Best Picture and Director 1982

1927/28 through 1997

Please select your choices for Best Picture and Director of 1982 from among the Academy's nominees

E.T.: The Extra-Terrestrial
16
25%
Gandhi
0
No votes
Missing
7
11%
Tootsie
7
11%
The Verdict
2
3%
Richard Attenborough - Gandhi
1
2%
Sidney Lumet - The Verdict
2
3%
Wolfgang Petersen - Das Boot
8
13%
Sydney Pollack - Tootsie
4
6%
Steven Spielberg - E.T.: The Extra-Terrestrial
16
25%
 
Total votes: 63

Greg
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Re: Best Picture and Director 1982

Post by Greg »

Perhaps the reason no individual song from Victor/Victoria was nominated is that the film itself was nominated, and won, for Oriiginal Song Score.
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Re: Best Picture and Director 1982

Post by Mister Tee »

I actually had to look up and see what the fifth nominated song was -- turned out, it was the biggest hit of the bunch (6 weeks at number one as opposed to the winner's 3). But the category was strictly pro forma: everyone knew Up Where We Belong was going to win.

I barely registered It Might Be You while Tootsie was going on, but, I have to say, whenever I've watched the film again, it seems a likable enough tune.

Le Jazz Hot was the Victor/Victoria song I thought might be nominated -- it was the only one I remembered from the film. (Though, unlike most here, I found the movie overlong/not that funny, and have never felt any need to rewatch.)

My best song candidate would have been The Boys are Back in Town from 48HRS, but that was way out of the Academy's taste-range.
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Re: Best Picture and Director 1982

Post by Reza »

Big Magilla wrote:Neither nominated "Crazy World" or any of the other songs from Victor/Victoria which struck me as odd at the time.
I thought "Crazy World" would for sure get a nod. It's a lovely ballad and seemed right up the Academy's alley. Or maybe not, as by that time the Broadway type ballads were out of vogue. Anyway it's a great song and Andrews is in great voice. And the song is beautifully shot as she stands in darkness with a spotlight on her as the camera slowly circles around. Andrews looks stunning in drag. In fact throughout the film she looked better as a man than as a woman.
Last edited by Reza on Sun Jun 06, 2021 8:24 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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Re: Best Picture and Director 1982

Post by Big Magilla »

Greg wrote:Regarding Victor/Victoria, just what of its songs were originally written for it, not had already been around, so they would have been eligible to be nominated?
All of the songs were eligible. It was an original musical, music by Henry Mancini, lyrics by Leslie Bricusse. The Broadway version thirteen years later was an adaptation of the movie which added a few forgettable songs to the original score.
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Re: Best Picture and Director 1982

Post by Greg »

I quite like the Tootsie song and appreciate that it was incorporated into the story, even if only in a montage, rather than just tacked on the end credits.

Regarding Victor/Victoria, just what of its songs were originally written for it, not had already been around, so they would have been eligible to be nominated?
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Re: Best Picture and Director 1982

Post by Sabin »

Big Magilla wrote
Sabin wrote
Siskel & Ebert included the three nominated songs by Alan & Marilyn Bergman as their worst nomination of the year.
Why? Was it that they thought the three songs were really bad, or that it was overkill to nominate them for three songs?

Actually, I was kind of fond of Shirley Bassey's rendition of "How Do You Keep the Music Playing?" from Best Friends at the time. I did think the song from Tootsie was cute, but far from great. I don't remember the song from Yes, Giogio at although I'm sure I've listened to it at least once. The Golden Globes only nominated that one for some reason. Neither nominated "Crazy World" or any of the other songs from Victor/Victoria which struck me as odd at the time.
I think both.

I think they did it because it was a record three nominations for three songs that they thought were interchangeable and uninspired. They did it as a strike against the music branch which they thought was getting very cozy and insider-y.
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Re: Best Picture and Director 1982

Post by Big Magilla »

Sabin wrote: Siskel & Ebert included the three nominated songs by Alan & Marilyn Bergman as their worst nomination of the year.
Why? Was it that they thought the three songs were really bad, or that it was overkill to nominate them for three songs?

