Bogie56 Posted December 14, 2016 Author Share Posted December 14, 2016 Italy’s Nastro d’Argento Film Awards for 1974 were … Best Actor Vittorio Gassman, Scent of a Woman Best Actress Lisa Gastoni, Bitter Love Best Supporting Actor Aldo Fabrizi, We All Loved Each Other So Much Best Supporting Actresses Giovanna Ralli, We All Loved Each Other So Much —————————————————————————————— Italy’s 73/74 David di Donatello Awards included … Best Actor Nino Manfredi, Bread and Chocolate* Best Actress Sophia Loren, The Voyage* Italy’s 74/75 David di Donatello Awards for 1974 were … Best Actor Vittorio Gassman, Scent of a Woman Best Foreign Actors Burt Lancaster, Conversation Piece* Walter Matthau, The Front Page* Best Actress Mariangela Melato, Policewoman Best Foreign Actress Liv Ullmann, Scenes From a Marriage (73) 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bogie56 Posted December 14, 2016 Author Share Posted December 14, 2016 Sweden’s Guldbagge Awards for 1974 were … Best Actor Goran Stangertz, The Last Adventure Best Actress Lis Nilhem, Maria (75) 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bogie56 Posted December 14, 2016 Author Share Posted December 14, 2016 The Canadian Etrog Film Awards for 1974 were … Best Actor Stuart Gillard, Why Rock the Boat? Best Actress Margot Kidder, A Quiet Day In Belfast and Black Christmas —————————————————————————————— The 73/74 Australian Film Institute Awards for 1974 included … Best Actor Robert McDarra, 27A The 74/75 Australian Film Institute Awards for 1974 were … Best Actors Jack Thompson, Sunday Too Far Away (75) Martin Vaughan, Bill and Percy Best Actress Julie Dawson, Who Killed Jenny Langby? 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kingrat Posted December 14, 2016 Share Posted December 14, 2016 Big shout-outs to skimpole for writing about Jack Nicholson's performance in Chinatown and to Bogie for writing about John Cazale's performance in The Godfather II. Really fine appreciations of two great performances. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TomJH Posted December 14, 2016 Share Posted December 14, 2016 The Canadian Etrog Film Awards for 1974 were … Best Actor Stuart Gillard, Why Rock the Boat? I bemoan that fact that this highly atmospheric, consistently amusing look at the newspaper trade in 1947 Montreal is so difficult to find (has it even been released on video tape, let alone DVD?). Wonderful performances by most of the cast, including the young Stuart Gillard as a naive cub reporter. Gillard has some of the same appeal and gangling charm as a young Jimmy Stewart. Ken James is a marvel as an old time newspaper photog, cynical and randy, who takes young Gillard under his wing. But there's also Henry Beckman as the controlling, vindictive paper publisher who tries to intimidate his staff. A special word has to be said, too, about Patricia Gage, as the wife of the paper's editor who makes no secret of the fact that she wants to bed the virginal Gillard. A special highlight moment of the film is that in which Gage, playing a '70s version of a cougar before that expression gained popularity, sits on the floor beside Gillard by a fireplace as they eat popcorn and languidly purrs about the sounds produced by the sizzling and popping of the pop corn. The scene is a delicious exercise in double entendres and verbal seduction. The Canadian production of Why Rock the Boat? is too good a film to languish in a film vault somewhere. But few film buffs know about this film so the interest in its revival is probably close to nil, I'm afraid. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LawrenceA Posted December 14, 2016 Share Posted December 14, 2016 Tom, thanks for the info about Why Rock the Boat?, a film that I had never heard of. It's strange to me that the Canadian film industry and its history is written about so little, especially since they are the US's closest neighbor and they share a common language (most of the time). All of the books I've read over the years covering most every aspect of film and film history, very very little has specifically been about Canada, beyond the practice of filming in Vancouver and Toronto as a cheaper alternative to US location shooting. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TomJH Posted December 14, 2016 Share Posted December 14, 2016 Tom, thanks for the info about Why Rock the Boat?, a film that I had never heard of. It's strange to me that the Canadian film industry and its history is written about so little, especially since they are the US's closest neighbor and they share a common language (most of the time). All of the books I've read over the years covering most every aspect of film and film history, very very little has specifically been about Canada, beyond the practice of filming in Vancouver and Toronto as a cheaper alternative to US location shooting. To be honest with you, Lawrence, even though I'm Canadian, I can speak very little about the Canadian film industry. Bogie is undoubtedly far more informed on this topic than myself. I just know that Why Rock the Boat? is a terrific little comedy-drama that deserves recognition, and, yes, it was released through the National Film Board. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bogie56 Posted December 14, 2016 Author Share Posted December 14, 2016 Tom, thanks for the info about Why Rock the Boat?, a film that I had never heard of. It's strange to me that the Canadian film industry and its history is written about so little, especially since they are the US's closest neighbor and they share a common language (most of the time). All of the books I've read over the years covering most every aspect of film and film history, very very little has specifically been about Canada, beyond the practice of filming in Vancouver and Toronto as a cheaper alternative to US location shooting. Canada needs Martin Scorsese to come to its rescue. Its care of its own film heritage is a real disgrace. Lots of films made it to vhs but then never made it to dvd. And we are talking about films that rank in Canada's top ten of all time. The problem was enhanced by the various small Canadian film companies and distributors which simply gave up the ghost. Newer film distribution companies just don't see any money in taking up older titles like Why Rock the Boat and putting them out on dvd. So, the government really has to get involved but money for that sort of thing is quite tight. Though I have never seen Why Rock the Boat I was exposed to quite a few Canadian films with late night television in Toronto via the CBC and other channels. But these television stations just don't show movies any longer. Too much money I suppose. And even the specialty cable movie channels don't dig very deep like TCM does. It's mainly films from the last five years now. French Canadian films are another matter altogether. You can generally find more of their older titles on dvd. The fly in the ointment here is that most of them have not bothered to include English subtitles. Last year's The True Nature of Bernadette starring Michele Lanctot is one example. If you need subtitles the only way to see them is with a subtitled film print which is the way I have seen lots of these titles. I was a judge for the Canadian film awards in the early 80's so I was exposed to lots of our films and you will see some of these titles in my lists going forward. Stuart Gillard by the way has been working as a film director in Los Angeles for quite some time. He also had a part in last year's The Rowdyman by Gordon Pinsent. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bogie56 Posted December 14, 2016 Author Share Posted December 14, 2016 Japan’s Mainichi Awards for 1974 were … Best Actor Rentaro Mikuni, The Tattered Banner Best Actress Kinuyo Tanaka, Brothel No. 8 and Three Old Ladies 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LawrenceA Posted December 14, 2016 Share Posted December 14, 2016 Here are the 1974 films I have not seen: Ali: Fear Eats the Soul Alice In the Cities**** The Apprenticeship of Duddy Kravitz Arabian Nights The Autobiography of Miss Jane Pittman Bill and Percy Bitter Love Bread and Chocolate Brothel No. 8 Butley Celine and Julie Go Boating Cockfighter The Conscript Conversation Piece Effi Briest Electra, My Love The Enigma of Kasper Hauser The Front Page Going Places The Last Adventure Lovers and Other Relatives Lucky Pierre Mame My Little Loves The Night Porter Once Upon a Scoundrel The Phantom of Liberty Policewoman A Quiet Day in Belfast Scent of a Woman Stardust Stavisky Steppenwolf Still Life Swept Away The Tamarind Seed The Tattered Banner That's Entertainment Three Old Ladies To Die In the Country 27A Violins at the Ball The Voyage**** We All Loved Each Other Very Much Who Killed Jenny Langby? Why Rock the Boat? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
skimpole Posted December 15, 2016 Share Posted December 15, 2016 I haven't seen Why Rock the Boat, but I remember seeing a part of it on television when I was a child. All I remember is having a character talking about someone attacked or devoured by piranhas, from which I suppose is where the movie got the title. It's interesting to compare the Canadian movie industry to the Australian one. The latter got a more attention in the United States around the turn of the seventies to the eighties. Especially prominent were a number of historical films that appealed directly to the Australian experience such as Breaker Morant, My Brilliant Career, The Chant of Jimmy Blacksmith, Picnic at Hanging Rock and Gallipoli. These movies all had the advantage of saying something direct about the Australian past, while appealing to larger themes such as the follies of war, female coming of age, and racial injustice. Canadian films didn't take such an approach. Many of them tried to resemble conventional American film, only cheaper and less imaginative. And the linguistic, regional and confessional divide makes it trickier to produce historical movies that appeal to all of Canada. