And the Oscar
Should Have Gone To…
1982
Oscar
doesn't often get it right. It doesn't often even pick the right nominees, let
alone the right winner out of those nominees. I thought I might embark on an
occasional revisit of those pictures up for the top prize in a given year, and
see how they shake out. And, since The
Verdict had been on my mind as unjustly missed (you can probably guess how
this is going), 1982 felt like as good a year as any to start with. The full
reviews can be found by clicking the links, but here, in summary, are those in
contention, and their pros and cons.
E.T. The
Extra-Terrestrial
The popular
movie, the crowd-pleasing blockbuster, is often to be found in the holy five
(well, holy up-to-ten now), one cynically assumes simply to swell viewing
figures, rather than to stand any chance of actually taking the top prize.
Occasionally the popular movie is
also the critically acclaimed one too, and occasionally it even wins out over basic
sense (Titanic).
E.T. had been roundly celebrated as full of heart
and innocence and wonder, and was loved by children and adults everywhere, but
it's undiluted appeal to the emotions and the unjaded – and the sentimental –
would increasingly become Spielberg’s biggest stumbling block as a wannabe serious
filmmaker. His previous flirtations with Oscar – Jaws, Raiders – were
unashamed thrill rides, whip smart and without a trace of mawkishness, and I’d
have gladly seen either take the statuette (although 1975 simply had too much
strong competition). E.T. left me
relatively unpersuaded by its appeals to the universal, and while I can get
behind it as an accomplished piece of filmmaking, I have to agree it was
rightly passed over.
Gandhi
The one
that went home happy, the little man in the nappy. One might have expected the previous
year’s toweringly hubristic pronouncements that “The British are coming” to meet their just reward (with Revolution, they arguably did), and one
might argue a tale of the Empire’s defeat was just that, but Gandhi really rather legitimised the
idea of a resurgent British film industry in the wake of Chariots of Fire.
The truth
was, neither were particularly remarkable pictures, both keenly trading on the
nation’s increasingly sole export, heritage, for recognition. Chariots, a likable but low-key piece,
had been considerably (entirely?) buoyed by a last-minute inclusion of Vangelis’
main theme, one that didn't even make it into the meat of the picture. So
potent was it, it became the film,
redressing it as a triumphant tale whose indomitable spirit caught the whims of
voters.
Gandhi, on the other hand, was simply important. It
was an important film made by a would-be important filmmaker, and it promoted
important and weighty themes of resistance to injustice and strategic pacifism
in the face of oppression. It couldn't really fail with the Academy, and it
didn't, despite being rather stodgy and unapproachable, counting worthiness
over insight into its subject and an ability to get to grips with the political
situation its title character was opposing. It’s difficult to argue with the
Kingsley’s win for actor (although at least two others were similarly meritorious)
but Gandhi was definitely the
over-inflated victor of the 1983 ceremony for no better reason than its
perceived virtue.
Missing
Missing could be glad just to get a shoe in the door.
Some will doubtless claim Costa-Gavras’ picture was the truly deserving true
story of the awards, the one with current affairs legitimacy that even caused
the US State Department to get in a tizzy. And its account of US corruption,
engineering the coup that brought Pinochet to power in Chile and killing an
American citizen – or being complicit in his death – who stumbled upon the fact,
is incendiary material, and worthy of feting.
But the
film itself is rather thin, the actual revelation of the conspiracy lacking
dramatic nourishment. In its stead we have an indulgent, over-emphatic
performance from Jack Lemmon, essaying ignorance to awakening, to fill the gap.
The picture has a strong, fearful atmosphere, and an outstanding turn by Sissy
Spacek as Lemmon’s daughter in law, but it's only ever half a great picture,
one that saw the Academy unite in support of its subject matter but which wasn't
quite up to the task of doing the material justice.
Tootsie
Tootsie makes no great claims of supporting a worthy
cause. It’s simply a very well-observed comedy, even if some of the trappings
(Dave Grusin’s score especially) date it to the era in which it was made. With
enough screenwriters to toss an unpalatable salad, it's a miracle this comes
together so well, and is so sustained, seemingly able to pluck endless ripe
scenarios in support of Dustin Hoffman’s gender experimentation.
