1961 Oscar Watch

West Side Story winning Best Picture clouded my view of the Oscar year as a whole.  Usually when musicals win it is the sign of a weak year or maybe some films cancelling each other out.  I used to think, 1961, West Side Story, who cares?  On second look, I like to love almost all of the films nominated.  Some I down right hate, see Best Supporting Actress, but for the most part this was a quality year and West Side Story winning is just a case of the most friendly movie winning.  The Hustler and Judgment At Nuremberg are both downers.  They're great movies but after watching them you're left thinking, I guess evil just exists in the world.  Sure, people die in West Side Story but they're singing and dancing about it so it seems okay.
You can see my GABBY winners and nominees HERE

BEST PICTURE

5. The Guns Of Navarone - This movie is freaking rad.  It reminds me of films like The Dirty Dozen or The Great Escape, it's a bunch of guys on a mission in World War II.  There's a giant German gun that is unable to be destroyed by air bombing so they send in Gregory Peck, Anthony Quinn, David Niven to destroy it.  This movie is so cool and when a movie like this gets nominated it makes me jealous for movies like it that didn't get nominated.  How come this got a nomination but The Great Escape didn't?  How come The Towering Inferno and Airport got nominated but The Poseidon Adventure didn't?

4. Fanny - While The Guns Of Navarone is a badass action flick, this movie is just cute and sweet.  It probably didn't need a Best Picture nomination but I'm glad it got one.  Kind of like when Chocolat got nominated and at first you're like, there are so many better movies, but then you're like, the movie's pretty cute.  Maybe that's just me.  Anyway, the movie is about 2 young lovers, they sleep together before he goes off to see the world and then she finds out she's pregnant.  She marries Maurice Chevalier who is an older man and he helps raise the child as if it were his own.  Then the boy comes back and has to win the girl all over again.  It's just a cute film.  I definitely recommend it for a lazy Sunday afternoon.

3. West Side Story - Now we're into the meat of the category.  West Side Story, a musical adaptation of Romeo And Juliet with themes of racism thrown in.  It's big, it's beautiful, it's epic, the choreography is amazing, the songs are all memorable, the acting is great.  It's a terrific film.  I have no problems with it winning, I just like 2 other films better.

2. The Hustler - I used to have this as my winner until I re-watched all these movies.  I still love the film I just think I like Paul Newman's performance and the supporting performances better than the movie.  Newman plays Fast Eddie Felson a pool hustler who gets his shot at facing Minnesota Fats.  He at first beats him but refuses to leave until Fats calls him the winner.  Fats says he'll play him all night and all day, so they do and eventually Fats gets the better of him.  He then goes on an odyssey to get another shot which involves getting his thumbs broke, his girlfriend dies and a lot of bad stuff happens to him.  He does end up getting his shot, but was it all worth it?  It's a great film anchored by a tremendous performance by Newman.

1. Judgement At Nuremberg - This is a 3 hour courtroom drama about the Nuremberg trials and it is engrossing and fascinating.  Spencer Tracy plays the judge presiding over some Nazis accused of war crimes after World War II.  These trials happened after they got all the heavy hitters of the Nazi regime and now they're prosecuting the guys who were just following orders.  The movie balances both sides of the trial.  You're not left with a definitive opinion on the matter, the movie leaves it up to you to make up your mind.  Were these guys as guilty as Hitler, or were they just on the wrong side of history?  The movie posits that they knew what they were doing, but maybe didn't know the scope of the atrocities.  Their defense is that if you condemn these men to death then you also have to condemn every single person who helped or looked the other way as Hitler rose to power.  It's a terrific movie, it flows like a documentary and is filled with tremendous performances.

I love all of these movies.  When I first made this list when I was a kid I had West Side Story as my winner.  I just thought that is what an Oscar Best Picture should be.  It's beautiful to look at, it's fun, it's big and epic and has a beautiful love story at its core.  Then I switched my vote to The Hustler.  Paul Newman's so cool and it's a real gritty movie about the darkness within men's souls.  After taking another look at all the nominees I'm landing on Judgment At Nuremberg as my winner.  This just feels like a Best Picture.  Normally I don't go in for 3 hour long films but this movie is simply engrossing.  I can watch it repeatedly and each time I get swept up in the courtroom drama.

Oscar Winner: West Side Story
My Vote: Judgment At Nuremberg
GABBY Winner: Judgment At Nuremberg

BEST ACTOR

5. Spencer Tracy - Judgement At Nuremberg - Tracy plays the judge forced to preside over the trial to cast sentencing on the Nazi war criminals at the bottom of the chain of command.  He knows he wasn't the first choice for the job.  Tracy is really good here.  His main job in the film is to react, evidence will be introduced or a film of the holocaust will be shown and they cut back to Tracy's face.  He is supposed to be impartial but he can't help but feel emotions for the lives that were lost.  It's a solid performance but Tracy's won twice before so it's hard to vote for him unless he undoubtedly deserves it.