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bogie56 Posted December 15, 2016 Author Share Posted December 15, 2016 I haven't seen Why Rock the Boat, but I remember seeing a part of it on television when I was a child. All I remember is having a character talking about someone attacked or devoured by piranhas, from which I suppose is where the movie got the title. It's interesting to compare the Canadian movie industry to the Australian one. The latter got a more attention in the United States around the turn of the seventies to the eighties. Especially prominent were a number of historical films that appealed directly to the Australian experience such as Breaker Morant, My Brilliant Career, The Chant of Jimmy Blacksmith, Picnic at Hanging Rock and Gallipoli. These movies all had the advantage of saying something direct about the Australian past, while appealing to larger themes such as the follies of war, female coming of age, and racial injustice. Canadian films didn't take such an approach. Many of them tried to resemble conventional American film, only cheaper and less imaginative. And the linguistic, regional and confessional divide makes it trickier to produce historical movies that appeal to all of Canada. I think the reason Australia had a more 'distinct' film industry apart from U.S. influences than Canada is because of its location on the other side of the world. Canadian theatres and television is inundated with American product every day and English-language producers felt that they had to compete with that head-to-head. Product is sold by territory and English-language Canada is lumped in with "North American" rights. It is no wonder why the French-Canadian film business has done so much better in the long run. It is separated from the U.S. by language. The golden-age of English-language Canadian films is probably the early 80's when there was so much well financed product as a result of the tax incentives. Now, apart from small indigenous films relying on government money Canada has become a 'service' country making American product. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bogie56 Posted December 15, 2016 Author Share Posted December 15, 2016 Here are the 1974 films I have not seen: Alice In the Cities**** The Apprenticeship of Duddy Kravitz The Autobiography of Miss Jane Pittman Bread and Chocolate Butley Celine and Julie Go Boating Effi Briest The Enigma of Kasper Hauser The Front Page Going Places Lovers and Other Relatives Once Upon a Scoundrel The Phantom of Liberty A Quiet Day in Belfast Stardust Stavisky Steppenwolf Swept Away The Tamarind Seed That's Entertainment We All Loved Each Other Very Much I've seen those I have left listed above and there are some real good ones there. Bread and Chocolate features a great performance by Nino Manfredi who just edged out Jack Nicholson in Chinatown as best actor of the year on my list. It is the story of an Italian immigrant in Switzerland which is probably more timely today then when it was made. But I'd like to focus on my favourite Canadian film of all time, The Apprenticeship of Duddy Kravtiz by Ted Kotcheff. A restored version of the film premiered at Cannes in 2013. Richard Dreyfuss attended the event. A Canadian film enjoying a restoration is an extremely rare bird. Several newspapers picked up the story if you wish to google. Kravitz is based on a novel by Mordecai Richler who has enjoyed a few screen adaptations including Joshua Then and Now (1985) and Barney's Version (2010). Kravitz manages to capture Jewish Montreal perfectly. You want to go in search of its famous delis after viewing it. Dreyfuss is terrific as the forever itchy, always on the make, Duddy. I had read that he was worried though that his career may be over once people saw Kravitz so he urged his agent to accept Jaws at any price. Kravitz has lots of fantastic supporting parts. Jack Warden, seen above plays Duddy's father, Max. Joseph Wiseman plays his Uncle. Micheline Lanctot, later a director plays his French Canadian girlfriend. Randy Quaid is someone whom Duddy befriends. Joe Silver is amazing as a scrap dealer whom Duddy hits upon for investment. And, and ... Denholm Elliott in what may be his best screen performance as the alcoholic blacklisted communist filmmaker, Peter John Friar. I've certainly encountered a few hard drinking ex-Brits in the business in Canada not unlike him. Duddy enlists Friar to make a film of Joe Silver's son's bar mitzvah and what he ends up with has to be seen to be believed. The scene in which Duddy contracts Friar is one of the greats. Friar is sitting on his bed wearing only his boxer shorts and is utterly plastered. Denholm Elliott delivers many lines straight into his whiskey glass and when he is presented with a cheque from Dreyfuss he tries to pocket it into his naked chest. Incredibly, though it was restored it does't look like it was re-released on dvd! 