by Allan Fish
Best Picture Barry Lyndon, UK/US (11 votes)
Best Director Stanley Kubrick, Barry Lyndon (10 votes)
Best Actor Al Pacino, Dog Day Afternoon (12 votes)
Best Actress Isabelle Adjani, The Story of Adèle H. (8 votes)
Best Supp Actor John Cazale, Dog Day Afternoon (10 votes)
Best Supp Actress Ronée Blakely, Nashville & Lily Tomlin, Nashville (4 votes each, TIE!)
Best Cinematography John Alcott, Barry Lyndon (16 votes)
Best Score John Williams, Jaws (13 votes)
Best Short Hedgehog in the Fog, USSR, Yuri Norshteyn (4 votes)
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1976
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Best Picture/Director
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Ai No Corrida (Japan/France…Nagisa Oshima)
All the President’s Men (US…Alan J.Pakula)
Allegro Non Troppo (Italy…Bruno Bazzeto)
Anatomy of a Relationship (France…Luc Moullet, Antonietta Pizorno)
The Ascent (USSR…Larisa Shepitko)
Assault, Jack the Ripper (Japan…Yasuharu Hasebe)
Assault on Precinct 13 (US…John Carpenter)
The Bad News Bears (US…Michael Richie)
Bar Mitzvah Boy (UK…Michael Tuchner)
Black and White in Colour (France…Jean-Jacques Annaud)
Bound for Glory (US…Hal Ashby)
Bouquet of Barbed Wire (UK…Tony Wharmby)
Brimstone and Treacle (UK…Barry Davis)
Budapest Tales (Hungary…Istvan Szabó)
Buffalo Bill and the Indians (US…Robert Altman)
Bugsy Malone (UK…Alan Parker)
Carrie (US…Brian de Palma)
Casanova (Italy…Federico Fellini)
Chinese Roulette (West Germany…Rainer Werner Fassbinder)
La Dernière Femme (Italy/France…Marco Ferreri)
The Desert of the Tartars (Italy…Valerio Zurlini)
Duelle (France…Jacques Rivette)
The Engagement Party (Spain…Pilar Miró)
Face to Face (Sweden…Ingmar Bergman)
Family Plot (US…Alfred Hitchcock)
Femmes Fatales (France…Bertrand Blier)
Gloria Mundi (France…Nikos Papatakis)
The Front (US…Martin Ritt)
Harlan County, USA (US…Barbara Kopple)
Harvest – 3,000 Years (Ethiopia…Haile Gerima)
Heart of Glass (West Germany…Werner Herzog)
I, Claudius (UK…Herbert Wise)
I Only Want You to Love Me (West Germany…Rainer Werner Fassbinder)
Ici et ailleurs (France…Jean-Luc Godard, Anne-Marie Miéville)
The Image (France/US…Radley Metzger)
Improperly Dressed (Hungary…Pál Sándor)
L’Innocente (Italy…Luchino Visconti)
Iracema (Brazil…Jorgé Bodanzky, Orlando Senna)
Je t’aime moi non plus (France…Serge Gainsbourg)
Jonah Who Will Be 25 in the Year 2000 (Switzerland…Alain Tanner)
The Judge and the Assassin (France…Bertrand Tavernier)
Kabhi Kabhie (India…Yash Chopra)
The Killing of a Chinese Bookie (US…John Cassavetes)
Kings of the Road (West Germany…Wim Wenders)
The Last Supper (Cuba…Tomas Gutierrez Aléa)
The Last Tycoon (US…Elia Kazan)
Leadbelly (US…Gordon Parks)
Lost, Lost, Lost (US…Jonas Mekas)
Lullaby of the Earth (Japan…Yasuzo Masumura)
The Man Who Fell to Earth (UK…Nicolas Roeg)
Marathon Man (US…John Schlesinger)
La Marge (France…Walerian Borowczyk)
The Marquise of O (France…Eric Rohmer)
The Memory of Justice (France…Marcel Ophuls)
Mikey and Nicky (US…Elaine May)
The Missouri Breaks (US…Arthur Penn)
M. Klein (France/Italy…Joseph Losey)
Néa (France…Nelly Kaplan)
Network (US…Sidney Lumet)
Next Stop, Greenwich Village (US…Paul Mazursky)
1900 (Italy…Bernardo Bertolucci)
Nobody’s Daughter (Hungary…László Ranódy, Gyula Mészáros)
Noroit (France…Jacques Rivette)
Nous irons tous au paradis (France…Yves Robert)
Obsession (US…Brian de Palma)
The Opening of Misty Beethoven (US…Radley Metzger)
Our Mutual Friend (UK…Peter Hammond)
The Outlaw Josey Wales (US…Clint Eastwood)
Piedra Libre (Argentina…Leopoldo Torre-Nilsson)
The Private Eyes (Hong Kong…Michael Hui)
Private Vices, Public Virtues (Italy…Miklós Jancsó)
Rape! (Japan…Yasuharu Hasebe)
A Reason to Live (US…George Kuchar)
Rich Man, Poor Man (US…David Greene, Boris Sagal)
Robin and Marian (UK…Richard Lester)
Rocky (US…John G.Avildsen)
Satan’s Brew (West Germany…Rainer Werner Fassbinder)
Sebastiane (UK…Derek Jarman)
The Shootist (US…Don Siegel)
The Signalman (UK…Lawrence Gordon Clark)
Silent Movie (US…Mel Brooks)
A Slave of Love (USSR…Nikita Mikhalkov)
Small Change (France…François Truffaut)
Stay Hungry (US…Bob Rafelson)
Sybil (US…Daniel Petrie)
Tattooed Flower Vase (Japan…Masaru Konuma)
Taxi Driver (US…Martin Scorsese)
The Tenant (France…Roman Polanski)
Through the Looking Glass (US…Jonas Middleton)
Tosin Pasa (Turkey…Kartal Tibet)
The Watcher in the Attic (Japan…Noboru Tanaka)
The Youth Killer (Japan…Kazuhiko Kasegawa)
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Best Actor
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Woody Allen The Front
David Carradine Bound for Glory
Robert de Niro 1900
