by Allan Fish
Best Picture Annie Hall, US (7 votes)
Best Director Woody Allen, Annie Hall (6 votes)
Best Actor John Travolta, Saturday Night Fever (4 votes)
Best Actress Diane Keaton, Annie Hall (9 votes)
Best Supp Actor Peter Firth, Equus (7 votes)
Best Supp Actress Vanessa Redgrave, Julia (13 votes)
Best Cinematography Luciano Tovoli Suspiria (6 votes)
Best Score John Williams, Star Wars (10 votes)
Best Short Powers of Ten, US. Charles Eames, Ray Eames (4 votes)
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on to 1978, an even more mediocre year…
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1978
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Best Picture/Director
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Ai No Borei (Japan/France…Nagisa Oshima)
Alexandria, Why? (Egypt…Youssef Chahine)
American Boy (US…Martin Scorsese)
Amor de Perdicao (Portugal…Manoel de Oliveira)
Angi Vera (Hungary…Pal Gabor)
Autumn Sonata (Sweden…Ingmar Bergman)
Baara (Mali…Souleymane Cissé)
Big Wednesday (US…John Milius)
Blue Collar (US…Paul Schrader)
La Cage aux Folles (France…Edouard Molinaro)
The Chant of Jimmie Blacksmith (Australia…Fred Schepisi)
China 9, Liberty 37 (Italy…Monte Hellman)
Coming Home (US…Hal Ashby)
The Coming of Sin (Spain…José Ramon Larraz)
Danton’s Death (UK…Alan Clarke)
Dawn of the Dead (US…George A.Romero)
Days of Heaven (US…Terrence Malick)
Death of a President (Poland…Jerzy Kawalerowicz)
The Deer Hunter (US…Michael Cimino)
The Demon (Japan…Yoshitaro Nomura)
Despair (West Germany…Rainer Werner Fassbinder)
The Devil’s Crown (UK…Alan Cooke)
The Double Suicide of Sonezaki (Japan…Yasuzo Masumura)
The Driver (US…Walter Hill)
Drunken Master (Hong Kong….Woo-Ping Yuen)
Ecce Bombo (Italy…Nanni Moretti)
Edward and Mrs Simpson (UK…Waris Hussein)
An Enemy of the People (US…George Schaefer)
Exposure (Ireland…Kieran Hickey)
Fingers (US…James Toback)
Gates of Heaven (US…Errol Morris)
Germany in Autumn (West Germany…Alf Brustellin, Rainer Werner Fassbinder, Alexander Kluge, Maximiliane Mainka, Edgar Reitz, Beata Mainka-Jellinghaus, Bernhard Sinkel, Volker Schlondorff, Hans Peter Cloos, Katja Rupé)
Get Out Your Handkerchiefs (France…Bertrand Blier)
Girlfriends (US…Claudia Weill)
Halloween (US…John Carpenter)
Heaven Can Wait (US…Warren Beatty and Buck Henry)
The Herd (Turkey…Zeki Okten)
Holocaust (US…Marvin J.Chomsky)
I Wanna Hold Your Hand (US…Robert Zemeckis)
In a Year of Thirteen Moons (West Germany…Rainer Werner Fassbinder)
Interiors (US…Woody Allen)
Je suis à Prendre (France…Francis Leroi)
Jubilee (UK…Derek Jarman)
Knife in the Head (West Germany…Reinhard Hauff)
The Last Waltz (US…Martin Scorsese)
The Left-Handed Woman (West Germany…Peter Handke)
Lillie (UK…John Gorrie, Christopher Hodson, Tony Wharmby)
Little Lips (Italy…Mimmo Cattarinich)
The Lost Boys (UK…Rodney Bennett)
Love Sublime (India…Raj Kapoor)
Magic (UK…Richard Attenborough)
Maraschino Cherry (US…Radley Metzger)
Martin (US…George A.Romero)
Mouth to Mouth (Australia…John Duigan)
My Way Home (UK…Bill Douglas)
National Lampoon’s Animal House (US…John Landis)
The National Shotgun (Spain…Luis Garcia Berlanga)
Occupation in 26 Pictures (Yugoslavia…Lordan Zafranovic)
The One and Only Phyllis Dixey (UK…Michael Tuchner)
The Orlovs (USSR…Mark Donskoi)
Pennies from Heaven (UK…Piers Haggard)
Perceval le Gallois (France…Eric Rohmer)
Place Without Limits (Mexico…Arturo Ripstein)
Pretty Baby (US…Louis Malle)
The Roads of Exile (France…Claude Goretta)
Rough Treatment (Poland…Andrzej Wajda)
The Rutles: All You Need is Cash (US…Eric Idle and Gary Weis)
Satan’s Blood (Spain…Carlos Puerto)
Scared Straight! (US…Arnold Shapiro)
The Second Awakening of Christa Klages (West Germany…Margarethe Von Trotta)
Shadows of a Hot Summer (Czechoslovakia…Frantisek Vlacil)
The Silent Partner (Canada…Darryl Duke)
The Spongers (UK…Roland Joffé)
Stay as You Are (Italy…Alberto Lattuada)
Straight Time (US…Ulu Grosbard)
Summer of My German Soldier (US…Michael Tuchner)
Superman (US…Richard Donner)
The Suspended Vacation (France…Raoul Ruiz)
The 36th Chamber of Shaolin (Hong Kong…Liu Chia-Luang)
Those Wonderful Movie Cranks (Czechoslovakia…Jiri Menzel)
Top Dog (Poland…Feliks Falk)
The Tree of Wooden Clogs (Italy…Ermanno Olmi)
An Unmarried Woman (US…Paul Mazursky)
Violette Nozière (France…Claude Chabrol)
A Walk Through H (UK…Peter Greenaway)
Watership Down (US…Martin Rosen)
A Wedding (US…Robert Altman)
Who’ll Stop The Rain (US…Karel Reisz)
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Best Actor
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Alan Alda Same Time Next Year
Warren Beatty Heaven Can Wait
Gary Busey The Buddy Holly Story
Michael Caine California Suite
Brian Cox The Devil’s Crown TV
Brad Davis Midnight Express
Robert De Niro The Deer Hunter
Gérard Depardieu Get Out Your Handkerchiefs
Patrick Dewaere Get Out Your Handkerchiefs
Edward Fox Edward & Mrs Simpson TV
Bruno Ganz Knife in the Head
Elliott Gould The Silent Partner
Dustin Hoffman Straight Time
Ian Holm The Lost Boys TV
Anthony Hopkins Magic
Bob Hoskins Pennies from Heaven TV
Harvey Keitel Fingers
Tommy Lewis The Chant of Jimmie Blacksmith
Tim McIntire American Hot Wax
Steve McQueen An Enemy of the People
Michael Moriarty Holocaust TV
Nick Nolte Who’ll Stop The Rain?