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bogie56 Posted December 15, 2016 Author Share Posted December 15, 2016 Here are the films from 1974 that were mentioned that I have not seen as yet. Ali: Fear Eats the Soul with El Hedi Ben Salem, Brigitte Mara and Barbara Valentin Andy Warhol’s Dracula/Blood For Dracula with Udo Kier Arabian Nights with Ines Pellegrini Billy and Percy with Martin Vaughan Bitter Love with Lisa Gastoni Brothel No. 8 with Kinuyo Tanaka Cockfighter with Warren Oates The Conscript with Jan Decleir and Ansje Beentjes Conversation Piece with Burt Lancaster, Helmut Berger and Silvana Mangano Electra My Love with Mari Torocsik Female Trouble with Divine Foxy Brown with Pam Grier, Antonio Fargas and Kathryn Loder The Golden Voyage of Sinbad with Tom Baker [1973 film] Herbie Rides Again with Helen Hayes The Last Adventure with Goran Stangertz Lucky Pierre with Jane Birkin Mame with Lucille Ball and Bea Arthur My Little Loves with Martin Loeb and Ingrid Caven The Night Porter with Dirk Bogarde ad Charlotte Rampling Pastoral: To Die In the Country with Yoshio Harada Policewoman with Mariangela Melato Scent of a Woman with Vittorio Gassman Still Life with Zadour Bonyadi and Zahra Yazdini The Tattered Banner with Rentaro Mikuni The Texas Chain Saw Massacre with Jim Siedow Three Old Ladies with Kinuyo Tanaka 27A with Robert McDarra Violins at the Ball with Marie-Jose Nat The Voyage with Sophia Loren Who Killed Jenny Langby? with Julie Dawson And I would like to see these again … Alice Doesn’t Live Here Anymore for Lelia Goldini A Woman Under the Influence for Matthew Labyorteaux Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jlewis Posted December 15, 2016 Share Posted December 15, 2016 Here are the 1974 films I have not seen: Ali: Fear Eats the Soul Arabian Nights The Enigma of Kasper Hauser Swept Away That's Entertainment Here are the films from 1974 that were mentioned that I have not seen as yet. Ali: Fear Eats the Soul with El Hedi Ben Salem, Brigitte Mara and Barbara Valentin Arabian Nights with Ines Pellegrini Herbie Rides Again with Helen Hayes And I would like to see these again … If you have to cut down your list, these are the ones to focus on. Arabian Nights is not particular great (I like Decameron better), but there is more nudity (sensual but not explicit) on screen than anything else outside of porn and nudist documentaries. The 1970s was an interesting period when both men and women were shown "au natural" quite frequently. Sadly, by the 1980s, there was too much homophobia in this country (post-AIDS and Jerry Falwell), so the screens were stuck with just female nudity apart from the occasional Merchant Ivory production. A lot of Pasolini has aged fairly well over the decades. Even Salo is not nearly as shocking and horrific today as it was back in the seventies, although I still don't particularly like that one with all of its violence. Yet so much worse is available in today's horror genre and nobody bats an eye. Herbie is probably the first "new" movie I saw in a theater, but not my first movie. I saw a reissued Lady & The Tramp in late 1971. The Love Bug is better but Helen Hayes is enjoying herself. Anybody who likes OLD Hollywood would like Ali: Fear Eats The Soul since it resembles something Universal-International would have put out in the fifties a.k.a. Imitation Of Life. The happy couple struggles because their age gap and racial/cultural differences cause too much trouble in their environment and her family. The lighting is very bright to emphasize the loud colors in the peoples' outfits. One thing I joked about in my previous post was El Hedi Ben Salem being shown naked twice since the director was quite obsessed with him. (Interesting stuff online about THAT relationship. Check him out on wikipedia.) Again, like Arabian Nights, all the male nudity you want pre-1980s (when only ladies' bosoms were accepted on screen). 1974's version of Swept Away is better than the Madonna remake, but runs on too long for its basic story. The Kasper Hauser film really is one of Herzog's all time greats. There have been more recent versions of the famous 19th century tale of the "man from nowhere", but this was among the key international successes that begot the whole Mysterious World craze of the seventies. Sadly Leonard Nimoy's In Search Of didn't cover him. Of course, I love all of the That's Entertainment! series. It is fun seeing Fred Astaire, Frank Sinatra, Bing Crosby, Gene Kelly, Liza Minelli and Elizabeth Taylor all hosting the same movie. Crosby would only be around for a couple more years but he was simply himself here, just as we always remembered him. Part II had the benefit of Astaire and Kelly dancing together, along with a delightful compilation of Jimmy FitzPatrick Traveltalks (giddy up!!!) in their MGM movie montage. 