4. Charles Boyer - Fanny - Fanny is a really cute movie, I'm not sure why Charles Boyer got the only acting nomination though.  He's quite fun in the film and it might be my favorite performance I've seen from him.  He plays the father of young man who wants to see the world.  Boyer would rather him stay and help run his business.  The only thing is, Leslie Caron deserved a Best Actress nomination before he got one.  I feel like maybe Maurice Chevalier would have been a cooler choice for the category.  This is a veteran nomination for an older actor who has never won before.

3. Stuart Whitman - The Mark - This is a really interesting film because of its subject matter.  Certain topics are taboo today and to see a black and white film from the 60s deal with them is really fascinating.  Whitman plays a man sent to prison for child molestation.  He got therapy and has been released and is now trying to resume a normal life.  He gets accused of possibly abusing another child, he is cleared of the charges but the accusation exposes his past and everyone knows that he is a possible predator.  I don't know what it is about pedophile characters but I always find them compelling.  Performances like Kevin Bacon in The Woodsman or Jackie Earle Haley in Little Children or Dylan Baker in Happiness, they are playing men who have done the worst thing in the world, can they ever be forgiven?  Should they be forgiven?  Is this the sin that there is no repenting from?  Whitman is solid in the lead, he's appropriately sympathetic with a touch of quietly menacing.  You look at this guy and want him to live a normal life but there's something about him that you just don't trust.

2. Maximillian Schell - Judgement At Nuremberg - This is really a supporting role.  Schell plays the lawyer defending the Nazi war criminals.  He was appointed by the government and one of his defendants is against him, he wants to defend himself.  He is committed to defending his clients even though his clients were partly responsible for the Holocaust.  He makes some good points too.  We were all responsible for Hitler, nobody intervened as he rose to power and, in fact, some people praised him as a great leader before all the evil stuff.  Schell is so good that he feels like the main character.  The way he shifts seamlessly from German to English is incredible and he handles his fiery monologues with great conviction.

1. Paul Newman - The Hustler - This is your winner here.  There's no doubt in my mind.  Fast Eddie Felson is not only the most iconic role of Newman's career but it's one of the most iconic characters of all time.  Newman is incredible here.  He's so good that they gave him an Oscar 25 years later for a crappy sequel.

Schell is actually a fine winner.  It's a great role that he nails.  The only problem is, he's up against Paul Newman.

Oscar Winner: Maximillian Schell
My Vote: Paul Newman
GABBY Winner: Paul Newman

BEST ACTRESS

5. Geraldine Page - Summer And Smoke - This is a Tennessee Williams adaptation that just did nothing for me.  It's also banking on the chemistry between Geraldine Page and the not very charismatic Laurence Harvey.  She plays a southern belle who falls for a doctor.  This is going to sound rude but she's a bit old for the part.  She's playing, what I'm assuming to be, a young lady but she's pushing 40.  There's nothing wrong with a 40 year old woman as long as she's not playing a naive ingenue.

4. Sophia Loren - Two Women - Usually foreign performances land in 5th place automatically but this is Sophia Loren we're talking about and she's up against Geraldine Page in a Tennessee Williams movie so she moves up a spot.  Still, Oscar winner or no Oscar winner I just can't compare a performance in a foreign language to an English speaking one.  If all the nominees were from foreign films it would be different.  They aren't so, no vote.

3. Piper Laurie - The Hustler - It's a bit generous to put this performance in the lead category.  Paul Newman is the lead in The Hustler and Laurie is more of a supporting player.  Despite the category confusion, she's terrific.  She plays a recovering alcoholic who starts a romance with Newman, they both see the wounded people they are and become lovers.  She's disposed of when George C. Scott thinks that she is detrimental to Newman's pool hustling and is a perfectly tragic character.

2. Audrey Hepburn - Breakfast At Tiffany's - This is probably Audrey's most iconic role in a career filled with iconic roles.  She plays Holly Golightly the eccentric but naive Manhattan socialite.  Audrey won an Oscar in 1953 so you really need to give a great performance to be considered for a 2nd win, especially in a competitive year.  She does and if weren't for the next person on this list would be my winner.  She was also terrific in The Children's Hour, released this same year.

