Nominees: Cabaret, Solaris, Deliverance, Aguirre: The Wrath of God, The Discreet Charm of the Bourgeoisie, The Godfather, The Bitter Tears of Petra von Kant, The Heartbreak Kid, The Mattei Affair, The New Land
Oscars pick: The Godfather
Nominees: Cabaret, Deliverance, The Emigrants, Sounder
I know, I know, The Godfather is considered a work of genius. Some even consider it the greatest movie of all time. Not selecting it is like bypassing Citizen Kane or Casablanca in many folk’s eyes. While I enjoy the feature, most of my love for it stems from my admiration for Marlon Brando's performance. His voice may be a raspy whisper, but his presence echoes like a sonic boom. And even though he doesn't have a lot of screen time, he’s the heart and soul of the entire production. The movie as a whole… Yeah, it’s great but I believe there are better.
One strong contender for the Felix was the musical Cabaret - which made a big splash in 72. It actually won several international awards for Best Picture over the Godfather, and it earned the Best Director Oscar for Bob Fosse. But edging past that and Solaris...
By Oscar's rules, Last Tango wasn’t eligible for a Best Picture award until 1973 – but since Felix plays by global rules, and Tango played worldwide in 72. Tango is eligible in 72.
The year belonged to Brando. It was his return to greatness -- a comeback after the tumultuous 60s that nearly saw him blacklisted at its close. It was a short-lived return - we will never again see him reach these highs as an actor, but in 1972 he was in two of cinemas finest. Though in regards to the highly regarded, though controversial Last Tango, I'm one of the few who feel that it isn't simply one of the better films of the year, it's the very best. The Italian made movie is about a recently widowed American named Paul who takes up an anonymous sexual relationship with a young, soon-to-be-married Parisian woman.
While I think Tango is brilliant, I always struggle to articulate why. I resist over analysis because I don't want to lose the powerful emotional response I have to the picture and to Brando's searing performance. This is a movie that deserves to be discussed and explored, but not at the risk of putting out its fire. Saying that, here are a few moments that stick out for me.
Brando's acting is unbelievable and unlike anything he has ever done before. Marlon throws off all artifice to offer up something disquieting. He peels back the layers and gives completely of himself. He was asked to improvise scenes and in those moments he draws stories from his own life.
The sequence at his unfaithful wife's deathbed is unsettling in the way it expresses unvarnished and painfully real emotion. It is said that the scene made Dustin Hoffman so uncomfortable that he hid behind his seat as it unfolded. Ebert called it the greatest piece of acting Brando had ever done. It is not a moment to be viewed in an unlit room with the family. It’s hard to watch this man swearing at this woman’s corpse, crying and releasing all the hurt and resentment he's feeling.
There are also subtle touches. At one point Brando wanders off during a conversation and stands by a door. I wondered at first what the hell he was doing; did he have his lines posted nearby? Then a shock of realization worked its way down my spine... that's what he did when before he found his wife’s body. In the film Paul keeps turning off leaky facets, no explanation, no speeches, it's just something he does. And it struck me that when he came home; perhaps he called his wife’s name. Hearing no answerer he tried the bathroom door, he called out again, put his head to the door and could hear the drip, drip, drip of the bathtub. He enters to find her...
Bertolucci never tells us if this is the case, he never gives us the full story. He simply drops hints and lets us speculate (for example, why does the woman cleaning up the blood, stand there with a slight smile?) It’s a chilling aspect to the story and the performance.
Last Tango in Paris isn't a date movie; it isn't truly sexy. The sex isn't sensual and is often humiliating. The two do share some laughs (the film is not without humor) and she wants to break the rules of anonymity but he refuses -- until something clicks inside of him, which makes him change his mind. That ending was controversial, criticized as pretentious or overblown -- but I felt it fit, it works for me - the whole of the film - the arc of this relationship, works perfectly for me.
I understand I'm committing a kind of film blasphemy, and of all the alt-Oscar reads I've looked over, I'm the only one who bypasses the Godfather as the years best. I'm not trying to be a rebel without a cause - contrary and defiant for defiance sake. It’s simply that I genuinely and most emphatically feel that Last Tango in Paris is the best movie of the year. And my opinion is based primarily on the emotional reverberation that tears into me whenever I watch it. As brilliant as the Godfather is, it doesn't pack that kind of visceral wallop. (And honestly, if it wasn't Tango, it would have been Cabaret winning the Felix. And if not Cabaret, then Solaris).
My Best Actor can be no other, but what of my top actress? While Margit Carstensen gave a blistering performance in Bitter Tears, it's more a monologue - and while I liked that - I prefer to see a life lived. Out and about, with a character arc that unfolds on screen in action, not just words. Margit will win in a later film, for acting that had that "life lived" feel to it. So this year I'll go with Liza.
Actress Honorable Mentions:
Margit Carstensen, The Bitter Tears of Petra Von Kant * Susannah York, Images * Iva Janžurová, Morgiana * Cicely Tyson, Sounder * Glenda Jackson, The Triple Echo * Rita Tushingham, Straight on Till Morning * Micheline Lanctôt, The True Nature of Bernadette * Liv Ullmann, The New Land
Best Actor: Marlon Brando, Last Tango in Paris (pictured up top) & The Godfather
Honorable Mentions:
Al Pacino, The Godfather * Klaus Kinski, Aguirre, The Wrath of God * Jon Voight, Burt Reynolds, Ned Beatty & Ronny Cox, Deliverance * Michael Caine & Laurence Olivier, Sleuth * John Wayne, The Cowboys * Paul Winfield & Kevin Hooks, Sounder * Max von Sydow, The New Land * Gian Maria Volonté, The Mattei Affair
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