by Nathaniel R
The Supporting Actress Smackdown 1965 Episode arrives on October 9th, so you have until October 8th to watch the four movies and vote on them. Let's talk context...
Great Big Box Office Hits: 1)The Sound of Music 2) Doctor Zhivago 3) Thunderball 4) Those Magnificent Men in their Flying Machines 5) The Great Race 6) That Darn Cat 7) Cat Ballou 8) What's New Pussycat? 9) Shenandoah 10) Von Ryan's Express
Oscar's Best Pictures: The Sound of Music and Doctor Zhivago (10 noms / 5 wins each) led by the two Julies, battled it out at the Oscars The other Best Picture nominees were Ship of Fools (8 noms / 2 wins), Darling (5 noms / 3 wins) another Julie Christie vehicle, and A Thousand Clowns (4 noms / 1 win). But what would have been nominated if the Best Picture race were 10 wide...
which 5 of these 8 films do you think would have made a 10 wide field?
Surely A Patch of Blue would have made it given its intense drama, socially progressive nature, and 5 nomination tally. We also think western comedy Cat Ballou would have made it as unlikely as that might sound, genre-wise, given that it scored 5 nominations including Editing, Writing and a Best Actor win. Despite its grim topic, The Collector's combo of Directing, Writing and Actress nominations makes us want to guess that one, too. This is further afield but its our no guts no glory guess that survival drama The Flight of the Phoenix would have placed, given that its two nominations were for Editing and Acting (and it had also been Best Picture nominated at the Globes). That leaves ONE spot open. Would it have been biblical epic The Greatest Story Ever Told, biopic epic The Agony & Ecstacy, adventure comedy epic The Great Race all scored 5 nominations but were ignored in "top" categories, while Othello had 4 (!!!) acting nominations but was basically just a filmed play and The Spy Who Came In From the Cold had the curious combo of Art Direction and Best Actor nods.
Films that endured in some way that were neither Oscar nominees nor blockbusters: Roman Polanski's Repulsion starring Catherine Deneuve, Akira Kurosawa's Red Beard, Agnes Varda's Le Bonheur, Jean-Luc Godard's Pierrot Le Fou, documentary The Endless Summer, Frankie & Annette musical comedy Beach Blanket Bingo, The Beatles movie Help!, and the John Wayne western Sons of Kate Elder
Magazine Covers for Context:
Julie Andrews was the biggest star of the year, winning the Oscar early in the year (Mary Poppins) and headlining a second consecutive mega-blockbuster with The Sound of Music. Elizabeth Taylor, 007 Sean Connery, and Natalie Wood were also magazine favourites.
Other stars featured in this visual roundup: Kathleen Nolan, Mary Tyler Moore, Eartha Kitt, Sean Connery, Monica Vitti, Ruby Dee, Ann-Margret, The Supremes, Diana Sands, Barbra Streisand, Grace Kelly, Brigitte Bardot and Jeanne Moreau. (Julie Christie is conspicuously absent but '65 was her breakout year so she's presumably all over '66 magazines; sometimes the media follows audience sensations rather than attempting to create them.)
Mix Tape (Random Hits of '65):"Mr Tambourine Man " and "Turn! Turn! Turn! (to Everything There is a season)" The Byrds, "I Can't Help Myself (Sugar Pi Honey Bunch)" The Four Tops, "(I Can't Get No) Satisfaction" The Rolling Stones, "You've Lost That Lovin' Feelin'" The Righteous Brothers, "Downtown" Petula Clark, "Help!" "Yesterday" and "Ticket to Ride" The Beatles, "My Girl," The Temptations, "Stop! In the Name of Love" and "Back In Your Arms Again" The Supremes, "Unchained Melody" The Righteous Brothers, "Help me Rhonda" and "California Girls" The Beach Boys, "Thunderball" Tom Jones, and "I Got You Babe" Sonny & Cher.
Dune's first edition, hardcover
Literature: Some famous books that arrived in 1965 that were eventually adapted into movies included "The Black Cauldron" by Lloyd Alexander, "Georgy Girl" by Margaret Foster, "Dune" by Frank Herbert (which won the Nebula), "Midnight Cowboy" by James Leo Herlihy, In comic books the characters of Fritz the Cat, Beast Boy (later of the Teen Titans), and The Sentinels (X-Men hunting robots) are introduced all of whom would eventually hit movies or television. '65 also introduces the doomed Gwen Stacy into the Spider-Man comics, the only rival for Mary Jane's dominance in Spider-Man's girl mythology though she's barely been a blip in the movies.
Stage: At the 19th annual Tony Awards, new shows Fiddler on the Roof and The Subject Was Roses win Best Musical and Best Play respectively. Other new plays that season include The Odd Couple by Neil Simon and The Owl and the Pussycat by Bill Manhoff. Later in the year and eligible for the 1966 Tony Awards, the musicals Man of La Mancha and On a Clear Day You Can See Forever premiere.
Showtune to Go: Liza Minnelli doing "Sing Happy" from Kander & Ebb's Flora the Red Menance. She was only 19 years old and still best known as Judy's daughter in 1965 when she won the Tony, the first step towards her eventual EGOT. She'd also win her Oscar and Tony singing Kander & Ebb in Cabaret and the TV special Liza with a Z.