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Influential Filmmakers of the 1970s: Sidney Lumet

An Actors’ Director, Meticulous Craftsman, Social Commentator

Sidney Lumet was a highly regarded and prolific film director especially during the 1970s. Since his auspicious movie directorial debut in 1957, Lumet would often direct at least one film a year. He was known for being a meticulous, technical craftsman, dynamic storyteller and for taking a collaborative approach to filmmaking. He spent time rehearsing his actors and blocking his camera shots well before filming commenced. As a result, Lumet usually brought his films in under budget. He also had a reputation for being a well-respected humanitarian who instilled a sense of realism in his most noted films, which included themes of social justice and the Jewish experience in America.

^{Sidney Lumet – Festival de Cannes 2022}

Sidney Lumet believed strongly in the importance of character development to the story. He had a reputation as an actors’ director and for getting exceptional performances from his cast. Lumet directed Ingrid Bergman, Faye Dunaway, Peter Finch and Beatrice Straight in Oscar winning performances. He also directed the following performers in Oscar nominated roles: Katharine Hepburn, Rod Steiger, Al Pacino, Albert Finney, Chris Sarandon, William Holden, Ned Beatty, Peter Firth, Richard Burton, Paul Newman, James Mason, Jane Fonda and River Phoenix.

Lumet himself was nominated four times for the Best Director Oscar and once for Best Adapted Screenplay. He was awarded a honourary Oscar in 2005. He was also nominated seven times for Outstanding Directorial Achievement in Motion Pictures by the Directors Guild of America (DGA). The organization awarded him a DGA Honorary Life Member Award in 1989 and presented him with a Lifetime Achievement Award in 1993.

Beginnings

Sidney Lumet began his directorial career directing Off-Broadway productions and later became a highly regarded director of episodic television and TV movies in the 1950s and early 1960s. His television movies included The Dybbuk (1960), The Iceman Cometh (1960) and Rashomon (1960). He also directed episodic television including the following: Playhouse 90 (1956-1961), The United States Steel Hour (1953-1963), The DuPont Show of the Month (1957-1961), Kraft Theatre (1947-1958), Studio One (1948-1958), Goodyear Playhouse (1951-1957), The Alcoa Hour (1955-1957), The Elgin Hour (1954-1955), The Best of Broadway (1954-1955), You Are There (1953-1972), and Danger (1950-1955).

Lumet made his feature film debut with 12 Angry Men (1957) featuring Henry Fonda, Martin Balsam , Lee J. Cobb, and E.G. Marshall. Lumet was nominated for his first Best Director Oscar for the movie and the film was also nominated for Best Picture and Adapted Screenplay. Other notable films in the 1960s included: The Fugitive Kind (1960) with Marlon Brando, Anna Magnani and Joanne Woodward; A View from the Bridge (1961) with Raf Vallone, Maureen Stapleton and Carol Lawrence; Long Day’s Journey into Night (1962) with Katharine Hepburn, Ralph Richardson and Jason Robards; The Pawnbroker (1964) with Rod Steiger and Geraldine Fitzgerald; Fail Safe (1964) with Henry Fonda, Walter Matthau and Fritz Weaver; The Hill (1965) with Sean Connery, Harry Andrews and Ian Bannen; The Group (1966) with Candice Bergen, Joan Hackett and Elizabeth Hartman; The Deadly Affair (1967) with James Mason, Simone Signoret and Maximilian Schell; Bye Bye Braverman (1968) with George Segal, Jack Warden and Jessica Walter; The Sea Gull (1968) with James Mason, Vanessa Redgrave and Simone Signoret; and The Appointment (1969) with Omar Sharif and Anouk Aimée. Katharine Hepburn received her ninth Best Oscar nomination for Long Day’s Journey into Night and Rod Steiger received his first Best Actor nomination for The Pawnbroker.

Films of the Early 1970s

Sidney Lumet began with the 1970s with directing the black comedy The Last of the Mobile Hot Shots (1970) starring James Coburn, Lynn Redgrave and Robert Hooks. Based on a play by Tennessee Williams, the movie centres around a couple (Coburn and Redgrave) who marry on a game show and use the money to save the husband’s family planation in New Orleans. The movie was poorly received at the time by audiences and critics.

Lumet’s next film was the crime thriller The Anderson Tapes (1971) with Sean Connery, Dyan Cannon and Martin Balsam. Based on the best-selling novel by Lawrence Sanders, the film tells the story of a newly released criminal (Connery) who devises a robbery plan with the help of the mafia and while unknowingly being under electronic surveillance. The film did well at the box office and received mostly good reviews.

Lumet then directed the psychological thriller Child’s Play (1972) with James Mason, Robert Preston and Beau Bridges. Based on the play by Robert Marasco, a young gym teacher (Bridges) at a posh boys’ academy is caught in the middle of a dark, twisted and deadly feud between a popular English teacher (Preston) and a despised Instructor of classical languages (Mason). The film received mixed reviews when it was first released. James Mason’s performance was uniformly praised and he was nominated for Best Actor by the New York Film Critics Circle.

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Lumet’s next project was the British crime neo noir crime drama The Offence (1973) with Sean Connery, Trevor Howard, Vivien Merchant and, Ian Bannen. The film focuses on the consequences of a deadly interrogation of a suspected child molester (Bannen) by a stressed out police detective (Connery). Ian Bannen received a Best Supporting Actor BAFTA Film Award nomination for his role in the film.

Lumet had a huge critical and commercial hit with the biopic Serpico (1973) with Al Pacino, John Randolph and Jack Kehoe. Based on a true story, the film covers the life of an undercover New York City police officer (Pacino) who is working to blow the whistle on the corruption within his own police force. The movie received two Academy Award nominations for Best Adapted Screenplay and Al Pacino was nominated for Best Actor. The film was also nominated for a Best Motion Picture – Drama Golden Globe and Al Pacino won the Golden Globe for Best Actor – Motion Picture Drama. The film won Best Drama Adapted from Another Medium by the Writers Guild of America (WGA). Sidney Lumet received BAFTA and DGA nominations for Best Director for the movie and Al Pacino received BAFTA, National Society of Film Critics, and New York Film Critics Circle nominations for Best Actor. He was awarded Best Actor by the National Board of Review in a tie with Robert Ryan for The Iceman Cometh (1973).

Films of the Mid 1970s

Lumet next directed the drama Lovin’ Molly (1974) with Anthony Perkins, Beau Bridges, Blythe Danner, and Susan Sarandon. Based on the novel by Larry McMurtry, the film tells the 40-year tale of the ongoing rivalry between two Texans (Perkins and Bridges) as they compete for the affections of a beautiful and independent woman (Danner) who refuses to marry them both.

Lumet had another commercial and critical hit with Murder on the Orient Express (1974) featuring an all-star cast that included Albert Finney, Lauren Bacall, Martin Balsam, Ingrid Bergman, Jacqueline Bisset, Jean-Pierre Cassel, Sean Connery, John Gielgud, Wendy Hiller, Anthony Perkins, Vanessa Redgrave, Rachel Roberts, Richard Widmark, Michael York, and Colin Blakely. Based on the novel by Agatha Christie, Hercule Poirot (Finney), a renowned Belgian detective, is stuck with other passengers on a snowbound train and ends up solving the murder of a wealthy American businessman (Widmark). The movie was nominated for six Academy awards including Best Actor (Finney), Adapted Screenplay, Cinematography, Costume Design and Original Dramatic Score. Ingrid Bergman won her third Oscar, this time for Best Supporting Actress, for the movie. Sidney Lumet received BAFTA and DGA nominations for Best Director. The movie was nominated for nine BAFTA Film Awards including Best Picture, Actor (Finney), Art Direction, Cinematography, Costume Design and Film Editing. Ingrid Bergman won for Best Supporting Actress and John Gielgud won for Best Supporting Actor. The film also received a Writers’ Guild of Great Britain nomination for Best British Screenplay.

