The Young Ones – Get Rekt!

Greetings, Glancers! Today I run a more critical eye over my tenth favourite movie of the year 1961, seeking to ignore my bias and provide a fair score based on the 20 criteria I feel are most important in the creation of a film. Today’s movie is Sidney J Furie’s The Young Ones, a British musical starring a fresh faced Cliff Richards as the member of a youth club trying to save his club from being replaced by office blocks.

Sales: 4. Did great business in the UK and was a large success, but didn’t make much of a splash anywhere else. 3 is appropriate here too.

Critical Consensus:3. Struck a chord with audiences, less so with critics due it likely being somewhat stale and lacking the flair and songs of the US Musicals.

Director: 3. Handles the song and dance routines well.

Performances: 3. It’s all sweet and smiles and energy, but only Cliff and Morley stand out.

Characters: 2. No-one particularly memorable here.

Cinematography: 3. Again, fine, nothing special.

Writing: 3. It’s a by the numbers story and screenplay, and a couple of the songs are memorable.

Plot: 2. A bunch of boys and girls like their little club. A rich suit wants to knock it down for more money. They revolt in song. Fin.

Wardrobe: 3. Bright and stylish as a musical should be.

Editing: 3. Sure.

Make up and Hair: 3. More 50s US influenced that Swinging Sixties, but this was beginning to bridge that gap.

Effects: 2. Nothing really applicable here.

Art and Set: 3. Could have been bigger and bolder for a musical, but fine.

Sound And Music: 3. A couple of good songs, crucially doesn’t go far down the musical theatre route and piss me off.

Cultural Significance: 4. 4 is your limit here – it of course would influence, even if only in name, the 80s TV series, it gave Richards a larger platform, and it would go on to see a Stage adaptation.

Accomplishment: 3. It was cashing in on Richards but like many of the Elvis vehicles in the US, it could have easily been nothing more than Cliff prancing about to a few new songs and that would have sold. It’s better than that.

Stunts: 3. Sure.

Originality: 2. By the numbers, but with some youthful British energy.

Miscellaneous: 3. The Soundtrack sold well.

Personal: 3. One of the few musicals of the era I can stand.

Total Score: 58/100.

A low score, but I think that’s okay. In the future I can see some of my Personal 5 scored films not reaching 60. Let us know in the comments what you would score The Young Ones!

Essential Movies – 1961 – Alternative View

For my original post explaining my criteria – click here!

For the mainstream view – click here!

Rules: Ten films which, in some way, show our history and culture reflected in film and  film’s growth and change as a medium. It can’t simply be your ten personal favourites of the year. One of your ten choices must be in the top 10 grossing films of the given year. One of the films must have been nominated for a Best Film Oscar (Best Picture, Best Foreign Feature, or Best Animated Feature). One of the films needs to appear in a renowned critic or magazine or book’s best 10 films of the year. These choices can’t overlap. 

1. The Hustler (Best Picture Winner)

2. West Side Story (Top Grossing Movie)

3. 101 Dalmations (Best Film Critical Choice)

4. The Guns Of Navarone

5. Breakfast At Tiffany’s

6. Yojimbo

7. The Innocents

8. Judgement At Nuremberg

9. One-Eyed Jacks

10. The Pit And The Pendulum

Essential Movies – 1961

Greetings, Glancers! Welcome back to my series of posts examining those movies intelligent people call Essential – and whether the rest of us should agree.  Check out my explanation post for more info, and have a look at my 1961 Oscars posts if you have additional time to waste. Onwards!

A Raisin In The Sun

Why It May Be Considered Essential: One of the first films to feature a predominantly African American cast including Ruby Dee and Sidney Poitier. Preserved by the USA National Film Registry.

Why It May Not Be: Dated even though still topical, no-one remembers it, didn’t do huge business.

What I Think: Even Wannabe Critics and Film Nerds will likely miss out on this one, probably essential for Fans of the cast.

Breakfast At Tiffany’s

Why It May Be Considered Essential: Audrey Hepburn, George Peppard, Blake Edwards, one of the most iconic Romances of all time. Top 15 grossing movie that year. Won two Oscars, nominated for three others. Moon River. Preserved by NFR.

Why It May Not Be: It’s old?

What I Think: One of the most obviously all around Essential Movies of the 60s. You don’t get to be a Critic, Film Nerd, or Film Fan without seeing this. Casuals and Careless will know it and should see it.

Fanny

Why It May Be Considered Essential: Nominated for five Oscars including Best Picture and Actor.

