1970
1. Best Actor in a Supporting Role: Gig Young: They Shoot Horses, Don't They?
102 couples compete to win a Depression-era dance contest in Hollywood. Jane Fonda leads the cast, with Gig Young as the announcer presiding over the event. It's an excellent movie that portends bright careers for many of the cast and crew involved.
This was director Sydney Pollack's fifth feature film. He wouldn't win the Oscar for Best Director until 1982's Tootsie, but the list of Oscar nominations in his filmography is truly impressive. After They Shoot Horses, Don't They? he'd go on to direct Jeremiah Johnson, Three Days of the Condor, and 1985's Out of Africa, for which he won Best Director a second time.
Fun Fact: Bonnie Bedelia is in this. It was her second movie. 19 years later she'd play Bruce Willis' wife in the original Die Hard.
2. Best Documentary (Short Subject): Czechoslovakia 1968
The history of Czechoslovakia told in a series of slides? It ends with the Nazis. I dunno, this one had me scratching my head. It was produced by the United States Information Agency (USIA) for what I assume were propaganda purposes.
1971
1. Best Actress: Glenda Jackson: Women in Love
Glenda Jackson and Oliver Reed, two actors who've been praised here before, star in this Ken Russell-directed adaptation of the D.H. Lawrence novel.
Russell would go on to direct the excellent The Devils and Tommy, two signature movies from the decade. Jackson would go on to appear in Sunday Bloody Sunday and a Touch of Class, for which she'd win a second Academy Award. Reed would go on to appear in Russell's The Devils and Tommy, in addition to Burnt Offerings and David Cronenberg's The Brood. Women in Love is a good look at what the 70s had to offer, even if it hit UK theaters in 1969, not 1970.
2. Best Documentary (Short Subject): Interviews with My Lai Veterans
Harrowing interviews with American soldiers who took part in the My Lai Massacre. It's not an easy thing to watch and also not an easy subject to think about.
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1972
1. Best Documentary (Short Subject): Sentinels of Silence
Mexican pyramids, narration by Orson Welles, and an orchestral score. And none of it, I'm sad to say, so much as touches upon the subject of aliens.
In Search Of... it's definitely not, but it did make me want to travel.
2. Best Short Subject (Animated): The Crunch Bird
A woman buys a bird that chomps things on command. It's worth watching for the punchline.
1973
1. Best Documentary: Marjoe
Respect to Marjoe Gortner: not only did he parlay this documentary into a movie career, but he also went on to do a love scene with a topless Lynda "Wonder Woman" Carter.
Marjoe details the 70s B-movie star's years as a preacher working the Pentecostal circuit. He's very frank about his preaching career throughout this documentary, and I imagine this same frankness offended a lot of people at the time.
2. Best Short Subject: Norman Rockwell's World... An American Dream
Introduction to an artist who's had more to do with how America sees itself than perhaps anyone else. This documentary blends interviews, news footage, reenactments and samples of Rockwell's art together very well.
1974
1. Best Documentary: The Great American Cowboy
A peek inside the EXTREMELY MANLY world of rodeo. Broken collarbone? Walk it off! Fractured cranium? Get right back on that bronco! Paralyzed from the waist down? Go home and have a good cry, pussy!
Seriously though, this is one of the best documentaries I've seen in a while. The London Philharmonic score adds another dimension to the movie, and the rivalry between the two rodeo champions is riveting to watch.
2. Best Documentary (Short Subject): Princeton: A Search for Answers
The "answers" being answers to the "eternal questions" asked by whatever person is teaching your "Intro to _____" course at the start of the semester. This was a recruitment film for the prestigious university, and I'm sure it worked very well at the time. It's also an interesting time capsule from the decade.
1975
1. Best Documentary: Hearts and Minds
Vietnam again. It was on a lot of people's minds in the 70s.
Hearts and Minds is a rough but rewarding two hours. Like The Great American Cowboy above it's a thoughtfully produced documentary, and it amply deserved the Oscar awarded to it. William Westmoreland, by the way, can go fuck himself.
2. Best Short Film (Live Action): One-Eyed Men are Kings
A man living in Paris (?) makes friends and takes his dog for walks. I don't know how they managed to make 15 minutes seem like an hour, but somehow they achieved it.
1976
1. Best Foreign Language Film: Dersu Uzala
Haven't seen a Russian movie mentioned here in a while, have we? Maybe after Vietnam it was high time to view the U.S.S.R. and it's media with a more open mind?
In the context of the 70s you may be thinking "Tarkovsky," a director I haven't always resonated with, but if you're doubtful don't worry, Dersu Uzala is nothing like that.
In the film a Russian survey team heads into the wild, guided by one of the "Gold People," a man who's lived in the mountains his entire life. The friendship which develops between the captain of the survey team and his guide is very touching, and the scenes of wilderness survival feel very authentic.
2. Best Documentary: The Man Who Skied Down Everest
Skiing down Everest, what could go wrong?
An icefall, apparently. An icefall goes wrong. Our champion Japanese skier's base camp is buried under several tons of ice, and six of his trusty Sherpas lose their lives.
Was it worth it? I dunno, you'd have to ask him. He's still alive, by the way, at the age of 103.
1977
1. Best Documentary: Harlan County, USA
Coal miners go on strike in a county where the odds are stacked against them. It's a by turns fascinating, by turns depressing look at a lot of problems that were never really solved.
2. Best Costume Design: Fellini's Casanova
Even for Fellini this one's very weird, and comes complete with the lavish costumes, improbable sets and bizarre scenes you'd expect from a late 70s Italian art movie. Donald Sutherland was an odd choice for the lead, but he's convincing throughout.
Just don't ask me what's going on with the robotic sex owl, or the dream involving the sex doll, or that statue that sinks near the beginning. I was scratching my head over a lot of one.
Fun Fact: Fellini actually cast Sutherland over the likes of Robert Redford and Jack Nicholson. The director had a strong dislike for the historical Casanova, and wanted a more grotesque version of the character. To this end he had Sutherland shave part of his head and wear prosthetics for the role.
1978
1. Best Short Film (Live Action): I'll Find a Way
A girl with spina bifida takes us through her weekly schedule. I found myself wanting to give a lot of those kids a hug.
2. Best Short Film (Animated): The Sand Castle
Strange sand creatures create themselves, or create each other, and then construct a castle which is later consumed by the wind. A good movie to watch stoned? Or a terrible movie to watch stoned? I'm not sure.
1979
1. Best Documentary: Scared Straight!
Several juvenile delinquents are taken to a maximum security prison where they're harassed for two hours. I wonder about the wisdom of mixing boys and girls in this little outing. Why not send the girls to a women's prison?
If you're interested in this one, there's also Scared Straight: 20 Years Later with host Danny Glover. There's also a decent parody of it by SNL.
2. Best Documentary (Short Subject): The Flight of the Gossamer Condor
Some guys try to construct a pedal-powered airplane. Aviation enthusiasts might like it, but it made me very sleepy.
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