Lumet had another commercial and critical hit with his next project Dog Day Afternoon (1975) with Al Pacino, John Cazale, Charles Durning, Chris Sarandon, Penelope Allen, James Broderick, Lance Henriksen, and Carol Kane. Based on a Life magazine article about a real-life crime in Brooklyn, a pair of would-be robbers (Pacino and Cazale) holds a group of bank employees hostage when their bank holdup attempt goes awry. Sidney Lumet received a Best Director Oscar nomination for the movie, as well as BAFTA, Golden Globe and DGA Best Director nominations. Lumet won the Los Angeles Film Critics Association Award for Best Director. The film itself received a total of six Academy Award nominations including Best Picture, Actor (Pacino), Supporting Actor (Sarandon) and Film Editing. It won for the Academy Award for Best Original Screenplay. The movie was also nominated for six BAFTA Film Award nominations, including Best Picture, Screenplay and Soundtrack, and winning Best Actor (Pacino) and Film Editing. In addition, it was nominated for seven Golden Globes including Best Motion Picture – Drama, Actor – Motion Picture Drama (Pacino), Supporting Actor (Cazale and Durning), Screenplay and New Star of the Year – Actor (Sarandon). The movie won the WGA for Best Drama Written Directly for the Screen.

Lumet scored an even bigger commercial and critical hit with his next movie Network (1976) with Faye Dunaway, William Holden, Peter Finch, Robert Duvall, Wesley Addy, Ned Beatty, and Beatrice Straight. The film is a dark satirical dramedy about a struggling television network that the exploits the antics of its mentally unhinged news anchorman (Finch), promoting him to cult-like status in order to gain ratings. Sidney Lumet received a Best Director Oscar nomination for the movie, as well as BAFTA and DGA nominations. He won Best Director honours from the Hollywood Foreign Press Association (Golden Globes) and Los Angeles Film Critics Association. The film itself was nominated for a total of ten Academy Awards, including Best Picture, Actor (Holden), Supporting Actor (Beatty), Cinematography and Film Editing. It won Oscars for Best Actor (Finch), Actress (Dunaway), Supporting Actress (Straight) and Original Screenplay. The film was also nominated for nine BAFTA Film Awards, including Best Picture, Actor (Holden), Actress (Dunaway), Supporting Actor (Duvall), Screenplay, Film Editing and Soundtrack, and winning Best Actor (Finch). In addition, it was nominated for five Golden Globes, winning Best Actor – Motion Picture Drama (Finch), Best Actress – Motion Picture Drama (Dunaway) and Screenplay. It was nominated for Best Motion Picture – Drama but did not win in that category. The movie won the WGA for Best Drama Written Directly for the Screen.

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Films of the Late 1970s

Lumet followed the success of Network by directed the psychological drama Equus (1977) with Richard Burton, Peter Firth, Colin Blakely, Joan Plowright, Harry Andrews, Eileen Atkins, Jenny Agutter, and Kate Reid. Based on the play by Peter Shaffer, a psychiatrist (Burton) works to uncover the dark truth behind a disturbed and troubled young man (Firth)’s obsessive worship of horses. The movie received positive reviews and was nominated for three Academy Awards for Best Actor (Burton), Supporting Actor (Firth) and Adapted Screenplay. The film won two Golden Globes for Best Actor – Motion Picture Drama (Burton) and Supporting Actor (Firth). It was also nominated for five BAFTA Film Awards, including Best Supporting Actor (Blakely), Actress (Plowright), Screenplay and Music, and winning Best Supporting Actress (Agutter).

Lumet’s last movie of the 1970s was musical The Wiz (1978) with Diana Ross, Michael Jackson, Nipsey Russell, Ted Ross, Mabel King, Lena Horne, and Richard Pryor. Based on the hit Broadway musical, the film is a re-visioning of The Wizard of Oz with an all-African American cast. Upon its initial release, the movie did not do well with critics and audiences, but has since become a cult classic. The Wiz was nominated for four Academy Awards for Best Cinematography, Art Direction-Set Decoration, Costume Design, and Music, Original Song Score and Its Adaptation or Best Adaptation Score.

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Later Years

In the 1980s, Lumet continued to be a prolific film director and was nominated for two more Academy Awards for Best Adapted Screenplay for Prince of the City (1981), starring Treat Williams and Jerry Orbach, and for Best Director for The Verdict (1982) with Paul Newman, Charlotte Rampling, Jack Warden, and James Mason. The Verdict was nominated for a total of five Oscars including Best Picture, Actor (Newman), Supporting Actor (Mason) and Adapted Screenplay.

Other 1980s films that Lumet directed included: Deathtrap (1982) with Michael Caine, Christopher Reeve and Dyan Cannon; Daniel (1983) with Timothy Hutton, Mandy Patinkin and Lindsay Crouse; Garbo Talks (1984) with Anne Bancroft, Ron Silver and Carrie Fisher; The Morning After (1986) with Jane Fonda, Jeff Bridges and Raul Julia; Power (1986) with Richard Gere, Julie Christie and Gene Hackman; Running on Empty (1988) with Christine Lahti, River Phoenix and Judd Hirsch; and Family Business (1989) with Sean Connery, Dustin Hoffman and Matthew Broderick. Jane Fonda received her sixth Best Actress Oscar nomination for The Morning After. River Phoenix received his only Oscar nomination for Running on Empty and the film was also nominated for Best Original Screenplay.

Lumet continued to direct movies in the 1990s to the mid 2000s. His last film was Before the Devil Knows You’re Dead (2007) with Philip Seymour Hoffman, Ethan Hawke, Marisa Tomei, and Albert Finney.

In his personal life, Sidney Lumet was married four times including to heiress and entrepreneur Gloria Vanderbilt. He had two daughters two daughters. Lumet died at the age of 86 on April 9, 2011 in Manhattan from lymphoma.

Legacy

Lumet’s influence on filmmaking continues to be recognized today with his movies 12 Angry Men (1957), The Pawnbroker (1964), Dog Day Afternoon (1975) and Network (1976), as well as his documentary King: A Filmed Record… Montgomery to Memphis (1970), being selected for preservation in the United States National Film Registry by the Library of Congress as being “culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant.”

~Terry Gale

Influential Filmmakers of the 1970s: Robert Altman

Robert Altman was a pioneer in the 1970s filmmaking. He was highly prolific during this decade often directing one to two films a year. His unique style included making films with multiple interwoven storylines in an episodic television-like format. His large ensemble casts often improvised their performances, which included overlapping dialogue. This process created a naturalistic and quirky feel to his films. He also took traditional genres, skewing and reworking their narrative structures, and producing ambiguous endings to many of his films. In addition, a number of his movies included his own strong social commentaries on the events of the day.

_{Source: Indiewire ‘Robert Altman’s Top 15 Films’ October 13, 2014}

Altman was very much an actor’s director, directing Sally Kellerman, Julie Christie, Ronee Blakley, Lily Tomlin, Helen Mirren and Maggie Smith in Oscar nominated performances. Altman himself was nominated five times for the Best Director Oscar and was awarded a honourary Oscar in 2006. He won a Primetime Emmy award in 1989 for Outstanding Directing in a Drama Series for the mini-series Tanner ‘88 (1988).

