1. Raiders of the Lost Ark
2. On Golden Pond
3. Superman II
4. Arthur
5. Stripes
6. The Cannonball Run
7. Chariots of Fire
8. For Your Eyes Only
9. The Four Seasons
10. Time Bandits
Of these, I have seen only five of the top box office draws of the year. The 1980's, especially the early 1980's, were still in the era where box office and Oscar's tastes were pretty much synonymous, so this is a relatively light list for Oscar nominees (as the only five films that I've seen are the five that are listed below). I will for sure see Superman II & The Four Seasons before I complete the year for the My Ballot (where I pick the nominees...hopefully should complete that here by early June, though we'll do the 1957 My Ballot next)...the remainder are more of a question mark (make your cases for them in the comments). If you're new here, also, look at the bottom of the page for links to all of our past 29 OVP's.
With that said, it's time to start impressing Jodie Foster, firing up your IBM computer, & wanting your MTV. And of course, let's remember the movies...
(Note: Raiders of the Lost Ark received a Best Sound Editing Oscar at the ceremony as a special prize. Given its nominations in other categories, I obviously saw this film, but wanted to make sure to note it-when we get to the My Ballot in the next two months for 1981, I will have this be a competitive race)
Note from John: When I did this series during the time when I wrote individual articles, and had this blog be a daily part of my life, I made a point of highlighting each nominee in my many write-ups. While I will be writing these every time I complete a year (we'll have at least one OVP and/or My Ballot every month going forward), I can't make that time commitment, either in terms of number of articles or in terms of giving each nominee their due with a mention. I promise, though, that I have given each nominee their due under the confines of the specific category while making my rankings (and of course I've seen every single nominated picture), including giving higher rankings to movies I didn't like if the craft was better than ones I did like (Oscar should consider that!). Hopefully you enjoy the trimmed-down, but still devoted to the original concept version of the OVP we'll have going forward!
1. Raiders of the Lost Ark
2. Reds
3. On Golden Pond
4. Chariots of Fire
5. Atlantic City
The Lowdown: This is, all things considered, one of the best Best Picture lineups that Oscar assembled during the 1980's, an era of moviemaking I generally find a bit underwhelming. None of these movies is bad, but the two truly great ones of the lineup are Raiders and Reds, both from directors at the peak of their creative powers. I'm going to favor Spielberg's Raiders. It's less in Oscar's wheelhouse (but these are my choices for a reason), but I think that it is a tighter film, and defines the action-adventure genre. Reds will be showing up again though (and as you'll see in the coming categories, is a movie I loved).
1. Steven Spielberg (Raiders of the Lost Ark)
2. Warren Beatty (Reds)
3. Mark Rydell (On Golden Pond)
4. Hugh Hudson (Chariots of Fire)
5. Louis Malle (Atlantic City
The Lowdown: We're also going to give Spielberg his second OVP statue for Best Director, once again for a movie he didn't actually win for (can't stress enough how the links to the years we've covered are at the bottom of this page). It's such a perfectly shot movie, giving us Harrison Ford's iconic archaeologist and a series of flawless adventure sequences. Beatty's breathtaking too, though, particularly that effortlessly romantic scene at the train station.
1. Warren Beatty (Reds)
2. Henry Fonda (On Golden Pond)
3. Paul Newman (Absence of Malice)
4. Burt Lancaster (Atlantic City)
5. Dudley Moore (Arthur)
The Lowdown: Don't feel too bad for Beatty, though, as he's going to get a Best Actor statue for our OVP next. The big fight here for me is between Beatty, whose John Reed is such an impassioned, imperfect example of a revolutionary (pun intended) man, bitter about his inability to be everything he dreamed (but still accomplishing true greatness). Fonda is excellent in On Golden Pond, wrapping up a career that surely should've gotten an Oscar by then, but as a reminder we pick these winners in a vacuum, so it's possible that we're turning down Fonda's only shot at an OVP win from me, but objectively Beatty is stronger.
1. Diane Keaton (Reds)
2. Meryl Streep (The French Lieutenant's Woman)
3. Katharine Hepburn (On Golden Pond)
4. Marsha Mason (Only When I Laugh)
5. Susan Sarandon (Atlantic City)
The Lowdown: With the exception of Sarandon (who I think doesn't get Malle's tricky material) this is an underrated "all-timer" lineup, including the best thing I've seen (to date) from Marsha Mason. For the win, though, it's between Streep and Keaton. Streep's French Lieutenant's Woman has its detractors (including Streep herself), but I love what she does here, defining two women in similar fashions, both controlled by the same man. There was a time I considered giving this to Streep (whom, it should be noted, has yet to win one of our OVP's or My Ballot's), but Keaton's sensational here, and giving the best dramatic performance of her career (don't you wish she'd do this instead of yet another spin on Annie Hall just once more?).
