Best Picture and Director 1977

1927/28 through 1997

What are your picks for Best Pictue and Director of 1977?

Annie Hall
20
30%
The Goodbye Girl
0
No votes
Julia
6
9%
Star Wars
5
8%
The Turning Point
2
3%
Woody Allen - Annie Hall
19
29%
George Lucas - Star Wars
2
3%
Herbert Ross - The Turning Point
2
3%
Steven Spielberg, - Close Encounters of the Third Kind
5
8%
Fred Zinnemann - Julia
5
8%
 
Total votes: 66

Big Magilla
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Re: Best Picture and Director 1977

Post by Big Magilla »

Ignoring the songs from Saturday Night Fever was bad enough, but ignoring "New York, New York", which was very much in the Academy's wheelhouse, was absurd.

Another power ballad that was ignored that year was "The Greatest Love of All" sung by George Benson on the soundtrack of The Greatest. It didn't become a hit until Whitney Houston recorded it a decade later.
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Re: Best Picture and Director 1977

Post by Greg »

Mister Tee wrote: Fri Aug 04, 2023 10:42 pm . . . the music branch at that point was strictly ballad-land (maybe it still is). . .
"Naatu Naatu" is hardly a ballad.

Regarding 1977, the big surprise for me was that, even though it was not really a ballad, "New York, New York" was not even nominated for Best Original Song. I would have thought it was enough in the Academy's wheelhouse to get a nomination, if not strongly challenge "You Light Up My Life" to win.
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Re: Best Picture and Director 1977

Post by Sabin »

The songs hold zero significance to me and made no impact on me growing up. That said, they're great. The film gains a lot of lift whenever they play.

Thanks for clearing that up, Tee. I wondered why "How Deep is Your Love" was the Golden Globe was the nominee when "Stayin' Alive" is the more iconic tune.
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Re: Best Picture and Director 1977

Post by Reza »

So glad Mister Tee brought up the songs and music of Saturday Night Fever. It was foremost the music and the songs by the Bee Gees that put this film on the map and through which the spectacular Travolta performance was recognised - although he was pretty much a household name, at least in the United States, courtesy of Kotter.

Sabin says below - in answer to my question - that he wasn't around in 1977 when the film came out which is probably why despite his insightful review of the film there is absolutely no mention of the film's iconic music soundtrack. Am wondering if those songs hold any importance to Sabin. Without the music the film would never have achieved the status it did.
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Re: Best Picture and Director 1977

Post by Mister Tee »

After Close Encounters and Annie Hall, Saturday Night Fever may have been my favorite film of that dreary year. You'd think that, with its otherwordly success, it might have been at least in the conversation for a best picture nomination. But the fact that Travolta's citation was the only one the film received, where it could have made it in for editing and, good god, at least one of its songs, suggests it was just too far outside Oscar voters' comfort zone. For many of them, it was just a glorified Twist Around the Clock.

As regards that song category: it would probably surprise those not around at the time that the song likeliest to have slipped onto the Academy list was Globe nominee How Deep is Your Love, not far bigger (and better-remembered) chart-toppers Stayin' Alive or Night Fever. This was because 1) the music branch at that point was strictly ballad-land (maybe it still is) and 2) How Deep is Your Love was the initially released single (number one at Christmas-time). It wasn't till February, when more people had seen the film, that Stayin' Alive rocketed to the top of Billboard -- Night Fever even later -- and by then the Oscar race had left them behind.

Thinking of the film makes me recall how, for a brief moment, John Badham seemed like he might have an interesting career. He'd done an Emmy-winning TV film called The Law (which brought Judd Hirsch and Gary Busey to early attention), his first film had been a charmer about the Negro Leagues called The Bingo Long Traveling All-Stars and Motor Kings, and the blockbuster status of Saturday Night Fever (it earned almost as much as Close Encounters) suggested the sky was the limit for him. He didn't exactly go bust: he made an elegant Dracula with Frank Langella, gave Richard Dreyfuss one of his few worthy Oscar follow-ups with Whose Life Is it, Anyway? But, mostly, he became a hit-maker, and, because it was the 80s, that meant trivial films. Some were enjoyable enough -- War Games was among the best of the non-Spielberg summer movies, and Stakeout (again with Dreyfuss) mostly fun, as well. But the idea he might be a significant filmmaker slowly dribbled away. Once his films stopped bringing in the big dollars, studios lost interest. He's kept working -- even today, in his 80s -- but his career trajectory has a bit of a bell curve to it: lots of TV work in the early 70s, two decades as a studio mainstay, then back to TV from the mid-Clinton years on.

And, because it's the sort of tidbit people around here feast on: yes, he's brother to Mary Badham, the screen's eternally beloved Scout Finch.
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Re: Best Picture and Director 1977

Post by Big Magilla »

It was nominated for Best Picture Musical/Comedy at the Globes, but its Oscar potential revolved around Travolta's performance. He won the NBR for Best Actor early in an awards season that had no real frontrunner.

