As we keep promising you, the Supporting Actress Smackdowns are much more fun if you play along at home. The final Smackdown of the year is on 1987 and it'll be a goodie because two of the movies (Moonstruck & Fatal Attraction) are already bonafide classics. We've already told you where to watch all five of those films but don't forget to send in your votes (1 to 5 hearts for each lady) by November 17th.
If you REALLY wanna dive into the cinema of 1987 before the event, here is a list of movies that are currently streaming and where.
Far more titles (unlisted) are available through Hoopla if you have that through your local library but we don't have that in NYC so we can't look it up for you. Let us know in the comments which 1987 titles from this list (or otherwise) that you'd most like us to cover at TFE...
1987 OSCAR-NOMINATED TITLES STREAMING FOR FREE
(provided you have the corresponding services of course)
Au Revoir Les Enfants
AU REVOIR LES ENFANTS (Louis Malle, France) on the Criterion Channel
2 Nominations: International Feature and Screenplay
It was the early frontrunner for International Feature but Denmark intervened...
BABETTE'S FEAST (Gabriel Axel, Denmark) on the Criterion Channel
1 Nomination/Win: International Feature
This one wasn't released in the US until 1988 two weeks after its Oscar nomination so it was only eligible for this category. It was an arthouse hit.
Denzel's first nomination!
CRY FREEDOM (Richard Attenborough, UK) on Starz
3 Nominations: Supporting Actor, Score, Song
An Apartheid drama and the first of Denzel Washington's 8 acting nominations.
DARK EYES (Nikita Mikhalkov, Italy) on Amazon Prime
1 Nomination: Best Actor
Marcello Mastroianni holds the distinction of being the only actor ever nominated three times for non-English language acting. All three of his nominated performances were performed in Italian. (Sophia Loren, Liv Ullman, Isabelle Adjani, Marion Cotillard, and Javier Bardem each have two nominations for non-English language performances)
Fatal Attraction won't be ignored, Dan
FATAL ATTRACTION (Adrian Lyne, US) on Amazon Prime
6 Nominations: Picture, Director, Actress, Supporting Actress, Adapted Screenplay, Film Editing
GABY: A TRUE STORY (Luis Mandoki, US/Mexico) on YouTube
1 Nomination: Best Supporting Actress
It's such a disgrace that Oscar nominations don't ensure continued availability. This disability drama starring Liv Ullman, Robert Loggia and nominee Norma Aleandro is only available in bootleg form.
GEORGE & ROSEMARY (Alison Snowden, US) on Amazon Prime
1 Nomination: Animated Short
HARRY AND THE HENDERSONS (William Dear, US) on Cinemax
1 Nomination/Win: Best Makeup.
IRONWEED (Hector Babenco, US) on Pluto TV (with ads)
2 Nominations: Best Actor and Best Actress
We've previously written about Meryl Streep's performance.
John Lone in "The Last Emperor"
THE LAST EMPEROR (Bernardo Bertolucci, UK) on HBOMax
9 Nominations/Wins: a clean sweep at the Oscars including Best Picture.
Earlier this year, Cláudio looked at John Lone's lead performance.
MAURICE (James Ivory, UK) on Criterion Channel
1 Nomination: Costume Design.
Cláudio and I will be talking about the Costume Design category as we did for 1938. Nathaniel previously interviewed James Ivory, a personal hero, in 2018 for Call Me By Your Name's Oscar run.
MY LIFE AS A DOG (Lasse Hallstrom, Sweden) on HBO Max and the Criterion Channel
2 Nominations: Director and Adapted Screenplay nominations.
Mysteriously not submitted by Sweden. This became a sleeper arthouse hit upon release.
PATHFINDER (Nils Gaup, Norway) on the Criterion Channel
1 Nomination: International Feature
PREDATOR (John McTiernan, US) on Starz
1 Nomination: Visual Effects
PRINCESS BRIDE (Rob Reiner, US) on Disney+
1 Nomination: Original Song
ROBOCOP (Paul Verhoeven) on Starz
2 Nominations: Sound and Film Editing. Plus a Special Oscar for Sound Effects Editing
THROW MOMMA FROM THE TRAIN (Danny DeVito, US) on Roku with ads
1 nomination: Supporting Actress
Taxi's Emmy winning supporting player, Danny DeVito, made his directorial debut here. He had an even bigger hit two years later with The War of the Roses.
THE UNTOUCHABLES (Brian de Palma, US) on Starz
4 Nominations: Supporting Actor, Art Direction, Costume Design, Original Score
YOUR FACE (Bill Plympton, US) on the Criterion Channel
1 Nominations: Animated Short
OSCAR NOMINATED FILMS THAT YOU HAVE TO RENT TO WATCH
(Unless you can find them on Hoopla which we don't have here in NYC)
Beverly Hills Cop II, Broadcast News, The Dead, Dirty Dancing, Empire of the Sun, Full Metal Jacket, Good Morning Vietnam, Hope and Glory, Lethal Weapon, Mannequin, Matewan, Moonstruck, Innerspace, Radio Days, Street Smart, Wall Street, Whales of August, and The Witches of Eastwick
OSCAR NOMINATED FILMS WE CAN'T FIND EVEN TO BUY OR RENT
Anna (US), Course Completed (Spain), La Famiglia (Italy)
OTHER 1987 TITLES TO STREAM FOR FREE
HBO MAX
Secret of My Success, forgotten now but a huge hit in '87
- Adventures in Babysitting (Chris Columnus, US) Elisabeth Shue stars
- Can't Buy Me Love (Steve Rash, US) Patrick Dempsey stars
- The Secret of My Success (Herbert Ross, US) Michael J Fox stars
- Withnail and I (Bruce Robinson, UK) Richard E Grant's breakout role!