Why It May Not Be: It has an unfortunate name. Most people won’t care about the cast. It wasn’t successful. I don’t think anyone remembers it outside of devout stage fans.

What I Think: Essential only if you’re determined to see every film nominated for Best Picture. No-one else needs to seek this out, as enjoyable as it may be.

Judgement At Nuremberg

Why It May Be Considered Essential: Preserved by NFR. Top 15 Grossing film that year. The most famous film about one of the most important Court Cases ever. Stanley Kramer directs. Spencer Tracey, Burt Lancaster, Max Schell, Judy Garland, William Shatner, Marlene Dietrich appear among others – some of the biggest names in Hollywood History. Nominated for 11 Oscars with Schell winning Best Actor.

Why It May Not Be: It’s old and modern audiences may not know all of the historical nuances.

What I Think: Essential for Wannabe Critics and Film Nerds. Should be essential for Film Fans – a must see for Courtroom Drama fans or fans of the cast. No-one else will be interested in finding it.

Last Year At Marienbad

Why It May Be Considered Essential: Directed by Alain Resnais. Masterpiece of surrealism. Influenced David Lynch, Stanley Kubrick, nominated for an Oscar two years after release.

Why It May Not Be: Surrealism is a tough self and this is ambiguous as films get. There are no easy answers and most people like a beginning, middle, and end with clear structure.

What I Think: Essential for Wannabe Critics. Film Nerds should give at least one Alan Resnais film a go, so why not this. Surrealist Fans should see it. No-one will care.

La Notte

Why It May Be Considered Essential: Antonioni, Mastroinanni, Jeanne Moreau.

Why It May Not Be: Who?

What I Think: A dense Italian drama about a collapsing relationship – not going to be an easy sell to a modern audience. Wannabe Critics should see it, Film Nerds should try, if you’re not a fan of Antonioni or the cast you’re not going to chase it down.

Lola

Why It May Be Considered Essential: Jacques Demy. Anouk Aimee.

Why It May Not Be: Again, who?

What I Think: If you’re not a fan of Demy or Aimee, or a devotee of the French New Wave you won’t care.

Lover Come Back

Why It May Be Considered Essential: Nominated for an Oscar. Rock Hudson and Doris Day. Screwball comedy in an world of Executives.

Why It May Not Be: Old, dated, corny, not well remembered.

What I Think: Only essential if you like the two stars.

One Eyed Jacks

Why It May Be Considered Essential: Directed by and starring Marlon Brando.

Why It May Not Be: Other than the above, there isn’t much to recommend it to people.

What I Think: An interesting curio and essential for Brando fans. Wannabe Critics and Film Nerds should be aware of it and therefore should see it, but wouldn’t class it as essential for them.

One Hundred And One Dalmations

Why It May Be Considered Essential: It’s Disney. Cruella De Vil. Spawned a Live action sequel or two. Top 10 Grossing Film of the year.

Why It May Not Be: It was during a dark period for Disney where their films were not doing so well, critically or commercially and suffers from being a little dull. The songs aren’t great.

What I Think: Even though Disney films were not great during this time, this one proved they could still make a lot of money on a small budget. Aside from the wacky and dark story, it’s quite a plain story but as it is a Disney animated movie it should be considered Essential for almost everyone. The Casuals may have seen it when younger or if they have kids of their own, and same goes for The Careless – not as vital as some Disney movies, more important than others – so somewhere in the middle.

Splendor In The Grass

Why It May Be Considered Essential: Natalie Wood. Warren Beatty. Elia Kazan. Top ten grossing film of the year. Won one Oscar and nominated for another.

Why It May Not Be: Teen drama from an era long gone. Most modern audiences won’t care about the cast. Stupid name?

What I Think: A fine school-based drama with good performances and timeless arguments, but a setting and style and period which will not resonate as easily with modern viewers. Only essential for fans of the cast, not essential for Film Nerds and not high up the must see list for Wannabe Critics.

The Exiles

Why It May Be Considered Essential: One of the first films of its kind, a pseudo-documentary, but based mostly on the lives of young Native Americans who have left their reservations and moved to the big city.

Why It May Not Be: See above. No-one has ever seen it.

What I Think: I have no idea.

The Guns Of Navarone

Why It May Be Considered Essential: 2nd highest grossing movie of the year. Gregory Peck. David Niven. Anthony Quinn. Nominated for Best Picture, Director, Score, Writing, and others and won for Best Visual Effects.

