Battle of the Best Picture Nominees

1950'S V 1960'S

COOP/ DRAC V DOOMS/SNO

Seven Samurai

Selected by: Cooper and Dracula
Released: 1954
Directed By: Akira Kurosawa
Who Directed: 9 Films in the 1950's

Tomatoes/Meta: 100/98

Cinematography: Asakazu Nakai
Score: Fumio Hayasaka

Defeated: Sunset Blvd, Singin in the Rain, The Seventh Seal, Vertigo, Pulp Fiction

Siskel/Ebert:
"The movie is long (207 minutes), with an intermission, and yet it moves quickly because the storytelling is so clear, there are so many sharply defined characters, and the action scenes have a thrilling sweep. Nobody could photograph men in action better than Kurosawa. One of his particular trademarks is the use of human tides, sweeping down from higher places to lower ones, and he loves to devise shots in which the camera follows the rush and flow of an action, instead of cutting it up into separate shots." - R. Ebert

A Decade in Music:


Thoughts from the Team:
Seven Samurai is still the benchmark of action-adventure filmmaking and is more generally everything I want in a movie. It's exciting, it tells a great story full of colourful characters, and the seemingly simple premise of warriors protecting a village masks a far more complex portrait of class division and violent consequences. This is why we go to the movies. -PG Cooper

Visual Enhancements:


What Happened... in the 1950's:
On September 12, 1953, Jacqueline Bouvier weds then-Senator John Fitzgerald Kennedy in Newport, Rhode Island. Their reception at Hammersmith Farm would host more than 1,200 guests.

Lets Talk Kurosawa:


Versus

Lawrence of Arabia
1960's Champion


Selected by: Dooms and Snoborder
Released: 1962
Directed By: David Lean
Who Directed: 2 Films in the 1960's

Tomatoes/Meta: 98/100

Cinematography: F.A. Young
Score: Maurice Jarre

Defeated: To Kill a Mockingbird, The Graduate, Psycho, The Good, The Bad and The Ugly, Raiders of the Lost Ark

Siskel/Ebert:
"To see it in a movie theater is to appreciate the subtlety of F.A. (Freddie) Young's desert cinematography--achieved despite blinding heat, and the blowing sand, which worked its way into every camera. “Lawrence of Arabia” was one of the last films to actually be photographed in 70mm (as opposed to being blown up to 70 from a 35mm negative). There was a hunger within filmmakers like Lean (and Kubrick, Coppola, Tarkovsky, Kurosawa and Stone) to break through the boundaries, to dare a big idea and have the effrontery to impose it on timid studio executives. The word “epic” in recent years has become synonymous with “big budget B picture.” What you realize watching “Lawrence of Arabia” is that the word “epic” refers not to the cost or the elaborate production, but to the size of the ideas and vision." - R. Ebert

A Decade in Music:


Thoughts from the Team:
Has there been another movie whose every element and every detail has been a masterstroke? From the acting to the script to the cinematography to the score, almost everything about Lawrence of Arabia is dead-on perfection. We'll never see another film like it. -Doomsday

Visual Enhancements:


What Happened... in the 1960's:
Marilyn Monroe made one of her last public appearances on May 19th at a birthday celebration for U.S. President John F. Kennedy before her death. The event became an iconic moment in pop culture when the actress sang an intimate, sultry, and memorable rendition of "Happy Birthday" to the world leader. Monroe wore an intricately designed skin-tight beaded dress that was considered a little scandalous at the time.

Lets Talk Lean:

My Vote: Tough one, but Lawrence of Arabia