1966 Oscar Shouldabeens

[CalWilliam]

BEST PICTURE: Blow-Up
BEST DIRECTING: Michelangelo Antonioni, Blow-Up
BEST LEADING ACTOR: Richard Burton, Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?
BEST LEADING ACTRESS: Elizabeth Taylor, Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?
BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR: George Segal, Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?
BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS: Sandy Dennis, Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?
BEST SCREENPLAY: The Battle of Algiers
BEST CINEMATOGRAPHY: The Battle of Algiers

[Kellens101]

Best Picture: Au Hasard Balthazar
Best Director: Michelangelo Antonioni for Blowup
Best Actor: Richard Burton in Who's Afraid or Virginia Woolf?
Best Actress: Elizabeth Taylor in Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?
Best Supporting Actor: Walter Matthau in The Fortune Cookie
Best Supporting Actress: Sandy Dennis in Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?
Best Original Screenplay: Blowup
Best Adapted Screenplay: Seconds
Best Score: A Man and a Woman
Best Art Direction: A Man for All Seasons
Best Costume Design: A Man for All Seasons
Best Editing: Seconds
Best Cinematography: Seconds
Best Sound: Seconds
Best Foreign Film: Au Hasard Balthazar

[ksrymy]

BEST PICTURE
01. Persona (dir. Ingmar Bergman)
02. The Good, The Bad, and the Ugly (dir. Sergio Leone)
03. The Face of Another (dir. Hiroshi Teshigahara)
04. Black Girl (dir. Ousmane Sembène)
05. Daisies (dir. Věra Chytilová)
06. Andrei Rublev (dir. Andrei Tarkovsky)
07. Au Hasard Balthazar (dir. Robert Bresson)
08. Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf? (dir. Mike Nichols)
09. The Endless Summer (dir. Bruce Brown)
10. Seconds (dir. John Frankenheimer)

BEST DIRECTOR
01. Ingmar Bergman, Persona
02. Sergio Leone; The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly
03. Hiroshi Teshighara, The Face of Another
04. Věra Chytilová, Daisies
05. Ousmane Sembène, Black Girl

BEST ACTOR
01. Richard Burton, Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf?
02. Michael Caine, Alfie
03. Walter Matthau, The Fortune Cookie
04. Shoichi Ozawa, The Pornographers
05. Donald Pleasence, Cul-de-sac

BEST ACTRESS
01. Bibi Andersson, Persona
02. Liv Ullmann, Persona
03. Elizabeth Taylor, Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf?
04. Lynn Redgrave, Georgy Girl
05. Anne Bancroft, 7 Women

BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR
01. Eli Wallach; The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly
02. Lionel Stander, Cul-de-sac
03. Michael Hordern, A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum
04. Robert Shaw, A Man for All Seasons
05. George Segal, Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf?

BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS
01. Sandy Dennis, Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf?
02. Vivien Merchant, Alfie
03. Constance Bennett, Madame X
04. Margaret Leighton, 7 Women
05. Charlotte Rampling, Georgy Girl

BEST SCREENPLAY
01. Persona (Ingmar Bergman)
02. The Face of Another (Kôbô Abe, based on his novel of the same name)
03. Daisies (Věra Chytilová, Ester Krumbachová, Pavel Jurácek)
04. Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf? (Ernest Lehman, based on the play of the same name by Edward Albee)
05. Black Girl (Ousmane Sembène, based on his novella of the same name)

BEST FILM EDITING
01. Grand Prix (Henry Berman, Stu Linder, Frank Santillo)
02. The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly (Eugenio Alabiso, Nino Baragli)
03. Persona (Ulla Ryghe)
04. Blow-up (Frank Clarke)
05. Tokyo Drifter (Shinya Inoue)

BEST CINEMATOGRAPHY
01. Andrei Rublev (Vadim Yusov)
02. Persona (Sven Nykvist)
03. Seconds (James Wong Howe)
04. Tokyo Drifter (Shigeyoshi Mine)
05. The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly (Tonino Delli Colli)

BEST ART DIRECTION
01. Fantastic Voyage (Dale Hennesy, Jack Martin Smith, Stuart A. Reiss, Walter M. Scott)
02. The Taking of Power by Louis XIV (Maurice Valay)
03. A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum (Tony Walton)
04. Hawaii (Cary Odell, James W. Sullivan, Raymond Boltz, Jr.; Edward G. Boyle)
05. The Face of Another (Masao Yamazaki, Arata Isozaki, Kenichirô Yamamoto)

BEST COSTUME DESIGN
01. The Taking of Power by Louis XIV (Christiane Coste)
02. A Man for All Seasons (Elizabeth Haffenden, Joan Bridge)
03. Arabesque (Christian Dior)
04. The Group (Anna Hill Johnstone)
05. Hawaii (Dorothy Jeakins)

