Tag Archives: Midnight Cowboy

February 6, 2015 · 11:34 am

The Best Picture Project — Midnight Cowboy (1969)

Midnight Cowboy (1969)

Directed by John Schlesinger

Written by Waldo Salt, based upon the novel by James Leo Herlihy

Starring Jon Voight and Dustin Hoffman

Midnight Cowboy seems an unusual choice to win the Oscar – after all, until it’s win in 1969, no movie with any real, honest-to-goodness grit to it, save for maybe Marty, managed to snag the top prize. And those that did have a tinge of grit to it – or darkness, if you prefer another word – were about big, important things, e.g. The Best Years of Our Lives. In other words, if a dark movie, rooted in real life, wanted to win Best Picture, it had to go big and make epic statements about important topics (anti-Semitism, WWII), because, aside from that sweet little film about the lonely butcher – Marty – you couldn’t win.

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The Best Picture Project – Gentleman’s Agreement (1947)

Directed by Elia Kazan

Screenplay by Moss Hart, from the novel by Laura Z. Hobson

Starring Gregory Peck, Dorothy McGuire, John Garfield, Anne Revere and Celeste Holm

Throughout the long and winding road I’ve traveled for the Best Picture Project, I’ve learned more than a few things. Most prominent amongst those lessons, oh my brothers and only friends, is there is no predictability about the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. At least not in the traditional sense of predictability. Continue reading →

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Filed under The Best Picture Project

Tagged as A Man For All Season, All Quiet On The Western Front, An American in Paris, Anne Revere, around the world in 80 days, Black Like Me, Black Narcissus, Casablanca, Celeste Holm, Charlie Chaplin, Chasing Ice, Crash, Dorothy McGuire, Driving Miss Daisy, east of eden, Elia Kazan, Forrest Gump, From Here To Eternity, Gandhi, Going My Way, Gregory Peck, Henry Travers, Hoop Dreams, In the Heat of the Night, irving thalberg, John Garfield, Kramer Vs. Kramer, Laura Z. Hobson, marty, Midnight Cowboy, Monsieur Verdoux, Moss Hart, Mrs. Miniver, Old Yeller and Swiss Family Robinson, Oliver, On The Waterfront, ordinary people, Ray Milland, Richard Zanuck, sam spiegel, saul zaentz, Schindler’s List, The Archer’s, The Artist, The Best Years of Our Lives, The Deer Hunter, The Greatest Show on Earth, The Lost Weekend, The Red Balloon, To Kill A Mockingbird

January 9, 2012 · 11:29 am

The Best Picture Project – Driving Miss Daisy (1989)

Directed by Bruce Beresford

Screenplay by Alfred Uhry, based upon his play

Starring Jessica Tandy, Morgan Freeman, Esther Rolle and Dan Aykroyd

When The King’s Speech won Best Picture this past year at the Oscars, I was a bit beside myself over it, because I didn’t really fancy it as Best Picture. An enjoyable film? Sure. Best Picture? No.

In retrospect, though, it doesn’t make sense I would get upset about it, after all, the Academy has shown a history of honoring films just like The King’s Speech: solid, inoffensive films that are hardly loved, but more importantly, hardly hated. In other words, unlike Black Swan or The Social Network, which had a tendency to be divisive, The King’s Speech is least likely to offend voters and therefore, most likely to rise to the top. Continue reading →

Tag Archives: Midnight Cowboy

The Best Picture Project — Midnight Cowboy (1969)

The Best Picture Project – Gentleman’s Agreement (1947)

The Best Picture Project – Driving Miss Daisy (1989)

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