The Best Picture Expansion Project: 1989

By DOUG STRASSLER

Mark has been kind enough to welcome me back for another entry in the Best Picture Expansion Project, where we imagine that the newly reinstated Oscar rule of nominating ten films for Best Picture applied from 1943 to 2008. (For the rest of the Project, go here.)

For this entry, we travel back twenty years to 1989. It’s a year that holds special meaning for me. Not only is it the year that I started going to the movies regularly, but it is also the year I first discovered the Academy Awards.

This was back when the Oscar ceremony still took place on a Monday night. My family and I happened to go the local mall for dinner, and walked into a video store which was decorated for the occasion. My parents then explained that the Oscars were an honor given to the best film and performances of the year, and then we went home and watched for the first time. I was hooked. (Only later on would I realize the degree of politicking and subjectivity involved.)

Personal memories aside, however, I maintain that 1989 represents a recent apex for movies, before home theater and independent film and franchises splintered the whole industry. Don’t believe me? See for yourself. Here’s a list of the movies that were released that year.

Actual Best Picture Nominees

Born on the Fourth of July

Dead Poets Society

Driving Miss Daisy (winner)

Field of Dreams

My Left Foot

In Retrospect: Each of these movies is a new classic in its own way (and I don’t mean the kind of dreck TBS runs in marathon form on Sundays), and would hold its own in any year. July, the Ron Kovic biopic about the Vietnam era, was the front runner with the most nominations and the Golden Globe (and my personal pref), but Daisy had a strong pedigree, having been based on a Pulitzer Prize-winning play and starring an epically talented cast (plus Dan Aykroyd). Both are strong movies with statements to make, the former about war and the latter about race, and ultimately split the difference. Oliver Stone won his second Best Director Oscar for July, while Daisy took the top prize, even though director Bruce Beresford was not even nominated.

Meanwhile, Poets and Dreams both achieved a rarity, earning a place in the hearts of female and male audiences alike. These movies are evergreen.

Surprisingly, perhaps, Foot is the movie that had the biggest impact, scoring two major upsets. Brenda Fricker beat Steel Magnolias’ Julia Roberts to win Best Supporting Actress (and anyone who sees her announce to her suicidal, cerebral palsy-afflicted son, “You may have given up, but I haven’t!” will understand why), but an even bigger shock came when Jodie Foster announced that Daniel Day-Lewis had beaten Tom Cruise’s much-lauded performance in July for Best Actor.

Foot, you see, was Miramax’s first big Oscar campaign, and the game would never be played the same again.

The Expansion Pack

6. Do the Right Thing

You can feel the heat in this, Spike Lee’s seminal work about racial conflict, even with the AC turned all the way up. Set on a single block in Brooklyn’s Bed-Stuy neighborhood, populated mostly by African-American and Puerto Rican residents during the dog days of summer, this is a perfect illustration of how tension can escalate to disastrous effect. It’s an unqualified masterpiece, so much so that in 1999, the Library of Congress deemed it “culturally significant” and selected it for preservation in the National Film Registry, one of only five films to do so in its first year of eligibility. And if that doesn’t sway you, Kim Basinger herself stood in front of the Oscar crowd to declare the she felt it was the best picture of the year. When Vicki Vale talks, you should listen. (This was the first Oscar ceremony that I watched, too, and I clearly remember feeling awkward on her behalf. — Mark)

7. Crimes and Misdemeanors

In Woody Allen’s tragicomic morality tale, it doesn’t matter whether the Alvy Singers of the world ended up with their Annie Halls or not. Love is not enough, and Alan Alda and Martin Landau, as the film’s super-flawed protagonists—or are they antagonists?—have become riddled with arrogance and greed. I don’t know if this is Allen’s most personal film, but it’s certainly his most polished one, and the idea of Sam Waterston as a rabbi losing his sight (is God really turning a blind eye on his people?) is a masterstroke. Being wrong never looked so right.

8. Heathers

The high school movie to end all high school movies. Unlike most teens, however, Michael Lehmann’s movie knows exactly what it is and makes no apologies for it. You see, a movie should never have to be serious or important to be considered great; it just needs to be rich, and this black comedy about a high school Bonnie and Clyde is one of the richest of all time. Winona Ryder is perfect as Veronica Sawyer, who is equally repulsed by and drawn to both the popular clique and the madman who starts killing them off (Christian Slater). Extra props for naming Westerburg High after Replacements lead singer Paul Westerberg. Daniel Waters’ arch dialogue is so inimitable you might mistakenly think Cameron Crowe wrote it. Jealous much?

9. Glory

Glory didn’t exactly go ignored at the Oscars—it won three awards, most notably for Denzel Washington’s riveting supporting performance—but I wish the Academy had shown some more love to Ed Zwick’s tribute to the the 54th Massachusetts Volunteer Infantry in the Civil War, one of the first all-black regiments. Andre Braugher and Morgan Freeman (what a year between this and Daisy) are also great, but don’t lose sight of Matthew Broderick in his first mature role.

10. The Fabulous Baker Boys

Steve Kloves never equaled the promise he showed in this underrated drama. It is a tour de force. I’ve written before about how Jeff Bridges is an actor nonpareil, and Kloves brings out the best in him by casting Jeff and brother Beau, an astonishing actor in his own right, to play (what else?) two brothers at the end of their personal and professional ropes. They’re lounge lizards who hire singer Susie Diamond (Michelle Pfeiffer) to spice up their act, and find their lives forever changed. No one could begrudge Jessica Tandy her Best Actress Oscar for Daisy (fun fact: at 80, she’s the oldest winner of an acting Oscar), but Pfeiffer is brilliant here, and it’s one of the rare instances in which a performer has swept the critics’ awards and won a Golden Globe, only to lose the Oscar. That fact is all the more unfortunate because this incandescent actress never went on to win. Everything about this movie radiates perfection, from the three leads’ chemistry with one another to Dave Grusin’s jazz score to Michael Ballhaus’ smooth cinematography. And let’s not forget That Scene, in which Susie croons “Makin’ Whoopee” atop a piano in fire engine-red dress. It’s instantly iconic, the modern-day equivalent of Scarlett O’Hara standing in front of Tara.

The Snubs

Seriously guys, 1989 was such a great year that I could nominate additional films from every conceivable genre, from action to animation, dark comedy to period drama. These movies also changed my world:

Batman

Cinema Paradiso

Drugstore Cowboy

Enemies, A Love Story

Henry V

The Little Mermaid

Mystery Train

Parenthood

Roger & Me

Say Anything…

sex, lies and videotape

The War of the Roses

…When Harry Met Sally

I will always be grateful that this is the year I fell in love with film.

What does everyone else think?