Peter Suderman of Reason.com writing on the lack of a nomination for Selma director Ava Duvernay, notes, “it’s always a little bit weird to see a movie nominated in the Best Picture category but not in the Best Director category, as if a film could be the best movie of the year but not also the best directed. You can imagine a case for the distinction, of course, but the Academy’s voting and nomination patterns don’t make that case.” To his credit, he does admit a one can “imagine a case for the distinction” and then rightfully states that the Oscars have never been consistent in making that case. As a result, it does seem weird to many people to see a movie nominated for Best Picture but not Best Director but only because the Oscars have so lazily nominated the two hand in hand practically from the start. In reality, it’s not weird at all and I wish it would happen more often.
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Let’s start off by looking at 1951 when An American in Paris took home Best Picture while Best Director went to George Stevens for A Place in the Sun. An American in Paris was a big budget musical with a grand dance finale that felt like the biggest picture of the year if not the best. In fact, I can see an argument being made that it was indeed the best movie of the year, although I absolutely disagree. Nonetheless, one could argue it was the best while also arguing that Vincent Minnelli did very little special as a director with the project and the most of the memorable moments, i.e., the dance numbers, were all put together by Gene Kelly with Minnelli tasked to film them without losing the dancers in the frame. Stevens, on the other hand, was doing a lot more than setting up the camera and letting the actors dance in front of it. Moods and emotions were conveyed visually, as when Liz Taylor walks in the room and sees Monty Clift make an extraordinary pool shot. Night to day is shown in a clever time lapse that also signifies how something so monumentally life changing can occur in the blink of an eye. And Stevens knew when to focus on Clift’s face and let his inner torment do the story telling. All in all, a much better directing job than Minnelli, but is the picture better? Well actually, yes, but frankly, I’d have given the Best Picture to Red Badge of Courage, John Huston’s superb telling of the classic story, famously butchered by a studio with no confidence in its appeal. But I still would have given Best Director to Stevens.
In 1954, both Best Picture and Best Director (Elia Kazan) went to On the Waterfront and I would agree, it was the Best Picture of the year. But I would have given Best Director to Alfred Hitchcock for Rear Window, truly one of Hitch’s finest achievements in direction. Talk about an impossible task: keep your lead character incapacitated in one room for the entire movie and essentially, just show everything he sees as he sees it, from a distance. But as sharp as his direction is, I think On the Waterfront is better, overall, as a movie.
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How about 1958? Forget what the Oscars went with (Gigi) and think instead about Touch of Evil and Vertigo. Now, it’s entirely possible to think one of those films is better than the other but also the opposite film’s direction is better. Hitchcock, for instance, has not a single misstep in Vertigo in my opinion, and does a fantastically good job of creating an eerie other-worldly sense for much of the film. Still, I think Touch of Evil is better. So I’d give Best Director to Hitchcock, again, in 1958 but I’d give Best Picture to Touch of Evil.
Other times in Oscar history, they’ve made a split in the two categories that I feel was dead on right. In 1972, Bob Fosse won Best Director for Cabaret but Best Picture went to The Godfather. I completely agree on both counts. I think Fosse quite frankly did an incredible job juxtaposing the musical numbers with the dramatic scenes by giving each a unique look and feel. It’s like he was directing two different movies but managed to make them work together rather than feel disjointed and fragmented. The Godfather, however, is simply far better as a movie. Just because Fosse works magic doesn’t mean the movie itself is a masterwork. The characters and story don’t have the same depth and gravity as those in The Godfather and the dramatic scenes in Cabaret, while handled very well by Fosse, are not very excitingly written, shall we say. There’s a dullness to the writing in Cabaret that’s always bothered me. But Fosse’s direction is great.
The movie with the best direction may not always be the best movie just as the movie with the best performance might not be the best. I think George Miller’s direction of 1979′s Mad Max is one of the great achievements in visceral, action direction. So good, I may even have given him Best Director that year but Best Picture would be Apocalypse Now. How many low-budget, independently produced movies have creative, problem solving direction of movies that, otherwise, may not be very special? Best Director and Best Picture do not have to go together, ever, but often, due to lazy Oscar voters, they do and it’s unlikely Oscar will change direction anytime soon.