Ken Ogata The Demon
Laurence Olivier The Boys from Brazil
Richard Pryor Blue Collar
Christopher Reeve Superman
Volker Spengler In a Year of 13 Moons
John Travolta Grease
Peter Ustinov Death on the Nile
Norman Rodway Danton’s Death TV
Jon Voight Coming Home
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Best Actress
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Francesca Annis Lillie TV
Ingrid Bergman Autumn Sonata
Ellen Burstyn Same Time Next Year
Jill Clayburgh An Unmarried Woman
Edith Clever The Left Handed Woman
Jamie Lee Curtis Halloween
Tina Engel The Second Awakening of Christa Klages
Jane Fonda Coming Home
Christine Hargreaves The Spongers TV
Cynthia Harris Edward & Mrs Simpson TV
Isabelle Huppert Violette Nozière
Shima Iwashita The Demon
Glenda Jackson Stevie
Meiko Kaji The Double Suicide of Sonezaki
Jane Lapotaire The Devil’s Crown TV
Melanie Mayron Girlfriends
Olivia Newton-John Grease
Geraldine Page Interiors
Veronika Papp Angi Vera
Meryl Streep Holocaust TV
Tuesday Weld Who’ll Stop the Rain?
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Best Supp Actor
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John Belushi National Lampoon’s Animal House
Michael Byrne The Devil’s Crown TV
John Cazale The Deer Hunter
Dom Deluise The End
Bruce Dern Coming Home
Charles Durning An Enemy of the People
John Duttine The Devil’s Crown TV
Peter Egan Lillie TV
Richard Farnsworth Comes a Horseman
Gene Hackman Superman
Nigel Hawthorne Edward & Mrs Simpson TV
Michael Higgins Danton’s Death TV
John Hurt Midnight Express
Charles Kay The Devil’s Crown TV
Yaphet Kotto Blue Collar
Michael Moriarty Who’ll Stop the Rain?
Michael Murphy An Unmarried Woman
Donald Pleasence Halloween
Christopher Plummer The Silent Partner
Ian Richardson Danton’s Death TV
Sam Shepard Days of Heaven
Harry Dean Stanton Straight Time
Christopher Walken The Deer Hunter
Jack Warden Heaven Can Wait
David Warner Holocaust TV
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Best Supp Actress
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Eve Arden Grease
Peggy Ashcroft Edward & Mrs Simpson TV
Dyan Cannon Heaven Can Wait
Stockard Channing Grease
Gemma Craven Pennies from Heaven TV
Mary Beth Hurt Interiors
Linda Manz Days of Heaven
Jessie Matthews Edward & Mrs Simpson TV
Penelope Milford Coming Home
Irene Miracle Midnight Express
Angela Punch-McGregor The Chant of Jimmie Blacksmith
Theresa Russell Straight Time
Maggie Smith California Suite
Wendy Jo Sperber I Wanna Hold Your Hand
Maureen Stapleton Interiors
Meryl Streep The Deer Hunter
Liv Ullmann Autumn Sonata
Zoe Wanamaker Danton’s Death TV
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Best Cinematography
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Nestor Almendros, Haskell Wexler Days of Heaven
Ian Baker The Chant of Jimmie Blacksmith
Michael Chapman, Laszlo Kovacs and Vilmos Zsigmond The Last Waltz
Dean Cundey Halloween
Ermanno Olmi The Tree of Wooden Clogs
Sven Nykvist Pretty Baby
Jean Rabier Violette Nozière
Giuseppe Rotunno China 9, Liberty 37
Michael Seresin Midnight Express
Robert L. Surtees Same Time, Next Year
Geoffrey Unsworth Superman
Gordon Willis Interiors
Vilmos Zsigmond The Deer Hunter
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Best Score *
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John Carpenter Halloween
Bill Conti An Unmarried Woman
Jerry Goldsmith The Boys from Brazil
Jerry Goldsmith Coma
Jerry Goldsmith Magic
Giorgio Moroder Midnight Express
Ennio Morricone Days of Heaven (does incorporate Saint-Saëns and Leo Kottke)
Oscar Peterson The Silent Partner
David Shire Straight Time
John Williams Superman
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* please note Stanley Myers’ score for The Deer Hunter not eligible as previously written for The Walking Stick (1970). Likewise Ennio Morricone’s Chi Mai, heard on The Life and Times of David Lloyd George (TV) was previously written in 1971.
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Best Short
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Afterlife (Canada…Ishu Patel)
Bugs Bunny in King Arthur’s Court (US…Chuck Jones)
Burial Path (US…Stan Brakhage)
Hardware Wars (US…Ernie Fossellus)
Lmno (US…Robert Breer)
The Metamorphosis of Mr. Samsa (Canada…Caroline Leaf)
Rip Van Winkle (US…Will Vinton)
Riddles for a Candy (Czechoslovakia…Jiri Barta)
Rowing Across the Atlantic (France…Jean-Francois Laguionie)
Satiemania (Yugoslavia…Zdenko Gasparovic)
The Small One (US…Don Bluth)
Special Delivery (Canada…Eunice Macauley and John Weldon)
Ubu (UK…Geoff Dunbar)
Within the Woods (US…Sam Raimi)
Xenogenesis (US…James Cameron, Randall Frakes)
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Best Picture: The Chant of Jimmie Blacksmith
Best Director: Rainer Warner Fassbinder (In a Year of 13 Moons)
Best Actor: Robert De Niro (The Deer Hunter)
Best Actress: Ingrid Bergman (Autumn Sonata)
Best Supporting Actor: Christopher Walken (The Deer Hunter)
Best Supporting Actress: Angela Punch-McGregor (The Chant of Jimmie..)
Best Cinematography: Nestor Almendros, Haskell Wexler (Days of Heaven)
Best Score: Jerry Goldsmith (Boys from Brazil)
Hall of Fame for a generally mediocre year:
The Chant of Jimmie Blacksmith
In a Year of 13 Moons
The Deer Hunter
Days of Heaven
La Cage Aux Folles
Gates of Heaven
Autumn Sonata
Halloween
Jubilee
Martin
Pennies from Heaven
Tree of the Wooden Clogs
National Lampoon’s Animal House
Fingers
‘The Chant of Jimmie Blacksmith’ is one of the three greatest Australian films of all-time with CAREFUL HE MIGHT HEAR YOU and PICNIC AT HANGING ROCK.
The Best Score was very difficult to choose between Goldsmith and Ennio Morricone.
Best Short: The Metamorphosis of Mr. Samsa
Sam, do you know where I can find a copy of ‘Providence’? I’ve only seen it once on a wretched VHS tape back in the 90’s.
Mark, I will make inquiries on this immediately.
I would love to see PROVIDENCE, too!
Well, I sent you a copy two years ago. Perhaps check your dog’s digestive tract.
LOL
Best Picture: The Deer Hunter
Top Five: 1. The Deer Hunter 2. The Last Waltz 3. Gates Of Heaven 4. The Chant Of Jimmie Blacksmith 5. Days Of Heaven
Yes! Suspiria wins for cinematography!!
