Oscar History Part 6: 1976-1989

Almost out of time!  I will move quickly to finish before February 27.

1976

Winner: Rocky

My pick: Network

Other notable films: Taxi Driver, All the President’s Men, Solaris (USSR, 1972), Face to Face

The crowd-pleaser won and Stallone took the goodwill and make a career out of it, fighting everybody from Mr. T to the Soviet Union.  That exploitation aside, Rocky is a perfectly enjoyable film, but it doesn't hold a candle against three of its rivals for Best Picture.  Sidney Lumet and Paddy Chayefsky made a biting and involving satire of news media entertainment that had it right- then and now.  If that's not your cup of tea, you can go for the disaffected loner in Robert DeNiro befriending a teen prostitute in Jodie Foster, doing quality work in Martin Scorsese's Taxi Driver.  Alan J. Pakula's adaptation of the current events chronicle of Washington Post reporters Bob Woodward and Carl Bernstein (Robert Redford and Dustin Hoffman) bringing down a president in All the President's Men is an involving thriller for any age.  For your world tastes, you have the combination of Ingmar Bergman and Liv Ullmann in Face to Face, and the stateside release of Andrei Tarkovsky's science fiction drama Solaryis.

1977

Winner: Annie Hall

My pick: Star Wars

Other notable films: Close Encounters of the Third Kind, The Goodbye Girl, Saturday Night Fever, Aguirre- The Wrath of God (Germany 1973)

Woody Allen writes quality words and his actors, including Diane Keaton, give quality performances.  I'll even admit the choice of Annie Hall is a solid one for the Academy, but in the year of Star Wars?  George Lucas' synthesis of mythology, adventure lore, Kurosawa, and science fiction cleaned up in the technical categories, but got left in the dust by Annie Hall.  The bias against science fiction remains.  Other quality work: Steven Spielberg's wondrous tale of contact Close Encounters of the Third Kind, Richard Dreyfuss and Marsha Mason doing comedy and drama in Neil Simon and Herbert Ross' The Goodbye Girl, John Travolta strutting his stuff in Saturday Night Fever, and Werner Herzog directing Klaus Kinski in a tale of greed and madness in the Amazon: Aguirre- The Wrath of God.

1978

Winner and my pick: The Deer Hunter

Other notable films: Days of Heaven, Midnight Express, Interiors, Superman, Autumn Sonata

Michael Cimino's The Deer Hunter is one of the first works to address the aftermath of Vietnam, and it does it well, focusing on the impact on a group of friends from a Pennsylvania steel mill town: those who go (Robert De Niro, Christopher Walken, John Savage) and those who stay behind (John Cazale, Meryl Streep).  Also of note: Terrence Malick takes us to the Texas Panhandle in the early 20th century in Days of Heaven, Alan Parker directs a tale of an American imprisoned abroad in Midnight Express, Christopher Reeve makes us believe a man can fly in Superman: The Movie, Woody Allen pays tribute to Ingmar Bergman in Interiors, and Ingmar Bergman himself directs Ingrid Bergman and Liv Ullmann as a dysfunctional mother and daughter in Autumn Sonata.

1979

Winner: Kramer vs. Kramer

My pick: Apocalypse Now

Other notable films: Alien, Being There, Manhattan, All That Jazz, Picnic at Hanging Rock (Australia, 1975)

The child custody battle betwen Dustin Hoffman and Meryl Streep in Kramer vs. Kramer is moving, but it is not the best picture.  Francis Coppola put every last bit of creative spark in Apocalypse Now and his career has never recovered.  He deserves the respect for this; it was a hell of a decade for him.  Ridley Scott makes his presence known in the effective science-fiction/horror film Alien, Woody Allen makes a love letter to Manhattan, Bob Fosse pays tribute to his life and Broadway in All That Jazz, and Peter Weir hits the U.S. with the lyrical mystery Picnic at Hanging Rock.

1980

Winner: Ordinary People

My pick: Raging Bull

Other notable films: The Elephant Man, Kagemusha, The Empire Strikes Back, The Shining

People loved these family dramas, but talk about missing the elephant in the room.  I love Robert Redford's directorial debut chronicling a family's destruction in Ordinary People, but Martin Scorsese and Robert De Niro made a film that frankly neither of them have ever escaped: Raging Bull is their legacy and it's a good one.  Also: David Lynch adapts the real-life tale of the The Elephant Man, Akira Kurosawa showcases his epic in the U.S. with some help from Coppola and Lucas: Kagemusha, the Star Wars saga continues and gains its greatest depth in The Empire Strikes Back, and Stanley Kubrick makes the horror film out of the horror novel: The Shining.

1981

Winner: Chariots of Fire

My pick: Raiders of the Lost Ark

Other notable films: Reds, Atlantic City, Gallipoli, Prince of the City

People running; I'm already sleepy.  Rather than getting caught in the back and forth between Chariots of Fire and Warren Beatty's tale of the Russian Revolution Reds, Oscar should have backed Steven Spielberg and George Lucas paying tribute to the old movie serials of childhood and making the adventure film for all time: Harrison Ford is Indiana Jones in Raiders of the Lost Ark; again, racked up the technical wins, but was left eating crow by the end of the night.  Also: Louis Malle directing a great swan song for Burt Lancaster in Atlantic City, Peter Weir's World War I film Gallipoli, and Sidney Lumet's return to police corruption in Prince of the City.

1982

Winner: Gandhi

My pick: E.T. The Extra-Terrestrial

Other notable films: Das Boot (Germany, 1981), Blade Runner, The Verdict, Diner

Wow, the British know how to win.  Who could vote against Gandhi?  I could.  Give it to Spielberg's love letter to all our childhoods in E.T. The Extra-Terrestrial.  Give it to Wolfgang Petersen's tale of a German sub crew in World War II in Das Boot.  Even Ridley Scott's visionary tale of a dreary future for humanity in Blade Runner was more deserving.  Also: Sidney Lumet directing Paul Newman as a washed up lawyer in The Verdict; Barry Levinson's tale of friends in 1950s Baltimore in Diner.

