Hit Me With Your Best Shot: "Amadeus" (A Visual Index)
Wednesday, June 10, 2015 at 11:59PM 
For this week's Best Shot topic, Milos Forman's scrumptious musical duet between jealous Salieri and genius Wolfgang. It was called Amadeus and it was very very good and very very popular -- raking in big box office, too. Though it never landed in the box office top five it had major legs and ended its reign as the 12th highest grosser of 1984.
The music drama won 8 Oscars (from 11 nominations) but curiously one of the prizes it lost was cinematography! The DP was Miroslav Ondrícek who had also been nominated for the previous Milos Forman picture Ragtime (1981).
Amadeus is so visually luxurious that I figured it would be a hard assignment and these eight images surprised me and I can't wait to dig into the articles. Unfortunately I had a computer mishap -- something is not working about my screengrab program (argh-the timing) -- so my own pick for Amadeus will have to wait. But please do read these articles and consider the visual choices. I'm not even going to attempt to put these in chronological order. It's a massive three hour film with lots of performances and difficult to place shots from the luxury overload. Today's Best Shot choices, from brave cinephiles round the web who dare to play this game, are presented in the order in which they were sent to me.
11 BEST SHOTS - AMADEUS (1984)
click on the photos to be taken to the corresponding article
Next Wednesday: MAGIC MIKE (2012)... grab your singles and pick a shot to shove them into
Forman wisely draws a visual (and comedic) parallel between the two appearances of the mask.
-The Entertainment Junkie
When all you can do is seethe in your utter failure...
-Drink Your Juice Shelby
In a film with such a lavish production, a quiet, almost bare scene caught my eye...
-Sorta That Guy
Hard to pick a shot because its best visual moments come from clever cutting and juxtapositions...
-Coco Hits NY
'It seemed to me that I was hearing the voice of God...'
-54 Disney Reviews
Thematically, I can't think of a more blunt message statement...
-Antagony & Ecstasy
VIDEO ENTRY
-Movie Motorbreath
If every Oscar winner was as loose and irreverent as Amadeus...
-Serious Film
This resplendent film earned every one of its 8 statues.
-Film Actually
The perfect metaphor for the movie's dynamic...
- The Expert Newbie *first entry*
"I'm frightened!!!" Yet she was fearless. Cynthia Nixon at 18
-Paul Outlaw
Finis
Reader Comments (7)
Sorry for beig late, but this is my first contribution though.
Here it is, my pick for Amadeus' Best Shot:
http://theexpertnewbie.tumblr.com/post/121245233334/the-film-experiences-hit-me-with-your-best-shot
I love seeing everyone's picks. It's a movie I wish I could have picked 'hit me with your best scene' but I'm happy with what I came up with. What a great movie!
It's extremely telling that in spite of the movie being ideally about Mozart and called Amadeus, all except one of these shots focus on Salieri (though the translation of 'Amadeus' should more inform Salieri's character than Mozart's, so hey!)
The poster image and a couple of the shots selected are all visual references to the Commendatore in Mozart's Don Giovanni as well as to Mozart's father (whose death greatly influenced the opera and the character).
Ugh, so sad I missed this one.
But hold the hell on. I had NO CLUE that that girl was Cynthia Nixon.
A movie I love love love...wish I could have played along. Great posts all around.
I love this movie and was thrilled when it did so well in awards and box office.
(Paul, I would have also included a pic of Christine Ebersole from so many years ago.)
Despite the beautiful and deep visuals, enhanced by costume, art direction, editing and cinematography (and on and on and on) what remains with me 30 year later is the Giggle ( or Laugh). Tom Hulce used that very special sound to characterize Mozart: his boundless energy, his rule breaking, his musical joy and mischievousness. I will never forget that laugh.