1963 Oscar Watch

This is one of the worst years in Academy history.  The only real good thing to come out of it is that Sidney Poitier becomes the first black actor to win an Oscar.  Other than that, what the hell were they nominating?  Cleopatra?  How The West Was Won?  The winner was Tom Jones which is a movie that looks like Howards End if it were directed by Benny Hill.  It's not the worst movie to ever win but it is one of the weakest but in the field of crappy nominees, it's almost a just victory.

You can see my GABBY winners and nominees HERE

Best Picture

5. Cleopatra was an expensive flop with bad press.  It was the most expensive film ever made at the time of production and sent the studio into bankruptcy.  It had changes in cast, directors, writers, shooting locations and set construction.  Stars Richard Burton and Elizabeth Taylor were amidst there love affair scandal which caused even more bad press.  With all of this going on behind the scenes you would imagine that the film would be a big mess.  It is.  The sets are lavish and beautiful but the movie is a complete bore.  It was originally planned to be two films and the first cut came in at 6 hours.  It was edited down to 248 minutes and there's about 45 minutes of actual story.

4. How The West Was Won is another really long film that was designed to have an emphasis on spectacle rather than storytelling.  It tells the sprawling history of a family settling in the old west.  It goes through one story to the next, some are more interesting than others but all of them are fairly dull.  It was one of only two feature films released in Cinerama which was a brief fad meant to lure people away from their televisions and into the theaters.  It was shot with three cameras at the same time and shown on a huge curved screen for an impressive cinematic experience.  Watching it on a TV makes the whole movie look tiny and because it was shot with 3 cameras simultaneously there are moments where actors are looking at different cameras.  I'm sure it was impressive to see on those big screens but if you remove that aspect of the film you're left with a long, plodding film with little story.

3. America America is Elia Kazan's story about his uncle immigrating to America from Turkey.  It's an incredibly personal film starring unknown actors which gives it a documentary feel.  It's also 3 hours long which is a bit much but it is a very good film.  My enthusiasm of it is probably lessened because it was hard to track down.  By the time I got around to seeing it I had watched every other nominated movie from this year and I was just trying to get through this so I could finish this post.

2. Tom Jones is a film I don't like at all but in a weird way kinda respect what they were going for.  I said it up top but if you haven't seen it imagine Howards End directed by Benny Hill.  It's a literary adaptation but instead of going for the dry Masterpiece Theater way of telling the story they try to jazz it up with goofy music and frenetic editing.  Some scenes play out in fast motion, characters look directly into camera and the whole movie has an amateur production quality that gives it a certain charm.  I don't like the outcome but it was more interesting to watch than most period pieces.

1. Lilies Of The Field is a small film about a black handyman who helps a group of German nuns build a chapel.  That's pretty much the plot.  It's nothing incredible but it is a sweet film.  The most impressive part of the film is Sidney Poitier's performance.  Not just because he is an extremely charismatic actor who is great to see headlining a film but because he is playing a proud black man and the point of the movie is not about his race.  The fact that he's black is brought up but it is not the focus of the film.  That is still powerful to see.  At this point in film history black people didn't star in movies and if they did they had to play slaves or people defined by their race.  Homer Smith could have been played by a white man and the story wouldn't change.  The fact that he's played by a black man and never called a derogatory term is empowering.  All that aside, the movie is just about a guy who helps build a church but it's easily the best of this bunch.

Looking at the nominees you would probably think that 1963 was a really bad year for film.  So, let's take a look at what was released.  The Birds, Charade, It's A Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World, Hud, The Great Escape...yep, all stinkers, better nominate Cleopatra.  Just looking at what is here, two movies need to come off the list immediately.  Cleopatra and How The West Was Won are too long and dull.  Bigger does not equal better as I found them unbearable.  Next off is America America mostly because Elia Kazan already got his Oscar love and this film is just a little too personal to connect with me.  That leaves Tom Jones and Lilies Of The Field.  Neither really deserves to win but if you were gonna ask me which movie I enjoy more, the cute story about a black man building a church or the frenetic, nonsensical literary adaptation, I gotta pick Sidney Poitier teaching nuns English.

