Vintage '87 (and what would have been nominated in an expanded Best Picture list?)
Friday, November 6, 2020 at 5:22PM The Supporting Actress Smackdown of 1987 is two weeks away so get your votes in! We've already had a lot of fun revisiting 1987 films but before we get to the main event let's get some general context of that year in showbiz history. Ready?
Great Big Box Office Hits:
The comedy Three Men and a Baby, the erotic thriller Fatal Attraction, and the Eddie Murphy action comedy sequel Beverly Hills Cop II, and the Robin Williams vehicle Good Morning Vietnam were easily the four biggest hits of the year, box-office wise. The enduringly popular Moonstruck wasn't quite in their league in tickets sold back then but still very popular, rounding out the top five. The other top ten hits of that year were the acclaimed mobs vs feds costume drama The Untouchables, the now arguably forgotten comedies The Secret of My Success and Stakeout, and the buddy action movie Lethal Weapon (which spawned a franchise).
The competition for #10 was down to just a $320,000 dollar difference with best-seller all-star adaptation The Witches of Eastwick just barely beating out teen favourite Dirty Dancing. But back in the 1980s adults actually went to the movies a lot rather than only obsessing over "peak TV"...
Oscar's Best Picture Nominees: Of those 11 box office smashes of '87, Oscar cherry picked Moonstruck (6 nominations) and Fatal Attraction (6 nominations) as the cream of the crop and included them in the Best Picture race (correct choices).The beloved Broadcast News (7 nominations) and the costume drama historical epic The Last Emperor (9 nominations) were also popular with Oscar voters (and ticket buyers, too, it should be noted)...
The only non-mainstream title to make the lineup was Britain's arthouse success Hope & Glory (5 nominations). On Oscar night The Last Emperor made a rare clean sweep, winning every single Oscar it was up for.
What would have been nominated in a field of 10 if the Expanded Lineup had existed? We'll let you decide in the comments but here, we'd argue, are the 10 most prominent contenders for those 5 "phantom" slots.
AU REVOIR LES ENFANTS (2 nominations but it lost foreign film)
CRY FREEDOM (3 nominations)
THE DEAD (2 nominations)
EMPIRE OF THE SUN (6 nominations but all 'below the line')
GOOD MORNING VIETNAM (1 nomination and a huge hit)
MY LIFE AS A DOG (2 significant nominations and an arthouse hit)
RADIO DAYS (2 nominations)
ROBOCOP (2 nominations plus a special achievement Oscar)
WALL STREET (1 nomination but it won Best Actor)
THE UNTOUCHABLES (4 nominations and it won Supporting Actor)
WHICH FILMS DO YOU THINK IT WOULD HAVE BEEN?
Films That Endured (in some way) That Were Neither Oscar Nominees Nor Blockbusters:
Raising Arizona, The Lost Boys, Adventures in Babysitting, Some Kind of Wonderful, Overboard, No Way Out, Withnail and I, Law of Desire, and Ishtar
Nathaniel's Top Dozen of 1987
- Moonstruck (Jewison, US)
- Law of Desire (Almodóvar, Spain)
- Jean de Florette / Manon of the Spring (Berri, France)
- Raising Arizona (Coen, US)
- Broadcast News (Brooks, US)
- Roxanne (Schepisi, US)
- Fatal Attraction (Lyne, US)
- Housekeeping (Forsyth, US)
- Maurice (Ivory, UK)
- The Dead (Huston, UK/Ireland)
- Princess Bride (Reiner, US)
- Near Dark (Bigelow, US)
Only the top two I've seen in recent years so I can't really vouch for this list as is... but that's a combo of what I love now and what I obsessed over in the late 80s...
Magazine Covers for Context...
(You can click to enlarge)
Frequent cover stars included: Bette Midler, Diane Keaton, anybody related to The Cosby Show but particularly Lisa Bonet, Charlie Sheen (hot off of Platoon), the Fatal Attraction stars, Madonna, Michael J Fox, Steve Martin, and Harry Hamlin. Other cover subjects pictured: Alf, River Phoenix, Anjelica Huston, The Last Emperor, The Golden Girls, David Bowie, Pee Wee Herman, Faye Dunaway, Woody Allen, Jon Bon Jovi, Dennnis Quaid, Vanna White, John Huston, Donald Trump, and William Hurt.
