Oscar Got It Wrong!: Best Actress 1964

The Contenders:

Sophia Loren: Marriage, Italian-Style
Julie Andrews: Mary Poppins (winner)
Anne Bancroft: The Pumpkin Eater
Kim Stanley: Séance on a Wet Afternoon
Debbie Reynolds: The Unsinkable Molly Brown

Sensory Deprivation

Film: The Miracle Worker
Format: DVD from NetFlix on laptop.

I was under the impression that The Miracle Worker was sort of a biography of Helen Keller, or at least something like a memoir. It’s not. It’s actually a memoir of her teacher, Anne Sullivan. I won’t go into a big screed here about who Helen Keller was. You already know, I’m certain. She was stricken with scarlet fever as an infant and lost both her sight and hearing and eventually learned to communicate thanks to the tireless effort of the aforementioned Anne Sullivan.

The Miracle Worker is based on a stage play. Originally, the plan was for a much bigger name to take the Anne Sullivan role. Director Arthur Penn stuck to wanting Anne Bancroft, who had played the role on stage with Patty Duke playing Helen Keller. Because he insisted on this, the studio cut his budget from $2 million to a half million, and Penn still managed to direct his two lead actresses to Oscar-winning performances.

Wednesday Horror: Fire in the Sky

Film: Fire in the Sky
Format: Streaming video from NetFlix on The Nook.

I like science fiction as much or more than the next guy, but I put the emphasis heavily on the word “fiction.” I also happen to be a science geek, and a great deal of my pleasure reading (when I have time for it) is in different science fields. In my movies, though, I’m a lot less stringent. If things happen that don’t comport with the known physical laws of the universe, I’m not that put out. Fire in the Sky requires a different sort of willing suspension of disbelief, though. Taken at face value, this is the true account of Travis Walton (played in the film by D.B. Sweeney) and his alien abduction.

So let’s go there for a minute. Our universe is an awfully big place and I think it’s unbelievably likely that life has evolved on other planets. On some of those planets, I’m betting there’s sentient life. However, the distances involved in moving from solar system to solar system are so great that I think it’s unlikely that we’ll ever encounter intelligent aliens, and I doubt very seriously that those aliens have been here abducting people, making crop circles, or performing medical experiments on our livestock.

Oscar Got It Wrong!: Best Actor 1940

The Contenders:

Raymond Massey: Abe Lincoln in Illinois
Henry Fonda: The Grapes of Wrath
Charlie Chaplin: The Great Dictator
James Stewart: The Philadelphia Story (winner)
Laurence Olivier: Rebecca

Queen of the Jungle

Films: Gorillas in the Mist
Format: DVD from personal collection on laptop.

Gorillas in the Mist has been sitting on my shelf for literally years. I knew I was going to have to watch it eventually, but I didn’t really want to because I know how the story ends, and I knew the end was going to piss me off on some level. That’s kind of the problem when you’re dealing with a story based on real events. If you know the real events and they don’t end in the way you’d like them to, you know you’re setting yourself up for a frustrating finish.

Dian Fossey (Sigourney Weaver) was a physical therapist who, inspired by the work of Louis Leakey (Iain Cuthbertson) decides to chuck it all and work in the Congo helping to create a census of mountain gorillas. This is a problem for several reasons. First, she has no experience, and Leakey tries to fend her off because she has no real science training. She eventually wears him down, though, and is soon on her way to the Congo. The second problem is that there is a Congolese civil war, which makes the place incredibly dangerous, and a white woman in the middle of the jungle is going to raise some eyebrows. Third, the mountain gorillas are rapidly going extinct because of poaching. Fourth, and in many ways most critically, the poachers aren’t about to let some wannabee scientist end their income stream.

A Life Unlived

Films: Rachel, Rachel
Format: DVD from NetFlix on laptop.

I’ve commented in the past on the concept of coming-of-age movies and my singular problem with them. The tendency is that coming-of-age movies for boys involve coping with death and coming-of-age movies for girls involve coping with sex, often with someone wholly inappropriate. I get tired of these stories. So what to make of a coming-of-age story for a woman who is 35? That’s exactly the story we’re getting with Rachel, Rachel.

Rachel Cameron (Joanne Woodward) is a 35-year-old elementary school teacher still living in the house she grew up in with her mother (Kate Harrington), her father having died years before while she was in college. Rachel’s life is dominated by her mother, and in many ways, she is still terribly sheltered. Because of the presence of her mother, Rachel has never had a serious relationship and is completely naïve in terms of sex. Most things seem to be terrifying for her, although, Walter Mitty-like, she has a rich fantasy life.

Oscar Got It Wrong!: Best Director 1956

The Contenders:

Michael Anderson: Around the World in 80 Days
William Wyler: Friendly Persuasion
George Stevens: Giant (winner)
Walter Lang: The King and I
Walter Lang: War and Peace