The big story of 1997 was, of course, Titanic.  It didn’t matter whether or not it was the best film of the year or simply one of the best.  Its hold on the imagination and the box office was enough.  It was good for the industry.  Prior to the Golden Globes, however, Titanic was an also-ran.   L.A. Confidential had swept the critics’ awards.  The Broadcast Film Critics had given James Cameron their Best Director award for Titanic, but L.A. Confidential’s Curtis Hanson won awards from the National Board of Review; the New York Film Critics; The L.A. Film Critics and the National Society of Film Critics.

In addition to L.A. Confidential, Titanic bested Amistad, The Boxer and Good Will Hunting to win the Globes’ Best Picture – Drama.  Best Picture – Comedy went to As Good As It Gets over The Full Monty; Men in Black; My Best Friend’s Wedding and Wag the Dog.

The Globes’ Best Director prize went to James Cameron for Titanic over James L. Brooks for As Good As It Gets; Curtis Hanson for L.A. Confidential; Jim Sheridan for The Boxer and Steven Spielberg for Amistad.  Cameron won.

The Directors Guild agreed with Globes on three of their choices: Cameron, Brooks, Hanson and Spielberg, choosing Gus Van Sant for Good Will Hunting instead of Sheridan.  Cameron won.

Oscar agreed with three of the Guild’s choices: Cameron, Brooks and Hanson, but chose Peter Cattaneo for The Full Monty and Atom Agoyan for The Sweet Hereafter instead of Brooks and Spielberg.

Best Picture nominations went to As Good As It Gets; The Full Monty; Good Will Hunting; L.A. Confidential and, of course, Titanic.

Fleshing out our hypothetical list of ten nominees for 1997, we would have to strongly consider Amistad (four nominations, no wins); The Sweet Hereafter (two nominations, no wins); The Wings of the Dove (four nominations, no wins) and Boogie Nights (three nominations, no wins).

Vying for the tenth slot would be such disparate films as Men in Black (three nominations, one win); Wag the Dog (two nominations, no wins); In & Out (One nomination, no win); My Best Friends’s Wedding (one nomination, no win); Jackie Brown (one nomination, no win) and Donnie Brasco (one nomination, no win) as well as such totally ignored films as The Rainmaker; The Boxer and The Ice Storm.  I’ll toss a coin and give it to Men in Black.

In the end Titanic won 11 of the 14 Oscars it was nominated for.  It remains the biggest moneymaking film of all time.