Academy Award Nominations for Best Adapted Screenplay: '80s edition

amadeus over elephant man i guess

The Verdict is my favourite film of these, but I don't think because of the script. Disappointed Raging Bull isn't on either of these lists (not sure which category it would have gone into). "Your mother sucks fucking big fucking elephant dicks--you got that?"--now that's writing.

yeah raging bull was adapted from lamotta's autobio, i'm gonna just pretend ppl knew there was heavy improvisation in that movie, not that that's has ever been a factor elsewhere. some real dreary 80s oscar action up there.

Enemies, A Love Story (still underrated), followed by The Dead, Dangerous Liasons and The Unbearable Lightness of Being.

woah Fatal Attraction was adapted? that's news.

My left foot over stand by me

uma thurman is very good in dangerous liasons. very very good.

i enjoyed her work in that picture

A pointed performance.

'the right stuff' really got screwed over, no noms for screenplay or best director. great movie.

yeah i was shocked right stuff wasn't up there either, easily the best obv oscar bait movie of the 80s. i was thinking it might've been due to its flopping at the box office but from what i can tell it didn't go into wide release until after the nominations.

John Glenn's nomination doomed by the time of Oscar balloting too.

for Dem prez candidate.

LOTTA mediocre adaps here. Amadeus shoulda stayed on the stage. And Ragtime on the page.

The sizeable reduction in foreign nominations from the '70s is instructive. Say, Berlin Alexanderplatz?

i could see berlin alexanderplatz falling prey to some arcane rule (did it show theatrically before pbs showed it?)

no, i don't believe so. but 5 years earlier, it would have.

(wait, I think it did, but in NY and a few other cities, probably in museums and non-profit venues mostly)

Fassbinder never got an AA nomination.

eh they ignored godard also. w/ the oscars even when i cared it was more a case of being amazed they got anything right than surprised when they got huge things (entire careers) wrong. the artist won best picture last year. argo's probably gonna win it this year. really all i can do is not actually watch the things and take small pleasures like amelie or kate hudson not winning despite being heavy favorites.

Automatic thread bump. This poll is closing tomorrow.

So much better than the other 80s list, so much worse than either 70s

I thought Pennies from Heaven was a TV series? Berlin Alexanderplatz definitely is, so I don't see how it could've been nominated.

Pennies from Heaven was a US movie version of Potter's original TV drama.

transferring the story to the States was a really bad idea

no, that wasn't the problem (esp since all the damn music was American)

also, voted Prizzi's Honor.

Automatic thread bump. This poll's results are now in.

Did full metal jacket even have a screenplay also fuck amadeus obv

I read The Short Timers and FMJ is a solid adap but not great really

The Unbearable Lightness of Being doesnt really work

have always assumed i don't need to watch it

it's a great film.

there are good things in it certainly.

I use the term "great" with caution but I'm sure The Unbearable... is, and much better than the vaporous novel.

carriere is partially responsible for #1 and #3 on my favourite films of all time so I'm kinda willing to give him the BOD