Altman began his filmmaking career directing documentaries, as well as employee training, industrial and educational films. He later moved into television in the 1950s and 1960s, directing TV movies and episodes of shows such as Alfred Hitchcock Presents (1955-62), The Millionaire (1955-60), Whirlybirds (1957-60), Maverick (1957-62), Lawman (1958-62), Surfside 6 (1960-62), Peter Gunn (1958-61), Bonanza (1959-73), Route 66 (1960-64), Bus Stop (1960-61) and Kraft Mystery Theater (1960-63).

He made his feature film debut with Countdown (1967) with James Caan and Robert Duvall. He was fired during the editing process, as he refused to comply with studio demands. His next film That Cold Day in the Park (1969) was a critical and commercial failure.

Altman hit his stride as a notable film director with the breakthrough, dark comic-satire M*A*S*H (1970). The movie tells the story of the outrageous antics of a field hospital’s eccentric staff during the Korean War. Altman received his first Best Director Oscar nomination for the film. He was also nominated for a Best Director Golden Globe and a Directors Guild of America (DGA) Award. In addition, Altman won the Palme d’Or at the Cannes Film Festival. The movie itself was nominated for five Oscars, including Best Picture, Supporting Actress (Sally Kellerman) and Film Editing. It won one Oscar for Best Adapted Screenplay. It was also nominated for six Golden Globes (1970), including Best Actors in a Comedy or Musical (Elliot Gould & Donald Sutherland), Supporting Actress (Kellerman) and Screenplay. The movie won the Best Motion Picture Comedy or Musical Golden Globe that year. It also won a Writers Guild of America (WGA) Award for Best Comedy Adapted from Another Medium.

That same year, he directed the off-beat, surrealistic comedy Brewster McCloud (1970) about a reclusive young man (Bud Cort) living in the Huston Astrodome who is fashioning a pair of wings to help him fly.

Altman’s next major work was the acclaimed revisionist western McCabe & Mrs. Miller (1971). Set in the late 1800s, a gambler (Warren Beatty) and a prostitute (Julie Christie) run a high-class brothel and experience problems when competitors try to purchase the business. Christie received her second Best Actress Oscar nomination for the movie. The movie was also nominated for a WGA Award for Best Drama Adapted from Another Medium. The film initially received poor reviews upon its release and did not do well at the box office. It achieved critical acclaim and recognition in later years.

The next year, Altman directed Images (1972) a psychological thriller about a vacationing, mentally unbalanced children’s books author (Susannah York) who becomes increasingly caught up in her delusions and fantasies with dire consequences. Altman was nominated for a Palme d’Or at the Cannes Film Festival and York took home the Best Actress Prize. Altman was also nominated for a WGA award for Best Drama Written Directly for the Screen. The film itself was nominated for a Best English-Language Foreign Film Golden Globe and was nominated for one Academy Award for Best Original Dramatic Score (John Williams).

Altman followed that film with the acclaimed, re-fashioned film noir The Long Goodbye (1973) about a private detective (Elliott Gould) who gets involved in a complicated murder investigation after helping a friend flee the country for Mexico.

The next year, Altman directed two movies Thieves Like Us (1974) and California Split (1974). A re-imagined, depression-era caper movie, Thieves Like Us tells story of two men (Keith Carradine and John Schuck) who, after escaping from prison, go back to robbing banks with the help of a new accomplice (Bert Remsen). The National Board of Review selected the movie as one of the Top Ten Films of 1974.

California Split (1974) was a buddy comedy about two gamblers (Elliott Gould and George Segal) who get involved in increasingly dark misadventures as they win and lose large amounts of money together.

Altman’s next movie Nashville (1975) is considered by many as his masterpiece.It is a dark satirical comedy, which skews the American way of life and its obsessions with fame and commercialism. Shot under 45 days, the film follows multiple storylines featuring various people involved in the country music industry and a political fundraiser. Altman received his second Best Director Oscar nomination for the movie. He was also nominated for a Best Director Golden Globe. The film itself was nominated for five Oscars, including Best Picture and Supporting Actresses (Ronee Blakley & Lily Tomlin) and winning for Best Original Song (I’m Easy). The movie was also nominated for eleven Golden Globes and won for Best Original Song. The film’s other Golden Globe nominations were for Best Motion Picture Drama, Supporting Actor (Henry Gibson), Supporting Actresses (Blakley, Tomlin, Geraldine Chaplin and Barbara Harris), Screenplay and Acting Debuts (Blakley and Tomlin). In addition, the movie was nominated for a WGA Award for Best Drama Written Directly for the Screen and for five Best Actress British Academy of Film and Television Arts (BAFTA) Film Awards.

Altman followed the success of Nashville with the satirical, comedic, revisionist western Buffalo Bill and the Indians, or Sitting Bull’s History Lesson (1976) which was poorly received by both critics and audiences. The movie’s story focuses on a fictional account of Buffalo Bill (Paul Newman)’s attempt to enlist Sitting Bull (Frank Kaquitts) to participate in Bill’s Wild West Show, which features negative portrayals of Indigenous Americans. Despite the film’s largely negative reception, the movie won the Golden Bear at the 26th Berlin International Film Festival.

Altman next directed the surrealistic psychological study 3 Women (1977) about two very different physical therapists (Shelley Duvall and Sissy Spacek) who become obsessive friends and roommates in an apartment building owned by an enigmatic pregnant woman (Janice Rule) and her drunken husband. The movie was praised by critics, but did not do well at the box office. Altman was nominated for a Palme d’Or at the Cannes Film Festival and Duvall took home the Best Actress Prize. Duvall was also nominated for a Best Actress British BAFTA Film Award and was awarded Best Actress by the Los Angeles Film Critics Association. Sissy Spacek took home the New York Film Critics Circle Awards Best Supporting Actress award for the movie.

Altman returned to the style of filmmaking he was most famous for in the satirical black comedy A Wedding (1978) with multiple storylines and a large ensemble cast. The story takes place over a single day during the wedding between a young bride (Amy Stryker) from a nouveau riche Kentucky family and the young groom (Desi Arnaz Jr.) from a wealthy Chicago family with suspected ties to the mafia. Altman was nominated for two BAFTA Film Awards for Best Director and Screenplay (sharing the latter nomination with John Considine, Patricia Resnick and Allan F. Nicholls). They also received a WGA nomination for Best Comedy Written Directly for the Screen. In addition, Altman was nominated for France’s César Award for Best Foreign Film. Carol Burnett received a Best Supporting Actress Golden Globes nomination for playing the bride’s mother. The movie marked Lillian Gish’s 100^th film.

Altman ended the decade with two very different movies: the dystopian science fiction film Quintet (1979) and the romantic comedy A Perfect Couple (1979). The negatively reviewed, box office flop Quintet presented a futuristic, post-apocalyptic vision of the earth during a new ice age where a group of surviving humans is playing a deadly version of a game called ‘Quintet.’

A Perfect Couple was also negatively received by both audiences and critics. The centers on an older, repressed man (Paul Dooley) who is romancing a younger, bohemian musician (Marta Heflin).

Altman worked directing both theatre and motion picture productions in the 1980s. His film work during this decade began with two big budget disasters: the satirical comedy HealtH (1980) and the musical Popeye (1980) with Robin Williams. Later films during this decade included filmed treatments of theatrical productions such as Come Back to the 5 & Dime Jimmy Dean, Jimmy Dean (1982) with Cher, Sandy Dennis and Karen Black, Streamers (1983) with Matthew Modine, Michael Wright and David Alan Grier, and Fool for Love (1985) with Sam Shepard, Kim Basinger, and Harry Dean Stanton. Altman was nominated for his fourth Palme d’Or for Fool for Love.

