrez Aléa); Je T’Aime, Je T’Aime (France, Alain Resnais))

ANIMATED FEATURE: YELLOW SUBMARINE (UK, George Dunning)



DOCUMENTARY FEATURE: MONTEREY POP (US, D.A. Pennebaker) (2nd: In the Year of the Pig (US, Emile de Antonio), followed by: High School (US, Frederick Wiseman); Sympathy for the Devil (France/UK, Jean-Luc Godard))



ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY: Sergio Leone, Sergio Donati, Dario Argento and Bernardo Bertolucci, ONCE UPON A TIME IN THE WEST (2nd: Mel Brooks, The Producers, followed by: John Cassavetes, Faces; Ousmane Sembene, Mandabi; Peter Bogdanovich and Polly Platt, Targets) 

ADAPTED SCREENPLAY: Stanley Kubrick and Arthur C. Clarke, 2001: A SPACE ODYSSEY (2nd: Roman Polanski, Rosemary's Baby, followed by: James Goldman, The Lion in Winter; Sergei Bondarchuk and Vasily Solovyov, War and Peace; Lawrence B. Marcus and Barbara Turner, Petulia)



LIVE ACTION SHORT FILM: WHY MAN CREATES (US, Saul Bass) (2nd: The Dove (US, George Coe and Anthony Lover), followed by: Pas de Deux (Canada, Norman McLaren); LBJ (Cuba, Santiago Alvarez); The Big Shave (US, Martin Scorsese))



ANIMATED SHORT FILM: WINDY DAY (US, John and Faith Hubley) (2nd: Winnie the Pooh and the Blustery Day (US, Wolfgang Reitherman); The Magic Pear Tree (US, Charles Swenson); Mickey Mouse in Vietnam (US, Lee Savage); The Alphabet (US, David Lynch))

CINEMATOGRAPHY: Geoffrey Unsworth and John Alcott, 2001: A SPACE ODYSSEY (2nd: Tonino Delli Colli, Once Upon a Time in the West, followed by: Yu-Lan Chan, Anatoly Petritsky, and Aleksandr Shelenkov, War and Peace; Pasquelino De Santis, Romeo and Juliet; Oswald Morris, Oliver!)

ART DIRECTION: 2001: A SPACE ODYSSEY, Oliver!, Once Upon A Time in the West, War and Peace, The Shoes of the Fisherman

COSTUME DESIGN: OLIVER!, Romeo and Juliet, War and Peace, The Lion in Winter, Petulia



FILM EDITING: BULLITT, Petulia, Oliver!, Once Upon a Time in the West, Head 

SOUND: BULLITT, 2001: A Space Odyssey, Oliver!, Monterey Pop, The Odd Couple



ORIGINAL SCORE: Ennio Morricone, ONCE UPON A TIME IN THE WEST (2nd: Jerry Goldsmith, Planet of the Apes, followed by: Krzysztof Komeda, Rosemary’s Baby; Lalo Schifrin, Bullitt; Neal Hefti, The Odd Couple)



ADAPTED OR MUSICAL SCORE: John Green, OLIVER! (2nd: George Martin, Yellow Submarine, followed by: Walter Scharf, Funny Girl)



ORIGINAL SONG: "Porpoise Song" from HEAD (Music and lyrics by Gerry Goffin and Carole King) (2nd: "Springtime for Hitler" from The Producers (Music and lyrics by Mel Brooks), followed by: "The Windmills of Your Mind" from The Thomas Crown Affair (Music by Michael Legrand, lyrics by Alan and Marilyn Bergman); "Circle Sky" from Head (Music and lyrics by Michael Nesmith); "The Shape of Things to Come" from Wild in the Streets (Music and lyrics by Barry Mann and Cynthia Weil); "Only a Northern Song" from Yellow Submarine (Music and lyrics by George Harrison); "Chitty Chitty Bang Bang" from Chitty Chitty Bang Bang (Music and lyrics by Richard M. Sherman and Robert B. Sherman); "It's All Too Much" from Yellow Submarine (Music and lyrics by George Harrison); "As We Go Along" from Head (Music and lyrics by Carole King and Toni Stern); "For the Love of Ivy" for For Love of Ivy (Music by Quincy Jones, lyrics by Bob Russell); "Wild in the Streets" from Wild in the Streets (Music and lyrics by Les Baxter and Guy Hemric); "Barbarella" from Barbarella (Music and lyrics by Bob Crewe and Charles Fox); "Daddy's Song" from Head (Music and lyrics by Harry Nilsson); "Hey Bulldog" from Yellow Submarine (Music and lyrics by John Lennon and Paul McCartney))

