Oscar 1970: Best Picture Nominees
Airport, 10 nominations, 1 Oscar
Five Easy Pieces, 4, no Oscars
Love Story 6, 1
M.A.S.H., 5, 1
Patton 10, 7 (winner)
N.Y. Film Critics Circle: Five Easy Pieces
National Society of Film Critics: M.A.S.H.
National Board of Review: Patton (US); The Wild Child (France)
British Awards: Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid
Golden Globes: Love Story (Drama); M.A.S.H. (Musical/Comedy)
Cannes Festival: M.A.S.H. (US, Altman)
Berlin Festival: Festival held but prizes suspended
Oscar 1970: Reflecting American Society at its Most Conflicted
The five Best Picture nominees reflected the deep schisms and ideological tensions that defined American society in the late 1960s and early 1970s.
Airport was an old-hashioned corny picture that served as an all-star vehicle
Five Easy Pieces reflected the subculture of the young generation, embodied by Jack Nicholson, whose stardom rose quickly.
Love Story–was a mawkish and sentimental melodrama, but its likable protagonists and college setting still reflected the zeitgeist.
M.A.S.H.–Robert Altman’s military comedy was a wickedly humorous and ideologically nihilistic feature.
Patton, the biopic of the controversial general starring George C. Scott, tried to please both hawkish right wing viewers, with its celebration of an American hero, and left wing spectators who perceived the movie as a portrait of a psychotic militarist, who lost his humanistic touch.
