This article marks Part 1 of the Gold Derby series reflecting on films that contended for the Big Five Oscars – Best Picture, Best Director, Best Actor, Best Actress and Best Screenplay (Original or Adapted). With “A Star Is Born” this year on the cusp of joining this exclusive group of Oscar favorites, join us as we look back at the 43 extraordinary pictures that earned Academy Awards nominations in each of the Big Five categories beginning with the eight that were shut out of these top races.
At the 31st Academy Awards ceremony, “Cat on a Hot Tin Roof” (1958) was well-positioned for Oscar glory. Critically acclaimed and commercially successful, the film adaptation of Tennessee Williams’ play was up in six categories, including the Big Five, plus Best Cinematography.
Instead of emerging victorious, however, the film found itself steamrolled over. It would lose Best Picture and Best Director (Richard Brooks) to the musical “Gigi” and its filmmaker,...
At the 31st Academy Awards ceremony, “Cat on a Hot Tin Roof” (1958) was well-positioned for Oscar glory. Critically acclaimed and commercially successful, the film adaptation of Tennessee Williams’ play was up in six categories, including the Big Five, plus Best Cinematography.
Instead of emerging victorious, however, the film found itself steamrolled over. It would lose Best Picture and Best Director (Richard Brooks) to the musical “Gigi” and its filmmaker,...
- 10/4/2018
- by Andrew Carden
- Gold Derby
By John M. Whalen
In 1988 Oscar-winning screenwriter Stirling Silliphant (“In the Heat of the Night”, “The Poseidon Adventure”) got fed up with what he called “the eel pit of Hollywood,” and moved to Thailand to start a new life. According to the La Times, he’d grown tired of the power plays, the egos, the hypocrisy and the dictum that homage must be paid to the box office. He left and never came back.
Hollywood has always had its dark side-- just read “Hollywood Babylon.” Silliphant’s “eel pit” was never a more apt description than when, a few years later in 2015, the film industry was rocked by WikiLeaks release of some really nasty Sony emails that gave a glimpse into what powerful producers and studio execs really thought of some of their stars. Scott Rudin called Angelina Jolie a “minimally talented spoiled brat.” Clint Culpepper called Kevin Hart “a whore,...
In 1988 Oscar-winning screenwriter Stirling Silliphant (“In the Heat of the Night”, “The Poseidon Adventure”) got fed up with what he called “the eel pit of Hollywood,” and moved to Thailand to start a new life. According to the La Times, he’d grown tired of the power plays, the egos, the hypocrisy and the dictum that homage must be paid to the box office. He left and never came back.
Hollywood has always had its dark side-- just read “Hollywood Babylon.” Silliphant’s “eel pit” was never a more apt description than when, a few years later in 2015, the film industry was rocked by WikiLeaks release of some really nasty Sony emails that gave a glimpse into what powerful producers and studio execs really thought of some of their stars. Scott Rudin called Angelina Jolie a “minimally talented spoiled brat.” Clint Culpepper called Kevin Hart “a whore,...
- 12/15/2017
- by nospam@example.com (Cinema Retro)
- Cinemaretro.com
One of the best pictures to come out of Hollywood in the late 1960s, Sydney Pollack’s screen version of Horace McCoy’s hardboiled novel is a harrowing experience guaranteed to elicit extreme responses. Jane Fonda performs (!) at the top of an ensemble of stars suffering in a Depression-Era circle of Hell – it’s an Annihilating Drama with a high polish. And this CineSavant review ends with a fact-bomb that ought to start Barbara Steele fans off on a new vault search.
They Shoot Horses, Don’t They?
Blu-ray
Kl Studio Classics
1969 / Color / 2:35 widescreen 1:37 flat Academy / 120 min. / Street Date September 5, 2017 / available through Kino Lorber / 29.95
Starring: Jane Fonda, Michael Sarrazin, Susannah York, Gig Young, Red Buttons, Bonnie Bedelia, Bruce Dern, Allyn Ann McLerie.
Cinematography: Philip H. Lathrop
Production Designer: Harry Horner
Film Editor: Fredric Steinkamp
Written by James Poe, Robert E. Thompson from the novel They Shoot Horses, Don’t They?...
They Shoot Horses, Don’t They?
Blu-ray
Kl Studio Classics
1969 / Color / 2:35 widescreen 1:37 flat Academy / 120 min. / Street Date September 5, 2017 / available through Kino Lorber / 29.95
Starring: Jane Fonda, Michael Sarrazin, Susannah York, Gig Young, Red Buttons, Bonnie Bedelia, Bruce Dern, Allyn Ann McLerie.
Cinematography: Philip H. Lathrop
Production Designer: Harry Horner
Film Editor: Fredric Steinkamp
Written by James Poe, Robert E. Thompson from the novel They Shoot Horses, Don’t They?...