In the 1990s to the early 2000s, Altman’s filmmaking career had a revival due in particular to three critically acclaimed films: The Player (1992), Short Cuts (1993) and Gosford Park (2001). Altman received Best Director Oscar nominations for all three movies. For The Player, Altman also won a BAFTA for Best Director and was awarded the Best Director prize at the Cannes Film Festival. He was also nominated for a DGA Award and a Golden Globe for Best Director. For Short Cuts, he received a Best Screenplay Golden Globes nomination and won the Film Independent Spirit Award for Best Director. Finally for Gosford Park, he won the Best Director Golden Globe and was nominated for a David Lean Award for Direction at the BAFTAs. Julian Fellowes won the Oscar for Best Original Screenplay for Gosford Park.

Altman’s last film was A Prairie Home Companion (2006) with Lily Tomlin, Meryl Streep and Woody Harrelson.

In his personal life, Altman was married three times and had five children. Robert Altman died on November 20, 2006, at the age of 81 from leukemia.

Altman’s influence on filmmaking continues to be recognized today with his films M*A*S*H (1970), McCabe & Mrs. Miller (1971), The Long Goodbye (1973) and Nashville (1975) being selected for preservation in the United States National Film Registry by the Library of Congress as being “culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant.” The Film Independent’s Robert Altman Award has been awarded to the ensemble cast, director and casting director of independent films since 2009.

~Terry Gale

Influential Filmmakers of the 1970s: Alan J. Pakula

Alan J. Pakula was a prolific film director in the 1970s known for his dark conspiracy thrillers, including his “paranoia trilogy.” In particular, Pakula was interested in exploring man’s psyches when faced with fear. He also had a reputation for being an actor’s director who directed Jane Fonda, Jason Robards and Meryl Streep in Oscar winning performances. He also directed Liza Minnelli, Jane Alexander, Richard Farnsworth, Jill Clayburgh and Candice Bergen in Oscar nominated roles.

Pakula began his career working as an assistant to the head of the cartoon department at Warner Brothers. He later became an assistant producer at MGM before moving to Paramount Pictures. By the 1960s, Alan J. Pakula was a well-established film producer who was nominated for an Oscar for producing Best Picture nominee To Kill a Mockingbird (1962).

He made his directorial debut with The Sterile Cuckoo (1969), which was nominated for two Oscars for Best Actress (Liza Minnelli) and Best Original Song (Come Saturday Morning). Minnelli was also nominated for a Best Actress – Drama Golden Globe. The movie tells the story of a love affair between two inexperienced college freshmen, a neurotic young woman (Minnelli) and a reserved young man (Wendell Burton).

Pakula then directed the first of his three 1970s conspiracy thrillers Klute (1971). The movie was nominated for two Oscars with Jane Fonda winning her first Best Actress Oscar. The film was also nominated for a Best Adapted Screenplay Oscar. Fonda also won the Best Actress – Drama Golden Globe. In addition, the film was nominated for a Best Screenplay Golden Globe. Klute was also nominated for a Writers Guild of America Award for Best Drama Written Directly for the Screen. The film’s story focuses on a private detective (Donald Sutherland) who is investigating a missing person case and becomes involved with a high-priced prostitute (Fonda) being stalked by a killer.

Pakula next directed a romantic dramady Love and Pain and the Whole Damn Thing (1973). The movie follows the story of a young American (Timothy Bottoms) on a bicycle tour of Europe who meets and falls in love with an older English woman (Maggie Smith).

He followed this movie with directing the second of his conspiracy thrillers The Parallax View (1974). The film was nominated for a Writers Guild of America Award for Best Drama Adapted from Another Medium. The film is about a news reporter (Warren Beatty) who is investigating a conspiracy connected to the assassination of a senator and the shady dealings of a multinational corporation.

Pakula received his only Best Director Oscar nomination for his next project, which was the third of his 1970s conspiracy thrillers All the President’s Men (1976). He also received a Directors Guild of America and a Best Director Golden Globe nomination for the movie. The film was a commercial and critical success. It was nominated for a total of eight Academy Awards, including Best Picture, Supporting Actress (Jane Alexander) and Film Editing. It won four Oscars for Best Supporting Actor (Jason Robards), Adapted Screenplay, Art Direction and Sound. The movie also received a Writers Guild of America nomination for Best Drama Adapted from Another Medium. In addition, it received four Golden Globe nominations, including Best Picture, Supporting Actor (Robards) and Screenplay. Based on a best-selling novel, the movie tells the true story of investigative journalists Carl Bernstein (Dustin Hoffman) and Bob Woodward (Robert Redford) as they uncover the illegal activities surrounding the Watergate scandal, ending the presidency of Richard Nixon.

Pakula moved away from the thriller genre with his next film Comes a Horseman (1978). The movie is a western about a 1940’s struggling rancher woman (Jane Fonda) who refuses to sell her family’s land to a ruthless land owner (Jason Robards) buying up her neighbours’ properties in the quest for oil. The movie resulted in Richard Farnsworth receiving his first Oscar nomination (in this instance for Best Supporting Actor Oscar). Farnsworth was a former movie stunt man who transitioned in later life to a successful career as an acclaimed film actor.

Pakula’s last movie in the 1970s was the romantic comedy Starting Over (1979). The film was nominated for two Oscars with Jill Clayburgh receiving her second Best Actress Oscar nomination and Candice Bergen received her first Best Supporting Actress nomination. The movie was also nominated for four Golden Globes, including Best Actor – Comedy (Burt Reynolds), Best Actress – Comedy (Clayburgh), Best Supporting Actress (Bergan) and Best Original Song (Better Than Ever). In addition, the movie received a Writers Guild of America nomination for Best Comedy Adapted from Another Medium. The movie follows a newly separated man (Reynolds) as he tries to create a new life for himself while juggling relationships with an independent school teacher (Clayburgh) and his cheating songwriter wife (Bergan).

Pakula continued to direct motion pictures in the 1980s. His most notable achievement during this time period was Sophie’s Choice (1982), for which Pakula received his last Oscar nomination (in this instance for Best Adapted screenplay). The movie was nominated for a total of five Oscars with Meryl Streep receiving her first Best Actress Oscar for the movie.

In the 1990s, Pakula directed a number of notable films. These movies included the thrillers Presumed Innocent (1990) with Harrison Ford and Raul Julia, and The Pelican Brief (1993) with Julia Roberts and Denzel Washington. Pakula’s last movie was The Devil’s Own (1997) with Harrison Ford and Brad Pitt.

In his personal life, Pakula was married twice. His first marriage was to actress Hope Lange who was nominated for a Best Supporting Actress Oscar for Peyton Place (1958). She was best known for her two-time Emmy winning Best Actress in a Comedy role in The Ghost & Mrs. Muir (1968-1970), which was highly popular in syndication.

Alan J. Pakula died on November 19, 1998 at age 70 following a freak motor vehicle accident. Another car struck a metal pipe on the roadway sending the pipe through Pakula’s windshield and hitting him in the head. He then smashed his car into a fence. Upon arrival at the hospital, Pakula was pronounced dead.

Pakula’s influence on the filmmaking continues to be recognized today with his films All the President’s Men and To Kill a Mockingbird both being selected for preservation in the United States National Film Registry by the Library of Congress as being “culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant.”

~Terry Gale

Influential Filmmakers of the 1970s: Hal Ashby

Hal Ashby had a strong presence as a film director in the 1970s. In particular, Ashby was noted for his quirky, off-beat, anti-establishment, counterculture films, which elicited strong performances from his actors. He directed Lee Grant, Jon Voight, Jane Fonda and Melvyn Douglas in Oscar winning performances. He also directed Jack Nicholson, Randy Quaid, Jack Warden and Peter Sellers in Oscar nominated roles.