I vote “Halloween” for best film in 1978.
I vote John Carpenter for best director (“Halloween”) in 1978.
I vote Brad Davis for best actor (Midnight Express) in 1978.
I vote Geraldine Page for best actress (Interiors) in 1978.
I vote Donald Pleseance for best supporting actor (Halloween) in 1978.
I vote Irene Miracle for best supporting actress (Midnight Express) in 1978.
I vote “Days of Heaven” for best cinematography in 1978
I vote “Halloween” for best score in 1978
I vote “The Metamorphosis of Mr. Samsa” for best short in 1978.
My Top 5 of the year:
1. Halloween
2. Dawn of the Dead
3. Interiors
4. Midnight Express
5. Days of Heaven
Allan, you aint kidding about this year. Fortunately I just saw a good one for some of the acting categories.
Best Picture; The Deer Hunter
Best Director: Cimino
Best Actor: Ken Ogata, The Demon
Best Actress: Shima Iwashita, The Demon
Supporting Actor: Pleasance, Halloween
Supporting Actress: Ullmann, Autumn Sonata
Cinematography: Zsigmond, Deer Hunter
Score: Williams, Superman
Yup, 1978 is the worst year of the decade. But the eighties are still to come 😦
Feature: A Walk Through H
followed by:
2. The Deer Hunter
3. Days of Heaven
4. Dawn of the Dead
5. Gates of Heaven & Koko: A Talking Gorilla
Short: The Metamorphosis of Mr. Samsa (but I may change my vote after watching the shorts)
Incidentally, let the record show that Kathryn Bigelow made a notable student film this year, contemporaneous with her ex-husband, but as it wasn’t available online I didn’t include it. Shame, would’ve been fun to see them go head to head again as they would thirty-two years later…
Director: Terence Malick, Days of Heaven
Actor: Anthony Hopkins, Magic (just for a change of pace, can’t give it to De Niro every year, and I haven’t seen the Voight or Keitel – tbh, it’s getting to the point where I suspect the best performances in a given year are in movies I haven’t seen, smaller actor-driven films that don’t make canons and haven’t been caught by me yet…ah well, I’ll keep voting anyway…)
Actress: Ingrid Bergman, Autumn Sonata
Supp. Actor: Christopher Walken, The Deer Hunter
Supp. Actress: Meryl Streep, The Deer Hunter
Cinematography: Nestor Almendros, Haskell Wexler, Days of Heaven
Score: John Carpenter, Halloween (could be Nyman, but he’ll have plenty of opportunities in years to come)
Screenplay: Peter Greenaway, A Walk through H
Editing: Charles Bornstein, Tommy Lee Wallace, Halloween
Ensemble: Robert De Niro, Christopher Walken, Jon Savage, Meryl Streep, John Cazale, George Dzundza, Chuck Aspegren, Shirley Stoler, Rutanya Alda, Pierre Segui, The Deer Hunter
The cast of Animal HouseLine: “I remember this map came with a letter accusing me of stealing eggs. I have never understand the relationship of the map to the accusation. I still don’t, but I’m grateful for the map.” (A Walk Through H) – or maybe just the whole narration
Use of Music: The Last Waltz (I’m gonna cheat, though I’ve never seen this but for a clip or two I’d imagine it has to win)
Scene: Russian Roulette, The Deer Hunter
Joel as of earlier this evening I was prepared to cast my vote for METAMORPHOSIS even before you brought this up here. I didn’t only because I wanted to make sure I had seen some others to make sure. But I believe I will be voting for it tomorrow.
Oh my gosh… you haven’t seen THE LAST WALTZ. Watch it now. Immediately. Stay with it. Love it. http://www.veoh.com/watch/v191484543aM8pxdK
Ahh, I cannot promise the entire film. But make an effort willya?
Picture: The Tree of Wooden Clogs
Director: Terrence Malick, Days of Heaven
Actor: Volker Spengler, In a Year of 13 Moons
Actress: Ingrid Bergman, Autumn Sonata
Sup. Actor: Christopher Walken, The Deer Hunter
Sup. Actress: Linda Manz, Days of Heaven
Cinematography: Nestor Almendros, Haskell Wexler, Days of Heaven
This is not a mediocre year at all, I don’t care what anyone says. The top 20 films here scream out joyously and fantastically to the Earth. And the top choice, battered as it may now be, still stands as a prime example of world cinema. It shook me to my core then, and it still does today. And I cannot fail to hail my top director, who REALLY establishes his voice here. Plus, nearly the best music documentary of all time (completely moving), and terrific horror, comedy, thrillers, spoofs, war movies, documentaries, rock n’ roll (GREAT year for that!), UK and US television, and the first notable comic book movie (though that now seems like a execrable curse, even as this one set the template). As always, I have my song choices complete with links, and the capitalized titles in my Picture lineup are the ones left off of Allen’s always superb list. By the way, PLLEEEEAASE check out SPECIAL DELIVERY, the 7 minute choice for Best Short. Click on the title here. You will NOT be sorry; it’s ONLY 7 minutes long. Treat yourself! I seriously KNOW it’s fucking marvelous. If I had one movie from this year to crow about, it would be SPECIAL DELIVERY.