SPECIAL EFFECTS: 2001: A SPACE ODYSSEY, Ice Station Zebra

MAKEUP: 2001: A SPACE ODYSSEY, Planet of the Apes, Oliver!

1967--The Year in Review

1967 is famously a watershed year for movies--ground zero for a ridiculously rich Golden Age that would swirl through American and world cinema for arguably 15 years to come. With that, here it comes down to a fierce battle between US and French film; initially, I was ready to anoint Jacques Tati's bank-breaking marvel Playtime. But then I reconsidered: Playtime is best seen on the hugest screen possible, and this really hamstrings it in terms of others being able to fully grasp its appeal (even the people who already love it find Tati's complex comedic staging lacks definition in miniature). So, in the end, I had to go with the American movie that I think had the biggest impact on the culture, as it ushered in wry takes on mature themes, innovative uses of modern source music, and the rise of the "normal" movie star--in this case, an odd-duck struggling actor named Dustin Hoffman, who overcame being rather over-the-hill to play the 22-year-old Benjamin Braddock, and in doing so, delivered the performance of the year (it's a brilliant piece of casting by director Mike Nichols, who thought Hoffman's non-WASPy countenance would perfectly place him as an outsider in this white-bread world). Its fellow US competitors were difficult to overcome, though, with the groundbreaking violence of Arthur Penn's Bonnie and Clyde (itself influenced by French film, as its subject was suggested to its screenwriters by Francois Truffaut), Richard Brooks' stunning adaptation of Truman Capote's In Cold Blood, UK director John Boorman's dizzying noir film Point Blank, and Stuart Rosenberg's immensely popular, anti-establishment-flavored prison tale Cool Hand Luke. It was a terrific period for UK film, with Hammer's sci-fi thriller Quatermass and the Pit, John Schlesinger's elegant Far From the Madding Crowd, Joseph Losey's Accident and US director Stanley Donen’s twin late-period humdingers Bedazzled and Two For the Road (both of which tagged Donen as the one classic-era director who wholly embraced this new age).