- 9/30/2017
- by Glenn Erickson
- Trailers from Hell
What seemed too raw for 1955 still packs a punch, as Robert Aldrich takes a meat cleaver to the power politics of the old studio system. Monstrous studio head Rod Steiger has just the leverage he needs to blackmail frazzled star Jack Palance into signing the big contract. But will Hollywood corruption destroy them all?
The Big Knife
Blu-ray
Arrow Academy
1955 / B&W / 1:85 widescreen / 111 min. / Street Date September 5, 2017 / 39.95
Starring: Jack Palance, Ida Lupino, Wendell Corey, Jean Hagen,
Rod Steiger, Shelley Winters, Ilka Chase, Everett Sloane, Wesley Addy, Paul Langton, Nick Dennis.
Cinematography: Ernest Laszlo
Art Direction: William Glasgow
Film Editor: Michael Luciano
Original Music: Frank De Vol
Adapted by James Poe from the play by Clifford Odets
Produced and Directed by Robert Aldrich
Robert Aldrich’s 1940s film apprenticeship was largely spent as an assistant director for strong, creative filmmakers that wanted to do good personal work free of the constraints of the big studios.
The Big Knife
Blu-ray
Arrow Academy
1955 / B&W / 1:85 widescreen / 111 min. / Street Date September 5, 2017 / 39.95
Starring: Jack Palance, Ida Lupino, Wendell Corey, Jean Hagen,
Rod Steiger, Shelley Winters, Ilka Chase, Everett Sloane, Wesley Addy, Paul Langton, Nick Dennis.
Cinematography: Ernest Laszlo
Art Direction: William Glasgow
Film Editor: Michael Luciano
Original Music: Frank De Vol
Adapted by James Poe from the play by Clifford Odets
Produced and Directed by Robert Aldrich
Robert Aldrich’s 1940s film apprenticeship was largely spent as an assistant director for strong, creative filmmakers that wanted to do good personal work free of the constraints of the big studios.
- 9/26/2017
- by Glenn Erickson
- Trailers from Hell
By Todd Garbarini
I’m a sucker for car chases. Not the perfunctory, last-minute “Hey, this movie needs a car chase!” variety, but the kind that comes as a result of a particular plot point wherein someone or some group has to get away from some other group. While most new car chases such as The Fast and the Furious sort are usually accomplished through CGI, I find that this sleight-of-hand fakery virtually abolishes all tension. The best ones that I have seen all did it for real through innovative and unprecedented filming techniques and excellent editing: Grand Prix (1966), Vanishing Point (1967), Bullitt (1968), The Seven-Ups (1973), The Blues Brothers (1980), The Road Warrior (1981), The Terminator (1984), F/X (1986), Terminator 2: Judgement Day (1991), and The Town (2010) all have action sequences that put the full wonder of film editing on display.
There are two major car chases in the late John Frankenheimer’s Ronin, which opened on Friday,...
I’m a sucker for car chases. Not the perfunctory, last-minute “Hey, this movie needs a car chase!” variety, but the kind that comes as a result of a particular plot point wherein someone or some group has to get away from some other group. While most new car chases such as The Fast and the Furious sort are usually accomplished through CGI, I find that this sleight-of-hand fakery virtually abolishes all tension. The best ones that I have seen all did it for real through innovative and unprecedented filming techniques and excellent editing: Grand Prix (1966), Vanishing Point (1967), Bullitt (1968), The Seven-Ups (1973), The Blues Brothers (1980), The Road Warrior (1981), The Terminator (1984), F/X (1986), Terminator 2: Judgement Day (1991), and The Town (2010) all have action sequences that put the full wonder of film editing on display.
There are two major car chases in the late John Frankenheimer’s Ronin, which opened on Friday,...
- 9/5/2017
- by nospam@example.com (Cinema Retro)
- Cinemaretro.com
Article by Jim Batts, Dana Jung, and Tom Stockman
Lee Marvin rose through the ranks of movie stardom as a character actor, delivering mostly villainous supporting turns in many films before finally graduating to leading roles. Regardless of which side of the law he was on however, he projected a tough-as-nails intensity and a two-fisted integrity which elevated even the slightest material. Born February 19, 1924, in New York City, Marvin quit high school to enter the Marine Corps and while serving in the South Pacific was badly wounded in battle when a machine gun nest shot off part of his buttocks and severed his sciatic nerve. He spent a year in recovery before returning to the U.S. where he began working as a plumber. The acting bug bit after filling in for an ailing summer-stock actor and he studied the art at the New York-based American Theater Wing. Upon making his debut in summer stock,...
