Best Picture 1983

What better year to start with then the year of my birth?

And the Nominees Were...

• The Big Chill
• The Dresser
• The Right Stuff
• Tender Mercies
• Terms of Endearment

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The Big Chill

Nominated for 3 Oscars: Best Picture (Michael Shamberg), Best Supporting Actress (Glenn Close) and Best Original Screenplay (Lawrence Kasdan, Barbara Benedek)

Oscar Trivia: Writer/director Lawrence Kasdan's The Big Chill (with three nominations and no wins), was noted most of all for its ensemble cast/acting.

The film’s sole acting nomination for Glenn Close marked her second consecutive nomination in the Best Supporting Actress category. Her first in 1982 was for The World According to Garp. She would receive a third Supporting Actress nomination in a row the following year for The Natural, and be nominated again in lead in 1987 (Fatal Attraction) & 1988 (Dangerous Liaisons) with no wins to date.

Mini-Review: It’s easy to see why the film was up for Best Picture. It was one of the most popular films to come out that year (commercially, but also one that had any sort of critical merit) and was something of a pop culture phenomenon, too. And while it has strong acting by its ensemble (nobody really stood out above the rest, though) and a series of classic rock and soul tunes, it can’t completely overcome a superficial screenplay.

It’s the ultimate 1980s baby-boomer movie, presenting the definitive representation of the rising yuppie archetype and all its traits: from running shoes, jogging, camcorders, and Motown, to baby-fever, self-analytical narcissism, and guilt-ridden upwardly mobile lifestyles. That said, it’s never boring and wonderfully acted as I said, yet is finally undone by its refusal to deal honestly with the serious issues it raises; director/co-writer Lawrence Kasdan chooses instead to end virtually every scene with a cheap punchline. In the end, the film doesn't amount to much, except to provide a good opportunity for the fine ensemble cast to show off their talents.

Score: *** out of *****

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The Dresser

Nominated for 5 Oscars: Best Picture (Peter Yates), Best Director (Peter Yates), Best Actor (Albert Finney, Tom Courtenay) and Best Adapted Screenplay (Ronald Harwood)

Oscar Trivia: A British import set during WWII, the film was written by Ronald Harwood (who adapted his own play). The Dresser had five nominations and no wins.

Albert Finney & Tom Courteney’s nominations marked the 11th time that two (or more) costars had competed against each other in the Best Actor category. It happened a twelfth time the following year with Amadeus, but hasn’t happened since.

Mini-Review: The film is an adaptation of a play and it does show its staginess, but is saved by dynamic direction from Peter Yates, its feel of authenticity, and the two stars' performances which do veer close to haminess without actually entering that terrain. Both leads are quite intense, rather extreme and theatrical (Finney probably more so than Courtenay--but maybe “larger than life” would be a better way to describe it?), and neither lets up for a second. They're a flawed, difficult duo, frequently challenging, often unlikable, actually, but they are brought to life by Courtenay and Finney in a commanding way. Interesting, then, that Eileen Atkins nearly steals the film out from under both as the stage-manager, Madge.

I also thought that this was a film that could convey even to nontheatrical people the thrill of being involved in live drama. There were a couple of scenes that get that point across, including the scene where, against his intention, supercilious Oxenby (Edward Fox) comes to the aid of Norman (Courtenay) and Her Ladyship (Zena Walker) as they throw themselves into ever greater contortions to produce storm sound effects loud enough to satisfy Sir (Finney). For every exhilarating moment like this one, however, there is also the horror of when someone misses a cue, and this, too, is depicted convincingly and as the viewers we can't help but squirm during the awkward silence that stretches on and on as Sir sits almost catatonic in the wings.