1. Jack Nicholson (Reds)
2. John Gielgud (Arthur)
3. Howard Rollins, Jr. (Ragtime)
4. Ian Holm (Chariots of Fire)
5. James Coco (Only When I Laugh)
The Lowdown: A lot of first-time OVP rendezvous this year with actors like Hepburn, Mason, Sarandon, Lancaster, & Newman, but it's hard not to think getting to talk about Jack for the first time is the biggest highlight of the bunch. One of my all-time favorite actors, and you see why here. His Eugene O'Neill is ruthless, him taking on the role of the "scorned lover" so deliciously ("you're a cheap gutter whore from Portland" being one of the most quotable lines he nails here). Gielgud is delightful in Arthur and Rollins is the best part of Ragtime, but I am going to give this to Jack (who is definitely in the running to get the most total OVP and My Ballot acting statues before this is over).
1. Maureen Stapleton (Reds)
2. Melinda Dillon (Absence of Malice)
3. Elizabeth McGovern (Ragtime)
4. Jane Fonda (On Golden Pond)
5. Joan Hackett (Only When I Laugh)
The Lowdown: Yes, you're reading that right. For the first (and perhaps only?) time, we are giving all four of the OVP acting statues to the same film, a movie that wasn't able to win Best Picture. Unlike the other three acting categories, though, Stapleton doesn't have a lot of nearby options that would be respectable choices to beat her. She nails this part, giving her Emma Goldman an electricity that makes you understand her importance in every scene she's in. Dillon, McGovern, & Fonda all have their moments, and are roughly on-par (without Stapleton this would've been a more competitive field), but Stapleton being there makes it easy.
1. The French Lieutenant's Woman
2. On Golden Pond
3. Prince of the City
4. Pennies from Heaven
5. Ragtime
The Lowdown: A particularly weak lineup that isn't entirely Oscar's fault (virtually all of the best films of 1981 were original ideas, unimaginable today), for me it's a contest between the first two, as I thought the screenplays on the remaining pictures were a yawn. I'm going to give it to The French Lieutenant's Woman, though. While On Golden Pond had far more quotable lines ("you're my knight in shining armor..." being a classic speech), I think that it doesn't tread deeply enough in the relationship between real-life father-and-daughter Hank & Jane, and I was totally sold on the gimmick of The French Lieutenant's Woman being both a story within a story, something that wasn't in the John Fowles' novel.
1. Reds
2. Atlantic City
3. Chariots of Fire
4. Arthur
5. Absence of Malice
The Lowdown: On the flip side, while this isn't that great of a lineup, it at least has one terrific script in the bunch. Reds is phenomenal, and rises above the cost of an epic (i.e. that the screenplay is regularly the weakest part of it) by giving us a genuine, enthralling love story between two people who can't seem to live without each other (even if they might have to). Atlantic City has a lovely gimmick, and Chariots of Fire is moving (and Arthur, specifically the parts with Gielgud, can be funny), but none of them can compete with Reds, the one triumph in this field (that should've included Raiders of the Lost Ark).
1. Mephisto (Hungary)
2. Muddy River (Japan)
3. The Boat is Full (Switzerland)
4. Man of Iron (Poland)
5. Three Brothers (Italy)
The Lowdown: One of those years where the Foreign Language Film (now the International Feature Film) category features movies that were only cited for this prize, and nowhere else, so this is your only chance to speak about any of the contenders. The best of this bunch are Mephisto, a spin on the Faust concept (literally...the main character is an actor best known for playing the devil), and Muddy River, a moving look at friendship across income levels through the eyes of a child. I'm going with Mephisto, because I think it's grander and has a better central performance from Klaus Marie Brandeur (it also won the Oscar), but Muddy River is not far off and really worth your time if you've never heard of it.
1. Raiders of the Lost Ark
2. Chariots of Fire
3. On Golden Pond
4. Ragtime
5. Dragonslayer
The Lowdown: Honestly, in a normal year this would be a slam dunk for something like On Golden Pond, a superb score that can barely muster a bronze here. Raiders and Chariots are two of the most iconic film scores for a reason, and it's hard to argue with either of them (fun fact: I played "Hymne" by Vangelis for a piano recital when I was in middle school and still have the sheet music for it, even though I don't even have a piano). I'm going to go with Raiders because I have more of an emotional connection to it, and because I think it's most consistent throughout the actual movie, but this is a coin toss race.
