Best Director – 1977

Official Nominations: Woody Allen. Steven Spielberg. Fred Zinnemann. Herbert Ross. George Lucas.

This is a bit of a no contest for me. Really it’s a three horse race, but as time goes on that Allen win looks more and more concerning. Annie Hall is likely his crowning achievement but when viewed alongside Close Encounters Of A Third Kind and Star Wars it pales by some distance. Allen very much has a style which doesn’t change from movie to movie and his films are more concerned with script than direction. The amount of effort which went into both of those sci-fi classics from all corners, the influence…. it all dwarfs the other nominees combined. This is the perfect example of the Turning Point (pun intended) in Hollywood, with the Academy as always lagging behind the populace. We have poor old Fred Zinnemann and Herbert Ross – both no strangers to Oscars – getting what amounts to little more than traditional votes. That’s not truly fair given that both their films notched up additional nominations this year and both aren’t 100% old fashioned Oscar bait, but when viewed against the modern stylings of the other three films and directors it’s clear there is a generational gap. Generational gaps are one thing, but when making my choices here it’s all about quality. The Turning Point and Julia are no doubt well directed, but they are hardly innovative, both directors have made superior movies, and there are some other notable films from the year which probably should have made the cut over those two.

We know Woody Allen is out, and that leaves Spielberg and Lucas. Spielberg already had Jaws in his pocket by this point while Lucas had American Graffiti. Any other year Spielberg would be the choice here, but Lucas unleashed a little something called Star Wars upon the world With each new year a whole slew of blockbusters and special effects bonanzas swarm through the cinema but they are so lacking in energy and originality and are so cookie cutter that it’s difficult to differentiate between one and the other. With each viewing of those, it becomes increasingly clear just what an achievement A New Hope was – from the impossible odds of getting it done on time, the often horrid conditions making it, a cast of mostly unknowns with a couple of old-school leading actors, from creating visual and sound effects and techniques never seen before, right down to the handling of story, characters, and universe – it has to be Lucas for the win.

My Winner: George Lucas

My Nominations: George Lucas. Steven Spielberg. Robert Altman. Sam Peckinpah. Ridley Scott. David Lynch. William Freidkin. Dario Argento. Luis Bunuel.

There was a number of war epics this year and depending on your preference for scale or action or story or character, you could name any of the directors here. My vote goes for Peckinpah and his violent anti-glory Cross Of Iron which acts as a precursor to many of the more downbeat and political war films of the subsequent ten years. Regardless of which area you decide to focus on, Ridley Scott’s The Duellists is probably the most consistent war film of the year and hits all of the aforementioned boxes, showing that Scott had a handle on each and could combine them within a historical setting and a large scope. Say what you will about Lynch or Eraserhead but you won’t see a more unique and nightmarish vision in 1977 than his tale of isolation, fear, and weirdness. In a time when everyone was pre-occupied with grand battles and huge budgets, Lynch goes grainy black and white to show an industrial wasteland, a bewildered man, and a screeching mutant. William Friedkin updates The Grapes Of Wrath with his toe-curling exercise in tension Sorceror while Dario Argento perfects his colourful giallo vision and penchant for stylish violence and madness with Suspiria. Luis Bunuel’s films are more often than not experimental, and while less overt in its art That Obscure Object Of Desire pushes traditional storytelling to certain limits and beyond. Finally, Robert Altman treads more fully into experimental territory with 3 Women – a film based on a dream and given a dreamlike quality in its depiction of relationships in a town on the edge of nowhere.

I know I’m not impartial, but I think time has proven that any one of my additional nominees are more worthy than the three official ones I left off. As much as I’d be happy with any of my other picks getting the win, I think we have to still go with Beardy Magee.

My Winner: George Lucas.

Let us know your winner in the comments!

American Graffiti: George ‘Apology Accepted’ Lucas Strikes Back!

American Graffiti is a Burroughsesque cut up segment movie about what George ‘Me’s a so sorry’ Lucas got up to when he was a teen in the 1920s. It seems that George ‘Warwick “Willow” ‘Wicket’ Davis’ Lucas liked to drive cars, avoid school, listen to rock in roll Muzak and get into various scrapes with girlies. Of course George ‘Never see me and Spielberg in the same place’ Lucas’s’s favourite past time was defacing local establishments with graffiti. George ‘Short Round’ Lucas and his gang would scrawl such witticisms as ‘Nerds suck!’, ‘Berry Rulez OK!’, and ‘I have visited Lola’s pants’ all over buildings and walls. They would ruthlessly organise ‘hits’ on certain places: homes of teachers and enemies, toilet walls (sometimes not with paint), and alleyways. ‘The Fonze Is My Daddy’, ‘School is 4 fools’, ‘LOLZ! I fragged sum Noob’s Ass on Halo 20 timez ROFL!’ and ‘George “we cannot agree to this Treaty, Senator” Lucas Waz ere!’ also make appearances. It’s all very funny and perplexing.

George ‘Strike Me Down’ Lucas directs his first feature feelim here and gathers together a cast of unknowns who would go on to remain unknowns, with the possible exception of Harry ‘Son’ Ford. It was quite a success for George ‘Akbar’ Lucas, earning him a lovely first pile of money and an Academy Award nomination. The film has an authentic 50s feels as all the characters have funny names like Curt, Chad, ‘Steve’ and Flapiddy Sshlap. The cars and clothes and musics and hair cuts are all fairly accurate proving that Gunga Lucas was about in those days and observed everything from his mother’s basement. We watch the lives of these characters over a few years, some race cars, some race tractors, some die, some go on to have successful careers. Of course the most successful career prize would go to George ‘I killed them all, even the children!’ Lucas. With the money he made from this he made, after a brief 3 year holiday to Jamaica, the greatest film trilogy of all time- Star Warp!

Best Scene: When two main characters are having a game of Turkey in their cars, and the bad guy spins out and crashes. The hero, based on George ‘ooh my, R2!’ Lucas, leaps over the front of his car and punches out the bad guy. A blue flash takes over the screen and he is suddenly transported to another place, in the arms of a naked lady who kisses him. Just as he wonders what is going on a burly man bursts into the room with a shotgun- ‘Daddy!?’ she cries. ‘Oh boy!’ replies our hero.

George ‘me  wadda Wanka’ Lucas.

George ‘I Own You All’ Lukas