1987 wasn’t a great year for movies, what with these 5 nominees in the running for Best Picture – THE LAST EMPEROR”, “Broadcast News”, “Fatal Attraction”, “Hope and Glory”, “Moonstruck”. Not a bad bunch of films but none of which really stood the test of time, although I would still call Broadcast News a minor classic and far and away the best picture out of the bunch. However what the Academy failed to do then, and are still guilty of doing now, was not nominate a fantasy movie that ultimately became a classic (“Edward Scissorrhands”? “The Holy Grail”? “King Kong” “Pan’s Labyrinth”? . Rob Reiner’s The Princess Bride starts off what will be a weekly column for me as I will go through a film a week from 1987-2011 that never got nominated for Best Picture but should have had a shot at the big prize. There are plenty of contenders for every year and I encourage you to give your own choice in the comments section below.
One can understand why Rob Reiner’s The Princess Bride was such an enigma when it first came out in the fall of 1987. Here was a film that was supposed to be primarily aimed at a younger audience but ended up pleasing all ages with its deadpan, Monty Python-esque humor and a bold, satirical narrative that never took itself too seriously. That is not to say that we don’t fully invest ourselves in its fairy-tale like storytelling and genuinely good natured morals. In fact one is touched by the love story deftly told by a grandfather to his ill grandson about a beautiful princess called buttercup who gets kidnapped and needs to be rescued by her brave, young fiancée Prince Humperdinck.
What works in Reiner’s tale is that every character is a delight to watch, there isn’t a dull one in the bunch. From Wallace Shawn’s Vizzini –“Inconceivable !”- to Andre The Giant’s gentle Fezzik all the way to Billy Crystal’s hilarious cameo as Miracle Max, an old, Jewish wizard that disapproves of his wife (played by Carol Kane) and refuses to help Humperdinck in his voyage to save Buttercup. But most of all, the true heart of the story is Mandy Patinkin’s Inigo Montoya a heroic swordsman with a secret –“Hello My name is Inigo Montoya. You killed my father. Prepare to die.” It’s an undeniably powerful line that brings real, humane feeling to Reiner’s screenplay and, with the depth Reiner brings to Montoya’s story, packs a wallop on the viewer’s emotions.
It’s not easy making a children’s tale these days and allowing adults to be as enchanted by it as the kids. Pixar has made it a habit year by year with its original tales and it is no surprise that their latest, “Brave”, had shades of Reiner’s film in some of its colorful, imaginative frames ditto “Shrek’s” fairy tale, satirical edge and –of course- the “Pirates Of The Caribbean” movies which didn’t have half the imagination of Reiner’s classic yet made 10 times the money by rehashing some of its ideas. “The Princess Bride” ran on an overdone, age old concept but brought freshness to its edges. It is a cliché to say that a movie, from start to finish, was a magical, transcendent experience but that is truly what this movie is. The laughs come with a sting and the world that we enter is so rich and mesmerizing that it is hard to have explanation of its surreal, dreamy impact. The fact that this wasn’t nominated for Best Picture only makes it a better movie, it was a mistake not giving it its due in 1987 but it has stood the test of time and beyond. Inconceivable !
Felt so hopeless looking for answers to my qutuniots…sneil now.
Jordan, with all due respect, get a clue, pal. ’87 was a great year for films, and those five nominees, DO stand the test of time. It’s was a solid year in genre films, as well. Put down the fine wine…and watch more movies!!
Am I missing something or has Sasha decision to do a weekly column on this matter fallen through?
It started with The Princess Bride and then… nothing?
It’s remarkable in favor of me to have a site, which is useful in support of my knowledge. thanks admin
@Antoinette:
Hope and Glory was John Boorman’s semi-autobiographical film about his family during WWII. I liked it a lot when I first saw it, which was several years ago, but not enough to make my top 10.
Gee, I think 1987 was awesome. Last Emperor is my #1, but Princess Bride is firmly in my top 5.
Anyone remember this little hysterical gem (however awful it was) …
Outrageous Fortune – Better Midler, Shelley Long, Peter Coyote.
That movie alwalys cracked. me. up.
I’d go with witches of eastwick and fatal attraction that year…. Yummy
Au revoir, les enfants beats all other 1987 films. By a clear mile.
I also have a soft spot for Empire of the Sun which is not a perfect film (I know this).
“Rob Reiner’s The Princess Bride starts off what will be a weekly column for me as I will go through a film a week from 1987-2011 that never got nominated for Best Picture but should have had a shot at the big prize. There are plenty of contenders for every year and I encourage you to give your own choice in the comments section below.”