1. Natalie Wood - Splendor In The Grass - So Natalie Wood in West Side Story would be a weird winner, mainly because she didn't do her own singing.  Good news for Natalie she delivered a better performance this same year in Elia Kazan's Splendor In The Grass.  Wood is a teenager in the 1920s who is sexually repressed and really wants to express her physical desires with her boyfriend, Warren Beatty.  His family doesn't approve and her mother wants her to remain virginal and the movie is all about teenagers wanting to hump and how times have never changed.  Wood is fantastic here, she perfectly embodies the sexual naivety and urges we all had in our youth and her desires eventually drive her insane.

Sophia Loren doesn't really hold up as a winner at all.  I mean, she does in that way where she was a great star, a talented actress, has become a living legend and has an Oscar to boot, but Audrey having 2 Oscars or Natalie having 1 would be better historically.  Watching all the performances and knowing in hindsight that this is Wood's best chance, it is impossible for me to vote for anyone other than her.

Oscar Winner: Sophia Loren
My Vote: Natalie Wood
GABBY Winner: Natalie Wood

BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR

5. Peter Falk - Pocketful Of Miracles - I don't want to be the guy to put Peter Falk in last place, I love Peter Falk, but this movie just stinks.  It doesn't seem to know if it's a comedy or a romance or a drama, it's just all over the place and really dull.  The main problem is Glenn Ford's lifeless performance as the main character, a superstitious gangster who thinks he gets good luck from buying an apple everyday.  Falk plays his main henchman who gets increasingly frustrated throughout the movie.  He's the bright spot in a bad movie but there's not much to his character, not enough to warrant a win, barely enough to warrant a nomination.  You could vote for Peter Falk her but you would be doing just that, voting for Peter Falk, not for a good performance.

4. George Chakiris - West Side Story - Chakiris plays Bernardo, the hotheaded brother of Maria and leader of the Sharks.  If you're familiar with Romeo And Juliet, he's Tybalt.  He's the main antagonist because he hates Tony, the guy in love with his sister, but he's not really a villain.  His cause and views are sympathetic, mostly because in the updated version they included racism rather than family rivalries.  Chakiris is good in the role and I suppose holds up as a winner but if the choice is between George C. Scott, Jackie Gleason, Montgomery Clift or George Chakiris, he's the last guy who deserves an Oscar on that list.

3. George C. Scott - The Hustler - Scott and Gleason represent the seedy underbelly of the pool hustling world.  Not that there's really a happy side of pool hustling, but I think you know what I'm trying to say.  Scott is a high stakes gambler who takes Paul Newman under his wing.  He bankrolls him in exchange for the majority of his winnings.  Newman just wants a chance to play Minnesota Fats, so he agrees.  Along the way Scott roughs up Newman's girlfriend because he doesn't care if he's happy he just wants him to win.  Based solely on performance, Scott has the better part than Gleason but I'm ranking Gleason higher because Scott got his Oscar eventually.

2. Jackie Gleason - The Hustler - Gleason plays Minnesota Fats, a famous pool player that Paul Newman wants to beat.  He shows up at the beginning of the film and the end of the film.  At the beginning, Newman faces him and is beating him but refuses to stop until Fats says the game is over.  Fats plays him all night and into the morning and Newman eventually cracks from the pressure.  Then he spends the rest of the movie trying to get another chance.  Gleason is like the final boss in a video game, there's not much to his character but Gleason just strikes such an intimidating profile.  In many ways, Gleason has the harder job than Scott because he's just playing a stock role with little development but he creates a 3 dimensional character.

1. Montgomery Clift - Judgement At Nuremberg - Clift only has one scene in this 3 hour movie but it is a hell of a scene, it's one of those scenes where if you just watched his part you would understand the entire film.  Clift plays a mentally challenged German man who was sterilized by the Nazi regime so he could never have children with mental issues.  He takes the stand and tells his story and it's an intense and heartbreaking scene.  Watching his performances in From Here To Eternity or A Place In The Sun compared to here really shows you that this guy was way more than a handsome actor.

Montgomery Clift deserved an Oscar in 1953 and even though his screen time is brief, he gives one hell of a performance.  This vote is half for the performance and half for a career that would have been nicely capped with an Oscar.  Clift would die from a heart attack a few years after this, so he has hindsight sentimentality on his side as well.  I really only have a problem with George Chakiris winning because Clift and Gleason and Falk deserve an Oscar before him, based solely on career longevity.  I condone the win based on performance and if he ended up having a better career it would be a bit more palatable.

Oscar Winner: George Chakiris
My Vote: Montgomery Clift
GABBY Winner: Jackie Gleason
Clift already had a win from me for From Here To Eternity, which is why I went with Gleason

BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS

5. Una Merkel - Summer And Smoke - Tennessee Williams adaptations are either great or dull as all hell.  This falls in the latter category.  Merkel plays the southern mother who is a tad domineering and a little crazy.  I kept waiting for that one scene that got her the nomination but it never really came.  This is a nomination for an older actress that the Academy respected.  She'd been in the business forever and finally got a role meaty enough to get a nod, but that's it.  I don't mind that she's here because it gives me something I can immediately not consider voting for.

