Looking at Academy Award nominees for Best Picture, from 1980 to 1997 I've seen 81/88. For the 2010's it is 15/88. Probably says more about me than it does about films though so don't read too much in to that..
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Going back further I had to go to 1973 to find a film I'd never actually heard about, let alone seen
The Emigrants, a Swedish language film starring Liv Ullmann and Max von Sydow. Wikipedia highlights two odd facts - it wasn't released on VHS/DVD until 2016 and it was nominated for Academy Awards in both 1972 and 1973
The Emigrants (film) - Wikipedia
And a clip from You Tube which is almost Pythonesque
The Emigrants Trailer - YouTube
Last edited by colchestersid; 29-11-2020, 14:49.Comment
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I never realised Liv Ullman was Norwegian, I always assumed she was Swedish.Comment
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Yeah, I saw The Killing Fields on TV when I was quite young and have done since - I have even bought it on Dvd and watch it every now and again.Originally posted by ad hoc View Post
I will one day tell the tale of our mam's long struggle to see Kramer vs Kramer. I have never seen it, but have read the Mad parody loads.Comment
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The only winning film of the last 50 years I haven't heard of is Ordinary People, from 1980. I've just read the Wikipedia page and it doesn't even ring a vague bell.
Not sure how much it's been shown on telly but I would nominate Spotlight for this thread. Nothing majorly wrong with it, it's well-meaning and competent enough but utterly forgettable. It feels more like a worthy made-for-TV film than any kind of feat of filmmaking or storytelling.Comment
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I have read the Mad parody of Ordinary People many times too.Comment
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I was in one of the street scenes of Kramer vs Kramer, though I'm not sure I am visible in the final releaseComment
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Ordinary People I get mixed up with Terms of Endearment, from a perspective of having seen neither.Comment
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I think it’s a lot better than that and generated a lot of discussion, but it’s not the sort of film that many people enjoy rewatching.Originally posted by Fussbudget View PostComment
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There are a number of "Foreign Language" films that were very big on their release but have now virtually disappeared. Elvira Madigan was massive, as was A Man and a Woman. And has anyone, who's not my age, seen the, once notorious, I am Curious, Yellow?Originally posted by colchestersid View PostComment
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It was on telly in the early nineties as part of a series of banned films.Originally posted by Amor de Cosmos View PostComment
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I've mentioned before that in the seventies we saw a number of Jean-Paul Belmondo films on telly.Comment
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It is a good movie, its reputation has suffered because it beat Raging Bull to the awards, leading to a lot of "what were they thinking?", because 40 years later Raging Bull is an acknowledged classic.Originally posted by Hot Pepsi View Post
But you can see why it won - directorial debut of Robert Redford who was popular and would have had a reputation as "playing the game" a bit more than Scorsese. Much loved comedy actor (Mary Tyler Moore) playing against type in serious role, Judd Hirsch ditto.
Plus it was conventional, shot in colour without the graphic violence and sex of Raging Bull.
And just 4 years previously the academy had given the best picture to another boxing film (Rocky) by the same producer as RB.
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I’m talking about Spotlight, not Ordinary People, although that is also a great film.
I don’t really rate Raging Bull, but then, I didn’t bother to finish it.Comment
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The Academy really got hot for films about divorce/family disintegration during the late 70s/early 80s what with An Unmarried Woman, Kramer vs Kramer, Ordinary People and Shoot the Moon. Last year’s Marriage Story was a bit of a throwback to that.Originally posted by Hot Pepsi View Post
For the record, I’ve only ever seen Kramer vs Kramer out of any of those.
Edit - apparently a clause in Diane Keaton’s contract meant Shoot the Moon couldn’t be submitted for Oscar consideration so as to avoid it clashing with nominations for Reds.Last edited by kokamoa; 10-12-2020, 10:47.Comment
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It beat Elephant Man to the Best Picture Oscar. Mel Brooks (producer on EM) said "In ten years' time, Ordinary People will be the answer to a trivia question but Elephant Man is a film people will be watching." Looks like he was right.Originally posted by Hot Pepsi View PostComment
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I don't think that's quite right. I think that people who are especially into film, including filmmakers, still regard Ordinary People highly. I've heard it mentioned in directors interviews from time to time. I saw it fairly recently for the first time and thought it was excellent.
But Ordinary People is currently 3,130th place on IMDB, whereas The Elephant Man is 2,006th and rising, so it's not exactly Star Wars (67th) so clearly more people are seeking it out.
It just stands out from its nearest competition more. I can think of a few other more recent films that cover the same territory as Ordinary People and do it effectively. I don't know of any "person with rare disease overcomes challenges" movie that comes close to The Elephant Man, though maybe there are some. Those kinds of films are usually cheesy.
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