Marvelous Edith Evans! Even if she’s remembered only for The Importance of Being Earnest and The Whisperers,she’ll still be remembered for the titan she is.
I personally think Anne Bancroft would have won had they put her in the 'best supporting' category instead. As far as performances were concerned, or on the basis of that alone, I would have chosen Audrey in 'Wait Until Dark'. She was brilliant and portrayed a blind person. Not an easy thing to do and very unlike the blindness in 'The Miracle Worker'. Here, she was a fully actualized person that is in every other way described as 'usual', but she also had to do everything sightless and not indicate to the viewer that she really wasn't. Wonderful performance from Audrey.
I have only just come across your channel today, and I am so happy. Your analysis in this video is clear, well informed and researched and I absolutely enjoy listening to your voice. This Oscar race was definitely one of the most difficult to call an absolute winner for, no wonder the following year there was a historic tie between Katherine Hepburn and Barbra Streisand. Vielen Dank für Ihre fabelhafte Arbeit! Ich mag sie sehr.
The Graduate was a huge 'Dustin Hoffman' moment and celebration of youthful angst but all that has worn pretty thin over the years. What stands out is Bancroft's nuanced and unforgettable Mrs. Robinson. She said later on when it is acknowledged to be the best acting in a rather dated picture - sure it was the best role, why do you think I took it?
I feel Edith Evans gave the best and most heart warming performance, but few people can appreciate the loneliness of such in the elderly or even watch such a film.
I think the fact that Edith Evans was just 1 of 5 actresses in all of Hollywood that was nominated for such a prestigious award reminds us that older people are NOT always forgotten. My favorite movie with her presence is "The Chalk Garden" - try to find it. It's great.) I do think the movie you are in makes a huge impact on the outcome. Personally, I completely agree that Anna Bancroft gave not only the best performance but was by far the most entertaining for much of the movie. And sad to say, her performance reminds us that getting old and invisible is a fear that starts to strike fear in the hearts of those in their 40s and probably even younger- as this movie reminds us. She's not concerned about her daughter's goodness and innocence. She just absolutely hates losing a lover to a much younger and more beautiful female and feeling old and shriveled in comparison- even though she is still so attractive. They were truly all wonderful. I thought your review here was terrific. :)
Very often, old actors are given an Oscar less for their performance in the winning film role but as a de facto lifetime award; e.g. Sean Connery, Alan Arkin, Jack Palance, Jessica Tandy, Peggy Ashcorft, Maureen Stapleton ...
Your analyses and insights are so next level ! What fantastic content. I love how very inside baseball it is. 68 yr old film lover here. I know so much background myself but this takes it to an entirely new realm. 👌😃💯
Love your analysis! Amazing as usual! I wish that Audrey had been nominated and won for Two For The Road instead - to me perhaps the best performance of 1967 😮 What a great year for cinema and acting all around as all of these nominated performances are fantastic!!
I personally think that in hindsight, if the Oscars knew that they will give Katherine Hepburn the Oscar on the following year for The Lion in Winter, they would have chosen someone else to win instead, possibly Faye Dunaway or Anne Bancroft. But overall, the 1967 Best Actress nominees has got to be one of the most iconic and stacked in Academy history since the 1950 line-up. All nominees are iconic in film history and/or came from some of the most iconic film actresses of all time!
Oh, Fritz, I'm so proud of you! What a video you've crafted! BTW, Anne Edith Faye Audrey Katharine Bonus: Catherine Deneuve, Belle du Jour; Julie Andrews, Throughly Modern Millie.
We have now watched all of your Best Actress videos. It is truly mesmerising to discover someone, who not only possesses a masterly grasp of film history, but also an acute sensitivity to layers of screen acting and the nuances of performance. Your discrimination, empathy, showmanship and painstaking research are greatly appreciated by us. We were on the edge of our seats, along with Norma Desmond and Joe Gillis, awaiting your rankings, with which we mostly agreed. Who are you? Where are you? Could you come along to one of our regular Friday film nights? We are eagerly awaiting more videos on the Best Actress (and Actors?) Oscars. With thanks, Keith & Nicholas (Sydney, Australia) .
I totally agree with you!! Anne Bancroft is my choice. Every time I watch the graduate, I'm always captivated by her presence and performance...It's just perfect! Thank you so much for the nuanced and respectful review for each actress!
Anne Bancroft delivered a brilliant performance that shows depth and excellent characterization. It's hard not to look at her and wonder about her motives and personality. Her self-loathing nature that yearns for more in life is relatable to viewers. Although she's brilliant, Edith suffers the same fate like Liv Ullmann. Her acting is so different, and she lacks prominence in the Hollywood circle. I would add that Katherine probably benefitted from the social climate in 1960s too. The film about racism coincided with the civil rights movement. It feels almost right to support a film with this theme. However, the people remember Anne Bancroft for Mrs Robinson more, so I guess the latter generation of viewers agree she's the real winner too.
Fritz, your knowledge and clear love of film shines through in these thoroughly engrossing and impeccably scripted Oscar-race videos that you have created - I must've watched ten or so since I discovered your channel a few days ago and I've enjoyed each one immensely. I was delighted to see your mention of Be Kind, Rewind's channel, one I've watched for years; your work does indeed complement hers beautifully. I can't wait to devour more of your oeuvre. BTW forgive the pedantry but 'mince' is pronounced the same as 'mints' :)
Faye Dunaway was always a well known, talented and believable Actress, but in Network, Beatrice Straight rightly won the Best Supporting Actress Award for her exceptionally small role.
I agree that I can't comprehend how Beatrice Straight won the Oscar -- although people didn't want to give an Oscar to Jodie Foster for playing a hooker in "Taxi Driver."
I love Audrey Hepburn and her Wait Until Dark performance and agree with a lot of your points. I think that her 1967 output of WUD and Two for the Road is some of her best work and demonstrated her ability and willingness to experiment and adapt to new filmmaking styles. It would have been fascinating to see her continue to grow and challenge herself into the age of New Hollywood and beyond. I think she had a 2nd Oscar win in her but just didn't stick around long enough.