BEST ORIGINAL SCORE
01. The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly (Ennio Morricone)
02. Arabesque (Henry Mancini)
03. How to Steal a Million (John Williams)
04. The Sand Pebbles (Jerry Goldsmith)
05. Hawaii (Elmer Bernstein)

BEST ORIGINAL SONG
01. The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly ("The Ecstasy of Gold," music by Ennio Morricone)
02. The Silencers ("The Silencers," music by Elmer Bernstein, lyrics by Hal David, performed by Vikki Carr)
03. Alfie ("Alfie," music by Burt Bacharach, lyrics by Hal David, performed by Cilla Black)
04. Georgy Girl ("Georgy Girl," music by Tom Springfield, lyrics by Jim Dale, performed by The Seekers)
05. Born Free ("Born Free," music by John Barry, lyrics by Don Black, performed by Matt Monro)

BEST SOUND
01. Grand Prix (Roy Charman, Gordon Daniel, Franklin Milton, Harry W. Tetrick, Van Allen James)
02. The Sand Pebbles (Bernard Freericks, Murray Spivack, Douglas O. Williams)
03. Fantastic Voyage (David Dockendorf, Bernard Freericks)
04. The Battle of Algiers (Alberto Bartolomei, Omar Bouksani)
05. Andrei Rublev (Inna Zelentsova)

BEST MAKEUP & HAIRSTYLING
01. The Plague of the Zombies (Roy Ashton, Frieda Steiger)
02. The Face of Another (Taichirô Akiyama)
03. The Taking of Power by Louis XIV (Nadine Jouve)
04. Madame X (Larry Germain, Bud Westmore)
05. Daisies (Ladislav Bacílek)

BEST VISUAL EFFECTS
01. Fantastic Voyage (Johnny Borgese, Greg C. Jensen, L.B. Abbott, Art Cruickshank, Emil Kosa, Jr.)
02. Hawaii (Paul Byrd, Daniel Hays, Marshall M. Borden, Linwood G. Dunn, James B. Gordon)
03. Seconds (uncredited)
04. Grand Prix (Robert Bonnig, Jeff Clifford, Jimmy Harris, Garth Inns, Milt Rice, Jimmy Ward, Jack Woodbridge)
05. The Sand Pebbles (Gerald Endler, L. B. Abbott, Emil Kosa, Jr.)

FINAL TALLY
7 nominations: The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly (3 wins), Persona (4 wins)
6 nominations: Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf? (2 wins)
5 nominations: The Face of Another
4 nominations: Daisies, Hawaii
3 nominations: Alfie, Andrei Rublev (1 win), Black Girl, Fantastic Voyage (2 wins), Georgy Girl, Grand Prix (2 wins), The Sand Pebbles, Seconds, The Taking of Power by Louis XIV (1 win)
2 nominations: Arabesque, Born Free, Cul-de-sac, A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum, Madame X, A Man for All Seasons, 7 Women, Tokyo Drifter
1 nomination: Au Hasard Balthazar, Blow-up, The Endless Summer, The Fortune Cookie, The Group, How to Steal a Million, A Man for All Seasons, The Plague of the Zombies, The Pornographers, The Silencers

[Reza]

But that changed three nights ago... I saw Zinnemann's work on TV and now I know I was too young to apreciate, not only the film, but the complexity of that story... Now I understand what happened in 1966 and even though I'm still a fan of VW, A Man for All Seasons astounished me! The performances, the camera work, the directing, everything... ***SPOILER*** The scene when Moore (Scofield) explains his wife why he can't tell her his reasons of keeping silence actually broke my heart and it was so quite, so unartificious... the serenity that was covering the intensity of the situation is perfect...

Read the play Harry.

[Reza]

IMDB didn't have a U.K. release date - it still doesn't.

Now IMDb mentions the UK premiere as August 24, 1967.

[Big Magilla]

I don't think it was. You're quoting me from a comment I made more than six years ago when I was probably relying on the fact that Leonard Maltin listed it as 1966 and the IMDB didn't have a U.K. release date - it still doesn't. However, it was a BAFTA winner in 1968 for films released in 1967 so it seems probable that the Maltin date is in error.

Anyway I'm now back to going by U.S. release dates so my ten best list has completely changed.

[Reza]

My ten best list for 1966 is Andrei Rublev (not released in the U.S. until 1973), A Man for All Seasons, Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?, Alfie, Persona (1967 in the U.S.), Seconds, The Professionals, Closely Watched Trains (1967 in the U.S.) Blow-Up and The Whisperers (1967 in the U.S.).