Why It May Not Be: In the pantheon of great war action movies, this one has maybe been overshadowed by some others. Modern audiences looking for action aren’t likely to look so far in the past.

What I Think: One of the finest WWII era action movies and a perennial seasonal British favourite. Essential for Film Nerds more than Wannabe Critics, but both groups should see this. Essential for War fans, interesting enough that channel surfers may catch it and be drawn in by the cast and the action.

The Hustler

Why It May Be Considered Essential: Paul Newman. Piper Laurie. George C Scott. Nominated for Best Picture and 8 other Oscars, winning for Set Decoration and Cinematography.

Why It May Not Be: Old and Black and White?

What I Think: One of the best Sports movies ever with some iconic performances and characters. Essential for Wannabe Critics, Film Nerds, and fans of the cast. Fans of Pool and Snooker should consider it essential. Likely too distant now for Casuals or Careless to go looking for it.

The Innocents

Why It May Be Considered Essential: One of the finest ghost/haunted house movies ever, dense and gothic.

Why It May Not Be: Old, BW, not many obvious scares, and probably too stodgy and sterile for modern audiences.

What I Think: A classic in the British horror genre, but a slow-burner which only certain horror fans will appreciate. Essential for Wannabe Critics, less essential for Film Nerds and horror fans, not essential for anyone else.

The Ladies Man

Why It May Be Considered Essential: A Jerry Lewis comedy.

Why It May Not Be: Not many modern viewers will care about the above.

What I Think: Only essential for Lewis fans.

The Misfits

Why It May Be Considered Essential: Miller. Huston. Gable. Monroe. Arguably more famous for the Production issues than the end result. 100% rating on Rotten Tomatoes.

Why It May Not Be: Monroe may remain a household name, but how many modern viewers have actually seen one of her films? If they have, it’s not this one. A flop on release.

What I Think: Filmed as Miller and Monroe were separating and Huston was drinking heavily. Monroe was in rehab during production. Gable died days after filming finished, Monroe a year later. An interesting film to be aware of due to its troubled history, so Essential for Film Nerds and Wannabe Critics. Essential for fans of the cast due to strong performances. Not essential for anyone else.

Through A Glass Darkly

Why It May Be Considered Essential: Bergman. Won Best Foreign Film Oscar. Harriet Andersson. Max Von Sydow. 100% rating on Rotten Tomatoes.

Why It May Not Be: See above.

What I Think: Bergman, so again if you want to be a critic or call yourself a Film Nerd, you have to have seen a few Bergman films. This one is a good mixture of accessibility, art, and heavy themes. Essential for Bergman fans – no one else will give a damn.

Viridiana

Why It May Be Considered Essential: Bunuel. Won the Palme d’Or.

Why It May Not Be: See above.

What I Think: Same as Bergman – you need to see some Bunuel and this is as good a place to start as any. Again, no-one else will care.

West Side Story

Why It May Be Considered Essential: Best Picture winner, top grossing film of the year, won Oscars for Best Director, Supporting Actor, Supporting Actress, and six more. One of the most famous and popular musicals of all time.

Why It May Not Be: Musicals. They’re balls.

What I Think: Arguably the end of the traditional epic Hollywood musical – what more could be done after this? If you’re going to watch one, it may as well be this. Essential for Film Nerds, Wannabe Critics, and Fans – Casuals and Careless will be aware of it and may as well see it but depending on preferences may not seek this out.

Yojimbo

Why It May Be Considered Essential: Kurosawa. Mifune. Swords. Basis of A Fistful of Dollars. One of the best Samurai movies ever. Influential.

Why It May Not Be: Old. BW. Foreign.

What I Think: Essential for Film Nerds, Wannabe Critics, and Kurosawa fans. Like Japanese movies? Then this is essential. Casuals and Careless will not care unless they happen to like old Samurai movies.

Let us know in the comments which movies of 1961 you feel are Essential viewing – feel free to borrow my categorizations or choose your own definitions!

Nightman’s Top Ten Films of 1961

Greetings, Glancers! We continue my new series of posts which will detail my favourite films of every year since 1950. Why 1950? Why 10? Why anything? Check out my original post here. As with most of these lists the numbering doesn’t really matter much, though in most cases the Number 1 will be my clear favourite. As I know there are plenty of Stats Nerds out there, I’ll add in some bonus crap at the bottom but the main purpose of these posts is to keep things short. So!

