Best Picture and Director 1976

1927/28 through 1997

What are your picks for Best Picture and Director of 1976? Pick one of each.

All the President's Men
4
7%
Bound for Glory
0
No votes
Network
11
18%
Rocky
1
2%
Taxi Driver
15
25%
John G. Avildsen - Rocky
0
No votes
Ingmar Bergman - Face to Face
1
2%
Sidney Lumet - Network
15
25%
Alan J. Pakula - All the President's Men
9
15%
Lina Wertmuller - Seven Beauties
5
8%
 
Total votes: 61

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Re: Best Picture and Director 1976

Post by ksrymy »

Greg wrote:
Eric wrote:10. The Opening of Misty Beethoven
Is that the porno you are referring to?
Yeah, this is definitely porno Pygmalion.
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Re: Best Picture and Director 1976

Post by The Original BJ »

Thanks to those here who alerted me to its availability, I finally caught up with Face to Face. And I found a lot to admire in the movie, as I typically do with Bergman's films. But I definitely didn't think the film approached the top tier of the director's work -- if I made a Bergman top ten, it wouldn't be on it. The chief reason to see the film is the extraordinary Liv Ullmann performance, one of the most astonishing pieces of work from the great actress of this era; certainly the director deserves some credit for guiding his star to such tremendous heights. But the movie has a bit of a truncated feel, perhaps the result of editing down from a longer version (though, for what it's worth, the theatrical version of Scenes from a Marriage had similar origins, but doesn't seem fragmented to me). And ultimately, I don't think the story's revelations about the origin of Ullmann's psychosis (and the reason for her suicide attempt) really land as narrative -- her descent in madness works more as a bracing display of emotion rather than a dramatically satisfying plot.

As a result, though I don't begrudge Bergman this attention (especially when so many of his masterpieces didn't receive Academy notice), I cast my Best Director vote for Pakula.
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Re: Best Picture and Director 1976

Post by Mister Tee »

Damn – had a busy week, and now I’m getting here at the tail-end of the discussion.

I view 1976 as basically the end of the 70s movie boom. You could maybe extend it to April of ’77, when Annie Hall opened (and then say the May opening of Star Wars pointed the way to the new, far lesser world to come). But 1977 and 1978 were lackluster years, and, though there were a whole lot of good movies in 1979, they were mostly of a more domesticated sort – the spirit of rebellion and experimentation that had marked the post-Bonnie and Clyde era was largely gone.

Of the films that didn’t make the film or director slates in 1976, I thought most highly of Truffaut’s Small Change. I’d also highlight Carrie, and the seemingly forgotten Bingo Long Travelling All-Stars and Motor Kings. Not alot else.

The primary reason I can’t come up with much in the way of alternates is, for the second consecutive year, Academy voters did their jobs pretty well – seeing to it that the actual best films got their due in the big categories.

I was completely surprised by Bergman’s nod for Face to Face; it hadn’t been discussed at all ahead of time (all the foreign language heat was with Seven Beauties). I have to agree with Magilla, that it may have been carryover sympathy from the Scenes from a Marriage omission-by-technicality – or just tribute to the fact that, with Cries and Whispers/Scenes from a Marriage/Face to Face, Bergman was having his greatest period of US mainstream success since the early days of Smiles of a Summer Night and Wild Strawberries. I liked Face to Face, but I think it mostly exists as a vehicle for the great Liv Ullmann performance; the story and technique aren’t anything I’d place among Bergman’s strongest. There’s nothing objectionable about this nomination, but it seems more a matter of timing than anything else.

I know Bound for Glory has a solid reputation around here, thanks to Damien’s advocacy, and perhaps elsewhere, due to general respect for Hal Ashby. But at the time, it was considered something of a disappointment, and, while its best picture nod was preferable to many alternatives, I can’t say its omission from the directing group was anything like a shock – any more than it was for, say, Coal Miner’s Daughter a few years later. I thought the film was clearly visually impressive – the dust cloud, the long tracking shot – but I found the story too episodic to be fully engaging. Again, not a bad nominee, but not up to par with the year’s top achievements.