Mix Tape (Select Hits of '87)
"Walk Like an Egyptian" by the Bangles, "Alone" by Heart, "Never Gonna Give You Up" by Rick Astley, "La Bamba" by Los Lobos, "Causing a Commotion" and "Who's That Girl" by Madonna, "I Wanna Dance with Somebody" and "Didn't We Almost Have it All" by Whitney Houston, 'Nothing's Gonna Stop Us Now" by Starship, "You Keep Me Hangin' On" by Kim Wilde, "Livin' on a Prayer" and "Wanted Dead or Alive" by Bon Jovi, "With or Without You" and "I Still Haven't Found What I'm Looking For" by U2, "I Want Your Sex" by George Michael, "I Knew You Were Waiting (For Me)" by Aretha Franklin and George Michael, "Looking for a New Love" by Jody Watley, "It's a Sin" by the Pet Shop Boys, "Big Time" by Peter Gabriel, "Touch Me" by Samantha Fox, "Change of Heart" by Cyndi Lauper, "Little Lies" and "Big Love" by Fleetwood Mac, and "Here I Go Again" by Whitesnake.
During this year Aretha Franklin became the first woman inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, Madonna's hugely successful stadium tour "Who's That Girl" stretched from June to September earning buckets of money, and U2 became rock superstars with their fourth album "The Joshua Tree". George Michael's "Faith" is released in the fall and will dominate 1988 eventually winning the Grammy for Album of the Year.
TV: Fox TV made its PrimeTime debut meaning there were suddenly four networks -- this was a major development that would lead to the WB, CW, and so on... as there'd been only 3 networks for decades. The Golden Girls (season 2) and LA Law (season 1) were tops at the Emmy Awards. Acting Emmys went to Michael J Fox, Rue McClanahan, Bruce Willis, Sharon Gless, James Woods, and Gena Rowlands (for leading players) and John Laroquette, Jackée Harry, John Hillerman, Bonnie Bartlett, Dabney Coleman, and Piper Laurie (for supporting performances). In the case of the Golden Girls the Emmy history is crazy, like the entire voting body was thinking in unison and not splitting the votes. Season 1 Betty White wins. Season 2 Rue wins. and Season 3 both Bea Arthur and Estelle Getty win. Each of the actresses won only once during the 7 seasons.
1987 was the end for Hill Street Blues and it went out with a whimper at the Emmys despite dominating for several years before then. Other shows that aired their last episodes in 1987 were Fame, Scarecrow and Mrs King, The A Team, The Love Boat, Remington Steele, Silver Spoons, and Fraggle Rock. Famous shows premiering that fall were Full House, Star Trek: Next Generation, Thirtysomething, Beauty and the Beast, and Cosby Show spin-off A Different World
Literature: Peter Parker married Mary Jane Watson, a major event in Spider-Man comic books. In the comics book world the critical concensus swarmed around the new graphic novel Watchmen by Alan Moore and Dave Gibbons. Other acclaimed titles at the time were Swamp Thing, Cerebus, and Batman (with Frank Miller's Dark Knight Returns run). Major new novels published that year that will become movies included but were not limited to: Toni Morrison's Beloved (which will win the Pulitzer the following year), Tom Clancy's Patriot Games, Bret Easton Ellis' Rules of Attraction, James Ellroy's Black Dahlia, Stephen King's Misery, and Scott Turrow's Presumed Innocent, and Tom Wolfe's instant sensation bestseller Bonfire of the Vanities. Hollywood paid Wolfe $750,000 for the film rights but the movie (in 1990) flopped.
Stage: August Wilson's Fences (which wins the Pulitzer for Drama) and blockbuster success Les Misérable dominated the Tony Awards winning Best Play and Best Musical respectively. Other nominees that year were (musicals) Rags, Starlight Express, Me and My Girl, and (plays) Broadway Bound, Coastal Disturbances, Les Liaisons Dangereuses (the latter was very quickly adapted for the movies). Off-Broadway Steel Magnolias debuted and like Dangerous Liaisons immediately went into production for a film version.