In my estimation he was the best of the nominees with only the non-nominated Art Carney in The Late Show giving a somewhat stronger performance.
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Re: Best Picture and Director 1977

Post by Sabin »

Well, I caught up with Saturday Night Fever. There's no reason to post about this in Best Actor yet because I still have to see Equus and A Special Day. I don't know what I thought this film was but I didn't think it was a disco Mean Streets. It's an almost plotless series of subplots held together by the dramatic question of the outcome of a dance competition that we certainly don't care about but Tony does. I'm trying to figure out why it works so well. I think it's the only film I can think of about masculinity/street lowlives where dancing isn't stigmatized by the characters in the film. In fact, Tony is at the top of the pyramid because of it. He isn't just their peacocking ringleader. He's the star of a masquerade where nobody knows how broke or inexperienced he is... and every night, he's so dumb he goes home with his dumb buddies. It's like an all night high school. Personally, I found some sly comedy in that. As a film, it switches back and forth between working class coming-of-age and dance floor exuberance pretty seamlessly. I think it also switches back and forth between making this scene look intoxicating and serving as a cautionary tale about maturity. Tony's friend asks Tony's lapsed priest brother if he could ask the Pope to absolve him if he paid for an abortion, to which he responds with a very polite "Um. No." Quick sidenote: somehow didn't know how suddenly this film swerves into rapeville. It doesn't feel exploitative (his buddy's fate does a bit) but I appreciated its honesty because there's a presence of gender role confusion throughout the film. Tony is sexually aggressive but also a virgin, desiring of intimacy (from a woman who is not interested) but the film's highpoint is Tony ignoring the clear interest of a woman to dance by himself. I don't think the final scene quite works because by that point I just had such a different view of Tony and his life but I do appreciate the general direction it took.

Travolta is terrific. I'm trying to imagine this as a performance that at the time could only have been viewed as a sitcom star making the leap to the big screen. I also see why so many people flipped so hard when they saw him in Pulp Fiction. They've been waiting for a long time for him to play someone so amusingly dumb with that kind of arc. The only problem with it is that is I can't forget the decades of bad performances in between so I kept glimpsing his bad tricks. It's hardly a one man show though. It's quite well-directed and does a good job constantly surrounding Travolta with voices and faces that are also reasonably dumb. The biggest flaw in the film is that I don't think it quite goes deep enough into the Stephanie character. Another film would suggest that Stephanie represents Tony's class aspirations and it's very amusing that Tony's desires don't even go that fully-formed. But by the time he visits her home, it misses an opportunity to cast her in a different light. She's interesting.

Anyway, I really like it. It's been made clear to me that Best Picture was largely a six film race (which has been plenty listed below) but was Saturday Night Fever running seventh?
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Re: Best Picture and Director 1977

Post by Sabin »

Reza wrote
Sabin, were you around in 1977 or born much later?
Wasn’t around.
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Re: Best Picture and Director 1977

Post by Reza »

Sabin wrote: Mon Jun 12, 2023 3:44 pm
mlrg wrote
Sabin, I know you did a 1995 movie marathon. Probably you should do 1977 next :-)
Oh, twist my arm.
Sabin, were you around in 1977 or born much later?
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Re: Best Picture and Director 1977

Post by Sabin »

mlrg wrote
Sabin, I know you did a 1995 movie marathon. Probably you should do 1977 next :-)
Oh, twist my arm.
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Re: Best Picture and Director 1977

Post by mlrg »

A bit of trivia (if I’m not mistaken): with only 9 different films 1977 has the lowest number of films nominated for best picture plus the acting categories.

On a side note: back in November 2003 when I was travelling to Brazil and still recovering from jet lag I caught up Looking for Mr Goodbar completely by chance at some random tv channel. I never watched the movie again but remember it quite vividly.

Sabin, I know you did a 1995 movie marathon. Probably you should do 1977 next :-)
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Re: Best Picture and Director 1977

Post by Mister Tee »

Sabin wrote: Mon Jun 12, 2023 11:48 am -For Best Actor, you really didn't think Burton would make it in? I thought he was the front-runner going into the race.
The way i remember the timeline: Going into Fall, there seemed two overdue actors heading the list: Pacino in Bobby Deerfield (on a hot roll since 1972) and Burton in Equus (clearly recognition-deserving for career, in a vehicle he'd done successfully on Broadway) . Deerfield crashed and burned as soon as reviews came out (i never even bothered to see the film). Equus got maybe not quite as poor reviews, but it was hardly well-regarded...and, commercially, an absolute dud. Because the best actor field was the weakest of the entire decade, Burton still hovered as possible nominee, but I discounted him because, unlike many prognosticators, I'd seen the film. I'd found the performance at best undistinguished and, at moments, awful -- his monologues to the camera were strictly amateur night. (A friend, longtime fan of both Burtons, touted him to me all season...until he caught a cIip from one of those monologues, and pronounced himself "horrified".)