_{Hal Ashby directing Bound for Glory (1976)}

Ashby is recognized as being part of the New Hollywood wave of filmmaking. This era in American cinema is also known as American New Wave or the Hollywood Renaissance. It is recognized as a time when a new generation of young, edgy, independent filmmakers dominated the film industry from the mid-1960s to early 1980s.

In the 1960s, Hal Ashby was a well-established film editor who won the Best Film Editing Oscar for In the Heat of the Night (1967). He made his directorial debut with The Landlord (1970), which earned Lee Grant both Oscar and Golden Globe nominations for Best Supporting Actress. The movie is a social satire about a wealthy young man (Beau Bridges) who purchases a run-down Brooklyn tenement.

Ashby’s next film was the cult classic Harold and Maude (1971), which was nominated for two Golden Globes and one BAFTA film award. The movie is a black comedy about a wealthy young man (Bud Cort) obsessed with death who falls in love with an eccentric, outgoing older woman (Ruth Gordon) who changes his life.

He followed this up with The Last Detail (1973) for which he was nominated for Palme d’Or. The film was nominated for three Oscars, two Golden Globes and four BAFTA film awards (winning two for Best Actor and Screenplay). The film is a social comedy about the adventures of two navy sailors (Jack Nicholson and Otis Young) who decide to show a younger recruit (Randy Quaid) a good time before escorting him to a military prison.

His next movie Shampoo (1975) is a social satire about a promiscuous hairstylist (Warren Beatty) as he juggles multiple relationships with his female clients on the eve of the 1968 American elections. The film was nominated for four Oscars, five Golden Globes and one BAFTA film award. Lee Grant won the Best Supporting Actress Oscar for her role in the film.

Ashby’s next project was Bound for Glory (1976), the biographical tale of travelling folk singer Woody Guthrie (David Carradine) for which Ashby was nominated for his second Palme d’Or. The movie received six Oscar nominations, including Best Picture, and four Golden Globe nominations. It won two Oscars for Best Cinematography (Haskell Wexler) and Best Music, Original Song Score and Its Adaptation or Best Adaptation Score (Leonard Rosenman).

Hal Ashby received is first (and only) Oscar nomination for Best Director for his next film Coming Home (1978). Ashby also received his third Ashby Palme d’Or nomination for the film. The movie is an anti-Vietnam War drama that tells the story of a love affair between the wife (Jane Fonda) of a serving marine (Bruce Dern) and a disabled veteran (Jon Voight). The movie was nominated for eight Oscars, including Best Picture, and won for Best Actor (Voight), Actress (Fonda) and Original Screenplay (Nancy Dowd, Waldo Salt and Robert C. Jones). It was also nominated for six Golden Globes, winning Best Actor (Voight) and Best Actress (Fonda) in a Drama.

Following the critical and commercial success of Coming Home, Ashby was able to negotiate a deal with Lorimar and established his own film production company Northstar.

Ashby received his fourth Palme d’Or nomination for his last film in the 1970s Being There (1979), a satirical comedy about a simplistic and naïve gardener (Peter Sellers) who becomes the unlikely advisor to a wealthy Washington businessman and political insider (Melvyn Douglas). The movie was nominated for two Oscars, winning Best Supporting Actor (Douglas). It was also nominated for six BAFTA film awards, winning Best Screenplay (Jerzy Kosinski), and six Golden Globes, winning Best Actor in a Comedy or Musical (Sellers) and Best Supporting Actor (Douglas).

Despite an auspicious career as a movie director in the 1970s, Hal Ashby’s career began to swiftly decline in the 1980s. Following Being There, Ashby was reputed to become more and more reclusive. Rumors also began to circulate about a drug addiction. In addition, Ashby began to have frequent clashes with studio executives during the production of his next films Second-Hand Hearts (1981) and Lookin’ to Get Out (1982), which culminated in his removal from directing Tootsie (1982). Ashby was also fired after producing a 20-minute rough cut of Neil Simon’s The Slugger’s Wife (1985), which went on to become both a commercial and critical flop. In addition, Ashby was let go on the final day of principal photography from his last film 8 Million Ways to Die (1986). As a result, Ashby became largely unemployable as a film director.

Diagnosed with pancreatic cancer, Hal Ashby died on December 27, 1988 at the age of 59.

His influence on the films of the 1970s remains strong even today with his films Harold and Maude and Being There both being selected for preservation in the United States National Film Registry by the Library of Congress as being “culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant.”

~Terry Gale

Best Reviewed Movies of 2012

According to Rotten Tomatoes, here are the top 100 best critic reviewed movies of 2012:

1.	This Is Not a Film (2012)
2.	How to Survive a Plague (2012)
3.	The Invisible War (2012)
4.	Planet of Snail (2012)
5.	The Waiting Room (2012)
6.	Beware Of Mr. Baker (2012)
7.	Wild Bill (2012)
8.	Finding Nemo 3D (2012)
9.	Jiro Dreams of Sushi (2012)
10.	Oslo, August 31st (2012)
11.	Brooklyn Castle (2012)
12	The Island President (2012)
13.	Monsieur Lazhar (2012)
14.	Chasing Ice (2012)
15.	The Loved Ones (2012)
16	Paul Williams Still Alive (2012)
17.	Argo (2012)
18.	Monsters, Inc. 3D (2012)
19	The Imposter (2012)
20.	Ai Weiwei: Never Sorry (2012)
21.	Sister (2012)
22.	West of Memphis (2012)
23	Yellow Submarine (2012)
24.	Mea Maxima Culpa: Silence In The House Of God (2012)
25.	Sleepless Night (2012)
26.	Something from Nothing: The Art of Rap (2012)
27.	Searching for Sugar Man (2012)
28.	The Queen of Versailles (2012)
29.	Marley (2012)
30.	Diana Vreeland: The Eye Has To Travel (2012)
31.	The Central Park Five (2012)
32.	Marina Abramovic: The Artist Is Present (2012)
33.	The Angels’ Share (2012)
34.	Bonsái (2012)
35.	Looper (2012)
36.	Moonrise Kingdom (2012)
37.	The Secret World of Arrietty (2012)
38.	Zero Dark Thirty (2012)
39.	The House I Live In (2012)
40.	Side by Side (2012)
41.	5 Broken Cameras (2012)
42.	The Sessions (2012)
43.	Farewell, My Queen (2012)
44.	The Sapphires (2012)
45.	Elena (2012)
46.	Barbara (2012)
47.	Turn Me On, Dammit! (2012)
48.	Shadow Dancer (2012)
49.	Last Ride (2012)
50.	Marvel’s The Avengers (2012)
51.	Skyfall (2012)
52.	Bernie (2012)
53.	Amour (2012)
54.	Headhunters (2012)
55.	I Wish (2012)
56.	The Fairy (2012)
57.	Starlet (2012)
58.	Girl Model (2012)
59.	Indie Game: The Movie (2012)
60.	Beauty Is Embarrassing (2012)
61.	Crossfire Hurricane (2012)
62.	A Simple Life (2012)
63.	The Cabin in the Woods (2012)
64.	Lincoln (2012)
65.	Silver Linings Playbook (2012)
66.	Safety Not Guaranteed (2012)
67.	Holy Motors (2012)
68.	In Darkness (2012)
69.	The Well Digger’s Daughter (2012)
70.	The Hunt (Jagten) (2012)
71.	The Green Wave (2012)
72.	Gayby (2012)
73.	Somewhere Between (2012)
74.	Life of Pi (2012)
75.	Frankenweenie (2012)
76.	Compliance (2012)
77.	A Royal Affair (2012)
78.	Neil Young Journeys (2012)
79.	Django Unchained (2012)
80.	Wreck-it Ralph (2012)
81.	Robot & Frank (2012)
82.	The Big Picture (2012)
83.	Sightseers (2012)
84.	Head Games (2012)
85.	Pink Ribbons, Inc. (2012)
86.	Tabu (2012)
87.	The Other Dream Team (2012)
88.	Portrait of Wally (2012)
89.	Carol Channing: Larger Than Life (2012)
90.	Ballplayer: Pelotero (2012)
91.	The Dark Knight Rises (2012)
92.	Boy (2012)
93.	The Turin Horse (2012)
94.	Shut Up and Play the Hits (2012)
95.	Beasts of the Southern Wild (2012)
96.	Chronicle (2012)
97.	ParaNorman (2012)
98.	The Pirates! Band of Misfits (2012)
99.	Bully (2012)
100.	Sleepwalk With Me (2012)

My 2012 Oscar Nomination Predictions

The Academy of Motion Picture Sciences will announce their nominations for the 2012 Academy Awards on Thursday, January 10, 2013.

