The Oscar Project #56: Terms of Endearment (1983)

by Chris Marshall:

I’m now halfway through watching the Oscar winners of the 1980s, and as I feared, I haven’t been very impressed by the quality of the movies. I was, however, quite pleased with Terms of Endearment. It’s a typical Oscar bait tearjerker, but at least it was well made.

Like Ordinary People, it could have easily fallen into that dreaded Lifetime movie category if not for the quality of its cast. Debra Winger was still a relative newcomer at the time, but this was Shirley MacLaine’s third appearance in a Best Picture winner[1]. Among the supporting cast, Jack Nicholson, who won Best Supporting Actor for this role, and Danny DeVito (!) were making their second Best Picture appearances.

The story is really quite expansive, though it never feels like it. I don’t know if it’s ever specifically said how much time passes, but it begins right before Debra Winger’s wedding and ends when her oldest kid appears to be in his tweens/early teens. Nevertheless, the plot moves fluidly, and it never feels like the movie is trying to do too much.

The Oscar Project #33: The Apartment (1960)

by Chris Marshall:

I don’t know what the deep and profound significance of this is, but the first year of each decade produces some pretty great movies. So far, years ending in 0 have brought us All Quiet on the Western Front, Rebecca, All About Eve, and now The Apartment. That’s a pretty fine list there.

There is just so much to like about The Apartment, not least of which is the fact that it’s directed by Billy Wilder. I’ve seen four of his films now (this, Double Indemnity, The Lost Weekend, and Sunset Blvd.), and I’ve loved them all. That is a pretty disparate group of genres to attain mastery in. When Michael Hazanavicius won Best Director this year for The Artist, he said, “I want to thank Billy Wilder, I want to thank Billy Wilder, and I want to thank Billy Wilder.” It’s easy to understand why.

There is such depth in his filmography that it almost defies belief. In addition to the aforementioned films, he also directed Some Like It Hot, Ace in the Hole, Stalag-17, Witness for the Prosecution (and so on). I stop there lest this entire article turn into a list of movies, but Wilder’s filmography merits a mention. He’s made more great movies than most directors make decent ones.