Robert de Niro Taxi Driver
Alain Delon M. Klein
Clint Eastwood The Outlaw Josey Wales
Peter Finch Network
Ben Gazzara The Killing of a Chinese Bookie
Giancarlo Giannini L’Innocente
Edward Herrmann Eleanor and Franklin TV
Dustin Hoffman All the President’s Men
Dustin Hoffman Marathon Man
William Holden Network
Derek Jacobi I Claudius TV
Michael Kitchen Brimstone and Treacle TV
Philippe Noiret The Judge and the Assassin
Robert Redford All the President’s Men
Roger Sloman Nuts in May TV
Sylvester Stallone Rocky
John Wayne The Shootist
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Best Actress
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Jane Alexander Eleanor and Franklin TV
Sonia Braga Doña Flor and Her Two Husbands
Geraldine Chaplin Noroit
Faye Dunaway Network
Sally Field Sybil TV
Eiko Matsuda Ai No Corrida
Bulle Ogier Duelle,
Sian Phillips I Claudius TV
Lee Remick The Omen
Dominique Sanda The Inheritance
Talia Shire Rocky
Sissy Spacek Carrie
Barbra Streisand A Star is Born
Naomi Tani Tattooed Flower Vase
Liv Ullmann Face to Face
Joanne Woodward Sybil TV
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Best Supp Actor
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Ned Beatty Network
Brian Blessed I, Claudius TV
Warren Clarke Our Mutual Friend TV
Ronny Cox Bound for Glory
Denholm Elliott Brimstone and Treacle TV
Denholm Elliott The Signalman TV
Chief Dan George The Outlaw Josey Wales
Hal Holbrook All the President’s Men
John Hurt I, Claudius TV
Harvey Keitel Taxi Driver
Burt Lancaster 1900
Leo McKern Our Mutual Friend TV
Burgess Meredith Rocky
Zero Mostel The Front
Laurence Olivier Marathon Man
Jason Robards Jr. All the President’s Men
Roy Scheider Marathon Man
John Vernon The Outlaw Josey Wales
Burt Young Rocky
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Best Supp Actress
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Jane Alexander All the President’s Men,
Laura Antonelli L’Innocente
Melinda Dillon Bound for Glory
Jodie Foster Taxi Driver
Lee Grant Voyage of the Damned
Bernadette Lafont Noroit
Piper Laurie Carrie
Miou-Miou Jonah Who Will be 25 in the Year 2000
Dominique Sanda 1900
Beatrice Straight Network
Margaret Tyzack I, Claudius TV
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Best Cinematography
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Michael Ballhaus Taxi Driver
Vladimir Chubkhnov, Pavel Lebeshev The Ascent
Pasqualino de Santis L’Innocente
Gerry Fisher M.Klein
Conrad L.Hall Marathon Man
William Lubtchansky Duelle
William Lubtchansky Noroit
Robby Müller, Martin Schäfer Kings of the Road
Sven Nykvist Face to Face
Sven Nykvist The Tenant
Anthony Richmond The Man Who Fell to Earth
Owen Roizman Network
Giuseppe Rotunno Casanova
Vittorio Storaro 1900
Bruce Surtees The Outlaw Josey Wales
Luciano Tovoli La Dernière Femme
David Watkin Robin and Marian
Haxkell Wexler Bound for Glory
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Best Score
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Bill Conti Rocky
Pino Donaggio Carrie
Jerry Fielding The Outlaw Josey Wales
Jerry Goldsmith The Omen
Bernard Herrmann Taxi Driver
Bernard Herrmann Obsession
Wilfrid Josephs I, Claudius TV
Minoru Miki Ai No Corrida
Ennio Morricone 1900
John Morris Silent Movie
Nino Rota Casanova
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Best Short
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Arabesque (US…John Whitney Sr.)
Carnival of the Animals (US…Chuck Jones, Herbert Klynn)
Children (UK…Terence Davies)
Dear Phone (UK…Peter Greenaway)
Dojoji (Japan…Kihachiro Kawamoto)
Frosty’s Winter Wonderland (US…Jules Bass, Arthur Rankin, Jr.)
In the Beginning Was the End: The Truth About De-Evolution (US…Chuck
Statler) (including Jocko Homo)
Kudzu (US…Marjorie Ann Short)
Leisure (Australia…David Denneen)
Magellan: At the Gates of Death, Part I: The Red Gate (US…Hollis Frampton)
Nobody Wants to Play With Me (West Germany…Werner Herzog)
Le Paysagiste (Canada…Jacques Drouin)
Plaisir d’amour en Iran (France…Agnes Varda)
Rendezvous (France…Claude Lelouch)
The Street (Canada…Caroline Leaf)
Thank You Ma’am (US…Andrew Sugerman)
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Click on names for archives
Writers/Founders
I vote ‘Carrie’ for best film in 1976.
I vote Brian de Palma (‘Carrie’) for best director
I vote Clint Eastwood for best actor – ‘The Outlaw Josey Wales’
I vote Sissy Spacek for best actress – ‘Carrie’
I vote Burgess Meredith for best supporting actor – ‘Rocky’
I vote Piper Laurie for best supporting actress – ‘Carrie’
I vote ‘The Tenant’ for best cinematography
I vote ‘Rocky’ for best score.