Whether true or not, I read Audrey turned down "The Turning Point" and Shirley MacLaine took it. Instead, she picked "Sidney Sheldon's Bloodline" as a comeback vehicle. I saw it in a theater, and it was pretty bad. The film, I mean... not the theater.
There was another great film with at least very good performances that year that no one mentions, and I can't understand it, as I consider it a masterpiece: director Curtis Harrington's 'Games', starring Simone Signoret, James Caan and Katherine Ross. Wonderful cinematography by William Fraker, the same one who would do 'Rosemary's Baby' to such acclaim the following year. It was a sort of 'conspiracy suspense' movie but with brilliant effects and expert wielding of all the necessary cinematic elements to create and maintain suspense, with a great twist ending. I suppose it got lost in the shuffle of that incredible year for movies, 1967, but the fact that it is ignored now I find unaccountable. Someone should review it. Thanks for another great doco, it's fabulous how you go into detail about each performance, that's rare in these things. AND you summed up the political reasons that were most probably the ones which would give the award to Katherine Hepburn. (I personally think her best performance was her role in 1959's 'Long Day's Journey into Night', although I'm still glad Anne Bancroft won that year.) Kudos and keep up the good work.
I saw GAMES in the theater in 1967 when I was 14 ... I thought it was great and have only caught it once again since. Very compelling plot and new faces of Caan, Ross counterbalanced by venerable Simone Signoret. 🎬🎬
In some cases, there are "extra-curriculum" factors involved in the nomination process. In the case of Audrey Hepburn: in 1967, she was in two well-received movies, TWO FOR THE ROAD and WAIT UNTIL DARK. Her performance in TWO FOR THE ROAD (scripted by Fredric Raphael, who had won an Oscar for his screenplay for DARLING) was complex and multilayered, as the movie went back-and-forth in time and she had to play the character in different phases of her life, from youthful ardor to middle-aged ennui. This was a much more nuanced and complex performance, but at her insistence, 20th Century Fox did not submit her name for nomination, because she wanted her performance in WAIT UNTIL DARK (Warner Brothers) to be put up for nomination. The reason: WAIT UNTIL DARK was produced by Mel Ferrer, her husband (at the time) and she wanted the movie to be a success in the hopes that career fulfillment might help her marriage; it didn't, and within a year Hepburn and Ferrer would divorce. And though Katharine Hepburn's performance is one of her least interesting, as she has stated, she felt that her win was an acknowledgement of her partnership with Spencer Tracy, and his death immediately after the filming of GUESS WHO'S COMING TO DINNER was taken into account. (There had not been any Oscars being awarded posthumously by that point.) So it's unfortunate that two performances were nominated which might not be on the same level as the other three nominees.
In my opinion: Edith Evans should have got it. She carries her whole movie on her shoulders, like you explained, Fritz, she basically creates the character and gives life to the bare script, and she had a long career, though not in films. But the academy did not reward actresses of her age (70) at that time, not in the leading Oscar category, not since Marie Dressler in the early 1930s, and she was only 64 when she won. Katherine is my second favourite, she had the acting abilities, the range, she played herself but it fit in each role, she had the prestige, the 9 prior nominations all in the leading actress category, she played in a progressive stand out movie during a time of social and civil rights changes in the US, so relevance, and she had played in the last Hepburn-Tracy collaboration, so the sawn song of that duo. All these are very compelling reasons to see why she won. Anne Bancroft's role is iconic, and fresh and countercultural, the subverted mother, she is fascinating, that is a reward in itself. And Audrey had won, while Faye would win a few year ahead, so I am the most sorry for Edith Evans not winning.
Why the negativity regarding Dunaway? Also, she was not fired. That headline is false. The two best nominated actress were Evans and Dunaway. They were the two favorites at the time.
Largely agree here - although I would have moved Faye up to second place. This role does not give Katharine Hepburn much to do other than smile and stare dewy-eyed at Katharine Houghton, Sidney Poitier and Spencer Tracy. The other actresses had much more to work with and slammed it out of the park in each case. In retrospect, knowing that Hepburn would give a much better performance the following year and tie Streisand for Best Actress and then get a fourth undeserved Oscar for scenery chomping in a nothing role in On Golden Pond, makes this Oscar seem especially wasted on her.
In my opinion, there are only two movies that Katherine Hepburn should have won the Oscar, and she ended up winning for neither of them: Alice Adams and Long Day’s Journey into Night. While her win in The Lion in Winter was deserving, I would have preferred that Streisand won that alone with no tie.
Had Anne Bancroft not won four years earlier for The Miracle Worker, I feel she might possibly have edged Katharine Hepburn into second place. Her performance as Mrs. Robinson is as brilliant as is Bette Davis' in Whatever Happened to Baby Jane. Such a shame Bette didn't take home the Oscar in 1963 and Anne in '67.
And if Katharine Hepburn had not won for Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner, Barbra Streisand would not have tied with her the following year. The Academy said it was an exact tie, and surely at least one voter had to have voted for Streisand instead of Hepburn because Hepburn had won the previous year.
Very thorough review ... could actually use less clips, but appreciated that your well spoken narration had breaks to let key scenes play. Agree that Bancroft delivered the most layered role in the most culturally layered film of 1967. For my money, the 1967 is outstanding in its wealth of now "iconic" movies ... second to Golden Year of 1939. BONNIE & CLYDE, GRADUATE, HEAT OF THE NIGHT, GUESS WHO/DINNER, WAIT UNTIL DARK, TO SIR WITH LOVE, COOL HAND LUKE, many others if you check IMBD. 1962 follows close behind in number of memorable, now classic films. 🎬🎬🎬🎬
AMAZING! I watched the whole thing, and now the only one I need to see is The Whisperers. My choice is Anne as of now, but that also may be due to the fact that The Graduate is my second favorite movie ever. My rank (so far): 1. Anne 2. Audrey 3. Faye 4. Kate (Love all)
I am glad you used the work "colored" as Ethel Waters (whom I think most highly respect) stated calling her black was an insult and would result in a smack in the face if used..
