Best Screenplay 1975

1927/28 through 1997

What were the best screenplays of 1975?

Amarcord(Federico Fellini and Tonino Guerra)
10
31%
And Now My Love(Claude Lelouch and Pierre Uytterhoeven)
0
No votes
Dog Day Afternoon(Frank Pierson)
4
13%
Lies My Father Told Me(Ted Allan)
1
3%
Shampoo(Warren Beatty and Robert Towne)
2
6%
Barry Lyndon(Stanley Kubrick)
5
16%
The Man Who Would Be King(John Huston and Gladys Hill)
0
No votes
One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest(Bo Goldman and Laurence Hauben)
7
22%
Scent of a Woman(Ruggero Maccari and Dino Risi)
3
9%
The Sunshine Boys(Neil Simon)
0
No votes
 
Total votes: 32

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Precious Doll
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Re: Best Screenplay 1975

Post by Precious Doll »

I found Toute une vie middle of the road Lelouch but something of a curiosity due to the pairing of Marthe Keller & Andre Dussollier before they achieved more widespread fame. Amazon unfortunately doesn't state if the Blu Ray has English subtitles. However, anyone that is curious to see it should certainly check the film out via the YouTube link CalWilliam supplied.

I am fairly certain I sold off my copy years ago.
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Re: Best Screenplay 1975

Post by CalWilliam »

For those interested, Toute une vie is actually available on YouTube with english subtitles, divided in five parts. Here's the link. I'll watch it some day, since I don't quite disdain Lelouch peculiar and old-fashioned style, like in the much rewarded Un homme et une femme. It provides, at least, some tacky charm, if that's possible. This one appears to be an interesting film.

http://youtu.be/_MLcaamstAA
Last edited by CalWilliam on Sat May 09, 2015 9:41 am, edited 2 times in total.
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Re: Best Screenplay 1975

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Good analysis of the Nashville snub, Tee, although it should be noted that only the Globes actually nominated it. The critics didn't go for it and the WGA snubbed it, too. It wasn't just the old fogeys in the Academy.

And Now My Love opened in New York under its original title of Tout une vie on March 24, 1975. It was reviewed favorably in the N.Y. Times by second stringer A.H. Weiler. Here's a link:

http://www.nytimes.com/movie/review?res ... 838E669EDE

I wasn't advocating for The Prisoner of Second Avenue except in relationship to The Sunshine Boys which I loathed about as much as All That Jazz. Neither should have been nominated, although the WGA nominated both. I didn't like Jack Lemmon in it, but I thought Anne Bancroft, who was nominated for a BAFTA, gave one of her best comedic performances.

Precious, there's a new Spanish Blu-ray of Tout une vie that an Amazon third party seller in Spain is offering for less than $40 vs. the outlandish prices for the DVD which sells new at $250.
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Re: Best Screenplay 1975

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And Now My Love was released on DVD in 2003 by Image Entertainment under it's French title Tout une Vie.

I purchased a copy back in 2007, thankfully whilst it was still listed. It can be still purchased on Amazon via the second hand market for very inflated prices only.
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Re: Best Screenplay 1975

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First question: why wasn’t Nashville nominated? It’s a multi-pronged answer. First, the Academy didn’t so much like the movie. Yeah, it got picture/director nominations, but the overwhelming critical reaction bullied them into that. (In that long ago era, a NY Critics win had never failed to bring an English-language film a best picture nod) And it got the two supporting actresses in, but that category was beyond barren (as the Vaccaro nomination attests). And it got the song – a traditionally melodic number written by the offspring of a longtime Hollywood name. But it didn’t get cinematography, or editing, or sound (despite that branch’s traditional swoon for musicals). And it didn’t get writing. In the persnickety old-timer/young-upstart divide of the time, Nashville fell too squarely on the young side, which was Oscar death in the 70s.

But why were the writers – generally the branch most open to innovation – among the naysayers? I think there was some sense –as with Boyhood last year – that the film somehow magically evolved rather than being created on the page. Altman has over the years encouraged this belief -- that his screenwriters only give him a rough outline, that he catches lightning in a bottle; I think this may have hurt. It was certainly a disservice to Tewksbury. I’ve read her script for Nashville, and it felt to me like the whole movie was pretty much on the page; she clearly rated a nomination. Instead, it was omitted, making clear on nominations day that the film had no chance in the final voting. And making it impossible for us to vote on it here.

The other omission I’d remedy is Love and Death – easily the most polished of Woody’s “early, funny movies”, and a delight.

I can 50% endorse Magilla’s stance on the unseens, because I’ve never been able to track down And Now My Love. It was a mystery nominee in its day (I believe one of those films that played NY a year earlier but didn’t reach LA till ’75; it was barely on anyone’s radar), and long out of theatres by the time of the nomination. Since those were the days before even VCRs, that made it pretty much unavailable, which, as far as I know, it has been since. (Netflix had it listed as Extremely Long Wait for a few months, then moved it to Unknown – either they had one copy and someone lost it, or they were just pretending all along.)

