1987: Karen Allen in "The Glass Menagerie"

Each month before the Smackdown, Nick Taylor considers alternates to Oscar's ballot...

Remember way back when this Smackdown season started with 1981, and I mentioned Karen Allen as someone who somehow missed out on a well-deserved Supporting Actress nomination despite how few films Oscar bothered to recognize that year? Her barnstorming performance in Raiders of the Lost Ark is one of that adventure classic's secret weapons, building on the potential in Marion Ravenwood and delivering a tangible, electrifying character even when the script lets her down. In truth, I sometimes think of Allen alongside contemporaneous stars like Jessica Harper and Brooke Adams: singular, charismatic screen presences you could never mix up for one another despite their similar appearances, all of whom starred in some of the best, most idiosyncratic films of the ‘70s and ‘80s. 

I’d also wager that Harper and Adams’ personas would suggest themselves for the role of the shy, undemonstrative Laura Wingfield in Tennessee Williams’ The Glass Menagerie more than Allen’s would. Who’d pick Marion Ravenwood (!) for a part given to Jane Wyman in 1950? Yet it was Allen who played the role onstage opposite Joanne Woodward, John Sayles (!), and James Naughton at the Williamstown Theatre Festival in 1986, and Paul Newman was so impressed by their performances that he decided to make a damn movie...

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The Furniture: Promoting the Forbidden City with The Last Emperor

"The Furniture," by Daniel Walber. (Click on the images for magnified detail)

The Last Emperor is enormous, as is its reputation. The shorter version is nearly three hours long. It swept the 1987 Oscars, winning all nine categories in which it was nominated. Its plot tracks events of global significance, across nearly six decades of Chinese history. The production required more than 10,000 costumes and 19,000 extras, many of them recruited from the People’s Liberation Army

But beyond its stature as a film, it is also something of an act of economic diplomacy. China, which had heavily restricted tourism before the late-1970s, began a major about-face with Deng Xiaoping’s 1978 “Reform and Opening Up” program.  Part of this effort included the promotion of heritage tourism. China ratified the World Heritage Convention in 1985, and added its first six World Heritage Sites in 1987. The Forbidden City was at the top of the list.

It’s not a coincidence that Bernardo Bertolucci was granted permission to film in the Forbidden City right at this time, the very first Western production allowed through the palace gates...

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Almost There: Faye Dunaway in "Barfly"

by Cláudio Alves

I confess myself surprised by the reader's choice in this last round of voting for the Almost There series. When it came time for you to select what 1987 performance should be explored this week, your votes decidedly indicate a preference for Faye Dunaway's post-Mommie Dearest Oscar bid, Barfly. This under-discussed Barbet Schroeder flick was made from a semiautobiographical script by the bonafide poet of the gutter, Charles Bukowski. It competed in Cannes but it didn't cause much fanfare, mainly valued as an acting showcase for its cast, led by Mickey Rourke as a tic-ridden sing-songy facsimile of Bukowski himself.

As for Faye Dunaway, she takes around 22 minutes to enter this picture about alcoholism and the addicts who scuttle from the light like bugs. Haggard-looking and sitting lonesome at the end of a bar, she's quite distant from the image of a glamourous diva many might associate with the actress' screen persona…

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The Oscar-worthy kids of 1987

by Cláudio Alves

The kids of Best Picture nominee Hope and Glory

It's not often that we see child actors recognized in the film awards race. In many regards, that's understandable. Kids aren't known for being the most disciplined of performers and it seems unfair to expect them to deliver complex characterizations, or to embody concepts and ideas that they're still learning. Furthermore, while every acting job is a fruit born out of several people's labor – the actors themselves, directors, writers, editors, sound mixers, etc. – when the performer is as lacking in agency as a child, it's easier to attribute excellence to those other folks' craft.  Nonetheless, good work is good work, and we should celebrate the greatness we see on-screen, regardless of how it came to be.

That brings us to 1987, the year of the next Smackdown, and a rare vintage that's stock full of brilliant performances by young artists. Curiously enough, the three Leading Actor performances paid special homage in this write-up all come from films about boys facing the harsh realities of World War II. First up, we have: 

Christian Bale, EMPIRE OF THE SUN

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Vintage '87 (and what would have been nominated in an expanded Best Picture list?)

The Supporting Actress Smackdown of 1987 is two weeks away so get your votes in! We've already had a lot of fun revisiting 1987 films but before we get to the main event let's get some general context of that year in showbiz history. Ready? 

Great Big Box Office Hits:
The comedy Three Men and a Baby, the erotic thriller Fatal Attraction, and the Eddie Murphy action comedy sequel Beverly Hills Cop II, and the Robin Williams vehicle Good Morning Vietnam were easily the four biggest hits of the year, box-office wise. The enduringly popular Moonstruck wasn't quite in their league in tickets sold back then but still very popular, rounding out the top five. The other top ten hits of that year were the acclaimed mobs vs feds costume drama The Untouchables, the now arguably forgotten comedies The Secret of My Success and Stakeout, and the buddy action movie Lethal Weapon (which spawned a franchise). 

The competition for #10 was down to just a $320,000 dollar difference with best-seller all-star adaptation The Witches of Eastwick just barely beating out teen favourite Dirty Dancing. But back in the 1980s adults actually went to the movies a lot rather than only obsessing over "peak TV"...

Oscar's Best Picture Nominees: Of those 11 box office smashes of '87, Oscar cherry picked Moonstruck (6 nominations) and Fatal Attraction (6 nominations) as the cream of the crop and included them in the Best Picture race (correct choices).The beloved Broadcast News (7 nominations) and the costume drama historical epic The Last Emperor (9 nominations) were also popular with Oscar voters (and ticket buyers, too, it should be noted)...

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