1987 – The Princess Bride
1988 – Bull Durham
1989 – Glory
1990 – Miller’s Crossing
1991 – Beauty and the Beast
1992 – Basic Instinct
1993 – Jurassic Park
1994 – Leon: The Professional or The Lion King
1995 – This year was loaded; Before Sunrise, Se7en, Toy Story, The Usual Suspects, or Heat would have all been deserving
1996 – A Time To Kill or Romeo + Juliet
1997 – The Game, Air Force One, or Chasing Amy
1998 – American History X or The Truman Show
1999 – Eyes Wide Shut or The Matrix
2000 – Memento
2001 – Donnie Darko or Black Hawk Down
2002 – Gangs of New York, Road to Perdition, or The Bourne Identity
2003 – Love Actually, The Curse of the Black Pearl, or Secondhand Lions
2004 – The Machinist, Hotel Rwanda, Closer, Before Sunset, or The Notebook
2005 – V for Vendetta, Cinderella Man, Batman Begins
2006 – another great year; Children Of Men, The Prestige, Blood Diamond, Casino Royale, or Inside Man
2007 – Zodiac, Gone Baby Gone, Hot Fuzz, or The Bourne Ultimatum
2008 – Gran Torino, WALL-E, Defiance, Revolutionary Road, or In Bruge
2009 – (500) Days of Summer, Brothers, Star Trek, or Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince
2010 – The Town, Shutter Island, or Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 1
2011 – The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 2, Rise of the Planet of the Apes, Super 8, or Mission Impossible: Ghost Protocol
2012- The Dark Knight Rises, The Hunger Games, or The Avengers
Aaaah, thank you for putting Pan’s Labyrinth in the piece. One of the Top 5 best films ever made.
Looking forward to:
2009 (will it be The Wrestler, The Dark Knight, WALL-E???)
2008 (will it be Into the Wild, American Gangster, The Diving Bell and the Butterfly, Ratatouille, The Bourne Ultimatum?)
2007 (will it be Little Children, Volver, Dreamgirls, United 93, Pan’s Labyrinth, Children of Men, the vastly underrated Apocalypto?)
I think we’re gonna see:
2009 The Dark Knight
2008 The Diving Bell and the Butterfly
2007 Pan’s Labyrinth
I would personally chose Wall-E, Ratatouille (not a Pixar fanatic, but they both deserved a Top 5 slot) and Pan’s Labyrinth. 🙂
The Princess bride is fantastic. I’m also in the boat with Full Metal Jacket and Au Revoir Les Enfants. Predator is also a movie that has really stood the test of time, but it’s not a great film. I love it though. Robocop too. But I feel like the idea of Robocop is probably better than the movie. I remember my dad saying once that he wished Robocop was based on a book, because he figured it would have been an incredible dystopian sci-fi novel.
p.s. Don’t forget Spaceballs.
With the risk of sounding like a douchebag, I just want to point out that Prince Humperdink is the villain that orchestrates Buttercup’s kidnapping; Westley is the hero. Great post though! Looking forward to the rest of these.
THE LAST EMPEROR is an honest journey of a human which starts as being an emperor and ends with being a common gardener working in a local nursery. The movie was amazing and the ending just haunts me when PU YI buys the a ticket to visit his palace early in the morning and takes a tour of empty forbidden city recalling his childhood and how he was brought up till eventually he finds his cricket.
It tells how life can get so unkind and forces a man from riches to rags.
It totally deserved 9 Oscars, one of the most stunning and memorable films unless one has something against epic films winning Oscars, well this one truly did deserve with spectacular visuals, music and acting.
Consider…
1988: The Last Temptation of Christ/ Die Hard/ A Fish Called Wanda
1989: Do the Right Thing
1992: Malcolm X/ The Player
1993: Short Cuts/ The Age of Innocence
1995: Heat/ Casino/ Leaving Las Vegas/ Dead Man Walking
1997: Boogie Nights
1998: The Big Lebowski
1999: Magnolia/ Bringing out the Dead/ Being John Malkovich
2000: Almost Famous/ Wonder Boys/ You Can Count On Me
2001: The Royal Tenenbaums/ Memento
2002: Minority Report/ Adaptation/ About Schmidt/ 25th Hour
2003: 21 Grams/ American Splendor
2004: Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind/ Collateral/ The Assassination of Richard Nixon
2005: Syriana/ Match Point
2006: Children of Men/ The Good Shepherd
2007: Zodiac/ I’m Not There/ Into the Wild/ The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford
2008: The Wrestler/ Revolutionary Road/ The Dark Knight
2010: Blue Valentine/ Shutter Island
2011: Margaret/ The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo
I love Moonstruck. I would have easily voted for it to win that year, based on the nominees. The Last Emperor is an impressive achievement as well but I would likely pop Moonstruck in my Blu-ray player before Bertolucci’s film.
