Oscar Flashback – 1977

2009 produced some of the best Sci Fi films the Oscar race has ever seen. Usually there are one or two that flirt with the edges of Oscar but it’s rare for one, let alone two, to be nominated for Best Picture. For a while there, it looked like there would be three, and that would have been something. But Star Trek was bumped for more Academy-friendly personal stories. Still, two science fiction films up for Best Picture is sort of a big deal. I thought it might be fun to take a look back at Oscar’s history with sci fi.

Here are the films I came up with that were nominated. Click the jump to read more.

1971 – A Clockwork Orange, 4 nominations including writing, directing, editing. 0 wins.
1977 – Star Wars, 11 nominations, including acting, writing, directing, editing – 7 wins.
1982 – E.T., 9 nominations, including writing, directing, editing – 4 wins.

That’s pretty much it until 2009. But perhaps more interesting are the films that weren’t nominated for Best Pic but could have been:

2001: A Space Odyssey – 4 Oscar nominations, including Writing and Directing, won for Visual Effects only.
Star Wars: The Empire Strikes Back, 4 Oscar nominations, won Visual Effects special achievement and Sound.
Close Encounters of the Third Kind – 9 nominations including Director and Supporting Actress, won for cinematography and Sound Effects Editing
Alien – won for visual effects, also nominated for Art Direction.
Blade Runner – nominated for Visual Effects and Art Direction.
The Thing (John Carpenter) – no Oscar noms, one Razzie nom.
Aliens – 7 Oscar nominations, including Actress and Editing.

Sci Fi has not been the Academy’s thing. Other genres have had a hard time breaking through, like thrillers, action movies or comedies. Their history seems to favor intimate dramas, sweeping epics, war movies and musicals.

Either way, 2009 has already made history with two Science Fiction films up for Best Pic, along with two films directed by women, and one black man.

Of the Sci Fi films that have been nominated, Star Wars looks like it had the best chance of actually winning, famously of course. Many an internet comment section has filled itself with Star Wars vs. Annie Hall debates, right up there with Shakespeare in Love vs. Saving Private Ryan and Crash vs. Brokeback Mountain.

I absolutely loved Star Wars when it came out. My sister and I used t be dropped off at the multiplex in the valley and sit through the film multiple times rather than run around town doing errands with our mother. We were part of the crazed fans that gave rise to the modern blockbuster. Back then, it was routine to stand in line around the block to wait for the latest and the greatest. I can still quote almost every line of Star Wars — and I am sure I’ve seen the film at least fifty times.

Ironically, Annie Hall is another of my favorite films. I have seen it at least fifty times and know every line of dialogue from that movie. I can quote whole passages of it. My head is full of movie quotes and a large part of that library belongs to Annie Hall. In 1977 cinema changed forever.

Both Star Wars and Annie Hall gave birth to whole generations of films and filmmakers. I grew up in the era of both. It’s hard to say which film has ultimately had a greater impact on cinema because they both did. Annie Hall was heavy on the writing and the acting; Star Wars was breathtaking in its visuals.

In the end, Annie Hall got only five Oscar nominations and won all but Best Actor. It absolutely deserved to win as it was the better film. Star Wars was so new, so completely awe-inspiring, and yet it was weak, as most of George Lucas’ films are (except American Graffiti) on story. Still, the characters were memorable, archtypical, funny – and most importantly, they appealed across the board. Annie Hall could only really be appreciated by certain type of person, one that got the jokes and felt the sentiment at the end.