I might be crucified for this, but I've always thought Chinatown had to fight an uphill battle against its sometimes decent, sometimes ... not good cinematography. Best I can tell, Alonzo isn't a particularly gifted cinematographer, and some of the startling effects in Chinatown (dusk behind Huston as he reveals his plot to Nicholson) seem almost accidentally effective.
While there's nothing great about the cinematography of Towering Inferno, I'd haredly consider its win to be one of Oscar's great blunders as you did a few months back on that "worst Oscar winners" poll. Put it this way, it could've been Earthquake (which I like more than Inferno, but whose cinematography looks like ass).
As for the Twins, I'm still trying to get my head screwed back on. City Pages' cover story this week pretty much sums it up: "Holy Sh*t!"
R.I.P. Sven Nykvist
Alonzo did manage two Emmy nods later in his career for World War II: When Lions Roared (1994) and Lansky (1999). He won the award for Fail Safe (2000).Damien wrote:Mister Tee wrote:though there was backsliding the following year (Towering Inferno over Chinatown!),
Other than Chinatown, John Alonzo's output is pretty undistinguished (eg, The Cheap Detective, Nothing In Common, Steel Magnolias, Norma Rae, Jacqueline Susann's Once Is Not Enough).
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Mister Tee
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Eric, you're right about Howe and Wexler: the black-and-white category opted for quality well earlier than the color side -- possibly because by the 60s there were so few candidates working in black-and-white, yet many of our best cinematographers were at work on the stronger films (besides, black and white always looks so cool). And I don't mean to denigrate Unsworth's Cabaret work -- I love it, and think it does meet the auteur criterion -- but I've always felt the main reason it won was because it was one of the year's two "big" films and The Godfather (which also would have been an excellent winner) wasn't nominated. The great thing about the Cries and Whispers win was the Academy's decision not to go the path of least resistance with The Sting (as it had for costumes and sets). Same with Days of Heaven when they might have gone Deer Hunter as part of a best picture package.Eric wrote:Mister Tee wrote:Nykvist's 1973 win for Cries and Whispers helped break the mold in the cinematography category. Prior to then (with Burnett Guffey's win for Bonnie and Clyde maybe the exception) winners tended to come from big-lumber items -- Freddie Young's Lawrence and Zhivago were beautiful but in a mostly "scenic" way; Cleopatra and My Fair Lady were something less than that. Cries and Whispers introduced an auteurist sensibility to the category...
I might be more inclined to cite James Wong Howe's win for Hud, as I think there's definitely something to be said for the non-lumbery tactility of Haskell Wexler's Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?, Burnett Guffey's Bonnie & Clyde and especially Geoffrey Unsworth's Cabaret, but I don't argue that Nykvist was one of the first mainstream cinematographer superstars, to the extent that there could ever be one.
By the way, Eric, what happened to the sports/baseball thread? I imagine you might have something to say about the Twins.
Damien, I hadn't even realized just how undistinguished Alonzo's career had been beyond Chinatown. Still, that one work is such a stunning achievement, its loss irks me all these years later.
I assume that Towering Inferno won because voters imagined how difficult it must have been to operate cameras with all that fire around. But even though objectively Chinatown's loss is not defensible, I have to say, I'm pleased that Inferno won because it meant that Joseph Biroc, who shot a number of Sam Fuller's great 50s films and worked regularly (and memorably) with Robert Aldrich, got an Oscar.Mister Tee wrote:though there was backsliding the following year (Towering Inferno over Chinatown!),
Other than Chinatown, John Alonzo's output is pretty undistinguished (eg, The Cheap Detective, Nothing In Common, Steel Magnolias, Norma Rae, Jacqueline Susann's Once Is Not Enough).
"Y'know, that's one of the things I like about Mitt Romney. He's been consistent since he changed his mind." -- Christine O'Donnell
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I might be more inclined to cite James Wong Howe's win for Hud, as I think there's definitely something to be said for the non-lumbery tactility of Haskell Wexler's Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?, Burnett Guffey's Bonnie & Clyde and especially Geoffrey Unsworth's Cabaret, but I don't argue that Nykvist was one of the first mainstream cinematographer superstars, to the extent that there could ever be one.Mister Tee wrote:Nykvist's 1973 win for Cries and Whispers helped break the mold in the cinematography category. Prior to then (with Burnett Guffey's win for Bonnie and Clyde maybe the exception) winners tended to come from big-lumber items -- Freddie Young's Lawrence and Zhivago were beautiful but in a mostly "scenic" way; Cleopatra and My Fair Lady were something less than that. Cries and Whispers introduced an auteurist sensibility to the category...