And, yes…also…I loooooovve THE LAST WALTZ. A masterpiece, that! It makes me cry with utter ecstasy. But so does, ever so slightly more importantly…
BEST PICTURE: THE DEER HUNTER, followed by, in descending order: The Last Waltz, Days of Heaven, Interiors, The Tree of Wooden Clogs, An Unmarried Woman, Straight Time, Who’ll Stop the Rain?, Pennies from Heaven, Blue Collar, Gates of Heaven, An Enemy of the People, Halloween, Midnight Express, Holocaust, National Lampoon’s Animal House, The Silent Partner, The Rutles: All You Need is Cash, Girlfriends, Autumn Sonata, I Wanna Hold Your Hand, Coming Home, Magic, Dawn of the Dead, KOKO: A TALKING GORILLA, Scared Straight!, Martin, Watership Down, Superman, THE END, Fingers, Get Out Your Hankerchiefs, THE BUDDY HOLLY STORY, A Wedding, GO TELL THE SPARTANS, STEVIE, THE BRINK’S JOB, American Boy, Summer of My German Soldier, La Cage Aux Folles, Drunken Master, Heaven Can Wait, Pretty Baby, China 9 Liberty 37, DEATH ON THE NILE, AMERICAN HOT WAX, THE LORD OF THE RINGS, COMA, FOUL PLAY
DIRECTOR: Terrence Malick, DAYS OF HEAVEN (2nd: Michael Cimino, The Deer Hunter, followed by Martin Scorsese, The Last Waltz; Ermanno Olmi, The Tree of Wooden Clogs; Woody Allen, Interiors; Paul Mazursky, An Unmarried Woman)
ACTOR: Dustin Hoffman, STRAIGHT TIME (2nd: Anthony Hopkins, Magic, followed by: Robert De Niro, The Deer Hunter; Brad Davis, Midnight Express; Bob Hoskins, Pennies from Heaven; Gary Busey, The Buddy Holly Story)
ACTRESS: Jill Clayburgh, AN UNMARRIED WOMAN (2nd: Geraldine Page, Interiors, followed by: Tuesday Weld, Who’ll Stop The Rain, followed by: Jane Fonda, Coming Home; Ingrid Bergman, Autumn Sonata; Glenda Jackson, Stevie)
SUPPORTING ACTOR: Christopher Walken, THE DEER HUNTER (2nd: John Cazale, The Deer Hunter, followed by: Yaphet Kotto, Blue Collar; Dom Deluise, The End;
Christopher Plummer, The Silent Partner; Stephen Furst, National Lampoon’s Animal House)
SUPPORTING ACTRESS: Maureen Stapleton, INTERIORS (2nd: Linda Manz, Days of Heaven, followed by: Mary Beth Hurt, Interiors; Theresa Russell, Straight Time; Meryl Streep, The Deer Hunter; Wendy Jo Sperber, I Wanna Hold Your Hand)
CINEMATOGRAPHY: Nestor Alamendros and Haskell Wexler, DAYS OF HEAVEN (2nd: Michael Chapman, Laszlo Kovacs and Vilmos Zsigmond, The Last Waltz, followed by Vilmos Zsigmond, The Deer Hunter; Gordon Willis, Interiors; Michael Seresin, Midnight Express; Sven Nykvist, Pretty Baby)
SCORE: John Carpenter, HALLOWEEN (2nd: Giorgio Moroder, Midnight Express, followed by: Jerry Goldsmith, The Boys from Brazil; John Williams, Superman; Ennio Morricone, Days of Heaven; Davuid Shire, Straight Time; Jerry Goldsmith, Magic)
SHORT: SPECIAL DELIVERY (Eunice Macauley and John Weldon) (2nd: Afterlife (Ishu Patel), followed by Hardware Wars (Ernie Fossellus); Rip Van Winkle (Will Vinton); Riddles for a Candy (Jiri Barta); The Metamorphosis of Mr. Samsa (Caroline Leaf))
FURTHER:
ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY: Michael Cimino, Derec Washburn, Quinn Redeker and Louis Garfinkle, THE DEER HUNTER (2nd: Dennis Potter, Pennies From Heaven, followed by: Paul Schrader and Leonard Schrader, Blue Collar; Paul Mazursky, An Unmarried Woman; Woody Allen, Interiors; Harold Ramis, Doug Kenney and Chris Miller, National Lampoon’s Animal House)
ADAPTED SCREENPLAY: Judith Rascoe and Robert Stone, WHO‘LL STOP THE RAIN? (2nd: Alvin Sargent, Edward Bunker and Jeffery Boam, Straight Time, followed by: Alexander Jacobs and Arthur Miller, An Enemy of the People; Curtis Hanson, The Silent Partner; Oliver Stone, Midnight Express; Martin Rosen, Watership Down)
DOCUMENTARY FEATURE: THE LAST WALTZ (Martin Scorsese) (2nd: Gates of Heaven (Errol Morris), followed by: Koko: A Talking Gorilla (Barbet Schroeder); American Boy (Martin Scorsese); Scared Straight! (Arnold Shapiro))
NON-ENGLISH-LANGUAGE FILM: THE TREE OF WOODEN CLOGS (Ermanno Olmi) (2nd: Autumn Sonata (Ingmar Bergman), followed by: Get Out Your Hankerchiefs (Bertrand Blier), La Cage Aux Folles (Edouard Molinaro); Drunken Master (Woo-Ping Yuen))
ART DIRECTION: INTERIORS, The Wiz, The Brink’s Job, Heaven Can Wait, An Enemy of the People, An Unmarried Woman,
COSTUME DESIGN: DEATH ON THE NILE, The Wiz, Days of Heaven, Pretty Baby, Interiors, Movie Movie
FILM EDITING: THE LAST WALTZ, The Deer Hunter, Midnight Express, National Lampoon’s Animal House, I Wanna Hold Your Hand, Who’ll Stop The Rain?
SOUND: THE DEER HUNTER, The Last Waltz, The Buddy Holly Story, Days of Heaven, Midnight Express, Superman
SCORING OF A MUSICAL/ADAPTATION SCORING: THE BUDDY HOLLY STORY (2nd: The Rutles: All You Need is Cash)
ORIGINAL SONG: “Hopelessly Devoted to You” from GREASE (2nd: “Can You Read My Mind” from Superman (music by John Williams, lyrics by Leslie Bricusse), followed by “FM (No Static at All)” from FM (music and lyrics by Donald Fagan and Walter Becker); “Last Dance” from Thank God It’s Friday (music and lyrics by Paul Jabara); “Ready to Take a Chance Again” from Foul Play (music by Charles Fox, lyrics by Norman Gimbel); “Here’s Another Fine Mess” from The End (music and lyrics by Paul Williams))
SPECIAL EFFECTS: SUPERMAN
MAKEUP: THE WIZ (2nd: Dawn of the Dead)
ANIMATED FEATURE: WATERSHIP DOWN (2nd: The Lord of the Rings)
Oh wow Koko came out this year? Since it doesn’t matter anyway, I’m going to tie it for fifth place on my runners-up with Gates of Heaven. Which seems somehow appropriate.
And Watership Down too. I am presently about halfway through that book, which I want to finish before seeing the film. At which point I may craft a video essay featuring it and another, quite different, adaptation of a British literary classic. Time will tell.
I absolutely adore WATERSHIP DOWN and will add it to my Hall of Fame!
I like that logic, Movieman!
And, yes, Joel and Sam…WATERSHIP DOWN is a treasure, and a surprisingly frank one, too!
Hell must be freezing over…..we gave an award to John Travolta. Shame shame.
Pic- Days of Heaven
Dir- Malick
Actor- Volker Spengler – In a Year of 13 Moons
Actress- Ingrid Bergman – Autumn Sonata
Supp. Actor – Walken – The Deer Hunter
Supp. Actress- Maureen Stapleton – Interiors
Score- Carpenter – Halloween
Cinematography – Almendros-Wexler – Days of Heaven
You try acting and dancing like he did! A completely iconic performance! Yay for John Travolta as Tony Monero!
Some people like Travolta, but I am not one of them.
This is his ONE performance that is deserved.