Showtunes to Go: "Do You hear The People Sing?" from Les Miserables. I was SOOOO obsessed when I was young. It was my favourite stage musical prior to moving to NYC and seeing lots of them. Still have a soft spot for its earnest epicness.
Reader Comments (37)
Funny that Donald Trump cover.
Broadcast News is damn near perfect. I love when mainstream fare doubles as nuanced, riveting female character studies. Holly Hunter is sublime.
Nat: I THINK you're missing Evil Dead 2 in that "neither Oscar Nominee nor Blockbuster" enduring movies list.
Empire of the Sun, Untouchables and Radio Days for the “phantom” slots. All great movies, plus the masterpiece Au Revoir Les Enfants for a more “europpean” touch.
Of films already nominated for at least one Oscar, my picks to extend the BP list:
My Life as a Dog
Maurice
Au Revoir Les Enfants
The Untouchables
The Dead
Beyond My Life as a Dog and Empire of the Sun, I think it's a coin flip as to the other 3 nominees. I would like to see The Dead, Housekeeping and Robocop as the other three, but I don't see their chances any better than at least a half dozen other choices. My Life as a Dog is by far my personal favorite film of the year and Hope and Glory is by far my second favorite.
My favorite albums: Pet Shop Boys, Actually; Prince, Sign 'O' the Times; Marianne Faithfull, Strange Weather; Smiths, "Louder Than Bombs"; Professor Longhair, House Party New Orleans Style; Sonny Sharrock Band, Seize the Rainbow; Husker Du, Warehouse: Songs and Stories; Chris Isaak, Chris Isaak; Jesus & Mary Chain, Darklands; Sly & Robbie, Rhythm Killers
Favorite singles: M/A/R/R/S, Pump Up the Volume; Pet Shop Boys, It's a Sin; Company B, Fascinated; Bon Jovi, Livin' on a Prayer' REM, The One I Love; Poison, Talk Dirty to Me; Men Without Hats, Pop Goes the World; Suzanne Vega, Luka; Prince w/Sheena Easton, U Got the Look; Psychedelic Furs, Heartbreak Beat
... and last but not least My Oscar ballot
Picture: Hope and Glory
Actor: Jack Nicholson
Actress: Holly Hunter
S. Actor: Albert Brooks
S. Actress: Norma Aleandro
Director: Lasse Hallstrom
O. Screenplay: Hope and Glory
A. Screenplay: My Life as a Dog
Foreign Film: Babette's Feast
You hint at it with Willis' Emmy win but I can't think of 1987 without thinking of the height (and crash) of the series Moonlighting. It was EVERYTHING in 86-87 with the biggest episodes in the Spring, a soundtrack album and surely magazine covers everywhere for the lead duo...and then it was self-destructing by the end of the year.
Love your dozen personal fans, Nat. This was an interesting year. As I recall, many of the non-nominated films had some sort of support, so it would have been interesting to see which ones made it into an expanded lineup. I would say My Life as a Dog and The Untouchables were next and perhaps Empire of the Sun. But Oscar loves little films that surprise everyone and beco.e big moneymakers, so I wonder if Dirty Dancing would have squeaked in. That film built on word of mouth and was around for quite a while.
My favorites of that year:
LAW OF DESIRE
SOMEONE TO LOVE(Henry Jaglom bringing out the best in a wonderful cast
including Sally Kellerman and Orson Welles)
RADIO DAYS
MAURICE
DJANGO STRIKES AGAIN(Franco Nero sequel to his 60's spaghetti classic "Django"
OPERA(Dario Argento)
A CHINESE GHOST STORY
I swooned over performances from some other '87 films:
Sally Kirkland "Anna", Tom Waites "Ironweed", Esai Morales "La Bamba" and Lillian Gish "Whales of August"
Always wished that the Bette Davis role in "Whales" had gone to Sylvia Sidney. She had the requisite legendary star status to play off Gish and (unlike Davis, sadly hampered by
health issues) was still in impressive control of her gifts.
Prince Sign O' the Times was the best album that year. Funny considering that both Pink Floyd and David Bowie released albums that same year that hadn't aged well but fortunately have managed to find new life in their remixed/re-recorded versions.