So much of
this is dazzling, from a string of fine supporting players (Bill Murray, George
Gaynes, Oscar-winning Jessica Lange, Teri Garr, Charles Durning, and best of
all Sydney Pollack as Michael Dorsey’s long suffering agent) to Pollack the
director applying a supreme and deceptive lightness of touch. But it's
Hoffman’s performances that make Tootsie shine,
as he gamely plays on his own difficult reputation as an obsessive while
displaying the comic timing of a great comedian. Comedies don't often win big
at the Oscars, but in another year it would have been easy to see Tootsie, which did actually have
something to say about some things, if not always very subtlety when it chose
to say them outright, being rewarded. Ultimately, though, less fair than the
film itself being missed is that Hoffman lost out.
The Verdict
If Missing portrays the awakening of a man
who has gone through his life with his eyes blissfully closed to reality, The Verdict features one who has numbed
the pain of that reality, stumbling through more than a decade-and-a-half of
alcoholism, only to be offered the chance for salvation. This could easily have
been become validating schmaltz, a Rocky
tale of the broken man regaining the will to fight and coming out triumphant
against the better-equipped, better-financed, and just plain better, opponent.
But, while
it features all those vital elements, everything about Sidney Lumet’s film,
from David Mamet’s sterling screenplay up, is disposed against the easy
recourse, looking instead for the reality in the situation. Paul Newman gives
one of his very best – if not his very best – performances, and he’s ably
supported by the likes of Jack Warden, James Mason, and an odious Milo O’Shea. Frank
may be the protagonist, and he may be fighting for what’s right, but his
motives are decidedly murky in terms of his client’s best interests. He isn’t a
hero. This is tale where, if he had failed, he’d only have himself to blame.
Perhaps the one misstep in a fine, fine feature is the Charlotte Rampling
character, used to over-egg the drama in a manner that is, in the balance of
things, unnecessary.
And the
Oscar should have gone to:
The Verdict, quite easily. Tootsie makes a strong runner-up, while I’d go as far as saying that
winner Gandhi is the weakest of the
finalists. But The Verdict remains
the true classic of the five, and the one that has aged most gracefully.
I don’t
intend to plough through all the remaining categories, so just a sprinkling of
the main ones, and some of note, follows:
Best
Director
Winner:
Richard Attenborough
Should have
won: Sidney Lumet
It fell to
Lumet to receive the backhanded compliment of an honorary Oscar (meaning “Let’s
get in there before you peg it”) in 2005, but he was nominated for Best
Director four times, including The
Verdict. Richard Attenborough barely manifested anything discernable to
justify his award, while if Pollack really expected to be rewarded he would
have nixed that Grusin score. Spielberg is an assured hand, but I don’t think E.T. is his strongest showing, which
leaves Wolfgang Peterson, with both his most impressive film and most
impressive directorial effort. But Lumet, who doesn’t put a foot wrong with The Verdict, edges him. Unlike The Wiz, Sidney’s in his element.
Best Actor
Winner: Ben
Kingsley (Gandhi)
Should have
won: Dustin Hoffman (Tootsie)
Kingsley
definitely should have an Oscar at
home, but it’s Best Supporting Actor for Sexy
Beast. Much as I love Peter O’Toole’s performance in My Favourite Year, he didn’t need to do much in the way of acting
to pull it off. So this is between Hoffman and Newman, and while The Verdict is the film Newman should
have won the Oscar for over The Color of
Money, Hoffman’s sheer dexterity in Tootsie
is jaw-dropping. It’s just an outstanding performance by any standards.
Best
Actress
Winner: Meryl Streep (Sophie’s Choice)
Should have won: Sissy Spacek (Missing)
Oh God,
bloody Sophie’s Choice, a dreadfully
self-important, dreary, overrated picture. I don’t have strong feelings here,
other than it shouldn’t have gone to Streep, and Debra Winger’s performance in An Officer and a Gentleman, likeable as
it is, is not the stuff of Oscars. I’d have no argument with Julie Andrews for Victor/Victoria or Jessica Lange for Frances, but Spacek in Missing, showing Jack Lemmon how it
should be done, gets my sympathy vote.
Best
Supporting Actor
Winner:
Louis Gossett, Jr (An Officer and a
Gentleman)
Should have
won: John Lithgow (The World According to
Garp)
I wouldn’t
really argue with Gossett getting the statuette, just the film itself.
Lithgow’s is probably the most affecting performance, and he’s an actor who
really deserves to have won one by now. I’d put it between those two, as
Charles Durning, James Mason and Robert Preston are all perfectly serviceable
but don’t scream snub.
Best
Supporting Actress
Winner:
Jessica Lange (Tootsie)
Should have
won: Teri Garr (Tootsie)
Lange’s
fine in Tootsie, but it’s a nice
part, not a remarkable performance (You wonder how much of it was a Frances sympathy vote). Everyone here is
good (Glenn Close, Kim Stanley, Lesley Ann Warren), but Garr’s particular brand
of put-upon is a master class.