Here are my 2012 Oscar nomination predictions (in order of probability) along with the actual nominations in blue:

Best Picture

Predicted Nominations:

Argo
Zero Dark Thirty
Lincoln
Silver Linings Playbook
Les Misérables

If Six Nominations:

Life of Pi

If Seven Nominations:

Django Unchained

If Eight Nominations:

Moonrise Kingdom

If Nine Nominations:

Beasts of the Southern Wild

If Ten Nominations:

The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel

Other Possible Contenders:

The Master
Amour
The Dark Knight Rises
Skyfall

Other Note-Worthy Films:

The Sessions
Flight
The Impossible
The Perks of Being a Wallflower
Hitchcock
Promised Land
The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey
Salmon Fishing in the Yemen
The Hunger Games

Best Director

Predicted Nominations:

Ben Affleck, Argo
Kathryn Bigelow, Zero Dark Thirty
Steven Spielberg, Lincoln
David O. Russell, Silver Linings Playbook
Ang Lee, Life of Pi

Other Possible Contenders:

Tom Hooper, Les Misérables
Michael Haneke, Amour
Quentin Tarantino, Django Unchained
Paul Thomas Anderson, The Master
Wes Anderson, Moonrise Kingdom

Other Note-Worthy Directors:

Benh Zeitlin, Beasts of the Southern Wild
Ben Lewin, The Sessions
Sam Mendes, Skyfall
Christopher Nolan, The Dark Knight Rises
Gus Vant Sant, Promised Land
Robert Zemeckis, Flight
Peter Jackson, The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey
John Madden, The Exotic Marigold Hotel
Lasse Hallström, Salmon Fishing in the Yemen
Joe Wright, Anna Karenina
Juan Antonio Bavona, The Impossible
Sacha Gervasi, Hitchcock

Best Actor

Predicted Nominations:

Daniel Day-Lewis, Lincoln
John Hawkes, The Sessions
Denzel Washington, Flight
Bradley Cooper, Silver Linings Playbook
Hugh Jackman, Les Misérables

Other Possible Contenders:

Joaquin Phoenix, The Master
Richard Gere, Arbitrage
Denis Lavant, Holy Motors
Anthony Hopkins, Hitchcock

Other Note-Worthy Performances:

Jean-Louis Trintignant, Amour
Jamie Foxx, Django Unchained
Ben Affleck, Argo
Daniel Craig, Skyfall
Matthew McConaughey, Killer Joe
Suraj Sharma, Life of Pi
Matt Damon, Promised Land
Bill Murray, Hyde Park on Hudson
Christian Bale, The Dark Knight Rises
Jack Black, Bernie
Ewan McGregor, Salmon Fishing in the Yemen & The Impossible
Jake Gyllenhaal, End of Watch

Best Actress

Predicted Nominations:

Jessica Chastain, Zero Dark Thirty
Jennifer Lawrence, Silver Linings Playbook
Marion Cotillard, Rust and Bone
Naomi Watts, The Impossible
Helen Mirren, Hitchcock

Other Possible Contenders:

Emmanuelle Riva, Amour
Rachel Weisz, The Deep Blue Sea
Quvenzhane Wallis, Beasts of the Southern Wild

Other Note-Worthy Performances:

Keira Knightley, Anna Karenina
Laura Linney, Hyde Park on Hudson
Deanie Yip, A Simple Life
Judi Dench, The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel
Maggie Smith, Quartet
Mary Elizabeth Winstead, Smashed
Meryl Streep, Hope Springs
Emily Blunt, Salmon Fishing in the Yemen
Emayatzy Corinealdi, Middle of Nowhere

Best Supporting Actor

Predicted Nominations:

Alan Arkin, Argo
Philip Seymour Hoffman, The Master
Tommy Lee Jones, Lincoln
Javier Bardem, Skyfall
Robert DeNiro, Silver Linings Playbook

Other Possible Contenders:

Christoph Waltz, Django Unchained
Leonardo DiCaprio, Django Unchained
William H. Macy, The Sessions
Matthew McConaughey, Magic Mike

Other Note-Worthy Performances:

Samuel L. Jackson, Django Unchained
Jason Clarke, Zero Dark Thirty
Dwight Henry, Beasts of the Southern Wild
Ezra Miller, The Perks of Being a Wallflower
Eddie Redmayne, Les Misérables
John Goodman, Flight or Argo
Hal Holbrook, Promised Land
Russell Crowe, Les Misérables

Best Supporting Actress

Predicted Nominations:

Sally Field, Lincoln
Anne Hathaway, Les Misérables
Helen Hunt, The Sessions
Amy Adams, The Master
Maggie Smith, The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel

Other Possible Contenders:

Nicole Kidman, The Paperboy
Ann Dowd, Compliance
Samantha Barks, Les Misérables
Judi Dench, Skyfall

Other Note-Worthy Performances:

Jennifer Ehle, Zero Dark Thirty
Emma Watson, The Perks of Being a Wallflower
Pauline Collins, Quartet
Kelly Reilly, Flight
Kerry Washington, Django Unchained
Helena Bonham Carter, Les Misérables
Frances McDormand, Promised Land
Jacki Weaver, Silver Linings Playbook

Best Adapted Screenplay

Predicted Nominations:

Chris Terrio, Argo
Tony Kushner, Lincoln
David O. Russell, Silver Linings Playbook
David Magee, Life of Pi
Stephen Chbosky, The Perks of Being a Wallflower

Other Possible Contenders:

Lucy Alibar & Ben Zeitlin, Beasts of the Southern Wild
Ben Lewin, The Sessions
Ol Parker, The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel
William Nicholson, Les Miserables

Other Note-Worthy Adapted Screenplays:

Tom Stoppard, Anna Karenina
Jose Rivera, On The Road
Jacques Audiard & Thomas Bidegain, Rust and Bone
Christopher & Jonathan Nolan, The Dark Knight Rises
Judd Apatow, This is 40
John Logan, Patrick Marber, Neal Purvis & Robert Wade, Skyfall
John J. McLaughlin, Hitchcock
Simon Beaufoy, Salmon Fishing in the Yemen
Ronald Harwood, Quartet

Best Original Screenplay

Predicted Nominations:

Mark Boal, Zero Dark Thirty
Quentin Tarantino, Django Unchained
Paul Thomas Anderson, The Master
Wes Anderson & Roman Coppola, Moonrise Kingdom
Rian Johnson, Looper

Other Possible Contenders:

Michael Haneke, Amour
John Gatins, Flight
Olivier Nakache & Eric Toledano, The Intouchables
Ava DuVernay, Middle of Nowhere
Reid Carolin, Magic Mike