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Nykvist's 1973 win for Cries and Whispers helped break the mold in the cinematography category. Prior to then (with Burnett Guffey's win for Bonnie and Clyde maybe the exception) winners tended to come from big-lumber items -- Freddie Young's Lawrence and Zhivago were beautiful but in a mostly "scenic" way; Cleopatra and My Fair Lady were something less than that. Cries and Whispers introduced an auteurist sensibility to the category, and, though there was backsliding the following year (Towering Inferno over Chinatown!), by and large the criterion was changed, leading to winners like Wexler for Bound for Glory, Almendros for Days of Heaven, Menges for Killing Fields and The Mission -- and of course Nykvist's later win for Fanny and Alexander.
I only wish he'd won a third time, for The Unbearable Lightness of Being. He was a true artist of the cinema.
I only wish he'd won a third time, for The Unbearable Lightness of Being. He was a true artist of the cinema.
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Swedish cinematographer Sven Nykvist dies at 83
The Associated Press
Published: September 20, 2006
STOCKHOLM, Sweden Oscar-winning Swedish filmmaker Sven Nykvist, who was director Ingmar Bergman's cinematographer of choice, has died after a long illness, his son said. He was 83.
Nykvist died Wednesday in his bed at a Swedish nursing home where he was being treated for aphasia, a form of dementia, said his son, Carl-Gustaf Nykvist. The exact cause of death was not immediately known.
Nykvist won Academy Awards for best cinematography for the Bergman films "Cries and Whispers" in 1973 and "Fanny and Alexander" in 1982.
Nykvist's sense of lighting and camera work made him a favorite of Bergman's after their first collaboration on the 1954 movie "Sawdust and Tinsle," which began a partnership that lasted nearly 30 years.
"Together with Ingmar, he created movie history with those lighting arrangements," said Carl-Gustaf Nykvist, who directed the 2000 documentary "Light Keeps Me Company" about his father.
"He was called 'the master of light' because of the moods and atmospheres he could create with light. It was a near impossibility to create the moods he created."
Nykvist also worked on fellow Swede Lasse Hallstrom's "What's Eating Gilbert Grape" and did several movies with Bergman-fan Woody Allen. His last film was "Curtain Call" in 1999.
"Sven Nykvist was somewhat of a father figure for me," Hallstrom told Swedish news agency TT. "He taught me very much during the movies we made together. He was the one who got Americans and the world to realize that lighting could be simple and realistic."
Nyvkist's wife, Ulrika, died in 1982. In addition to his son, he is survived by his daughter-in-law, Helena Berlin, and grand children Sonia Sondell and Marilde Nykvist.
Funeral arrangements were not immediately known.
STOCKHOLM, Sweden Oscar-winning Swedish filmmaker Sven Nykvist, who was director Ingmar Bergman's cinematographer of choice, has died after a long illness, his son said. He was 83.
Nykvist died Wednesday in his bed at a Swedish nursing home where he was being treated for aphasia, a form of dementia, said his son, Carl-Gustaf Nykvist. The exact cause of death was not immediately known.
Nykvist won Academy Awards for best cinematography for the Bergman films "Cries and Whispers" in 1973 and "Fanny and Alexander" in 1982.
Nykvist's sense of lighting and camera work made him a favorite of Bergman's after their first collaboration on the 1954 movie "Sawdust and Tinsle," which began a partnership that lasted nearly 30 years.
"Together with Ingmar, he created movie history with those lighting arrangements," said Carl-Gustaf Nykvist, who directed the 2000 documentary "Light Keeps Me Company" about his father.
"He was called 'the master of light' because of the moods and atmospheres he could create with light. It was a near impossibility to create the moods he created."
Nykvist also worked on fellow Swede Lasse Hallstrom's "What's Eating Gilbert Grape" and did several movies with Bergman-fan Woody Allen. His last film was "Curtain Call" in 1999.
"Sven Nykvist was somewhat of a father figure for me," Hallstrom told Swedish news agency TT. "He taught me very much during the movies we made together. He was the one who got Americans and the world to realize that lighting could be simple and realistic."
Nyvkist's wife, Ulrika, died in 1982. In addition to his son, he is survived by his daughter-in-law, Helena Berlin, and grand children Sonia Sondell and Marilde Nykvist.
Funeral arrangements were not immediately known.
STOCKHOLM, Sweden Oscar-winning Swedish filmmaker Sven Nykvist, who was director Ingmar Bergman's cinematographer of choice, has died after a long illness, his son said. He was 83.
Nykvist died Wednesday in his bed at a Swedish nursing home where he was being treated for aphasia, a form of dementia, said his son, Carl-Gustaf Nykvist. The exact cause of death was not immediately known.
Nykvist won Academy Awards for best cinematography for the Bergman films "Cries and Whispers" in 1973 and "Fanny and Alexander" in 1982.