Rocky was actually, at the time, rated higher by most major critics, possibly because it had been so long since they’d seen a movie with such a primitive rooting-interest appeal. I was never among the film’s big fans – I thought it was pleasantly enjoyable, at best (had no idea what it would wreak) – and I thought Avildsen’s direction was among the worst elements: ham-fisted is the word I’d use to describe it. I was quite shocked when word came that the film had won the DGA prize, setting it up to take the top Oscars – I’d thought the race was purely between Network and All the President’s Men. I know it’s frowned upon here to utter the words “vote splitting”, but this is a case where I think at least “vote-dividing” would apply: the other four best picture nominees (and the other four directing contenders) clearly worked at a different level of art, but opinion was split as to which of those films was best of the best, whereas all the people who preferred movies like Rocky had only one choice. (A similar gestalt, in reverse, gave us a great best picture winner a year after, so you have to take what the system offers) Anyway, I found the movie’s Oscar win a real downer, and there’s no way I’d vote to repeat it.

I’m of mixed feelings about Taxi Driver. Were Scorsese on the directing ballot, he’d probably get my vote; the atmosphere he creates, and the performance he draws from DeNiro, is at the highest level. But I’ve always found Paul Schrader’s script fairly shallow and lurid. A lot of the voice-over is way too purple (though Scorsese does his best to excuse it as the fevered product of Travis’ brain), and, for me, the bloody finale followed by super-cynical epilogue is just too much. The film was ONE of my favorite movies of the year, but its narrative shortcomings leave me unable to cast a final vote for it.

I guess it’s forgotten now, what a critical sensation Seven Beauties was when it opened. Lina Wertmuller had been a fast riser in cinema circles, with Love and Anarchy debuting in early ’75, Swept Away becoming an art-house hit that Fall, and then Seven Beauties opening to rapturous reviews in January ’76. Variety commented that not even Nashville six months earlier had received such widespread critical approval (with Pauline Kael a notable exception); it was a sensation. Given that the NY critics had at that point chosen foreign-language efforts in three of the four preceding years, I fully expected Seven Beauties and Wertmuller to triumph when voting came. But apparently a near-full year’s interim caused enthusiasm to wane, as the film only finished third for film and director, behind All the President’s Men (which had also been a close-to-unanimous critical favorite) and Network (whose reviews had been far more divided). I don’t know why critics backed away like that. I think they were right in singling out Seven Beauties as a truly impressive film – perhaps the last truly great overseas effort of the decade. The comedy of the hometown flashbacks, the genuine horror of the concentration camp scenes (the most graphic we’d seen in a fiction film to then) were all beautifully helmed by Wertmuller (who, sadly, just about disappeared from view after this). I wouldn’t say her nomination came as a surprise; in fact, I’d thought the film might make it under best picture as well. (The shock was the film losing under foreign film, to the piffle that was Black and White in Color) Because of the other films on the ballot, Wertmuller doesn’t get my vote…but I’m awfully glad she got the mention.

Back in 1976, my choice for both film and directing was Network. At the time, I thought it was a rousing success as both hilarious satire and a moving portrait of an aging man (Holden) watching the standards of his youth crumble. After a recent re-viewing, I still think that first element holds up. It’s hard to overstate how prescient this film was -- when it opened, its take on network news was seen even by fans as wildly hyperbolic; today it seems, if anything, not cynical enough. Chayefsky’s imagination ran wild, and somehow saw the future more clearly than I could have imagined. On the other hand, Chayefsky is also responsible for the parts of the film I didn’t think held up: Holden’s repeated lectures to Dunaway about the shallowness of her and her generation came off deeply sanctimonious t me the second time around (despite truly touching work by the actor). I still think it’s a good movie (and, with Dog Day Afternoon and Prince of the City, the peak of Sidney Lumet’s checkered career). But I’m no longer quite ready to choose it as best picture.

