Leading up to the Oscars, I will be revisiting some of the most heavily-debated and controversial Oscar choices. Will the victors keep their crown or will a new winner emerge? Today, we look back on 1976's legendary Best Picture race.

‍

We cannot know a movie’s legacy until sufficient time has passed. It takes distance to appreciate greatness or properly contextualize ineptitude. Thus, even after 50 years, films can inspire fearsome debates about which was better, which meant more, which deserved what, etc.

‍

At the 49th Academy Awards ceremony, there was a rare occurrence: four such movies were competing for Best Picture… and so was Bound for Glory. Each was rabidly popular with critics and successful at the box office, and each felt emblematic of the era, whether that meant being rough, gritty social commentary, prophetic in relaying the inevitability of news media, truthful in bringing to the screen a hot-button constitutional crisis, or punching.

‍

Now, 47 years since that night, when Rocky made a bonafide film legend of Sylvester Stallone and captured Hollywood’s highest honor, debate continues over which movie deserved Best Picture. After reviewing the tape, this blog throws its hat into the ring, where, hopefully, Apollo Creed will not be waiting.

‍

Let's review the nominees:

‍

All the President’s Men

‍

After five men get caught breaking into the Democratic National Committee’s headquarters at the Watergate Hotel in Washington, D.C., Washington Post Reporters Bob Woodward and Carl Bernstein slowly unfurl a widespread governmental conspiracy that threatens to unleash a full-blown constitutional crisis.

‍

In many ways, it is the precursor to every journalism movie since: a fact-based drama that develops tension and intrigue by refusing to infect the journalistic process with Hollywood theatrics. Although the cloak and dagger Deep Throat scenes feel plucked from a different movie, All the President’s Men remains a compelling, well-acted film whose influence is justifiably ever present in the genre.

‍

Bound for Glory

‍

A film that made significantly more sense in 1976, since Woody Guthrie is a cultural footnote compared to his legacy during the Bicentennial, Bound for Glory feels pointless in retrospect. It’s not that portraying a figure relevant to the times is a fool’s errand; if that were the case, we wouldn't have movies. It’s a simple fact that if one is going to make a movie like this, it has to have something going for it to not only make a legitimate impact in its day but hold up decades down the line. Its revolutionary cinematography (the first film to use Steadicam) created lively and vivid imagery, but Bound for Glory, while inoffensive and occasionally delightful, is an overlong, mostly charmless movie.

‍

Network

‍

It’s fascinating how we treat films like Sidney Lumet’s magnum opus. When told of the future, we scoff at the arrogance and chastise the film for its pretentiousness and pseudo-intellectualism.

‍

Yet, it remains impressive that virtually all of Network’s warnings came true and that, even on rewatch, it doesn’t overreach. Paddy Chayefsky loved the sound of his own metaphorical voice, and the extravagance of his screenplay occasionally feels self-indulgent, but Network remains a screenwriting masterclass and one of the most well-acted, absorbing movie experiences of the ‘70s.

‍

Rocky

‍

Rocky feels like an overqualified B-movie; the camera work is amateurish, the sound quality is abysmal, Sylvester Stallone can’t act his way out of a wet paper bag, and his “romance” with Talia Shire’s Adrian could only get legitimized by “nice guys” who think “manliness” is the only way to a woman’s heart.

‍

Ultimately, every turn leads to disappointment. The story is meant to inspire but strains credulity too much to be emotionally accessible; there’s hardly any boxing, and many scenes drag on too long, leaving Rocky a movie with everything going for it on paper but nothing going for it on screen.

‍

Taxi Driver

‍

Martin Scorsese has spent decades pedaling common sense and crafting dramas that cater to cinephiles’ need for baseless superiority. Look no further than Taxi Driver, whose famous ending has been theorized to death in film circles, only to have every interpretation debunked with the revelation that the most obvious conclusion was intended.

‍

Movies should explore intricate topics, design new means of presenting their findings, and hold a mirror to whatever society gave birth to it. However, if one wishes to, say, lampoon Western heroism or criticize America’s involvement in foreign conflicts by displaying how absolutely God complexes can corrupt and lead to the savior becoming the reckoning, one must do more than say it and force your audience to the heavy lifting. A movie isn’t great because it tried something; it’s great because it succeeded.

‍

And the Oscar goes too…..

‍

‍

In a two-horse race with All the President’s Men, Network wins. It's genius in virtually every way: commentary that feels as audacious for its time as accurate in retrospect. Faye Dunaway, William Holden, and Peter Finch deliver career-defining performances as fully-developed characters occupying an ethically decrepit world.

‍

Most of all, Network says all it wants without compromising its entertainment value, which rewatches of many ‘70s movies would tell you is no mean feat. It's occasionally too in love with itself and thus becomes tedious (and 20 minutes too long), but Network remains the gold standard for social commentary movies and a thrill to watch.