1971--The Year in Review

A truly magnificent year for movies--especially American ones. I mean, just an astounding array of cult films, action films, intimate dramas, costume epics, musicals, documentaries, comedies, science fiction, horror, romances, westerns, cinematic television product, and the emergence of a potent black presence in film. But we also suffer a precipitous drop-off in quality from world cinema--a valley that will stretch across much of the ensuing decade. My top choice is an evocative, downbeat, gloriously black-and-white throwback to the emergence of the teen culture in 1950s Texas. It continually breaks your heart. But its closest competitor is also an examination of a possible future teen culture, vastly more perverted and still justifiably championed by most everyone. I still can't understand how Malcolm McDowell escaped even a nomination for his dynamic Alex De Large. I must reiterate: the sheer number of high-quality movies of all types ensures that some terrific titles are left out of the final mix. NOTE: These are MY choices for each category, and are only occasionally reflective of the selections made by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (aka The Oscars). When available, the nominee that actually won the Oscar will be highlighted in bold. 

PICTURE: THE LAST PICTURE SHOW (US, Peter Bogdanovich)
(2nd: A Clockwork Orange (UK, Stanley Kubrick)
followed by: McCabe and Mrs. Miller (US, Robert Altman)
Fiddler on the Roof (US, Norman Jewison)
The French Connection (US, William Friedkin)
Punishment Park (UK/US, Peter Watkins)
Sunday, Bloody Sunday (UK, John Schlesinger)
Two-Lane Blacktop (US, Monte Hellman)
Carnal Knowledge (US, Mike Nichols)
Macbeth (UK, Roman Polanski)
Harold and Maude (US, Hal Ashby)
The Beguiled (US, Don Siegel)
A New Leaf (US, Elaine May)
Walkabout (Australia, Nicolas Roeg)
Dirty Harry (US, Don Siegel)
Klute (US, Alan J. Pakula)
Directed by John Ford (US, Peter Bogdanovich)
The Emigrants (Sweden/US, Jan Troell)
The Hospital (US, Arthur Hiller)
Taking Off (US, Milos Forman)
The Devils (UK, Ken Russell)
Duel (US, Steven Spielberg)
Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory (US/UK, Mel Smith)
Millhouse (US, Emile De Antonio)
THX-1138 (US, George Lucas)
Vanishing Point (US, Richard Serafian)
Johnny Got His Gun (US, Dalton Trumbo)
The Andromeda Strain (US, Robert Wise)
Panic in Needle Park (US, Jerry Schatzberg)
Get Carter (UK, Mike Hodges)
Shaft (US, Gordon Parks)
Play Misty For Me (US, Clint Eastwood)
Sweet Sweetback’s Baaadasssss Song (US, Melvin Van Peebles)
Minnie and Moskowicz (US, John Cassavetes)
Bananas (US, Woody Allen)
The Boy Friend (UK, Ken Russell)
Straw Dogs (UK, Sam Peckinpah)
Death in Venice (US/Italy, Luchino Visconti)
The Clowns (Italy, Federico Fellini)
The Hired Hand (US, Peter Fonda)
Let's Scare Jessica to Death (US, John Hancock)
The Goalkeeper’s Fear of the Penalty Kick (West Germany, Wim Wenders)
Fata Morgana (West Germany, Werner Herzog)
Summer of ’42 (US, Robert Mulligan)
Ten Rillington Place (UK, Richard Fleischer)
The Decameron (Italy, Pier Paolo Pasolini)
Silent Running (US, Douglas Trumbull)
They Might Be Giants (US, Anthony Harvey)
Who is Harry Kellerman and Why is He Saying Those Terrible Things About Me? (US, Ulu Grosbard)
Land of Silence and Darkness (West Germany, Werner Herzog)
Valdez is Coming (US, Edwin Sherin)
The Point (US, Fred Wolf)
A Fistful of Dynamite (Italy, Sergio Leone)
Sometimes a Great Notion (US, Paul Newman)
Mary, Queen of Scots (UK, Charles Jarrott)
And Now For Something Completely Different (UK, Ian McNaughton)
Christian the Lion (US, Bill Travers)
The Abominable Dr. Phibes (UK, Robert Fuest)
Kotch (US, Jack Lemmon)
The Last Movie (US, Dennis Hopper)
The Strawberry Statement (US, Stuart Hagmann)
Diamonds are Forever (UK, Guy Hamilton)
Monte Walsh (US, William A. Fraker)
Red Sky at Morning (US, James Goldstone)
What's The Matter with Helen? (US, Curtis Harrington)
Pretty Maids All in a Row (US, Roger Vadim)
Behind the Green Door (US, Jim and Artie Mitchell)
When Dinosaurs Ruled the Earth (UK, Val Guest)
WR: The Mysteries of the Organism (Yugoslavia, Dusan Makavejev))

