ICYMI: the four films nominated for Best Actor Oscars in 1961 were The Mark, The Hustler, Judgment at Nuremberg, and Fanny. The links provide the trivia write-ups on those films while this post discusses what else was happening in the movies that year.
1961 Best Picture winner and highest grossing film: West Side Story. It’s Romeo and Juliet, but it’s a musical, it’s been moved to New York, and the warring families are teenage gangs. You gotta know a lot about this one:
Directors: Robert Wise and Jerome Robbins. Robbins directed the dance sequences and handled choreography while Wise covered the dramatic scenes.
Composer: Leonard Bernstein.
Lyrics: Stephen Sondheim.
Cast: Natalie Wood as Maria (though her singing was dubbed) and EGOTer Rita Moreno as Anita. You also gotta know characters Tony (co-founder of the Jets, the white gang fighting against the Puerto Rican Sharks, and in love with Maria) and Riff (also a Jet).
And the songs, oh jeez, the songs you gotta know. There’s “America” and “Cool” and “I Feel Pretty” and “Somewhere” and “Maria” and honestly, it might be easier to just watch West Side Story (the 1961 version or the 2021 Spielberg remake) than trying to learn it by rote.
Of the four films we watched, three were nominated for Best Picture (only The Mark failed to be nominated). The final nominee was The Guns of Navarone, about WWII soldiers trying to destroy a German fortress on a fictional Greek island.
It’s based on a 1957 novel by Alistair MacLean, one of the best-selling authors of all time; think of him like a ‘50s version of Clive Cussler.
Best Actress Oscar race: Sometimes there’s a lot of overlap in the films nominated for Best Actor and Best Actress. This isn’t one of those years, as only Piper Laurie (The Hustler) was nominated for Best Actress hardware. Here’s what we missed:
Sophia Loren (winner) in Two Women (released 1960). This movie sounds like a tough watch—a mother and her daughter suffer during the Allied invasion of Italy. It co-stars Jean-Paul Belmondo, whose name we shoulda mentioned when discussing Breathless in our previous wrap-up.
Audrey Hepburn for Breakfast at Tiffany’s, which is based on a novella by Truman Capote. Hepburn plays Holly Golightly, who wants to marry for money but, spoiler, doesn’t. This movie’s remembered for Hepburn’s Givenchy little black dresses and for Mickey Rooney in yellowface.
Natalie Wood for Splendor in the Grass. We’ve mentioned adaptations of William Inge plays in many of these recaps, but this is the first time we’re seeing an original screenplay of his. Directed by Elia Kazan, this one stars Natalie Wood (good year for her) and Warren Beatty as high school sweethearts. Its title is from this unreadable Wordsworth poem.
Geraldine Page for Summer and Smoke. This one co-stars Laurence Harvey and is based on a Tennessee Williams play; we’ve discussed it before, but the gist is “passionate short-lived relationship between a minister’s daughter and a hedonistic doctor.”
Relitigating the Best Actor race: Maximilian Schell took the Oscar for playing the defense council in Judgement at Nuremberg, beating out his co-star Spencer Tracy. While I think they’re both great, my vote’d go to Paul Newman. Charles Boyer’s nomination is historically confusing, and Stuart Whitman…well, I don’t really want to talk about The Mark anymore, thanks.
Quick Hits
The Misfits. This movie is so cool, it gave its name to Glenn Danzig’s band. Marilyn Monroe was concerned she wasn’t getting serious parts and got hubby Arthur Miller to pen this contemporary Western for her; it was her final completed film. It was also Clark Gable’s final role. Add to the mix Montgomery Clift (an absolute powerhouse) and director John Huston and you baby, you’ve got a stew goin’.
A Disney two-fer. One is the original 101 Dalmatians (based on Dodie Smith’s novel), which you’ve probably heard of. A deeper 1961 cut is Babes in Toyland, based on a 1903 operetta by Victor Herbert. Like The Misfits, Babes in Toyland also contributed its name to a rock band.
One-Eyed Jacks. I can’t tell if this movie is well-remembered or I just think that because it’s played on repeat at this Mexican restaurant in Bisbee, Arizona. Anyway, this Western is Marlon Brando’s only directorial effort, and in it he stars alongside buddy Karl Malden.