I get your view of this being a very strong year for Best Actress nominees. They all deserved the nomination, unlike some years when we question a nom (or even two).
I've now seen all nominated performances and here is my Top 5: 1. Dame Edith Evans - really carried the whole movie perfectly and played such a complex character driven by loneliness and age progress, probably her chances got lower as she was the only nomination of her film 2. Faye Dunaway - truly the heart of her film fantasticly displaying the tragic development of her character, but on her first nomination probably not getting the biggest support 3. Audrey Hepburn - I found her performance very refreshing, like you said something very new Audrey did, really showcasing her talent and proving it to the audience. Still in the same decade as her win though, it unfortunately would remain her last nomination. 4. Anne Bancroft - legendary status as an actress and a performance in a movie that curiosly just won best director, just like The Power of the Dog did this year. She was excellent, but more of a supporting figure than lead and just won an Oscar in the decade too 5. Katharine Hepburn - I've never seen Morning Glory but considering decades passed after her first win it seemed to be a comeback second win plus the sentimental likes of losing Spencer Tracy. She was great, but didn't do anything special. She deserved it much more for The Lion in Winter and I would argue for On Golden Point, which could also be entitled sentimental too
This is one of those years where really every ranking is possible as the nominees offer so much different things; I cannot blame you for putting Edith first, she and Anne are virtually tied for me but I give the edge to Anne
It is imposible for me to say its an undeserving win but my choice is Bancroft Imo Katharine should have won for Alice Adams and The Philadelphia Story instead of this and Morning Glory
I saw The Whisperers 2 years ago. Fantastic movie, and fantastic performance. Dame Edith Evans or Faye Dunaway should have won - Anne Bancroft should have been Supporting Actress
The Oscars have always been given for other reasons. Katherine Hepburn and Greta Garbo were wise not to ever attend the Ceremony. And especially so after the "fight scene" in the last Ceremony. It is only downhill from here on out. I stopped watching them 15 years or more back.
Katharine's scene when she threw the racist lady out in the car was an Oscar-worthy and iconic moment itself. She was great in this movie. However, she definitely should have won for Long Journey
Ohh...next to 1950...and 1978, 1962 is in the Trifecta of Greatest Lead Actress Nominees I would have to disagree, I would have picked Bette, but Any of the 5 would have been a worthy winner
I have to say that, while the clips of Edith Evans do showcase a great performance, they sure don't make me want to watch the movie. It looks SO depressing! I love Audrey Hepburn (met her once in an airport) but her "blind" movie is one of my least favorite movies of hers. Didn't think Faye Dunaway was all that & then some in Bonnie & Clyde. Seems like Natalie Wood or Jane Fonda could have both turned in identical performances. Always found Dunaway a bit mannered, kind of a throwback to an earlier form of movie making. So ironically her Joan Crawford kabuki like performance in Mommie Dearest seemed to crystalize her once and for all. So it comes down to Anne & Kate. Sure Anne gave a great performance. Truly. But I also think the subject matter, if you will, OF her role lends itself to mystery, intrigue etc. She's the classic older woman seducing the college grad. There's that allure if you will. Kate on the other hand has the more pedestrian role of a mother/wife. For my money, I think the academy got it right. Guess Who's Coming to Dinner has always been one of my favorite movies. I think everyone in the cast shines. I think is was actually more of an acting challenge for Kate to shape her performance in such a manner that her character is an integral part of the story. She may be reacting to others as far as plot, but as far as emotional gravitas she along with Tracy and a short but effective performance from Beah Richards are the driving force in the movie. And as you point out both Kate & Anne already had one Oscar each. Which makes more sense to award the Oscar to? The Academy didn't know that the next year Kate would once more turn in a riveting performance in The Lion in Winter resulting in the rare TIE between Kate & Barbra Streisand? So glad you pointed out the bookend "looks" between Tracy & Hepburn from the start of their partnership Woman of the Year to GWCTD. I have written and spoken of that "look" too. You just can't make up these things. I assume the director Stanley Kramer knew his Tracy/Hepburn film history well and realized at some point he'd be able to end the movie if you will with the two stars ending their movie partnership the way it began. For me it's one of the most touching moments in film history. In any event, as usual, great analysis by Fritz the Great!
Thanks for another great video! Personal top 10: 1. Edith Evans 2 and 3 (tie): Bibi Anderson and Liv Ullmann - Persona 4. Anne Bancroft - more a supporting role, otherwise I would have ranked her 2 5. Faye Dunaway 6. Audrey Hepburn - Wait Until Dark 7. Magda Vášáryová - Marketa Lasarova 8. Audrey Hepburn - Two for the Road 9. Julie Christie - Far From the Madding Crowd 10. Katharine Hepburn (barely), over Elizabeth Taylor for Taming of the Shrew...maybe; Kate is an all-time great but didn't do much here.
My ranking that year 1 - Dame Edith Evans 2 - Faye Dunaway 3 - Anne Bancroft 4 - Katherine Hepburn 5 - Audrey Hepburn I'm still miffed Evans did not win , considering she won pretty much every precursor award that year
As much as I liked Katharine Hepburn, I don't think she deserved that Oscar, either. But she had just made a big comeback after a five-year gap. And people were talking about her a lot in 1967.
Race and sexual morals were hot-button topics during the late 1960's and early 1970's. I wonder how much the opinions of the general public regarding these issues affected the Oscar choices? I remember in particular the visceral hatred that some felt towards Anne Bancroft's character. Some people also said that glorifying common criminals such as Bonnie and Clyde was an indication of a society on the edge of decline.