Actually, I was kind of fond of Shirley Bassey's rendition of "How Do You Keep the Music Playing?" from Best Friends at the time. I did think the song from Tootsie was cute, but far from great. I don't remember the song from Yes, Giogio at although I'm sure I've listened to it at least once. The Golden Globes only nominated that one for some reason. Neither nominated "Crazy World" or any of the other songs from Victor/Victoria which struck me as odd at the time.
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Re: Best Picture and Director 1982

Post by Sabin »

Mister Tee wrote
The song in Tootsie could hardly be described as popular -- topping out at number 25 means virtually no radio air-play -- but it's true that the Bergman team got a lot of nominations in that era, so it wasn't a fluke or filler nod.
Siskel & Ebert included the three nominated songs by Alan & Marilyn Bergman as their worst nomination of the year.
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Re: Best Picture and Director 1982

Post by Big Magilla »

Sabin wrote: Sophie's Choice was nominated (for score).
Of course it was! My bleary eyes may have been looking at Best Song! I'll give this one to Tootsie
Not Tootsie (for makeup)?
I thought of Tootsie and Victor/Victoria, both of which seemed like obvious choices but were ignored by the nominators. There seemed to me to be two reasons for this, 1) voters didn't think the makeup was realistic enough to fool people into believing that Hoffman was a woman and Andrews a man; 2) there were too many hands in the makeup jar - 14 (7x2) for both of them. Mephisto only had six (3x2).
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Re: Best Picture and Director 1982

Post by Sabin »

Big Magilla wrote
As for what would have nominated in place of Gandhi in all eleven categories:
Original Score - Sophie's Choice
Sophie's Choice was nominated.
Big Magilla wrote
Makeup - Mephisto
Not Tootsie?
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Re: Best Picture and Director 1982

Post by Sabin »

Mister Tee wrote
It's possible the NY Film Critics would have set the favorite for best picture, in the absence of Gandhi. The other two glamour critics' groups, LA and National Society, had split between ET and Tootsie, and NY might have been the tie-breaker. (NBR, which also chose Gandhi, 1) was often irrelevant and 2) would likely have picked something like Missing.) As it was, the two blockbuster films had been the close runners-up in NY voting (and tied in the initial balloting for best director); it's hard to say which would have won in this hypothetical.
Well, E.T. showed up as runner up for Best Picture and Director but Tootsie showed up as either winner or runner up for Best Picture, Director, Actor, Supporting Actress, and Screenplay. That’s a lot of support for the film.

Tootsie also just seems like the kind of film that this group would go for. But if it did manage to win all five of those categories listed, that might make it the all time NYFCC winner at that point. Not that that would have any kind of impact on where the season might go, just a fun fact.

It looms like we’re talking about two scenarios:
1) Either E.T. adds Oscars for Best Picture and Director to its tally of Best Original Score, Sound, Sound Effects, and Visual Effects with maybe an additional win for Cinematography giving the film 6 or 7 wins, while Tootsie adds Best Screenplay and possibly Actor to its win for Jessica Lange.
2) Or Tootsie adds Best Picture, Original Screenplay, and possibly Actor and Director to its win for Jessica Lange (and what of Costume Design and Makeup?) while E.T. adds Cinematography to its four, giving a fairly even split of the Oscars between the two films.

Either way, we’re talking about a deeply disappointing Oscar ceremony transforming into a deeply satisfying one. Unless somehow the cultural tide turns against Tootsie in the thinking that Spielberg wuz robbed!
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Re: Best Picture and Director 1982

Post by Big Magilla »

I mostly agree with Tee's take on the winners without Gandhi in the mix, but as much as I'd like to think Newman would have finally won Best Actor for The Verdict, the momentum was with Hoffman. Newman won no precursors. He even lost to Hoffman in Boston.

I do see a split between Best Picture and Director. Tootsie was well-liked but E.T. was beloved and would have been a more likely winner without the "important" Gandhi there. It wasn't until Schindler's List, though, that everyone was on board with Spielberg for director. He was famously not nominated for either Jaws seven years earlier or The Color Purple three years later. My personal preference would have been for Lumet, but without a much deserved win for Newman, Pollack would have been the more popular choice.

I wouldn't call the nomination for the cute song from Tootsie filler, but nothing was going to beat the obvious choice of "Up Where We Belong" from An Officer and a Gentleman.

