This update will primarily focus on the buildup to the 1979 Academy Awards, so of course, we have Siskel and Ebert on the case once again to discuss matters.
SNEAK PREVIEWS WITH ROGER EBERT AND GENE SISKEL: 1979 ACADEMY AWARDS PREVIEW SPECIAL--HIGHLIGHTS
Siskel: Most everyone in Hollywood is singing that song, "the one that they want" is the nine pound trophy known as Oscar. It can be worth as much as a million dollars to an actor; ten million dollars to a motion picture. An Oscar is the special subject of this special edition of Sneak Previews. We'll show you the nominees in action, and try to predict the winners to be revealed on April 9. Across the aisle from me is Roger Ebert, the Pulitzer Prize winning film critic of the Chicago Sun-Times. Now normally, I'm much better at picking Oscar winners than Roger, but last year, he wiped me out, he was five for five.
Ebert: And this is Gene Siskel, who usually does much better than I do; last year, he only got two out of five. Gene is the film critic of the Chicago Tribune and CBS News TV in Chicago. Now this special will take a look at the major Academy Award categories, the one the Las Vegas oddsmakers make the book on, like Best Picture, Best Actor and Actress, and Best Supporting Actor and Actress.
Siskel: Also something unusual, maybe a first for television, we'll look at some of the often overlooked Oscar categories, of costume design, art direction, best song and animated short film. And every year, we hear these winners announced on the Oscar telecast, and frankly, we couldn't care less. We don't know who the nominees are, much less why they were nominated. So Roger and I decided to illustrate these categories with film clips too.
Ebert: Yeah, we thought that things like cinematography and art direction would be ideal for television, because they're hard to put into words, but on TV, we can show you what the Academy members look for when they vote. Gene and I are going to throw in our own votes for those winners too. But first, Gene starts with the best nominees for Best Actor.
Siskel: This year, the majority of the nominees for Best Actor were young performers. The only veterans are Sir Laurence Olivier, who played a Nazi hunter in Boys from Brazil, and William Shatner, in middle age, who played Admiral Kirk in Star Trek. Olivier is already scheduled to receive an honorary Oscar this year for his entire career, so it's unlikely that he'll win two. (clips play of the nominees). Roger thinks that Robert De Niro is the favorite, playing a Vietnam veteran in The Deer Hunter. I also believe that De Niro is the favorite, but Jon Voight as Luke Martin in Coming Home, playing another military veteran, and William Shatner, playing a futuristic military veteran, are not far behind. Warren Beatty in Heaven Can Wait, as a naive main character, rounds out the set of nominees.
Ebert: Voight was absolutely remarkable in his portrayal of a paraplegic Vietnam veteran, with incredible range, and Shatner was a tour de force in Star Trek. But De Niro's scene where he is holding the gun to his head in The Deer Hunter was unlike anything I have seen in cinema.
Siskel: I'm not so sure that director Michael Cimino didn't take liberties with that portrayal of the Viet Cong. There were many other ways the North Vietnamese demonstrated their brutality towards American soldiers, but there were no reports of forced Russian Roulette.
Ebert: That's the controversial part of The Deer Hunter. It still doesn't detract from the picture as a whole, or De Niro's outstanding performance. For that, he deserves to be the favorite. I love William Shatner as I am a fan of the Star Trek television series, but I don't believe his performance was as emotional as De Niro's or Voight's.
Siskel: Shatner's stand or die speech to the fleet in Star Trek was pretty dramatic though.
Ebert: It certainly was. We never saw the Star Trek characters under that much threat. Maybe if Kirk died in the movie, Shatner would be the favorite for Best Actor.
Siskel: They're never going to kill off Captain Kirk or Mr. Spock, Roger, you know that. If they ever did, the Trekkies...
Ebert: Trekkers, Gene.
Siskel: OK, Trekkers, they would be on the streets with pitchforks and torches, threatening to burn down the Paramount studio.
Ebert: I wouldn't be so sure, Roger. If Shatner or Nimoy decided they didn't want to make any more Star Trek films, they could kill one or both of them off in a blaze of glory.