1983

Winner: Terms of Endearment

My pick: Fanny and Alexander

Other notable films: The Big Chill, The Right Stuff, The Year of Living Dangerously, Silkwood

James L. Brooks has great sensibilities for drama and relationships, so Terms of Endearment is not a terrible choice.  But Ingmar Bergman made a tribute to his own family and childhood in Fanny and Alexander, a theatrical swan song for one of the greats of cinema; at least it won the Foreign Film Oscar.  Also: Lawrence Kasdan showcases a reunion of 1960s era college friends wondering what happened in The Big Chill, Philip Kaufman pays tribute to the 1950s test pilots who had The Right Stuff, Mike Nichols pays tribute to a working class hero in Silkwood, and Peter Weir continues his great run of work in The Year of Living Dangerously. 

1984

Winner: Amadeus

My pick: Once Upon a Time in America

Other notable films: Paris Texas, The Killing Fields, Ghostbusters, This Is Spinal Tap

Again, Amadeus is not a bad choice; great work from director Milos Forman and actors F. Murray Abraham and Tom Hulce.  But Sergio Leone struggled to to bring his story of childhood friends torn apart by time and violence in Once Upon a Time in America; the film was brutally edited during its initial release, but its uncompromised form is unparalled.  Also: Wim Wenders' tale of hurt between a husband, wife, and child- Paris, Texas; Roland Joffe's story of the war-torn Cambodia The Killing Fields, the great comedic timing of Bill Murray, Dan Aykroyd, and Harold Ramis in Ghostbusters, and Rob Reiner and a team of comedy greats making rock history in This Is Spinal Tap.

1985

Winner: Out of Africa

My pick: Ran

Other notable films: Back to the Future, Witness, Brazil, The Color Purple

I can't stand Out of Africa; the definition of trite.  Akira Kurosawa beatifully adapated Shakespeare's King Lear into Ran; they had a great chance to honor the other giant of film, and they blew it.  Also: Back to the Future is a film of its era that is also timeless, something that most best picture winners struggle to achieve.  Peter Weir and Harrison Ford make a great drama/thriller in Witness.  Terry Gilliam's madness is expertly captured in the dystopian fantasy Brazil, and Steven Spielberg compassionately adapts Alice Walker's The Color Purple.

1986

Winner and my pick: Platoon

Other notable films: Blue Velvet, Hannah and Her Sisters, The Mission, Stand by Me

This is a pick that I can live; Oliver Stone's autobiographical account of his time in Vietnam is captured earnestly in Platoon.  Still, I would have loved a picture/director split, because David Lynch captured small town innocence and naivety and human depravity and horror like no other in Blue Velvet, thanks in large part to the sickening good performance of Dennis Hopper.  Also: Woody Allen's best film of the 1980s is a tale of three siblings and their loves- Hannah and Her Sisters; Roland Joffe captures the trials of Jesuits in South America in The Mission, and Rob Reiner captures a sincere ode to childhood to in Stand by Me.

1987

Winner: The Last Emperor

My pick: The Princess Bride

Other notable films: Broadcast News, Full Metal Jacket, Empire of the Sun, Au Revoir Les Enfants

Bernardo Bertolucci's The Last Emperor is a beautiful film, a worthy choice.  But the work of Rob Reiner in capturing storybook love and adventure in The Princess Bride deserved recognition.  Also worthy: James L. Brooks' office romance and mediation on media Broadcast News; Stanley Kubrick's late arrival on Vietnam Full Metal Jacket, Steven Spielberg's tale of a child prisoner-of-war Empire of the Sun, and Louis Malle's farewell to childhood in Au Revoir Les Enfants.

1988

Winner: Rain Man

My pick: Who Framed Roger Rabbit

Other notable films: Dangerous Liaisons, Mississippi Burning, A Fish Called Wanda, The Last Temptation of Christ, The Unbearable Lightness of Being

Rain Man; another dated choice.  Of course, you could argue that Who Framed Roger Rabbit doesn't really resonate, but I would disagree.  It was a technical achievement, and its story is as much a tribute to the golden age of cinema (and a cribbed plot from Chinatown) as well as animation; if only more films were made with such acknowledgement of the past.  Also: Stephen Frears' adaptation of the sex games of the rich and bored in Dangerous Liaisons, Alan Parker chronciling a dark day of the Civil Rights era in Mississippi Burning, great comedic timing between Kevin Kline and John Cleese in A Fish Called Wanda, Philip Kaufman's adaptation of The Unbearable Lightness of Being, and Martin Scorsese's chronicle of a human and relatable Jesus in The Last Temptation of Christ.

1989

Winner: Driving Miss Daisy

My pick: Born of the Fourth of July

Other notable films: Field of Dreams, Do the Right Thing, sex lies and videotape, Dead Poets Society

Driving Miss Daisy is such an insulting choice, especially when you realize how much the Academy ignored Spike Lee's honest and unfliching chronicle of race relations Do the Right Thing.  Even so, my pick is Oliver Stone's adaptation of real life Vietnam veteran Ron Kovic's (Tom Cruise in a great casting choice) biography Born on the Fourth of July; that film captures everything that is great and wrong about our country, and its lessons still hold true.  Also: Steven Soderbergh makes an auspicious debut documenting relationships in sex lies and videotape, Kevin Costner builds a baseball field in Field of Dreams, and Peter Weir turns Robin Williams into the best English teacher ever in Dead Poets Society.