Anne’s role in The Graduate is definitely iconic, but it is a supporting role. She has minimal screen time. Similar to Louise Fletcher in Cuckoo’s Nest, who also should have been nominated for supporting instead.
I agree that Anne Bancroft should have gone supporting and won there. The best acting of the year was to be found In Ingmar Bergman's Persona. Bibi Andersson and Liv Ullmann were simply sublime. Other distinct possibilities included Jane Fonda's delightful comedic turn in Barefoot in the Park and Julie Christie's tempestuous heroine in Far From the Madding Crowd.
Totally agree. In the past when I have said that Ann Bancroft had a supporting role in The Graduate, people said I’m out of my mind. But the protagonist of that movie is Benjamin, and Mrs. Robinson and Elaine are supporting characters in his story.
If Edith Evans had won, it would have been the only time that all 5 Best Actress nominees won/ended up winning that award. And also it’s funny- Ann Bancroft’s role in The Graduate is so small that you showed every scene she was in in the movie except for the church scene at the end.
I would argue that Katharine Hepburn didn't deserve any of her four Oscars -- although she deserved for at least four different performances, including "Long Day's Journey Into Night," "Bringing Up Baby," "Summertime," "Alice Adams," "Little Women," and "The Philadelphia Story."
Hepburn deserved the Oscar for this movie and The Lion in Winter. THATS IT!! Morning Glory, NO! Pond, NO! Popularity contest for the newcomer and Pond because she’s Hepburn. Hepburn was an amateur in the 1930s movies. There was only one movie she made in the 1930s that was tolerable. Bringing up Baby. Hepburn found her footing in the 1940s. Bette Davis was a force to be reckoned with right out of the gate. Barbara Stanwyck too. Now, they were great actresses. Hepburn did not deserve four Oscar, Davis definitely did. I just cannot see Hepburn playing Mildred in Bondage, Stanwyck, yes. Or Hepburn as Blanche in Baby Jane.
The Hayes Act and Censorship were all but done away with by 1967 and it has been downhill for the majority of films since that time. Censorship in American movies made for much more creativity regardless of how most people dislike the term and application.
It's impossible to look at Hollywood Bonnie and Clyde now without seeing the distortions to the real story, now that we have such an amount of documentary material. I guess adding all the high style and weird nonsense made it sell, but I'm someone who likes a story from real life to come as close as possible. Plus; too many guns, not enought sex; was Clyde really not all over that broad? Get real. Well...people love the fake over the real.
@@FritzandtheOscars Although I don't agree Audrey moved into overdramatic territory in "Wait Until Dark" (I thought she kept it real and in-the-moment throughout the film, and I fully bought her anguish) halfway through the video, I'm once again admiring your commitment and care in reviewing each performance- agreeing to disagree on aspects of performances is part of the game among classic movie geeks, and I love your videos!
@@slc2466 Thanks a lot! Obviously everybody has a different opinion on these performances and I can only give my personal impression. But I'm always happy to hear other opinions because that's what's exciting about art
Marvelous Edith Evans! Even if she’s remembered only for The Importance of Being Earnest and The Whisperers,she’ll still be remembered for the titan she is.
It is truly sad how people ignore and forget the older Actresses such as Edith Evans. Even when they have an exceptional career.
Dame Edith Evans was simply heartbreaking; she deserved the Oscar as far as I'm concerned.
I personally think Anne Bancroft would have won had they put her in the 'best supporting' category instead. As far as performances were concerned, or on the basis of that alone, I would have chosen Audrey in 'Wait Until Dark'. She was brilliant and portrayed a blind person. Not an easy thing to do and very unlike the blindness in 'The Miracle Worker'. Here, she was a fully actualized person that is in every other way described as 'usual', but she also had to do everything sightless and not indicate to the viewer that she really wasn't. Wonderful performance from Audrey.
Audrey Hepburn was touching and spectacular. Rather than being just "a plot device", in Wait Until dark, Audrey was its heart.
I have only just come across your channel today, and I am so happy. Your analysis in this video is clear, well informed and researched and I absolutely enjoy listening to your voice. This Oscar race was definitely one of the most difficult to call an absolute winner for, no wonder the following year there was a historic tie between Katherine Hepburn and Barbra Streisand. Vielen Dank für Ihre fabelhafte Arbeit! Ich mag sie sehr.
Thanks so much! Especially for the comment on my voice (i hate it :) )
I personally think that Anne Bancroft should’ve won the Oscar, her preformance as Mrs. Robinson is so amazing and iconic
The Graduate was a huge 'Dustin Hoffman' moment and celebration of youthful angst but all that has worn pretty thin over the years. What stands out is Bancroft's nuanced and unforgettable Mrs. Robinson. She said later on when it is acknowledged to be the best acting in a rather dated picture - sure it was the best role, why do you think I took it?
I feel Edith Evans gave the best and most heart warming performance, but few people can appreciate the loneliness of such in the elderly or even watch such a film.
@nickxero2740 I still remember and I loved it
Totally agree. She was a Treasure. Bob.
I think the fact that Edith Evans was just 1 of 5 actresses in all of Hollywood that was nominated for such a prestigious award reminds us that older people are NOT always forgotten. My favorite movie with her presence is "The Chalk Garden" - try to find it. It's great.) I do think the movie you are in makes a huge impact on the outcome. Personally, I completely agree that Anna Bancroft gave not only the best performance but was by far the most entertaining for much of the movie. And sad to say, her performance reminds us that getting old and invisible is a fear that starts to strike fear in the hearts of those in their 40s and probably even younger- as this movie reminds us. She's not concerned about her daughter's goodness and innocence. She just absolutely hates losing a lover to a much younger and more beautiful female and feeling old and shriveled in comparison- even though she is still so attractive. They were truly all wonderful. I thought your review here was terrific. :)
Thanks so much for your comment and for watching
Very often, old actors are given an Oscar less for their performance in the winning film role but as a de facto lifetime award; e.g. Sean Connery, Alan Arkin, Jack Palance, Jessica Tandy, Peggy Ashcorft, Maureen Stapleton ...