10: The Young Ones (UK)

9: Judgement At Nuremberg (USA)

8: One Eyed Jacks (USA)

7: The Day The Earth Caught Fire (UK)

6: Breakfast At Tiffany’s (USA)

5: The Innocents (UK)

4: One Hundred And One Dalmations (US)

3: The Hustler (US)

2: The Guns Of Navarone (UK/US)

1: Yojimbo (Japan)

How Many Of My Films Were In The Top 10 Grossing Of The Year: Three

How Many Of My Films Were Nominated For the Best Picture Oscar: Three

Chart Music Through The Years – 1961

Yes! Back thanks to an almost universal lack of demand, I stretch back the scalp of time and feast upon the mushy innards of the past – in this instance I return to the UK music charts. If you’re interested, you can read my original post here – https://carlosnightman.wordpress.com/2015/10/22/the-uk-top-40/

Greetings, Glancers! Let us twist our heads 180 degrees like a Reagan possessed and see what fell behind us in those heady, innocent days gone by. Hands up if you remember 1961? Not me! I am reliably informed that JFK became President of those United States, that man and chimp ventured off world into space for the first time, The Bay Of Pigs came and went, Catch-22 was released, Ernest Hemmingway died, and Ken first met Barbie. In the world of music, The Beatles performed in The Cabin club for the first time, The Supremes signed to Motown, Mick Jagger met Keith Richards, and rock music continued to challenge the scourge of Swing throughout the year. Indeed, the ten songs featured below suggest a shift in popularity between the old and new, with pop rock upstarts taking the top prizes over the crooners of the past. Looking at the these ten songs, I can’t say that I recognise any of them from the titles alone, but I do know eight of the artists. Lets get stuck in, kids.

1. The Shadows: Kon-Tiki

The famous twanging guitar, clear and crisp. Yes, it does evoke shimmering images of beach side Caribbean lounging. There’s still a country twist in there too. That this ever made it to Number 1 in the charts is bizarre to me – not because it’s bad, just because. At under two minutes long it doesn’t go very far or ask many questions, but a mild diversion and still sounds good over 50 years later.

2. Billy Fury: Jealousy

Big ass bass and trumpets. String blasts. Sounds like a tango. Certainly a strange collection of tones and styles, offset by the clean, smooth vocals and dark lyrics. Melodies are all over the place though. In trying to go in a hundred directions at the same time, it feels disjointed.

3. Highwaymen: Michael

Whistling. Guitars. Ok, hallelujah. Another bizarre song to ever be in the charts. Nicely sung, has the famous melody, but boring and uneventful – of course plenty of people are into that sort of thing.

4. John Leyton: Johnny Remember Me

Sighing. Cowboy guitars and vocals. Interesting mix of vocals, haunting sound. It frequently feels like the tempo is changing, even though it isn’t. Galloping guitars. This is a good one, even though I don’t like this style of male vocal. This was pretty good, and pretty weird.

5. Shirley Bassey: Reach For The Stars

Scary strings intro. Young Bassey voice… doesn’t sound like the vocals I know her from. Until she hits the bigger notes. It’s a strange song that doesn’t have your typical verse, chorus structure. It’s dreamy and drifting and the melodies don’t have an addictive quality. Difficult to fault the ability of the singer of course, but the vocals at points are too loud and overblown for the music.

6. Elvis: Wild In The Country

Another adventure into Western territory for Elvis, this soothing ballad is straightforward – a soft guitar and humming vocal accompaniment for a gentle Elvis vocal. This feels like a lightweight song that would be easily forgotten if sung by anyone else -even with Elvis singing it feels uneventful, though there isn’t anything inherently wrong with it.

7. Cleo Laine: You’ll Answer To Me

Squealing violin. Stirrings of Stephen King nostalgia. More squealing violins. Suggestive of stabbing, based off the lyrics? Crazy ex or crazy mother? It has a certain charm, and the lyrics are quite funny.

8. Connie Francis: Together

More King nostalgia. Swaying swooning. The complete opposite of the previous song, but retains a certain similar charm. Although the lyrics do become possibly sinister. Spoken part. Not sure if this is happy, creepy, or sad.

9. Del Shannon: Hats Off To Larry

I’ve always liked Del Shannon. More lyrics about lost love. Starts slow, then gets into a ripping tempo with weird blips and Shannon’s trademark high notes. Addictive stuff, angry, but fun, good good.

10. Eden Kane: Get Lost

More funky rock n roll. Strange mix of whispers, growls, and Elvis for the vocals. This is pretty good too, not as instantly catchy as Shannon’s. What was that about a shotgun?