So often I feel intimidated by the “intellectual” film, the cinema that is labeled “important”. I feel that if I go against the intellectual consensus here I’ll, most assuredly, be likened to a fool. However, every once in a while I have to allow my heart and my soul to take over and answer to what feels right and true. 1978 is such a case for me when considering that cinematic year. Yes, there were the foreign film masterworks, films that rocked us to our foundations by boldly depicting eras and situations that had been taboo to film-makers for many years prior. It seemed that 1978 was the year that saw caution thrown to the wind. Yet, as hard as I try to see those films as the ones that truly counted for me the more I see myself fawning over what many deem a mere “entertainment”. Never is anything said about how exciting or emotionally moving that entertainment might be. Hardly ever is that entertainment likened to art because the subject matter seems so “low-brow” and “throwaway”.
Entertainment has a place in art. The film I finally honed in on is one of great technical skill and daring, evokes deep human emotions and longing in the search to find a place where we can be ourselves for all to see and accept. While it may be a fantasy, it’s a film that has brought me back to it again and again, not only because of the beauty of its story and themes, but also of because of its impeccable visual artistry and brilliance of the directors vision of it.
As it would happen, it’s also my favorite biography from the big screen. I make no apologies. I stand tall in the face of ridicule should it come to that. The film I chose as the best of 1978 is a movie I have loved ever since I first saw it as a child and one that I adore and applaud even to this day.
So…
BEST PICTURE: SUPERMAN
Top 5: 1. Superman 2. Autumn Sonata 3. Interiors 4. Days Of Heaven 5. The Chant Of Jimmy Blacksmith
The reason that SUPERMAN is pure entertainment art is because the palette of the films visual dichotomy and sound design change from one chapter to the other. As a story told in three distinct parts we not only see the dramatics heighten and the emotions swell, but marvel as the director, writer, composer, cinematographer and cast change as the evolution of one of the most iconic characters in American myth and literature grows. It’s the genius of writer Tom Mankiewicz and director Richard Donner to allow the legacy of “The Man of Steel” evolve not only in words and actions but as an ever changing visual and melodic tapestry of sight and sound.
Yes, Bergman, Allen, Malick and, to a lesser extent, Schepisi present some of the most haunting and ravishing emotional images committed to film in 1978. But, none were so blatantly daring as SUPERMAN. Frankly, the commitment to presenting the life-story of this fictional character so truthfully and seriously makes SUPERMAN fly into the stratosphere even today when slicker and more technologically savvy directors/artists try their damnedest to usurp its well deserved glory (and we’ll see it tried to be usurped this summer as Zack Snyder, of 300 fame, presents the Superman reboot: MAN OF STEEL).
SUPERMAN is, definitely, filmed entertainment. However, it’s a great, GREAT film as well.
DIRECTOR: Richard DONNER (SUPERMAN)
Runners Up: Ingmar Bergman (Autumn Sonata), Woody Allen (Interiors), Terrence Malick (Days of Heaven), Fred Schepisi (The Chant of Jimmy Blacksmith)
The commitment, ingenuity and devotion that Richard Donner brings to the table for SUPERMAN can not be underestimated. Sure, Bergman has one of his late, great works. Woody Allen moves, completely successful, into dramatic, and dramatically visual, waters for the first time. Mallick creates one of the most visually arresting tone poems in American film history and Schepisi is both tender and horrifying with his look at foul justice.
Yet, it is Richard Donner, famed hack of a million bad films, that hits a home run with his loving and visually stunning biography of the most iconic comic-book hero of them all. At once daring in its modernity (the planet Krypton), softly lyrical and emotionally resonant in its mid-section (life in Smallville, Kansas), and going gangbusters by the presentation of the third and final chapter, Donner doesn’t skip a beat and never loses sight of the humanity planted deep within the soul of the icon. He never made a film as good before or since SUPERMAN. Matter of fact, most think he’s a dud (and several LETHAL WEAPON films, THE GOONIES, MAVERICK and CONSPIRACY THEORY would prove the skeptics right). But, Donner did something with SUPERMAN that all fantasy film-makers after him adopted: in creating fantasy he drown the film in as much reality as possible to sell the unbelievable. Armed with a crackerjack script by Superman aficionado and creative consultant Tom Mankiewicz, Donner achieved the impossible and made us all believe in the legend and that a man really, truly, could fly.
LEAD ACTOR: Jon VOIGHT (COMING HOME)
Runners Up: Christopher Reeve (Superman), Laurence Olivier (The Boys From Brazil), Robert DeNiro (The Deer Hunter), Anthony Hopkins (Magic)
So many great ones here. Reeve, in particular, stands out with his breakthrough performance and brings complete believability and sensitive humanity to one of the most iconic characters in literary history. DeNiro, explosively powerful will have his day as he’s not quite as on the money as he was in 1976 and will be in 1980. Olivier nails his last, final tour-de-force in a whirlwind of dramatic intensity fused with comic overtones. Hopkins belts one out of the park with his sweaty and nervous delving into dual personalities.
However, as good as they all are, it’s the quiet boil and tender understanding of Voight as the damaged soul in Hal Ashby’s COMING HOME that speaks the loudest and in the most volumes. Tricky, he can’t move his legs or walk in and out of frame, but he’s the voice of truth through experience that sees the injustices of a time gone to madness and it’s in his eyes that you can see the fright from the horrors he’s experienced.
Oscar got this one absolutely right.
(NOTE: Allan. Olivier is NOT a supporting player in THE BOYS FROM BRAZIL. Peck has less time than Olivier does and the film is centered on Olivier’s investigation of Peck. Oscar nominated, rightly, Olivier in the LEAD ACTOR category as well)
LEAD ACTRESS: Ingrid BERGMAN (AUTUMN SONATA)
Runners Up: Margot Kidder (Superman), Geraldine Page (Interiors), Jane Fonda (Coming Home), Jill Clayburgh (An Unmarried Woman)
In her last great turn, Bergman unleashes a wealth of anguish, insult and pain as the classical concert-pianist trying to mend the hurts she’s inflicted on her children in Ingmar Bergman’s late-career masterwork. At once shocked and insulted, she turns slowly toward accusations and bitter condemnations only to shrink and submit to the horrors of the truth. A complex, complicated turn breathlessly rendered by her incomparable talent, it’s Ingrid Bergmans often titanic swan song. What a way to send herself off!!!!
SUPP. ACTOR: Bruce DERN (COMING HOME)
Runners Up: Gene Hackman (Superman), Marlon Brando (Superman), Christopher Walken (The Deer Hunter), E. G. Marshall (Interiors)
Hackman almost had me with his wonderfully villainous comic turn as did Brando who is the emotional core of SUPERMAN.
However, it’s the slowly unraveling Dern who unsettles and frightens the viewer (and Jane Fonda) with his jerky, intense presence as a soldier fresh out of the horrors of the jungles of Viet-Nam that get my biggest accolade. His final, silent, heartbreaking moment of release will move you to tears of despair and make you kick yourself from the knowledge we acquire from the performance. Dern makes you realize the massiveness of the innocence lost through bloody and unnecessary war.