4 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LawrenceA Posted December 15, 2016 Share Posted December 15, 2016 Here are the films from 1974 that were mentioned that I have not seen as yet. Andy Warhol’s Dracula/Blood For Dracula with Udo Kier Female Trouble with Divine Foxy Brown with Pam Grier, Antonio Fargas and Kathryn Loder The Golden Voyage of Sinbad with Tom Baker [1973 film] Herbie Rides Again with Helen Hayes The Texas Chain Saw Massacre with Jim Siedow Herbie Rides Again is fairly typical live-action Disney fare of the time. Foxy Brown is more blaxploitation greatness from Pam Grier. Watch on a double bill with Coffy for a memorable night. Female Trouble is essential early John Waters, if you're into that sort of thing. Most people aren't (I am). The Golden Voyage of Sinbad is a terrific, if dated and more than a little campy, high fantasy adventure with the prerequisite Ray Harryhausen effects. Caroline Munro is also on hand in a variety of skimpy outfits. Andy Warhol's Dracula/Blood for Dracula is the follow-up to the previous year's Andy Warhol's Frankenstein/Flesh for Frankenstein (I recommend that one, too), as they both star Udo Kier and Joe Dallesandro and are written & directed by Paul Morrissey. In Dracula, Udo Kier plays the title Count, who is feeling under the weather. He has traveled across Europe looking for a suitable bride, but she must be a virgin (he pronounces it "where-gin"), which proves to be a problem. He arrives at the Italian castle of a nobleman (Vittorio De Sica), and tries to find a suitable woman before Dallesandro, as a servant, can put a stop to him. The film is very over-the-top, with many outrageous yet hilarious scenes. Kier plays it completely straight, though, and secured himself a permanent place in cult movie fandom. The Texas Chainsaw Massacre is by far my most recommended. It's an essential horror film, and one of the best ever made. Its low budget enhances the grimy, off-kilter tone of the movie, and the performances range from appropriately irritating to appropriately maniacal. Despite the film's reputation, there is very little on-screen blood or violence, only the implication of it. One scene in particular is justly famous for how many people recall seeing more graphic imagery than what is actually shown, a testament to good directing and editing. It has been honored at the Cannes Film Festival, the Museum of Modern Art in NYC, and was named by Sight & Sound as one of the 250 greatest films of all time. 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bogie56 Posted December 15, 2016 Author Share Posted December 15, 2016 Before we hit 1975 I would like to mention that I am going with 1975 for Cousin Cousine which was released in November in France that year. It subsequently competed in the 1976 Oscars. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
skimpole Posted December 15, 2016 Share Posted December 15, 2016 I mentioned Still Life as one of my runner-ups. I got this information from a blog scalisto.blogspot.ca: An aging rail worker, living a mononously quiet life with his wife, is asked to retire. The second of the two austere-looking, deliberately paced films Shaheed Saless made in Iran proved to be one of the turning points of Iranian cinema in the 70s.Winner of numerous prizes at the Berlin Film Festival in 1974, including the Silver Bear for Best Director, STILL LIFE examines the lot in life of an old man who guards a railroad crossing and his wife, who brings in a meager income weaving carpets. After 30 years in the same job, the man is forced into retirement by the arrival of the new guard. Finally, he is forced to a bleak epiphany of society's indifference to his fate. Sohrab Shahid Saless' Still Life (1974) is, barring Kiarostami's Homework (1989), the greatest Iranian film that I've seen. To see that even during the pre-revolution era, when the escapist cinema of Hollywood and its imitations were much more popular, such uncompromising and quality films were being made is both surprising and hope-instilling. Typically European in its form but uniquely Iranian in its content, Still Life is the kind of movie that contemporary contemplative cinema takes off from. Produced by a newly formed group called Kanun-e Sinemagaran-e Pishro (Centre for Avant-Garde Filmmakers), that also produced some of Mehrjui's early features, the film was one of the many films that were discontented with the existing way of governance. Although never overtly political, Still Life not only manages to critique deeply the disparity that existed between villages and cities of the country during the Shah's regime, but also remains one of the best works from the country till date.What is singular about Still Life is the way it handles cinematic time. Saless, while letting us witness individual scenes unfold in real time – be it entire dinner sessions or railway transitions – without hindrance, shuffles the order of these scenes in a way that disregards chronology. In one scene in the film we see the couple's son return home and in the next one, he is missing. And then he's back in the subsequent one. Soon one notices that most of the scenes could have taken place in any arbitrary order in real time and each of those orders is essentially irrelevant, given the idea of the film. What's the use of chronology when time repeats itself by going in cycles? In Jeanne Dielman (1976), Chantal Akerman used each day of the protagonist life's to illustrate its microscopic deviation from the previous. She