As for the French, in addition to Tati, we got another superb film from Robert Bresson called Mouchette, Bunuel's sensual Belle De Jour, three films from Godard (spearheaded by the anti-car satire Weekend) and Melville's exciting Le Samourai. In a bejeweled race for the acting categories, at last I had to give Audrey Hepburn her due (she was Oscar-nominated this year for her  terrorized blind woman in Wait Until Dark, but I went instead for her luminous take as a wife struggling to make her marriage work in Two For the Road), while the Supporting Actor race was filled with delightfully venal villains--and the one I picked is easily the most becoming (and the Supporting Actress race was, for me, an easy choice). Also, this is the first year in a long while that I, like the Academy, reduced the technical categories into a combination of black-and-white and color competitors (given that black-and-white was clearly--and sadly--on its way out). The Documentary Feature category finally gets some major fire behind it, with Frederick Wiseman's debut Titicut Follies--about a scarily lax New England mental hospital--emerging as the first bonafide masterpiece from this new era of reality on film. Finally, on the short film front, experimental cinema makes a huge jump forward with Michael Snow's mystifying 42-minute zoom-in, while in the animated category, Canada's National Film Board takes hold of short-form animation and rarely lets go for a couple of decades hence. 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 GRADUATE (US, Mike Nichols)
(2nd: Playtime (France, Jacques Tati), followed by:
Bonnie and Clyde (US, Arthur Penn)
Weekend (France, Jean-Luc Godard)
In Cold Blood (US, Richard Brooks)
Mouchette (France, Robert Bresson)
Titicut Follies (US, Frederick Wiseman)
Belle de Jour (France, Luis Buñuel)
Point Blank (US, John Boorman)
Bedazzled (UK, Stanley Donen)
Cool Hand Luke (US, Stuart Rosenberg)
Quatermass and the Pit (aka Five Million Years to Earth) (UK, Roy Ward Baker)
Don’t Look Back (US, D.A. Pennebaker)
Le Samourai (France, Jean-Pierre Melville)
Two For The Road (UK, Stanley Donen)
The Fireman’s Ball (Czechoslovakia, Milos Forman)
Far from the Madding Crowd (UK, John Schlesinger)
In the Heat of the Night (US, Norman Jewison)
The Dirty Dozen (US, Robert Aldrich)
The Jungle Book (US, Wolfgang Reitherman)
Festival (US, Murray Lerner)
The Persecution and Assassination of Jean-Paul Marat as Performed by the Inmates of the Asylum of Charenton Under the Direction of the Marquis de Sade (aka Marat/Sade) (UK, Peter Brook)
The Red and the White (Hungary, Miklós Jancsó)
Accident (UK, Joseph Losey)
The Whisperers (UK, Bryan Forbes)
2 or 3 Things I Know About Her (France, Jean-Luc Godard)
La Collectioneuse (France, Eric Rohmer)
Ulysses (UK, Joseph Strick)
David Holzman's Diary (US, Jim McBride)
Markéta Lazarová (Czechoslovakia, Frantisek Vlácil)
The Anderson Platoon (US, Pierre Schoendoerffer)
Elvira Madigan (Sweden, Bo Widerberg)
Grand Slam (Italy, Giuliano Montaldo)
The Fearless Vampire Killers, or: Pardon Me, But Your Teeth Are in My Neck (UK/US, Roman Polanski)
The Incident (US, Larry Peerce)
Hell’s Angels on Wheels (US, Richard Rush)
How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying (US, David Swift)
Beach Red (US, Cornel Wilde)
Our Mother’s House (UK, Jack Clayton)
Portrait of Jason (US, Shirley Clarke)
I am Curious…Yellow (Sweden, Vilgot Sjöman)
The Young Girls of Rochefort (France, Jacques Demy)
La Chinoise (France, Jean-Luc Godard)
Warning Shot (US, Buzz Kulik)
Privilege (UK, Peter Watkins)
Hombre (US, Martin Ritt)
To Sir With Love (UK, James Clavell)
Guess Who's Coming to Dinner (US, Stanley Kramer)
Wait Until Dark (US, Terence Young)
You Only Live Twice (UK, Lewis Gilbert)
The Trip (US, Roger Corman)
I’ll Never Forget What's 'is Name (UK, Michael Winner)
In Like Flint (US, Gordon Douglas)
Mad Monster Party? (US, Jules Bass)
Poor Cow (UK, Ken Loach)
Countdown (US, Robert Altman)
The Night of the Generals (US, Anatole Litvak)
The President's Analyst (US, Theodore J. Flicker)
How I Won the War (UK, Richard Lester)
Camelot (US, Joshua Logan)
The St. Valentine’s Day Massacre (US, Roger Corman)
Reflections in a Golden Eye (US, John Huston)
Spider Baby (US, Jack Hill))



ACTOR: Dustin Hoffman, THE GRADUATE (2nd: Paul Newman, Cool Hand Luke, followed by: Robert Blake, In Cold Blood; Rod Steiger, In the Heat of the Night; Alain Delon, Le Samourai; Albert Finney, Two for the Road; Warren Beatty, Bonnie and Clyde; Lee Marvin, Point Blank; Dudley Moore, Bedazzled; Spencer Tracy, Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner)