Lee Marvin rose through the ranks of movie stardom as a character actor, delivering mostly villainous supporting turns in many films before finally graduating to leading roles. Regardless of which side of the law he was on however, he projected a tough-as-nails intensity and a two-fisted integrity which elevated even the slightest material. Born February 19, 1924, in New York City, Marvin quit high school to enter the Marine Corps and while serving in the South Pacific was badly wounded in battle when a machine gun nest shot off part of his buttocks and severed his sciatic nerve. He spent a year in recovery before returning to the U.S. where he began working as a plumber. The acting bug bit after filling in for an ailing summer-stock actor and he studied the art at the New York-based American Theater Wing. Upon making his debut in summer stock,...
- 8/30/2016
- by Movie Geeks
- WeAreMovieGeeks.com
Liz Taylor scorches the screen (as least as much as it could be scorched in 1958) in a watered-down yet still potent Tennessee Williams adaptation. Paul Newman gets his Brando act together, and the rest of the show is stolen by 'Big Daddy' Burl Ives. Cat on a Hot Tin Roof Blu-ray Warner Archive Collection 1958 / Color / 1:85 widescreen / 105 min. / Street Date August 9, 2016 / available through the WBshop / 21.99 Starring Elizabeth Taylor, Paul Newman, Burl Ives, Jack Carson. Judith Anderson, Madeleine Sherwood, Larry Gates, Vaughn Taylor. Cinematography William Daniels Film Editor Ferris Webster Written by Richard Brooks, James Poe from the play by Tennessee Williams Produced by Lawrence Weingarten Directed by Richard Brooks
Reviewed by Glenn Erickson
Cat on a Hot Tin Roof might have been the big Oscar winner in 1959 if it were not for Gigi, another major MGM production. In other hands, with different stars in the lead roles, the show could...
Reviewed by Glenn Erickson
Cat on a Hot Tin Roof might have been the big Oscar winner in 1959 if it were not for Gigi, another major MGM production. In other hands, with different stars in the lead roles, the show could...
- 8/2/2016
- by Glenn Erickson
- Trailers from Hell
10. They Shoot Horses, Don’t They?
Directed by Sydney Pollack
Written by James Poe and Robert E. Thompson
USA, 1969
They Shoot Horses, Don’t They? is a wildly acclaimed 1969 American drama directed by Sydney Pollack that went on to receive nine Academy Award nominations. Like most of the films to appear on this list, it is based on a novel, a 1935 tome by Horace McCoy. Penned by James Poe and Robert E. Thompson, the film is an allegorical drama set amongst the contestants in a marathon dance contest during the Great Depression.
So how does a movie revolving around a dance competition relate to The Hunger Games? Much like The Hunger Games, the participants (all teens) are broken down into couples in hopes of winning and taking home the prize money, cash that’s much needed during such hard economic times. There is even a sleazy opportunistic Mc who urges...
Directed by Sydney Pollack
Written by James Poe and Robert E. Thompson
USA, 1969
They Shoot Horses, Don’t They? is a wildly acclaimed 1969 American drama directed by Sydney Pollack that went on to receive nine Academy Award nominations. Like most of the films to appear on this list, it is based on a novel, a 1935 tome by Horace McCoy. Penned by James Poe and Robert E. Thompson, the film is an allegorical drama set amongst the contestants in a marathon dance contest during the Great Depression.
So how does a movie revolving around a dance competition relate to The Hunger Games? Much like The Hunger Games, the participants (all teens) are broken down into couples in hopes of winning and taking home the prize money, cash that’s much needed during such hard economic times. There is even a sleazy opportunistic Mc who urges...
- 11/17/2013
- by Ricky da Conceição
- SoundOnSight
6- The 10th Victim (La Decima vittima) (The Tenth Victim)
Directed by Elio Petri
Written by Tonino Guerra, Giorgio Salvioni, Ennio Flaiano and Elio Petri
Italy,1965
The 10th Victim was the first film to offer up the concept of a TV show wherein people hunt and kill one another for sport and to expand the idea into a satire on gameshows. Set in the 21st Century, the government and the private sector have joined forces to create a solution to crime by giving it a profitable outlet titled “The Big Hunt,” a popular worldwide game show in which contestants are chosen at random to chase one another around the world in a kill or be killed scenario. The winner of the first round moves on to the next. After ten wins, a player is retired from the game and gets a cash prize of one million dollars, but very few make it that far.
