Musicals were on the downswing in 1968 but two of them, William Wyler’s film of Funny Girl and Carol Reed’s film of Oliver! , which was a surprise winner for both Best Picture and Best Director, were among Oscar’s five nominees for Best Picture. Joining them in the first Oscar race of the decade were Anthony Harvey’s The Lion in Winter, which had been the expected winner, Franco Zeffirelli’s Romeo & Juliet, and Paul Newman’s Rachel, Rachel. Non-nominees included Roman Polanski’s Rosemary’s Baby, Stanley Kubrick’s 2001: A Space Odyssey, and Luis Bunuel’s Belle de Jour.

Oscar’s 1969 lineup included Costa-Gavras’ Z, the first foreign language film nominated for Best Picture since Jean Renoir’s Grand Illusion 31 years earlier. Also in the running were George Roy Hill’s Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid, the anticipated winner, two surprise nominees, Charles Jarrot’s Anne of the Thousand Days and Gene Kelly’s Hello, Dolly! , and Best Director John Schlesinger’s Midnight Cowboy, the surprise winner. Among the ignored were Sydney Pollack’s They Shoot Horses, Don’t They?, Richard Attenborough’s Oh! What a Lovely War , and Luchino Visconti’s The Damned.

Oscar’s 1970 Best Picture winner was Best Director Franklin J. Schaffner’s Patton which won over Bob Rafelson’s Five Easy Pieces, Robert Altman’s M*A*S*H, George Seaton’s Airport, and Arthur Hiller’s Love Story. David Lean’s Ryan’s Daughter, Ken Russell’s Women in Love, and Arthur Penn’s Little Big Man were snubbed.

Oscar’s 1971 Best Picture Oscar award went to Best Director William Friedkin’s The French Connection over Stanley Kubrick’s A Clockwork Orange, Peter Bogdanovich’s The Last Picture Show, Norman Jewison’s Fiddler on the Roof, and Franklin J. Schaffner’s Nicholas and Alexandra. Among the missing were John Schlesinger’s Sunday Bloody Sunday, Joseph Losey’s The Go-Between, and Bernardo Bertolucci’s The Conformist.

Oscar’s 1972 Best Picture was Francis Ford Coppola’s The Godfather but Best Director went to Bob Fosse whose Cabaret won 8 Oscars to Godfather’s 3. Also nominated were John Boorman’s Deliverance, Jan Troell’s The Emigrants, and Martin Ritt’s Sounder. Left out in the cold were Peter H. Hunt’s 1776, Luis Bunuel’s The Discreet Charm of the Bourgeoisie, and Joseph L. Mankiewicz’s Sleuth.

Oscar’s 1973’s Best Picture and Best Director prizes went to George Roy Hill’s The Sting over William Friedkin’s The Exorcist, Ingmar Bergman’s Cries and Whispers, George Lucas’ American Graffiti, and Melvin Frank’s A Touch of Class. Not nominated were John Hancock’s Bang the Drum Slowly, Lindsay Anderson’s O Lucky Man!, and Peter Bogdanovich’s Paper Moon.

Oscar’s 1974 Best Picture was Best Director Francis Ford Coppola’s The Godfahter Part II over Roman Polanski’s Chinatown, Bob Fosse’s Lenny, John Guillermin’s The Towering Inferno, and Coppola’s The Conversation. Sidney Lumet’s Murder on the Orient Express, Martin Scorsese’s Alice Doesn’t Live Here Anymore, and Joseph Sargent’s The Taking of Pelham One Two Three were among those not nominated.

Oscar’s 1975 Best Picture was Best Director Milos Forman’s One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest over Robert Altman’s Nashville, Stanley Kubrick’s Barry Lyndon, Sidney Lumet’s Dog Day Afternoon, and Steven Spielberg’s Jaws. Among that failed to be nominated were Hal Ashby’s Shampoo, Francois Truffaut’s The Story of Adele H. , and Sydney Pollack’s Three Days of the Condor.