Where was The Whisperers released in 1966?

[Big Magilla]

Magilla, I think you leave out that A Man For All Seasons was the lifeline for all those older Academy-ites who weren't happy about a "dirty" movie winning. Woolf was the leader all year, until Seasons opened, and some people (including critics) leaped on it with unabashed relief (recall Bosley Crowther lecturing some of the NY lady-critics as having "voted like wild evangelists").

I thought the "dirty" movie they were all afraid of was Blow-Up which only managed a Best Director nod for Antonioni among the major awards. I don't think too many people aside from, maybe, Loretta Young were shocked by the language in Woolf.

I do recall stories about Taylor being offended that Burton didn't win for Woolf, but Burton himself saying that Scofield deserved the award. The performance Burton came closest to deserving to win for IMO was The Spy Who Came in From the Cold, which I watched again recently. It's a good companion piece to The Constant Gardener. LeCarre used basically the same plot, albeit with modern twists, for Gardener. Burton, though a seasoned spy, is just as naive as Ralph Fiennes in the latter film and Claire Bloom's character, though nowhere near as daring as Rachel Weisz's, was quite outspoken for a woman in her day.



Edited By OscarGuy on 1240725928

[flipp525]

I just love how Albee found the title of "Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?" as a message scrawled in soap across a bathroom mirror in a gay bar. That is just so classic.

In Susan Edmiston's book, Literary New York, she reports Albee entered a bathroom in a bar and saw WHO'S AFRAID OF VIRGINIA WOOLF? written across the mirror in soap. She mentions that this bar "is now [early 70s] The Ninth Circle"; she doesn't mention that The Ninth Circle was one of the most well-known bars in gay NY. In the 1970s, it was favored by gay teens; I used to go there a lot.

Edited By OscarGuy on 1240725819

[Mister Tee]

Magilla, I think you leave out that A Man For All Seasons was the lifeline for all those older Academy-ites who weren't happy about a "dirty" movie winning. Woolf was the leader all year, until Seasons opened, and some people (including critics) leaped on it with unabashed relief (recall Bosley Crowther lecturing some of the NY lady-critics as having "voted like wild evangelists").

This isn't to put down Seasons, which, as I wrote in a long-lost thread, is one of the rare historical movies that doesn't feel like empty pageantry. I'd have voted Burton for best actor -- I think George is one of the great roles in the American theatre, and Burton does a superb job -- but Scofield is certainly a defensible pick.

I don't think Caine was really even in the picture, Sabin. Truly, I'm not sure Burton even was, in the end -- once Scofield took NY and the Globe, the race appeared to be over. (That's pretty much why Taylor and Burton skipped the ceremony)

[Sabin]

What of Michael Caine, then? Was he the spoiler?

[Big Magilla]

Virginia Woolf may have gotten more publicity at the time, but Fred Zinnemann's film of Robert Bolt's play about St. Thomas More's refusal to acknowledge Henry VIII as head of the Church of England was more than an accomplished opening up of a literate stage play. It had uncanny timing. The film was seen as a metaphor for young men who followed their conscience in defying the draft during the Vietnam War.

The Academy chose the quiet, but accomplished, stage actor Scofield over headline grabber Burton in what was considered to be a tight race.

[HarryGoldfarb]

I first saw Who's afraid of Virginia Woolf 5 years ago and since then I've been such a fan, it's in my top ten list of all time. On the other hand I first saw A Man for all Seasons when I was 16 and even though I liked it a lot, I remember I associated it with an "old fashioned cinema", that it was very conservative and very much of it's time and hence that fact actually made the impact Virgina had on me even bigger years after, specially cause I thought the film was way ahead of its own time...

But that changed three nights ago... I saw Zinnemann's work on TV and now I know I was too young to apreciate, not only the film, but the complexity of that story... Now I understand what happened in 1966 and even though I'm still a fan of VW, A Man for All Seasons astounished me! The performances, the camera work, the directing, everything... ***SPOILER*** The scene when Moore (Scofield) explains his wife why he can't tell her his reasons of keeping silence actually broke my heart and it was so quite, so unartificious... the serenity that was covering the intensity of the situation is perfect...

All the same, I still can't decide between Burton and Scofield... if we could choose a year for a Tie in the Best Actor Award, this would be mine (if we could choose two, I'd also pick 2003 with Penn and Murray, and in my crazy dreams if we can choose three I'd finally go with a tie between Murray Abraham and Tom Hulce in 1984)

Finally I want to ask how was the race in 1966? was this an expected thing?

[Big Magilla]

Fixed it, thanks.

[Reza]

Magilla, you are missing one nominee in your best picture list for 1966. You probably missed it while reshuffling your lists.