The 50th Annual Academy Awards - A Primer
Get ready for a blast from the past as we take you back to 1977, an unforgettable year in American filmmaking. Join me, your host Matti Price, and our fantastic panel of film writers and broadcasters, Karen Gordon, Leslie Byron Pitt, and Ryan McNeil, as we discuss the 50th Academy Awards, the groundbreaking achievements in sound, and the legends we lost during this iconic year in cinema.
We won't just focus on the Oscars – we'll also pay tribute to the likes of the Marx Brothers, Charlie Chaplin, Elvis Presley, and Bing Crosby, as well as the directors and actors who left their mark on the silver screen. From Howard Hawks and William Castle to the tragically short but brilliant career of John Cazale, we'll explore the magic of 1977 together in this episode of For Your Reconsideration. So, visit Dewvre.com for more great podcasts, and join the conversation!
Transcript
For Your Reconsideration is a podcast. In the next episode, we have a great and diverse panel and really a pretty crazy year 1977. I'm Matty Price and, along with JD, we could not be happier to be able to bring you discussions like the one we have coming up. As per usual, our panellists discuss a specific year in mostly American filmmaking through the clarifying crucible of Oscar's best picture. I'll be your host this time. Our panellists are film writers and broadcasters Karen Gordon, Leslie Byron, Pitt and, of course, a longtime friend of the show, podcaster and writer, Ryan McNeil.
The 50th Academy Awards were actually held earlier than in previous years, in February of 1978. They were back at the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion and they went back to a single host for the first time in a while, bringing Bob Hope back as MC for the night. Despite Annie Hall winning Best Picture along with three other awards, it was actually Star Wars that had the best night. Overall, they took home six Oscars. Woody Allen did do something that nobody had done for a while, becoming the first person since Orson Welles to be nominated for writing, directing and acting in the same picture. The turning point still holds the record for most nominations without a single win with 11. They are tied with the colour purple and Close Encounters is tied with two films They Shoot Horses, don't They? and The Poseidon Adventure for most nominations without a Best Picture nod, with eight.
There were two special achievement awards that year and actually, both of them were for sound. The sound was in a bit of a major renaissance in the late 70s with stereo, surround and digital sounds all coming to audiences really for the first time. One of those awards went to Frank Warner and Close Encounters for sound editing, and you can imagine the editing in Close Encounters and the specific sounds of those organ notes and everything else that happens. I mean it is an achievement. But the real achievement, I think, went to Ben Burt for creating the Alien Robot and Creature Voices in Star Wars Boy. There's a lot to talk about with Star Wars but I can't imagine it without that soundscape. Just amazing.
Notable presenters, performers and recipients of awards that year included Debbie Boone, who sang You Light Up My Life. Now they decided that when she sang You Light Up My Life they would have deaf interpreters on the stage to sign as she sang. The problem is they turned out to not be real interpreters. They were fakes and their signs were totally unintelligible to the deaf community. Nailed it, Debbie Boone.
The ceremony also neatly defined two sides of a debate that continues and actually probably will never be settled. Vanessa Redgrave used her acceptance speech to address concerns she had with the rights of the Palestinian community and how she was being treated in the press, and Patty Czevsky used his presenter time to essentially rebuke that by saying he was quite sick and tired of people exploiting the occasion of the Academy Awards for the propagation of their own personal political propaganda. Yeah, yeah, yeah. There's no end to this debate. Should actors and actresses and others Stand up for things they are important in front of a global, they feel are important in front of a global audience, or should they shut up and dribble? Yeesh? Anyway, lots of special, special presenters, including Mickey Mouse, r2-d2 and C3PO, as the awards got increasingly sophisticated from a production standpoint and they were able to mix in things like remote-controlled robots and animation and live action. Really a big moment in terms of how the show looked.
Jack Nicholson presented Best Picture and the Academy Awards. Chorus brought That's Entertainment back again. They really love That's Entertainment. Anyway, for the first year in several years, they gave OJ Simpson the night off. I'm actually not sure what he did with his free time.
As always, there was no in memoriam until 1993, but for that year it would have been, I think, quite significant. Two of the remaining three Marx Brothers passed away, Groucho and Gummo, and Zeppo would pass really only a couple of years later. So the end of an era in terms of that, and, and kind of interesting that the same year that Annie Hall got nominated, I think there's a pretty direct line between the Marx Brothers and Woody Allen, especially in the early years of his career. Charlie Chaplin also passed away that year, as did Joan Crawford. So some real Titans.
On the character actor side, three huge influential character actors Zero Mustel, most famously from the producers, but also the original Tevea and Fiddler on the Roof. Sebastian Cabot, who just an absolutely wonderful presence in a lot of Hitchcock films and later movies as well, and also Gene Hagen. Now, the name Gene Hagen might not mean anything to you just on the surface, but if I say I can't see them, maybe you'll realize who she is. Gene Hagen is, for my money, the best part of one of the best movies that I know, which is Singing in the Rain. Steven Boyd also passed away. Steven Boyd had a really interesting career. He was the second lead in Ben Hur, starting a lot of stuff. But the reason I bring him up is that he was the star of an absolutely incredible so bad it's a good movie, The Oscar, which I mean. Check that movie out. It is insane to me that they built that movie the way they did. The minute you start watching it you're like I cannot believe that this is the movie they decided to make and call The Oscar And then cut short, cut down in the prime of his life with four incredible performances and we all lost out.
John Kazal, who had been Fredo in The Godfather and The Godfather part two, starred in Dog Day Afternoon and had a very strong role in The Dear Hunter and tragically passed away way too young. Elvis Presley and Bing Crosby both died that year, so significantly they left only Sinatra as the last man standing in terms of the greatest pop hero icons of the 20th century. Directors who passed away that year included Howard Hawks, William Castle, Roberto Rossellini and Bob McKimson, who was a director of hundreds and hundreds of Looney Tunes shorts, as well a couple of people in the history of noir, both James M Cain, who wrote The Postman Always Rings Twice. Tay Garnett, who directed it, passed away in that year. Tay Garnett also and this is just for viewers who want to go down this road He directed one of my favorite movies of all time. It stars Marlena Dietrich and John Wayne and it's called Seven Sinners, or sometimes called Cafe of the Seven Sinners, and I love it and I hope you check it out. Last but absolutely not least, Leopold Stokowski, was quite an accomplished conductor but famously was the conductor in Fantasia. Anyway, I'm looking forward to sharing this year's movies with all of you.
1977 is coming right up. Remember, go to Dewvre.com for all the shows and more great podcasts. Can't wait to talk to you again. On For Your Reconsideration, for Your Reconsideration is the production of Dewvre Podcasts and Such. To subscribe, share, rate and review. Please visit Dewvre.com.