A very good second half of songs, any of which I’d be happy to listen to again. The group of songs are a fair reflection of what was popular and good in 1961, with the year’s top selling songs including other hits by Elvis and Shannon. I’m not even going to attempt to pick an alternate top 10 for 1961, primarily because they wouldn’t be too different from the artists listed above, and also because albums were not really a big deal yet – mostly collections of singles and covers and tracks not good enough to be singles. Feel free to leave a comment about any of the songs or artists from 1961, and let us know what you were up to then!

1961 Academy Awards Prize Summary

So, 1961 was a funny old year. The bromance between the US and Cuba fell apart, Soviet Spies were lurking in all corners of the world, Eddie Murphy, George Clooney, and Michael J Fox were all born, The Beatles performed at The Cavern Club for the first time, and 2 of the greatest singles of the 60s were released – Stand By Me and Runaway. Apparently a tonne of films were released too, and a few of them won precious, pointless Oscars. Flipping spacwards through the wrongs of time, we bring you the films which REALLY won, in the alternate version of happening that you wish had…. happened:

My Winners From The Actual Nominations: 

West Side Story: 5

The Hustler: 4

Breakfast At Tiffany’s: 4

La Dolce Vita: 2

Judy Garland: 1

Judgement At Nuremberg: 1

Yojimbo: 1

The Guns Of Navarone: 1

Through A Glass Darkly: 1

Jackie Gleason: 1

Audrey Hepburn: 1

Paul Newman: 1

Federico Fellini: 1

Henry Mancini: 1

Saul Chaplin: 1

The Spac Hole Nominations:

The Guns Of Navarone: 11

The Hustler: 9

West Side Story: 9

Breakfast At Tiffany’s: 8

Yojimbo: 8

The Innocents: 5

The Pit And The Pendulum: 5

La Dolce Vita: 5

Through A Glass Darkly: 4

The Day The Earth Caught Fire: 4

El Cid: 4

Atlantis, The Lost Continent: 3

The End Of Summer: 3

Judgement At Nuremberg: 3

The Absent Minded Professor: 2

101 Dalmations: 2

The Human Condition: 2

Splendour In The Grass: 1

Mothra: 2

Veridiana: 2

Two Women: 1

The Children’s Hour: 1

Hogs And Warships: 1

Nefertiti: 1

Flower Drum Song: 1

La Notte: 1

The Long Absence: 1

The Commancheros: 1

One Eyed Jacks: 1

The Young Ones: 1

Judy Garland: 1

Rita Moreno: 1

Jackie Gleason: 1

Montgomery Clift: 1

Russ Tamblyn: 1

Anthony Quinn: 1

David Niven: 1

Audrey Hepburn: 1

Sophia Loren: 1

Natalie Wood: 1

Deborah Kerr: 1

Piper Laurie: 1

Paul Newman: 1

Max Von Sydow: 1

George Peppard: 1

Gregory Peck: 1

Vincent Price: 1

Toshiro Mifune: 1

Federico Fellini: 1

Robert Rossen: 1

J. Lee Thompson: 1

Ingmar Bergman: 1

Akira Kurosawa: 1

Jack Clayton: 1

Henry Mancini: 1

Anita Ekberg: 1

And finally, the All-Important……. Spac Hole Winners!

The Hustler: 3

Breakfast At Tiffany’s: 2

La Dolce Vita: 2

Yojimbo: 2

The Innocents: 2

The Guns Of Navarone: 2

101 Dalmations: 1

Judy Garland: 1

Judgement At Nuremberg: 1

The Pit And The Pendulum: 1

West Side Story: 1

Atlantis, The Lost Continent: 1

The Day The Earth Caught Fire: 1

The Young Ones: 1

Henry Mancini: 1

Jackie Gleason: 1

Audrey Hepburn: 1

Paul Newman: 1

Federico Fellini: 1

My Recommended Viewing:

The Guns Of Navarone. The Hustler. Breakfast At Tiffany’s. The Innocents. Yojimbo. La Dolce Vita. Judgement At Nuremburg. 101 Dalmations. The Pit And The Pendulum. The Day The Earth Caught Fire. The Human Condition. Through a Glass Darkly.

Best Cast- 1961

My Nominations: Guns Of Navarone. The Hustler. Judgement At Nuremberg. West Side Story.