Score: **** out of *****

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The Right Stuff

Nominated for 8 Oscars: Best Picture (Irwin Winkler, Robert Chartoff), Best Supporting Actor (Sam Shepard), Best Cinematography (Caled Deschanel), Best Art-Set Decoration (Geoffrey Kirkland, Richard Lawrence, W. Stewart Campbell, Peter R. Romero, Jim Poynter, George R. Nelson), Best Original Score (Bill Conti), Best Film Editing (Glenn Farr, Lisa Frutchman, Stephen A. Rotter, Douglas Stewart, Tom Rolf), Best Sound (Mark Berger, Thomas Scott, Randy Thom) and Best Sound Effects Editing (Jay Boekelheide)

Oscar Trivia: Writer/director Philip Kaufman's Mercury astronaut story (adapted from Tom Wolfe's best-selling book) of the early days of the US space program, was a box-office failure upon its initial release but managed to garner 8 nominations and 4 wins. Surprisingly (to me anyway) Kaufman was not nominated for Best Director.

The film’s Best Supporting Actor nomination for Sam Shepard marks his sole career nomination to date.

Mini Review: Director-writer Philip Kaufman's script brings a wealth of humor to a faithful retelling of the astronauts' fascinating stories, the actors fit smoothly into their roles, and the direction is well-paced and visually exciting. Caleb Deschanel’s photography is quite glorious, too, but he had tough competition from Sven Nykvist’s work on Fanny and Alexander that year. I’m actually surprised that Sam Shepard received an Oscar nomination, knowing the Academy. It’s a quiet performance with few lines, but his presence is felt throughout. The training scenes are a lot of fun, as are the actual flight scenes. One drawback for me was the fact that you never really get to know any of the astronauts. Even with the 3+ hour length, there are just too many of them for the filmmakers to give them the depth and individuality that would have really made this a much more powerful film. Though they are each identifiable, you rarely get to see what they're thinking or feeling, what makes them tick.

Score: ***** out of *****

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Tender Mercies

Nominated for 5 Oscars: Best Picture (Philip Hobel), Best Director (Bruce Beresford), Best Actor (Robert Duvall), Best Original Screenplay (Horton Foote) and Best Original Song ("Over You" by Austin Roberts and Bobby Hart).

Oscar Trivia: It’s Australian director, Bruce Beresford (with his sole Director nomination to date), was nominated for his first American film. The film had 5 nominations and 2 wins.

Best Actor winner Robert Duvall was the only American nominee in the Best Actor line-up. Three of the others were British (Michael Caine, Tom Courteney, & Albert Finney) and one Scottish (Tom Conti).

Mini Review: I really like intimate, low-key drama’s like this. It is an episodic film and offers little in the way of action or melodrama but it gets by on fine performances (particularly from Duvall, who does his own singing, and from Ellen Barkin as his daughter), atmospheric cinematography, and spare, unglamorous writing. It was Australian director Bruce Beresford's first American film, and it bears interesting comparison with Englishman Michael Apted's Coal Miner’s Daughter (another outsider's vision of the world of country), and with writer Horton Foote's own, The Trip to Bountiful, two years later.

Score: **** out of *****

• • • • •

Terms of Endearment

Nominated for 11 Oscars: Best Picture (James L. Brooks), Best Director (James L. Brooks), Best Actress (Shirley MacLaine, Debra Winger), Best Supporting Actor (Jack Nicholson, John Lithgow), Best Adapted Screenplay (James L. Brooks), Best Art-Set Decoration (Polly Platt, Harold Michelson, Tom Pedigo, Anthony Mondello), Best Original Score (Michael Gore), Best Film Editing (Richard Marks) and Best Sound (Donald O. Mitchell, Rick Kline, Kevin O'Connell, James R. Alexander)

Oscar Trivia (lots): The film (with 11 nominations and 5 wins) was adapted from a Larry McMurtry novel (he also wrote the novels to which the masterpieces Hud and The Last Picture Show are based on--and of course co-wrote last years Brokeback Mountain). It was director James L. Brooks' feature film debut.