As for what would have nominated in place of Gandhi in all eleven categories:

Best Picture - Sophie's Choice would have gotten the "important" slot
Director - Alan Jay Pakula, Sophie's Choice over DGA nominee Taylor Hackford for An Officer and a Gentleman
Original Screenplay - My Favorite Year
Actor - Albert Finney, Shoot the Moon
Art Direction, Set Decoration - Sophie's Choice
Cinematography - Victor/Victoria
Costume Design - Mephisto
Film Editing - Sophie's Choice
Original Score - Sophie's Choice
Sound - An Officer and a Gentleman
Makeup - Mephisto
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Re: Best Picture and Director 1982

Post by Mister Tee »

Sabin wrote:
Mister Tee wrote
It's the kind of year where you could envision a split -- Tootsie film/Spielberg director -- but that was a far rarer scenario then than it would be today.
Perhaps, but this was of an era where how many splits occurred? We had two total in the 1980’s. One in the 1990’s. And one in the 1970’s. Wouldn’t it be unlikely that two would occur back to back in this era? It just doesn’t seem like something that would happen.

The Director’s Guild would have probably given Steven Spielberg their award over Sydney Pollack three years earlier.
Splits were pretty much a once-a-decade phenomenon from the mid-50s through the mid-90s. Also, in that era, the splits were more a case of failed best picture hopefuls (Reds, Born on the 4th of July) stumbling at the finish line. Unlike today, when it seems splits can be deliberate choices -- voters consciously opting for Gravity in directing while choosing 12 Years a Slave in picture (or Spotlight/The Revenant, Green Book/Roma). So, no: I'm not arguing the split was likely in Gandhi's absence; just that it would be the elegant solution.

If Spielberg had won DGA for E.T., Pollack might have won it in 1985, since you'd have removed the whole poor-poor-under-rewarded Steven scenario from the mix. Out of Africa would have done about the same at the Oscars as in reality, but as the expected choice, not the big surprise.
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Re: Best Picture and Director 1982

Post by Sabin »

Mister Tee wrote
It's the kind of year where you could envision a split -- Tootsie film/Spielberg director -- but that was a far rarer scenario then than it would be today.
Perhaps, but this was of an era where how many splits occurred? We had two total in the 1980’s. One in the 1990’s. And one in the 1970’s. Wouldn’t it be unlikely that two would occur back to back in this era? It just doesn’t seem like something that would happen.

The Director’s Guild would have probably given Steven Spielberg their award over Sydney Pollack three years earlier.
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Re: Best Picture and Director 1982

Post by Mister Tee »

It's possible the NY Film Critics would have set the favorite for best picture, in the absence of Gandhi. The other two glamour critics' groups, LA and National Society, had split between ET and Tootsie, and NY might have been the tie-breaker. (NBR, which also chose Gandhi, 1) was often irrelevant and 2) would likely have picked something like Missing.) As it was, the two blockbuster films had been the close runners-up in NY voting (and tied in the initial balloting for best director); it's hard to say which would have won in this hypothetical.

As for the Oscar, it's also hard to know which way to lean. Neither romantic comedy nor fantasy/kids' movie (to reduce Tootsie and ET to crass pigeonholing) were up the Academy's alley. Spielberg was already in the must-win-someday category with some voters, but Pollack had also been around quite a while, and Tootsie being seen as more a grown-up film would almost surely have helped. It's the kind of year where you could envision a split -- Tootsie film/Spielberg director -- but that was a far rarer scenario then than it would be today.

Best actor would almost definitely have gone to Paul Newman. It was only the critical unanimity around Kingsley that stopped the it's-time campaign from carrying Paul home; minus that, Newman would have romped.

Tootsie would easily have won the screenplay prize it should have easily won, anyway.

Though I loved Almendros' work on Sophie's Choice, I suspect Allen Daviau would have won cinematography for ET.

And Victor/Victoria would have won costumes, as it should have even with Gandhi there.

The song in Tootsie could hardly be described as popular -- topping out at number 25 means virtually no radio air-play -- but it's true that the Bergman team got a lot of nominations in that era, so it wasn't a fluke or filler nod.
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