Cineliteracy: What You Need to Know about 1970 as a Movie Year
My Oscar Book:
Highest-Grossing films of 1970
Rank Title Distributor Domestic rentals
1 Love Story Paramount $50,000,000
2 Airport Universal $44,500,000
3 M*A*S*H 20th Century Fox $30,000,000
4 Patton $27,000,000
5 Woodstock Warner Bros. $16,400,000
6 Little Big Man National General Pictures $15,000,000
7 Tora! Tora! Tora! 20th Century Fox/Toei $13,700,000
8 Ryan’s Daughter MGM $13,400,000
9 Catch-22, Paramount $12,300,000
10 The Owl and the Pussycat, Columbia $11,500,000
Events
January 9 – Larry Fine, second member of Three Stooges, suffers a massive stroke, ending his career.
February 11 – The Magic Christian, starring Peter Sellers and Ringo Starr, New York City. The soundtrack album, including Badfinger’s “Come and Get It” (written-produced by Paul McCartney), is released on Apple Records.
March 12 –
Film debut of Ornella Muti in La moglie più bella (Most Beautiful Wife) 3 days after 15th birthday.
March 17 –
The Boys in the Band, gay film, William Friedkin, based on Mart Crowley’s play, opens
My Gay Cinema Book:
July – Stanley R. Jaffe becomes president of Paramount, succeeding Charles Bludhorn who remained chair and CEO.
October 24 –Crawford’s final film, low-budget horror picture Trog, opens in theaters.
December 1 – Yousuf Khan Sher Bano is the first Pashto film released.
December 14 – John Lennon and Yoko Ono film, Up Your Legs Forever with 367 participants in NYC
The IMAX motion picture projection system premieres at the Fuji Pavilion, at Expo ’70 in Osaka, Japan.
In Culver City, California, MGM begins selling off its studio back lot property and movie props.
My Oscar Book:
Awards
43rd Academy (Oscar) Awards, April 15, 1971
Best Film: Patton
Best Director: George Schaffner, Patton
Best Actor: George C. Scott, Patton
Best Actress: Glenda Jackson, Women in Love
Best Supporting Actor: John Mills, Ryan’s Daughter
Best Supporting Actress: Helen Hayes, Airport
Best Screenplay, Adapted Erich Segal, Love Story
William Goldman
Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid Ring Lardner Jr.
M*A*S*H
Best Screenplay, Original: Coppola and Edmund H. North, Patton
Best Original Score Francis Lai
Love Story N/A Francis Lai
Love Story
The Beatles
Let It Be
Best Original Song:
Best Foreign Language Film: Investigation of a Citizen Above Suspicion
Cannes Film Festival (Palme d’Or): M*A*S*H, directed by Robert Altman, United States
Death
January 19 –
January 25 – Eiji Tsuburaya, 68, Japanese director and special effects designer, Godzilla, Godzilla, King of the Monsters!
January 27 – Rocco D’Assunta, 65, Italian actor, comedian and playwright
February 6 – Roscoe Karns, 76, American actor, It Happened One Night, Alibi Ike
February 19 – Jules Munshin, 54, American actor, On the Town, Take Me Out to the Ball Game
February 24 – Conrad Nagel, 72, American actor, All That Heaven Allows, The Divorcee
March 4 – Peter Godfrey, 70, British director, Christmas in Connecticut, The Two Mrs. Carrolls
March 6 – William Hopper, 55, American actor, Rebel Without a Cause, Track of the Cat
March 25 – Virginia Van Upp, 68, US producer and screenwriter, Gilda, Cover Girl
March 26 – Patricia Ellis, 51, American actress, A Night at the Ritz, Rhythm in the Clouds
April 9 – Cobina Wright, 82, American singer and actress, The Razor’s Edge, Footlight Serenade
April 11 – Cathy O’Donnell, 46, US actress, Ben-Hur, The Best Years of Our Lives
April 18
Gay Seabrook, 69, American actress, Bedtime Worries, Wild Poses
Glenn Tryon, 71, American actor and director, Lonesome, Miss Mink of 1949
April 19 – George Blair, 64, American director, Duke of Chicago, Streets of San Francisco
April 21 – Jose Corazon de Jesus Jr., 45, Filipino actor, Garrison 13, Higit Sa Lahat
April 25 – Anita Louise, 55, American actress, The Little Princess, The Story of Louis Pasteur
April 26 – Gypsy Rose Lee, 59, US burlesque performer, Screaming Mimi, Belle of the Yukon