Oscar Winner: Tom Jones

My Vote: Lilies Of The Field

GABBY Winner: It's A Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World

Best Actor

5. Rex Harrison gives a boring performance in a boring movie.  He plays Julius Caesar in Cleopatra and is completely miscast.  I have no idea what he's doing here.  The only explanation is that they wanted to give him a reward for dealing with all the on set turmoil.

4. Albert Finney got his first Oscar nomination for his breakout role as the title character in Tom Jones.  The movie is about him running around, getting into scrapes and having sex with a lot of women.  He's a complete cad and Finney plays him like a naughty boy who never got disciplined for his actions.  He's perfectly fine in the role and holds the movie together but this is his first nomination.  He should definitely have an Oscar by now but if he won here he would be taking a win away from one of the next three guys.

3. Richard Harris was the answer to the question, 'what would the Ireland version of Marlon Brando be like?'.  In This Sporting Life Harris plays a rugby player who seems to have no issues putting his body in harm's way.  That gets him noticed by some scouts who try to sign him to a team.  Along the way he drinks a lot, has a relationship with a lonely widow and screams a lot.  Harris is terrific in the role but there are times where I just saw Brando in Streetcar.  I hate to compare actors, I'm not saying that Harris is ripping off Brando but if Brando didn't win for Stanley Kowalski it's hard for me to vote for Harris.  Plus, this is his breakout role so let's wait and see what else he's got.

2. Paul Newman plays a complete cad, much like Finney, in Hud.  Newman stars as the town stud who would much rather be visiting lonely housewives during the day than helping on his father's ranch.  This causes tension between son and father and while dad wants a son with a good strong work ethic, Newman would much rather drink, stay out late and plow ladies rather than land.  Paul was robbed two years earlier when he should have won for The Hustler.  This would have been a good makeup win as he's just as good here but someone and a race of people were more overdue.

1. Sidney Poitier plays Homer Smith in Lilies Of The Field.  He's a handyman who sees a group of nuns trying to fix a fence.  He offers his services, thinking that they will pay him for his hard work, but instead they see him as a gift from God and ask him to build them a chapel.  Poitier is so effortlessly good here.  And like I said when talking about Best Picture, the fact that he's black is not the point of the film.  He's not a slave or a wise old black man.  He's just a man.  Paul Newman could have played this part and it would have been the same film.  That's very empowering to see at this time.  Black actors didn't need to be pigeon toed into specific roles.  We're all just human beings and our stories are universal.

There's no question that I'm voting for Poitier.  The Academy couldn't have made a better decision.  The only downside is that Harris and Finney never got their Oscar and Newman had to wait 25 years.  Granted, we'd have to wait until 1982 before another black actor won an Oscar and until 2001 that somebody won in this category but this was at least a step in the right direction.  They didn't take another step for a long time but...

Oscar Winner: Sidney Poitier

My Vote: Sidney Poitier

GABBY Winner: Sidney Poitier

Best Actress

5. Shirley MacLaine stars a prostitute in Billy Wilder's Irma La Douce.  The movie is good but it's a bit of a letdown because Wilder has made some of the greatest movies of all time and this movie is just good, not great.  It's also another team up between Wilder, MacLaine and Jack Lemmon so while I was watching the movie I could only think about how great The Apartment was.  If you've ever seen the movie Fierce Creatures, it's kind of like that.  That movie stars that cast of A Fish Called Wanda and while it's decent, why would you watch that when you could watch one of the greatest comedies of all time?  This movie is fun, it's light and breezy and both Lemmon and MacLaine are fun to watch.  The big reason I can't vote for her is because she should have won for The Apartment and if she wins here it would be such an obvious make up award.  She got hers eventually for Terms Of Endearment, so everything worked out.