Oh gosh, discover your chanel really made my day better , thank you! 💛🇧🇷
Thanks so much!
Your analyses and insights are so next level ! What fantastic content. I love how very inside baseball it is. 68 yr old film lover here. I know so much background myself but this takes it to an entirely new realm. 👌😃💯
Thank you so much! I'm glad you liked it!
Great to hear you after years of reading your blog . Thanks .
Thank you so much! And thanks for reading my blog!
@@FritzandtheOscars We love you Fritz!!!
Love your analysis! Amazing as usual! I wish that Audrey had been nominated and won for Two For The Road instead - to me perhaps the best performance of 1967 😮 What a great year for cinema and acting all around as all of these nominated performances are fantastic!!
Anne Bancroft as Mrs Robinson is the best..This is one of the most iconic performances of all times!
You said it -- iconic. Faye Dunaway was iconic, too, in "Bonnie and Clyde." The other three -- not so much.
I personally think that in hindsight, if the Oscars knew that they will give Katherine Hepburn the Oscar on the following year for The Lion in Winter, they would have chosen someone else to win instead, possibly Faye Dunaway or Anne Bancroft. But overall, the 1967 Best Actress nominees has got to be one of the most iconic and stacked in Academy history since the 1950 line-up. All nominees are iconic in film history and/or came from some of the most iconic film actresses of all time!
What about Edith Evans😊
I did get a chance to watch The Whisperers and I thought Edith Evan’s performance was both wonderful and heartbreaking!
Oh, Fritz, I'm so proud of you! What a video you've crafted! BTW,
Anne
Edith
Faye
Audrey
Katharine
Bonus: Catherine Deneuve, Belle du Jour; Julie Andrews, Throughly Modern Millie.
Thanks so much!
Binge watching all this amazing videos...what can I say. You do an amazing work Fritz 🤷🏻♀️. Now I'm intrigued on the next one 👀
thanks so much! Making them takes time but there will be a new one at some point
Your reviews are not just factual but poetic.
Thank you so much!
Thank you so much for these great videos.
Thanks a lot! This was one of the first ones I made, maybe I'm gonna redo that at some point
We have now watched all of your Best Actress videos. It is truly mesmerising to discover someone, who not only possesses a masterly grasp of film history, but also an acute sensitivity to layers of screen acting and the nuances of performance. Your discrimination, empathy, showmanship and painstaking research are greatly appreciated by us. We were on the edge of our seats, along with Norma Desmond and Joe Gillis, awaiting your rankings, with which we mostly agreed.
Who are you? Where are you? Could you come along to one of our regular Friday film nights?
We are eagerly awaiting more videos on the Best Actress (and Actors?) Oscars.
With thanks, Keith & Nicholas (Sydney, Australia) .
Thank you so much for your kind words! It means a lot to me know that there are people who like watching these videos!
I totally agree with you!! Anne Bancroft is my choice. Every time I watch the graduate, I'm always captivated by her presence and performance...It's
just perfect!
Thank you so much for the nuanced and respectful review for each actress!
Anne Bancroft delivered a brilliant performance that shows depth and excellent characterization. It's hard not to look at her and wonder about her motives and personality.
Her self-loathing nature that yearns for more in life is relatable to viewers.
Although she's brilliant, Edith suffers the same fate like Liv Ullmann. Her acting is so different, and she lacks prominence in the Hollywood circle.
I would add that Katherine probably benefitted from the social climate in 1960s too. The film about racism coincided with the civil rights movement. It feels almost right to support a film with this theme.
However, the people remember Anne Bancroft for Mrs Robinson more, so I guess the latter generation of viewers agree she's the real winner too.
These Oscar’s were given in 1968, the movies were only made in 1967, most of them were in cinema in 1968. The year the Oscar ceremony was taken place.
In order to be considered for an Oscar, a movie has to play in NYC & LA for two weeks.
Fritz, your knowledge and clear love of film shines through in these thoroughly engrossing and impeccably scripted Oscar-race videos that you have created - I must've watched ten or so since I discovered your channel a few days ago and I've enjoyed each one immensely. I was delighted to see your mention of Be Kind, Rewind's channel, one I've watched for years; your work does indeed complement hers beautifully. I can't wait to devour more of your oeuvre. BTW forgive the pedantry but 'mince' is pronounced the same as 'mints' :)
Thanks so much for watching and your kind words! And thanks for the correction, there are always some words I pronounce wrong 😂
Faye Dunaway was always a well known, talented and believable Actress, but in Network, Beatrice Straight rightly won the Best Supporting Actress Award for her exceptionally small role.
Dunaway was way overdue when she finally won. Her acting in Chinatown was extraordinary. She was perfectly cast.
Beatrice won for a single scene. Ridiculous.
But what a truly memorable scene.
A scene anyone watching "Network" will never forget because of the acting she gave in just that one scene.@@gfgall
I agree that I can't comprehend how Beatrice Straight won the Oscar -- although people didn't want to give an Oscar to Jodie Foster for playing a hooker in "Taxi Driver."
Faye Dunaway is often extraordinary. She deserves the AFI Life Achievement Award and has never won.
I love Audrey Hepburn and her Wait Until Dark performance and agree with a lot of your points. I think that her 1967 output of WUD and Two for the Road is some of her best work and demonstrated her ability and willingness to experiment and adapt to new filmmaking styles. It would have been fascinating to see her continue to grow and challenge herself into the age of New Hollywood and beyond. I think she had a 2nd Oscar win in her but just didn't stick around long enough.
Whether true or not, I read Audrey turned down "The Turning Point" and Shirley MacLaine took it. Instead, she picked "Sidney Sheldon's Bloodline" as a comeback vehicle. I saw it in a theater, and it was pretty bad. The film, I mean... not the theater.
