The PAD Awards: 1960s

Our 1960s films, flanked by candlelight. (The Sound of Music is currently on loan to friends & made its apologies)

At the end of another decade, it's time for our decade-regular PAD (Paul and Doug) awards. So without first ado, our first award...

Least Favourite Film 

Paul says: My Fair Lady

I have, for the first time, done a “Douglas”. I have picked a least favourite film that DIDN’T have the lowest mark of the decade! Please save all gasps for the end of this paragraph. It would have been so easy to lambast Tom Jones’ lack of focus and Carry-On imitations. But I thought it would be deliciously controversial in a decade that has proven to be our most successful statistically to pick My Fair Lady. This is a film that promises a lot. It is one of the most successful stage and movie musicals of all time, and comes with a high regard even compared to its counterparts in the Golden Age of Movie Musicals. But for me, it’s too static, too slow, and too soulless. I’ve never been involved in whether Eliza Doolittle manages to enter high society or rebel against it, and I’ve always been unnerved by the romance between her and the snarky monster that is Dr Henry Higgins. Not one that has stood the test of time for me - but I know I’m in a lowly minority.

Doug says: Tom Jones

This was an appalling mess of a film - more ‘Carry On’ than ‘Academy Award Winning’ . Tom Jones rolls around having wild sexual adventures, and despite the interesting stylistic choices (exposition directly to camera, characters breaking the fourth wall), it had an amateurish tone that felt weird and irritating. Edith Evans valiantly did her best, but even her excellent turn couldn’t save this turkey of a film. (Dis)honourable mention also goes to In The Heat of the Night - a distinctly underwhelming winner. This wasn’t a decade of failures, but there were certainly a couple of flops. Tom Jones has been one of the forgotten winners - and with good reason. 

Favourite Male Performance 

Paul says: Paul Schofield in A Man For All Seasons

There’s no other contender to be honest, although George Chakiris, Peter O’Toole, Ron Moody, Oliver Reed and Dustin Hoffman were memorable contenders in a surprisingly male-heavy decade. The beauty of Schofield is his minimalism. In fact, he doesn’t need to do much. The man is naturally a brutalist statue- imposing, gravel-voiced, slow-moving, unshakeable, with just the right streak of vulnerability. His opening scene with Orson Welles as an insecure Wolesley suggests smugness, comfort but caution. His stillness and vocal authority during his interrogation scenes in which he refuses to conform to his King’s demands project an image of an immoveable boulder. And his final goodbye scene with his family sees him crumble like we all do when we have stayed strong for too long - with suddenness and a total lack of control. The performance is a work of art.

Doug says: Ron Moody in Oliver!

Unusually - for me - I was torn between a few different performances for this. You have Paul Schofield and Robert Shaw in A Man For All Seasons as Thomas More and Henry VIII respectively. You also have Dustin Hoffman in Midnight Cowboy as the rat-like Rizzo, not forgetting Alec Guinness in Lawrence of Arabia. All these were stellar performances, and a sign that male actors were breaking free of the dull upright roles and creating interesting, twisted characters. But for me Ron Moody’s tour de force as the thieving, dark-hearted Fagin wins this one. It’s a performance that reveals layer after layer, and despite being the heart of a cheery musical, Moody gives us darkness and a bleakness underneath the overt friendliness. A fantastic and note-worthy turn. 

Favourite Female Performance 

Paul says: Julie Andrews in The Sound of Music

You didn’t think I’d get through a whole 90 years’ worth of Oscars films and NOT give Julie a whole paragraph, did you?! It’s hard to turn saccharine into spontaneity but that’s just what Julie built her career on (and yes, I call her Julie like a know her. Sue me). She’s so endearing that you can’t help feeling a sharp streak of hatred for those Von Trapp children who get her as a stepmother. The Von Trapp’s moan about their home and country being invaded by an army of racist human rights abusers, but they should count their blessings that Captain Von Trapp didn’t employ Lady Tremaine as their new governess. Julie leaps and bounds through the film with an unparalleled, infectious energy- and after her marriage to the Captain she credibly transforms into a dignified but warm-hearted head of the household. No one else could have done it (not even me…..ok, maybe me).  

Doug says: Joan Shawlee in The Apartment

Whereas this was a great year for the men, it wasn’t quite so fantastic for the women. Although we have some star turns - Julie Andrews in The Sound of Music, Rita Moreno in West Side Story, the films felt more focused on the men, and the issues of the day - racism in In The Heat of the Night, poverty (and more) in Midnight Cowboy, and sex in general in Tom Jones. My runner up has to be the wonderful Wendy Hiller for her role as Thomas More’s wife Alice in A Man for All Seasons, but my winner, with about five minutes of screen-time, is Joan Shawlee in The Apartment. It's such a small role from an unknown actor that I couldn't even find a photo for this award! She plays the tiny role of a character’s mistress, but bounds through it with a mixture of joie-de-vivre and comic timing, to the extent that I keep recalling her performance over three months later. Best remembered for her line ‘either you get a bigger car or a smaller girl’, she reinforces the adage that there are no small parts, only small actors. Brava. 

Favourite Film 

Doug says: The Sound of Music

There’s only one. Oh you can throw all the artsy new-wave films (Midnight Cowboy), issue-packed pieces (In The Heat of the Night) and novel adaptations (Tom Jones) at me that you want, nothing quite beats a bunch of nuns, a stoic governess and a race to beat the Nazis. The Sound of Music has delivered all through childhood, and continues to deliver today. Whether it’s watching Maria teach the children about experiencing joy in everyday life, or watching the final tense scenes as they flee the Nazis, this masterpiece never shies away from darkness, while always reminding us that what matters in life is love, friendship and refusing to give up in the face of absolute evil. And if you have a bunch of nuns and a Mother Superior cheering you on tunefully, then so much the better. 

Paul says: Oliver!

Surprise! The gays both chose musicals! Didn’t see that one coming, eh? Actually, my biggest surprise was not choosing The Sound of Music. I commenced the '60s certain that I had pre-chosen my favourite film already. But after years of simply not owning the DVD, a re-viewing of Oliver! proved me wrong. I loved remembering the hints of terror and blatant abuse mixed in with jolly chorus numbers involving more extras than Ben-Hur. The big numbers, in fact, are so intricate that they need to be seen to be believed. Each group of extras are given some kind of Victorian occupation and a dance routine to match it (the butchers are dancing with legs of lamb, the window cleaners are dancing with ladders, blah blah) and each group’s choreography blends in with the others’ to create a party bigger than Glastonbury. But the film handles the little numbers- Nancy’s croaky-voiced “As Long As He Needs Me”, Oliver’s super-dubbed “Where is Love?” and Fagin’s hilariously nihilistic “Reviewing the Situation”. Every song is not only catchy but has it’s own unique sound. Fagin’s numbers have a Fiddler on the Roof quality (perhaps the closest the writers dared come to his character’s religion), Nancy’s numbers have come right out of a music hall, and the short “Boy for Sale” is pure opera. It’s a film with variety, panache, and power. And I want to see it again RIGHT NOW. 

Average Film Scores 

Paul: 6.8

Doug: 6.85