Other Note-Worthy Original Screenplays:

Martin McDonagh, Seven Psychopaths
Matt Damon & John Krasinski, Promised Land
Sergio G. Sanchez, The Impossible
Dan Fogelman, The Guilt Trip
Sarah Polley, Take This Waltz
Joss Whedon & Drew Goddard, The Cabin in the Woods

Best Animated Feature

Predicted Nominations:

Brave
Frankenweenie
ParaNorman
Wreck-It Ralph
Rise of the Guardians

Other Possible Contenders:

Madagascar 3: Europe’s Most Wanted
The Painting (Le Tableau)
From Up on Poppy Hill
The Rabbi’s Cat
Hotel Transylvania
A Liar’s Autobiography – The Untrue Story of Monty Python’s Graham Chapman

Other Note-Worthy Animated Films:

Dr. Seuss’ The Lorax
The Pirates! Band of Misfits
Zarafa
Ice Age: Continental Drift

Best Foreign Language Film

Predicted Nominations:

Amour
The Intouchables
A Royal Affair
Kon-Tiki
No

Other Possible Contenders:

War Witch
Sister
The Deep
Beyond the Hills

Other Note-Worthy Foreign Films:

Rust and Bone
I Wish
The Kid with a Bike
Once Upon A Time in Anatolia
Holy Motors
Tabu
The Loneliest Planet
The Turin Horse
Oslo, August 31st
Lore
Our Children
Barbara

Best Documentary Feature

Predicted Nominations:

Searching for Sugar Man
The Gatekeepers
How to Survive a Plague
The Invisible War
This is Not a Film

Other Possible Contenders:

The Imposter
Detropia
The Waiting Room
Bully
Mea Maxima Culpa: Silence in the House of God
Ai Weiwei: Never Sorry
The House I Live In
Chasing Ice
Ethel
5 Broken Cameras

Other Note-Worthy Documentaries:

The Queen of Versailles
The Central Park Five
Samsara
West of Memphis

Best Original Song

Predicted Nominations:

Skyfall, Skyfall
Suddenly, Les Misérables
Learn Me Right, Brave
From Here to the Moon and Back, Joyful Noise
Abraham’s Daughter, The Hunger Games

Other Possible Contenders:

Still Alive, Paul Williams Still Alive
For You, Act of Valor
Not Running Anymore, Stand Up Guys
Touch the Sky, Brave
Ancora Qui, Django Unchained

Other Note-Worthy Songs:

Safe & Sound, The Hunger Games
Dull Tool, This is 40
Breath of Life, Snow White and the Huntman
Strange Love, Frankenweenie
When Can I See You Again, Wreck-It Ralph
Still Dream, Rise of the Guardians

American Film Institute’s Top 10 Movies and Television Shows of 2012

Yesterday, the American Film Institute announced their selections for the top 10 movies and television shows of 2010.

The complete list of this year’s selections can be found below.

AFI Movies of the Year
Argo
Beasts of the Southern Wild
The Dark Knight Rises
Django Unchained
Les Miserables
Life of Pi
Lincoln
Moonrise Kingdom
Silver Linings Playbook
Zero Dark Thirty

AFI TV Programs of the Year
American Horror Story
Breaking Bad
Game Change
Game of Thrones
Girls
Homeland
Louie
Mad Men
Modern Family
The Walking Dead

Countdown to the 100 Best Scary Movies of All-Time (90 to 86)

90.

The Texas Chainsaw Massacre (1974)

The Texas Chainsaw Massacre is a film I found extremely disturbing when I first saw a re-release of the movie, due to its graphic violence and horrific themes. Directed by Tobe Hopper (Poltergeist) and starring Marilyn Burns, the film claims to be based on a true story (to add to the terror) though it is a work of fiction. A group of friends are travelling by van in the countryside to visit a family grave and old homestead when they fall victim to a family of cannibals living in a creepy, dilapidated rural home. Upon release, the movie received mixed reviews and controversy, being banned in a number of countries and theatres due to its graphic violence. Made on a budget of $300,000, the movie became a successful cult classic, grossing about 30 million worldwide, and is credited for influencing many slasher horror films that followed it. I am not a fan of the 2003 remake that grossed over 100 million worldwide.

89.

Burnt Offerings (1976)

Filmed at the famed Dunsmuir House in California, Burnt Offerings is a haunted house story directed by Dan Curtis (Dark Shadows) and featuring a strong cast including Karen Black (Trilogy of Terror), Oliver Reed (The Devils), Bette Davis (What Ever Happened to Baby Jane?), Burgess Meredith and Eileen Heckart. A family takes over the care taking of a large mansion for an elderly brother and sister only to experience strange supernatural going-ons. The house seems to be rejuvenating itself with each injury and death that occurs. The movie features strong performances from the cast and a suitably foreboding atmosphere, as the suspense of the film builds towards its creepy climax. Though this movie received mostly negative reviews from the critics, it is worth a look for fans of scary movies. The film did go on to win three Saturn Awards in 1977: Best Horror Film, Best Director and Best Supporting Actress (Davis).

88.

Dawn of the Dead (1978) & Dawn of the Dead (2004)

Written and directed by George A. Romero (Night of the Living Dead) is the second of Romero’s zombie apocalyptic movies. A worldwide pandemic, where the dead are brought back to life as flesh eating zombie creatures, has spread to a town where survivors barricade themselves in the local shopping mall to survive. The movie skillfully combines humour with the horror, as the zombies are mindlessly drawn to the mall and the terror mounts. Most reviews for the film were positive. Made for around $600,000, the movie went on to gross 55 million worldwide, making if the most success of Romero’s zombie films. Equally good is the 2004 remake directed by Zack Synder (300) and featuring Sarah Polley (Splice), Ving Rhames (Mission Impossible III) and Jake Weber (Medium). With strong performances, great characters, heart pounding action and strong reviews, the movie went on to gross over 100 million at the box office.

87.

Black Christmas (1974)

Before Halloween, there was this low budget Canadian slasher movie directed by Bob Clark (A Christmas Story). The movie features Olivia Hussey (Death on the Nile), Keir Dullea (2001: A Space Odyssey), Margot Kidder (The Amityville Horror), Andrea Martin (SCTV) and John Saxon (A Nightmare on Elm Street). As Christmas approaches, a mostly vacated sorority house is threatened by creepy obscene phone calls culminating in the remaining young women being stalked and killed by a crazed killer. The movie is both campy and frightening, containing strong performances, in particular by Hussey (as the terrified lead) and Kidder (who is hilarious as a foul mouthed drunk). The film has since gone on to become a cult classic and the inspiration for other slasher films that followed like Halloween and Friday the 13th. In the United States, it was released as Silent Night, Evil Night. Do not bother with the awful 2006 remake.

86.

The Stepford Wives (1975)

During the height of the feminist movement, Ira Levin (Rosemary’s Baby) wrote a best-selling novel which was adapted into a screenplay by William Goldman (Marathon Man) and made into this suspenseful thriller directed by Bryan Frobes and featuring Katharine Ross (The Legacy), Paul Prentiss (The Parallax View) and Tina Louise. A young mother (Ross) moves from New York with her husband and two children to a small, idyllic town where the women are all the epitome of the perfect wife, mother and homemaker. As Ross’ character slowly begins to uncover the mystery behind the town’s beautiful facade, she learns that something more sinister is at play here. The movie is effective due to the strong performances and building suspense with Ross’ character racing against time as her very existence is a stake. Though only a moderate success when it was released, the movie has gone on to become a cult classic. Note: The 2004 comedy remake directed by Frank Oz and featuring Nicole Kidman, Bette Midler and Glenn Close is terrible.