4. Rachel Roberts stars as a widow who gets into a romantic relationship with Richard Harris in This Sporting Life.  Calling her a lead is a bit generous but she is good in the film.  She matches Richard's intensity in all of their scenes.  There's no way I can vote for her as Harris is the true lead of the film and if I'm not voting for him, I can't vote for her.

3. Patricia Neal plays the housekeeper to a ranching family in Hud.  Much like Rachel Roberts, calling her a lead is generous.  She has less screen time than Melvyn Douglas who won Best Supporting Actor.  She does feel like the lead though because she's so good in the role.  If a lesser actress played this part it could have been completely unmemorable.  Still, I can't vote for her.  She's in the wrong category.  You would never refer to Hud as a Patricia Neal film.  She is damn good though.  You can just tell by her performance what her relationship is with each and every character.

2. Leslie Caron plays an unmarried pregnant woman who briefly contemplates an abortion in The L-Shaped Room.  You're gonna experience some déjà vu if you keep reading.  She's a 27 year old pregnant woman and in the first scene she visits a doctor.  He blindly assumes that if she isn't married and has no intention to get married that she wants an abortion.  This causes her to want to keep the child.  She moves into a rundown London apartment and befriends some of the people who live there.  It's one of those "kitchen sink" dramas that were popular in Britain at the time.  They were presented very real and were mostly about poor people who felt isolated by society.  Most of these films don't connect with me but this one did and it is entirely because of Caron who is just captivating to watch.

1. Natalie Wood plays an unmarried pregnant woman who briefly contemplates an abortion in Love With The Proper Stranger.  She has a one night stand with Steve McQueen and when she finds out she's pregnant she comes to him for help in finding an abortion doctor.  He takes her to a man to perform the procedure but when they are confronted with the reality of the situation they can't go through with it.  This brings them closer and they decide to stay together.  Wood and McQueen are two incredibly charismatic actors and they have great chemistry together.  The main reason I'm voting for Wood is because she was overdue.

My vote comes down to the two pregnant ladies, Caron and Wood.  I can't vote for Neal or Roberts because they're not really leads and I can't vote for MacLaine because she's not as good here as she was in The Apartment.  The choice is a little difficult because both Wood and Caron are equally good.  Wood should have won in 1961 for Splendor In The Grass but I loved Caron in Lili in 1953 so they are both due for makeup wins.  I gave Caron my win because I gave Wood the win in 61.  For this category I gotta pick Wood, she was the bigger Hollywood star and I liked her movie a little better, but it was a close call.

Oscar Winner: Patricia Neal

My Vote: Natalie Wood

GABBY Winner: Leslie Caron

Best Supporting Actor

5. John Huston plays the archbishop in The Cardinal who assigns the main character to his parish.  It's a thankless role that would be utterly forgettable if not for the fact that Huston has a way of commanding attention when he's on screen.  Most of the heavy lifting is done by his voice.  His way of speaking is almost hypnotic.  Still, this is not something that wins an Oscar.  He got the nomination because he was a respected director who tried his hand at acting and succeeded.

4. Hugh Griffith plays the father of one of the women Tom Jones wants to be with.  He's fun in the role, apparently he was drunk the whole time.  He just won for Ben-Hur so there's no reason I need to consider him here.

3. Nick Adams has got to have one of the saddest stories in Inside Oscar, a book that is a must have for all Oscar trivia nerds.  He landed a good role as a man on trial for murder in Twilight Of Honor, a decent courtroom drama that is a clear ripoff of Anatomy Of A Murder.  He gets some good notices and thinks that he has a shot at an Oscar nomination so he hires a publicist and spends his own money for ads in the trades.  He gets the nomination, which is kind of weird as Claude Rains also has a role in the film that is more Oscar bait.  On Oscar night he showed up early to practice his walk up to the stage if he won and then when his name wasn't called he was reported to be seen weeping.  As for his performance, he's fine.  He kind of plays two characters, the man he is on the stand, feeble and apologetic and the man he is in the flashbacks, a more tough guy.  I bought him as the feeble guy more than I did the tough.