The Princess Bride is a great movie, though. Easily one of my favorite fantasy stories and it holds up tremendously well.
The Princess Bride is a fine, cute movie, but that’s mostly all it is. Cleverly written? Yes. Funny? Yes. Worthy of a nomination? Definitely. Worthy of the win? I don’t think so.
I love The Princess Bride, it was one of the very first live action films I ever saw, and it was one of the main films my family would watch together during my childhood. As a result nostalgia has created further depth for the film for me.
It should be noted though that the screenplay was by William Goldman, based on his own novel, not Reiner
I’m not sure what HOPE AND GLORY is and I love THE PRINCESS BRIDE but I wouldn’t remove the other four to put it in. I had seen THE PRINCESS BRIDE in the theater and it wasn’t that well received at the time. It was mostly thought of as a kids’ movie. It grew in reputation over the years as people caught it on cable or video.
I’ve only seen bits and pieces of “Fatal Attraction” throughout the years, and I haven’t seen any of “Hope and Glory”, but I do think that “Broadcast News”, “The Last Emperor”, and “Moonstruck” are truly great films that I love for completely different reasons. I grew up in a very italian family whose roots are in Brooklyn, and “Moonstruck” is imminently quoted by my family to this day (“if you give that dog another piece of my food, I’ll kick ya till you’re dead!”). I came along “The Last Emperor” right after my first year studying at art school, and I’ve never seen a film with such refined and elegant artistry. And I watched “Broadcast News” for the first time one Saturday night a couple of years ago in a mini-marathon of films with Best Actress nominees; I would see “The Social Network” a few days later, but no other film I had seen up to that point had captured a time and a place with such a sense of epochal urgency. Holly Hunter’s Jane Craig is also one of my all-time favorite film performances, projecting a perfect mix of precociousness and emotional susceptibility; you’re repulsed by her cringeworthy relationship problems, but you can’t help admiring how hard she’s clinging to an honest workplace ethic that’s on the verge of extinction. I even placed “Broadcast News” into my top ten when I commented on this site’s Sight & Sound article the other day.
So yeah, I think 1987’s slate of best picture nominees was pretty excellent, even though I haven’t seen two of the five nominees.
^ Yeah – loved waching Dunaway slumming it. It was one of the most honest performances in her career.
Good call on Barfly, steve50.
“Now I can buy drinks for all my frieeeeeeends.”
1987 is such a wonderful year for movies, but you wouldn’t know it to look at the Oscar line-up. FATAL ATTRACTION remains an all-time great thriller about one of the most fundamental of human frailties, the male desire to have a little fun when the missus is away; it’s an atypical pick for the Academy, if only they could more often reward the deserving zeitgeist movie. BROADCAST NEWS and MOONSTRUCK are still popular amongst their fanbases, which is not me. Which gets to the heart of what is wrong with the Oscars… their tastes are not always in line with the movies of the moment. And the ’80s was very much about a different type of movie than what Oscar recognizes.
Picture: THE UNTOUCHABLES
Empire of the Sun
Fatal Attraction
RoboCop
Wall Street
Actor: MICHAEL DOUGLAS (WALL STREET)
Mel Gibson (Lethal Weapon)
Terry O’Quinn (The Stepfather)
Martin Short (Innerspace)
Robin Williams (Good Morning, Vietnam)
Actress: GLENN CLOSE (FATAL ATTRACTION)
Ellen Barkin (The Big Easy)
Kim Basinger (Blind Date, Nadine)
Cher (Moonstruck, Suspect)
Holly Hunter (Broadcast News, Raising Arizona)
SUPPORTING ACTRESS: ANNE RAMSEY (THROW MOMMA FROM THE TRAIN)
Kathy Baker (Street Smart)
Olympia Dukakis (Moonstruck)
Daryl Hannah (Roxanne)
Margaret Whitton (The Secret of My Success)
SUPPORTING ACTOR: SEAN CONNERY (THE UNTOUCHABLES)
Robert Downey (Less than Zero)
Morgan Freeman (Street Smart)
Mandy Patinkin (The Princess Bride)
Denzel Washington (Cry Freedom)
1987 was a weak year – not a bad year, but not jammed with great flms.