SUPP. ACTRESS: Mary-Beth HURT (INTERIORS)
Runners Up: Valerie Perrine (Superman), Penelope Milford (Coming Home), Meryl Streep (The Deer Hunter), Liv Ullmann (Autumn Sonata)
One that almost slipped through the cracks.
Mary-Beth Hurt is the fire of Woody Allen’s very first (and best) dramatic work. While most of the applause would seem to go to the showier, crazed, lead performance by Geraldine Page (never more brilliant), it’s Hurt who accepts the affliction of her mothers metal torture. As she grows more agitated of her lot in taking on her parents responsibilities and becomes the voice of authority in a heartbreaking situation that includes suicidal tendencies, she grows before our eyes into the most seeing and understanding of her clan. Jumping from silent reflection to violently verbal moments of uncertainty, Hurts performance is the greatest in a film loaded to the brim with great performances (in a cast of greats that includes Richard Jordan, Maureen Stapleton, E. G. Marshal, Diane Keaton and, the aforementioned, Page).
PHOTO: Geoffrey UNSWORTH (SUPERMAN)
Runners Up: Sven Nykvist (Autumn Sonata), Gordon Willis (Interiors), Nestor Almendros/Haskell Wexler (Days of Heaven)
All heavyweights here and, yet, it’s Unsworth (who assisted Stanley with the photography of the legendary 2001:A SPACE ODYSSEY), who leads the pack.
Understanding the film is broken in three distinct chapters, Unsworth changes the visual and color palette for each. First, icy cold and metallic for Jor-El’s last stand on Krypton, then evoking Norman Rockwell with his warm gold’s and oranges in the wheat fields of Kansas in the second part and, finally, resorting to a jazzy display of primary colors that evoke, immediately, the seven color palette of a comic strip for Superman’s adventures in Metropolis. It’s a field-day for a worthy cinematography rendered amazing by a truly great one. So much has been said of Alemndros and Wexler’s work on DAYS OF HEAVEN. However, you get what you expect with the work on that extraordinary Malick film. I dare say to look again at SUPERMAN and see what nobody expected.
MUSIC: John WILLIAMS (SUPERMAN)
Runner Up: Jerry Goldsmith (The Boys From Brazil), Ennio Morricone (Days of Heaven), Giorgio Moroder (Midnight Express)
Jerry Goldsmith’s Vienna waltz inspired work on Shaffner’s adaptation of THE BOYS FROM BRAZIL would have been the winner here. However…
It’s the thunderous fanfare for “The Man of Steel” that threatens even his simple but terrifying piano motifs for JAWS and his Wagner inspired epic score for STAR WARS as his most recognizable. Away from the fanfare, Williams slams SUPERMAN, as Unsworth did with his photography, with three distinctively different soundscapes to accompany the adventures of the famous super-hero. For the chamber of the Kryptonian council and the landscape of Krypton itself, he fuses the score with Bartok inspired chimes and organs (and there is a hint of an executioners drum as General Zod is condemned to death in the Phantom Zone) and creates an completely other-worldly feel. For the midsection of the film in Kansas, his melodies recall Steiner and his massive score for GONE WITH THE WIND, creating an intimacy that grows into paternal inspiration. Finally, in the third section (the present day, comic-book style), he’s a swell of heroic cymbal crashes and variations, both slight and strengthened, of the fanfare that reaches unimaginable heights as Superman spins back the world.
Williams has won 5 Oscars (he’s the second most nominated artist in Academy history after Walt Disney) in a career that has spanned almost 60 years and, for me, he has NEVER written a score more epically encompassing and as brilliantly layered as his work for SUPERMAN. In my humble opinion, it’s the greatest score in Williams legendary career.
Loved reading this & makes me want to see the film again ASAP. Interesting to see you hold Brando’s performance in such high regard as I remembered it as basically just a phone-in.
Yeah, I love SUPERMAN. It’s the great comic book movie I spoke of. I see many more films this year as being better. But it was certainly the blockbuster entertainment of 1978. And, yeah, I would have gone with Gene Hackman’s Lex Luthor over Brando’s Jor-El. Hell, I would have gone with Ned Beatty over Brando.
MOVIEMAN-Yes, the stories are true that Brando “phoned” that performance in… However, look at it again and I dare you to find fault in it (particularly in the directors “extended’ cut of the film that sees the Oscar winning actor in more of the film). Brando is such aconsumate professional that even his cue card readings (and he had them taped all over the set, even on the baby’s diaper during the soliloquy) are better than other actors complete A-game leading turns. The soliloquy that has him speaking to his infant son before he rockets him off to safety on Earth is absolutely heartbreaking and his moments as teacher to his grown son in the Fortress of Solitude sequence are moments of great wisdom and intellectual mentoring. Brando exudes a melancholic presence that informs the actions of Reeve for the rest of the film. Brando’s spiritual stature in SUPERMAN is one of the bedrock foundations of the film and his discussions of the laws of humanity are the rule-book that his son must adhere to whilst becoming the savior he was fated to be.
To be honest, Brando could read the dictionary from a tele-prompter and make it compelling.
Hackman is all smarmy narcissism and it’s a wonderful detail he brings to a character that is anything but fascinating in the comic books. It’s the nervous comedy, wit coming from pure psychopathy, that makes Hackmans turn as Lex Luthor one of the many performance gems in SUPERMAN (the moment Valerie Perrine tells Hackman that her mother lives in Hackensack, NJ, where the second of two nuclear missiles is heading, only to have Hackman look at his watch and shake his head in the negative to allude to the old lady not being alive within the next two seconds is blisteringly funny and scary at the same time).
Either of these actors could have given my final choice (Bruce Dern for COMING HOME) a run for the money. I just felt Dern’s twitchy danger just edged the boys from SUPERMAN out by a hair.
Literally laughed out loud reading/remembering this: “(the moment Valerie Perrine tells Hackman that her mother lives in Hackensack, NJ, where the second of two nuclear missiles is heading, only to have Hackman look at his watch and shake his head in the negative to allude to the old lady not being alive within the next two seconds is blisteringly funny and scary at the same time).” I think I need to go on a Hackman binge…
Wow Joel. Hackensack is our county seat, a city just 12 minutes by car from my hometown. I’ve been to that place more times in my life probably than any other destination. Ha!
Ahhh, I think you are blinded by some sort of dizyying love, Dennis (Valerie Perrine for Best Supporting Actress? Really? Did you even mention her for LENNY back in ’74?). Brando is not even a supporting actor. His performance is a cameo, at best. At the very least Hackman’s performance is a TRUE supporting one. Not to mention that it makes me laugh so MANY times (even though he is an over-the-top villain—and he doesn’t even make my top choices). But I do love the tragic Bruce Dern in COMING HOME (it must have been hard for him to do this performance, after being so hateful in so many movies before). He just missed being in my lineup. But I could not find fault with two great comedic performances (in the forgotten Deluise and Furst, who have been left behind because they are ugly and fat). And why is it rare, not that we have the chance to correct things, that comedic performances still never make the cut? Do we have the same prejudices as the hated Academy?
