1964 - My Fair Lady: "You expect me to get in there and well myself all over?"

1964 Best Picture Winner

Premiered October 21, 1964 in New York

Budget $17 Million

Gross $70 Million

We go from the worst Best Picture winner (Tom Jones) to the best movie we've seen so far. Everything about My Fair Lady exudes quality and class. Audrey Hepburn is the best actress that we have seen so far. Her performance was amazing and timeless. Rex Harrison also did an excellent job as the professor. The music is timeless and the humor is very funny and right on the mark. The movie is 50 years old but it is still funny, compelling and moving. 

Joel

Favorite: The scene where the professor agrees to work with Eliza is the best single scene of any movie so far (barely edging out the chariot race scene in Ben Hur). The onscreen chemistry between Hepburn and Harrison is an example that should be held up for future screen actors to aspire to.

Least Favorite: The only drawback for me was the fact that Audrey Hepburn was dubbed during the songs. I don't believe that a producer would make that decision for a film today that was expected to compete for an Oscar. 

Callie

Favorite: The witty dialogue. I was entertained throughout the entire movie.

Least Favorite: The ending: I wanted more closure at the end. 

1963 - Tom Jones: "I had the misfortune to know who my parents were"

1963 Best Picture Winner

Premiered October 6, 1963

Budget $1 Million

Gross $50 Million

No, it's not a mistake, we did not forget to rate this movie using our popcorn bags. It did not earn any popcorn bags because it is the worst film we've seen so far. The script, acting, morals, makeup and directing were awful. The movie was supposed to be a comedy but there was nothing funny in the film whatsoever. I am not sure what the members of the Academy were thinking in 1963.

Joel

Favorite: When the words "The End" came up on the screen.

Least Favorite: It was the first best picture winner to use sex to elicit humor. It was offensive and not funny at all. The movie is a waste of time!

Callie

Favorite: There was no favorite.

Least Favorite: It was supposed to be a comedy, but we never laughed. The entire plot was disgusting and not entertaining.

1962 - Lawrence Of Arabia: "Thy mother mated with a scorpion"

1962 Best Picture Winner

Premiered December 16, 1962

Budget $15 Million

Gross $70 Million

This film had so much going for it. The wide sweeping view of the desert created a unique visual. The military  aspect also provided a way to create the potential for a compelling plot. Finally, the feuding tribes in Arabia provided a vehicle for a powerful hero. At first, I thought Lawrence would be this hero. However, the film left us confused as to who Lawrence really was. The scenes did not connect the dots very well. The director left too many holes. 

Joel

Favorite: I liked the character Sherif Ali. He was a character who became my favorite even though the protagonist was supposed to be Lawrence.

Least Favorite: I did not see how the beginning of the movie that captured Lawrence's death added to the whole of the film.

Callie

Favorite: I liked the setting. It gave a good depiction of what life was like in the desert.

Least Favorite: Throughout the four hour movie, I never really connected with and understood Lawrence. 

1961 - West Side Story: "We won't bite you until we know you better"

1961 Best Picture Winner

Premiered October 18, 1961 in New York

Budget $6 Million

Gross $43.7 Million

West Side Story is a classic movie. The songs are catchy and fun to listen to. The movie is one you should see at some point in your life if you've never seen it. However, this isn't a great movie. As a stage production, it gets 3 popcorn boxes, as a movie it only gets two. Here's why: the acting is not good and the filmmakers did not add anything to the stage production to enhance the experience. There's a big difference between the stage and the screen. Most filmmakers have a tough time figuring it out. 

Joel

Favorite: I liked many of the classic songs, especially "America"

Least Favorite: Some of the dance scenes with the boys in the gangs was a little hokey.

Callie
Favorite: I think the story is excellent. It is easy to relate to and it draws you in.
Least Favorite: The acting was bad and the music seemed to fight the story line rather than advance the story line. 

1960 - The Apartment: "I said I had no family; I didn't say that I had an empty apartment.

1960  Best Picture Winner

Premiered June 15, 1960 in New York

Budget $3 Million

Gross N/A

It was fun to see a film that had actors in it that I have seen in movies that have come out within the last 15 years. It was also fun to see our first romantic comedy since It Happened One Night. 

On the downside, it was sad to see how far morality has slid in the past few years. The premise centers around white collar executives who wanted to borrow the key to Baxter's apartment for their extra marital affairs. No one seems to see anything wrong with the behavior until one of the wives find out about what is going on.