ACTOR: Malcolm McDowell, A CLOCKWORK ORANGE (2nd: Gene Hackman, The French Connection, followed by: Topol, Fiddler on the Roof; Gene Wilder, Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory; Jack Nicholson, Carnal Knowledge; Walter Matthau, A New Leaf; George C. Scott, The Hospital; Peter Finch, Sunday, Bloody Sunday; Clint Eastwood, The Beguiled; Warren Beatty, McCabe and Mrs Miller)

ACTRESS: Jane Fonda, KLUTE (2nd: Ruth Gordon, Harold and Maude, followed by: Julie Christie, McCabe and Mrs. Miller; Kitty Winn, Panic in Needle Park; Jessica Walter, Play Misty for Me; Liv Ullmann, The Emigrants; Zohra Lampert, Let’s Scare Jessica to Death; Glenda Jackson, Sunday, Bloody Sunday; Jenny Agutter, Walkabout; Geraldine Page, The Beguiled)

SUPPORTING ACTOR: Ben Johnson, THE LAST PICTURE SHOW (2nd: Warren Oates, Two-Lane Blacktop, followed by: Jeff Bridges, The Last Picture Show; Cleavon Little, Vanishing Point; Andy Robinson, Dirty Harry; Roy Scheider, The French Connection; Art Garfunkel, Carnal Knowledge; Tom Baker, Nicholas and Alexandra; Michael Bates, A Clockwork Orange)



SUPPORTING ACTRESS: Cloris Leachman, THE LAST PICTURE SHOW (2nd: Ann-Margret, Carnal Knowledge, followed by: Ellen Burstyn, The Last Picture Show; Candice Bergen, Carnal Knowledge; Barbara Harris, Who is Harry Kellerman and Why is He Saying Those Terrible Things About Me?; Vivien Pickles, Harold and Maude; Lee Remick, Sometimes a Great Notion; Jo Ann Harris, The Beguliled)

DIRECTOR: Stanley Kubrick, A CLOCKWORK ORANGE (2nd: Peter Bogdanovich, The Last Picture Show, followed by: Robert Altman, McCabe and Mrs. Miller; Peter Watkins, Punishment Park; William Friedkin, The French Connection; Norman Jewison, Fiddler on the Roof; Roman Polanski, Macbeth; Monte Hellman, Two-Lane Blacktop; Mike Nichols, Carnal Knowledge; John Schlesinger, Sunday, Bloody Sunday)

NON-ENGLISH-LANGUAGE FILM: THE EMIGRANTS (Sweden, Jan Troell) (2nd: The Clowns (Italy, Federico Fellini), followed by: The Goalkeeper’s Fear of the Penalty Kick (West Germany, Wim Wenders); Fata Morgana (West Germany, Werner Herzog); The Decameron (Italy, Pier Paolo Pasolini); Land of Silence and Darkness (West Germany, Werner Herzog))



DOCUMENTARY FEATURE: DIRECTED BY JOHN FORD (US, Peter Bogdanovich) (2nd: Millhouse (US, Emile De Antonio), followed by: Fata Morgana (West Germany, Werner Herzog); Land of Silence and Darkness (West Germany, Werner Herzog); Christian the Lion (US, Bill Travers))



ANIMATED FEATURE: THE POINT (Fred Wolf)



ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY: Peter Watkins, PUNISHMENT PARK (2nd: Paddy Chayefsky, The Hospital, followed by: Penelope Gilliatt, Sunday, Bloody Sunday; Andy and Dave Lewis, Klute; Rudy Wurlitzer and Will Corry, Two-Lane Blacktop)