There was another great film with at least very good performances that year that no one mentions, and I can't understand it, as I consider it a masterpiece: director Curtis Harrington's 'Games', starring Simone Signoret, James Caan and Katherine Ross. Wonderful cinematography by William Fraker, the same one who would do 'Rosemary's Baby' to such acclaim the following year. It was a sort of 'conspiracy suspense' movie but with brilliant effects and expert wielding of all the necessary cinematic elements to create and maintain suspense, with a great twist ending. I suppose it got lost in the shuffle of that incredible year for movies, 1967, but the fact that it is ignored now I find unaccountable. Someone should review it. Thanks for another great doco, it's fabulous how you go into detail about each performance, that's rare in these things. AND you summed up the political reasons that were most probably the ones which would give the award to Katherine Hepburn. (I personally think her best performance was her role in 1959's 'Long Day's Journey into Night', although I'm still glad Anne Bancroft won that year.) Kudos and keep up the good work.
Thanks so much for watching!
I'm actually not familiar with Games but I'll check it out
I saw GAMES in the theater in 1967 when I was 14 ... I thought it was great and have only caught it once again since. Very compelling plot and new faces of Caan, Ross counterbalanced by venerable Simone Signoret. 🎬🎬
Games was an Ok film, but pretty much a tame ripoff of Diabolique
WOW, what a line-up
In some cases, there are "extra-curriculum" factors involved in the nomination process. In the case of Audrey Hepburn: in 1967, she was in two well-received movies, TWO FOR THE ROAD and WAIT UNTIL DARK. Her performance in TWO FOR THE ROAD (scripted by Fredric Raphael, who had won an Oscar for his screenplay for DARLING) was complex and multilayered, as the movie went back-and-forth in time and she had to play the character in different phases of her life, from youthful ardor to middle-aged ennui. This was a much more nuanced and complex performance, but at her insistence, 20th Century Fox did not submit her name for nomination, because she wanted her performance in WAIT UNTIL DARK (Warner Brothers) to be put up for nomination. The reason: WAIT UNTIL DARK was produced by Mel Ferrer, her husband (at the time) and she wanted the movie to be a success in the hopes that career fulfillment might help her marriage; it didn't, and within a year Hepburn and Ferrer would divorce. And though Katharine Hepburn's performance is one of her least interesting, as she has stated, she felt that her win was an acknowledgement of her partnership with Spencer Tracy, and his death immediately after the filming of GUESS WHO'S COMING TO DINNER was taken into account. (There had not been any Oscars being awarded posthumously by that point.) So it's unfortunate that two performances were nominated which might not be on the same level as the other three nominees.
In my opinion: Edith Evans should have got it. She carries her whole movie on her shoulders, like you explained, Fritz, she basically creates the character and gives life to the bare script, and she had a long career, though not in films. But the academy did not reward actresses of her age (70) at that time, not in the leading Oscar category, not since Marie Dressler in the early 1930s, and she was only 64 when she won.
Katherine is my second favourite, she had the acting abilities, the range, she played herself but it fit in each role, she had the prestige, the 9 prior nominations all in the leading actress category, she played in a progressive stand out movie during a time of social and civil rights changes in the US, so relevance, and she had played in the last Hepburn-Tracy collaboration, so the sawn song of that duo. All these are very compelling reasons to see why she won.
Anne Bancroft's role is iconic, and fresh and countercultural, the subverted mother, she is fascinating, that is a reward in itself.
And Audrey had won, while Faye would win a few year ahead, so I am the most sorry for Edith Evans not winning.
I saw Edith Evans for the first time as a child when I watched The Chalk Garden. I loved Deborah Kerr in those days.
Not rewarding actresses of her age??? 1968: Ruth Gordon. 1970: Helen Hayes. Oh, and Katherine Hepburn: Guess Who's Coming to Dinner.
Why the negativity regarding Dunaway? Also, she was not fired. That headline is false. The two best nominated actress were Evans and Dunaway. They were the two favorites at the time.
Awesome video!!
Largely agree here - although I would have moved Faye up to second place. This role does not give Katharine Hepburn much to do other than smile and stare dewy-eyed at Katharine Houghton, Sidney Poitier and Spencer Tracy. The other actresses had much more to work with and slammed it out of the park in each case. In retrospect, knowing that Hepburn would give a much better performance the following year and tie Streisand for Best Actress and then get a fourth undeserved Oscar for scenery chomping in a nothing role in On Golden Pond, makes this Oscar seem especially wasted on her.
In my opinion, there are only two movies that Katherine Hepburn should have won the Oscar, and she ended up winning for neither of them: Alice Adams and Long Day’s Journey into Night. While her win in The Lion in Winter was deserving, I would have preferred that Streisand won that alone with no tie.
@@larrydirtybird I would have included The Philadelphia Story for her third (second, chronologicallly).
Hepburn once said that you never win for the films that you deserve.
@@thomasdonio2129 she was brilliant in The Philadelphia Story, but I think Joan Fontaine should have won that year for Rebecca.
@@larrydirtybirdnope, Kate was rightfully awarded for the lion in winter. Barbra was the treacherous undeserved winner as Best Actress ! 😮
Had Anne Bancroft not won four years earlier for The Miracle Worker, I feel she might possibly have edged Katharine Hepburn into second place. Her performance as Mrs. Robinson is as brilliant as is Bette Davis' in Whatever Happened to Baby Jane. Such a shame Bette didn't take home the Oscar in 1963 and Anne in '67.
And if Katharine Hepburn had not won for Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner, Barbra Streisand would not have tied with her the following year. The Academy said it was an exact tie, and surely at least one voter had to have voted for Streisand instead of Hepburn because Hepburn had won the previous year.
No way you’ve got it backwards
Very thorough review ... could actually use less clips, but appreciated that your well spoken narration had breaks to let key scenes play. Agree that Bancroft delivered the most layered role in the most culturally layered film of 1967.