Joel

Favorite: I thought that Jack Lemmon did a great job. He did a great job making his character look likable and pathetic at the same time.

Least Favorite: It was in black and white. Color films had been around for many years and yet the studio did not spend the extra money to colorize it. 

Callie

Favorite: It felt like a modern movie. It was like a romantic comedy that was done in modern times. The pacing was nice. You connected with the characters and you felt drawn into the plot.

Least Favorite: The morality levels reaches a new low and I felt that it was degrading to women.

1950s Wrap Up

We seemed to alternate between girl movies (All About Eve, Marty and Gigi) and guy movies (On The Waterfront, Bridge Over the River Kwai and Ben-Hur). We both agree that the 50s were much better than the 40s. Overall, the movies were solid with good stories trumping glitzy special effects as priorities for the studios.

1959 - Ben-Hur: "In His eagerness to save you, your God has also saved an entire Roman fleet"

1959 Best Picture Winner

Premiered November 18, 1959

Budget $15.9 Million

Gross $70 Million

Callie and Joel came away with different opinions of this movie. You will get Joel's thoughts since I am writing this blog. I loved the film for many different reasons: the message, the story and what the movie did for the art of film. First, the message: The message of the film is that there is a redeemer who desires a relationship with you and is reaching out to you. All you have to do is accept what he is offering and He will save you. The story: Creative, inspirational, moving and interesting are some of the words that came to my mind while watching it. Finally the movie advanced the industry by using wide shots of big sets, employing lots of extras for several scenes and by using the best stunts we have seen so far. This is the best movie we have seen so far on our journey of Best Picture winners.

Joel

Favorite: The chariot race scene is the single best scene we have experienced so far (surpassing the courtroom scene in the Life of Emile Zola).

Least Favorite: At almost 4 hours in length, it does drag at times. 

Callie
Favorite: It was cool to see the Roman culture during that time.
Least Favorite: I felt that it was overdone at times and tended to be a little cheesy. 



1958 - Gigi: "Bad table manners have broken up more marriages that infidelity"

1958 Best Picture Winner

Premiered May 15 1958 in New York

Budget $3.3 Million

Gross N/A

This movie gave more respect for timeless musicals (like Wizard of Oz or the Sound of Music). The music did not appeal to me at all. The story was boring and actually a little creepy: The creepy old uncle talks and sings about loving "little girls". I found it very odd.

The only intriguing part of the film is the character Gigi. She is an unrefined teenage girl who becomes a lady. Her transformation is somewhat interesting. It was one bright spot in an overall dull movie.

Joel

Favorite: I liked the use of the narrator, Honore. That showed some creativity on the part of the writer.

Least Favorite: I hated the music. All of it was terrible and boring.

Callie
Favorite: I enjoyed the feminine quality of the movie. Not many films so far have had that. It was certainly a chick flick.
Least Favorite: It was shady. A 35 year old man chasing a 15 year old.

1957 - The Bridge On The River Kwai: "Queer bird...even for an American"

1957 Best Picture Winner

Premiered December 18, 1957 in New York

Budget $3 Million

Gross $33.3 Million

I (Joel) feel that this is the best movie we've seen so far. My two favorites so far have been Rebecca and Casablanca, however this one gets the edge because this film has such a great message. The film has many redeemable qualities to it: courage, honor and the message that you should work hard at everything put in your path. The theme of the movie really spoke to me as a man. 

The acting is excellent, the script is great and the ending is the most exciting and suspenseful that we've encountered yet. We recommend this movie to everyone, especially if you've never seen it. 

Joel

Favorite: The theme of the movie resonated with me.

Least Favorite: I wanted a purely honorable character. All of them were flawed: Nicholson began to go insane, Shears was a coward at times, Clipton was pessimistic but was the closest to being "pure"

Callie

Favorite: The last 10 minutes were tense and exciting. 

Least Favorite: It was too long.

1956 - Around The World In 80 Days: "Follow that ostrich"!

1956 Best Picture

Premiered October 17, 1956 in New York

Budget $6 million

Gross $42 million

This was the first epic film we've seen since Gone With The Wind. Everything about the film is big: The Special effects, the sets, the acting. The movie was very entertaining and the scenes moved along rather quickly even though the movie is quite long. They just tried to pack as much story into the film as possible. It is a good, entertaining movie, not a great movie. 