No, DEAN, Brando’s performance, particularly in the DIRECTORS CUT of the film, IS a supporting turn. The time he has on screen has nothing to do with cameo vs. supporting performance.
As I recall, BEATRICE STRAIGHT was on YOUR shortlist of actresses contending for your vote as BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS of 1976 with her 10 minute (if, even) stint in Lumet’s NETWORK (I, actually, chose Straight over many other very fine performers for the tops in that category)…
As for Perrine… Well, you might not think so but, for me, she perfectly balanced the comic trio she was part and parcel of with Hackman and the riotously funny Ned Beatty. She’s the on-again, off-again conscience to Hackman’s villianous psychopath.
As for love? Oh, I make no bones about my affections for SUPERMAN. However, as most can tell by my previous ballots, an actor or artist only gets my vote or stands as a runner up if they really contribute something of worth to the film and the category. In this case, Perrine was a solid contender.
I’m ashamed of myself for not listing Deluise for his achingly funny turn as the paranoid schitzophrenic, dual personality plaqued, polish whacko that rooms with Burt Reynolds in the “Booby Hatch” in THE END (“who was Polands man of the year? There wasn’t any! How do you identify a Pollock? By the shit in wallet!”-LOL!!!!! Cracks me up every time). I have championed that little comic gem as one of the funniest films of the 1970’s and no small part of its over-all success can be attributed to DeLuise. Deluise steals every scene he’s in and his impromptu reactions are absolute lunacy (I love what he says to Reynolds when he makes a gift to him of a hang-mans noose: “You like the color?”). He also gave a terrific comic turn in the early 80’s as the greeting card shop owner in love with food in Anne Bancroft’s FATSO.
Ahh, I so agree about Deluise in THE END (I like it when he says to Reynolds “You got a lot of rules about peein’ and when he inturrupts his own rant to ask Burt “Got a minute?”…ahhh so much funny stuff he does in that film. A totally underrated movie! Not perfect, but a pretty great screenplay. Plus, Joanne Woodward, Norman Fell, Carl Reiner, Sally Field, Kristy Macnichol, Strother Martin, Robby Benson, David Steinberg, and the great team of Myrna Loy and Pat O’Brian! I mean! What a cast! Deluise will be up for Best Actor for me again with FATSO. Another underrtaed movie of the time.
By the way, I WILL be watching SUPERMAN again soon…the director’s cut. It IS magnificent.
Well, I’ll forgive Dennis Superman. But I shall only recall David Thomson, who in his Biographical Dictionary of Film, amongst the extended essays on everyone else, just wrote three lines on Donner which sums up the talentless hack perfectly. “Mr Donner has made several of the most successful and least interesting films of his age. And one doubts it’s over yet.”
Agree with Sam, a mediocre year…
Best Picture: Days of Heaven
RU: (The Deer Hunter, Interiors, The Last Waltz, Halloween)
Best Director: Terrence Malick (Days of Heaven)
Best Actor: Robert De Niro (The Deer Hunter)
Best Actress: Ingrid Bergman (Autumn Sonata)
Best Supporting Actor: Christopher Walken (The Deer Hunter)
Best Supporting Actress: Mary-Beth Hurt (Interiors)
Best Cinematography: Nestor Almendros, Haskell Wexler (Days of Heaven)
Best Score: Ennio Morricone (Days of Heaven)
PICTURE: Amor de Perdicao (though IMDB has it for 1979 – but you and Harvard have it for 1978, so that’s 2 to 1, and that’ll do for me… I have mixed feelings about that, since I wanted to vote for Chahine and Alexandria Why? but – on the other hand, 79 is a much stronger year, and de Oliveira wasn’t going to win that, so I guess this works out…)
DIRECTOR: Manoel de Oliveira
LEAD ACTOR: Richard Pryor, Blue Collar
LEAD ACTRESS: Jamie Lee Curtis, Halloween (well – it’s what sticks in my head after all these years.)
SUPPORTING ACTOR: Yaphet Kotto, Blue Collar
SUPPORTING ACTRESS: Linda Manz, Days of Heaven (though since she narrates the damned thing, shouldn’t she be the lead?)
SHORT: another postponement, though I’m starting early enough, I might be able to get it done this week.
SCORE: Morricone, Days of Heaven
CINEMATOGRAPHY: Nestor Almendros & Haskell Wexler, Days of Heaven
Plus bonus picks:
Script: Another vote for Doomed Love, in all its tangled romantic glory
Music/Sound: I suppose the obvious answer is the Last Waltz (which is also the documentary winner) – but – for one given song, I can’t miss the chance to note Earth Wind and Fire’s version of Got to Get You Into My Life from that, um, well, you know, Sgt. Pepper film. No love for Peter Frampton’s star turn? how could that be?
How did you see Amor de Perdicao, WS, there is no Eng subbed print out there. Bewen after it for over a decade.
Sam, I have to agree with you on the Australian film…and again thank you for the copy.
Best Film: The Chant of Jimmie Blacksmith
Best Director: Fred Schipisi (The Chant of Jimmie Blacksmith)
Best Actor: Anthony Hopkins (Magic)
Best Actress: Ingrid Bergman (Autumn Sonata)
Best Supporting Actor: Christopher Walken (The Deer Hunter)
Best Supporting Actress: Linda Manz (Days of Heaven)
Best Cinematography: Nestor Almendros (Days of Heaven)
Best Score: Jerry Goldsmith (The Boys from Brazil)
Best Short: Metamorphosis of Mr. Samsa (Film Board of Canada)
1978 is one of the weakest years in film history.
A rather barren year, indeed — ‘Days of Heaven’ makes a grab for the cosmic and misses, but it is seductively beautiful; ‘Autumn Sonata’ is a prime example of Bergman’s late tendency towards prolixity — talk, talk, talk, an ideal candidate for the anti-literary, pro-cinema partisan to bludgeon Bergman with. The film is impressive, but also exhausting, so I guess it comes down to a duel between ‘The Deer Hunter’ (already decorated with critics’ prizes and that damn Oscar) and ‘Jimmie Blacksmith’.
Film: ‘The Chant of Jimmie Blacksmith’ RU: ‘The Deer Hunter’
Director: Fred Schepisi RU: Michael Cimino
Actor: Jon Voight (‘Coming Home’) RU: De Niro
Actress: Glenda Jackson (‘Stevie’) RU: Edith Clever (‘The Left-Handed Woman’) and Ingrid Bergman (‘Autumn Sonata’)
S. Actor: Christopher Walken (‘The Deer Hunter’) RU: Richard Farnsworth (‘Comes a Horseman’)
S. Actress: Mona (‘Lion Aunt’) Washbourne (‘Stevie’) RU: Streep (‘The Deer Hunter’)
Photography: Robby Muller (The Left-Handed Woman’)
Ensemble Acting: The cast of ‘The Deer Hunter’
I’m changing my Ensemble vote to Deer Hunter, which I overlooked in favor Animal House, a film I do t even like that much (save Sutherland’s morosely hilarious cameo).
