Henry & Eleanor, Frank & Bram, and The Breakfast Club
Wednesday, May 18, 2016 at 10:20AM On this day in movie related history...
1152 King Henry II marries Eleanor of Aquitaine. Their romance is later fictionalized in the ever popular play/movie The Lion in Winter which we've written about several times
1897 Frank Capra is born in Italy. He'll immigrate to the US at five years old and become one of the most famous film directors of all time. Across the ocean in London a public reading of Bram Stoker's new novel "Dracula, or, The Un-dead" is staged. Frank Capra never makes a movie influenced by Dracula but everyone else does.
Meredith Wilson writing music1902 There's trouble right here in River City Mason City when Meredith Wilson is born. He'll later write The Music Man but not before accruing Oscar nominations for film scoring (The Little Foxes, The Great Dictator)
1912 The first Indian film Shree Pundalik is released in Mumbai. Thousands upon thousands upon thousands of movies will follow in its wake from the ever prolific Indian film industry, better known as "Bollywood". Over in the US, Richard Brooks is born and will go on to become a famous screenwriter and director. Four must-sees from his filmography: Cat on a Hot Tin Roof (1958), Elmer Gantry (1960), In Cold Blood (1967), and Looking for Mr Goodbar (1977)
1931 Robert Morse is born, becomes darling cross media actor winning 2 Tonys and 1 Emmy.
...Unfortunately Emmy, given the opportunity to reward him with a career capping statue, robs him blind decades later for his unforgettable farewell on Mad Men.
1970 Tina Fey is born so that we might have 30 Rock and Mean Girls.
1985 Simple Minds hits #1 with Don't You Forget About Me" the theme song from teen classic The Breakfast Club. Oscar forgets about it in the Best Original Song category. Do you think it deserved to knock one of these songs out? Let's readjudicate the race in the comments.
Oh come on you know you want to!
Illustration to the right by Johanna The Mad
2003 Musical sensation Les Misérables closes on Broadway after 16 years and 6,680 performances. Becomes super-divisive big-grossing Oscar-winning movie 9 years later. Is nominated for Best Original Song
Reader Comments (17)
Tbqh they forgot many songs that year
Breakfast Club - Don't You Forget About Me
Desperately Seeking Susan - Into the Groove
The Goonies - The Goonies 'r' Good Enough
St. Elmo's Fire - St. Elmo's Fire
:/
Lionel Ritchie's Oscar win is salt in the wound that The Color Purple lost in every eligible category.
/3rtful -- agreed. that color purple song is SO good. The most disappointing thing for me about Color Purple the musical is that it wasn't in the musical.
Jesper -- oh man. into the groove. INSANE that they passed madonna up so many times in that category.
The top picture makes me want to drop everything I'm doing and watch Lion in Winter this minute. Such a great film and Hepburn & O'Toole are simply amazing. It helps that they're playing those fascinating, hugely complex people but they really make them live onscreen.
Those are great picks from Richard Brooks's filmography. I'd add Deadline U.S.A., The Catered Affair, Sweet Bird of Youth and The Professionals to the list.
Glad to see the shout out for Robert Morse. He was too individual to make it as a leading man in film but he's enormously talented.
Since I detest Say You, Say Me I'd happily pluck it out and replace it with Don't You Forget About Me.
Wow, Don't You Forget About Me, Into the Groove and St. Elmo's Fire are better remembered today than any of the nominees (though The Power of Love is still fairly well-known).
Robert Morse is a treasure.
good grief, that's got to be the worst nominee line-up in any category ever
Duran Duran's Bond song A View to a Kill holds a special place in my heart.
Loving this new column!
Holy crap, Lionel Richie has an Oscar for that song?
That's almost as big an injustice as him winning album of the year for an album no one can remember the year before over these four other contenders:
Cyndi Lauper, She's So Unusual
Bruce Springsteen, Born In The USA
Tina Turner, Private Dancer
Prince, Purple Rain
Wasn't that the Vision Quest year? Come on.. Crazy For You anyone?
Agree that Miss Celie's Blues should have easily triumphed with that lineup.
As a huge fan of A Chorus Line, that song nomination kills me. One they added that song instead of some of the original shows Best music, and two that movie sucks hard.
I'd easily vote for The Color Purple's "Miss Celie's Blues"
Nathaniel should do a crazy eyes banner and include that pic of Russell Crowe.
The Oscar song category is often weird. Sometimes they reward a song that isn't even the best in its own movie, like in The Muppets, The Lion King, and Beauty and the Beast.
"I could peel you like a pear and god himself would call it justice" and "I'd hang you from the nipples but you'd shock the children" are two of my all time favorite movie quotes. I love loooooove LOVE Katharine Hepburn so much in this movie, and Peter O'Toole is at the peak of his greatness.
To think he lost his Best Actor Oscar is horrifying and it only makes matters worse the fact that one single tiny vote cast away and she would have lost hers too!!
Speaking of ever quotable: Tina Fey and Mean Girls ♡
When I visited the Museum of Islamic Art in Doha I noticed they had a projection room just above the Auditorium and a big sign on the wall with an arrow that said "Auditorium". I snapped a pic and sent it to all my friends "Pass it along until it reaches Aaron Samuels". My love for that movie pops up at the most unpredictable of occasions.
I remember Robert Morse being the Emmy odds-on favorite to win in his last season of Mad Men (according to Gold Derby). It struck me as odd, since he is in one single scene on his submitted tape, even though it is absolutely lovely and a touch of magical realism in an otherwise very cynical show. He ended up losing do Joe Morton chewing the scenery as Papa Pope in Scandal, which is such an Emmy thing to do. The Mad Men losses that sting the most are Jon Hamm for The Suitcase and Christina Hendricks for The Other Woman.
Russell Crowe in Les Mis. Sigh. He was so amazing in that LA Confidential to Master and Commander run, especially The Insider. I hope he manages to win over hia personal demons and go back to being a great actor in his later years.
I would have dropped Chorus Line and/or the other White Night song. Boot.
We Don't Need Another Hero from Mad Max Beyond Thunderdome should have got in.
Richard Brooks is my runner up in 67 behind Nichols.
Lots of great movie songs in 1985!
But my top five would be
1) "Don't You Forget About Me" (The Breakfast Club)
2) "St. Elmo's Fire (Man in Motion)" (St. Elmo's Fire)
3) "Crazy for You" (Vision Quest)
4) "Goonies R' Good Enough" (The Goonies)
and any one of the following:
"Power of Love" (Back to the Future)
"Miss Celie's Blues" (The Color Purple)
"Into the Groove" (Desperately Seeking Susan)
"Rhythm of the Night" (The Last Dragon)
"Invincible" (The Legend of Billie Jean)
"We Don't Need Another Hero" (Mad Max Beyond Thunderdome)
"Love Theme from St. Elmo's Fire" (St. Elmo's Fire)- yes, there are lyrics, and it is sung during the end credits!
"A View to a Kill" (A View to a Kill)
"Weird Science" (Weird Science)
"Separate Lives" (White Nights)
I'm sorry. But the rock songs from various movies were outstanding in 85. However, in my opinion two songs should've been nominated from Breakfast Club, and NOT "Don't You Forget About Me"
Fire In The Twilight (Wang Chung) - The Breakfast Club
We Are Not Alone (Karla DeVito) - The Breakfast Club
Invincible (Pat Benatar) - The Legend Of Billie Jean
One Of The Living (Tina Turner) - Mad Max Beyond Thunderdome
A View To A Kill (Duran Duran) - A View To A Kill