Joel

Favorite: I am glad to see that Hollywood had finally figured out that each scene does not have to drag on and on. Each scene showed the essentials and then moved on.

Least Favorite: The film started out with a cartoon about the universe. Callie made me check to make sure that I really put the right movie into the DVD player.

Callie

Favorite: It was action packed and quick moving. 

Least Favorite: Fogg rescues the princess but she doesn't play a role in moving the story forward after that scene, she is just present in every scene after that.

1955 - Marty: "College girls are one step from the street I tell you"

1955 Best Picture

Premiered April 11, 1955 in New York

 Budget $343,000

Gross N/A

Marty was a nice, sweet innocent movie. It follows a bachelor and his quest to find love. He is rejected time and time again until he finally finds his match. It is entertaining to follow his whirlwind romance, then to see his friends who try to talk him out of it and the the sweet ending.

It surprised us that it won because it is such a light movie. It doesn't have a political message. It doesn't have much serious content at all. It is just a fun movie to watch on a Saturday night. 

Joel
Favorite: I like the innocence of it all.

Least Favorite: The movie was still in black and white. 

Callie: I felt for Marty. The director did a good job making me like the main character.
Least Favorite: I didn't like the ending. I wanted more closure. 

1954 - On The Waterfront: "I Could've Been A Contender"

1954 Best Picture Winner

 

Premiered July 28, 1954

 

Budget $910,000

 

Gross $9.6 million

 

The great movies were all ahead of their time. Rebecca introduced the Hitchcock type suspense to the world, Casablanca took acting to a new level, It Happened One Night brought Romantic Comedy to to Hollywood. This was a great crime drama before the era of great crime dramas in the 1970s. The action and suspense make it a film worth watching. It also worked to expose the corruption of unions in blue collar industires.

 

Joel

Favorite: I really liked the performance of Marlon Brando. He is the best actor we've seen since Clark Gable.

Least Favorite: I liked everything about the film.

 

Callie

Favorite: The plot was good and the movie had a nice pace to it.

Least Favorite: It was hard to follow the characters and who was who.





1953 - From Here To Eternity: "I don't want to be an officer. I'm happy where I am"

 

1953 Best Picture Winner

Premiered August 5, 1953 in New York

Premiered: $1.7 Million

Gross: $30.5 Million

 

This was a movie that had a very progressive plot, meaning that I could imagine a movie with the same script hitting theatres today. It was also a plot that would not have made it into a movie ten years prior to the release date either. The movie centers around an adulterous affair and it romanticizes the relationship. Again, we see the evolution of what is seen as acceptable from a moral perspective.

 

The film was quick moving and compelling. We also liked the way that it built toward the attack on Pearl Harbor. We saw how the attack affected all of the main characters.

 

Joel

Favorite: I liked the fact that they casts Frank Sinatra in the film and didn't make him sing!

Least Favorite: I did not like the fact that the main love story was actually an affair.

Callie
Favorite: It has fun to see the time period depicted in Pearl Harbor.
Least Favorite: The attack on Pearl Harbor only took up the last five minutes of the movie. 

1952 - The Greatest Show On Earth: "Grab your waterwings girls, here comes a big wave"

1952 Best Picture Winner

Premiered January 10, 1952 in New York

Budget: $4 Million

Gross: $14 Million

 

This movie was a spectacle. It was fun to see the different acts from the circus. However, it was a good movie, not a great movie. The film was entertaining but it did not advance the art of film making.

 

If you miss the old big top circus days, this is a movie that you would enjoy. The movie takes a lot of time showing the acts, in many cases, in their entirety. That reason caused the film to drag a little bit. Overall though, it was a solid film.

 

Joel

Favorite: I liked seeing Jimmy Stewart as "Buttons" the clown.

Least Favorite: I did not like the female lead, "Holly". I did not like the way the writers scripted her character.

Callie

Favorite: I liked the whole spectacle of the film. The animals, real trapeze artists, it was like watching a real circus.
Least Favorite: The length. It was way too long and they showed the entire acts and they could have just showed a portion of each act.

1951 - An American In Paris: "I'm a concert pianist. That is a pretentious way of saying that I'm unempoyed"

 

1951 Best Picture Winner

Premiered October 4, 1951 in New York

Budget: $2.7 Million

Gross: $4.5 Million

 

We did not like this movie at all. This film had good music and dancing but the screenplay was so bad that the movie became a disappointment. It took almost 30 minutes for the plot to get going. The music was well written but did not always fit the context of the film.

