Nominees: The Conformist, The Debut, Kes, Patton, The Butcher, Days and Nights in the Forest, Witchhammer, King Lear, The Confession, The Garden of the Finzi-Continis
Oscars pick: Patton
Nominees: Airport, Five Easy Pieces, Love Story, M*A*S*H*
My top contenders include the perplexing and fascinating The Conformist, which is about a fascist assassin. The film's unique structure owes much to the editor - who injected pieces of footage as flashbacks into the narrative, much to the delight of director Bernardo Bertolucci. And I thought Jack Nicholson was electrifying as the restless and short-tempered Bobby Dupea, in the existential road picture, Five Easy Pieces. In which a blue-collar worker –who is more than he seems- heads home to visit his dying father.
In addition: Costas-Garvas' harrowing The Confession was an incredible follow up to his Felix winning Z. I enjoyed Kes (played at a festival in 1969, but didn’t get a wide release until 70), Ken Losey's slight, naturalistic tale of a British schoolboy who raises a falcon. And the Oscar-winning Patton, whose thin story is lifted by an explosive performance by George C. Scott.
Of the remaining Oscars nominees: Love Story was horrid goo. Airport was decent and best known for popularizing the disaster movie fad of the 70s - and Robert Altman’s M*A*S*H* is a film that consisted of a chaotic string of skits. It features the director's normal, rambling, freeform style.
For me, it was a toss-up between the Costas-Garvas, Bertolucci, and Rafelson flicks, and I elected to go with Five Easy Pieces. It was one of the “American New Wave” films that briefly ruled in the late ’60s to mid-70s, which were helmed by directors like Hal Ashby, Peter Bogdanovich, and Bob Rafelson. The film is psychological reality -- an unpredictable look at a smart, talented man, who is dissatisfied, self-destructive and at a loss as to who he is or where he’s going. He has no tolerance for BS, or the traps life puts in his way. As he says... "I move around a lot, not because I’m looking for anything really, but ’cause I'm getting away from things that get bad if I stay." With those words in mind, it should be no surprise what he does at the end, even though it's upsetting.
The movie's hallmarks include the bit during a traffic jam where Bobby leaves his car, hops in the back of a truck and plays the off-key piano that's packed there (and takes Bobby ‘God know where’ as the truck drives pulls off on to an exit). The sequence at the restaurant where special orders do upset 'em, and the talk Bobby has with his sick father, who might not even comprehend what's being told him, are 2 other highlights.
Honorable Mentions:
Stéphane Audran, The Butcher * Tuesday Weld, I Walk the Line * Carrie Snodgress, Diary of a Mad Housewife * Catherine Deneuve, Tristana * Chieko Baisho, Kazoku * Angela Lansbury, Something for Everyone
Honorable Mentions:
Yves Montand, The Confession * Gian Maria Volontè, Investigation of a Citizen Above Suspicion * Dustin Hoffman, Little Big Man * George C. Scott, Patton * Gene Hackman, I Never Sang for My Father * Nicol Williamson, The Reckoning * Jason Robards, Ballad of Cable Hogue * Peter Sellers, Hoffman * Georgi Taratorkin, Crime and Punishment
Supporting Actress: Dominique Sanda, The Conformist
Note: Women in Love was first released in the UK in 1969, which is why Oscar winner Glenda Jackson is missing from this season's list of nominees.
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