Friday, August 29, 2014

Oscar Got It Wrong!: Best Original Screenplay 1985

The Contenders:
Back to the Future
Brazil
The Official Story
The Purple Rose of Cairo
Witness (winner)

What’s Missing

It’s probably too much to suggest that a film like The Goonies would be nominated, but I give it points simply for conceiving of the Truffle Shuffle. As far as I can tell, Idi I Smotri was an original screenplay, and if it was, it should have been included, although that film seems to have been ignored by Oscar completely. Fright Night is fun, but probably didn’t deserve a shot at the statue. The same is true for Ladyhawke. There are a few I think worthy of mention, though. Tampopo, first and foremost, deserves some love here. In addition to it, I would argue for both Runaway Train and Lost in America.

Weeding through the Nominees

5: With The Official Story, we’re given a film that, in a lot of other contexts, would be little more than a movie of the week. It’s the situation that actually makes the film work and makes it feel far more important than it would have otherwise. And the screenplay here is good, but I can’t really call it exceptional. It’s the history that’s exceptional, the story behind the story rather than the screenplay of the film. There are three or four movies I’d rather see nominated than this one.

4: It feels like it’s been some time since I’ve put the actual winner in fourth place, but that’s where I’m putting Witness. This is a film that’s only real point of interest is that a number of the characters are Amish. It’s otherwise very much a product of its genre. There are no real surprises here at all, and that following along with genre rules seems like a failure of screenplay, not a reason to endorse it. Good, but there’s no real reason it should have been nominated above Lost in America, Tampopo, or Runaway Train. Or hell, even Ladyhawke.

My Choices

3: The most difficult choice for this week was where my choices would go. Would I include The Purple Rose of Cairo as a potential winner or as one that really shouldn’t be considered? Ultimately, I have to give credit to Woody Allen. This is a much darker film than people may have been used to from Allen. At the same time, it’s a love letter to the movies of the ‘30s and ‘40s. It’s a beautiful story, tragic and sad, and nearly perfectly written. Of course, writing has always been Allen’s strong suit, so it would be hard for me not to put him in the “I’m okay with this winning” group.

2: I though pretty hard about where I’d put Brazil. I finally decided to put it second, but with an asterisk. That asterisk is this—I think it’s the best written film of the year, but I base that specifically on the director’s cut of the film and not the ending released in theaters with the cobbled (and frankly stupid) happy ending. Gilliam’s complete vision is the best-written film of 1985 in my opinion, but I’m not sure which version was nominated, and my suspicion is that we’re dealing with the theatrical release. And the problem there is that it punks the ending. A film with a punked ending doesn’t deserve to win.

1: And so, of the nominated films as they appeared in the theater, I hand the Oscar to Back to the Future. Comedies are always tricky when it comes to screenplay because comedies don’t always age well. There are a lot of jokes in Back to the Future that don’t work for a modern audience, absolutely true. But the story still works. The characters still work. The acting performances still work. I know there are plot problems; there always are with time travel. So what? This is a marvelously written film that combines wit, comedy, heart, and, well, pretty much everything else I want in a movie in one place. And with Brazil getting the asterisk, this one gets the statue from me.

Final Analysis

12 comments:

  1. It's not even close; for me, Back to the Future is, hands down, the best screenplay of the five nominees.

    It was science fiction, though, and the Academy rarely awards that genre. (So was Brazil; and The Purple Rose of Cairo was fantasy. Toss in The Official Story, which was in a foreign language, and Witness was the only "normal" film in the category. No wonder it won.)

    I just looked through your list of Best Original Screenplay winners and only The Eternal Sunshine of a Spotless Mind and Her have been science fiction and won. And the former is really more fantasy than science fiction. Fantasy films Ghost and Midnight in Paris won and that's about it for that genre in this category, too.

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    1. I'd probably call The Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind is closer to magical realism than anything else, but science fiction works for me, too. And in either event, your point stands.

      I didn't break things down the way you did, but given that analysis, I'm right with you. It almost won by default.

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  2. There is more to Witness than just the Amish characters, the culture is a setting that deserved some drama. I'd have to agree that it is a lesser choice. Back to the Future is Most deserving. I think this was a make good for a film that everyone thought was excellent but was not going to get any of the big prizes. The award is the lovely parting gift for the production, thank you for playing.

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    1. I don't expect to get a lot of disagreement with this one, really.

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  3. It's hard for me not to think Brazil deserves it, but I have to agree with Back to the Future. It's constructed so well! I've never even heard of The Official Story, which is rare for films that came out during the '80s. Weird.

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    1. In a perfect world, it would have been Gilliam's intended version of Brazil released to the world initially, and that would be my choice. Sadly, that version of the film wasn't available in 1985 for the most part, so we're stuck with what we've got. That said, Back to the Future is hardly being "stuck" with something second-rate. It's a hell of a well-written film.

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  4. Looking at the list of 1985 movies that I have recently watched, I think The Breakfast Club should be part of this conversation. John Hughes' original script has stood the test of time surprisingly well, and that film has become an established cultural landmark. Martin Scorsese's routinely neglected After Hours could also be a contender.

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    1. The Breakfast Club isn't a bad choice, and for some reason, I missed it going through 1985 films. After Hours is one I don't know.

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  5. I HATE, HATE, HATE The Breakfast Club. Ugh.

    Agree that Back to the Future is a great script and movie.

    And I loved the shout out to Fright Night, a wonderful, unsung, well-written genre movie. I love the scene where Vincent is in the house, looking into his hand mirror, and suddenly realizes that Prince Humperdink is a vampire. Great stuff.

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    1. I maintain that The Breakfast Club is a lot like Catcher in the Rye. If you see it at the right age, it becomes something formative. See it at the wrong age and you want to punch everyone in the film.

      Fright Night is more fun than it should be. A lot of that comes from the fact that everyone plays it with the right combination of camp and seriousness.

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  6. I saw The Breakfast Club in the theater while I was in college and "want to punch everyone in the film" captures my reaction exactly.

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    1. I get that. It's exactly how I feel about Catcher in the Rye. It's also how I felt about Scott Pilgrim vs. the World.

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