The DGA vs. the Academy: 1970s

Martin Balsam, Albert Finney in Murder on the Orient Express (top); Peter Falk, Gena Rowlands in A Woman Under the Influence (bottom)

The DGA vs. the Academy: 1960s
1970
DGA: David Lean for Ryan’s Daughter and Bob Rafelson for Five Easy Pieces
AMPAS: Federico Fellini for Satyricon and Ken Russell for Women in Love
 
1971
DGA: Robert Mulligan for Summer of ‘42
AMPAS: Norman Jewison for Fiddler on the Roof
 
1972
DGA: George Roy Hill for Slaughterhouse-Five and Martin Ritt for Sounder
AMPAS: Joseph L. Mankiewicz for Sleuth and Jan Troell for The Emigrants
 
1973
DGA: Sidney Lumet for Serpico
AMPAS: Ingmar Bergman for Cries and Whispers
 
1974
DGA: Sidney Lumet for Murder on the Orient Express and Francis Ford Coppola for The Conversation
AMPAS: John Cassavetes for A [...]

by Andre Soares | December 30, 2006   
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A WOMAN UNDER THE INFLUENCE d: John Cassavetes

A Woman Under the Influence (1974)
Direction and screenplay: John Cassavetes
Cast: Gena Rowlands, Peter Falk, Fred Draper, Lady Rowlands, Katherine Cassavetes, Eddie Shaw
 

Peter Falk, Gena Rowlands in A Woman Under the Influence

 
IT’S A MAD, MAD, MAD, MAD WIFE
Steven Spielberg is a respected film director. Many will even call him an auteur. When you watch a Spielberg film, you know it’s a Spielberg film — or at least one made by his myriad imitators. John Cassavetes is a respected film director. No one will deny the fact that Cassavetes is a film auteur. When you watch a Cassavetes film, you know it’s a Cassavetes film — or at least a Henry Jaglom imitation of a Cassavetes film.
Now, apart from self-important works [...]

by Andre Soares | October 15, 2004   
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FACES d: John Cassavetes

Faces (1968)
Direction and screenplay: John Cassavetes
Cast: John Marley, Gena Rowlands, Lynn Carlin, Fred Draper, Seymour Cassel, Val Avery

 

 
John Cassavetes reportedly threw the money he made with the 1968 horror hit Rosemary’s Baby into his finishing touches on Faces, a personal project he had begun filming in 1966. Cassavetes spent months (some sources say a couple of years) editing the film into a "manageable" six hours, and eventually into its final 130 minutes.
Silent-film maverick Erich von Stroheim would have been proud of him — at least in regard to the film’s (initial) length and to Cassavetes’ committed auteurship. Now, would the irascible Stroheim have approved of the frequently inaudible dialogue, sloppy editing, poor lighting, careless camera placement, and faux-naturalistic acting? Probably [...]

by Andre Soares | September 29, 2004   
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