A PRE-PREVIEW OF 1986 ACADEMY AWARD CONTENDERS

In the first issue of 1987, the Mensa Classic Films SIG Newsletter, considered the possible candidates for 1986 best picture. I wrote this article and based my considerations on several information sources. These included then LATimes films critics Sheila Benson, Kevin Thomas, Michael Wilmington and Patrick Goldstein who came up with separate lists of what they considered were the years top ten films. Of the four, two are still associated with the Times, Thomas and Goldstein while Benson who is basically retired is writing for a weekly in the state of Washington, and Wilmington left the Times and has been with the Chicago Tribune for several years.

I reviewed their lists and noted that my usual practice of not seeing everything worth seeing had held up again that year. Among their various top tens I found only three films that I had seen, though Benson have second list which also contained three of my theatre viewings. Anyhow, comparing the various lists I came up with a composite top ten which I'll list for your interest and as a probable source for this years Academy Award candidates and eventual winners. I'll warn you ahead of time, however, that Benson had "Brazil" on top last year, a film that was ranked first by the LA film critics, but which was largely ignored by the rest of the nations critics and the Academy. Needless to say that film is a real gem, and one you should definitely plan on seeing, though I am sure it will probably take more than one viewing for the shear pleasure of it to come through.

Well enough digression here is the list, points are ten for 1st down to one for 10th.

1. Hannah and her Sister's - 35

2. Blue Velvet - 25

3. The Sacrifice - 19

4. 'Round Midnight - 17

5 Platoon - 15

Summer - 15 (Le Crayon Bleu)

7. Room With A View - 13

8. Mona Lisa - 9

The Legend of Surami Fortress - 9

10. Kaos - 8

Something Wild - 8

That's the list of ten, actually eleven with the 10th place tie of "Kaos" and "Something Wild." Of these films, I have seen "Hannah and her Sisters," "Rome With a view," and "Mona Lisa." From Sheila Benson's second list, I saw "the Color of Money" her number 16, "Peggy Sue Got Married" number 17, and "F/X" her number 18.

I can see I have my work cut out for me when it comes to viewing top films for the year 1986. My own list of top films has seven titles, since there are only seven films that I deem worth of top ranking. These are in my order of preference:

1. Room With A View

2. Mona Lisa

3. Hannah and Her Sisters

4. Peggy Sue Got Married

5. The Color of Money

6. The Decline of the American Empire

7. F/X

I would rate the first three very closely, anyone of the three attracts a second viewing, though I find I am more anxious to see a "Room with A view" again than the other two. "Peggy Sue Got Married" and "The Color of Money" I would consider about equal as entertainment's rather than serious films. There is a nostalgia quality to the first of these two, that I find very attractive, which accounts for my preference. "the Decline of the American Empire" makes you think, but the sexual exploits of its principals goes beyond reality. "F/X" is another entertainment, probably liked at least by me, because of the presence of Bryan Brown.

In the films I haven't seen I am looking forward to are "Ginger and Fred," the 12ft place finisher in the Times list, "El Amor Brujo," not on the list, "Round Midnight," I have a strong interest in jazz, "Summer," "Malcolm" and "Defense of the Realm,'" not on the list. If we manage to see some of these during the holiday season (I'm writing between Christmas and New Years we'll try to give them some space in this years Mensa Classic Films.

Now here we are 22 years later and I'll take a quick review. It turns out there were far more riches than the films I discussed above. The top foreign language film was a Dutch film called "de Auslag" set in World War II. Platoon won the best film award. Paul Newman was voted best actor for "The Color of Money". The best actress award went to deaf actress Mary Matlin for "Children of a Lesser God. Michael Caine and Diane Wiest won for best supporting actors both from "Hannah and Her Sisters." Also of interest are the ratings accumulated by the Internet Movie Data Base, IMDB. IMDB gave "Platoon" it's highest rating with an 8.7 based on a 10 for highest. Their ratings are based on submittals from users, which is a film like "Platoon" consists of thousands of voters. The other top five films in order were "The Sacrifice (Offret)" with an 8.0, "Hannah and her Sisters" tied with "Kaos" at 7.9, and "Blue Velvet" and "El Amor Brujo," tied for sixth with a 7.8. All those ratings are excellent and indicative of a film well worth viewing.

Despite my best intentions there are several films I have yet to see. I hope to correct that in the coming weeks by utilizing the resources of the Los Angeles County Library and Netflix I hope you utilize the resources available to you to also review some of the top films of that year.