But Lies My Father Told Me is not that obscure. TCM showed it a few years back (I mentioned that fact in the DVR thread), and it got semi-wide distribution back in ’75. I think it’s a very likable movie – gentle but not without some tough-minded insight. If you watch it, don’t be put off by the grisly song that plays over the opening credits; the film is considerably better than that opening would lead you to believe. I’m not voting for it, but I recall it fondly.

Shampoo is a movie I’ve never liked quite as much as I’d have expected. I like all the people associated with the project; I admire its ambition; I was a prime target for anything that blended politics with social criticism. And I think the movie’s fine… it just doesn’t ever hit second gear for me. It ambles along, I’m absorbed enough watching it, but I never feel like it gels into anything that elevates it to a level of importance. I’m tempted to watch it again, but most re-viewings from that era just confirm my initial impressions.

I’d somehow missed the real-life news event that inspired Dog Day Afternoon, so, when I heard the plot premise, I thought it sounded fairly ridiculous. But it turned out to be Sidney Lumet’s best film to that point, a very funny, lively as hell crime caper that caught the flavor of New York in those years as well as any movie ever did. There’s a lot of very strong writing in the film – most obviously in the scenes involving Chris Sarandon’s character, but also in scenes like Pacino dictating his will. And the overall story arc is quite solid. This is not an ignoble Academy choice by any means.

But I’m going for Amarcord, which I think is a better movie overall, and Fellini’s last golden achievement. You could argue the film is a visual triumph, and certainly there are images that stick in the mind (the peacock in the snow, the boat). But this is a very well-written film as well – an unsentimental, often very funny memory piece that weaves episodes together beautifully to create a full vision of childhood. Fellini and company for the win.

Given that 1975 seemed a pretty solid year to me while it was going on, I’m startled to find I can come up with almost no reasonable alternates to suggest under adaptation. The best I can do is to cite In Celebration, one of the last of the American Film Theatre offerings, and the only really successful film version of one of David Storey’s plays.

Magilla, I’m shocked to see you advocate for The Prisoner of Second Avenue over The Sunshine Boys – not that the latter is anything special, but I find Prisoner almost unwatchably bad (it was a prime reason I couldn’t stand to watch Jack Lemmon in that period). Sunshine Boys is, like most Simon plays, minor, and Herb Ross as usual does very little to liven things up. No chance I’d vote for it.

Scent of a Woman is far better than the American remake – in fact, you could probably make the case that everything decent about the Brest film had already been done in Risi’s version, with none of the bad stuff to drag it down. My memory ( almost 40 years old now) is of quite pungent dialogue; it was no mystery why the writers would go for it. This is a perfectly praiseworthy nominee.

Because so many of you here have expressed enthusiasm over Barry Lyndon, I decided to take another look at it when TCM ran it recently. I enjoyed the first half quite a bit; the twists and turns of the plot are engaging enough, and the ironic detached tone of the narration works well. But I don’t think the plot after intermission – basically, the son’s vendetta -- is strong enough to justify the film’s great length (and the fate of the younger son is something we’d scream about as predictable schmaltz if it came from a contemporary writer). I still basically think of the film what I did 40 years ago: stunningly beautiful execution of an impressive but not gripping story that goes on a bit too long. A film of integrity, the work of a real artist, but not, for me, a great movie. And definitely not a great script.

The Man Who Would Be King’s Oscar success – four nominations, including this relatively glamorous one – came as a surprise to me, as the film had opened quietly at Christmas and didn’t seem to be operating in awards territory. In the years since, of course, its reputation has grown substantially, to the point some may be surprised it didn’t do even better. It’s probably a movie I should look at again because, at the time, it couldn’t have been further from my taste – I was a Serious Cinema kind of guy, and my enthusiasm was all for Kubrick/Altman/Forman and their big subjects; this boys’ adventure film seemed a throwback to Errol Flynn days. On that level, I enjoyed it well enough, but I gave it no best-of-the-year consideration. In the years since, I’ve perhaps opened up more to genres, so it’s possible I’d think more highly of it.

Not enough, though, to vote for it over One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest, a movie I’d looked forward to more than any other film in 1975 (having adored the novel), and it still met my expectations. In fact, I’d make the case that Cuckoo’s Nest might have been the most successful match-its-source adaptation in that era (that’s excluding something like The Godfather, which rocketed past its trashy literary roots). The film made decisions that changed the story – notably, removing the Chief’s narration, saving his secret for later in the film – but everything worked as well as or better than what was on the page. The film was viscerally exciting (the imagined World Series and the basketball game had my audience cheering with excitement) but it was also a work of subtlety. Nurse Ratched and her orderlies are the villains, certainly, but they aren’t portrayed at hissable level; they seem merely the unavoidable byproduct of a bureaucracy more concerned with keeping order than improving people’s lives. The movie is liberating in some sense, but regretful at the same time – as if it knows those two elements inevitably co-exist in human life. A really solid film, one I might have chosen as best picture without Nashville in the mix, and my definite choice in this category.
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Re: Best Screenplay 1975

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Original: Amarcord

Easy choice here with Dog Day Afternoon and to a lesser extent Shampoo being the other worthy nominees. Lies My Father Told Me is quite charming and it is good to see included. And Now My Love is minor Lelouch and it's inclusion is surprising with the omission of Nashville and well as other more worthy possibilities.