CRITERION CHANNEL
- Barrios Altos (Luis Garcia Berlanga, Spain)
- Border Radio (Allison Anders, etc..., US)
- Family Viewing (Atom Egoyan, Canada)
- Five Corners (Tony Bill, US)
- Gap Toothed Woman (Les Blank, US)
- Geometria (Guillermo del Toro, Mexico)
- Hollywood Shuffle (Robert Townsend, US)
- I Was a Teenage Zombie (John Elias Michalakis, US)
- Islands (Albert & David Maysles, etc..., US)
- L.A. Woman (Aki Kaurismaki, Finland)
- Masques (Claude Chabrol, France)
- Princess from the Moon (Kon Ichawa, Japan)
- Rehearsals for Extinct Anatomies (the Quay Brothers, UK)
- The Short and Curlies (Mike Leigh, UK)
- A Taxing Woman (Juzo Itami, Japan)
- Thru the Wire (Aki Kaurismaki, Finland)
- Where is the Friend's House (Abbas Kiarostami, Iran)
- Wings of Desire (Wim Wenders, Germany) - GERMANY'S OSCAR SUBMISSION THAT YEAR
DISNEY +
- Benji the Hunted (Joe Camp, US)
- Three Men and a Baby (Leonard Nimoy, US)
1987's #1 hit (Fatal Attraction was runner-up for top of the box office honors)
AMAZON PRIME
As usual they mostly have B movies available though we've highlighted the most notable films they're streaming...
The very big sex appeal of The Big Easy
- Allan Quartermain and the Lost City of Gold (Gary Nelson, US)
Richard Chamberlain and Sharon Stone starred in this Indiana Jones knockoff - Bad Taste (Peter Jackson, New Zealand)
- Bedroom Window (Curtis Hanson, US) Steve Gutternberg and Eliabeth McGovern star
- The Believers (John Schlesinger, US) Martin Sheen stars
- Bloody Wednesday (Mark G Gilhuis)
- The Big Easy (Jim McBride, US)
Dennis Quaid and Ellen Barkin were both delicious in this crime drama with a then much ballyhooed sex scene. - A Chinese Ghost Story (Ching Siu-Tung, Hong Kong)
Much beloved late film star Leslie Cheung headlined this action fantasy - Cobra Verde (Werner Herzog)
This is the last of the five film infamous Werner Herzog / Klaus Kinski partnership. The director and his muse were constantly in volatile sanity-wrecking conflict on the sets of their movies which stretched from 1972's Aguirre The Wrath of God through this film. Kinski died four years later but Herzog (who was 16 years younger) is still going strong at 78 years of age. - Dead of Winter (Arthur Penn, US)
Mary Steenburgen stars in this thriller - Escape from Sobibor (Jack Gold, US)
Rutger Hauer and Alan Arkin star in this Golden Globe winning and Emmy nominated TV movie about a concentration camp escape in 1943 - Fatal Beauty (Tom Holland, US) Whoopi Goldberg stars
- Five Corners (Tony Bill) Jodie Foster and Tim Robbins star
- From the Hip (Bob Clark) Judd Nelson stars
- Gunfighters (Clay Borris) George Kennedy stars
- Hamburger Hill (John Irvin) Don Cheadle and Steven Weber star
- Hidden City (Stephen Poliakoff, UK) Charles Dance stars
- Hiding Out (Bob Giraldi) Jon Cryer stars
- Hollywood Shuffle (Robert Townsend, US)
Baby Jason Bateman in "Teen Wolf Too"
- I Was a Teenage Zombie (John Elias Michalakis, US)
- Intimate Betrayal (Robert Michael Lewis, US) James Brolin stars
- Lily C.A.T. (Hisayuki Toriumi, Japan) anime
- On the Line (Jose Luis Borau) David Carradine and Victoria Abril star
- Over the Top (Menahem Golan) Sylvester Stallone stars
- A Prayer for the Dying (Mike Hodges) Mickey Rourke stars
- Running Man (Paul Michael Glaser), Arnold Schwarzenegger stars
- Slam Dance (Wayne Wang) Tom Hulce stars
- Some Kind of Wonderful (Howard Deutch, US)
Eric Stolz and Mary Stuart Masterson star in this John Hughes written movie that has its obsessive fans though I personally never liked it that much despite definitely being in the target audience. - Teen Wolf Too (Christopher Leitch, US)
Jason Bateman stars in this werewolf comedy sequel to a Michael J Fox hit. The MTV series Teen Wolf bore the title of this franchise but had virtually nothing in common with it. - Witchboard (Kevin Tenney, US)
- You Talkin' To Me (Charles Winkler, US)
- Zombie High (Ron Link, US) Virginia Madsen stars