For my money, the 1967 is outstanding in its wealth of now "iconic" movies ... second to Golden Year of 1939. BONNIE & CLYDE, GRADUATE, HEAT OF THE NIGHT, GUESS WHO/DINNER, WAIT UNTIL DARK, TO SIR WITH LOVE, COOL HAND LUKE, many others if you check IMBD. 1962 follows close behind in number of memorable, now classic films. 🎬🎬🎬🎬
Thanks a lot! This was one of my first videos, I agree I used a lot of clips back then
AMAZING! I watched the whole thing, and now the only one I need to see is The Whisperers. My choice is Anne as of now, but that also may be due to the fact that The Graduate is my second favorite movie ever.
My rank (so far):
1. Anne
2. Audrey
3. Faye
4. Kate
(Love all)
I am glad you used the work "colored" as Ethel Waters (whom I think most highly respect) stated calling her black was an insult and would result in a smack in the face if used..
I get your view of this being a very strong year for Best Actress nominees. They all deserved the nomination, unlike some years when we question a nom (or even two).
I've now seen all nominated performances and here is my Top 5:
1. Dame Edith Evans - really carried the whole movie perfectly and played such a complex character driven by loneliness and age progress, probably her chances got lower as she was the only nomination of her film
2. Faye Dunaway - truly the heart of her film fantasticly displaying the tragic development of her character, but on her first nomination probably not getting the biggest support
3. Audrey Hepburn - I found her performance very refreshing, like you said something very new Audrey did, really showcasing her talent and proving it to the audience. Still in the same decade as her win though, it unfortunately would remain her last nomination.
4. Anne Bancroft - legendary status as an actress and a performance in a movie that curiosly just won best director, just like The Power of the Dog did this year. She was excellent, but more of a supporting figure than lead and just won an Oscar in the decade too
5. Katharine Hepburn - I've never seen Morning Glory but considering decades passed after her first win it seemed to be a comeback second win plus the sentimental likes of losing Spencer Tracy. She was great, but didn't do anything special. She deserved it much more for The Lion in Winter and I would argue for On Golden Point, which could also be entitled sentimental too
This is one of those years where really every ranking is possible as the nominees offer so much different things; I cannot blame you for putting Edith first, she and Anne are virtually tied for me but I give the edge to Anne
@@FritzandtheOscars yeah in terms of competition I would compare that years race to 1980 or 1985
It is imposible for me to say its an undeserving win but my choice is Bancroft
Imo Katharine should have won for Alice Adams and The Philadelphia Story instead of this and Morning Glory
It was in 1968, because the Oscar ceremony was taken place in 1968, for the movies of 1967.
I saw The Whisperers 2 years ago. Fantastic movie, and fantastic performance. Dame Edith Evans or Faye Dunaway should have won - Anne Bancroft should have been Supporting Actress
What made you think Anne’s performance to be the best?
I hope I could explain this in the video
I understand, thank you.
I'm always amazed by their love story, considering how homely Spencer Tracy looked
You can tell theirs was a true love
Kate Hepburn's "real" win was the following year with "The Lion in Winter" WHAT A PERFORMANCE! ♥
Agreed
I think Katherine Hepburn deserved the Academy Award 👍🏼❤️
I think Audrey Hepburn deserved the Oscar.
I do too. I don't the voters took the movie seriously.
No movie is really dated (maybe the automobiles and rotary telephones), as they all have to be seen in the time period in which they were filmed.
The Oscars have always been given for other reasons. Katherine Hepburn and Greta Garbo were wise not to ever attend the Ceremony. And especially so after the "fight scene" in the last Ceremony. It is only downhill from here on out. I stopped watching them 15 years or more back.
My favorite is Audrey ❤❤❤
Katharine's scene when she threw the racist lady out in the car was an Oscar-worthy and iconic moment itself. She was great in this movie. However, she definitely should have won for Long Journey
Ohh...next to 1950...and 1978, 1962 is in the Trifecta of Greatest Lead Actress Nominees
I would have to disagree, I would have picked Bette, but Any of the 5 would have been a worthy winner
I have to say that, while the clips of Edith Evans do showcase a great performance, they sure don't make me want to watch the movie. It looks SO depressing! I love Audrey Hepburn (met her once in an airport) but her "blind" movie is one of my least favorite movies of hers. Didn't think Faye Dunaway was all that & then some in Bonnie & Clyde. Seems like Natalie Wood or Jane Fonda could have both turned in identical performances. Always found Dunaway a bit mannered, kind of a throwback to an earlier form of movie making. So ironically her Joan Crawford kabuki like performance in Mommie Dearest seemed to crystalize her once and for all. So it comes down to Anne & Kate. Sure Anne gave a great performance. Truly. But I also think the subject matter, if you will, OF her role lends itself to mystery, intrigue etc. She's the classic older woman seducing the college grad. There's that allure if you will. Kate on the other hand has the more pedestrian role of a mother/wife. For my money, I think the academy got it right. Guess Who's Coming to Dinner has always been one of my favorite movies. I think everyone in the cast shines. I think is was actually more of an acting challenge for Kate to shape her performance in such a manner that her character is an integral part of the story. She may be reacting to others as far as plot, but as far as emotional gravitas she along with Tracy and a short but effective performance from Beah Richards are the driving force in the movie. And as you point out both Kate & Anne already had one Oscar each. Which makes more sense to award the Oscar to? The Academy didn't know that the next year Kate would once more turn in a riveting performance in The Lion in Winter resulting in the rare TIE between Kate & Barbra Streisand? So glad you pointed out the bookend "looks" between Tracy & Hepburn from the start of their partnership Woman of the Year to GWCTD. I have written and spoken of that "look" too. You just can't make up these things. I assume the director Stanley Kramer knew his Tracy/Hepburn film history well and realized at some point he'd be able to end the movie if you will with the two stars ending their movie partnership the way it began. For me it's one of the most touching moments in film history. In any event, as usual, great analysis by Fritz the Great!