ADAPTED SCREENPLAY: Peter Bogdanovich and Larry McMurtry, THE LAST PICTURE SHOW (2nd: Stanley Kubrick, A Clockwork Orange, followed by: Robert Altman and Brian McCay, McCabe and Mrs. Miller; Ernest Tidyman, The French Connection; Joseph Stein, Fiddler on the Roof)



LIVE ACTION SHORT FILM: HAPAX LEGOMENA: NOSTALGIA I (US, Hollis Frampton) (2nd: The Act of Seeing With One’s Own Eyes (US, Stan Brakhage); Hot Dogs for Gaugain (US, Martin Brest); Sentinels of Silence (Mexico, Robert Anram); Last Year in Vietnam (US, Oliver Stone)



ANIMATED SHORT FILM: A CHRISTMAS CAROL (UK, Richard Williams, won in 1972) (2nd: Evolution (Canada, Michael Mills), followed by: Freedom River (US, Sam Weiss); The Cat in the Hat (US, Hawley Pratt); The Selfish Giant (Canada. Peter Sander)



CINEMATOGRAPHY: Oswald Morris, FIDDLER ON THE ROOF (2nd: Robert Surtees, The Last Picture Show, followed by: Vilmos Zsigmond, McCabe and Mrs Miller; Gilbert Taylor, Macbeth; Gordon Willis, Klute) 

ART DIRECTION: THE ANDROMEDA STRAIN, Fiddler on the Roof, The Boy Friend, McCabe and Mrs. Miller, Nicholas and Alexandra

COSTUME DESIGN: THE BOY FRIEND, Nicholas and Alexandra, Macbeth, Fiddler on the Roof, Death in Venice

FILM EDITING: A CLOCKWORK ORANGE, The French Connection, Fiddler on the Roof, Punishment Park, Dirty Harry 

SOUND: FIDDLER ON THE ROOF, A Clockwork Orange, THX-1138, The Last Picture Show, McCabe and Mrs. Miller 



ORIGINAL SCORE: Isaac Hayes, SHAFT (2nd: Lalo Schifrin, Dirty Harry, followed by: Michel Legrand, Summer of ’42; Jerry Fielding, Straw Dogs; John Barry, Walkabout)



ADAPTED OR MUSICAL SCORE: John Williams, FIDDLER ON THE ROOF (2nd: Leslie Bricusse, Anthony Newley, and Walter Scharf, Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory, followed by: Peter Maxwell Davies and Peter Greenwell, The Boy Friend)



ORIGINAL SONG: “Theme from Shaft” from SHAFT (Music and lyrics by Isaac Hayes) (2nd: “Don‘t Be Shy” from Harold and Maude (Music and lyrics by Cat Stevens), followed by: “If You Wanna Sing Out, Sing Out” from Harold and Maude (Music and lyrics by Cat Stevens); “Me and My Arrow” from The Point (Music and lyrics by Harry Nilsson); "Diamonds are Forever" from Diamonds are Forever (Music by John Barry, lyrics by Don Black); "Last Morning" from Who is Harry Kellerman and Why is He Saying Those Terrible Things About Me? (Music and lyrics by Shel Silverstein); “Pure Imagination” from Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory (Music by Leslie Bricusse, lyrics by Anthony Newley); "Bless the Beasts and Children" from Bless the Beasts and Children (Music and lyrics by Barry DeVorzon and Perry Botkin, Jr.)

SPECIAL EFFECTS: SILENT RUNNING, When Dinosaurs Ruled the Earth, Bedknobs and Broomsticks

MAKEUP: THE ABOMINABLE DR. PHIBES, Kotch, The Boy Friend 

Brushes with Greatness: My Ten Thrilling Celebrity Sightings of 2008

Living in New York City has a few minuses, to be sure. But the pluses far outweigh them, especially if you're an attentive and active movie lover such as myself. One of those benefits is being able to see and even talk to your favorite film and media stars. They're milling about all over the place up here--appearing at film festivals, special screenings, and even just going about their daily lives. Here are ten instances in which I met up with some of my favorite people in 2008.

