Category: Best Music

On the boat to a French Guianan prison, safecracker and accused murderer Steve McQueen offers protection to forger Dustin Hoffman in exchange for financial assistance toward his escape from jail. When Hoffman is threatened, McQueen is true to his word and the two develop an uneasy partnership through their long years of confinement together. I’ve generally been turned off by the hyper masculine, overly cool toughness in many of McQueen’s roles, but both his and Hoffman’s acting is incredible in this. It’s a bit long but the tale is quite riveting in the telling.

Oscar Nomination: Best Music, Original Dramatic Score

A sequel to the delightful 1995 film about the pig who learns to do the work of a sheepdog, here the farm is threatened after the farmer is injured while repairing a well pump, so the titular pig and the farmer’s wife set off together to a herding contest. The pair’s trip is waylaid when they are detained at the airport and they are forced instead to make their way in Metropolis. The charm and coziness of the original film are a bit lost here. Metropolis is a bizarre amalgam of all cities where the only hotel that accepts animals is housed by an orangutan, chimpanzees and a bevy of cats. It’s also much darker for what is ostensibly a family film. There are hangings, almost drownings, and dogs getting very close to the Rainbow Bridge. It’s very weird. 

Oscar Nomination: Best Music, Original Song

Once again Bob Hope and Bing Crosby are musicians forced from locale to locale because of girl trouble. After burning down a circus, they stowaway on a ship to Brazil where they meet Dolores del Rio who is being hypnotized by her guardian. Again much hijinks ensue, especially when the duo is joined by the non-English speaking (for the movie) Wiere Brothers. One highlight of the film is the Andrews Sisters joining Bing in a performance. I’m not sure if I prefer this to Road to Bali, though it has a more linear story, the technicolor does enhance the experience in the other film. Also in comparison, this has the boys battling each other in a duel, but the other has them getting married, so it probably wins. I’m not sure why Bing seems to win in the end. I guess crooners really were the cat’s meow back then.  

Oscar Nomination: Best Music, Scoring of a Musical Picture

Based on real events from World War Ii, this tells the story of a quartet of Jewish brothers who flee to the forests of Belarus after their parents are murdered by Nazis. From their new position, they gather a community of other refugees while vowing to avenge their parents’ deaths. It’s a new-to-me story told in an engaging, though perhaps stretching the truth, way. It doesn’t hurt that the brothers are portrayed by an appealing bunch of actors: Daniel Craig, Liev Schreiber, Jamie Bell, and George MacKay. 

Oscar Nomination: Best Achievement in Music Written for Motion Pictures, Original Score

In a small Caribbean village, betrothed Judy Garland dreams instead of marrying a legendary pirate. Gene Kelly arrives with his traveling circus and immediately falls in love with Judy, deciding to impersonate the pirate to win her affections. Having a rather dull story with an overtly soundstage location, it’s not my favorite musical by a long mark, but I do enjoy Kelly and Garland’s general chemistry together. It is hard to go wrong with including Gene Kelly dancing, especially when he’s joined by the Nicholas brothers. 

Oscar Nomination: Best Music, Scoring of a Musical Picture

After World War II, ex-Army comrades Bing Crosby and Danny Kaye team up and become successful theater producers. After they meet up with the sisters of an old-Army buddy, Vera-Ellen and Rosemary Clooney, the foursome travel from Florida to Vermont where they discover their old general trying to run a resort during an unusual winter heatwave. Set at a very similar looking inn, it’s somewhat of a companion piece to Holiday Inn. When the duo decide to host rehearsals at the resort to boost attendance, it offers the opportunity to present different renditions of the various songs from the earlier film. While it’s not one of my absolute favorite Christmas films, I watch it almost every year because the performers are really top notch and work well together. The fabulous VistaVision on the Diamond Edition DVD is gorgeous on my newer television. The colors look almost unreal.   

Oscar Nomination: Best Music, Original Song