My Top 5:
1. Carrie
2. Who Can Kill a Child?
3. Rocky
4. The Tenant
5. The Front
Best Picture: The Ascent
Best Director: Larisa Shepitko (The Ascent)
Best Actor: Derek Jacobi (I, Claudius)
Best Actress: Liv Ullmann (Face to Face)
Best Supporting Actor: Brian Blessed (I, Claudius)
Best Supporting Actress: Piper Laurie (Carrie)
Best Cinematography: Pasqualino De Santis (L’Innocente)
Best Score: Bernard Herrmann (Taxi Driver)
My Best Actor and Best Supporting Actor choices goes against what I normally permit, as it’s from a television mini series. Nearly always, I stick to cinematic choices, but decided to honor Derek Jacobi and Brian Blessed from one of the greatest TV works of all-time, I CLAUDIUS. John Hurt from the same series would have been next up. I stopped short of naming I CLAUDIUS my top choice as Best Film, only because I don’t really believe it qualifies. If it did in my own perception it may well edge past my top choice, Russia’s THE ASCENT, though it would be neck and neck. Just about even.
I know, Robert De Niro for TAXI DRIVER is a choice that does not belong in the “ignored” category.
After my top choice, these other very great films, belong at the highest level of 1976 achievements: I CLAUDIUS, FACE TO FACE, SEBASTIANE, NETWORK, TAXI DRIVER, L’INNOCENTE, AI NO CORRIDA, DUELLE, THE TENANT, CARRIE, ALL THE PRESIDENT’S MEN, 1900, OUR MUTUAL FRIEND
Will return for Best Short.
Best Short: Children (Terence Davies)
Best Picture: Taxi Driver
(runners-up: Josey Wales, Carrie, 1900, Buffalo Bill & the Indians)
Best Actor: DeNiro, Taxi Driver
(runners-up: Delon, Gazzara)
Best Actress: Spacek
Supporting Actor: Olivier leads a strong field
Supporting Actress: Laurie
Cinematography: Surtees
Score: Herrmann edges Goldsmith for a final triumph.
I, CLAUDIUS was really the event of the year, but I can’t give a miniseries Best Picture; something about it seems not right and somewhat unfair to even five-hour films. So I had to leave it to Scorsese and Lumet to battle it out for Best Picture and Director, and I felt I had to go with the film that has pretty much influenced decades of filmmaking afterwards (but I, CLAUDIUS is essential viewing, if you haven’t seen it yet). I did have to resort to a dreaded tie for Best Actor, though; it was impossible to pick between these two iconic performances. Supporting actor was a packed category this year, by the way, as was Best Song (the whole score for BUGSY MALONE could have overtaken the latter category; incidentally, this go round, I have started including links to the song nominees, and have tried to find the very best versions on You Tube for each, but some are substandard, so I’d just advise listening for most, rather than watching–thought the BUGSY MALONE clips here are excellent). As always, those capitalized titles are those not in Allan’s superb yearly rundown.
BEST PICTURE: TAXI DRIVER, followed by, in descending order: Network, I Claudius, All the President’s Men, The Front, Bound for Glory, Small Change, Bugsy Malone, Harlan County USA, The Outlaw Josey Wales, Rocky, The Bad News Bears, Carrie, Stay Hungry, Sybil, The Man Who Fell to Earth, The Shootist, In the Realm of the Senses, The Killing of a Chinese Bookie, THE SEVEN PER-CENT SOLUTION, Nuts in May, The Tenant, Face to Face, Robin and Marian, Heart of Glass, Silent Movie, TO FLY!, Marathon Man, Jonah Who Will Be 25 in the Year 2000, Allegro Non Troppo, GRIFFIN AND PHOENIX, Assault on Precinct 13, 1900, Kings of the Road, Buffalo Bill and The Indians, or: Sitting Bull’s History Lesson, Mikey and Nicky, CAR WASH, GOD TOLD ME TO, HOLLYWOOD ON TRIAL, THE LITTLE GIRL WHO LIVES DOWN THE LANE, THE BINGO LONG TRAVELLING ALL STARS AND MOTOR KINGS, THE BLANK GENERATION, THE SAILOR WHO FELL FROM GRACE WITH THE SEA, ODE TO BILLY JOE, BABY BLUE MARINE, MOTHER JUGS AND SPEED, Obsession, Next Stop Greenwich Village, LOGAN’S RUN, SILVER STREAK, MURDER BY DEATH, THE ENFORCER
DIRECTOR: Martin Scorsese, TAXI DRIVER (2nd: Sidney Lumet, Network, followed by Alan J. Pakula, All The President’s Men; Martin Ritt, The Front; Herbert Wise, I Claudius; Hal Ashby, Bound for Glory)
ACTOR: Peter Finch, NETWORK and Robert De Niro, TAXI DRIVER (tie) (2nd: William Holden, Network, followed by: Woody Allen, The Front; David Carradine, Bound for Glory; Derek Jacobi, I Claudius; Sylvester Stallone, Rocky)
ACTRESS: Sally Field, SYBIL (2nd: Sissy Spacek, Carrie, followed by: Faye Dunaway, Network; Liv Ullmann, Face to Face; Sian Phillips, I Claudius; Joanne Woodward, Sybil)
SUPPORTING ACTOR: Ned Beatty, NETWORK (2nd: John Hurt, I Claudius, followed by: Jason Robards, All The President’s Men; Zero Mostel, The Front; Lawrence Olivier, Marathon Man; Chief Dan George, The Outlaw Josey Wales; Burgess Meredith, Rocky)