Directed by Elio Petri
Written by Tonino Guerra, Giorgio Salvioni, Ennio Flaiano and Elio Petri
Italy,1965
The 10th Victim was the first film to offer up the concept of a TV show wherein people hunt and kill one another for sport and to expand the idea into a satire on gameshows. Set in the 21st Century, the government and the private sector have joined forces to create a solution to crime by giving it a profitable outlet titled “The Big Hunt,” a popular worldwide game show in which contestants are chosen at random to chase one another around the world in a kill or be killed scenario. The winner of the first round moves on to the next. After ten wins, a player is retired from the game and gets a cash prize of one million dollars, but very few make it that far.
- 3/26/2012
- by Ricky
- SoundOnSight
I’ve always been a war film buff, maybe because I grew up with them at a time when they were a regular part of the cinema landscape. That’s why I read, with particular interest, my Sound on Sight colleague Edgar Chaput’s recent pieces on The Flowers of War (“The Flowers of War Is an Uneven but Interesting Chinese Ww II Film” – posted 2/20/12) and The Front Line (The Front Line Rises to the Occasion to Overcome Its Familiarity” – 2/16/12) with such interest. An even more fun read was the back-and-forth between Edgar and Sos’s Michael Ryan over the latter (“The Sound on Sight Debate on Korea’s The Front Line” – 2/12/12), with Michael unimpressed because the movie had “…nothing new to add to the war genre,” and Edgar coming back with “…‘new’ is not always what a film must strive for. So long as it does well what it set out to do…...
- 2/28/2012
- by Bill Mesce
- SoundOnSight
Article by Jim Batts, Dana Jung, and Tom Stockman
We’re celebrating one of Hollywood’s great tough guys and one of our favorite actors September 6th at The Way Out Club in St. Louis with Super-8 Lee Marvin Movie Madness.
Lee Marvin rose through the ranks of movie stardom as a character actor, delivering mostly villainous supporting turns in many films before finally graduating to leading roles. Regardless of which side of the law he was on however, he projected a tough-as-nails intensity and a two-fisted integrity which elevated even the slightest material. Born February 19, 1924, in New York City, Marvin quit high school to enter the Marine Corps and while serving in the South Pacific was badly wounded in battle when a machine gun nest shot off part of his buttocks and severed his sciatic nerve. He spent a year in recovery before returning to the U.S. where...
We’re celebrating one of Hollywood’s great tough guys and one of our favorite actors September 6th at The Way Out Club in St. Louis with Super-8 Lee Marvin Movie Madness.
Lee Marvin rose through the ranks of movie stardom as a character actor, delivering mostly villainous supporting turns in many films before finally graduating to leading roles. Regardless of which side of the law he was on however, he projected a tough-as-nails intensity and a two-fisted integrity which elevated even the slightest material. Born February 19, 1924, in New York City, Marvin quit high school to enter the Marine Corps and while serving in the South Pacific was badly wounded in battle when a machine gun nest shot off part of his buttocks and severed his sciatic nerve. He spent a year in recovery before returning to the U.S. where...
- 8/30/2011
- by Movie Geeks
- WeAreMovieGeeks.com
The "Cat on a Hot Tin Roof" of the silver screen is a neutered one. The characters, scenario, and rough plot of this 1958 film are all identical to the 1955 Tennessee Williams play it is based on, but many of the finer details have been smudged, obscured, or removed altogether because of the restrictions of the Motion Picture Production Code of the time. Thus, the "Cat on a Hot Tin Roof" we can watch today (it's currently available on Netflix Watch Instantly) starring Paul Newman, Burl Ives, and Elizabeth Taylor at the absolute apex of her beauty, is certainly not the one Williams' would have preferred we watch. But while the omissions and changes make "Cat on a Hot Tin Roof" a less authentic reflection of the author's vision, they also make it a more authentic reflection of the author's times and that, in turn, gives the film a kind of an unusual power.
- 3/28/2011
- by Matt Singer
- ifc.com
Riot (1969) Direction: Buzz Kulik Cast: Jim Brown, Gene Hackman, Mike Kellin, Gerald S. O'Loughlin, Clifford David, Ben Carruthers, Frank Eyman Screenplay: James Poe; from Frank Elli's novel "A protest, a riot, I don't care what you call it," says Red (Gene Hackman), the mastermind of an audacious plan to break out of an Arizona prison in the 1969 release Riot, produced by William Castle, directed by Buzz Kulik (Brian's Song), and adapted by James Poe (They Shoot Horses, Don't They?) from Frank Elli's novel. [Note: Spoilers ahead.] Red and a small crew of fellow criminals — an ad hoc and suitably diverse bunch from the solitary confinement wing, including wrong-place-at-the-wrong-time protagonist Cully Briston (Jim Brown) — instigate an uprising among the other inmates, hoping to distract the authorities with their seemingly serious demands while they plot to sneak out through a tunnel under the prison auditorium. This line seems to betray a [...]...
- 3/2/2011
- by Dan Erdman
- Alt Film Guide
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