Best Original Screenplay 1971: 2nd week

[Woolfville]

Let's vote, rate, rank and comment each nominee. We start today and end the official voting in two weeks and a half if it's enough time for re-watching all nominees.

Ugo Pirro and Elio Petri, Indagine su un cittadino al di sopra di ogni sospetto
Other Oscar nominations: Best Foreign Language Film (year before)
Nominations: New York Film Critics Circle (2nd place)

Andy Lewis and David E. Lewis, Klute
Other Oscar nominations: Best Actress (Jane Fonda).
Nominations: Golden Globe, WGA.



Paddy Chayefsky, The Hospital
Won: Golden Globe, BAFTA, WGA.
Other Oscar nominations: Best Actor (George C. Scott)

Herman Raucher, Summer of '42
Other Oscar nominations: Best Score (Michel Legrand), Best Cinematography (Robert Surtees), Best Film Editing (Folmar Blangsted)
Won: Seashell
Nominations: WGA.

Penelope Gilliatt, Sunday, Bloody Sunday
Won: New York Film Critics Circle, Writer's Guild Award, National Society of Film Critics
Nominated: BAFTA
Other Oscar nominations: Best Director (John Schlesinger), Best Actor (Peter Finch) and Best Actress (Glenda Jackson).

[Dr.ciski77]

Wait...are we doing adapted or original? That's the line-up for Best Original Screenplay from that year.

[Woolfville]

Oops! Changed.

[tonygoldenemmy]

This will be a lot of fun. And jeez, what a category here. Three of these are in my Top 10 films from '71.

[Woolfville]

Sunday, Bloody Sunday

From time to time, I got bored with it, though the acting kept things going. The parallels surrounding death looked like the peak in both cases. In the end, it was quite interesting that both Daniel and Alex were so open about their relationships with Bob: not only they knew about the other, they pretty much didn't know were their actual relationship was going. They end up talking to themselves, actually, which is a powerful scene of their loneliness.

3/5

[Raybee]

Ugh, I need to watch that again. It's been too long. I'm always fascinated by Glenda Jackson's success in the 70s. She was so anti-Hollywood, never went to the Oscars, but they couldn't get enough of her. Four nominations between 1970 and 1975 and two wins.

Of course she was used as a great hollywood inside joke in California Suite when Maggie Smith says "Glenda Jackson never comes and she's nominated every goddamn year." One would never get unless they were a) aware of who Glenda Jackson is (and she's probably one of the least remembered 2-time Best Actress winners) and b) no her history with Oscar.

[NGL]

I think the script made a very wise decision in not having Daniel and Alex meet until the end. I love Sunday, Bloody Sunday, but, some of that may be from my being bisexual and identifying a lot with Bob. My favorite Glenda Jackson performance is not in a movie, but in the PBS/BBC miniseries Elizabeth R where she gives the definitive portrayal of Elizabeth I. She is probably now most known for her stint as a Member Of Parliament in the U.K., and, her most famous speech is now probably her response in the House Of Commons to the tribute to Margaret Thatcher just after her death:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XDtClJYJBj8

[tonygoldenemmy]

Over the past week, I rewatched only Indagine su un cittadino al di sopra di ogni sospetto, The Hospital and Sunday Bloody Sunday, as I've already viewed Klute and Summer of '42 within the past year or so. With that being said:

Best Original Screenplay - 1972
1. Sunday Bloody Sunday - *****
2. Summer of '42 - ****
3. The Hospital - ****
4. Klute - ****
5. Indagine su un cittadino al di sopra di ogni sospetto - ****

This is a remarkable category, almost surely one of the best Original Screenplay line-ups to date and without a rotten or even just so-so apple in the bunch.

I actually include Klute, not The Hospital, among my Top 10 films of '71, as I think it's really the performances by Fonda and Sutherland (ditto the editing and cinematography) that make the former such a fantastic film, not necessarily the screenwriting. On the flip side, The Hospital only really functions on account of Chayefsky's dazzling screenwriting and Scott's game performance. That picture just isn't one I've ever had a lot of passion for, which is admittedly the same case with Indagine su un cittadino al di sopra di ogni sospetto, a film that while clever and surprising simply doesn't quite floor me.

That leaves my two favorite films of the group, both of which would probably land spots on my Top 25 list of the decade. My affection for Summer of '42 is out of pure, abashed nostalgia. I think it's one of the best-looking films ever (cinematography by the great Robert Surtees), has a knockout score and boasts one of the oddest-sweetest screen couples I've ever seen. But screenwriting-wise? I think the storytelling itself is terrific but some of the dialogue is perhaps a little on the clunky side. When I consider my favorite parts of the film, the screenplay maybe comes to mind as the 10th best thing. That isn't the case with Sunday Bloody Sunday, a film I consider all-around incredible in just about every regard. Finch, Jackson, Schlesinger's direction - all brilliant. The screenplay, the only one ever written for the big screen by New Yorker film critic Penelope Gilliatt, is right in the same class as them. Thought-provoking, moving, surprising. Her writing brought out the very best in two of our all-time finest screen actors.

[Woolfville]

It always surprised me that at the house I lived as a kid, there was a book, not a screenplay, Summer of '42 by Herman Raucher, which I read, liked very much and then I watched the movie. It was years later that I found out the film came out first.

I can't seem to find any of the other nominees on the internet, so I'll abstain from voting. I watched them long time ago, so I remember them vaguely.

I've been thinking more about Sunday, Bloody Sunday and it unfolds better with time. It stays with you. I liked Jackson and Finch a lot, though Finch's mannerisms play better in Network and not because it's a louder character, but because it goes along with the film.

(10-08-2015 04:11 AM)Raybee Wrote:  Ugh, I need to watch that again. It's been too long. I'm always fascinated by Glenda Jackson's success in the 70s. She was so anti-Hollywood, never went to the Oscars, but they couldn't get enough of her. Four nominations between 1970 and 1975 and two wins.

I keep thinking of Judi Dench as some sort of Glenda Jackson in terms of amount of nominations in few years. Dench managed six nominations in less than a decade. She isn't a double winner, though, at least not yet. How frequent is this? I did a quick research in IMDb, only the ladies: Thelma Ritter (earned her six noms in twelve years), Bette Davis (8 noms in a decade), Meryl Streep (7 in 9 years) and Amy Adams (5 in 8 years. Anyone else?

[NGL]

(10-10-2015 01:44 AM)Woolfville Wrote:  I keep thinking of Judi Dench as some sort of Glenda Jackson in terms of amount of nominations in few years. Dench managed six nominations in less than a decade. She isn't a double winner, though, at least not yet. How frequent is this? I did a quick research in IMDb, only the ladies: Thelma Ritter (earned her six noms in twelve years), Bette Davis (8 noms in a decade), Meryl Streep (7 in 9 years) and Amy Adams (5 in 8 years. Anyone else?

Greer Garson, 6 nominations in 7 years.