SUPPORTING ACTRESS: Piper Laurie, CARRIE (2nd: Jodie Foster, Taxi Driver, followed by: Melinda Dillon, Bound for Glory; Beatrice Straight, Network; Talia Shire, Rocky; Margaret Tyzack, I Claudius)
CINEMATOGRAPHY: Haskell Wexler, BOUND FOR GLORY (2nd: Michael Chapman, Taxi Driver, followed by: Owen Roizman, Network; Vittorio Storaro, 1900; Hideo Ito, In The Realm of the Senses; Robby Müller and Martin Schäfer, Kings of the Road; Bruce Surtees, The Outlaw Josey Wales)
SCORE: Bernard Herrmann, TAXI DRIVER (2nd: Pino Donaggio, Carrie, followed by Bill Conti, Rocky; Jerry Fielding, The Outlaw Josey Wales; John Morris, Silent Movie; Jerry Goldsmith, The Omen)
SHORT: RENDEZVOUS (Claude Lelouch) (2nd: The Street (Caroline Leaf), followed by: Plaisir d’amour en Iran (Agnes Varda); Leisure (David Denneen); Arabesque (John Whitney Sr.); Kudzu (Marjorie Ann Short)
FURTHER:
ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY: Paddy Chayefsky, NETWORK (2nd: Paul Schrader, Taxi Driver, followed by: Walter Bernstein, The Front; Bill Lancaster, The Bad News Bears; Mike Leigh, Nuts in May; Nagisa Oshima, In the Realm of the Senses; Alan Parker, Bugsy Malone)
ADAPTED SCREENPLAY: William Goldman, ALL THE PRESIDENT’S MEN (2nd: Robert Graves and Jack Pulman, I Claudius, followed by Robert Getchell, Bound for Glory; Stewart Stern, Sybil; Nicolas Meyer, The Seven Per-Cent Solution; Philip Kaufman and Sonia Chernus, The Outlaw Josey Wales)
NON-ENGLISH-LANGUAGE FILM: SMALL CHANGE (Francois Truffaut) (2nd: In the Realm of the Senses (Nagisa Oshima), followed by: Face to Face (Ingmar Bergman); Heart of Glass (Werner Herzog); Jonah Who Will Be 25 in the Year 2000 (Alain Tanner); Kings of the Road (Wim Wenders)
DOCUMENTARY FEATURE: HARLAN COUNTY USA (Barbara Kopple), followed by To Fly! (Jim Freeman); Hollywood on Trial (David Helpern); The Blank Generation (Ivan Kral and Amos Poe)
ART DIRECTION: ALL THE PRESIDENT‘S MEN, followed by: Bugsy Malone, The Shootist, Bound for Glory, Logan’s Run, The Seven Per-Cent Solution
COSTUME DESIGN: BUGSY MALONE, followed by: Casanova, Bound for Glory, 1900, I Claudius, The Bingo Long Travelling All-Stars and Motor Kings
FILM EDITING: TAXI DRIVER, followed by: Network, Rocky, All The President’s Men, Bound for Glory, Assault on Precinct 13
SOUND: ALL THE PRESIDENT’S MEN, followed by: Rocky, Network, Bound for Glory, Silent Movie, Logan’s Run
SCORING OF A MUSICAL/ADAPTATION SCORING: Paul Williams, BUGSY MALONE (2nd: Leonard Rosenman, Bound for Glory)
ORIGINAL SONG: “I Never Dreamed Someone Like You Could Love Someone Like Me” from CARRIE (music and lyrics by Pino Donnagio and Merrit Malloy) (2nd: “My Name is Tallulah” from Bugsy Malone (music and lyrics by Paul Williams), followed by: “I Wanna Get Next to You” from Car Wash (music and lyrics by Norman Whitfield); “Hooked on Your Love” from Sparkle (music and lyrics by Curtis Mayfield); “You Give A Little Love” from Bugsy Malone (music and lyrics by Paul Williams); “Car Wash” from Car Wash (music and lyrics by Norman Whitfield)
SPECIAL EFFECTS: LOGAN’S RUN
MAKEUP: BUGSY MALONE (2nd: I Claudius)
ANIMATED FEATURE: ALLEGRO NON TROPPO (Bruno Bozzetto)
Picture: All the King’s Men
Director: Martin Scorsese, Taxi Driver
Actor: Robert de Niro, Taxi Driver
Actress: Sissy Spacek, Carrie
Sup. Actor: Zero Mostel, The Front
Sup. Actress: Piper Laurie, Carrie
Cinematography: Pasqualino de Santis, L’Innocente
Best picture should of course be “All the President’s Men”!
Another great year. 1976 contains five of my favorite films ever.
Best Picture: Taxi Driver
Top Five: 1. Taxi Driver 2. Mr Klein 3. The Tenant 4. All The President’s Men 5. The Killing Of A Chinese Bookie
Five Almosts: Harlan County USA, Heart Of Glass, Network, The Man Who Fell To Earth, Kings Of The Road
For me Mr Klein is one of the most underrated movies in film history. If Franz Kafka was around during the 1970’s and making pictures, this is what he would come up with. Joseph Losey has some great stuff on his resume (The Prowler, The Servant, Don Giovanni) but this 76 release (with a magnificent Delon turn) is his pinnacle achievement IMO. I gave Taxi Driver the slight nod, but it’s really surrounded by worthy equals all around.
I also think Polanski’s final chapter in his Apartment trilogy is amazing… it just needs to be watched in French (where the overdubs seem much less intrusive).
Pakula continues his hot streak and Cassavetes makes what is arguably his best film. Just watch the shorter Director’s Cut which fixes the poor pacing of the longer theatrical cut.
