Best Adapted Screenplay: 1964

One of film’s most iconic moments and not in the original at all.

My Top 10:

1. Dr. Strangelove
2. High and Low
3. Harakiri
4. Mary Poppins
5. The Americanization of Emily
6. The Best Man
7. The Night of the Iguana
8. The Chalk Garden
9. Goldfinger
10. My Fair Lady

Note:  There are 20 films on my list.  Only one of the other ten is reviewed below as a WGA nominee (Seven Days in May).  The other nine are all listed towards the bottom of the post.

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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.

 

The Nighthawk Awards: 1964

“Yeeha!”

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. Dr. Strangelove  *
2. Mary Poppins  *
3. A Hard Day’s Night
4. Harakiri
5. High and Low
6. My Fair Lady  **
7. The Night of the Iguana
8. The Americanization of Emily
9. The Best Man
10. Goldfinger

Analysis:  For the second straight year, all of the Top 10 are **** films.  This year is slightly better than the year before in the Top 5 and Top 10, but that’s because 1963 didn’t have anything higher than a 95, while Dr. Strangelove is a 99 and Mary Poppins is a 96.  This year also shows much more homegrown (or British grown) quality – there are only 5 Foreign films in the Top 20, as opposed to the 7 Foreign films in the Top 10 the year before.  Goldfinger becomes the first Bond film to make the Top 10.  If this year was as weak a year as the next year, From Russia With Love would also make the Top 10.  The top three films are all Comedies; not only is this the first time this has happened, it’s the first time since 1934 that even the top two films were both Comedies.

 

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 – 1964

Rex Harrison, Audrey Hepburn and Wilfrid Hyde-White dressed to the nines in My Fair Lady (1964)

The 37th annual Academy Awards, for the film year 1964.  The nominations were announced on February 23, 1965 and the awards were held on April 5, 1965.

Best Picture:  My Fair Lady

• Dr. Strangelove, or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb
• Mary Poppins
• Becket
• Zorba the Greek

Most Surprising Omission:  Night of the Iguana

Best Eligible Film Not Nominated:  A Hard Day’s Night

Rank (out of 82) Among Best Picture Years:  #43

 

The Year in Film: 1964

"But Mr. President, he'll see everything! He'll see the Big Board!"

My Top 20:

1. Dr. Strangelove
2. Mary Poppins
3. A Hard Day’s Night
4. Harakiri
5. My Fair Lady
6. Night of the Iguana
7. The Americanization of Emily
8. Goldfinger
9. The Best Man
10. From Russia with Love
11. The Chalk Garden
12. The Pumpkin Eater
13. The Crime of Monsieur Lange
14. A Shot in the Dark
15. Seven Days in May
16. Fail-Safe
17. The Guns at Batasi
18. That Man from Rio
19. The Pink Panther
20. Diary of a Chambermaid