Nykvist's sense of lighting and camera work made him a favorite of Bergman's after their first collaboration on the 1954 movie "Sawdust and Tinsle," which began a partnership that lasted nearly 30 years.
"Together with Ingmar, he created movie history with those lighting arrangements," said Carl-Gustaf Nykvist, who directed the 2000 documentary "Light Keeps Me Company" about his father.
"He was called 'the master of light' because of the moods and atmospheres he could create with light. It was a near impossibility to create the moods he created."
Nykvist also worked on fellow Swede Lasse Hallstrom's "What's Eating Gilbert Grape" and did several movies with Bergman-fan Woody Allen. His last film was "Curtain Call" in 1999.
"Sven Nykvist was somewhat of a father figure for me," Hallstrom told Swedish news agency TT. "He taught me very much during the movies we made together. He was the one who got Americans and the world to realize that lighting could be simple and realistic."
Nyvkist's wife, Ulrika, died in 1982. In addition to his son, he is survived by his daughter-in-law, Helena Berlin, and grand children Sonia Sondell and Marilde Nykvist.
Funeral arrangements were not immediately known.
STOCKHOLM, Sweden Oscar-winning Swedish filmmaker Sven Nykvist, who was director Ingmar Bergman's cinematographer of choice, has died after a long illness, his son said. He was 83.
Nykvist died Wednesday in his bed at a Swedish nursing home where he was being treated for aphasia, a form of dementia, said his son, Carl-Gustaf Nykvist. The exact cause of death was not immediately known.
Nykvist won Academy Awards for best cinematography for the Bergman films "Cries and Whispers" in 1973 and "Fanny and Alexander" in 1982.
Nykvist's sense of lighting and camera work made him a favorite of Bergman's after their first collaboration on the 1954 movie "Sawdust and Tinsle," which began a partnership that lasted nearly 30 years.
"Together with Ingmar, he created movie history with those lighting arrangements," said Carl-Gustaf Nykvist, who directed the 2000 documentary "Light Keeps Me Company" about his father.
"He was called 'the master of light' because of the moods and atmospheres he could create with light. It was a near impossibility to create the moods he created."
Nykvist also worked on fellow Swede Lasse Hallstrom's "What's Eating Gilbert Grape" and did several movies with Bergman-fan Woody Allen. His last film was "Curtain Call" in 1999.
"Sven Nykvist was somewhat of a father figure for me," Hallstrom told Swedish news agency TT. "He taught me very much during the movies we made together. He was the one who got Americans and the world to realize that lighting could be simple and realistic."
Nyvkist's wife, Ulrika, died in 1982. In addition to his son, he is survived by his daughter-in-law, Helena Berlin, and grand children Sonia Sondell and Marilde Nykvist.
Funeral arrangements were not immediately known.
The Associated Press
Published: September 20, 2006
STOCKHOLM, Sweden Oscar-winning Swedish filmmaker Sven Nykvist, who was director Ingmar Bergman's cinematographer of choice, has died after a long illness, his son said. He was 83.
Nykvist died Wednesday in his bed at a Swedish nursing home where he was being treated for aphasia, a form of dementia, said his son, Carl-Gustaf Nykvist. The exact cause of death was not immediately known.
Nykvist won Academy Awards for best cinematography for the Bergman films "Cries and Whispers" in 1973 and "Fanny and Alexander" in 1982.
Nykvist's sense of lighting and camera work made him a favorite of Bergman's after their first collaboration on the 1954 movie "Sawdust and Tinsle," which began a partnership that lasted nearly 30 years.
"Together with Ingmar, he created movie history with those lighting arrangements," said Carl-Gustaf Nykvist, who directed the 2000 documentary "Light Keeps Me Company" about his father.
"He was called 'the master of light' because of the moods and atmospheres he could create with light. It was a near impossibility to create the moods he created."
Nykvist also worked on fellow Swede Lasse Hallstrom's "What's Eating Gilbert Grape" and did several movies with Bergman-fan Woody Allen. His last film was "Curtain Call" in 1999.
"Sven Nykvist was somewhat of a father figure for me," Hallstrom told Swedish news agency TT. "He taught me very much during the movies we made together. He was the one who got Americans and the world to realize that lighting could be simple and realistic."
Nyvkist's wife, Ulrika, died in 1982. In addition to his son, he is survived by his daughter-in-law, Helena Berlin, and grand children Sonia Sondell and Marilde Nykvist.
Funeral arrangements were not immediately known.
STOCKHOLM, Sweden Oscar-winning Swedish filmmaker Sven Nykvist, who was director Ingmar Bergman's cinematographer of choice, has died after a long illness, his son said. He was 83.