Another very strong year, that can stand close to ’73 & ’74, at least for number of quality films imo (although I’d rank the top films from those years above most of the ones from this year). While I think the 80s are (slightly) underrated, it’s essentially all downhill from here. I don’t think there was ever another year this good since, certainly for Western cinema anyway. Although scanning ballots in the years to come, I may find some healthy surprises. I know 1984, for example, has a lot of really excellent films, from the musical euphoria of Stop Making Sense to the the cool minimalism of Stranger Than Paradise to the sprawling yet detailed evocations of Heimat. But we’ll go down that path later…
Feature: Taxi Driver
followed by:
2. All the President’s Men
3. Carrie
4. The Ascent
5. Monsieur Klein
Short: still watching ’em. Nice to see Hedgehog got some recognition last week though. That one’s really a trip.
Director: Martin Scorsese, Taxi Driver
Lots of good performances, but one astonishing cast dominates almost all the categories.
Actor: Robert De Niro, Taxi Driver
Actress: Sissy Spacek, Carrie
Supp. Actor: Harvey Keitel, Taxi Driver
Supp. Actress: Jodie Foster, Taxi Driver
Cinematography: Vittorio Storraro, 1900 (whatever else one thinks of this film, it is drop-dead gorgeous)
Score: Bernard Herrmann, Taxi Driver
Screenplay: William Goldman, All the President’s Men
Editing: Tom Rolf, Melvin Shapiro, Taxi Driver
Ensemble: Robert De Niro, Cybill Shepherd, Harvey Keitel, Jodie Foster, Peter Boyle, Albert Brooks, Leonard Harris, Martin Scorsese, Steven Prince, Taxi Driver
Line: “I’m mad as hell and I’m just not going to take it anymore!” (Network)
Use of Music: 1900
Scene: Death by Prom, Carrie
In my role as tiebreaker, I vote for…
Short: Children
It should be noted that the video I linked up for Magellon is actually of no relation to the Frampton film, although I actually quite liked it. It is a music video, of recent vintage, for a song that takes the name of the ’76 short. Oops.
I understand Sam’s position about allowing a television mini-series take the top slot. It’s long been a point of contention and argument ever since Allan started including these fine works in his decade counts. However, since I have, recently, started to really appreciate the efforts these film-makers started making with the “Long-form” mode of story-telling and cinematics, I am afraid I have to side with those that see these tele-films as just as viable as the theatrical releases that dot a film year. What a film to start the true study of the long-form format. That, and, as I have always believed: BEST IS BEST…
So…
PICTURE: I, CLAUDIUS
Top 5: 1. I, Claudius 2. Face To Face 3. Taxi Driver 4. Duelle 5. Network
Both epic and supremely intimate in scope and dramatics, this look at the inner politics and emotional conniving of ancient Rome is a tour-de-force of screen-writing and a show-case for some of the finest performances of the year. Predating such wannabes as GLADIATOR by decades, this mature “soap opera” of days gone by is one of the landmarks of television and a hallmark of excellence that so few thought the medium could still produce. 13 hours of the stuff and not a dull or questionable moment.
DIRECTOR: Martin SCORSESE (TAXI DRIVER)
Runner Up: Sidney Lumet (Network)
Guiding the film through the gritty streets of pre-Giuliani NYC, Scorsese’s vision of the city is a sweating, seductive, addictive yet ugly view of a real hell on earth. Only a native of Manhattan and the rest of the five boroughs could take something as repulsive as New York at the time and turn it into the biggest, living and breathing character in the film.
LEAD ACTOR: Derek JACOBI (I, CLAUDIUS)
Runners Up: Peter Finch (Network), Robert DeNIro (Taxi Driver), William Holden (Network), Sylvester Stallone (Rocky)
NO CONTEST.
Poor Peter Fich dies and goes to heaven twice with me (the other was for SUNDAY, BLOODY SUNDAY) without the final vote. Shame as his Howard Beale, the messianic prophet of the air-waves, is a frighteningly evangelical comic gem ( “I just ran out of bullshit”-cracks me up to tears every time!).
However, the fire of this category has got to be Jacobi, all knowing and dignified as the one man who sees things for how they really are in a room of blood-sucking vipers and poisoned fanged snakes. He takes Shakespeare a step further, if that’s possible, and makes a larger than life figure someone we can totally understand and identify with. One of the greatest single achievements in acting for television and the greatest performance, hands down, of 1976.
LEAD ACTRESS: Liv ULLMANN (FACE TO FACE)
Runners Up: Faye Dunaway (Network), Sissy Spacek (Carrie), Sian Phillips (I, Claudius)
NO CONTEST.
I’m gonna share a personal secret with you all…
I really think that Liv Ullmann, when the smoke clears and the final assesment on the medium of film is given, is probably the greatest single actress that ever graced the screen. Running a full circle of emotions, in FACE TO FACE, as a psychiatrist on the verge of a full-blown nervous breakdown, she doesn’t skip a beat in presenting every detail and warning sign of her characters confusion and fear. Truly, a breath-taking turn and one of my two or three favorite performances by an actress in a Bergman film. To this day I still cannot fathom how she lost the Oscar for this one. Miles ahead of her competition.
SUPP. ACTOR: Brian BLESSED (I, CLAUDIUS)
Runners Up: Ned Beatty (Network), Robert Duvall (Network), John Hurt (I, Claudius)
SUPP. ACTRESS: Beatrice STRAIGHT (NETWORK)
Runners Up: Jodie Foster (Taxi Driver), Piper Laurie (Carrie), Melinda Dillon (Bound For Glory)
NO CONTEST.
I know, I know… I KNOW. The time element has always perplexed people when they find out that Beatrice Straight won the Academy Award for what clocks in as no more than a 10 minute performance. Is it too small to even warrant the nomination or procure the praise of even the basest film critic?
My answer? When a performer is this on fire you sure as hell can bet it does. In 10 minutes Straight establishes the long-term loyalty and love she has for her husband, in eyes as worn as an insomniac, and then, on a dime, turns into a ferocious behemoth of betrayed trusts and fidelity angrily lashing out in defense of her good moral standing. Straight illustrates in only a few short moments the entire history of her life with her husband with different tones of speaking, moving and being. It’s a mini-masterpiece and all the more brilliant because of it’s length.
