For those nostalgic critics and viewers, who complain that movies these days are not what they used to be, I urge a second, more critical look at the top categories in the 1963 Oscar race: Picture, Director, Actor, Actress, Supporting Actor and Supporting Actress.
My Oscar Book:
No matter what films are nominated this year (announcement will be made in January 2014), they have got to be better than those listed below.
So, do not be sentimental about the past and look at what is good at the present—-and what lies ahead for the future.
The year of 1963 is one of the weakest in the annals of the Oscar Awards.
Best Picture Nominees
America, America, 4 nominations, 1 Oscars
Cleopatra, 9, 4
How the West Was Won, 8, 3
Lilies of the Field, 5, 1
Tom Jones, 10 nominations, 4 Oscars
Review of Tom Jones
Lilies of the Field
Lilies of the Field (1963): Sidney Poitier’s Oscar-Winning Performance
Best Director
Fellini, Federico, 81/2
Kazan, Elia, America America
Preminger, Otto, The Cardinal
Richardson, Tony, Tom Jones
Ritt, Martin, Hud
Best Actor
Finney, Albert, Tom Jones
Harris, Richard, This Sporting Life
Harrison, Rex, Cleopatra
Newman, Paul, Hud
Poitier, Lilies of the Field
Best Actress
Caron, Leslie, The L-Shaped Room
MacLaine, Shirley, Irma La Douce
Neal, Patricia, Hud
Roberts, Rachel, This Sporting Life
Wood, Natalie, Love with the Proper Stranger
Supporting Actor
Adams, Nick, Twilight og Honor
Darin, Bobby, Captain Newman, M.D.
Douglas, Melvyn, Hud
Griffith, Hugh, Tom Jones
Huston, John, The Cardinal
Supporting Actress
Cilento, Diana, Tom Jones
Evans, Edith, Tom Jones
Redman, Joyce, Tom Jones
Rutherford, Margaret, The V.I.P.s
Skala, Lilia, Lilies of the Field
Best Foreign-Language Nominees
In 1963, the eighth year of the foreign-language Oscar category, the five nominees were:
81/2 (Italy)Knife in the Water (Poland)
Los Tarantos (Spain)
The Red Lanterns (Greece)
Twin Sisters of Kyoto (Japan)
