Nominees: Szindbád (Sinbad), A Touch of Zen, Harold and Maude, Mon Oncle Antoine, Dirty Harry, Walkabout, The Last Picture Show, Straw Dogs, Silence, The Emigrants, The Goat Horn, You and Me, Interview, Fiddler on the Roof
Oscars pick: The French Connection
Nominees: A Clockwork Orange, Fiddler on the Roof, The Last Picture Show, Nicholas and Alexandra
A superb slate of films is offered in a year that engaged filmgoers with productions that were smart, challenging, and unconventional. Movies like Nicholas Roeg's Walkabout were intriguing puzzles, while Straw Dogs was Sam Peckinpah's violent reflection on the nature of manhood. And in the years since posting this, I've watched and added several masterpieces to my list of nominees, including Larisa Shepitko's You and Me, Zoltán Huszárik's Szindbád (Sinbad), and King Hu's A Touch of Zen.
Each one of these I number among my all-time favorites and each is worthy of the title "Best Picture of the Year". But one, in particular, stood out.
Robert Altman is kind of a hit and miss director for me – the overlapping mumbling voices, and improvisational feel of his work can sometimes annoy and distract (as with the ultra-irritating The Long Goodbye), but McCabe and Mrs. Miller –which stars Warren Beatty as a gambler who is building a town, and Julie Christie as tough as nails hooker- is an absorbing anti-western. Slow brewing and atmospheric, it subverts many of the genre's conventions: Such as staging the iconic final gunfight, not under the blazing sun, in a dusty tumbleweed-filled setting, but in a blinding white snowstorm. And it doesn't tie everything up under a neat bow - no one is redeemed, no one saves the day. Overall though it is less about storytelling than creating tone. I believe it's Altman's best film, though it wasn't warmly received on its release. Something it has in common with another top candidate I wanted to spotlight.
Harold and Maude. This is such a special picture to me, It tells of a quirky romance and friendship between a young man obsessed with death and an eccentric old woman who lives life to the fullest, It’s a funny movie, often wickedly so -- as when Harold's mother fills out a computer dating form for her son but gives answers as she sees them. And after he sabotages that first meet-up, with a fake suicide attempt, Harold gives a knowing look into the camera – he’s made us co-conspirators in this game. Despite its idiosyncratic nature, it's an affecting love story. H&M is one of my treasures -- which features superb Cat Stevens music and Harold's cool modified Jaguar Hearse (Oh how I covet that car).
But for all my love of H&M, it has a few off-key moments and I believe the Altman film is the overall tighter production, which is why I’m giving it the Felix. (Of Note: McCabe and Mrs. Miller was produced by Bert Schneider, who along with last year's best director Bob Rafelson, helped create TVs the Monkees)
As for the cop flick, The French Connection, which won the Oscar. It was decent enough, but it wasn’t Best Picture material in my eyes.
Acting? Loads of the good stuff: I really liked Kitty Winn in The Panic in Needle Park and Julie Christie in McCabe, but it was Jane's year, hands down.
Honorable Mentions:
Oliver Reed, The Devils * Richard Attenborough, 10 Rillington Place * Michael Caine, Get Carter * Gene Hackman, The French Connection * Topol, Fiddler on the Roof * Gene Wilder, Willy Wonka * Bud Cort, Harold and Maude * Warren Beatty, McCabe and Mrs. Miller * Max Von Sydow, The Emigrants * Zoltán Latinovits, SzindbádBest Actress: Jane Fonda, Klute
Honorable Mention:
Julie Christie, McCabe & Mrs. Miller * Kitty Winn, Panic in Needle Park * Jenny Agutter, Walkabout * Tuesday Weld, A Safe Place * Ruth Gordon, Harold and Maude * Lili Darvas and Mari Törőcsik, Szerelem * Liv Ullmann, The Emigrants
Supporting Actor: Andy Robinson, Dirty Harry
Honorable Mention:
Julie Christie, McCabe & Mrs. Miller * Kitty Winn, Panic in Needle Park * Jenny Agutter, Walkabout * Tuesday Weld, A Safe Place * Ruth Gordon, Harold and Maude * Lili Darvas and Mari Törőcsik, Szerelem * Liv Ullmann, The Emigrants
Close Runner-Up: Donald Pleasence, Wake in Fright
