Directors Oscar tourney (1 Viewer)

[george kaplan]

Inspired by this thread, I've decided to try a tourney and see if there's any interest.

The idea is which year did the Academy most get things right. This can be a bit complicated cause the idea of having the 5 best picture nominees from the previous calendar year didn't always work that way. In the early days, there were more than 5 films, and they were often spread out over more than a 1 year period.

However, for most of our lifetimes, it's been the previous year. So, I'm going to call each Academy slate the year prior to the ceremony, even though for the early years that won't always correlate perfectly with the year of the films release.

OK, up first,

1955 vs. 1983

1955:
Marty
Love Is a Many-Splendored Thing
Mister Roberts
Picnic
The Rose Tattoo

1983:
Terms of Endearment
The Big Chill
The Dresser
The Right Stuff
Tender Mercies

 

[SteveGon]

Marty (a toss-up)
Abstain
Abstain
The Right Stuff
Abstain

 

[Bill McA]

Both 1955 and 1983 nominees showcase the excellent (Marty, The Right Stuff) and the mediocre/crap (Picnic, Endearment), but I'll go with...


1983

 

[george kaplan]

Steve,

I'm sorry if I wasn't clear. You're supposed to vote for a year (I'm just listing the nominees for each year, not pitting them individually against each other).

 

[SteveGon]

Argh.

Hmmm, basically this comes down to Marty & Mister Roberts vs. Tender Mercies and The Right Stuff...

1983 by a few hairs.

 

[Ric Bagoly]

1955

 

[Joe Karlosi]

A question...

In a case like this, where I've only seen 1 film from 1955 (which I love) and only 2 from 1983 (both of which I don't like)... would that qualify me enough to pick 1955 as my choice?

 

[george kaplan]

No one is going to have seen all these oscar nominations. No one has to recuse themself on any vote. I leave it completely up to each person to decide if they haven't seen enough and want to abstain, but I would lean towards not abstaining.

For example, I haven't seen the Dresser. I've never even heard of it, even though I've watched many films on all kinds of top 100 or top 1000 lists. It's on none of those lists. Is it a good film? I don't know, not having seen it, but if it were truly Oscar-worthy (truly one of the best that year), I think I would have at least heard of it, or seen it on some list. So, I'd feel comfortable voting in this case.

Of course, it'll have to be an individual thing each time, but given the breadth of films that most voters here are likely to have seen, I'd expect rather few abstentions.

 

[Bill McA]

Well, I've seen all 10 so far....

 

[Adam_S]

well I've seen an even one from each year, so I'm going to go on the basis of Big Chill being much better than Love is a Many Splendored thing.

And that's the year of my birth too.

1983

So nice to have a real poll/contest/tourney again in this section.

 

[george kaplan]

Even counting Joe as a vote for 1955, 1983 wins. I would have voted for 1955.

Next,

1970 vs. 1994

1970:
Patton
Airport
Five Easy Pieces
Love Story
MASH

1994:
Forrest Gump
Four Weddings and a Funeral
Pulp Fiction
Quiz Show
The Shawshank Redemption

 

[george kaplan]

Correction:

No one except Bill is going to have seen all of the Oscar nominees.

 

[Bill McA]

1970:
Patton - didn't like it
Airport - pure cheese, but sort of fun
Five Easy Pieces - excellent!
Love Story - bland soap opera
MASH - ok, not wild about it

1994:
Forrest Gump - oops!
Four Weddings and a Funeral - enjoyable and engaging fluff
Pulp Fiction - groovy
Quiz Show - excellent!
The Shawshank Redemption - pretty good, but not the second coming

1994

George, why not also include the Foreign film nominees as a sidebar...oh, wait...I just remembered that this is the HTF!!

 

[george kaplan]

A number of reasons actually.

1. It wasn't really a category until 1956 (it sort of existed as far back as 1947, but not at all before that).

2. I'm not sure the Oscars do any better in general with foreign films than English language films. For example, the Japanese film Koto got a nomination the same year High & Low did not. Qivitoq got a nom in a year when Rififi did not. Etc., etc.

3. The Academy is unstable in when they watch/vote on foreign films. For example, in 1967, awards were given to 1966 films, except in the foreign language category where they were all 1965 films. Then in 1968, all but one of the foreign language nominees was from 1967. It has to do with when films got released in the U.S., but that doesn't match the real years for those films (another example - La Strada, a 1954 film, won in a year when all the other nominees were 1956 films.)

4. There would simply be lots of abstaining. Perhaps you've seen most of the best picture nominees, and maybe you've seen all of the foreign language nominees, but I doubt if most have seen films like: Skupljaci perja, La ragazza con la pistola, Paw, Ha-Bayit Berechov Chelouche or Tlayucan.

On the bright side, foriegn language films do occasionally make the best picture category (as early as 1938, and as recently as 2002). Foreign language films might get the shaft, but not as badly as animated ones, or science fiction. And while comedies do occasionally get nominated, and even win, they are very much biased against in favor of dramas.

 

[Brook K]

Sorry, out of it yesterday, I'd have voted for 55 on the basis of loving Mr. Roberts and the 3 films I'd seen from 83 ranging from ok (Terms, The Big Chill) to good-but-less-than-outstanding (The Right Stuff)

For this period I'd go with 1994. Five Easy Pieces might be my favorite of all the films, but top-to-bottom '94 had a stronger slate. Both had a film I really don't care for (Gump, MASH).

I think it's a good call George. This year is one of the worst failings of the Academy's policy of letting each country only nominate one film for consideration so often the country will nominate some drivel they think Academy voters will like rather than a truly outstanding film: ie. France getting a nomination for Joyeux Noel in a year with Caché, Look At Me, Kings and Queen, Lila Says, etc.

 

[SteveGon]

Echoing Bill's sentiments, I gotta go with 1994.

 

[Adam_S]

1994, one of the best years of the nineties with five outstanding films nominated. I respect MASH but am not crazy about it and kinda the same about Patton though I'd like to see it in 70 or Dimesion 360 sometime.

 

[george kaplan]

1994 wins. Not surprisingly I'm alone - I would have voted for 1970.

Next,

1933 vs. 1949

1933:
Cavalcade
42nd Street
A Farewell to Arms
I Am a Fugitive from a Chain Gang
Lady for a Day
Little Women
The Private Life of Henry VIII
She Done Him Wrong
Smilin' Through
State Fair

1949:
All the King's Men
Battleground
Heiress, The
A Letter to Three Wives
Twelve O'Clock High

 

[SteveGon]

For me this comes down to I Am a Fugitive From a Chain Gang versus Twelve O'Clock High.

1933

 

[Brook K]

I've only seen one movie from each so this vote doesn't count for much.

42nd Street blows away All The King's Men so I would have to pick 1933