Thanks so much for your comment! Yes, The Whisperers is depressing but I still recommend it very much
Thanks for another great video! Personal top 10:
1. Edith Evans
2 and 3 (tie): Bibi Anderson and Liv Ullmann - Persona
4. Anne Bancroft - more a supporting role, otherwise I would have ranked her 2
5. Faye Dunaway
6. Audrey Hepburn - Wait Until Dark
7. Magda Vášáryová - Marketa Lasarova
8. Audrey Hepburn - Two for the Road
9. Julie Christie - Far From the Madding Crowd
10. Katharine Hepburn (barely), over Elizabeth Taylor for Taming of the Shrew...maybe; Kate is an all-time great but didn't do much here.
Edith and Anne are a virtual tie for me
My ranking that year
1 - Dame Edith Evans
2 - Faye Dunaway
3 - Anne Bancroft
4 - Katherine Hepburn
5 - Audrey Hepburn
I'm still miffed Evans did not win , considering she won pretty much every precursor award that year
As much as I liked Katharine Hepburn, I don't think she deserved that Oscar, either. But she had just made a big comeback after a five-year gap. And people were talking about her a lot in 1967.
Race and sexual morals were hot-button topics during the late 1960's and early 1970's. I wonder how much the opinions of the
general public regarding these issues affected the Oscar choices? I remember in particular the visceral hatred that some felt
towards Anne Bancroft's character. Some people also said that glorifying common criminals such as Bonnie and Clyde was
an indication of a society on the edge of decline.
Anne bancroft > audrey hepburn > faye dunaway > edith evans > katharine hepburn
Anne’s role in The Graduate is definitely iconic, but it is a supporting role. She has minimal screen time. Similar to Louise Fletcher in Cuckoo’s Nest, who also should have been nominated for supporting instead.
I would put both Anne and Louise in lead but it's understandable to put them in supporting as well
I agree that Anne Bancroft should have gone supporting and won there. The best acting of the year was to be found In Ingmar Bergman's Persona. Bibi Andersson and Liv Ullmann were simply sublime. Other distinct possibilities included Jane Fonda's delightful comedic turn in Barefoot in the Park and Julie Christie's tempestuous heroine in Far From the Madding Crowd.
Totally agree. In the past when I have said that Ann Bancroft had a supporting role in The Graduate, people said I’m out of my mind. But the protagonist of that movie is Benjamin, and Mrs. Robinson and Elaine are supporting characters in his story.
I'm more surprised Efrem Zimbalist Jr was nominated for Supporting Actor at the Globes
He did Absolutely NOTHING in Wait Until Dark
If Edith Evans had won, it would have been the only time that all 5 Best Actress nominees won/ended up winning that award. And also it’s funny- Ann Bancroft’s role in The Graduate is so small that you showed every scene she was in in the movie except for the church scene at the end.
They threw awards at Kate that weren't even deserved, including this one.
I would argue that Katharine Hepburn didn't deserve any of her four Oscars -- although she deserved for at least four different performances, including "Long Day's Journey Into Night," "Bringing Up Baby," "Summertime," "Alice Adams," "Little Women," and "The Philadelphia Story."
@@JimBobH13 She is beyond superb in Summertime. For me it is her finest work.
I absolutely love your videos even more so than BKR, where’s she often turns woke , you stay real and talk about facts and culture in a fair way
Agreed 100%!
Ante Bancroft for me
Anne
Hepburn deserved the Oscar for this movie and The Lion in Winter. THATS IT!! Morning Glory, NO! Pond, NO! Popularity contest for the newcomer and Pond because she’s Hepburn. Hepburn was an amateur in the 1930s movies. There was only one movie she made in the 1930s that was tolerable. Bringing up Baby. Hepburn found her footing in the 1940s. Bette Davis was a force to be reckoned with right out of the gate. Barbara Stanwyck too. Now, they were great actresses. Hepburn did not deserve four Oscar, Davis definitely did. I just cannot see Hepburn playing Mildred in Bondage, Stanwyck, yes. Or Hepburn as Blanche in Baby Jane.
It SHOULD have been Audrey!!!
The Hayes Act and Censorship were all but done away with by 1967 and it has been downhill for the majority of films since that time.
Censorship in American movies made for much more creativity regardless of how most people dislike the term and application.
You are lost if you don’t consider Faye Dunaway a legendary actress.
I consider her a legend in her own way, but not on the level of Katharine or Audrey Hepburn. Few are
By the time Bonnie and Clyde came out, she wasn't a legend in any means
I think Patty Duke in Valley of the Dolls should have won. ❤
the first oscar was given to Janet Gaynor, unless you know something I don't
and again I have no idea what you mean
@@FritzandtheOscars sorry, I went back and listen, Mary Pickford won the 2nd Oscar
@@1BRITOREN No problem! Thanks for clarifying, i was wondering, where I said that
It's impossible to look at Hollywood Bonnie and Clyde now without seeing the distortions to the real story, now that we have such an amount of documentary material. I guess adding all the high style and weird nonsense made it sell, but I'm someone who likes a story from real life to come as close as possible. Plus; too many guns, not enought sex; was Clyde really not all over that broad? Get real. Well...people love the fake over the real.
LOUSY
You're too kind!
Yes Maya, you are!
@@FritzandtheOscars Although I don't agree Audrey moved into overdramatic territory in "Wait Until Dark" (I thought she kept it real and in-the-moment throughout the film, and I fully bought her anguish) halfway through the video, I'm once again admiring your commitment and care in reviewing each performance- agreeing to disagree on aspects of performances is part of the game among classic movie geeks, and I love your videos!
@@slc2466 Thanks a lot! Obviously everybody has a different opinion on these performances and I can only give my personal impression. But I'm always happy to hear other opinions because that's what's exciting about art