Reader Ranking: Smackdown '68
Sunday, October 6, 2013 at 9:18AM I'm glad you all seem to be enjoying the newly revived Supporting Actress Smackdown feature. So far we've covered 1952 and 1980 and we've added your rankings as part of the determining factor on who wins! The Year of the Month (awkward title!) for October is "1968". Send me your email ballot before October 28th with "1968" as the subject line, ranking only the supporting actress nominees you've seen with a grade from 1 to 5 hearts as we do for each... If you haven't yet seen them get to renting! Some of these are must-sees, I promise, and not just for these nominated women.
We'll be talking about Faces and The Heart is a Lonely Hunter both of which I've never seen. The other three supporting actress nominees are from films I am gaga crazy for so I'm excited to revisit Rosemary's Baby, Rachel Rachel and Funny Girl. Join me!
REQUESTS? What do you think would improve the Smackdown? And any favorites from 1968? I recently revisited 2001: A Space Odyssey and we're always down for The Planet of the Apes (and so is TV's Mad Men) but what else? Last month I ran out of time to talk about extra films for 1980 but that won't stop me from asking again. Which off-Smackdown '68 films are you most interested in?
Reader Comments (18)
I've voted for Isadora (because I know so little about it, and confusingly it exists in two versions) and Romeo and Juliet (because I wasn't as taken with it when I tried it a few years ago and I'd like to hear more views).
In my humble opinion, the best film of 1968 (out of the ones I've seen) is Where Eagles Dare, with Rosemary's Baby a close second!
write in vote for discussion: <I>the killing of sister george (beryl reid, coral browne, susannah york - it's an actressexual's dream)
I voted for Isadora and Star!
I enter several-month-long phases where I decide to track down and watch every significant movie made from a particular year. I had a 1968 phase earlier this year, and it was wonderful. Lots of amazing discoveries.
My write-in votes for TFE discussion: Petulia and Memories of Underdevelopment.
But it would also be great to read about some of the dozens of unfairly obscure yet mindblowing films from this year: e.g. Welles' The Immortal Story (with Jeanne Moreau), Herzog's Signs of Life (which used to be a staple of all-time Top 10 lists before mysteriously disappearing from every film discussion ever), In the Year of the Pig (a stunningly crafted, rousing Vietnam doc which is such an amazing capsule of the period), Naked Childhood, The Colour of Pomegranates, The Great Silence (a spaghetti Western with Trintignant and Klaus Kinski set in snowy Utah, about a Mormon massacre... because why not), The Swimmer (with Lancaster - very dated, but also weirdly absorbing) etc etc.
Meantime however, I'm very glad Faces will be part of the discussion, and in particular Carlin's [incandescent] performance. And I actually honestly even love "Oliver".
It was a great year.
can we make an exception and have a best actress smackdown? I just want to talk about Katherine Hepburn in Lion in Winter!!!
I totally second Goran on Petulia and In the Year of the Pig in particular, and on 1968 being a sensational year for movies, despite/because of/as part of what an insane year it was in so many other ways, socially and politically. Is literally everything about 1968 interesting? It's possible.
I voted for Oliver!, because even musicals fans don't seem to talk about it much, and Night of the Living Dead, because it's horror month and because it's completely amazing.
I'd also throw in these extra rental suggestions:
Shame, one of Bergman's very best movies, with an amazing mid-film swerve in genre
Mandabi, a fantastic intro to West African cinema or to Sembene in particular
Stolen Kisses, a completely winning Truffaut film and Oscar nominee (I think?)
Flesh, a highpoint in eroticized masculinity and a key Private Idaho forerunner
The Fixer, an ambitious movie Oscar-nominated for always-great Alan Bates
Salesman, an important and engaging documentary about traveling Bible salesmen
Pretty Poison, an amazing high-school black comedy that I think Nathaniel would love, with Tuesday Weld and Anthony Perkins
Why not mention Funny Girl?
I had to vote for Finian's Rainbow (Fred Astaire's final movie musical after a decade-long hiatus and one of the first plays I was in as a kid—I know every note of every song) and Star! (because it's considered a Julie Andrews failure despite seven Oscar nominations).
FACES!!!!
Can you hear the fireworks? That's me
Jair -- funny girl is part of the smackdown. read the whole post ;)
Nick - great suggestions. god i wish i had a ton of free time.
I finally saw Rosemary's Baby for the first time recently (very very very overdue) and I LOVED it. Truly terrific film.
CHITTY CHITTY BANG BANG
Dang, Boom! is hard to find even online anymore let alone in a domestic viewing disc package. I'd love to explore that one.
But Night of the Living Dead (I feel in the minority in loathing The Walking Dead and finding it lacks what Romero has going on in this and his other zombie movies) and The Lion in Winter are my choices. I also like Oliver! and actually don't hate it as a Best Picture winner. We need more directors with the scope as Reed's.
Nick,
I love Tuesday Weld in "Pretty Poison."
I think she should have been nominated, as should have been Mia Farrow.
And am I alone in loving Kim Hunter in "Planet of the Apes?"
No, Patryk, you are not.
Indeed, as Nick says, people don't speak very much of OLIVER but I don't like it much so it doesn't bother me much. It's weird, for such an unabashed musical fans that three of them lucky enough to win Oscar's top prizes are ones which I generally do not care for - OLIVER, GIGI and AN AMERICAN IN PARIS. OLIVER's the best, probably, GIGI is I'd argue the worst but still Shani Wallis is (mostly) lovely in the former.
It's curious about THE LION IN WINTER, a movie I think is firing on all fronts, has such a not exemplary supporting actress candidate. I wonder how close Jane Merrow's Golden Globe nominated performance came to Oscar. I've grown to appreciate its quietness, but she's the collateral damage that happens watching O'Toole and Hepburn tear at each other. Distinctly at sea in many parts.
(My favourite bit of trivia from the 1968 ceremony is not the Best Actress tie but Gordon and Hepburn winning when both were such - at the time at least, I think - such close friends.)
can i just say that i'm super excited about hte reader ranking portion of this smackdown? so far the ballots i've received are wildly different in terms of opinions... which can only be a good sign.
Of the movies up for discussion, I choose Star! and Finian's Rainbow. The latter because I adore Petula Clark, and the story bears a distinct perspective from the political bent of the times I find pretty fascinating.
Star! is depressingly undervalued. The production values are terrific, the orchestrations are impeccable, and the movie is a stunning, once-in-a-lifetime showcase for Julie Andrews' immeasurable talents. I think she does more than 20 numbers, some of which require more physicality than a whole bevy of chorus boys. A great, misunderstood work.