1972 is our year of the month so let's give it some overall context before we visit specific films.
Great Big Box Office Hits: The Godfather, which would go on to win Best Picture and spawn two sequels was the year's box office champ. But The Poseidon Adventure, and What's Up Doc? were also gigantic hits continuing the threads of all-star disaster movies and Barbra Streisand movies as sure things with audiences of the 1970s. Other box office draws that year: Deliverance, Cabaret, Steve McQueen and Ali McGraw in The Getaway, and Robert Redford as Jeremiah Johnson. This was also the year that Deep Throat and Behind the Green Door launched the 'porno chic' boom of the 1970s and both were substantial hits along with the X rated animated feature Fritz the Cat.
Oscar's Best Picture Nominees: The Godfather (11 noms / 3 wins) and Cabaret (10 noms / 8 wins) dominated the Academy Awards leaving no wins for the rest of the Best Picture field: The Emigrants (5 nominations), Sounder (4 nominations), and Deliverance (3 nominations). Our theory as to what was just outside the Best Picture shortlist plus more '72 goodies follow...
What would have been nominated Oscar had the 5-10 nominee rule that they have now, with shortlist size determined by the size of each film's voting block? The Poseidon Adventure (8 noms, 1 win, and 1 special Oscar) and Sleuth (4 key nominations) were the obvious just-misses among the Best Picture field. Beyond those it's a tougher call, so I think there would have been just 7. I'd love to hear your theories if you have a different one!
I guess the field would have also included Lady Sings the Blues (5 nominations) since Oscar loves a biopic. It's tough to imagine the other Oscar nominees breaking into the Best Picture field though there were multiple nominations for films like Young Winston, Pete n' Tillie, The Heartbreak Kid, The Candidate, Travels With My Aunt, and Butterflies are Free.
Films That Endured in Some Way That Were Not Oscar or Box Office Smashes: John Waters' Pink Flamingos, Wes Craven's The Last House on the Left, Woody Allen's Everything You Wanted to Know About Sex* But Were Afraid to Ask, Federico Fellini's Roma, Brian de Palma's Sisters, Eric Rohmer's Chloe in the Afternoon, and Alfred Hitchcock's Frenzy. Star vehicles of interest: Tuesday Weld in Play it as it Lays, Paul Newman in The Life and Times of Judge Roy Bean, and Barbra Streisand in Up the Sandbox.
Notable films listed as 1972 at IMDb that didn't actually open in the States until following years (or in one case never): Cries and Whispers, Agguire the Wrath of God, The Bitter Tears of Petra Von Kant, The Canterbury Tales, Female Prisoner Scorpion: Jailhouse 41, The Seduction of Mimi, and Last Tango in Paris
Nathaniel's Top Ten of 1972
Cabaret is my gold medalist, of course, but beyond that in alpha order I also like: Agguire the Wrath of God, The Bitter Tears of Petra Von Kant, Deliverance , The Discreet Charm of the Bourgeoisie, Female Prisoner Scorpion: Jailhouse 41, The Godfather, and What's Up Doc? And I'm leaving two spots open as I sift through 1972 this month.
Magazine Covers for Context... (you can click to enlarge)
Frequent cover stars were President Nixon, David Cassidy, Cher, David Bowie, Jane Fonda, and anything Olympics, Vietnam, or All in the Family related.
Mix Tape (Huge-Ass Hits of '72):"The First Time Every I Saw Your Face," Roberta Flack, "American Pie," Don McLean, "The Candy Man," Sammy Davis Jr, "Brand New Key," Melanie, "Let's Stay Together," Al Green, "My Ding-a-ling," Chuck Berry, "Ben," Michael Jackson, "Song Sung Blue," Neil Diamond, "Without You," Harry Nillson, "Nights in White Satin," The Moody Blues.
Music: ABBA and Van Halen were formed, while Jefferson Airplane and The Velvet Underground disbanded, Michael Jackson's first solo album "Got To Be There" was released, as was Lou Reed's eponymous debut.
TV: "Maude," "M*A*S*H," and "Kung Fu" launch while "Bewitched" and "My Three Sons" end their runs.
Stage: Despite winning seven Tony Awards, Stephen Sondheim's masterpiece "Follies" (well, one of his multiple masterpieces) which had opened early in the 71/72 Tony season somehow loses the big prize of Best Musical to "Two Gentleman of Verona," which only wins one other Tony. "Follies" closes shortly thereafter. ARGH. I demand a retroactive recount. Whenever anyone asks what my favorite Sondheim is I struggle between "Follies," "Company," "Sweeney Todd," and "Into the Woods," but "Follies" often wins out. I dread a film version because it's meant for the stage and about the stage and it would take a Bob Fosse level movie director to make it work for cinema. But if they could find one... ohmygod... so many great roles and songs for actresses of a certain age. Some of them only get one song but still. It could be casting heaven.