Siskel: You know more about Star Trek than I do. But we agree on this point: Shatner is probably third in the running for Best Actor, behind De Niro and Voight. I like Voight, you like De Niro.
Ebert: Now we come to the first of those special categories that are sometimes overlooked, the one for costume design. It's an easy category to explain because everybody knows what a costume is, but it's one of the most interesting Oscar categories for a couple of reasons. First, because costume designers aren't simply just designing clothes; they're interpreting the screenplay and the characters, and they're helping the director carry out his vision of the whole movie. Secondly, Hollywood costumes often influence the way the rest of us dress. Remember the Bonnie and Clyde look, or the time Clark Gable wasn't wearing an undershirt; it happened one night and undershirt sales fell off all over the country. This year's nominations in the costume category are interesting, especially the Starfleet uniforms in Star Trek, the favorite to win the award.
Siskel: Trekkies rejoice!
Ebert: Trekkers, Gene. Star Trek's main competition is from The Wiz, a Broadway production brought to the silver screen. Those costumes were so colorful.
Siskel: In a traditional year, I think The Wiz would win. But those Starfleet uniforms, Roger. They're influencing the way a lot of people dress, for good or for ill, depending on your point of view.
Ebert: Are you taking a shot at the way Star Trek fans dress, Gene?
Siskel: Come on Roger, those uniforms are kind of ridiculous!
Ebert: They're worn in great fun, Gene. And they could pass for military uniforms of the future. You can't deny that they aren't a significant fashion statement.
Siskel: I'm going to predict The Wiz. Broadway costumes are among the most creative in the world, and they translate well to the big screen.
Ebert: It's going to be Star Trek. The Starfleet uniforms have infiltrated popular culture all over the Western world. For better or worse.
Siskel: In trying to understand the Oscar categories for costume design and our next one, cinematography, it's important to know that not all of the Academy's 3560 voters select the nominees. Actually, it's just the actors who nominate the actors. Costume designers nominate the costume designers, and cinematographers who nominate for the cinematography award. So what you're dealing with here are small groups of people, about a hundred to two hundred people, who know each other very well, and like any small group, there are some powerful members, and some outcasts. So that may explain why some of the nominations just don't make any sense. Favoritism does play a role. Now that's just in the nominations. The whole Academy, all of the people, vote for the actual winners. Now let's get back to cinematography. The cinematographer is vitally important to the film and works hand-in-hand with the director. How important is he? He's the second most highly paid member of the crew, after the director. Now let's take a look at the five nominees for cinematography. (clips play).
Ebert: We disagreed on costume design, but on cinematography, Richard Kline pulled off a masterpiece with Star Trek. The television series suffered from low budgets, and still received acclaim for its cinematography, but this movie is just as good as Star Wars in respect to the action shots and special effects. Kline has already been nominated twice for Camelot and King Kong, and is one of the best in the business. The Wiz could surprise, but Star Trek's awe-inspiring film work is the clear favorite.
Siskel: I agree with you. I was astonished by the way Kline captured the shots of the futuristic vessels moving around, the action on the Enterprise bridge, and some of the combat action shots. Kline broke new ground, even from what Star Wars accomplished last year. The shot of the five enemy vessels at the start of the picture flying in space was awe-inspiring.
Ebert: The reveal of the starship Enterprise was pretty groundbreaking as well. That was as accomplished a feat as I have seen in the cinematography department since another science fiction classic, 2001: A Space Odyssey.
Siskel: So we expect that Star Trek is coming away with the cinematography award, Roger?
Ebert: Absolutely. George Lucas, who was actually invited on set for a couple of days for Star Trek, said that Star Trek pulled off some shots that he wished he could pull off in Star Wars, and plans to attempt in a sequel he's putting into production this year.
Siskel: I thought Superman deserved a nomination. What's more inspiring than seeing Superman leap tall buildings in a single bound?
Ebert: Superman definitely got snubbed in this category. I thought they were a worthy candidate, and some of their work gave Star Trek a run for its money.