4. Lotte Lenya - The Roman Spring Of Mrs. Stone - This movie is terrible.  Vivien Leigh is an older stage actress on vacation in Rome when her husband dies.  A countess, who acts a lot like a pimp, played by Lenya, sets her up with Warren Beatty, an Italian gigolo, who has the worst accent you've ever heard in a film.  They have a love affair and then she finds out he's in it for the money.  It's a dreadful film but none of the blame falls on Lotte Lenya.  She's the best part of this, but it's like finding a five dollar bill in a pile of turds.

3. Fay Bainter - The Children's Hour - This is a veteran nomination.  The Children's Hour is about 2 women school teachers who run a boarding school.  A particularly evil child spreads a rumor that they are in a lesbian relationship, turns out one of them is a lesbian and has been harboring feelings for the other.  Bainter plays the girl's grandmother who when she hears of the rumor she starts the campaign to get the school shut down.  She doesn't have much to do in the movie but carries herself well.  She only places 2rd here because I liked her film more than the previous 2.  She won an Oscar in 1938 so I would never vote for her.

2. Rita Moreno - West Side Story - Moreno plays Maria's best friend and girlfriend of Bernardo.  She leads one of the film's best numbers and is really the heart of the movie.  She sees all the fighting going on but chocks it up to men letting out their frustrations.  There's really no reason she shouldn't win here, except for...

1. Judy Garland - Judgement At Nuremberg - So this movie is about the Nuremberg trials where the American government was prosecuting the judges and doctors who committed war crimes in Hitler's name.  We are a few years removed from the war so nobody really cares anymore, this is like a vindication trial for the atrocities that happened during the Holocaust.  Garland is a witness that the prosecution goes after because she was friendly with one of the men on trial.  At first she doesn't want to testify but then she is talked into it and she has a great moment on the stand where she crumbles.

Based on performance alone, I think Rita Moreno is the winner.  Her part is more substantial you remember from the film and she's terrific.  I'm voting for Judy Garland because she was great in her scene and she's Judy Garland and deserved an Oscar, she won a Juvenile award in 1939 and was snubbed in 1954 in favor of Grace Kelly.  Garland's part is small but memorable and I like her film better.  I completely support Moreno's win, I'm just voting differently and since my votes don't really matter anyway...

Oscar Winner: Rita Moreno
My Vote: Judy Garland
GABBY Winner: Ruby Dee for A Raisin In The Sun

Best Director
Robert Wise And Jerome Robbins win for West Side Story which makes sense.  Giving it to Robert Rossen for The Hustler would have been a nice make-up for the All The King's Men split in 1949.  They could have also given it to Federico Fellini for La Dolce Vita which would have made art house freaks happy.

Best Original Screenplay/Adapted Screenplay
Splendor In The Grass is really the only choice in the original category, which is good because it's a great film.  The other nominees were Love Come Back, La Dolce Vita, Ballad Of A Soldier and General della Rovere.  The adapted category is stacked.  The Guns Of Navarone, The Hustler, Breakfast At Tiffany's, West Side Story and the winner Judgment At Nuremberg.  Pretty much any would be good winners but I agree with the Academy's choice.

Best Drama or Comedy Score/Musical Score/Song
Breakfast At Tiffany's rightfully wins for Henry Mancini's music.  He also wins for his song Moon River from the same film.  He had little competition in either category.  The title song to Pocketful Of Miracles might be the worst Oscar nominated song of all time.  Of course West Side Story wins the musical score category which is just the Oscar's category for their favorite musical.

Best Sound Recording
West Side Story proves once again that musicals almost always win this category.

Best Art Direction - Black And White/Color
The Hustler pulls kind of an upset in the black and white category.  It's a worthy winner but La Dolce Vita and Judgment At Nuremberg are both strong competitors.  West Side Story rightfully wins in the color category.  Breakfast At Tiffany's is a distant 2nd choice.

Best Cinematography - Black And White/Color
The Hustler deservedly wins for the incredibly good looking black and white cinematography and West Side Story continues to dominate the technical categories.

Best Costume Design - Black And White
La Dolce Vita wins in a pretty weak category.  I mean the judges robes in Judgment At Nuremberg did look convincing.  Guess what won the color category, West Side Story.

Best Film Editing
West Side Story wins again.  I love that The Parent Trap was nominated for its use of split screens.

Best Special Effects
 I like that The Guns Of Navarone didn't go away empty handed but I feel like The Absent-Minded Professor was robbed here.

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