The Best Director win for James L. Brooks was an unprecedented win for Brooks - since he won three Oscars for writing, producing, and directing the film. A triple win had also occurred for Leo McCarey in 1944, Billy Wilder in 1960, and Francis Ford Coppola in 1974. He also became the fourth director to win an Oscar for his first feature.

Shirley MacLaine’s Oscar win was her first after 4 other unsuccessful attempts at the Best Actress Oscar (1958, 1960, 1963, and 1977). MacLaine has yet to be nominated again.

Debra Winger's nomination marked her second of three unsuccessful attempts at an Oscar so far (her other nominations were in 1982 & 1993).

MacLaine and Winger’s nominations marked the fourth of only five times so far that two Actresses competed against each other from the same film in the Best Actress category. Ironically, MacLaine is a part of one of the other times it’s happened (1977s The Turning Point)

For Jack Nicholson this was his seventh nomination, third Best Supporting Actor nomination, and second Oscar win after 1975s One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest. Nicholson's win made him the first performer to win the Best Supporting Actor award following a Best Actor win (in 1975). His win made him the third winner of both actor awards - the first two actors were Jack Lemmon (in 1955 and 1973) and Robert DeNiro (in 1974 and 1980). Both of them first won a Best Supporting Actor award and then a Best Actor award.

Nicholson defeated his film's co-star John Lithgow (with his second consecutive nomination after 1982s The World According to Garp). Lithgow has yet to be nominated again.

Nicholson and Lithgow’s nominations marked the fifteenth of seventeen times that two (or more) Best Supporting Actor nominees competed against each other from the same film.

Mini-Review: I love this movie. I kind of grew up watching it. Since as far back as I remember watching films I’ve been watching this. I don’t own it or anything, but I watch it every time I come across it on TV. The film just endures and I do think it has more than just sentimental value for me.

Brooks’ script plays on our conceptions of what these types of movies should be like. It’s not your typical comedy/drama. For example, the moment when Emma is leaving for a new town with Flap and her kids, she kisses Aurora and tells Flap to "drive away slow." Now, the next logical step would have been a poignant creeping drive away. Instead Terms of Endearment takes a hard right where a left was assumed. Moments like this lift the picture above every other sentimental comedy and transform it into something better. Brooks writes some of the best dialogue around, each sentence giving new insight into the characters. Each scene - whether painful or hilarious - is written as an understandable expression of the characters. It's a tender movie (especially in its final scenes) and shamelessly honest. The movie is clever and smooth talking but its greatness lies in the fact that, at all times, it's warm. The film does not mock its characters but loves them, in the same way that Aurora deeply loves and will stand up for her daughter despite her qualms about Emma's life.

I never understood in recent years as new people discover this film the favoring of Debra Winger to Shirley MacLaine. Winger is terrific, of course, but to me it’s all about MacLaine. She had several moments when I was bowled over by how perfect she was in her subtlety and small gestures and turns of phrase - she's perfect. Both MacLaine and Winger are actually on screen together very little, but MacLaine and Winger give off a charge of seemingly organic tension, as if they love the things they can’t tolerate in each other and can’t tolerate the things the love. I feel the same for Nicholson and those that prefer the other supporting men, Lithgow and Daniels. The latter two are fine, but Nicholson has always been it for me. Even if he delivers an amusing variation on himself.

One last thing to mention is Michael Gore's score, which is lush and nostalgic. Rarely has music been so fitting for a film. He demonstrates a canny ability to create warmth and affection; it’s a beautiful companion piece to the film.

Score: ***** out of *****

• • • • •

Final Rankings: (drum roll please)

1. Terms of Endearment
2. The Right Stuff
3. The Dresser
4. Tender Mercies
5. The Big Chill

Not a bad lineup at all, though I wish Fanny and Alexander had taken The Big Chill's spot. So, yes, it appears I agree with Oscar. Terms of Endearment was the best of the nominees.