I would agree that A Momentary Lapse of Reason is the band's worst album mainly because of the 80s production and lack of involvement from drummer Nick Mason (who mainly did sound effects on the album) and keyboardist Richard Wright (was unable to retain full-member status due to legal issues) at the time. The new version of the album is a major improvement mainly because David Gilmour and one of the album's original engineers stripped away many of the 80s aesthetics while Mason provided new drum tracks of his own while they also had some soundboard recordings from the late Richard Wright on Hammond organ as it added a warmth to the songs that I felt the songs lacked.
Never Let Me Down is often considered to be David Bowie's worst album (wrong, that's Tonight) as there were some valid reasons why Bowie didn't like it mainly because he checked out during the production aspect of the album and he admitted it was his fault. After the Glass Spider tour (a tour that was ahead of its time), Bowie wanted re-do the entire album but future collaborator Reeves Gabrels told him it was too soon. Then in 2008 for a compilation album, Bowie and one of his mixing engineers in Mario McNulty did a new mix of the song "Time Will Crawl" where they longtime collaborator Sterling Campbell provide new drum tracks and a more stripped down sound. That became the basis for the new version that was made a decade later (two years after Bowie's death) with notes from Bowie in what he wanted. The new version of Never Let Me Down is a vast improvement as it showcased exactly why Bowie was such a great songwriter. Those songs got lost in the production and already, songs like "Zeroes", "Beat of Your Drum", "Glass Spider", and a cover of Iggy Pop's "Bang Bang" have become stuck in my head as part of that array of songs by Bowie that I love.
Oh, and here's my list of the best films of 1987.
No mention of the debut of FOX, with Married... with Children, The Tracey Ullman Show, and 21 Jump Street?
I mean, I saw that you mentioned FOX, but the groundbreaking programming it put on should be noted too!
This was a really interesting year! I've seen more 1987 movies than I thought I did, given that I didn't become a serious movie buff until the mid-90s. But my parents were/are movie lovers too, and I saw almost everything with them: Moonstruck, The Last Emperor, Empire of the Sun, Hope and Glory, Babette's Feast, Jean de Florette/Manon of the Spring, My Life as a Dog, all of which they loved, and I did too, at least at the time. (I know they also liked Fatal Attraction, though they wouldn't let me see it with them - way too "adult" for me, I guess.)
As for the few 1987 movies I didn't see with my parents, they're still iconic for me, too: The Princess Bride, which I think is a touchstone for anyone who grew up in the '80s and '90s; Dirty Dancing, which I saw at a birthday party - I think it was a slumber party? I still remember the host's mom staying up to watch it with us and fast forward through any age-"inappropriate" content. Curiously, she did not fast forward through any of the abortion storyline, although I was too young to understand that part anyway.
For some reason I remember watching a bunch of ads/previews for The Secret of My Success, even though I never actually watched the movie.
Saw The Untouchables, Wall Street and Good Morning, Vietnam much later in life, and probably enjoyed them more as a result. Definitely not kiddie fare.
pleased to meet you, holly hunter: broadcast news and raising arizona was a hell of a introduction
my winners in '87 were broadcast news, joel coen, holly hunter, christian bale, olympia dukakis, albert brooks, broadcast news [original] and prick up your ears [adapted]
Crazy that Dirty Dancing didn't made the Top 10, right?
“Funny” is not the word I would use, but it also starts with “Fu..."
Between that cover and the one with Close/Douglas looking like they borrowed his orange makeup, I'm flabbergasted. Prince and the Sign ☮️ the Times tour really were the only good things about that year, I don't care what anyone else says.
After Terms of Endearment, James L. Brooks wrote Broadcast News for Debra Winger. And then Winger withdrew due to pregnancy. How would Oscar history and film careers be different had Holly Hunter not been a last minute sub?
#1 for me is Fatal Attraction (Close Call for Douglas) - love their 2 magazine covers!
Holly Hunter is 100% perfect in Broadcast News.
Also 1987 - Joe Biden launches his first presidential campaign.
As to the expanded nominees list - Empire of the Sun, Radio Days, The Untouchables, The Dead, Good Morning Vietnam.
the other 5 nominees would be IMO:
My life as a dog
Empire of the sun
The Untouchables
Cry freedom
The Dead
Nathaniel, your compilation of magazine covers is terrific, I remember owning a number of these.