Countdown to the 100 Best Scary Movies of All-Time (95 to 91)

95.

Below (2002)

A different take on the haunted house story, this movie, directed by David Twohy (Pitch Black), takes place aboard a haunted submarine during World War II. The movie features Bruce Greenwood (The River), Scott Foley (True Blood), Zach Galifianakis (The Hangover) and Olivia Williams (The Sixth Sense) among the ensemble cast. The crew of the submarine begin to be plagued by increasingly strange occurrences (including deaths) after they pick up the survivors of a downed British hospital ship. As the mystery behind the hauntings is slowly revealed, the film takes the audience on a suspenseful and frightening ride, leading up to an exciting conclusion. This underrated film is worth a look.

94.

The Mist (2007)

A frightening and compelling adaptation of the Stephen King novella written and directed by Frank Darabont (The Shawshank Redemption). The film features a strong ensemble cast that includes Thomas Jane (Hung), Laurie Holden (The Walking Dead) and Marcia Gay Harden (Mystic River). After a severe storm, some of the inhabitants of a small town in Maine are gathered at the local market picking up supplies when a strange mist settles upon the town. The towns people begin to be become aware that something frightening is lurking out in the dense fog. As the tension and suspense builds, the film takes on a Lord of the Flies like feeling with the trapped townspeople coming into conflict with each other, as they strive to keep order and keep the monsters out. The director revised the ending of the film, making it much more disturbing than Stephen King’s original ending. The Mist performed well at the box office and received mostly positive reviews.

93.

Brotherhood of the Wolf (2001) & The Company of Wolves (1984) – tie

The next two films are both stylish and well-crafted monster fables. Brotherhood of the Wolf is a 2001 french thriller set in the 18th century. The film is loosely based on the legend of the Beast of Gevaudan–a creature believed to be responsible for a series of brutal killings in the french countryside. Directed by Christophe Gans (Silent Hill), the movie is a highly watchable treat with its alluring imagery and thrilling action sequences. A huge international success, the movie took in over 70 million at the box office. The Company of Wolves is directed by Neil Jordan (Interview with the Vampire) and is a modern re-telling of the Red Riding Hood fairy tale. The movie features Angela Lansbury (Murder She Wrote), Stephen Rea (Underworld: Awakening) and David Warner (Titanic). A visually creative film, the movie tells the story of a teenage girl who dreams she lives in a fairy tale world. Here, she becomes aware of her budding sexuality, as she encounters strange and dangerous werewolf-like creatures on her way to her grandmother’s house. The movie was not a big success when it was released, but has become a cult classic.

92.

The Cell (2000)

The Cell is an exciting, edge of your seat thriller directed by Tarsem Singh (Immortals) and starring Jennifer Lopez (Anaconda), Vince Vaughn (Psycho) and Vincent D’Onofrio (Law and Order: Criminal Intent). The movie tells the story of a child psychologist who uses a device to get into the alternate reality of her autistic patients’ minds. During the movie, she is approached by the police to help save a missing woman kidnapped by a serial killer after he ends up in a coma. Entering the killer’s mind, the psychologist finds herself in a bizarre, nightmarish world where she has to outwit the killer and unravel the mystery to finding his latest intended victim before it is too late. A highlight of the film is its visually stunning and horrific imagery. The reviews for The Cell were mixed when it came out, but the film did well at the box office, grossing over 100 million.

91.

Dark Water (2002) & Dark Water (2005)

The original Dark Water is a scary Japanese ghost story directed by Hideo Nakata (Ringu). The movie is about a woman going through a divorce and her young daughter. The film begins with them moving into a creepy apartment building. Right from the first moment they arrive, strange and frightening occurrences take place, including encounters with a strange little girl in a yellow rain coat. Under the mounting pressure of fighting her domineering husband to retain custody of their daughter, the woman also has to try to maintain her sanity, as the supernatural events escalate and the mystery of the little girl in the yellow rain coat is revealed. Equally effective and creepy is the 2005 American remake directed by Walter Salles (The Motorcycle Diaries) and featuring Jennifer Connelly (A Beautiful Mind) and Tim Roth (The Incredible Hulk). The American version did well at the box office, grossing about 50 million.

100 Best Musicals of All-Time

I have always loved a good musical since I was a child. My mom collected movie musical soundtracks and I would like to sing along. Today, I still like to sing and I often find songs running through my head throughout the day.

Here are my favourite movie musicals of all-time:

The Wizard of Oz (1939)
Singin’ in the Rain (1952)
Cabaret (1972)
Moulin Rouge! (2001)
The Sound of Music (1965)
Chicago (2002)
An American in Paris (1951)
West Side Story (1961)
My Fair Lady (1964)
Funny Girl (1968)
A Star Is Born (1954)
Top Hat (1935)
Meet Me in St. Louis (1944)
Seven Brides for Seven Brothers (1954)
42nd Street (1933)
All That Jazz (1979)
Gigi (1958)
The King and I (1956)
The Band Wagon (1953)
Swing Time (1936)
Oliver! (1968)
The Music Man (1962)
On the Town (1949)
Mary Poppins (1964)
Yankee Doodle Dandy (1942)
South Pacific (1958)
White Christmas (1954)
Dreamgirls (2006)
Oklahoma! (1955)
Gypsy (1962)
Guys and Dolls (1955)
The Unsinkable Molly Brown (1964)
Funny Face (1957)
Shall We Dance (1937)
Wonder Man (1945)
The Rocky Horror Picture Show (1975)
The Umbrellas of Cherbourg (1964)
Gentlemen Prefer Blondes (1953)
Show Boat (1936)
Fiddler on the Roof (1971)
Brigadoon (1954)
State Fair (1945)
A Hard Day’s Night (1964)
Victor Victoria (1982)
High Society (1956)
The Gay Divorcee (1934)
Damn Yankees! (1958)
Jailhouse Rock (1957)
Fame (1980)
Anchors Aweigh (1945)
Gold Diggers of 1933 (1933)
Stormy Weather (1943)
Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street (2007)
Carousel (1956)
Pal Joey (1957)
Jesus Christ Superstar (1973)
Hair (1979)
Sweet Charity (1969)
Annie Get Your Gun (1950)
Show Boat (1951)
The Inspector General (1949)
Porgy and Bess (1959)
Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory (1971)
Hello, Dolly! (1969)
The Muppet Movie (1979)
Royal Wedding (1951)
Yentl (1983)
Mamma Mia! (2008)
Grease (1978)
Kiss Me Kate (1953)
Hairspray (2007)
It’s Always Fair Weather (1955)
Easter Parade (1948)
Hans Christian Andersen (1952)
Calamity Jane (1953)
Follow the Fleet (1936)
Babes in Arms (1939)
Carmen Jones (1954)
Rent (2005)
Hedwig and the Angry Inch (2001)
Chitty Chitty Bang Bang (1968)
Little Shop of Horrors (1986)
Bells Are Ringing (1960)
Anything Goes (1936)
Tommy (1975)
Evita (1996)
The Pajama Game (1957)
Jumbo (1962)
Thoroughly Modern Millie (1967)
How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying (1967)
A Chorus Line (1985)
Nine (2009)
Viva Las Vegas (1964)
Bye Bye Birdie (1963)
The Producers (2005)
Godspell (1973)
Words and Music (1948)
Babes in Toyland (1961)
Mame (1974)
Xanadu (1980)

Honourable Mention:

Doctor Dolittle (1967)
Camelot (1967)

An Actors’ Director, Meticulous Craftsman, Social Commentator

Beginnings

Films of the Early 1970s

Films of the Mid 1970s

Films of the Late 1970s

Later Years

Legacy

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