Catch up with the idea behind this series here.
The Academy was knee-deep in blacklisting around 1957 and Best Adapted Screenplay was given to novelist Pierre Boulle for “The Bridge on the River Kwai,” despite him not writing the film or being able to speak English. The three hour epic dominated the proceedings and Lean’s masterpiece and subsequent work would help lay the groundwork for the genre we now know as “Oscar bait.” Ridiculously, “Sweet Smell of Success,” “Paths of Glory,” and “A Face in the Crowd” all received no love and could easily be featured in this column.
1958 saw “Gigi” break records with nine Oscar wins, while the telecast ended twenty minutes early, leaving Jerry Lewis having to try and improvise for that amount of time on live television. Can you imagine Chris Rock having to do that today? I’d watch that in a heartbeat.
Film industries from all over the world were blossoming and titles from this era are more accessible to us now so my choices have become harder and harder to make. If it comes down to it, I’ll err on the side of obscure because really, you all should know that “Touch of Evil” is required viewing without me saying so.