1. "Endless Love" (Endless Love)
2. "For Your Eyes Only" (For Your Eyes Only)
3. "Arthur's Theme" (Arthur)
4. "The First Time It Happens" (The Great Muppet Caper)
5. "One More Hour" (Ragtime)
The Lowdown: If you look just at the movie titles here, I'm definitely not picking the best films of the bunch. Bette Midler quite famously did a send-up of how bad the movies were in this lineup when she presented it (check it out if you haven't seen it...it was the funniest moment in an otherwise pretty tepid ceremony, comically speaking), and both of the Top 2 got the worst of it. But I don't really connect with Christopher Cross, and I think "Endless Love" is both a moving little ballad, and one that fits the saccharine movie it's housing, just a bit better than the also good "For Your Eyes Only." Had "Hey a Movie" gotten in from The Great Muppet Caper, we'd be having a reranking here as I always love the Muppets onscreen.
1. Raiders of the Lost Ark
2. Reds
3. Pennies from Heaven
4. Outland
5. On Golden Pond
The Lowdown: We are once again pitting Raiders vs. Reds, and once again Raiders is coming out on top. It's just hard to argue with the play on the Saturday morning adventure serial, but now in the mold of a giant movie blockbuster. Reds is subtler with its sound work, and would make a fine win as well...particularly the crowd scenes feel authentic, melded with the music, but still have a grand aura. Pennies from Heaven, the token musical that always shows up for Sound...is fine.
1. Heaven's Gate
2. Raiders of the Lost Ark
3. Reds
4. The French Lieutenant's Woman
5. Ragtime
The Lowdown: The best lineup of the bunch, there is not a single bad nominee in this group, and any of them would work as a winner. I loved the shifts in time being played with in French Lieutenant's Woman, the over-abundance of sets in Ragtime (you understand why this became a musical), the book-laden interiors of Reds, and the continental jumping of Raiders. But if I have to pick a winner, it needs to be Heaven's Gate, a really grand movie that was (at the time) one of the most famous flops ever made, but it looks spectacular, and I love the shifting stages & devotion to the western on display.
1. Reds
2. Raiders of the Lost Ark
3. Excalibur
4. On Golden Pond
5. Ragtime
The Lowdown: For the first (and only) time in this article, you will see me ever so slightly favor Reds over Raiders. Despite loving them both, this is the only Oscar contest that I feel Beatty's film exceeds. I love the camerawork in Raiders (that rolling boulder...come on now, it's iconic for a reason), but I can't help but feel that the use of temperature (you can practically feel the warmth & cold emanating off of the screen in Reds), plus the famous train scene, are impossible to deny. Kudos also to Excalibur, which has the feel of a shoe-string budget but still gives us glorious looks at Nicol Williamson & Helen Mirren in their entrancing witchiness.
1. Reds
2. The French Lieutenant's Woman
3. Ragtime
4. Pennies from Heaven
5. Chariots of Fire
The Lowdown: With Indy's fedora left off the dais, it's a contest between the period work of Reds and the period work of The French Lieutenant's Woman (don't look at me like that-I have at least one contemporary film on the list currently for the My Ballot...it's Oscar that never goes there). Of the two, I go with Reds because I think it is more consistent overall. There's more care put into French Lieutenant's when it comes to the period stuff than the modern scenes, and Ragtime behind it doesn't break the mold in the way that the of-the-people looks in Reds achieve.
1. Raiders of the Lost Ark
2. Reds
3. The French Lieutenant's Woman
4. Chariots of Fire
5. On Golden Pond
The Lowdown: Again, another Raiders & Reds contest (our final one), with everyone else just getting the scraps. I think the editing exhibits why these two tower above. Raiders is fast-paced, effortlessly so in a way that makes every scene feel timeless (which, after nearly 45 years of existence, it really is), while Reds gets a slow-burn, us investing continually as the movie finds its own romance. The timelessness wins it for Raiders, though (kudos also to French Lieuentant's for working so well with the time jumps).
1. An American Werewolf in Paris
2. Heartbeeps
The Lowdown: We have a pair of two-wide races to complete this year's Oscar's, starting with Makeup (for the record, both of these categories I'll go five-wide when I pick my personal choices). This was the first year of the Best Makeup category, and they did something that would become commonplace at the Oscars: nominating Rick Baker (the maestro behind An American in Werewolf) and giving the title of "Oscar-nominated" to a truly heinous movie. There are few films as bad as Heartbeeps, but what's worse is the makeup in it is bizarrely lazy, particularly when you had much better options nominated in 1981 (it's just Bernadette Peters & Andy Kaufman covered in a plastic sheen). Conversely, An American Werewolf is one of the best achievements of Rick Baker's career, so an easy call for him to take this.
1. Raiders of the Lost Ark
2. Dragonslayer
The Lowdown: A second category that is only two-wide, we have two films competing against each other in another lopsided victory where I definitely go with Oscar's choice. At this point, anything George Lucas or Steven Spielberg were creating was foundational to the future of blockbuster cinema, and Raiders is a genius use of practical and special effects, particularly the face-melting scene when they open the Ark. Dragonslayer, though, unlike Heartbeeps is a genuinely quality product and earned this spot (and will likely make my My Ballot as well for its great use of the imposing dragon in the picture).
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