DEER HUNTER has SO much good acting in it. Shirley Stoler, George Dzundza, Chuck Aspengren, Rutyanda Alda…plus De Niro, Walken, Streep, Cazale, Savage, and the amazing Vietnamese actors, who I feel are sadly not hailed enough.
Yea Hackman is so good in Superman, he deserves more recognition for how brilliant he is in comedy. People always associate him with intensity, but his performances in Superman, The Royal Tenenbaums, The Birdcage, Get Shorty, and Young Frankenstein show remarkable range in comedy. I think he’s more versatile than Bill Murray in that aspect.
Good point. Man, I wish that scene from Tenenbaums, where he tells Anjelica Huston that he has cancer, then that he doesn’t, and then that he does again (after she slaps him) was on You Tube so I could link it here.
Heres the link my friend
🙂
Top Five for 1978:
1. Remember My Name – Alan Rudolph
2. Days of Heaven – Terrence Malick
3. Interiors – Woody Allen
4. Autumn Sonata – Ingmar Bergman
5. Straight Time – Ulu Grosbard
Best Picture: Remember My Name (This enigmatic little tale of revenge fascinates me like no other film this year.)
Best Director: Terrence Malick (Days of Heaven)
Best Actor: Dustin Hoffman (Straight Time)
Best Actress: Jill Clayburgh (An Unmarried Woman)
Best supporting actor: Harry Dean Stanton (Straight Time)
Best supporting actress: Theresa Russell (Straight Time)
Best Cinematography: Nestor Almendros and Haskell Wexler (Days of Heaven)
Best Score: Ennio Morricone (Days of Heaven)
Duane, nice first-place choice there. I haven’t seen the film to this point, but your poll position recommendation will go a long way towards sorting that out!
Thanks, Sam. Remember My Name has never been released on home video in any format due to music rights issues. I believe it is presently available on youtube.
Oh my gosh…another vote for Dustin Hoffman in STRAIGHT TIME. Easily the best of his career. This is the same guy who played in TOOTSIE! And in MIDNIGHT COWBOY! But such a variety of performances. But if I had a choice for Hoffman’s greatest performance, I would pick STRAIGHT TIME.
We’re certainly in agreement on this one, Dean. Straight Time was one of the high points of seventies realism right up there with Fat City and California Split.
I see no one is going to watch SPECIAL DELIVERY. It’s only 7 minutes long! Why????
Best Actor is going to be a mess! Is there a tie-breaker here? And is this the way it’s going to be from now on?
Best Picture: In a Year of 13 Moons
Best Director: Rainer Warner Fassbinder (In a Year of 13 Moons)
Best Actor: Volker Spengler (In a Year of 13 Moons)
Best Actress: Ingrid Bergman (Autumn Sonata)
Best Supporting Actor: Donald Pleasance (Halloween)
Best Supporting Actress: Theresa Russell (Straight Time)
Best Cinematography: Ermanno Olmi (Tree of the Wooden Clogs)
Best Musical Score: Jerry Goldsmith (The Boys from Brazil)
Best Short: The Metamorphosis of Mr. Sansa (Caroline Leaf)
I also really like: Gates of Heaven, The Last Waltz, The Deer Hunter, Coming Home, The Chant of Jimmie Blacksmith, Straight Time, Days of Heaven
Dean: Ideally, in my opinion, Best Actor awards, like a few others, ought to be a mess, except maybe for very few years when there’ve been exceptionally towering performances. And, in my reckoning, when one performance has significantly towered over every other, are rare in movie history. I guess the fact that votes generally tend to concentrate on only a few movies have ensured that, so far, a lot of really good performances have ended up becoming outliers in the distribution. But statistics and facts aren’t necessarily mutually inclusive. Just my two cents. 🙂
I like that note of acceptance there. I try and remember this week after week.
Hope I’m not too late in joining in. So here’s straight to it. My choices for 1978:
Best Picture: Autumn Sonata
Best Director: Woody Allen (Interiors)
Best Actor: Robert De Niro (The Deer Hunter)
Best Actress: Isabelle Huppert (Violette Noziere)
Best Supporting Actor: Utpal Dutt (The Elephant God)
Best Supporting Actress: Liv Ullman (Autumn Sonata)
Best Cinematography: Soumendu Roy (The Elephant God) & Gordon Willis (Interiors)
Best Score: Satyajit Ray (The Elephant God)
Top 5:
1. Autumn Sonata
2. Interiors
3. Violette Noziere
4. The Elephant God/Joi Baba Felunath (dir. Satyajit Ray)
5. The Deer Hunter
I’m so glad that there is somebody else who appreciates performance of Isabelle Huppert in Violette Noziere. It haven’t seen it for ages, probably since it’s release, but I remember it as exceptional.
BEST PICTURE: INTERIORS
BEST DIRECTOR; ERMANNO OLMI – THE TREE OF WOODEN CLOGS
BEST ACTOR; JON VOIGHT – COMING HOME
BEST ACTRESS; GERALDINE PAGE – INTERIORS
BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR; JOHN HURT – MIDNIGHT EXPRESS
BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS; MAUREEN STAPELTON – INTERIORS
BEST CINEMATOGRAPHY; NESTOR ALMENDROS & HASKELL WEXLER – DAYS OF HEAVEN
BEST SCORE; JOHN CARPENTER – HALLOWEEN
BEST SHORT; UBU
Best Picture: The Deer Hunter
Best Director: Michael Cimino (The Deer Hunter)
Best Actor: Volker Spengler (In a Year of 13 Moons)
Best Actress: Ingrid Bergman (Autumn Sonata)
Best Supporting Actor: Chris Walken (The Deer Hunter)
Best Supporting Actress: Meryl Streep (The Deer Hunter)
Best Cinematography: Nestor Almendros and Haskell Wexler (Days of Heaven)
Best Score: John Carpenter (Halloween)
Best Short: Bugs Bunny in King Arthur’s Court
Picture: Days of Heaven
Director: Terrence Malick
Actor: Alan Alda (Same Time Next Year) (I also loved Ian Holm in ‘The Lost Boys’)
Actress: Glenda Jackson (Stevie)
Supporting actor: Sam Shephard (Days of Heaven)
Supporting actress: Stockard Channing (Grease) (also love Linda Manz)
Picture: Days of Heaven
Director: Terence Malick
Actor: Alan Alda
Actress: Jamie Lee Curtis (Halloween)
Best Picture/Director – The Deer Hunter (US…Michael Cimino)
Best Actor – Robert De Niro The Deer Hunter
Best Actress – Ellen Burstyn Same Time Next Year
Best Supp Actor – John Cazale The Deer Hunter
Best Supp Actress – Stockard Channing Grease