2. Bobby Darin is more known as the singer of Beyond The Sea and Mack The Knife than he is an actor but he scored an Oscar nomination as a soldier with PTSD in Captain Newman, M.D..  I really enjoyed this film.  Gregory Peck stars as a doctor who is helping patients who have gone a little nuts after serving in combat.  The army thinks that they are all either faking it or being cry babies but Peck realizes that there is something actually wrong with them.  It's an ensemble drama/comedy that features an impressive cast.  If I was going to single out someone I would probably pick Tony Curtis as the new doctor who joins or Peck or Eddie Albert as a schizophrenic soldier over Darin, but Darin is quite good in the role.  He plays a soldier who doesn't want to admit that anything is wrong and wants to get back into action.  He has a really great scene where he goes under hypnosis.  Honestly, based on performance he's probably my favorite.  I'm really only voting a different way because he wasn't really known as an actor and another guy was.

1. Melvyn Douglas plays the patriarch of the rancher family in Hud.  He's an old man who has a tumultuous relationship with his son.  His son, played by Paul Newman, is more focused on ladies, drinking and partying than he is on working on the ranch.  The cows on his farm have an attack of hoof in mouth disease that threatens to cripple their operation and while Douglas is wrestling with that, Newman is off cavorting with married women and basically dragging his father's name in the mud.  They fight for the whole movie and Douglas eventually dies.  It's an incredibly honest performance, as all of the performances in this movie are.  It doesn't feel like acting, it feels like Douglas has lived this character's life as long as his own.

This is a pretty weak category.  Huston and Adams really shouldn't have been nominated.  Griffith has already won and Darin needs another film role under his belt before I can consider him for an Oscar.  Douglas is really the only person to vote for.  The only reason I can see not voting for him is because of his second win in 1979.  He didn't really deserve that (especially considering he beat Robert Duvall) and he didn't want it.  He thought it was ludicrous that he was in the same category as an 8 year old.  If he loses this year then him winning that year seems a bit more palatable.  But I can't not vote for someone because of something that will happen in the future.  That's an issue for my next post.

Oscar Winner: Melvyn Douglas

My Vote: Melvyn Douglas

GABBY Winner: Phil Silvers for It's A Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World

Best Supporting Actress

5. Edith Evans is the old lady in Tom Jones.  Oscar history is full of old lady nominees.  Old ladies who got their start in the theater, showed up in a movie for a couple of minutes and got an Oscar nomination.  Some of them actually won.  That's the role Evans plays here.  She's old, she's crotchety, she disapproves of Tom because he wants to marry her niece.  It's the stock old lady character that is in all period pieces.

4. Diane Cilento plays one of the women Tom Jones likes to have sex with.  She doesn't do a whole lot in the film and she's not in it that much.  She leaves an impression, but barely.

3. Joyce Redman is my favorite performance in Tom Jones.  She plays Tom's mother, or is she?  We see her at the beginning of the film giving birth to Tom.  Then later in the film she meets Tom at an inn and the two of them eat dinner in a very sexually explicit manner.  Then they have sex and you're like, gross, he just porked his mommy.  She turns out not to be his mother but that's revealed later.  She has my favorite moment in the film.  When she is told that Tom is her son she looks right in the camera and shrugs like, 'oh well'.  It's a hilarious moment.  She finds out she has sex with her son and she's like, 'Dems the breaks.'.

2. Margaret Rutherford is the comic relief character in the ensemble film The V.I.P.s.  The movie is about a bunch of people stranded at an airport because the fog is too heavy to take off.  This was the other Richard Burton/Elizabeth Taylor film of the year and it is leaps and bounds better than Cleopatra but still not that great.  It's not terrible but it drags in a lot of places.  Rutherford plays a duchess who is in danger of losing her estate.  She's a daffy old dame who is the highlight of the film.  The best comparison would be to say that she's the Helen Hayes in Airport.  This film is basically Airport just on the ground and without the disaster.