April 28 – Ed Begley, 69, American actor, 12 Angry Men, Patterns
April 30 – Inger Stevens, 35, Swedish actress, Hang ‘Em High, A Guide for the Married Man
May 14 – Billie Burke, 85, American actress, The Wizard of Oz, Father’s Little Dividend
June 14 – William Daniels, 68, US cinematographer, Camille, Ninotchka
July 6 – Marjorie Rambeau, 80, US actress, A Man Called Peter, Tobacco Road
July 14 – Preston Foster, 69, US actor, The Informer, I Am a Fugitive from a Chain Gang
July 22 – Fritz Kortner, 78, German director, Pandora’s Box, The Razor’s Edge
August 1 – Frances Farmer, 56, American actress, Come and Get It, The Toast of New York
September 3 – Vasil Gendov, 78, Bulgarian film director, actor and screenwriter, Bulgaran is Gallant
September 11 – Chester Morris, 69, US Oscar actor, Meet Boston Blackie, Five Came Back
September 18 – Jimi Hendrix, 27, American musician, Almost Famous, Wayne’s World
September 29 – Edward Everett Horton, 84, American actor, Arsenic and Old Lace, Top Hat
October 4 – Janis Joplin, 27, American singer, Watchmen, Three Kings
December 23 – Charles Ruggles, 84, American actor, Bringing Up Baby, The Parent Trap
Film Debuts
Isabelle Adjani – Le Petit bougnat
Jane Alexander – The Great White Hope
Carmen Argenziano – Cover Me Babe
Linda Blair – The Way We Live Now
Dennis Christopher – Didn’t You Hear?
Sean S. Cunningham – The Art of Marriage
Frances de la Tour – Every Home Should Have One
Danny DeVito – Dreams of Glass
George DiCenzo – House of Dark Shadows
Robert Downey Jr. – Pound
Alice Drummond – Where’s Poppa?
Shelley Duvall – Brewster McCloud
Jayne Eastwood – Goin’ Down the Road
Erik Estrada – The Cross and the Switchblade
George Buck Flower – Norma
Scott Glenn – The Baby Maker
Pam Grier – Beyond the Valley of the Dolls
Philip Baker Hall – Cowards
Dan Hedaya – Myra Breckinridge
Ken Howard – Tell Me That You Love Me, Junie Moon
Peter Jason – Rio Lobo
Don Johnson – The Magic Garden of Stanley Sweetheart
Tommy Lee Jones – Love Story
Diane Keaton – Lovers and Other Strangers
Frank Langella – Diary of a Mad Housewife
Darrell Larson – The Student Nurses
Michael Lerner – Alex in Wonderland
Stephen McHattie – The People Next Door
Anne Meara – The Out-of-Towners
Garrett Morris – Where’s Poppa?
Ornella Muti – The Most Beautiful Wife
Stephen Rea – Cry of the Banshee
Susan Sarandon – Joe
John Schuck – M*A*S*H
Arnold Schwarzenegger – Hercules in New York
Tom Selleck – Myra Breckinridge
Pepe Serna – The Student Nurses
Sam Shepard – Brand X
Paul Sorvino – Where’s Poppa?
Sissy Spacek – Trash
Jerry Stiller – Lovers and Other Strangers
Steve Vinovich – Weekend with the Babysitter
Robert Walden – Bloody Mama
Fred Williamson – M*A*S*H
Burt Young – Carnival of Blood
Harris Yulin – End of the Road
Oscar Awards (Detailed)
Best Actor
Oscar Award:
N.Y. Film Critics Circle:
National Board of Review:
National Society of Film Critics
Cannes Film Fest:
Venice Film Fest: No awards
Berlin Film Fest: Awards suspended
British Awards:
Best Actress
Oscar Award: Glenda Jackson, Women in Love
N.Y. Film Critics Circle: Glenda Jackson, Women in Love
National Board of Review: Glenda Jackson, Women in Love
National Society of Film Critics: Glenda Jackson, Women in Love
Cannes Film Fest: Ottavio Piccolo (Metelo)
Venice Film Fest: No awards
Berlin Film Fest: Awards suspended
British Awards: Katharine Ross, Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid; Tell Them Willie Boy
Supporting Actress
Oscar Award: Helen Haynes, Airport
N.Y. Film Critics Circle: Karen Black, Five Easy Pieces
National Board of Review: Karen Black, Five Easy Pieces
National Society of Film Critics: Lois Smith, Five Easy Pieces
British Awards: Susannah York, They Shoot Horses, Don’t They?
Supporting Actor
Oscar: John Mills, Ryan’s Daughter
National Society: Chief Dan George, Little Big Man
N.Y. Film Critics: Chief Dan George
National Board: Frank Langella, Diary of a Mad Housewife, The Twelve Chairs
British: Colin Welland, Kes
