May Retrospective: “The Heartbreak Kid” (1972)

by Cláudio Alves

After many years redefining the paradigms of American comedy along with Mike Nichols on the New York stage, Elaine May made the jump to the movie business when she appeared as an actress in some late 60s cinematic endeavors, including Mike Nichols' The Graduate. It wouldn't take long for her to branch out and, by 1971, she was writing, directing, and starring in A New Leaf.

In our last piece about this intrepid artist, we looked at that movie and how May's genius was able to transcend the interference of pushy producers and remain a near-masterpiece. This time, we'll be looking at the picture May directed after that flick, a production that suffered much less interference from panicky executives. It's also the only picture May directed she didn't also write and the single one of her movies to ever be nominated for the Academy Awards.

We're, of course, talking about the Neil Simon-penned The Heartbreak Kid…

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Smackdown '72: Jeannie vs Eileen vs Susan ...with Geraldine Page and Shelley Winters

An overprotective mother, a vain social butterfly, a swimming grandmother, a newlywed, and a barfly walk into an Oscar ceremony...

Geraldine Page did not attend the ceremony but the rest were there.

The 1972 supporting actress Oscar lineup is quite literally a singular group. It's the only one in all of Best Supporting Actress history to feature not a single Best Picture nominated film. There's always at least one Best Picture represented. Not so in 1972. Even The Poseidon Adventure missed that top category despite 8 nominations in total.

The panelists and part one of the Smackdown after the jump...

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