Oscar’s 1976 Best Picture and Best Director awards went to John G. Avildsen’s Rocky in an upset over Alan J. Pakula’s All the Presidents Men, Hal Ashby’s Bound for Glory, Sidney Lumet’s Network, and Martin Scorsese’s Taxi Driver. Not Nominated were John Schlesinger’s Marathon Man, Brian De Palma’s Carrie, and Richard Donner’s The Omen.

Oscar’s 1977 Best Picture and Best Director awards went to Woody Allen’s Annie Hall over George Lucas’ Star Wars, Fred Zinnemann’s Julia, and two from Herbert Ross, The Goodbye Girl and The Turning Point. Richard Brooks’ Looking for Mr. Goodbar, John Badham’s Saturday Night Fever, and Sidney Lumet’s Equus were overlooked.

FILMS THE ACADEMY SHOULD HAVE NOMINATED BUT DIDN’T

ROSEMARY’S BABY, directed by Roman Polanski (1968)

Ira Levin’s bestselling novel was faithfully filmed by Polanski with Mia Farrow as the New Yorker impregnated by the devil. John Cassavetes was her actor husband, Ruth Gordon and Sidney Blackmer the devil’s disciples next door, Ralph Bellamy the devil’s doctor and Maurice Evans Farrow’s elderly friend. Exteriors were shot at New York’s famous Dakota building at the corner of 72nd St. and Central Park West whose tenants included Lauren Bacall, Leonard Bernstein, Robert Ryan, Boris Karloff, and later, John Lennon, Farrow herself lived across the street from the building. Gordon won an Oscar but Farrow, like Polanski and the film itself was snubbed.

THEY SHOOT HORSES, DON’ THEY?, directed by Sydney Pollack (1969)

The film version of Horace McCoy’s novel of a grueling, inhumane dance marathon was nominated for 9 Oscars but failed to be nominated for Best Picture. Jane Fonda was the odds-on favorite to win Best Actress for her portrayal of a suicidal contestant but lost to Maggie Smith in
The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie. Gig Young won for his nasty master of ceremonies in a close race with Jack Nicolson in Easy River. Michael Sarrazin, Oscar nominated Susannah York, Red Buttons, Bonnie Bedlia, and Bruce Dern are among Fonda’s competitors in the dance contest.

SUNDAY BLOODY SUNDAY, directed by John Schlesinger (1971)

On the heels of her Oscar winning performance in Women in Love, Jackson earned her second nomination under the direction of Midnight Cowboy Oscar winner Shlesinger. She was at her best playing a frustrated office worker who knowingly shares her bisexual young lover (Murray Head) with a homosexual doctor (Peter Finch). The Oscar nominated performances of Jackson and Finch showcase both actors at their best with fine supporting work from Head, Peggy Ashcroft as Jackson’s mother, Vivian Pickles s her friend, and amusingly, silent screen and early talkie actress Bessie Love as her answering service lady.

MURDER ON THE ORIENT EXPRESS, directed by Sidney Lumet (1974)

Prior to this highly successful version of Agatha Christie’s classic mystery, only 1945’s And Then There Were None and 1957’s Witness for the Prosecution among her many works were critically and commercially successful. Albert Finney’s Oscar nominated portrayal of Christie’s sleuth, Hercule Poirot, was one of the actor’s best performances, as was Ingrid Bergman’s Oscar-winning portrayal of one of the murder suspects, a timid missionary. Also giving strong performances were Lauren Bacall, Wendy Hiller, Rachel Roberts, John Gielgud, Vanessa Redgrave, Sean Connery, Jacqueline Bisset, Michael York and more.

LOOKING FOR MR. GOODBAR, directed by Richard Brooks (1977)

Judith Rossner’s bestselling novel was based on a real-life New York City murder. The city was itself a major character in the novel, so much so that the film’s biggest obstacle was abandoning filming in cost-prohibitive New York and substituting a fictional city that was an amalgam of San Francisco and Los Angeles. Diane Keaton gave her greatest performance in this film the year that she won an Oscar for Annie Hall instead. Only Tuesday Weld as Keaton’s sister was nominated for this. Richard Kiley as Keaton and Weld’s father, and Richard Gere, Tom Berenger, and William Atherton as her various lovers also give fine perforamnces.