 

Joel

Favorite: Some of the Gershwin songs were fun to hear. I really liked "Who Could Ask For Anything More"

Least Favorite: I hated the ending. It was a 20 minute song and dance that did not make any sense at all.

Callie
Favorite: The storyline was interesting. I also liked the romance.
Least Favorite: Everything else. The last dancing scene was terrible and I still can't figure out what was happening.



1950 - All About Eve: "Everyone has a heart, except some people"

1950 Best Picture Winner

Premiered October 13, 1950

Budget: N/A

Gross: N/A

 

This is one movie where we'd like to be able to give half popcorn bags because this movie would have gotten 2 and a half bags. The movie was a nod to showbiz and those who made it work. It also showed the skeletons that those in the limelight had. It is ironic that the last three films (Hamlet, All The King's Men and this one) show people at their worst. Watching this movie makes you feel as if no one in the entertainment industry had any character at all.

 

On the upside, I thought the writers of the Office must have watched this movie because the script was witty, funny and smart. The acting was also excellent. Bette Davis knocked it out of the park as Margo Channing.

 

Joel

Favorite: I loved the humor. It wasn't a comedy but it made me laugh out loud several times.

Least Favorite: I wanted Eve to be a rags to riches character but she turned out to be evil.

 

Callie

Favorite: The storyline was very modern. It could easily be done today.

Least Favorite: The actress who played Eve was a bad actress. That character could have been cast better.







1940s Wrap Up

The 1930s ended with such promise in filmmaking. The 40s began with a bang (with Rebecca) and went down hill from there. Casablanca was one of the great films of the last 100 years but most of the other films failed to deliver.

These Oscar winning movie showed a change in society. The soldiers were coming home from the War and it became evident that society did not cling to the same morals as it once did. Movies like The Lost Weekend winked at prostitution and The Best Year's Of Our Lives portrayed alcoholism, infidelity and divorce in a favorable light.

Another change is the fact that women begin to be the heroes in many of the movies. I believe that the ceremonial torch was passed during Mrs Miniver when he captured an enemy solider in her kitchen. Hollywood showed the world that women were worthy of being the main characters rather than just being a pretty face to bring a change of pace, as was the case in Cimarron.

Overall, the 40s showed the social change going on in America but did not give us an improvement in movie making. We're hoping that the 50s bring an improvement in film.

1949 - All The King's Men: "They say he's an honest man"

1949 Best Picture Winner

Premiered November 8, 1949 in New York

Budget: N/A

Gross: N/A

 

This movie was a solid film. (Of course, after watching Hamlet, watching paint dry would have looked interesting). All kidding aside, this was a good movie. The story moved along nicely and the plot took us by surprise. I thought that the film would be a rags to riches story but the movie did not turn out that way at all. The movie closed in a surprising fashion and totally caught me off guard. I also got a chuckle out of watching the movie in light of the election. Overall, this is a film that you should watch at some point in your life.

 

Joel

Favorite: I liked the fast pace of the movie. The scenes were tight and did not drag on.

Least Favorite: I wanted to root for Willie but found out that I couldn't.

 

Callie

Favorite: It was very entertaining.

Least Favorite: The story was depressing. There were no honorable characters. It lacked a character with redeemable qualities.



1948 - Hamlet: "Get thee to a nunnery"

1948 Best Picture Winner

Premiered September 29, 1948

Budget: N/A

Gross: N/A

 

The story is timeless...The actor is an all time great...This equation adds up to...a really awful movie! I'm serious. The worst movie since Cavalcade. Now, it isn't Shakespeare's fault. It isn't even Lawrence Olivier's fault (although he directed it too so I guess he is partly to blame). The stanging, acting and camera shots were done as if they just filmed a production done on a stage. The production values brought nothing new to the art form and the actors "over acted" like they were in front of a live audience. It was a terrible way to spend a couple of hours.

 

Joel

Favorite: I actually liked the "ghost" scenes. That was the only time when the film makers actually showed some creatvity.

Least Favorite: The movie is slow. Mel Gibson was "Hamlet" in the same story and is was not slow and boring at all so I know that it is not the story.

 

Callie

Favorite: I liked the story.

Least Favorite: Bad acting, bad sets, it all seemed "hokey".