1) I was SOOOO excited to meet Keir Dullea (star of my favorite movie of all time, Kubrick's 2001: A Space Odyssey) after a screening of Otto Preminger's Bunny Lake is Missing at NYC's Film Forum. He signed my posters from 2001 and David and Lisa (he was REALLY impressed to see the David and Lisa poster; he said he hadn't seen it in over 30 years). As he was waiting for his car after the autograph session, I approached him and, struggling for a question, asked if he found Kubrick to be humorous in any way. He seemed flummoxed and answered, basically, "No, he was way too caught up in the details of making the movie to crack any jokes." I dunno why I asked this question; I suppose I had heard about Kubrick's cutting-up with Malcolm McDowell and Peter Sellers while making A Clockwork Orange and Dr. Strangelove, respectively, and I just wanted to know if the great director's mood was just as light on the 2001 set. I guess it wasn't.2) At the terrific 2008 TriBeCa Film Festival, Matthew Modine submitted a fine short film he directed and starred in called I Think I Thought. He also participated in a Kubrick-centric symposium following a 40th Anniversary screening of 2001 (in case you don't know, Modine played Private Joker in Kubrick's 1987 movie Full Metal Jacket). After the program, I followed Matthew outside and got my picture taken with him, plus he gave me a really nice autograph humorously illustrated with a peace symbol (which famously appeared on his helmet in Full Metal Jacket). I gave Matthew the web address to FILMICABILITY, and told him I'm trying to write articles about my 2000 favorite movies. He asked which one of his own films made it on to my list, and I answered Full Metal Jacket (of course), Birdy (Alan Parker, 84), Married to the Mob (Jonathan Demme, 88), Short Cuts (Robert Altman, 93), and Baby It's You (John Sayles, 83). He said those were good choices, and that he would definitely visit my site. I hope he did!3) NYC's Walter Reade Theater (part of Lincoln Center) showed Malcolm McDowell's newest movie Never Apologize in September of this year. A filmed version of McDowell's one-man show about his relationship with the late director Lindsay Anderson (with whom McDowell did three of his most notable films, known as "the Mick Travis Trilogy": If..., O Lucky Man!, and Britannia Hospital), Never Apologize was great fun. But I really showed up not only to see If... and O Lucky Man! on the big screen (both of which looked resplendant), but to meet Malcolm McDowell himself. Note: I believe I set a record few could match: McDowell would be the third Kubrick movie hero I'd met in one year. The star of A Clockwork Orange came ambling into the theater about ten minutes before O Lucky Man! ended and I got to speak with him, all by my lonesome, right inside the theater's lobby. I failed to get a picture with him (dang it!), but I did get him to sign his photo in my massive Stanley Kubrick Archives book, as well as my O Lucky Man! and Time After Time posters. I asked him only three questions: (1) Who has the famed golden-threaded suit from O Lucky Man! (he does--"though I don't think I could fit into it now"--and he told a fascinating story about why Anderson decided to include the suit as an element in the movie). (2) Why was If... filmed in both color and black-and-white? He smiled and said he'd been asked that question hundreds of times. His answer: the black-and-white sequences were done out of necessity because the location in which they were filmed wouldn't allow for the sort of lighting that color film required, so Anderson just resorted to shooting the sequences in B&W (sometimes the answers behind such bafflements are just that simple). And (3) when is the famed Stanley Kubrick museum exhibit going to make it to the States--more specifically, to New York? He told me the big problem was shipping all this valuable stuff from London to the U.S. I told him I thought it'd be a massive financial success, and that the effort would be more than worth it. He assured me when he got back to London, he would speak to Kubrick's widow, Christiane, about bringing the exhibit here (it excites me to know that, if it happens, I may have had a hand in it; it looks like the most amazing thing ever!!!) Malcolm then invited me in to sit with him as we watched the joyous final scene of O Lucky Man! together. Listening to Alan Price's kickin' title song, I whispered to Malcolm "This is the best original rock-and-roll score ever written for movies." He gave me a playful punch in the arm and a "Damn right!" smile. What a thrill!!!

