Awards presented March 29, 1982
The nominees were ...
... when they should have been ...
And the Oscar went to ...
Chariots of Fire. Good performances and slick production values make this a watchable movie, and it set box office records for a British import. But who remembers anything about it today other than the earworm theme from Vangelis's score?
... when it should have gone to ...
Like Raging Bull (and this is about the only thing the two movies have in common other than their directors' curiously bad luck at the Oscars), Raiders of the Lost Ark was made by people in love with movies, and particularly with the movies they saw as kids. It was conceived by executive producer George Lucas and director Steven Spielberg as a tribute to Saturday matinee thrillers and cliffhanger serials. The previous successes of these filmmakers gave them the clout to make any kind of movie they wanted. It turned out that audiences wanted to see the same kind of movie, and this led to sequels to the Indiana Jones saga, as well as countless less entertaining knockoffs. Lucas and Spielberg thus became the agents of what has been called the "dumbing-down" of American movies. But set Raiders alongside not only the year's best picture winner but also the other nominees -- Atlantic City, On Golden Pond, and Reds -- and it still has the kind of freshness and energy those other movies lack.
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