ACTRESS: Audrey Hepburn, TWO FOR THE ROAD (2nd: Edith Evans, The Whisperers, followed by: Anne Bancroft, The Graduate; Catherine Deneuve, Belle Du Jour; Faye Dunaway, Bonnie and Clyde; Nadine Nortier, Mouchette; Audrey Hepburn, Wait Until Dark; Barbara Jefford, Ulysses; Julie Christie, Far From the Madding Crowd; Katharine Hepburn, Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner) 

SUPPORTING ACTOR: Peter Cook, BEDAZZLED (2nd: Alan Arkin, Wait Until Dark, followed by: Gene Hackman, Bonnie and Clyde; Strother Martin, Cool Hand Luke; Scott Wilson, In Cold Blood; John Cassavetes, The Dirty Dozen; George Kennedy, Cool Hand Luke; Michael J. Pollard, Bonnie and Clyde; Peter Finch, Far from the Madding Crowd; Rudy Vallee, How To Succeed In Business Without Really Trying)

SUPPORTING ACTRESS: Katherine Ross, THE GRADUATE (2nd: Jo Van Fleet, Cool Hand Luke, followed by: Estelle Parsons, Bonnie and Clyde; Lee Grant, In The Heat of the Night; Haydée Politoff, La Collectionneuse; Eleanor Bron, Bedazzled; Genevieve Page, Belle de Jour; Mildred Natwick, Barefoot in the Park; Carol Channing, Thoroughly Modern Millie)

DIRECTOR: Mike Nichols, THE GRADUATE (2nd: Jacques Tati, Playtime, followed by: Jean-Luc Godard, Weekend; Frederick Wiseman, Titicut Follies; Arthur Penn, Bonnie and Clyde; Luis Bunuel, Belle de Jour; John Boorman, Point Blank; Robert Bresson, Mouchette; Stanley Donen, Bedazzled; Stuart Rosenberg, Cool Hand Luke)



NON-ENGLISH-LANGUAGE FILM: PLAYTIME (France, Jacques Tati) (2nd: Weekend (France, Jean-Luc Godard), followed by: Mouchette (France, Robert Bresson); Belle de Jour (France, Luis Buñuel); Le Samourai (France, Jean-Pierre Melville); The Fireman’s Ball (Czechoslovakia, Milos Forman); The Red and the White (Hungary, Miklós Jancsó); 2 or 3 Things I Know About Her (France, Jean-Luc Godard); La Collectioneuse (France, Eric Rohmer); Markéta Lazarová (Czechoslovakia, Frantisek Vlácil); Elvira Madigan (Sweden, Bo Widerberg); I am Curious…Yellow (Sweden, Vilgot Sjöman); La Chinoise (France, Jean-Luc Godard))

DOCUMENTARY FEATURE: TITICUT FOLLIES (US, Frederick Wiseman) (2nd: Don’t Look Back (US, D.A. Pennebaker), followed by: Festival (US, Murray Lerner); The Anderson Platoon (US, Pierre Schoendoerffer); Portrait of Jason (US, Shirley Clarke))

ANIMATED FEATURE: THE JUNGLE BOOK (US, Wolfgang Reitherman) (2nd: Mad Monster Party? (US, Jules Bass))



ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY: David Newman and Robert Benton, BONNIE AND CLYDE (2nd: Frederic Raphael, Two for the Road, followed by: Nigel Kneale, Quatermass and the Pit (aka Five Million Years to Earth); Peter Cook and Dudley Moore, Bedazzled; Sterling Silliphant, In The Heat of the Night)



ADAPTED SCREENPLAY: Buck Henry and Calder Willingham, THE GRADUATE (2nd: Richard Brooks, In Cold Blood, followed by: Luis Bunuel and Jean-Claude Carriere, Belle Du Jour; Alexander Jacobs, David Newhouse, and Rafe Newhouse, Point Blank; Donn Pierce and Frank Pierson, Cool Hand Luke)



LIVE ACTION SHORT FILM: WAVELENGTH (Canada, Michael Snow) (2nd: Report (US, Bruce Conner), followed by: Electronic Labyrinth: THX 1138 4EB (US, George Lucas); A Place to Stand (Canada, Christopher Chapman); The Perfect Human (Denmark, Jorgen Leth); Rail (UK, Geoffrey Jones))