Even back then, I thought All the President’s Men was a close-to-flawless effort, a very close second for best picture. Alan Pakula and William Goldman (plus whatever other writers) took material that was way over-familiar (to those of us who’d followed Watergate doggedly) and made it seem spectacularly fresh. The film’s sense of atmosphere is palpable – whether in the newsroom (BJ is correct: it’s as believable a workplace as I’ve ever seen in the movies), or in the more baroque scenes, like Jane Alexander emerging from the shadows of her apartment, or (most famously) Deep Throat in his garage. If there’s any disappointment in the film, it’s that it just stops, well before the story as we came to know it was over. I realize to have gone further would have created an entirely different film – one in which Woodward and Bernstein had a far more minor role – but, as Woody Allen once said, the heart wants what it wants, and I wanted a film that went all the way to its triumph-of-justice conclusion. This is why, despite this film’s obvious virtues, I opted for Network back in 1976.

Now, though, having revised my opinion on the Lumet film downward, I’m inclined toward giving both my votes to All the President’s Men – for best director, in the absence of Scorsese, and for best film of the year. It sure would have made a better choice that what actually won.
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Re: Best Picture and Director 1976

Post by Eric »

The Original BJ wrote:As for Sidney Lumet, I agree precisely with Eric -- the shaggy dog quality of the director's visual style is, as in Dog Day Afternoon, the perfect fit for this material, as it vacillates somewhat recklessly between humor and violence (whether emotional or literal). He wasn't a tremendous director, but I give him credit where it's due for his success here.
Thanks, but that all said, I'm giving the director results in this poll the big side-eye right now.
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Re: Best Picture and Director 1976

Post by Reza »

Voted for Network and Lumet.

My picks for 1976:

Best Picture
1. Network
2. All the President's Men
3. Taxi Driver
4. Seven Beauties
5. Rocky

The 6th Spot: Bound For Glory

Best Director
1. Sidney Lumet, Network
2. Alan J Pakulla, All the President's Men
3. Martin Scorsese, Taxi Driver
4. Lina Wertmuller, Seven Beauties
5. Hal Ashby, Bound For Glory

The 6th Spot: John G Avildson, Rocky
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Re: Best Picture and Director 1976

Post by Precious Doll »

I thought the film was sensational when I first saw it in 1980 on a double bill with Bergman's tepid The Serpent's Egg. Watching Face to Face again a year or so ago again I was disappointed to find that it has not aged well and lacked the impact that it first had. Liv Ullmann was still as impressive as I remembered her being though.

It would be nice if someone would put out the full length Swedish television version. Scenes From a Marriage's television is much more impressive then the cinema cut of the film.
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Re: Best Picture and Director 1976

Post by Big Magilla »

I thought Liv Ullmann's performance in Face to Face was technically excellent but I thought it was one of Bergman's lesser films. He himself pretty much disowned it in later years. Ullmann's nomination seemed likely given all the critics' awards she'd won, but I had the feeling Bergman was nominated as a makeup for being ineligible for Scenes From a Marriage two years earlier. LIke Scenes, it was based on a longer Swedish min-series, but this time they wisely held back the Swedish TV premiere until 3 weeks after the film's U.S. opening so it couldn't be declared ineligible for Oscar.
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Re: Best Picture and Director 1976

Post by Okri »

Definitely worth seeing, if only for Liv Ullman's titanic performance (which I voted for without seeing in the best actress thread and do not regret that decision at all). But I doubt it would make my top 15 Bergman nor would it make my top 10 of the year.
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Re: Best Picture and Director 1976

Post by Greg »

I remember when I was in college there was a month where it showed a series of different art films, many of them years and decades after their theatrical releases. I think Face To Face was one of them. Is it the film where Liv Ullman plays a psychiatrist who herself has a nervous breakdown?
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Re: Best Picture and Director 1976

Post by Sabin »

I haven't seen Face to Face but voted anyway. I haven't heard great things about it to be honest and I've voted for Bergman once before. How is it?
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Re: Best Picture and Director 1976

Post by Precious Doll »