IMO, Law of Desire, Maurice, Barfly and The Dead were among the most interesting, The Last Emperor was a worthy oscar winner and Moonstruck was the most fun. I never really got on the Broadcast News bandwagon and thought Full Metal Jacket, although effective, was Kubrick’s weakest.
I’m not a big fan of these nominees. FATAL ATTRACTION
Completely agree with Mattoc. Every year is a great year for movies, just not every year is great with the Oscars. But let’s remember, there is a HUGE difference! People should pay attention to the fringes of American filmmaking and international releases in general. There are dozens of gems every single year, you just have to discover them.
Empire of the Sun deserves a little bit more love as well. Maybe not Best Picture material, but worthy of a nomination. Bale should have won the oscar.
For what it’s worth, Broadcast News and especially The Last Emperor are outstanding, while the other 3 noms are good as well. Full Metal Jacket is just as good, if not better, but not your typical oscar fare.
MAC: The sniper scene in the films last chapter is classic stuff (and how can you forget the other classic exchange “How can you kill women and children?”…”Easy, you just don’t lead ’em so much.”
I agree with BROADCAST NEWS as a minor classic, and I’d throw MOONSTRUCK in that category as well. Although not my favorite, I do think THE LAST EMPEROR is a worthy choice.
THE PRINCESS BRIDE is terrific…and I also thought PLANES, TRAINS, & AUTOMOBILES was brilliant…but if you’re picking one that should’ve been nominated for the Best Film of 1987 it would have to be FULL METAL JACKET!
I’m not so sure Full Metal Jacket deserved a nomintation for Best Picture in 1987, so I think the Academy got that one right.
As has been noted many times, the second half of the film pales in comparison to the first half by so much. I wouldn’t mind seeing the movie again and maybe I should, but the only thing I can remember from the second half is the “Me love you long time” exchange between the hooker and the GI’s.
EVERY YEAR is a good year for movies.
Oops, it’s not Sasha’s post.
No way Sasha! 1987 looks pretty strong to me. That’s a pretty good Oscar lineup!! From the comments, it looks like most would agree.
Also, here are my picks for which movie deserved a nomination each year from 1987-2011 (I picked 2 for each year except 2001 where I would’ve picked 5 completely different nominees):
1987 – The Princess Bride/Full Metal Jacket
1988 – Who Framed Roger Rabbit/Women On The Verge Of A Nervous Breakdown
1989 – Do The Right Thing/Crimes And Misdemeanors
1990 – Miller’s Crossing/Edward Scissorhands
1991 – Barton Fink/Thelma & Louise
1992 – The Player/Malcolm X
1993 – Groundhog Day/Short Cuts
1994 – Hoop Dreams/The Lion King
1995 – Toy Story/The Usual Suspects
1996 – Trainspotting/Breaking The Waves
1997 – Boogie Nights/The Sweet Hereafter
1998 – The Truman Show/Rushmore
1999 – Fight Club/Being John Malkovich
2000 – Requiem For A Dream/In The Mood For Love
2001 – Memento/Waking Life/Mullholland Dr./Y Tu Mama Tambien/Amelie
2002 – Adaptation/Talk To Her
2003 – City Of God/American Splendor
2004 – Eternal Sunshine Of The Spotless Mind/Before Sunset
2005 – Match Point/Grizzly Man
2006 – Children Of Men/Pan’s Labyrinth
2007 – Once/The Diving Bell And The Butterfly
2008 – The Dark Knight/WALL-E
2009 – A Prophet/Fantastic Mr. Fox
2010 – Scott Pilgrim Vs. The World/Animal Kingdom
2011 – Drive/A Separation
Evil Dead 2, Less than Zero, The Year My Voice Broke, Red Sorghum, Some Kind of Wonderful, Near Dark, Orphans, Overboard, Law of Desire, Matewan, Babette’s Feast, Barfly, Angel Heart, Leonard Part 6 and of course Mannequin.
The notion that 1987 was Not a good year for film is wrong. Looking back on that year I recall watching The Last Emperor ,with its beautiful opening scenes and thinking wow what great images, what a great story.I would love to see a 2012 movie that is that good and timeless as well. Moonstruck is a favorite film, great dialogue concerning adult love,and family. All involved were memorable and I watch this movie at least once a year. Good writing and timeless. You know judging films as not holding up well over time is a subjective activity, a sort of raining on other movie fans parades for what end exactly?
