“The Towering Inferno” & “Earthquake” (1975)
The all-star disaster movie was the superhero movie of the 1970s: massive box-office hits that sometimes quietly cleaned up with technical Oscars. This reached something of a peak at the 47th Academy Awards, when “The Towering Inferno” picked up eight nominations, including Best Picture, and won three, Best Cinematography, Best Film Editing and Best Original Song —more than any other film that year bar “The Godfather Part II.” Charlton Heston vs. tectonic plates picture “Earthquake” also got in on the act, with four nods and a win for Best Sound.
“Harry & Tonto” (1975)
The late Paul Mazursky was terminally underrated for much of his career, but even by the standard of his work, “Harry & Tonto” is somewhat passed over by modern-day critics, despite its Oscar-winning status. Revolving around the relationship between an elderly widower and his cat, it’s a sweet-natured film that picked up the Best Actor prize for “Honeymooners” star Art Carney as the human half of the central partnership.
“The Omen” (1976)
Horror and the Oscars rarely go together, and you’d think that a pulpy movie about Satan’s spawn featuring bloody skewerings and decapitations like “The Omen” wouldn’t have much luck with the Academy. But the 1970s were a different time, and Richard Donner’s picture won an Oscar for Jerry Goldsmith’s sinister score (the film also picked up a nod for Best Original Song, oddly).
“Thank God It’s Friday” (1978)
The Best Original Song category has been the home to more than a few ignominious winners, but “Thank God It’s Friday” might take the biscuit. A very, very poor disco cash-in picture that’s remarkable mostly for providing early breakthrough roles for Debra Winger and Jeff Goldblum, and for being nakedly cynical in its motivations for existing, it nevertheless won an Academy Award for Donna Summer’s tune “Last Dance.”
“Tess” (1980)
The year after he fled America after sexual assault charges involving a 13-year-old girl, Roman Polanski returned to filmmaking with Thomas Hardy adaptation “Tess,” and Hollywood didn’t show any signs of objection to the director’s wrongdoing and fugitive status. The film, which starred Nastassja Kinski, was nominated for six awards including Best Picture and Best Director and won for Art Direction, Cinematography and Costume Design.
8 Mile. So many people still don\’t realise that Eminem is an Oscar winner.
A River Runs Through It is definitely not boring. It has an 83% on Rotten Tomatoes in case you\’re wondering. Maybe the most boring Redford-directed film you guys are thinking of are either The Legend of Bagger Vance or Lions for Lambs.
The Naked City is such a great film noir. It is also one of the first "procedurals", just done with photos, pen, paper and not a computer in site. Old school all the way, and just great. It was such a beautiful film. The film showed New York at it\’s most glamorous and gritty.
Dick Tracy was a comic strip, not a comic book. It may seem like a small distinction to make but it\’s a distinction all the same. Also, seconding Gerard\’s comment – Coburn was fantastic in Affliction.
the chance to honor a legend like Coburn was too good for voters pass up ???? he won because he was brilliant
I watched Cromwell in World History last year and it\’s actually quite good, with a really sleezebagy Alec Guiness.