The Original BJ wrote:I can't vote under Best Director, as I've never seen Face to Face. I'm fine with watching the dumb 30's nominees on bad transfers, but I don't want to watch Bergman that way, so I've been holding out for some place like Criterion to officially release it before I see it. Given my affection for Bergman's career overall, I wouldn't want to cast a vote in this category without getting a look at his work.
Face to Face was release by Olive Films in 2011 in a perfectly good Paramount authorised print. Whilst it's not the full television version it is the one shown in cinema on it's initial release.
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Re: Best Picture and Director 1976

Post by The Original BJ »

I can't vote under Best Director, as I've never seen Face to Face. I'm fine with watching the dumb 30's nominees on bad transfers, but I don't want to watch Bergman that way, so I've been holding out for some place like Criterion to officially release it before I see it. Given my affection for Bergman's career overall, I wouldn't want to cast a vote in this category without getting a look at his work.

To touch on the other lone director nominee, I think Seven Beauties is a very strong movie, that covers quite a bit of tonal/narrative ground -- Lina Wertmuller's work is almost Fellini-esque in the way it so deftly juggles the comic and the tragic. It also struck me as the kind of movie I'd have wanted Life is Beautiful to be -- the story of a buffoon navigating the horrors of the Holocaust, but far less sentimental/nostalgic, and full of far more bitter humor and cynicism. Admittedly, the two movies have very different aims, but this one is far more to my sensibilities. It may not be enough of a directorial tour de force to have my Best Director vote, but it's nice she was recognized. (And I imagine it must have been exciting for a woman to finally be recognized in this category, especially when I assume her nomination was far from a certainty.)

In Best Picture, I think four of the nominees are pretty wonderful movies, so of course the Academy went and chose Rocky, the worst of the lot. I guess the nice thing to say is just that it hasn't aged very well, that by the time I got to it it seemed mostly to be a collection of generic sports movie cliches I recognized from other films. Of course, to be a grouch about it, I can't imagine anyone really found its story to be all that fresh when it premiered either. Is the fact that Rocky (SPOILER!) doesn't win the final fight supposed to be a dramatic enough subversion of the happy ending for me to forget all the mundanity that led toward it? And it IS really mundane -- John G. Avildsen is one of the least visually exciting directors to ever purloin the Best Director prize, for what amounts to a pretty ragged piece of filmmaking. I do think that the actors are well-cast -- which isn't the same as delivering great performances -- but Stallone wrote a role that fit him well enough, and the other cast members fit solidly into the film's working class milieu. But with so many exciting efforts on the ballot, it's pretty lame that something so minor ended up the winner.

All the President's Men is a hugely engrossing investigation story, with a superb eye for detail both in terms of the specifics of the narrative, but also in the milieu of the film. (Has a newspaper office in a film ever looked like people actually work there as much as the one here?) But I think what sets the film above simply an engrossing mystery -- besides, of course, the titanic cultural impact of the real story Woodward and Bernstein uncovered -- is its emotional impact. For example, Jane Alexander's character plays a relatively small role in the plot, but the actress and the script etch this character in such a way that we feel like we know a lot about her, and care significantly about the emotional stakes of her involvement in this news story. A number of the smaller roles have this effect, and their cumulative impact is such that the film really taps into the sense of trauma the Watergate scandal had on the nation. Alan J. Pakula expertly balances both the suspense of the snowballing narrative and these key moments of dramatic power, and does so in a style that is visually handsome but appropriately reserved and observational. Pending Bergman, he's leading the way for my Director vote.

Network was, in a sense, the official movie of my film school education -- I saw it in three classes the first three semesters, and by that point it became the movie my classmates and I pretty much never wanted to hear mentioned ever again. But...every time, I found a lot to enjoy about the movie, which feels more and more prescient about what network television would become as the years go on. I know Paddy Chayefsky has his detractors -- and I acknowledge that in more realist dramas like Marty, some of his dialogue can feel phony -- but Network is supposed to be ridiculous, and in that sense, I think his screenplay completely succeeds as a wild satire that's both hilarious and horrific. And it perfectly captures that moment in American media when the revolutionary modernism of the '70's was starting to be overthrown by the emptier postmodernism of the coming era, a conflict embodied by the (doomed) Holden-Dunaway relationship. As for Sidney Lumet, I agree precisely with Eric -- the shaggy dog quality of the director's visual style is, as in Dog Day Afternoon, the perfect fit for this material, as it vacillates somewhat recklessly between humor and violence (whether emotional or literal). He wasn't a tremendous director, but I give him credit where it's due for his success here.