Nykvist died Wednesday in his bed at a Swedish nursing home where he was being treated for aphasia, a form of dementia, said his son, Carl-Gustaf Nykvist. The exact cause of death was not immediately known.
Nykvist won Academy Awards for best cinematography for the Bergman films "Cries and Whispers" in 1973 and "Fanny and Alexander" in 1982.
Nykvist's sense of lighting and camera work made him a favorite of Bergman's after their first collaboration on the 1954 movie "Sawdust and Tinsle," which began a partnership that lasted nearly 30 years.
"Together with Ingmar, he created movie history with those lighting arrangements," said Carl-Gustaf Nykvist, who directed the 2000 documentary "Light Keeps Me Company" about his father.
"He was called 'the master of light' because of the moods and atmospheres he could create with light. It was a near impossibility to create the moods he created."
Nykvist also worked on fellow Swede Lasse Hallstrom's "What's Eating Gilbert Grape" and did several movies with Bergman-fan Woody Allen. His last film was "Curtain Call" in 1999.
"Sven Nykvist was somewhat of a father figure for me," Hallstrom told Swedish news agency TT. "He taught me very much during the movies we made together. He was the one who got Americans and the world to realize that lighting could be simple and realistic."
Nyvkist's wife, Ulrika, died in 1982. In addition to his son, he is survived by his daughter-in-law, Helena Berlin, and grand children Sonia Sondell and Marilde Nykvist.
Funeral arrangements were not immediately known.
STOCKHOLM, Sweden Oscar-winning Swedish filmmaker Sven Nykvist, who was director Ingmar Bergman's cinematographer of choice, has died after a long illness, his son said. He was 83.
Nykvist died Wednesday in his bed at a Swedish nursing home where he was being treated for aphasia, a form of dementia, said his son, Carl-Gustaf Nykvist. The exact cause of death was not immediately known.
Nykvist won Academy Awards for best cinematography for the Bergman films "Cries and Whispers" in 1973 and "Fanny and Alexander" in 1982.
Nykvist's sense of lighting and camera work made him a favorite of Bergman's after their first collaboration on the 1954 movie "Sawdust and Tinsle," which began a partnership that lasted nearly 30 years.
"Together with Ingmar, he created movie history with those lighting arrangements," said Carl-Gustaf Nykvist, who directed the 2000 documentary "Light Keeps Me Company" about his father.
"He was called 'the master of light' because of the moods and atmospheres he could create with light. It was a near impossibility to create the moods he created."
Nykvist also worked on fellow Swede Lasse Hallstrom's "What's Eating Gilbert Grape" and did several movies with Bergman-fan Woody Allen. His last film was "Curtain Call" in 1999.
"Sven Nykvist was somewhat of a father figure for me," Hallstrom told Swedish news agency TT. "He taught me very much during the movies we made together. He was the one who got Americans and the world to realize that lighting could be simple and realistic."
Nyvkist's wife, Ulrika, died in 1982. In addition to his son, he is survived by his daughter-in-law, Helena Berlin, and grand children Sonia Sondell and Marilde Nykvist.
Funeral arrangements were not immediately known.
STOCKHOLM, Sweden Oscar-winning Swedish filmmaker Sven Nykvist, who was director Ingmar Bergman's cinematographer of choice, has died after a long illness, his son said. He was 83.
Nykvist died Wednesday in his bed at a Swedish nursing home where he was being treated for aphasia, a form of dementia, said his son, Carl-Gustaf Nykvist. The exact cause of death was not immediately known.
Nykvist won Academy Awards for best cinematography for the Bergman films "Cries and Whispers" in 1973 and "Fanny and Alexander" in 1982.
Nykvist's sense of lighting and camera work made him a favorite of Bergman's after their first collaboration on the 1954 movie "Sawdust and Tinsle," which began a partnership that lasted nearly 30 years.
"Together with Ingmar, he created movie history with those lighting arrangements," said Carl-Gustaf Nykvist, who directed the 2000 documentary "Light Keeps Me Company" about his father.
"He was called 'the master of light' because of the moods and atmospheres he could create with light. It was a near impossibility to create the moods he created."
Nykvist also worked on fellow Swede Lasse Hallstrom's "What's Eating Gilbert Grape" and did several movies with Bergman-fan Woody Allen. His last film was "Curtain Call" in 1999.
"Sven Nykvist was somewhat of a father figure for me," Hallstrom told Swedish news agency TT. "He taught me very much during the movies we made together. He was the one who got Americans and the world to realize that lighting could be simple and realistic."
Nyvkist's wife, Ulrika, died in 1982. In addition to his son, he is survived by his daughter-in-law, Helena Berlin, and grand children Sonia Sondell and Marilde Nykvist.
Funeral arrangements were not immediately known.
"What the hell?"
Win Butler
Win Butler