ANIMATED SHORT FILM: WHAT ON EARTH! (Canada, Les Drew and Kaj Pindal) (2nd: The House That Jack Built (Canada, Ron Tunis), followed by: Samadhi (US, Jordan Belson); Historia Naturae, Suita (Czechoslovakia, Jan Svankmajer); Everything is a Number (Poland, Stefan Schabenbeck); Marvin Digs (US, Ralph Bakshi))

CINEMATOGRAPHY: Robert Surtees, THE GRADUATE (2nd: Conrad Hall, In Cold Blood, followed by: Jean Badal and Andreas Winding, Playtime; Burnett Guffey, Bonnie and Clyde; Nicolas Roeg, Far from the Madding Crowd)

ART DIRECTION: PLAYTIME, The Graduate, You Only Live Twice, Point Blank, Camelot

COSTUME DESIGN: BONNIE AND CLYDE, Thoroughly Modern Millie, Camelot, The Persecution and Assassination of Jean-Paul Marat as Performed by the Inmates of the Asylum of Charenton Under the Direction of the Marquis de Sade, Far From the Madding Crowd

FILM EDITING: BONNIE AND CLYDE, The Graduate, In Cold Blood, Point Blank, In the Heat of the Night 

SOUND: THE DIRTY DOZEN, In the Heat of the Night, Point Blank, Cool Hand Luke, Don't Look Back


ORIGINAL SCORE: Lalo Schifrin, COOL HAND LUKE (2nd: Quincy Jones, In Cold Blood, followed by: Richard Rodney Bennett, Far from the Madding Crowd; Elmer Bernstein, Thoroughly Modern Millie; John Barry, You Only Live Twice)  



ADAPTED OR MUSICAL SCORE: Michel Legrand, THE YOUNG GIRLS OF ROCHEFORT (2nd: Richard Peaslee, The Persecution and Assassination of Jean-Paul Marat as Performed by the Inmates of the Asylum of Charenton Under the Direction of the Marquis de Sade, followed by: Dudley Moore, Bedazzled; Charles Strouse, Bonnie and Clyde; Alfred Newman and Ken Darby, Camelot)

 

ORIGINAL SONG: “The Look of Love” from CASINO ROYALE (Music by Burt Bacharach, lyrics by Hal David) (2nd: “You Only Live Twice” from You Only Live Twice (Music by John Barry, lyrics by Leslie Bricusse), followed by: "To Sir With Love" from To Sir With Love (Music by Mark London, lyrics by Don Black); "In The Heat of the Night" from In the Heat of the Night (Music by Quincy Jones, lyrics by Alan and Marilyn Bergman); "The Bare Necessities" from The Jungle Book (Music and lyrics by Terry Gilkyson); "Theme from Valley of the Dolls" from Valley of the Dolls (Music by Andre Previn, lyrics by Dore Previn); "I Wanna Be Like You (The Monkey Song)" from The Jungle Book (Music and lyrics by Richard M. Sherman and Robert B. Sherman); "Trust in Me" from The Jungle Book (Music and lyrics by Richard M. Sherman and Robert B. Sherman); "Bedazzled" from Bedazzled (Music and lyrics by Dudley Moore); "Fowl Owl on the Prowl" from In the Heat of the Night (Music by Quincy Jones, lyrics by Alan and Marilyn Bergman); "Talk to the Animals" from Doctor Doolittle (Music and lyrics by Leslie Bricusse); "It's The Little Things" from Good Times (Music and lyrics by Sonny Bono))

SPECIAL EFFECTS: YOU ONLY LIVE TWICE, Doctor Doolittle

MAKEUP: THE PERSECUTION AND ASSASSINATION OF JEAN-PAUL MARAT AS PERFORMED BY THE INMATES OF THE ASYLUM OF CHARENTON UNDER THE DIRECTION OF THE MARQUIS DE SADE, You Only Live Twice, Quatermass and the Pit (aka Five Million Years to Earth)