I think the two best Best Picture nominees are the ones whose directors weren't nominated, and I wonder if Hal Ashby and Martin Scorsese were excluded in a manner not dissimilar to Affleck/Bigelow this year. The more mainstream claque of the directors' branch pushed some expected candidates onto the ballot, but the fringe went a bit further into left field for their choices, leaving the helmers of some Best Picture nominees out in the cold when you wouldn't think they'd be the kinds of directors excluded.

It's too bad Damien isn't around to give one vote to Bound for Glory, because I think it's a terrific movie, and one of the more underrated major works of the '70's. Visually, it might be second only to Days of Heaven in this era in terms of presenting truly gorgeous images -- that shot of the dust storm approaching the town is simply breathtaking. It's also one of the best biographies ever -- with a sadly non-nominated performance by David Carradine that's so lovely in its understatement -- as well as a richly detailed portrait of a certain time in American history, across a wide variety of spaces. And the soundtrack, with all of its "This Land is Your Land" optimism, celebrates a feeling of kindness and togetherness that makes it a very welcome addition on this ballot, next to some pretty cynical movies. But, of course, its sensibilities aren't just retrograde either, and I think Woody Guthrie's free-spirited attitude toward life has plenty of thematic parallels to the peace/love elements of culture that blossomed during the '70's.

But in the end, my inner cynic wins out, and I vote for Taxi Driver in Best Picture. It's a film that contains so many superlative elements -- the bracing performances of De Niro and Foster, Bernard Herrmann's haunting swan song score, the gorgeous yet unsettling photography of New York City, a script that examines the underbelly of urban life while still treating its disturbed characters with a sense of humanity. I like Mean Streets well enough, but for me, this was the film where Scorsese took the impressive elements of that breakthrough and combined them in such a way that they congealed into a completely successful whole. And is there a crazier art-imitating-life/life-imitating-art extra-filmic narrative than a movie inspired by a botched political assassination attempt itself going on to inspire another botched assassination attempt? The film's ideas about the cyclical nature of violence seem practically embodied in the attempts on the lives of Wallace/Reagan that bookended the film's release. So, for the energetic filmmaking, the moving portrait of one man's loneliness, and its incisive commentary about the link between politics and violence, Taxi Driver is my pick for the year's best and richest movie.
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Re: Best Picture and Director 1976

Post by Sabin »

Taxi Driver & Pakula.
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Re: Best Picture and Director 1976

Post by Greg »

Eric wrote:10. The Opening of Misty Beethoven
Is that the porno you are referring to?
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Re: Best Picture and Director 1976

Post by Eric »

01. The Tenant
02. Carrie
03. Assault on Precinct 13
04. God Told Me To
05. Take the 5:10 to Dreamland
06. Taxi Driver
07. All the President’s Men
08. Family Plot
09. Network
10. The Opening of Misty Beethoven

I ended up voting Network for best picture above because I think it's strengths are far more incongruous and intriguing to me than All the President's Men's or Taxi Driver's. All three go a fair distance in explaining American bicentennial discontent, and the other two are rather clearly more accomplished pieces of filmmaking (making my choice of Pakula for best director an easy one in Scorsese's outrageous absence -- moan all you want about him losing the trophy in 1980 and 1990; to me his all-time best work wasn't even nominated). But Network's mundanity-of-insanity approach (which turns Lumet's flat direction into an unusually perfect happy accident) and the unabated, desperate on-the-noseness of the dialogue ("The American people want somebody to articulate their rage for them!") position the movie as one of pop culture's most uniquely self-serving howls of "me too" rage from the dark heart of the middlebrow establishment. The greatest generation ... was so not.
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