A film version of the Lorraine Hansberry’s 1959 play A Raisin in the Sun, about the Younger family trying to move into an all-white Chicago neighborhood. The play was both the first written by a black woman and first directed by a black man to be produced on Broadway. The film adaptation starred much of the play’s original cast including actors Sidney Poitier and Ruby Dee.
Audrey Hepburn starred with Shirley MacLaine in The Children’s Hour, a movie based on a Lillian Hellman play about two teachers accused of lesbianism.
Quicker hits: Through a Glass Darkly, an Ingmar Bergman film with a title from the Bible…Rodgers and Hammerstein musical Flower Drum Song, noteworthy for its majority Asian-American cast…Barabbas, a sword-and-sandals film about the guy who got pardoned instead of Jesus…Elvis’ Blue Hawaii…The Innocents, with Deborah Kerr and Michael Redgrave, based on “The Turn of the Screw”…The Ladies Man, with Jerry Lewis, giving him his “hey LAAAADY” catch phrase…Yojimbo, a Kurosawa film based on “Red Harvest” about a ronin courted by two crime bosses that was unofficially remade as A Fistful of Dollars (1964).
Trivia Questions
The quiz below serves as a refresher for some of the material covered in the four posts on 1961 films. The answers can be found in the footnotes.
This artist, rivals with Sir Joshua Reynolds, was the painter of “The Blue Boy.”1
This artist, born 1755 with the maiden name “Vigée,” painted more than 30 portraits of Queen Marie Antoinette.2
This poet wrote the prose work “Devotions upon Emergent Occasions,” from which the phrase “for whom the bell tolls” originated.3
This actor originated the role of Marty on “Philco Television Playhouse” and later played Jud Fry in 1955’s Oklahoma!4
Jackie Gleason played a bus driver with this name on “The Honeymooners.”5
This race, the second of the Triple Crown, is also called “The Run for the Black-Eyed Susans.”6
This horse, a grandson of Man O’ War, defeated War Admiral one-on-one in a 1938 race.7
Name one of the two most recent Triple Crown winners (they won in 2015 and 2018).8
This actor and friend of Marlene Dietrich made a documentary about her life, Marlene (1984).9
Rudolf Hess, who was convicted at the Nuremberg trials, was the final resident of this German prison.10
Philosopher Hannah Arendt reported on Adolf Eichmann’s trial in the book “Eichmann in Jerusalem: A Report on the [BLANK] of Evil.” What word fills in the blank?11
This German filmmaker made “Olympia” and “Triumph of the Will.”12
This 1938 Charles Boyer film is about a jewel thief Pépé le Moko hiding out in the Casbah.13
Name the two films Leslie Caron received Best Actress nominations for. The first was a musical about a woman and a puppeteer. The second was about an unwed pregnant woman crashing at a cheap London boarding house.14
This prison off the coast of Marseille was made famous by “The Count of Monte Cristo.”15
This Marseille fish-and-seafood stew has a name from the Provençal verbs “to boil” and “to simmer.”16
On to 1962, where I promise we won’t mention Nazis even once, I hope.
TWO CORRECTIONS:
In our post on Judgment at Nuremberg, we stated that Marlene (1984) won the Oscar for Best Documentary. It did not; the winner was The Times of Harvey Milk.
In our post on Fanny, we stated Algiers (1938) was Hedy Lamarr’s first role. This was misleading; it was only her first American role.
Thanks to Yogesh for the corrections—and a plug for his wonderful podcast “Recreational Thinking.” KW/OU regrets the errors, but learning is an iterative process and we’re gonna make mistakes. We’ll own ‘em when we do and try and do better.
Thomas Gainsborough.
Élisabeth Vigée Le Brun.
John Donne.
Rod Steiger.
Ralph Kramden.
The Preakness.
Seabiscuit.
American Pharoah (2015) and Justify (2018).
Maximilian Schell.
Spandau prison.
Banality.
Leni Riefenstahl.
Algiers.
Lili (1953), The L-Shaped Room (1963).
Château d’If.
Bouillabaisse.