Oscar got this one 100% correct.
PHOTO: Sven NYKVIST (THE TENANT)
Runner Up: Haskell Wexler (Bound For Glory)
MUSIC: Bernard HERRMANN (TAXI DRIVER)
Runner Up: John Morris (Silent Movie)
NO CONTEST.
Only Herrmann could have come up with the brooding and haunting pseudo jazz riffs that accompany Scorsese’s gritty eye for hellish detail. At once lyrical then horrific, this score is the perfect, final capper for a career in composition that could be the greatest in all of film. The opening themes that join the flashes of Travis world as he cruises the mean streets of the city have an almost nightmarish quality. Herrmann died only a few hours after finishing his performance of this score that remains trapped, forever, on the tracks of this monumental filmic achievement.
As always, I so enjoy your wrap-ups, Dennis. Your positions are always backed up with utmost passion.
Thank you, DEAN…
I enjoy your commeentary as well…
Pic- Taxi Driver
Dir- Scorsese
Actor- De Niro – Taxi Driver
Actress- Dunaway – Network (I’ve never been able to see Ullmann in Face to Face)
Supp. Actor- Jason Robards – All the President’s Men
Supp. Actress- Jodie Foster – Taxi Driver
Score-Herrmann- Taxi Driver
Cinematography- Chubkhnov, Lebeshev, – The Ascent
Film: ‘Harlan County, U.S.A’.; ‘Taxi Driver’; ‘Mikey and Nicky’
Director: Kopple; Scorsese; May
Actor: John Cassavetes (‘Mikey and Nicky’); Robert de Niro (‘Taxi Driver’); Peter Finch (‘Network’ — it’s the year of the nervous breakdown)
Actress: Liv Ullmann (‘Face to Face’ — the most convincing crack-up on film; Faye Dunaway (‘Network’ — neurotic as hell, a woman on the verge); no third choice
S. Actor: Jason Robards (‘All the President’s Men’); Burt Lancaster (in the ludicrous ‘1900’); no third choice
S. Actress: Jodie Foster (‘Taxi Driver’) — no competition, the pivotal performance of the 70’s)
Photography: Haskell Wexler (‘Bound for Glory’)
Robert de Niro in one of the best performances of the year (‘Taxi Driver’) and one of the worst (‘1900’).
PS: I cannot believe Nicholson lost the actor prize for 1975. What a travesty.
This was a painful loss, even for me, Mark, and I voted for Al Pacino.
I TOTALLY agree Mark. The surface sensationalism of Pacinos turn seduced the group away from Nicholsons full bodied, detailed and convincingly spiritual tour de force. One is merely good performance, jotting the marks and really nothing more. The other is a titanic morphing into a spirit that directly speaks and invi teviewer on a personal journey. Nicholson gave his greatest performance with CUCKOO’S NEST and was miles ahead of Pacino. You can marvel at Pacinos precision with his turn, making his mark hitting seem natural. Nicholson becomes the character as he connects directly with the heroic gualities we all aspire to. In a nutshell… Pacino gave a performance. Nicholson became R.P. MacMurphy.
Pacino still deserved it. His Sonny is absolutely perfect. But, yes, Nicholson was great, too.
Actually, Dennis I feel just the opposite. Nicholson’s “surface sensationalism” is what turned me off to voting for him. Sounds more like you just love Jack Nicholson, and anything he does. Pacino deserved to win, no doubt about it, and we are lucky that the voters on the thread did not back up Mark’s convictions. In direct answer to Mark I’d say it would have been a travesty if Nicholson won in his shameless Oscar bait performance.
The right person carried the vote.
I voted for Nicholson, but I feel that he and Pacino are neck and neck. There is no surface sensationalism in the latter’s performance at all. It’s a classic performance.
A question to throw out — is ‘Network’ the first American mainstream film to deploy the N-word? And did anyone at the time drag Chayefsky through the gates of hell for using it? Just asking because I’m really curious and don’t know the answers.
And it’s De Niro with a capital D. Sorry, Bob.
I would think the answer is no, Mark. Seems to me the word was used many times in 70s cinema. I think it was used in TO KILL A MOCKINGBIRD and IN THE HEAT OF THE NIGHT. And it was certainly used in BLAZING SADDLES. The word didn’t carry the same explosive connotation then that it has today, of course.
Other 1976 movies the word was used in: TAXI DRIVER (by Martin Scorsese’s passenger character), CAR WASH, THE BAD NEWS BEARS, SILVER STREAK, DRUM; pre 1976, you have DIRTY HARRY, MEAN STREETS, Stanley Kubrick’s THE KILLING, THE FRENCH CONNECTION, SHAFT, BIRTH OF A NATION, THE TAKING OF PELHAM ONE TWO THREE, THE UNFORGIVEN (1960), ODDS AGAINST TOMMORROW, FRITZ THE CAT, GENTLEMAN’S AGREEMENT, COFFY, THE DEFIANT ONES, JOE, THE BOYS IN THE BAND, LADY SINGS THE BLUES, THE LANDLORD, THERE WAS A CROOKED MAN, THE GREAT WHITE HOPE, SERGEANT RUTLEDGE, COOLEY HIGH, HEAVY TRAFFIC, THE PRESIDENT’S ANALYST…and don’t forget THE LEGEND OF NIGGER CHARLEY and BOSS NIGGER.