Looking back it was a very good year. Everyone owned a VCR by then and what you didn't see in the theatre you caught up with on weekends at the rental store.
I just want to give a shout out to "Au Revoir Les Enfants" and "Hope and Glory" for being terrific smaller releases that are very worthwhile if you get a chance to see them.
Can't wait for this smackdown.
Just for the record: Stakeout may be a forgotten comedy, but I'd sit through it ten more times before I'd subject myself to Three Men and a Baby again. Yes, things like Broadcast News could be box-office successes then, but the 80s were when dreck started to top the charts to an inordinate degree.
Not a fan of Fatal Atttraction, either, though Glenn was impressive. Maybe I'd have liked it better with its original, more noir-y/less violent ending. The "Kill the bitch!" finale was disgusting to me. I was pretty appalled when the film not only got top Oscar nominations, Lyne actually got the best director nod over the far-more-deserving J.L.Brooks.
I’m gonna guess
1. Cry Freedom (making it a respectable 4 nods)
2. Empire of the Sun (If The War Horse squeaked in under the expanded field, this one would have, too.)
3. My Life as a Dog (Harvey Weinstein, who wasn’t yet quite an Oscar force, would have still managed to push it in, and it was hugely popular.)
4. The Dead (it got that screenplay nod and had/has its fervent fans--where's the deluxe Criterion Blu-ray?)
5. The Untouchables (making it a respectable 5)
What was your first election as an active voter? Clinton 96?
I am going to be harsh, but Antonio Banderas in Law of Desire should have won Supporting Actor... yes, over Sean Connery.
Fix your house first, Jesús! Law of Desire got ZERO Goya nominations.
LAW OF DESIRE getting a nod (deserved as it may have been) would be like SYNONYMS getting one last year, a jaw-dropping surprise. It barely made a ripple outside of cineaste (and queer filmgoer) circles.
I just discovered that Therese, my #1 film of 1986, was eligible in 1987. It's a stunning, very moving biography of a saint told in a brilliant tableau style. It won 4 Cesars, including Best Film. I found it very touching, and I'm not even Catholic! Definitely in my Top 5 for 1987-eligible films.
I was talking about some poetic justice, obviously. Law of Desire wasn't ever going to get close anywhere Oscar night... and it was too queer even for Goya. But Banderas was fantastic in this one (as in Tie Me Up, Tie Me Down, The Skin I live in and Pain & Glory), the first of his Almodovar poker of Oscar-worthy performances. 4th time was the charm.
My Best Picture Nominees
Fatal Atraction
Broadcast News
The Whales of August
Moonstruck
Wish You Were Here
What a fantastic year at the movies, on par with 1939 as far as pure entertainment. I have seen "Dirty Dancing" twice this year alone. "Broadcast News" remains one of the landmark smart comedies, with Hunter robbed of an Oscar for a peak performance. As far as "Maurice," it is entrenched in my top three gay movies of all time along with "Brokeback" and "CMBYN."
Radio Days is the best film of 1987 and was not even nominated - only had nominations for screenplay and art direction). Better than the five nominees and even if there were five more places, I'm sure It wouldn't be among them.
💗💗💗💗💗 Alf 💗💗💗💗💗
Here's where I have would've gone:
https://humanizingthevacuum.wordpress.com/2016/09/21/best-films-of-1987-and-1988/
Bill Cosby was National Hero. Who could have imagined how this story would end?
Seeing the loathsome Cosby and Trump celebrated on magazine covers is a haunting image.
'87 was an action-packed year, and no film better reflected that than Fatal Attraction. It's hard to overstate what a pop culture phenomenon it was, and the original ending where—33-year-old spoiler alert!—Alex Forrest slits her own throat with the butcher knife Dan Gallagher had seized from her (thus getting his fingerprints on it) is much, MUCH more powerful, poetic and fitting. Seriously, go seek out the director's cut, which is masterpiece-level filmmaking.
1-2-3. Glenn Close, Holly Hunter, Cherilyn Sarkisian (neck-and-neck-and-neck)
4. Sally Kirkland (also excellent)
5. Mary Louise Streep (meh)