Ebert: Now to one of the quietest categories, art direction. They hardly ever make any noise. In fact, one of the easiest ways to explain what the art director does, is to say that he's responsible for the parts of the movie that don't move. The sets, the props, the furniture, the streets, the houses, the seats. It's his job to place the characters securely in their surroundings, whether they live as they do this year, in South Boston or California, or whether they live on the starship Enterprise. Now we're going to look at all the scenes from all the nominees, and when you look at them, don't pay so much attention to the acting, as to the things that surround the actors. Look at the meticulous attention that's gone into creating the world the characters live in. (Clips play).
Siskel: The starship Enterprise is most likely going to win, although The Wiz is a definite contender.
Ebert: It is one of the most iconic sets in entertainment history. I also like how they designed the interiors of the enemy vessels. The Wiz was unfortunate to be made in the same year as a movie with the Enterprise.
Siskel: They were very similar to futuristic submarines, in how cramped they were. I bet the actors playing the aliens were very uncomfortable, both wearing that makeup and working on those sets.
Ebert: Harold Michelson built on the work of the legendary Matt Jefferies, who designed the worlds of the Star Trek television series. Jefferies designed the Enterprise for the big screen as well as the small screen, so I think Jefferies deserved some credit for this nomination and likely win, as well.
Siskel: You never know. The Wiz would be popular with traditionalists at the Academy, but the science fiction craze seems to be taking over, so Star Trek is the clear favorite.
Siskel: We're back with the award for Best Picture, the most important award at any Academy Awards ceremony, the most important prize of all. A win here can mean millions of dollars, because it will get a film additional weeks of playing time in movie theaters all over the world. The nominees are as follows: The Deer Hunter, Heaven Can Wait, Coming Home, Midnight Express, and Star Trek: The Motion Picture (clips play). I didn't think Midnight Express was one of the year's best pictures.
Ebert: It's kind of a one-note movie. I thought that a lot of other films, including Days of Heaven, should have been nominated over it. The next movie, I thought, was one of the year's best. It's Star Trek: The Motion Picture. It was a dramatic future war film with a love story, a marriage destroyed by the horrors of war, and compelling storytelling, placing a twist on the television series. It followed the epic Star Wars in the science fiction genre, and did not disappoint. (clip plays of Decker dying in Ilia's arms). This was the most emotional moment of the movie. The newlywed couple, Decker and Ilia, are embracing as Decker dies. This story of a man dying in war and a woman mourning is unique in the fact that it still happens in our future.
Siskel: Although it was a tear-jerking scene, I thought Star Trek was a popcorn movie, and other movies could have been nominated over it, like Heaven Can Wait.
Ebert: I thought Star Trek was one of the five best movies of the year, but like Star Wars, it will likely fall short. That being said, Robert Wise is beloved by almost everyone in Hollywood, and his directing was masterful, so it is possible that the Best Director and Best Picture awards split, with Wise winning and Star Trek not winning as a picture.
Siskel: Wise is a master of the craft, that's for sure. His curriculum vitae is beyond reproach, with two Academy Awards already on his record. Although he said that he did not know a lot about Star Trek when taking the director's job, he adapted extremely well to the actors, who knew all there was to know, and crafted an excellent movie. I just don't think it's Best Picture though.
Ebert: Neither do I, but the nomination was well deserved. Gene and I agree that the Best Picture comes down to two films: The Deer Hunter and Coming Home. There's little to separate the two. I prefer The Deer Hunter. It is the best American epic since the Godfather movies.
Siskel: It's certainly got the momentum right now. It's playing to capacity business, and if that means anything, this picture should do it. It is a very powerful film. However, I think the film that's going to win is Coming Home, also a picture about the Vietnam War. Coming Home's themes are about love and rehabilitation, and Jon Voight's performance highlights the film. Jane Fonda provides an awkward welcome home to her soldier husband, Bruce Dern. Jon Voight played a strong, handicapped person. A great film.
Ebert: It is a nicer film than The Deer Hunter but I still think The Deer Hunter is going to win.
NOTE: There's actually a video on Youtube of Siskel and Ebert reviewing the Academy Award nominations of 1979, so some of this update is word-for-word what they said in parts.