Spawn of Celebrity (Born in 72)
Tracee Ellis Ross (future Golden Globe winner for Black-ish) born to superstar Diana Ross. Chiara Mastroianni born to two of the greatest film stars of all time: Catherine Deneuve (France) and Marcello Mastroianni (Italy). She followed her parents into acting.
Vintage '72 (Stars and Film Artists Born in 72)
Oscar Winners: Ben Affleck (Best Original Screenplay, Good Will Hunting and Best Picture, Argo), Kristen Anderson-Lopez (Best Original Song, Coco), Common (Best Original Song, Selma), Jean Dujardin (Best Actor, The Artist), Eminem (Best Original Song, 8 Mile), Asghar Farhadi (Best Foreign Language Film, for both A Separation and The Salesman), Tom Hooper (Best Director, The King's Speech) Gwyneth Paltrow (Best Actress, Shakespeare in Love), Gary Rizzo (Best Sound Mixing for both Dunkirk and Inception), Linus Sandrgen (Best Cinematography, La La Land), Greg Shapiro (Best Picture, The Hurt Locker), Octavia Spencer (Best Supporting Actress, The Help), Adam Stockhausen (Best Production Design, The Grand Budapest Hotel)
Oscar Nominated Actors Born in '72 Who Have Yet To Win: Toni Collette (The Sixth Sense) and Jude Law (Cold Mountain and The Talented Mr Ripley) only, both pictured at the 99 Oscars (yeah, the one held in 2000, dont let the internet label it wrong!).
Alessandro Nivola (one of our favorite actors) in Neon Demon (2016)
Still More Actors: Adam Beach, Elizabeth Berkley, Selma Blair, Marc Blucas, Saffron Burrows, John Cho, Laverne Cox (Emmy nominee), Cameron Diaz, Jang Dong-Gun, Trine Dyrholm, Josh Duhamel, Idris Elba (SAG winner), Benno Fürmann, Jennifer Garner (Emmy nominee), Judith Godrèche, Leila Hatami, Dwayne Johnson, Kristoffer Joner (currently being hoodwinked by Tom Cruise in Mission: Impossible - Fallout), Jason & Jeremy London, Justina Machado (you're all caught up with One Day at a Time right? Can't wait for season 3), Gabriel Mann, Leslie Mann, Jonny Lee Miller, Wentworth Miller, Thandie Newton (Emmy nominee), Alessandro Nivola, Archie Panjabi, Molly Parker, Amanda Peet, Rebecca Romijn, Anika Noni Rose (Tony winner, currently killing it onstage in Carmen Jones), Missi Pyle (who guested right here. we love you, Missi!), Maya Rudolph (Emmy nominee), Antonio Sabato Jr, Clemens Schick, Will Swenson (Tony nominee and Mr. Audra McDonald), Stuart Townsend, Gabrielle Union, Karl Urban, Sofia Vergara (Emmy nominee), Goran Visnjic, and Antonia Zegers.
Other Celebrities: Billie Joe Armstrong (musician), Michael Lucas (porn star), Joey McIntyre (singer), Vanessa Paradis (singer), Busta Rhymes (rapper), Vitamin C (singer), and Zinedine Zidane (athlete).
RIP: The Notorious B.I.G. (rapper)
Vintage '72 (Behind the Scenes)
Greg BerlantiWriters and/or Directors: Mikko Alanne (The 33), Alejandro Amenábar (The Others), Casper Andreas (Violet Tendencies), Nikolaj Arcel (A Royal Affair), Greg Berlanti (Love Simon), Ava DuVernay (Selma), Jacob Estes (The Details), Albert & Allen Hughes (The Book of Eli), Ehren Kruger (Dumbo), Ruba Nadda (Cairo Time), Jennifer Yuh Nelson (The Darkest Minds), Joachim Rønning (Maleficent 2), Eli Roth (Death Wish), Takashi Shimizu (The Grudge), Joe Wright (Atonement), Rupert Wyatt (Rise of the Planet of the Apes), and Ben Younger (Bleed For This)
Craftsmen: Evgeny Afineevsky (Oscar nominated Producer), David Castillo (Stunts), Cece Destefano (Production Designer), Abel Korzeniowski (Composer), Christopher Lennertz (Composer), Paul Machliss (Oscar nominated Editor)
Showtunes to Go: "Broadway Baby" and "Losing My Mind" from Follies, sung here by stage giant Elaine Stritch and screen giant Glenn Close.