Yes, once Burton managed the nomination despite all this, the Hollywood hype machine decided he was a front-runner, but it was a bit like Lauren Bacall-Mirror Has Two Faces/Glenn Close-The Wife -- 100% narrative-driven, ignoring both artistic and box-office handicaps. I won some pools that year sticking with Dreyfuss.
Sabin wrote: Mon Jun 12, 2023 11:48 am-I was going to remark similarly for the omission of Jason Robards. I had misremembered him as a frontrunner but as I look at the precursors, I see that he didn't show up anywhere. He won the LAFCA but Schell won the NYFCC, Edward Fox won the National Society, Skerritt won the National Board, and Firth won the Golden Globe. That's a jump ball.
Robards was viewed as surprise winner; most predictions had been either Guinness or Schell, and the fact Robards was the winner the year prior seemed to make him a deep long shot. The real choice, of course, was nobody; one of the weakest fields the category has ever yielded.
Sabin wrote: Mon Jun 12, 2023 11:48 am-Sounds like you were really holding out against hope that The Goodbye Girl wouldn't make it in.
I was far from alone. The other four plus Close Encounters were widely viewed as the logical slate. (Spielberg's film had finished in the top 3 at both NY and National Society voting; it was better critically-praised than Star Wars -- though the latter obviously made a ton more money.) The Goodbye Girl was, as I've said, a sleeper: opening to moderate reviews and business; thought mainly likely to get Dreyfuss into the lackluster best actor slate. But the movie just kept hanging on at the box office, sort of like My Big Fat Greek Wedding, and that populist appeal surprisingly pushed it onto the best picture slate. Aljean Harmetz, then the star Oscars-reporter in the NY Times, used that very word, "surprising", for the omission of Close Encounters. There was some speculation the breaking David Begelman scandal at Columbia had worked against the studio's primary nomination hope, Spielberg's film.
Sabin wrote: Mon Jun 12, 2023 11:48 am I'd probably be in your shoes at the time although four Golden Globe wins would probably lead me to be closer to omitting Annie Hall.
The wins were on the comedy side, and, note: the previous year, A Star is Born had swept those categories. The two years before that, The Longest Yard and The Sunshine Boys had won. The Globes overall were hit and miss as Oscar predictors --sometimes spot on, then, as with The Sting, missing completely -- but the comedy side was particularly untrustworthy.

As for Annie Hall...at that point, no English-language NY Critics winner had ever failed to get a best picture nomination. Even two subtitled films, Z and Cries and Whispers, had crossed the divide. This trend was to survive until 1995, when Leaving Las Vegas (narrowly, we assume) missed.(ON EDIT: I forgot The Player, which missed three years prior to Las Vegas. Both films did survive to get directing/writing nods, but missed best picture at the Oscars,) As I said, I was shocked Annie Hall ended up the winner, but I had no doubt it would be a nominee.
Last edited by Mister Tee on Mon Jun 12, 2023 5:42 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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Re: Best Picture and Director 1977

Post by Big Magilla »

mlrg wrote: Mon Jun 12, 2023 1:48 pm It’s really fascinating to learn Tee’s, Magilla’s or Reza’s predictions from decades ago.
Thanks, Miguel, but mine weren't so much predictions as what I would have put on my ballot if I had one. I did expect Star Wars, Annie Hall, The Turning Point and Julia to make it into Best Picture but The Goodbye Girl surprised me. I was hoping for Looking for Mr. Goodbar but not really expecting it. It was a flawed film that was severely handicapped by its filming partially in L.A. and partially in San Francisco to create an unnamed big city when it should have been filmed in New York where the real story took place. The producers wanted to film it in New York but couldn't afford it. I remember thinking that Close Encounters, which I hated, would be the fifth nominee.

The other thing I couldn't fathom was Woody Allen for Best Actor. Director and Screenplay were a given, but acting at the expense of Art Carney in The Late Show? Sacrilege!
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Re: Best Picture and Director 1977

Post by Reza »

Sabin wrote: Mon Jun 12, 2023 11:48 amFor Best Actor, you really didn't think Burton would make it in? I thought he was the front-runner going into the race.
Surely Burton was the frontrunner once the nominations were announced. He had won the Globe, as had Richard Dreyfuss but on the lower end in comedy. The latter was a surprise win and in hindsight a better choice than the very dour Burton.

Allen, Travolta and Mastroianni had absolutely no chance of winning. Seeing it all today I would very easily vote for Travolta from the nominated five. Of the ones not nominated my choice for the best male lead performance of 1977 would be Sir John Gielgud in Providence (the NY Critics winner).

My subsequent best of list includes the following actors:

Best Actor
Woody Allen, Annie Hall
Richard Dreyfuss, The Goodbye Girl
*John Gielgud, Providence
Fernando Rey, That Obscure Object of Desire
John Travolta, Saturday Night Fever

Best Supporting Actor
Dirk Bogarde, Providence
Peter Firth, Equus
Alec Guinness, Star Wars
*Jason Robards, Julia
Maximillian Schell, Julia
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Re: Best Picture and Director 1977

Post by Sabin »

mlrg wrote
Well, with so many precursors and bloggers nowadays, who hasn’t. It’s really fascinating to learn Tee’s, Magilla’s or Reza’s predictions from decades ago though.
That is fair.

And yes, very fascinating.
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