The History of the Academy Awards: 1960-1969 (A Retrospective)

Introduction

This is a companion piece to three different series.  The first is The History of the Academy Awards, in which I covered each category in individual posts.  This was originally done in 2009 and additions were included in 2010.  You can find links to all of these pieces in each individual category.  I have grouped all of the categories together for the same reason that I did so originally – because most pieces on the Oscars don’t approach the awards through the categories, but through the years.  This specific piece is designed to take a closer look at the decade and how I think the Academy did in those years.

The second series is my Year in Film series.  That is mentioned here because in those pieces I included paragraphs about the Oscars as a whole for each year and included a considerable amount of trivia.  Since I had based my Year in Film series and eligibility as such on the Academy calendar, it all seemed very relevant.  Also, I include various prizes (Worst Oscar, Worst Nomination, Worst Omission, etc) and I didn’t want to repeat myself, so following the links will bring you there.  Those links are at the end of this piece, where I do a brief summation of each year and how the Academy did.  One note on the Year in Film posts – I did those before Oscars.org started putting up official information about release dates.  Several films have been moved from the years where they appeared in those posts – see the Nighthawk Awards posts for more accurate placement – I have included links in the years.

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The Nighthawk Awards: 1962

Death arrives out of the seemingly endless desert.

You can read more about this year in film here.  The Best Picture race is discussed here, with reviews of all the nominees.  First there are the categories, followed by all the films with their nominations, then the Globes, where I split the major awards by Drama and Comedy, followed by a few lists at the very end.  If there’s a film you expected to see and didn’t, check the very bottom – it might be eligible in a different year.  Films in red won the Oscar in that category (or Globe, in the Globes section).  Films in blue were nominated.  Films with an asterisk (*) were Consensus nominees (a scale I put together based on the various awards) while those with a double asterisk (**) were the Consensus winners.

I’m listing the top 10 in the categories but only the top 5 earn Nighthawk nominations.

Nighthawk Awards:

• Best Picture

1. Lawrence of Arabia  **
2. To Kill a Mockingbird  *
3. Throne of Blood
4. The Music Man  *
5. Jules and Jim
6. The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance
7. Through a Glass Darkly
8. Ride the High Country
9. The Manchurian Candidate
10. Last Year at Marienbad

Analysis:  There’s a big drop here after #9 – it drops from a mid-range **** to a high-level ***.5.  This year ties 1960 as having the best Top 9 to date.  Ride the High Country and The Manchurian Candidate really match up with Tunes of Glory and The Hidden Fortress as the best #8 and #9 films to date.  I re-watched Jules and Jim before doing these awards and ended up bumping it up in a few categories, most notably Picture and Director, which ended up costing The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance its only two Nighthawk nominations.  But in years like this, it’s hard to just pick five films at the top.

 

The Best of the Nighthawk Awards: The 1960’s

101 Dalmations - the best of a weak decade for animation

1960 – 1969

Total Films I’ve Seen:  801

Films That Make the Top 5 in Any Category:  40

Best Film Not to Make the Top 5 in Any Category:  Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid

Film of the Decade:  Bonnie and Clyde

Worst Film of the Decade:  Horrors of Spider Island

Worst Best Picture Nominee of the Decade:  Doctor Dolittle

Worst Film of the Decade Made by a Top 100 Director:  Tonight for Sure

 

The History of the Academy Awards: Best Picture – 1962

"The trick, William Potter, is not minding that it hurts."

The 35th Academy Awards for the film year 1962.  The nominations were announced on February 25, 1963 and the awards were held on April 8, 1963.

Best Picture:  Lawrence of Arabia

• To Kill a Mockingbird
• The Music Man
• The Longest Day
• Mutiny on the Bounty

Most Surprising Omission:  The Miracle Worker

Best Eligible Film Not Nominated:  The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance

Rank (out of 82) Among Best Picture Years:  #38

 

The Year in Film: 1962

the distance image of a man that will become Sherif Ali in Lawrence of Arabia (1962)

My Top 20:

1. Lawrence of Arabia
2. To Kill a Mockingbird
3. The Music Man
4. The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance
5. Through a Glass Darkly
6. Ride the High Country
7. The Manchurian Candidate
8. Jules and Jim
9. The Bad Sleep Well
10. Peeping Tom
11. Last Year at Marienbad
12. Billy Budd
13. Lolita
14. The Miracle Worker
15. The Lower Depths
16. Carnival of Souls
17. Viridiana
18. Whistle Down the Wind
19. Long Day’s Journey Into Night
20. Sweet Bird of Youth