I agree 100% that The Princess Bride is the best movie of 1987. I’d go a step further than this article and argue that we could make a list of 5 alternate nominees that would blow the nominated 5 out of the water. Any combination of these 10 movies would do. The first 5 would be my picks and the others are alternates for my alternates:
The Princess Bride
Full Metal Jacket
Wings Of Desire
Au Revoir, Les Enfants
Withnail & I
Empire Of The Sun
Wall Street
Radio Days
Good Morning, Vietnam
Raising Arizona
Oh, and this is a great idea for a sequence. Looking forward to the rest, Jordan
Planes Trains and Automobiles is in that exact same realm as Groundhog Day; both were high-concept comedies involving talented people that made a mint on their release with very good reviews. But they’ve aged INCREDIBLY well, especially for comedies whose first goal is to make the audience laugh. I can see The Hangover always being funny, but a classic? Not so much.
Yeah, 1987 was a good year for entertaining studio flicks. There aren’t any balls-out Pulp Fiction types on there, but Planes, Lethal Weapon, Wall Street, Broadcast News, and Radio Days are all really strong. I guess the masterpiece could have been Full Metal Jacket if it didn’t crap out a little after the Pyle sequence, but I’ll take an hour of genius for sure.
I haven’t seen The Last Emperor in a long time; I remember finding it visually stunning, but somewhat confused in how it regarded its title character. As far as the Best Picture nods that hold up, I think Moonstruck holds up remarkably well; it’s a lot tougher and smarter than most romantic comedies these days, not to mention funnier. I do think Broadcast News is the best of those nominees, though, and even if the topic at hand – how the news media is becoming style over substance – is unfortunately more relevant by the day, I think it’s also worth remembering for three great lead performances, and for the fact it’s a film with a two men in love with the same woman, and she ends up choosing neither of them. I can’t imagine that ending surviving today.
And of course, The Princess Bride is well worth remembering.
My top 10 of 1987:
No Way Out
Broadcast News
The Dead
The Princess Bride
Roxanne
Radio Days
Moonstruck
House of Games
Robocop
River’s Edge
Interesting comments so far, I never really said 1987 was a weak year, I just don’t find that there were that many -if not any- classics. As for “The Last Emperor” I found it to be an exercise of style over substance, and I am a big bertolucci fan (“Last Tango”, “The Conformist” and even “The Dreamers” are all just phenomenal movies.
For all curiosity seekers this would be my top ten of 1987
(1) Broadcast News
(2) The Princess Bride
(3) Raising Arizona
(4) The Untouchables
(5) Full Metal Jacket
(6) Predator
(7) Fatal Attraction
(8) River’s Edge
(9) Radio Days
(10) Hope And Glory
The best film of 1987 is Maurice Pialat’s Under the Sun of Satan. For US releases in 1987, though, either The Dead or Full Metal Jacket.
Robocop
Planes, Trains & Automobiles
The Untouchables
Raising Arizona
Predator
Roxanne
Full Metal Jacket
Lethal Weapon
The Witches of Eastwick
Wall Street
I’d say 1987 was pretty damn good, actually.
Since the rule is “a film…that never got nominated for Best Picture but should have had a shot at the big prize”, I’d have to go with Full Metal Jacket in ’87.
The Last Emperor is the best film that year, no doubt about it! Followed by Moonstruck.
Thankfully they got it right by not nominating King Kong. I was really disappointed by the ending of this film. It started really well but the most important part – in New York – I thought didn’t work well. A good film but far away from BP nomination…. 2005 is a year I particularly don’t like in Cinema but Good Night and Good Luck, Brokeback Mountain, A History of Violence, Match Point and The Constant Gardner. And even Capote (which I find a little bit over appreciated).
My favorite film of 1987.
Bernardo Bertolucci still wins Best Director for “THE LAST EMPEROR”, hands-down.
Actually, check out the available titles on this 1987 list:
http://www.films101.com/y1987r.htm
Gems abound.
The Last Emperor is a wonderful movie, one of the most beautiful films of the ’80s. I also love Hope and Glory, and Moonstruck will always be my personal favorite of these nominees. Fatal Attraction is campy, scary fun. Only Broadcast News leaves me cold, and has lowered in my estimation over repeat viewings.
The Princess Bride is a fun film, but I’d pick something like Au Revoir, les Enfants or even Empire of the Sun before I’d nominate the Reiner pic.
The Criterion edition of The Last Emperor begs to differ with your suggestion that Broadcast News is “far and away” the best of those 1987 nominees.
While it may not scale the heights of Bertolucci’s earlier classics like The Confirmist or Last Tango In Paris, it’s very much a film by the same man, and the opportunity to be the first Western film shot in the Forbidden City was certainly not wasted by the director and cinematographer Vittorio Storaro.
The visuals/color scheme alone put this above anything else I’ve seen from 1987.