Category: Best Writing

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Detective Story (1951)

A surprisingly dark look at a day in a 1950s police precinct, Kirk Douglas leads the cast as an angry detective who has yet dealt with the psychological damage caused by his criminal father, seeing things and people as either all good or all bad. The cases start out fairly light, shoplifters and petty robberies, but the main story involving an illegal abortionist quickly brings the narrative and all those connected to it into a downward spiral of destruction. The acting is solid, but everyone is overshadowed by the brutish nature of Douglas’s character.  Noir

Oscar Nominations: Best Actress in a Leading Role; Best Actress in a Supporting Role; Best Director; Best Writing, Screenplay

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I Never Promised You a Rose Garden (1977)

A young woman who suffers from delusions winds up in a mental institution after a suicide attempt. The film feels realistic, though I’m not sure how accurate it is toward her particular illness or mental hospitals. I found the depictions of her fantasy world particularly effective. Kathleen Quinlan as the woman gives an impressive performance, conveying so many of the emotions from hopelessness to anger to despair. Now that I’ve seen many of her earlier films, I enjoy seeing Sylvia Sidney’s gravelly voiced old broad roles which are a stark comparison to her big eyed, soft faced love interest of the 1930s.

Oscar Nomination: Best Writing, Screenplay Based on Material from Another Medium

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…And Justice for All (1979)

A horrifyingly cynical view of the criminal justice system, Al Pacino is a criminal defense lawyer fighting to hold on to his personal ethics and sanity while entrenched in a corrupt system. He has to deal with incompetent lawyers, unstable lawyers, unstable judges, and corrupt judges. The film is somewhat episodic in portraying this bevy of characters, but Pacino brings it all together and delivers, particularly with the infamous line: “You’re out of order! You’re out of order! The whole trial is out of order! They’re out of order!”

Oscar Nomination: Best Actor in a Leading Role; Best Writing, Screenplay Written Directly for the Screen

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Enemies, a Love Story (1989)

Ron Silver is a Holocaust survivor, immigrated to post-war New York and trying to balance the three women in his life. These women (his thought to have died in the war first wife, his second wife who saved his life during the war, and his girlfriend who is also a survivor) epitomize the three distinct periods in his life and his unsuccessful attempts to reconcile them into his current self. I’m not sure how I felt about the movie itself, it’s a bit repetitious and unsure of where it wants go. I do know that the performance I thought was the strongest was the one female that was not Oscar nominated, Margaret Sophie Stein as Silver’s dedicated former maid/current wife.

Oscar Nominations: Best Actress in a Supporting Role (2); Best Writing, Screenplay Based on Material from Another Medium

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The Dresser (1983)

There is a very stagey quality to this film about an aging travelling Shakespearean actor and his dresser during World War II. Albert Finney as the actor and Tom Courtenay as the dresser put their all into their performances and it’s often exhausting to watch. It remains riveting as these two men clash and spar, both entirely dependent on each other while also wanting to push the other away.   Best Picture Nomination

Oscar Nominations: Best Picture; Best Actor in a Leading Role (2); Best Director; Best Writing, Screenplay Based on Material from Another Medium

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Last Year at Marienbad (1961)

I’m not even going to pretend that I understand most of what this film is trying to say. At a luxury hotel, a man meets up with a woman, who is staying there with another man, and talks of an affair that they had a year earlier which she denies. As someone who often suffers from sensory overload, this film felt a lot like being in a crowded room where it’s difficult to pull out particular voices. The dialogue is repetitious and brings forth a dreamy ambiguity where it’s hard to trust the recollections of either of the main characters and there’s no telling what actually happened last year at Marienbad.

Oscar Nominated: Best Writing, Story and Screenplay – Written Directly for the Screen

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Serpico (1973)

It’s important to know about the life of Frank Serpico in this time where once again police corruption is on people’s minds. Al Pacino is Serpico, a man who always wanted to be a cop but was greatly disappointed to find that the entire NYPD system is overwhelmingly corrupt. Yet he somehow manages to not compromise the values he was led to believe encompassed ‘to protect and serve’. The story is quick and told concisely, with time measured in the growth of Serpico’s adorable sheepdog. Dressed in a killer wardrobe, Pacino is resplendent in portraying Frank’s idealism and also his anxiety having always to be on guard around those he should best be able to count on.

Oscar Nominations: Best Actor in a Leading Role; Best Writing, Screenplay Based on Material from Another Medium

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The Dead (1987)

The first three-quarters of this film is like being invited to a holiday party where you don’t know anyone. The guests are warm and welcoming, but as an outsider, it takes a bit to figure out who everyone is and how they relate to each other. The winter setting inspires a bit of wistfulness amongst the characters as they contemplate their losses from both the past and future. Anjelica Huston, being directed by her father in a screenplay written by her brother, is vulnerable and beautiful as the wife of the hosts’ nephew, especially when she is recalling the lost love from her youth.

Oscar Nominations: Best Writing, Screenplay Based on Material from Another Medium; Best Costume Design

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Titanic (1953)

What makes a movie about the Titanic interesting is watching the change of experience for people excitedly sailing on an exotic vessel to the horrors of fearing for their lives as the ship begins sinking. Unfortunately, this movie forgoes showing much of that and instead devotes almost all of its runtime to a melodramatic family story that could literally be set anywhere. I generally enjoy Barbara Stanwyck and Clifton Webb, but I was really hoping to see more of the ship. The best parts are played by Thelma Ritter and the iceberg itself.

Oscar Win: Best Writing, Story and Screenplay

Oscar Nomination: Best Art Direction-Set Decoration, Black-and-White

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The Lives of a Bengal Lancer (1935)

Ugh, this film took me forever and more than one watching to get through. My lack of interest in the subject was not helped by a poor quality print and the fact that Franchot Tone and Richard Cromwell look a lot alike. Those two men are newcomers to a regiment of British soldiers during the days of the British Raj. One is a cocky, seasoned soldier and the other is a newly commissioned officer and son of the Colonel. Gary Cooper’s job is to guide these new recruits. The story of the three soldiers is familiar and was done much better in other films of the era, Gunga Din, The Four Feathers, and Beau Geste to name a few.   Best Picture Nomination

Oscar Win: Best Assistant Director

Oscar Nominations: Best Picture; Best Director; Best Writing, Screenplay; Best Art Direction; Best Sound, Recording; Best Film Editing

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