Best
Original Screenplay
Winner: Gandhi (John Briley)
Should have
won: Tootsie (Larry Gelbart and
Murray Schisgal)
Tootsie’s screenplay is such a consistently inventive
piece of work, I’d put it ahead of the nearest contender (Diner), while the others (E.T.,
An Office and a Gentleman) are more
about the execution than the genius of the writing. Needless to say, Gandhi’s screenplay doesn’t really
impress.
Best Adapted
Screenplay
Winner: Missing (Costa-Gavras and Donald E
Stewart)
Should have
won: The Verdict (David Mamet)
Mamet’s
screenplay is so clearly something apart, you know the Missing award was basically a statement. Sophie’s Choice’s screenplay stinks.
Best
Original Song
Winner: Up Where We Belong (An Officer and a Gentleman)
Should have
won: Eye of the Tiger (Rocky III)
I’m torn
actually, as they’re both superior slices of ‘80s cheese. One thing’s for sure,
It Might Be You from Tootsie should never have been
nominated.
Best
Original Score
Winner: E.T. (John Williams)
Should have
won: Poltergeist (Jerry Goldsmith)
E.T. is fine, but a bit too much in places, and
Williams was doing so much better year-in, year-out at that point. Poltergeist is a smart, spooky piece of
work, and it would have given Goldsmith a much-deserved Oscar.
Best Art
Direction
Winner: Gandhi
Should have
won: Blade Runner
Winner: Gandhi
Should have
won: E.T.
I wouldn’t
actually quibble with Gandhi getting
this one, but both Das Boot and E.T. have just as strong work (how Blade Runner missed out, yet Tootise got a look in, though…)
Winner: Gandhi
Should have
won: TRON
Iconic
lycra, there.
Best Visual
Effects
Winner: E.T.
Should have
won: Blade Runner
Both Blade Runner and Poltergeist have better effects work than E.T., while The Thing,
and Star Trek II, didn’t even get a
look in (or for makeup, which Quest for
Fire took).
Of missed
contenders in the big awards, it’s the usual science fiction fare of Blade Runner and The Thing, but neither were exactly critically lauded at the time.
Despite being released in 1982, Year of
Living Dangerously ended up in the 1983 nominations, but would otherwise
have figured.
Gandhi followed the frequent course of being the most
nominated (11) and winning the most awards (8), although Tootsie was next with 10 and took home just the one. E.T. received 9 and won four, while
reactionary An Officer and a Gentleman,
a fine picture for Reaganite America, pulled two out of its 6 nominations.
Article edited to add:
Spielberg’s anti-E.T. (the debate goes on, but many argue he ghost-directed this, rather than official helmer Tobe Hooper: given Hooper’s other work, it’s entirely plausible), with sinister spooks threatening a nice suburban family. Effective PG-shocks, and about the last time (I think) Spielberg didn’t keep a degree of a subsequent franchise control (you’d have thought he would have learned from Jaws).
Article edited to add:
My Top Five Films of the Year
5. Poltergeist
Spielberg’s anti-E.T. (the debate goes on, but many argue he ghost-directed this, rather than official helmer Tobe Hooper: given Hooper’s other work, it’s entirely plausible), with sinister spooks threatening a nice suburban family. Effective PG-shocks, and about the last time (I think) Spielberg didn’t keep a degree of a subsequent franchise control (you’d have thought he would have learned from Jaws).
4. The Verdict
Paul Newman and Sidney Newman at their best, in a genre that pays dividends even when it doesn’t play out to obvious effect (see also sports movies).
3. Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan
The best Star Trek film – so good they keep copying it but never remotely as well – and featuring some of the very best performances by the original crew (Shatner in particular is mighty). Even Pauline Kael loved it.
2. The Thing
John Carpenter’s anti-E.T. in as much as it came out the same summer and one was a mega-hit while the other all-but flopped. But time has been very kind to the picture, now usually rated as the director’s best work, with effects that still look extraordinary and a dread end of the world depicted on a palpable, intimate level.
1. Blade Runner
And this one is Sir Ridders’ best work, although it would be more pronouncedly downhill from him subsequently than for Carpenter, even if he then initiated a rather soulless upswing. A feverish, haunting marriage of performance, poetry, soundscapes and future noir imagery, Blade Runner remains seminal and was recently fortunate enough to get a great sequel (even if Scott pronounced it boring).
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