A Man For All Seasons

 And this week's Friday night movie has been... A Man For All Seasons!

Original image located here. Accessed 31st May 2024

Best Picture Oscar winner no.: 39 (1966)

It could be said that this is the forgotten Best Picture winner of the 1960s. After all, it does share room with some heavy hitters (ie Sound of Music, Lawrence of Arabia) so maybe it got lost in the crush?

Looking at it now, one could make the case that this is an early slice of Oscar bait: it is a biopic (tick), it has some big names in the cast (tick), it is a costume drama (tick) and it is about someone who sticks by their convictions even they lose everything and, eventually, their life (tick).
Cynicism aside though, there is a lot going for this movie: The direction is superb, it's beautifully shot and works with it's origins as a stage play. But the real meat is the acting: Orson Welles makes the most of his one scene, Robert Shaw is both compelling and frightening as Henry VIII (How come he never got more scenes?) and Paul Schofield carries the movie, giving it his all.

Unfairly forgotten? One would think so.

The Sound of Music

And this week's Friday night movie has been... The Sound of Music!

Original image located here. Accessed 24th May 2024

Best Picture Oscar winner no.: 38 (1965)

You know, I was perfectly content to live my life without watching this but it seems that fate had other plans.
From the outset, this movie has a formidable reputation being a childhood favourite for many and a less -than-favourable one as being emblematic of being sickeningly sweet. The latter is perhaps best represented by the movie referenced in Addams Family Values.

Personally I found it difficult to resist the charms of this movie. Yes it is very long, yes it seems a very sanitised version of what was happening at the time and yes, it does seem tooth-rotting in it's sweetness. But I will give it props for it's scenery, it's intense final portion and, lets just face it, Julie Andrews is a force of nature that is difficult to resist.

My Fair Lady

   And this week's Friday night movie has been... My Fair Lady!

Original image located here. Accessed 17th May 2024

Best Picture Oscar winner no.: 37 (1964)

I believe that the movie-going public will never forgive Shakespeare in Love for winning Best Picture over Saving Private Ryan....
...and yet no one is bitter that this won Best Picture over Dr. Strangelove.

It would seem that time has not been kind to this movie. Sure the costumes are superb (Those hats!) and Audrey Hepburn has a magnetic presence but there are some parts of this movie that haven't aged well. There is a misogynistic streak throughout, the length is exhausting, the elitism is particularly uncomfortable, the last five minutes severely hinder this movie, and Rex Harrison can't sing to save himself.

I mean, where can we go from this? *checks schedule*...........Oh no............

West Side Story

   And this week's Friday night movie has been... West Side Story!

Original image located here. Accessed 10th May 2024

Best Picture Oscar winner no.: 34 (1961)

And now we enter the sixties. A decade where the musical dominated the Academy Award for Best Picture. Seriously: Four of the Best Picture winners decade were musicals. Still, when I started this year long undertaking, I knew I would be stepping out of my comfort zone. And I am willing to be surprised.

And surprised I was with this one.

I guess it's a given that anyone would attempt a rewrite of Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet. Hey I did it myself when I was young and dumb. And who wouldn't? The scenario of 'young lovers separated through forces beyond their control' certainly is potent and will immediately secure a teen audience. 

But's let cut to the chase: I was impressed by this movie. The dancing sequences are jaw-dropping in their fluidity, the songs are immediate and recognisable (Maria, Tonight, America, I Feel Pretty) and the direction is engaging. And I can't help but think this was the progenitor of the modern musical in that it introduced the tropes of 'people in street suddenly launching into well choreographed dance number' and 'song concluding with laughter'. Can anyone confirm this?

So in the end, this film is indeed superb and a well-deserved winner of Best Picture.

Ben-Hur

  And this week's Friday night movie has been... Ben-Hur!

Original image located here. Accessed 3rd May 2024

Best Picture Oscar winner no.: 32 (1959)

And now I face a genuine challenge: A movie that has a reputation as being on the grandest achievements of cinema. Everything about this movie is big: The budget, the scale, the length, the colossal sets, the hordes of extras, the sweeping of the board at the Academy Awards. If you have ever heard of the phrase "Bigger than Ben-Hur' this is why.

Personally, I can see this movie as being the epitome of the 'bigger and better' mentality that defined a lot of the movies of the 1950s. Yet at the same time, it seems that a lot of this movies rests on the shoulders of the chariot race. Indeed, this movie did lose me with it's length and it's self-important nature but I am to forgive such shortcomings purely for those magic nine minutes.