Only four picks for this year for Best Cast. Guns Of Navarone is a minor ensemble piece with Gregory Peck, David Niven, Anthony Quinn, Stanley Baker, Anthony Quale, and James Darren leading the way, propping up the likes up Richard Harris and Gia Scala in minor roles. The Hustler is an altogether smaller affair but may have the more standout individual performances from Paul Newman, Jackie Gleason, Piper Laurie, and George C Scott. Likewise, Judgement At Nuremberg relies more on it’s big players, such as Spencer Tracey, Judy Garland, Marlene Dietrich, Burt Lancaster, but also up and comers like William Shatner and Maximillian Schell. Finally, West Side Story’s tale of harmless gangs is given life by Natalie Wood, Russ Tamblyn, John Astin, Rita Moreno, Richard Beymer, and a host of other faces you didn’t realise appeared both in some of your favourite TV shows and movies and in this all singin, all dancin bonanza.

My Winner: Guns Of Navarone

Guns Of Navarone

Bang bang, did I get it? Let me know in the comments and in the poll

 

Best Stunt Work – 1961

My Nominations: Guns Of Navarone. Yojimbo. El Cid. The Comancheros. Mothra. One-Eyed Jacks.

For my nominations this year we have two early action classics, one old school epic, one slice of Japanese madness, and a forgotten film waiting to be resurrected. The Guns Of Navarone is one of the most popular man’s-man’s films, featuring an essentially all muscle cast throwing punches, running, hiding, shooting, and crashing their way across Nazi Greece. The action is on such a large scale that there are too many Stunt performers to mention, but thanks to the work of heroes like Bob Anderson (Star Wars Trilogy, LOTR Trilogy), Peter Grant (Led Zeppelin), Jimmy Lodge (Goldfinger, Live And Let Die), Joe Powell (Zulu, You Only Live Twice), and Bob Simmons (Dr. No, Goldinger), Navarone remains thrilling over 50 years later.

Yojimbo’s sword play was masterminded by Hiroshi Kanesu, Ryu Kuze (known for many Kurosawa collaberations), and Yoshio Sugino (Seven Samurai) while Mothra’s stunts were largely the product of Ishiro Honda and the effects crew. El Cid is one of the greatest epics from the early 60s and sees inspired work (especially involving horsies) from Buff Brady (The Green Hornet, Escape From New York), the Canutt Brothers (The Omega Man, The Wild Bunch, Ben Hur), and Jack Williams (The Magnificent Seven, Wild Wild West) amongst others. The Comancheros has more horse action with many of the same performers from El Cid and also featuring Jim Burk (Conan The Barbarian, Young Guns) and Chuck Hayward ( Blues Brothers, Spartacus). The forgotten One-eyed Jacks has strong work from the likes of Henry Wills (Bonanza, Magnificent Seven) and Paul Baxley (Dukes Of Hazard, Star Trek).

My Winner: Guns Of Navarone.

Oops

Best Make-Up – 1961

The award did not exist in 1961, so I’ll give my retrospective nominations and vote.

My Nominations: Atlantis, The Lost Continent. The Day The Earth Caught Fire. The Pit And The Pendulum.

Sure, Atlantis is a terrible film famous for its use of stock footage, but the effects are pretty damn good and the make-up is also up to scratch. The Pit And The Pendulum scores another personal nomination for its use of make-up, adding greatly to the darkly gothic feel, while The Day The Earth Caught Fire has a subtle use of make-up to play off the excellent effects. My win goes to Atlantis and the stellar work of William Tuttle and Mary Keats.

Atlantis

Best Music (Scoring) – 1961

Actual Nominations: (Score of a Dramatic or Comedy): Breakfast at Tiffany’s – Henry Mancini El Cid – Miklós Rózsa Fanny – Morris Stoloff, Harry Sukman The Guns of Navarone – Dimitri Tiomkin Summer and Smoke – Elmer Bernstein

(Scoring of a Musical): West Side Story – Saul Chaplin, Johnny Green, Sid Ramin, Irwin Kostal Babes in Toyland – George Bruns Flower Drum Song – Alfred Newman, Ken Darby Khovanshchina – Dimitri Shostakovich Paris Blues – Duke Ellington

The actual winners were Breakfast at Tiffany’s and West Side Story. Mancini has just the right mix of Jazz, class, and old Hollywood that this doesn’t feel irratating or dated, while West Side Story is renowned for, if nothing else, it’s music.

My Nominations: Again, I’m not differentiating between the groups but I don’t think I can do any better than the Academy this time, so my win goes to Breakfast At Tiffany’s.

Breakfast At Tiffany’s