4) Working at the sadly now-defunct Kim's Video in the East Village during the first half of 2008 provided me with a few short Brushes with Greatness. The first: helping a bearded Ryan Gosling (The Believer, Stay, The Notebook, and Oscar nominee for his brilliant showing in 2006's Half-Nelson) as he tried to locate a copy of John Huston's great 1972 boxing movie Fat City. Knowing the difficulty of finding a single title amongst the legendarily vast collection at Kim's (which is soon to be relocated to a small town in Sicily, of all places!), I stepped out from behind the counter to find the film for him (while wondering if he was researching a new role), and he said, "Oh, you don't have to do that!" I answered "Hey, I'd do it for anyone else. That's what I'm here for!" 5) I was struck dumb at Kim's when I found the beautiful Chloe Sevigny standing in front of me, renting (strangely enough) Lindsay Anderson's If... I acted as if she were not a huge movie star (as you're supposed to do in NYC), and I recommended O Lucky Man! to her. As to let me know what name was on her account (so I could type it into the Kim's computer system), she humbly showed me her driver's licence (as if I didn't already know who she was). I can still feel that shock of hidden desire that shot painfully up my spine as I locked glances with her big, beautiful blue eyes. What a stunner she is!6) I met three directors I admire at Kim's, too: the wonderful Kelly Reichardt (the director, pictured below, of Old Joy and my #3 movie of 2008 Wendy and Lucy), Chuck Workman (the Oscar-winning director of Precious Images and the man who compiles all the film history tributes at each year's Academy Awards), and David O. Russell (Spanking the Monkey, Flirting with Disaster, Three Kings and I Heart Huckabees). I quickly complimented them all on their work. 7) I'll never forget sitting in the front row at the TriBeCa Film Festival's 2001: A Space Odyssey symposium and looking straight at Buzz Aldrin, the second man to step foot on the moon, as he discussed his impressions of 2001 and his trip to that great gray rock in the sky. I didn't get to meet him: famously shy, Aldrin made a bee-line to the door (refusing to give autographs) once the photo ops were over. But it was incredible hearing him speak about the details of his most famous mission.8) At the same film festival, I saw the unmistakable Michael Moore (Bowling for Columbine, Roger and Me, Sicko, Fahrenheit 9/11) making his way through the crowd. He kindly made time for a quick handshake, after which I patted him on the back and thanked him for both his films and his political bravery.9) Through my good friend, photographer/filmmaker Richard Sandler (The Gods of Times Square), I got to meet another accomplished photographer, Sylvia Plachy, a number of times. Pictured at right below (with director Rebecca Dreyfus, maker of 2008's Self-Portrait with Cows Going Home and Other Works: A Portrait of Sylvia Plachy), the brilliant and generous Ms. Plachy is also notable as being the mother of Oscar-winner Adrian Brody (she and her husband regaled me over dinner about Adrian's experiences filming The Pianist with Roman Polanski, and his more recent travails playing the famed matador in the yet-to-be-released bio-pic Manolete). I got to feel famous myself, however briefly, as we shared a few laughs over drinks. I even gave her an original drawing of mine (which I titled "Self Portrait Without Cows"). She told me later she had my drawing framed and that it was now hanging up in her pad. Wow! 10) At the film festival, I talked briefly with legendary filmmaker Melvin Van Peebles--the man behind the groundbreaking Sweet Sweetback's Baaaaadassss Song. I mentioned how much I particularly loved 1970's The Watermelon Man, and he kindly told me some tales about his experiences filming that subversive and underseen masterpiece. What a guy!All this, plus I got to see magician David Blaine performing on the streets, NYC Mayor Michael Bloomberg and NY Governor David Patterson speechifying at the TriBeCa Film Festival's opening press conference, This is England and Somers Town director Shane Meadows outside of the Strand book store, Blair Witch Project co-director Daniel Myrick at the opening party for his newest movie The Objective, character actor and acting professor Austin Pendleton (What's Up Doc, A Beautiful Mind, Skidoo, Catch-22, My Cousin Vinny, The Muppet Movie, Mr. and Mrs. Bridge) at a Whole Foods Market, and music legend Nick Lowe (below) performing an intimate and extra-entertaining 30-minute set at a small TriBeCa venue. All these fine people, in their own small ways, helped make 2008 a memorable year indeed for me. Now I have 2009 to look forward to!