1. Lilia Skala plays the head of the German nuns who get Sidney Poitier to build their chapel in Lilies Of The Field.  She also learns English from him.  It's not a fantastic performance but it's serviceable.  She has some nice moments with Poitier, him being an easy going carefree man and her being a stern humorless German nun.

Well, the three ladies from Tom Jones cancel each other out.  None of them are worthy of a win anyway.  That leaves Rutherford and Skala and a big who cares.  Rutherford had the better career and the better role so it's probably best that she won the Oscar.  I liked Lilies Of The Field better so I'm casting my vote for Skala.  It's hard to garner any enthusiasm for this category.

Oscar Winner: Margaret Rutherford

My Vote: Lilia Skala

GABBY Winner: Ethel Merman for It's A Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World

Best Director
Tony Richardson wins for Tom Jones which is probably the second worst decision in the category.  Because of the awful Best Picture lineup, this category is a bit all over the place.  The directors of Cleopatra, How The West Was Won and Lilies Of The Field are out.  Only Richardson and Elia Kazan for America America have corresponding Best Picture nominations for their film.  Martin Ritt would have been a good choice for directing Hud as would Federico Fellini for 8½.  Even though I didn't like The Cardinal, it would be nice if Otto Preminger won an Oscar during his career.  I wouldn't vote for Kazan because he won before and Richardson's work is kinda scattershot.  The other three would be a better choice.

Best Original Screenplay/Adapted Screenplay
For some reason How The West Was Won wins for its screenplay, probably the weakest part of the film.  The competition wasn't great, Love With The Proper Stranger is the best nominee.  The Adapted category has more good stuff.  Tom Jones beats out Hud, Lilies Of The Field and Captain Newman, M.D..  I understand the decision but I would have gone in a different direction, have I mentioned that I hate period costume films?

Best Foreign Film
Federico Fellini's 8½ wins over 4 films I've never seen.

Best Original Score/Adaptation Score/Original Song
Tom Jones wins for Original Score which is a pretty good decision, the music is as light, breezy and fun as the movie.  I would have definitely voted for Ernest Gold's iconic score for It's A Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World.  Why The Great Escape was not nominated, I have no idea.  For Adaptation Score the winner is Billy Wilder's Irma La Douce.  I absolutely loved the score to this film.  I have no idea what it's an adaption of, I'm assuming Andre Previn reworked some French pieces.  Call Me Irresponsible from Papa's Delicate Condition wins Best Song.  You might think of the Bobby Darin or Frank Sinatra version when you think about this song but when you hear Jackie Gleason speak-sing it in the film you may question what the Academy saw in it.  I would have picked More from Mondo Cane, which also became a hit for Bobby Darin and Frank Sinatra.

Best Sound/Sound Effects
How The West Was Won wins Best Sound in a completely whatever decision but It's A Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World rightfully takes home the award for Best Sound Effects.

Best Art Direction (Black And White)/Art Direction (Color)
I don't think anybody was surprised when Cleopatra won this category.  The only good part about the movie is the Art Direction and Set Decoration.  In the black and white category the winner is America America.  None of the nominees were incredibly impressive outside of 8½.

Best Cinematography (Black And White)/Cinematography (Color)
James Wong Howe wins the black and white category for Hud which is filmed in beautiful deep focus.  Cleopatra wins the color category and while the movie fools you into thinking it has good cinematography because of the sets and costumes, the camera never moves.  There are so many dull and boring master shots in this film.  I would have picked It's A Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World.

Best Costume Design (Black And White)/Costume Design (Color)
Edith Head got two nominations in the black and white category but lost both to 8½.  She also got a nomination in the color category but lost to the behemoth that was Cleopatra.

Best Film Editing
How The West Was Won wins for some reason.  The long and plodding and seemingly directionless western can not be called tightly paced by any means.  It's a better winner than fellow nominees Cleopatra and The Cardinal but this category had The Great Escape and It's A Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World.  Both of those films keep focused while also dealing with several characters.

Best Special Effects
Cleopatra wins a special award for its effects.  The Birds was also nominated and I think we can all agree that it would be the better winner.

Up Next

1979