Awards presented April 14, 1969
The nominees were ...
... when they should have been ...
And the Oscar went to ...
Oliver! An oft-derided choice, but it's in fact one of the last great film musicals, with excellent production values and a fine cast performing with energy and skill under the direction of Carol Reed. It's just that, well, there was this other movie that didn't even get a best picture nomination but was perhaps the most talked-about of the year.
... when it should have gone to ...
Even those of us who think Stanley Kubrick just a bit overrated as an auteur remember what it was like to see
2001 for the first time, in a theater (perhaps under the influence of an illicit substance or two). And oh, the discussions of what it meant that followed! This was the beginning of the last great era when movies mattered, so much that friendships could be made or broken over one's opinion of them. It is epoch-making sci-fi, with touches of wit, satire, and poetry, and it helped awaken Hollywood to the fact that there was an audience out there prepared to treat movies as cultural phenomena, not just as an evening's diversion. The real year 2001 has come and gone, and was nothing like the movie. (Sadly, considering what happened in September of that year.) But the movie retains its power to dazzle, even with its moments of boredom, such as the overextended light-show at its middle.
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