First & Last 001
Monday, June 12, 2023 at 9:00AM We're bringing back one of our greatest hits like an aging band on tour.
CAN YOU GUESS THE MOVIE FROM ITS FIRST AND LAST SHOT?
The answer is after the jump but tell us how you did in the comments!
scroll down for the answer
Yes, that's OLIVER! (1968) which won 5 plus Oscars in its day (Best Picture, Best Director, Art Direction, Sound, Score Adaptation as well as an Honorary for its choreography by Onna White). Oliver! was also nominated in 6 more categories: Actor, Supporting Actor, Adapted Screenplay, Cinematography, Costume Design, and Editing. Fun trivia: It's the only Best Picture winner with an exclamation point in the title though there have been other nominees with that punctuation.
Last month in NYC, there was a well-received revival of City Center but no word yet on whether or not a Broadway revival might follow (that sometimes happens when people get excited about those brief City Center stagings). The original 1960 stage musical ran on Broadway for two years (1963 and 1964) and won 3 Tony Awards (losing Best Musical to A Funny Thing Happened On the Way to the Forum). It has only been back to Broadway twice since, the most recent time being 39 years ago in 1984 starring Patti LuPone as Nancy and Ron Moody (reprising his iconic role) as Fagin. That revival received only one Tony nomination (Best Actor) and played just 17 performances.
Are you a fan of this musical or do you say "NO" to any request for more?
first and last
Reader Comments (7)
Guessed it fairly easily. But then again I only saw this movie last October for the first time. The movie was okay enough, if a bit long. Never saw it on stage though.
Only a black-hearted goblin would hate such a winsome and tuneful movie.
At first I thought it might be Shane, but then I realized that the final picture can't be of Jean Arthur's bosom. (Good God, I might be more straight then I thought!)
Oliver! has kind of a weird reputation (THAT movie won best picture over...take your pick) I put off watching it for a while and only recently saw the film entirely. I did enjoy it far more than I thought I would. That Art Direction and Choreography Oscar were certainly earned. However, based on the other films nominated I would put it third. In my opinion, Lion in Winter and Funny are superior movies and have stuck with me longer then Oliver!. However, I no longer begrudge the film and am ok with it winning.
The last time I saw this movie was over 30 years ago. At that time I really liked it a lot. But having seen Lion in Winter more recently, I would vote for it for Best Picture.
This over 2001? BLASPHEMY!
Oliver! arrived at the end of a decade when AMPAS voters demonstrated great admiration for film adaptations of Broadway musicals. Four (West Side Story, My Fair Lady, The Sound of Music and Oliver!) won Best Picture. Voters may have soured on the glut of Broadway musical fare. It would be three decades before another musical (Chicago) won the top prize.
I think Oliver!’s win was more a desire to salute the revered director Sir Carol Reed. The British filmmaker had made a trio of classic films at the end of the 1940s - Odd Man Out, The Fallen Idol, and The Third Man.
The director’s race was quite controversial. Voters snubbed Golden Globe and New York Film Critics Circle winner Paul Newman for his debut Rachel, Rachel. Handing an overdue first Oscar to an aging filmmaker seems a simple way to calm rage.
No, it's not better than 2001 or (my choice) Rosemary's Baby. But I like it a lot better than Funny Girl, The Lion in Winter, Rachel, Rachel or Romeo and Juliet. Only the visually perfect Mark Lester's reedy singing voice is a major flaw. Ron Moody and Jack Wild are my clear first choices in their categories. As for Carol Reed, he should have won both in 1949 for The Fallen Idol and 1950 for The Third Man. But Gillo Pontecorvo for Battle of Algiers, the 2nd weirdest Best Director nominee ever - only Hiroshi Teshigahara in 1965 tops this - should have been the unanimous choice for winner (ha ha ha) if sheer excellence were the only criterion. I'd love to have seen the WTF reactions in the audience if it had happened.