Best Actress '74 @50: The Greatest of All Time

by Cláudio Alves

Last weekend, on Mother's Day of all days, Alice Doesn't Live Here Anymore celebrated its 50th anniversary. The occasion calls for some acknowledgment here at The Film Experience, where actressexual Oscar obsessives abound. After all, Ellen Burstyn won the Best Actress race at the 47th Academy Awards, triumphing over what could be described as the greatest lineup in the category's history. Along with the eventual victor, AMPAS nominated Diahann Carroll in Claudine, Faye Dunaway in Chinatown, Valerie Perrine in Lenny, and Gena Rowlands in A Woman Under the Influence. They might have also nominated Liv Ullmann in Scenes from a Marriage had she been eligible, but we'll get there in time. 

As Faye Dunaway presents a new doc at Cannes, the stars have aligned to relitigate the 1974 Best Actress race. Are you ready? Let's go…

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Almost There: Gene Hackman in "The Conversation"

by Cláudio Alves

This past weekend, Francis Ford Coppola's The Conversation celebrated its 50th anniversary. Originally released in 1974, the film represents the peak of the paranoia thriller craze of that decade, encapsulating a cultural zeitgeist along with the creative zeal of New Hollywood. And yet, it's usually overshadowed by the director's other release that year – Best Picture winner The Godfather Part II. Thankfully, at The Film Experience, we've regularly showered praise on The Conversation, whether in Cannes at Home musings or Hit Me With Your Best Shot analysis. That said, one element remains under-discussed, a facet of this masterpiece so essential that, without it, the entire project would fall apart. It's Gene Hackman, of course…

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Almost There: Robert De Niro in "Mean Streets"

by Cláudio Alves

Fifty years ago today, the 46th Academy Awards took place in Los Angeles. It was a starry night, as Oscar nights often are, and The Sting would end the ceremony as its big winner. The Exorcist and The Way We Were also did well for themselves, illustrating a push-and-pull between modernity and tradition as the industry tried to reckon with the nascent Old Hollywood movement within its ranks. Indeed, that same year, an up-and-coming New York-based filmmaker had premiered his third feature to great acclaim. Amid its cast was an actor who'd become one of his most important collaborators, a creative partnership that lasts till today and has shaped a good part of American film history.

Mean Streets was also the first time Robert De Niro entered the Oscar conversation. Critics singled him out for his turn as Scorsese's Johnny Boy…

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Queering the Oscars: Best Actor "A Special Day"

by Eric Blume

Marcello Mastroianni’s 1977 Best Actor Oscar nomination for Ettore Scola’s film A Special Day was one of the first examples of a straight actors being recognized for playing a gay role.  Prior to that, we’d only had Peter Finch in Sunday Bloody Sunday and Al Pacino in Dog Day Afternoon, and neither of those actors had such an entrenched persona of the “macho lover” as did Mastroianni.   

A Special Day gives us not just one Italian cinema icon playing against type, but two...

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Queering the Oscars: Chris Sarandon in "Dog Day Afternoon"

For Pride Month Team Experience is looking at queer & queer-adjacent moments in Oscar history.

by Nick Taylor

“I wish I had an abusive boyfriend who was willing to rob a bank to pay for my sex change operation.” sighed my friend Jude after we finished watching Dog Day Afternoon (1975). Pride is always an ideal excuse to make all my cool queer friends watch cool queer films (I do this all the time, mind you), and our Queering the Oscars series has created the perfect opportunity to revisit old favorites with good friends.

In the context of queer cinema, Dog Day Afternoon is a fantastic surprise to put in front of a crowd, since it doesn’t announce itself as such from the outset...

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