Adapted: Barry Lyndon

Another easy choice for me. One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest is good but I've always felt somewhat overrated. I don't feel the other three were remotely worthy nominees.
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Re: Best Screenplay 1975

Post by Kellens101 »

Along with Best Adapted Screenplay, I would gladly give Barry Lyndon Oscars for its gorgeous and lush photography, costumes and sets, which deservedly won awards in 1975.
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Re: Best Screenplay 1975

Post by Kellens101 »

In Original, I voted for Amarcord, a touching, funny and beautiful portrait of an Italian town and the people that inhabit it over time. But, overall I would vote for Nashville, an ambitious, exciting, glorious, funny, sad and brilliant portrait of America, country music and the lives of 24 different people. What a masterpiece!

In Adapted, I'd vote for Barry Lyndon, another of the year's masterpieces and a hugely intelligent and deeply cynical adaptation of Thackeray's novel. This was the second best film of the year and another of Kubrick's great films in his glorious career.
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Re: Best Screenplay 1975

Post by Big Magilla »

CalWilliam wrote:Nashville should have been nominated and won hands down. Someone here could give a quick scenario of what could have happened back in 1976?
I don't know, but maybe the writers' branch was skeptical of Joan Tewkesbury's input. Although Altman's former script supervisor was the official writer of the screenplay, it was well known that Altman and his actors contributed to it. Louise Fletcher, for example, who was raised by deaf parents, was well known to have had input into the character played by Lily Tomlin from which she was fired after Altman had a falling out with her husband, producer Jerry Bick.
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Re: Best Screenplay 1975

Post by CalWilliam »

I won't vote in neither category. I've yet to see some of them, but in Original Nashville should have been nominated and won hands down. Someone here could give a quick scenario of what could have happened back in 1976?
I love Amarcord, but as a writing achievement I would have given my vote to Dog Day Afternoon, my favorite Pacino performance and a truly engaging plot and character driven movie. Shampoo is worth seeing, but it doesn't hold a candle to the other two.

In Adapted, I regret I haven't seen Profumo di donna nor The Man Who Would Be King yet, but Barry Lyndon is one of my all time favorites, and a very worthy winner in this category. I don't find its narrative weak at all. Of course, we should be happy with One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest victory, as I am. The Sunshine Boys is negligible.
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Re: Best Screenplay 1975

Post by Big Magilla »

ITALIANO wrote:
Big Magilla wrote: It seems awfully odd to me that the writers would go out of their way to nominate these two
But you haven't even seen them!!! :D

I want to be American in my next life... SO much easier...
LOL!

I guess I put my foot in that one!
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Re: Best Screenplay 1975

Post by ITALIANO »

Big Magilla wrote: It seems awfully odd to me that the writers would go out of their way to nominate these two
But you haven't even seen them!!! :D

I want to be American in my next life... SO much easier...
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Re: Best Screenplay 1975

Post by Big Magilla »

I 'm not going to abstain even though I haven't seen two of the Original Screenplay nominees and one of the Adapted Screenplay nominees, but I don't think too many here have. The re-voting option is available if by some chance I happen to come across any of the missing nominees and change my mind in the future.

Original

The two I haven't seen are Lies My Father Told Me, a minor Canadian film, and And Now My Love, A Claude Lelouch film which from its description appears to be as feathery light as A Man and a Woman, a Lelouch film I never understood the success of. It seems awfully odd to me that the writers would go out of their way to nominate these two while ignoring Joan Twewkesbury's screenplay for Nashville which would get my vote were it nominated.

Of the actual nominees, I have to go with the Oscar winner, Frank Pierson's Dog Day Afternoon over Robert Towne and Warren Beatty's collaboration on Shampoo. I think Fellini's direction and the film's amazing cinematography outweigh the strengths of his screenplay for Amarcord. There were four original foreign language screenplays that I think would have been worthier nominees - two French (The Story of Adele H. and Stavisky) and two Italian (A Brief Vacation and, Swept Away). Of the Hollywood screenplays only Smile and Hearts of the West would get my consideration, but my top five would be Nashville, Dog Day Afternoon, Shampoo, The Story of Adele H. (assuming the diary it's taken from doesn't make it adapted) and A Brief Vacation.

Adapated

The one I haven't seen here is the original version of Scent of a Woman, which I hope to catch up with one of these days. It certainly seems like a more worthy candidate than The Sunshine Boys. If they had to nominate something from Neil Simon, The Prisoner of Second Avenue would have been more palatable.

My vote here goes to Bo Goldman and Lawrence Hauben's Oscar winning One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest with Barry Lyndon and The Man Who Would Be King acceptable nominees, although the strength of both of those films lies in their direction, not their director-driven screenplays by Robert Altman and John Huston (with co-writer Gladys Hill), respectively. My top five here would be One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest, Three Days of the Condor, Farewell, My Lovely, Barry Lyndon and Jaws.
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Best Screenplay 1975

Post by Kellens101 »

What were the best screenplays of 1976?
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