Once upon a time, before becoming involved in bloated mainstream Hollywood productions, Jonathan Demme directed a little gem called Melvin and Howard (as in Hughes, the oil millionaire-turned-film producer-turned-total nut that has been incarnated by Leonardo DiCaprio in Martin Scorsese’s The Aviator).
Bo Goldman’s witty, funny, and poignant screenplay dealt with the search for the ever-elusive “American dream”: One dark night in the middle of nowhere, big-time loser Melvin Dummar (Paul Le Mat, one of the leads in American Graffiti)gives a ride to wacko, elderly multibillionaire Howard Hughes (a haggard-looking Jason Robards).
As a little thank-you gesture, Hughes leaves a chunk of his fortune to Melvin, who claims he has received the rich (and by now dead) man’s will in the mail. The problem is that no one believes that Melvin actually gave Howard Hughes a ride, while everyone believes that the will in Melvin’s possession is a forgery.
Mary Steenburgen won an Academy Award for playing Melvin’s somewhat ditzy wife, while veteran Gloria Grahame (Academy Award winner for The Bad and the Beautiful back in 1952) has a much-too-brief role as Steenburgen’s mother. She doesn’t trust Melvin, either, but then again, who would?
Best Film
Coal Miner’s Daughter – Dir.: Michael Apted
Hollywood (TV miniseries) – Dir.: Kevin Brownlow & David Gill
The Last Metro / Le Dernier métro – Dir.: François Truffaut; Scr.: François Truffaut & Suzanne Schiffman
Melvin and Howard – Dir.: Jonathan Demme; Scr.: Bo Goldman
Ordinary People – Dir.: Robert Redford; Scr.: Alvin Sargent
Somewhere in Time – Dir.: Jeannot Szwarc
Superman II – Dir.: Richard Lester
Tell Me a Riddle – Dir.: Lee Grant; Scr.: Joyce Eliason & Alev Lytle
Who’s Singin’ Over There? / Ko to tamo peva – Dir.: Slobodan Šijan; Scr.: Dušan Kovacevic
Best Actor
Melvyn Douglas – Tell Me a Riddle
John Hurt – The Elephant Man
Timothy Hutton – Ordinary People
Tommy Lee Jones – Coal Miner’s Daughter
Burt Lancaster – Atlantic City / Atlantic City, USA
Paul Le Mat – Melvin and Howard
Jack Lemmon – Tribute
Steve McQueen – The Hunter
Frank Sinatra – The First Deadly Sin
Donald Sutherland – Ordinary People
Best Actress
Bette Davis – White Mama
Shelley Duvall – Popeye
Shelley Duvall – The Shining
Goldie Hawn – Private Benjamin
Lila Kedrova – Tell Me a Riddle
Shirley MacLaine – A Change of Seasons
Gena Rowlands – Gloria
Susan Sarandon – Atlantic City
Sissy Spacek – Coal Miner’s Daughter
Lily Tomlin – Nine to Five
Best Supporting Actor
David Dukes – The First Deadly Sin
Charles Grodin – Seems Like Old Times
Judd Hirsch – Ordinary People
Jorge Julião – Pixote / Pixote: A Lei do Mais Fraco
Joe Pesci – Raging Bull
Terence Stamp – Superman II
Max von Sydow – Flash Gordon
Best Supporting Actress
Eileen Brennan – Private Benjamin
Colleen Dewhurst – Tribute
Angie Dickinson – Dressed to Kill
Sally Kellerman – Loving Couples
Elke Maravilha – Pixote
Marília Pêra – Pixote
Susan Sarandon – Loving Couples
Mary Steenburgen – Melvin and Howard
Best Cinematography
Dressed to Kill – Ralf Bode
The Elephant Man – Freddie Francis
Jane Austen in Manhattan – Ernst Vincze
The Mirror Crack’d – Christopher Challis
Ordinary People – John Bailey
Raging Bull – Michael Chapman
The Shining – John Alcott
Somewhere in Time – Isidore Mankofsky
Superman II – Geoffrey Unsworth & Robert Paynter
The Watcher in the Woods – Alan Hume
Best Original Score
Dressed to Kill – Pino Donaggio
The Empire Strikes Back – John Williams
Hollywood – Carl Davis
The Last Metro – Georges Delerue
Somewhere in Time – John Barry
Who’s Singin’ Over There? – Vojislav Kostic