Thanks, Dean. I was thinking of ‘Blazing Saddles’ and ‘Mean Streets’ and wondering also if Shelley Winters spoke it in ‘A Patch of Blue’ (she doesn’t, it appears). So ‘Gentlemen’s Agreement’ is the first time the slur is actually spoken on-screen in a big American film then? (Of course, there are the intertitles in ‘The Birth of a Nation’, though the word is less incendiary when it’s read instead of spoken). ‘Network’ may be the first time Commie and the n-word are used in tandem, I suppose.
‘Gentlemen’s Agreement’ is the first time the word ‘Jew’ was used explicitly in a Hollywood film. So it’s Kubrick’s film then?
No, GENTLEMAN’S AGREEMENT uses it, too, along with a long list of racial slurs. So it has the leg up in this dubious achievement. Still, I’m not sure it’s the first film to utter that word. BTW, “Nigger” is also the dog’s name in 1953’s THE DAM BUSTERS.
Pic – Network (US…Sidney Lumet)
Director – Taxi Driver (US…Martin Scorsese)
Actor – Peter Finch Network
Actress – Faye Dunaway Network
Supp Actor – Jason Robards Jr. All the President’s Men
Supp Actress – Beatrice Straight Network
My choices for 1976:-
Best Picture: Taxi Driver
Best Director: Martin Scorsese (Taxi Driver)
Best Actor: Robert De Niro (Taxi Driver)
Best Actress: Faye Dunaway (Network)
Best Supporting Actor: Michal Tarkowski (The Scar) & Burt Lancastar (1900)
Best Supporting Actress: Jodie Foster (Taxi Driver)
Best Cinematography: Michael Ballhaus (Taxi Driver)
Best Score: Bernard Herrmann (Taxi Driver)
Top 10:
1. Taxi Driver
2. Kings of the Road
3. Jana Aranya/The Middlemen (dir. Satyajit Ray)
4. The Network
5. The Tenant
6. All the President’s Men
7. The Scar/Blizna (dir. Kieslowski)
8. The Outlaw Josey Wales
9. Rocky
10. 1900
Best Picture: Taxi Driver
RU: Network, 1900, Ai no corrida, Carrrie)
Best Director: Martin Scorsese (Taxi Driver)
Best Actor: Robert de Niro (Taxi Driver)
Best Actress: Liv Ullmann (Face to Face)
Best Supporting Actor: Robert Duvall (Network)
Best Supporting Actress: Piper Laurie (Carrie)
Best Cinematography: Vittorio Storraro (1900)
Best Score: Bernard Herrmann (Taxi Driver)
Good to see someone else who admired Duvall’s subtle work in “Network.”
Best Picture: Network
Best Director: Sidney Lumet (Network)
Best Actor: Peter Finch (Network)
Best Actress: Liv Ullmann (Face to Face)
Best Supporting Actor: Burt Lancaster (1900)
Best Supporting Actress: Beatrice Straight (Network)
Best Cinematography: Vittorio Storaro (1900)
Best Score: Bernard Herrmann (Taxi Driver)
Best Short: Carnival of the Animals.
Peter, I agree on Network, but prefer DeNiro to Finch for lead actor.
Best Picture: Network
Best Director: Sidney Lumet (Network)
Best Actor: Robert DeNiro (Taxi Driver)
Best Actress: Faye Dunaway (Network)
Best Supporting Actor: Jason Robards (All the President’s Men)
Best Supporting Actress: Jodie Foster (Taxi Driver)
Best Cinematography: Haskell Wexler (Bound For Glory)
Best Musical Score: Bernard Herrmann (Taxi Driver)
Best Short: The Red Gate – Hollis Frampton
My top five for 1976:
1. Duelle – Jacques Rivette
2. Taxi Driver – Martin Scorsese
3. The Killing of a Chinese Bookie – John Cassavetes
4. L’Innocente – Luchino Visconti
5. In the Realm of the Senses – Nagisa Oshima
Best Picture: Duelle by Jacques Rivette
Best Director: Martin Scorsese (Taxi Driver)
Best Actor: Robert de Niro (Taxi Driver)
Best Actress: Liv Ullmann (Face to Face)
Best supporting actor: Harry Dean Stanton (The Missouri Breaks)
Best supporting actress: Jodie Foster (Taxi Driver)
Best Cinematographer: Pasqualino de Santis (L’Innocente)
Best Score: Bernard Herrmann (Taxi Driver)
I must say, this “Best of ____” series is quite enjoyable, as I catch up with it to this point…
It’s amazing but I’ve discovered that I’m singularly ignorant of so many 1976 gems listed by Allan above…
I really must catch up with Ai No Corrida, Allegro Non Troppo, Anatomy of a Relationship, Assault, Jack the Ripper, Bar Mitzvah Boy, Black and White in Colour, Bouquet of Barbed Wire, Brimstone and Treacle, Budapest Tales, Bugsy Malone, Chinese Roulette (actually, I did this once but feel as though I ought to see it again), La Dernière Femme, The Desert of the Tartars, Duelle, The Engagement Party, Femmes Fatales (saw this, too, but really need to see it once more), Gloria Mundi, Harlen County, USA (a shameful omission that has bugged me for a long time now), Harvest – 3,000 Years, I’ve seen Heart of Glass by Herzog but it’s another I think I ought to see once again, I, Claudius has been one of my “white whales” as I’ve heard so much about it for ten years and continually kick myself for still not having partaken in its wonders, I Only Want You to Love Me is another Fassbinder that I’ve seen but think I should see once more, Ict et ailleurs, a difficult Godard film that I am certain deserves another look, The Image yet another picture I should take another look at, Improperly Dressed, L’Innocente by Visconti, seen twice but would surely be enlightened by yet another visitation, Iracema, Je t’aime moi non plus is one I’d like to see a second time, Jonah Who Will Be 25 in the Year 2000, Tavernier’s The Judge and the Assassin is one of the rare films by the French master I have regrettably only seen once and in fairly poor condition at that, Kabhi Kabhie, Kings of the Road, The Last Supper by Aléa, The Last Tycoon, Leadbelly, Lost, Lost, Lost, Lullaby of the Earth by Masumura is another I ought to take another look at, as is Roeg’s The Man Who Fell to Earth, La Marge, Rohmer’s The Marquise of O is a film I’m sure I’ve seen but have little recollection of at the moment for some bizarre reason, The Memory of Justice, Mikey and Nicky, M. Klein, which, from the sounds of it, I truly need to see as soon as possible, Néa, Next Stop, Greenwich Village, I’ve seen 1900 once but feel like it deserves yet another viewing, Nobody’s Daughter is a Hungarian film I’ve always heard so much about but have yet to see, Noroit, I’ve seen once years ago but know it’s worthy of at least yet one more look, Nous irons tous au paradis, The Opening of Misty Beethoven, Our Mutual Friend, Piedra Libre from Argentina, The Private Eyes, Private Vices, Public Virtues is one I saw at a film festival some years ago but I’m sure my initial viewing was insufficient, Rape!, A Reason to Live, Rich Man, Poor Man, Satan’s Brew was a Fassbinder I didn’t especially adore upon one viewing but that probably argues on behalf of a second trip to the well, Sebastiane The Signalman, A Slave of Love, Stay Hungry is a film I saw a few months back but think I was missing something there, Sybil, Tattooed Flower Vase, Through the Looking Glass, Tosin Pasa, The Watcher in the Attic and I really need to catch up with Kasegawa’s The Youth Killer.