seemed to be essentially constructing a spiral out of Jeanne's life – a structure that made her life seem to go in circles but which, in actuality, ends only in annihilation. Saless, on the other hand, treats time as some form of stray deadlock that could only be resolved by an alien intervention. Within this loop, all time is one and each day is virtually indistinguishable from the other.Even with all its serious themes, Still Life isn't entirely humourless. There is a constant undercurrent of dark comedy throughout the film (In a masterstroke of black humour, Saless has Sardari regularly tune the alarm clock!), but, like all the other elements of the film, it remains extremely subtle and never thrusts itself upon us. Instead, Saless builds one stretch of time upon another, elevating the film from the territory of mere narrative cinema to the realm of the philosophical, the experiential and the contemplative. In the shattering last scene of the film, we see Sardari, who is now forced to accept the reality that he can no longer work at the railway crossing, vacating his quarters. After he loads the cart with his possessions, he decides to check the house one last time for any object he may have forgotten. As he stands in the middle of the now-empty house, gazing at the room of whose inanimate furniture he had become a part of through the years, Sardari notices the final remnant of his life at this place – a piece of mirror hanging on the wall. He reaches out to collect it and, in the process, looks at himself for the first time in the film. Mohammad Sardari has indeed become old. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jlewis Posted December 16, 2016 Share Posted December 16, 2016 Since one TV movie, THE AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF MISS JANE PITTMAN, has snaggled its way into a few lists here, I will salute another made-for-TV production. This one is blessed with great vocal performances by Shirley Booth, Mickey Rooney, Dick Shawn and... of course!... George S. Irving, who is still hanging in there at age 94. How could 1974 be complete without this performance? 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Swithin Posted December 16, 2016 Share Posted December 16, 2016 This one is blessed with great vocal performances by Shirley Booth, Mickey Rooney, Dick Shawn and... of course!... George S. Irving, who is still hanging in there at age 94. How could 1974 be complete without this performance? George S. Irving! I know him -- lovely man. He lives near me. Did you know his wife was the dancer/actress/singer Maria Karnilova, who created the roles of Tessie Tura and Golde on Broadway? George is one of only two cast members still living, from the original Broadway cast of Oklahoma!. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bogie56 Posted December 16, 2016 Author Share Posted December 16, 2016 For me, American films generally begin to take a bit of a nose dive in quality in 1975. It's probably due to a number of factors: the further weakening of the studio system in Hollywood and the emergence of Jaws and the pursuit of the big box office opening weekend films. Perhaps we should all try to remember that this thread is about performances so while the number of great films may be in decline there are still lots of actors and actresses doing some amazing work. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jlewis Posted December 16, 2016 Share Posted December 16, 2016 George S. Irving! I know him -- lovely man. He lives near me. Did you know his wife was the dancer/actress/singer Maria Karnilova, who created the roles of Tessie Tura and Golde on Broadway? George is one of only two cast members still living, from the original Broadway cast of Oklahoma!. I am guessing that you mean the 1943 incarnation. That is impressive! It is sad, but understandable, that the great voices heard in our favorite animated productions never get the attention they deserve unless they are Mel Blanc or some established screen star already famous. What makes George so distinctive is not just the funny dialogue he was given in The Year Without A Santa Claus but his on-the-mark delivery. He clearly enjoyed himself in that role and took it all the way to the bank. Unfortunately that particular video I posted cuts him off just as he starts firing away as Mrs. C. (Shirley Booth). Dick Shawn did a decent job as his snowstorm brother, but there isn't is much over the top humor with him as George. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jlewis Posted December 16, 2016 Share Posted December 16, 2016 For me, American films generally begin to take a bit of a nose dive in quality in 1975. It's probably due to a number of factors: the further weakening of the studio system in Hollywood and the emergence of Jaws and the pursuit of the big box office opening weekend films. Perhaps we should all try to remember that this thread is about performances so while the number of great films may be in decline there are still lots of actors and actresses doing some amazing work. But it was a golden age for documentaries, 16mm school films and artistic short subjects (with the imports from the National Film Board of Canada still invading the border and inspiring many independent American film-makers to get as equally creative)... and, of course, primetime television was approaching its zenith before the post-HBO cable revolution took away the almighty dominance of the Big Three networks. Daytime or Saturday Morning kiddie programming wasn't so hot as The Secret Lives of Waldo Kitty replaced Underdog, BUT... 1974-75 did bless us with Land of the Lost. Also in 1975, Radley Metzger started filming The Opening of Misty Beethoven, which made porn as award-worthy and "respectable" as mainstream Hollywood. Basically the rut started with mainstream FEATURE films produced in the United States around 1970, with both budgets and the number of features being cut back considerably by 1973. Although some releases of, say, 1970 like Myra Breckinridge have their charm, so many productions don't make any sense because there is a clash and misunderstanding between the "long hairs" trying to bring in a younger audience and their "square" elders who were still in charge of the studios. One reason George Lucas and Steven Spielberg were so successful was because they conformed better with the establishment than so many other baby boom New Hollywood directors. I think the problem with actors and actresses was twofold: they were less certain of what a director wanted by this stage than they were in Older Hollywood (and this was obvious with all of the old timers looking clueless in the disaster films involving earthquakes, planes and buildings that literally "shook" '74 theaters). Secondly, this was the ME Decade when every performance became more of a "look at MEEEEE" instead of focusing on the characters as written in the script. Every Robert de Niro character I see during this decade comes off as Robert de Niro. I never can remember the name of his character. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Swithin Posted December 16, 2016 Share Posted December 16, 2016 I am guessing that you mean the 1943 incarnation. That is impressive! It is sad, but understandable, that the great voices heard in our favorite animated productions never get the attention they deserve unless they are Mel Blanc or some established screen star already famous. What makes George so distinctive is not just the funny dialogue he was given in The Year Without A Santa Claus but his on-the-mark delivery. He clearly enjoyed himself in that role and took it all the way to the bank. Unfortunately that particular video I posted cuts him off just as he starts firing away as Mrs. C. (Shirley Booth). Dick Shawn did a decent job as his snowstorm brother, but there isn't is much over the top humor with him as George. Yes -- George S. Irving and Bambi Linn are the only two remaining cast members from the original cast of Oklahoma! https://www.ibdb.com/broadway-production/oklahoma-1285 Btw, the first Broadway show I ever saw was A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum. However, I saw it very late in the run, so did not see Zero Mostel in the lead. The lead was Dick Shawn when I saw it -- he was great! (Zero had left to prepare for Fidder; I did see him in that). 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
skimpole Posted December 17, 2016 Share Posted December 17, 2016 I think the problem with actors and actresses was twofold: they were less certain of what a director wanted by this stage than they were in Older Hollywood (and this was obvious with all of the old timers looking clueless in the disaster films involving earthquakes, planes and buildings that literally "shook" '74 theaters). Secondly, this was the ME Decade when every performance became more of a "look at MEEEEE" instead of focusing on the characters as written in the script. Every Robert de Niro character I see during this decade comes off as Robert de Niro. I never can remember the name of his character. I don't think that's true. People who don't like an actor or people with a limited knowledge of Hollywood might think that each actor is stuck playing a particular persona that closely resembles their actual self. That's not really true. It's certainly not true of De Niro, who I might point out is not a mafioso, a vigilante, a Vietnam veteran or a boxer, among other roles. And most people have no trouble remembering the name of Travis Bickle (or Vito Corleone to merely confine oneself to his seventies roles.) I would suggest that the decline of Hollywood films starts around 1981, after the Heaven's Gate fiasco. After that time Hollywood shows a lot less interest in making movies that ambitious. I'd suggest there was a decline of quality in Hollywood movies after 1960 as leading directors either grew older or didn't really show their trouble. Around 1970, more imaginative directors become more prominent and last for the decade. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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