What a ridiculous deficit I must overcome for the year of 1976!
Thanks so much for stopping in Alexander! As always when you evaluate any situation you bring a massive amount to the table. Yes 1976 has a number of gems, many of which are on the front burner of movie lovers, as you have comprehensively illustrated here!
I haven’t seen the Rivettes, so I don’t know how well this vote would hold up, but… not bad, though it does feel like, even beyond the Rivettes, I’m thinner this year than most… That said, I dearly love the Cassavetes film, so…
PICTURE: Killing of a Chinese Bookie
DIRECTOR: John Cassavetes
LEAD ACTOR: Robert DeNiro, Taxi Driver
LEAD ACTRESS: Eiko Matsuda, Ai No Corrida
SUPPORTING ACTOR: Timothy Carey, Killing of a Chinese Bookie
SUPPORTING ACTRESS: Jodie Foster, Taxi Driver
SHORT: I shall try to come back to this after checking on the links, but in the meanwhile, I’m tempted just to vote the for the Devo, for its place in history, and, you know, being brilliant. It would be difficult for anything else to match its importance.
SCORE: Herrmann, Taxi Driver
CINEMATOGRAPHY: Ballhaus, Taxi Driver
Plus bonus picks::
Script: Killing of a Chinese Bookie
Music/Sound: this would probably be those Devo films, in any case…
Documentary: Harlan County USA, which has to land high on any list…
Best Picture: Taxi Driver
Best Director: Martin Scorsese, Taxi Driver
Best Actor: Robert de Niro, Taxi Driver
Best Actress: Faye Dunaway, Network
Best Supporting Actor: Chief Dan George, The Outlaw Josey Wales
Best Supporting Actress: Piper Laurie, Carrie
Best Cinematography: Bruce Surtees, The Outlaw Josey Wales
Best Score: Bernard Herrmann, Taxi Driver
Film: Taxi Driver
Director: Martin Scorsese
Actor: Robert de Niro (Taxi Driver) (nice to see a mention of Roger Sloman in ‘Nuts in May’)
Actress: Not on the list, but I like Audrey Hepburn in ‘Robin and Marian’
Supporting actor: Harvey Keitel (Taxi Driver) (also like Denholm Elliot in ‘The Signalman’)
Supporting actress: I’ve just watched ‘Duelle’ (it’s on Youtube at the moment in good quality with English subtitles) and really liked both Nicole Garcia and Hermine Karagheuz
Cinematography: William Lubtchansky (Duelle)
Best Picture: I, Claudius
Best Director: Herbert Wise (I, Claudius)
Best Actor: Derek Jacobi (I, Claudius)
Best Actress: Sissy Spacek (Carrie)
Best Supporting Actor: John Hurt (I, Claudius)
Best Supporting Actress: Piper Laurie (Carrie)
Best Short: Children (Terence Davies)
Best Cinematography: Vittorio Storaro (1900)
Best Score: Bernard Herrmann (Taxi Driver)
BEST PICTURE; TAXI DRIVER
BEST DIRECTOR; MARTIN SCORCESE – TAXI DRIVER
BEST ACTOR; ROBERT DE NIRO – TAXI DRIVER
BEST ACTRESS; AUDREY HEPBURN – ROBIN AND MARIAN (how could she have been left off the list??)
BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR; LAURENCE OLIVIER – MARATHON MAN
BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS; JODIE FOSTER – TAXI DRIVER
BEST CINEMATOGRAPHY; MICHAEL CHAPMAN – TAXI DRIVER
BEST SCORE; BERNARD HERRMANN – TAXI DRIVER
BEST SHORT; CHILDREN (TERENCE DAVIES)
Best Film: Network
Best Director: Sidney Lumet (Network)
Best Actor: Derek Jacobi (I Claudius)
Best Actress: Sissy Spacek (Carrie)
Best Supporting Actor: Laurence Olivier (The Marathon Man)
Best Supporting Actress: Jodi Foster (Taxi Driver)
Best Short: Carnival of the Animals (Chuck Jones)
Best Cinematography: Haskell Wexler (Bound For Glory)
Best Score: Jerry Goldsmith (The Omen)