The Academy Awards Year 1977 was held at Los Angeles, California, USA on 28 March 1977

BEST PICTURE 1977 WINNER

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ROCKY (1976)

Director : John G. Avildsen
Writer : Sylvester Stallone (written by)
Genre : Drama | Romance | Sport
Main Cast : Sylvester Stallone, Talia Shire, Burt Young, Carl Weathers, Burgess Meredith

Plot : Rocky Balboa is a small-time boxer who lives in an apartment in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, and his career has so far not gotten off the canvas. Rocky earns a living by collecting debts for a loan shark named Gazzo, but Gazzo doesn’t think Rocky has the viciousness it takes to beat up deadbeats. Rocky still boxes every once in a while to keep his boxing skills sharp, and his ex-trainer, Mickey, believes he could’ve made it to the top if he was willing to work for it. Rocky, goes to a pet store that sells pet supplies, and this is where he meets a young woman named Adrian, who is extremely shy, with no ability to talk to men. Rocky befriends her. Adrain later surprised Rocky with a dog from the pet shop that Rocky had befriended. Adrian’s brother Paulie, who works for a meat packing company, is thrilled that someone has become interested in Adrian, and Adrian spends Thanksgiving with Rocky. Later, they go to Rocky’s apartment, where Adrian explains that she has never been in a man’s apartment before. Rocky sets her mind at ease, and they become lovers. Current world heavyweight boxing champion Apollo Creed comes up with the idea of giving an unknown a shot at the title. Apollo checks out the Philadelphia boxing scene, and chooses Rocky. Fight promoter Jergens gets things in gear, and Rocky starts training with Mickey. After a lot of training, Rocky is ready for the match, and he wants to prove that he can go the distance with Apollo.

 

 

OTHER NOMINEES

ALL THE PRESIDENT’S MEN (1976)

Director : Alan J. Pakula
Writer : Carl Bernstein (book), Bob Woodward (book)
Genre : Drama | History | Thriller
Main Cast : Dustin Hoffman, Robert Redford, Jack Warden, Martin Balsam, Hal Holbrook

Plot : In the run-up to the 1972 elections, Washington Post reporter Bob Woodward covers what seems to be a minor break-in at the Democratic Party National headquarters. He is surprised to find top lawyers already on the defense case, and the discovery of names and addresses of Republican fund organizers on the accused further arouses his suspicions. The editor of the Post is prepared to run with the story and assigns Woodward and Carl Bernstein to it. They find the trail leading higher and higher in the Republican Party, and eventually into the White House itself.

 

 

BOUND FOR GLORY (1976)

Director : Hal Ashby
Writer : Robert Getchell (screenplay), Woody Guthrie (autobiography)
Genre : Biography | Drama | Music
Main Cast : David Carradine, Ronny Cox, Melinda Dillon, Gail Strickland, John Lehne

Plot : This film is an excellent biography of Woody Guthrie, one of America’s greatest folk singers. He left his dust-devastated Texas home in the 1930s to find work, and discovered the suffering and strength of America’s working class.

 

 

 

 

 

NETWORK (1976)

Director : Sidney Lumet
Writer : Paddy Chayefsky (written by)
Genre : Drama
Main Cast : Faye Dunaway, William Holden, Peter Finch, Robert Duvall, Ned Beatty

Plot : Howard Beale is an aging TV anchorman for UBS who is fired, effective in two weeks, after his ratings have been steadily deteriorating. He reacts to this by sensationally announcing on live television his intention to commit suicide on air. In doing so, Beale becomes a major TV icon and one of the most valuable assets to the Communications Corporation of America (CCA), the company that is gradually taking control of UBS. As a result he is given his own show as ‘the mad prophet of the air-waves’. He appears live on television every week-day evening to tell the real truth to the people of America. The program is a huge success but Beale uses his power to make startling revelations about CCA, leaving the company executives with a serious problem.

 

 

TAXI DRIVER (1976)

Director : Martin Scorsese
Writer : Paul Schrader (written by)
Genre : Drama | Thriller
Main Cast : Robert De Niro, Jodie Foster, Cybill Shepherd, Harvey Keitel, Leonard Harris

Plot : New York City cab driver Travis Bickle constantly, almost obsessively, reflects on the ugly corruption of life around him, and becomes increasingly disturbed over his own loneliness and alienation. In nearly every phase of his life, Bickle remains a complete outsider, failing to make emotional contact with anyone. Unable to sleep night after night, Travis haunts the local pornography emporiums to find diversion, and begins desperately thinking about an escape from his depressing existence.

 

 

 

 

BEST FOREIGN LANGUAGE FILM WINNER

NOIRS ET BLANCS EN COULEUR (1976)

Also Known As : Black And White In Color
Country : Ivory Coast | France | West Germany | Switzerland
Director : Jean-Jacques Annaud
Writer : Jean-Jacques Annaud (writer), Georges Conchon (writer)
Genre : Comedy | Drama | War
Main Cast : Jean Carmet, Jacques Dufilho, Catherine Rouvel, Jacques Spiesser, Maurice Barrier

Plot : French colonists in Africa, several months behind in the news, find themselves at war with their German neighbors. Deciding that they must do their proper duty and fight the Germans, they promptly conscript the local native population. Issuing them boots and rifles, the French attempt to make “proper” soldiers out of the Africans. A young, idealistic French geographer seems to be the only rational person in the town, and he takes over control of the “war” after several bungles on the part of the others.

 

 

OTHER NOMINEES

COUSIN COUSINE (1975)

Also Known As : Cugino Cugina
Country : France
Director : Jean Charles Tacchella
Writer : Jean Charles Tacchella (writer), Danièle Thompson (writer)
Genre : Comedy | Romance
Main Cast : Marie-Christine Barrault, Victor Lanoux, Marie-France Pisier, Guy Marchand, Ginette Garcin

Plot : Two distant cousins meet for the first time at a wedding banquet for an elderly couple. They both decide that they should see more of each other, and over time, a friendship develops. However, their respective spouses begin to think that more than a friendship is blooming, and as more and more people being to think so as well, the idea starts to become appealing to them.

 

 

JAKOB, DER LÃœGNER (1975)

Also Known As : Jacob The Liar
Country : East Germany | Czechoslovakia
Director : Frank Beyer
Writer : Jurek Becker (novel), Jurek Becker (screenplay)
Genre : Comedy | Crime | Drama | War
Main Cast : Vlastimil Brodský, Erwin Geschonneck, Henry Hübchen, Blanche Kommerell, Manuela Simon

Plot : A Jewish ghetto in the east of Europe, 1944. By coincidence, Jakob Heym eavesdrops on a German radio broadcast announcing the Soviet Army is making slow by steady progress towards central Europe. In order to keep his companion in misfortune, Mischa, from risking his life for a few potatoes, he tells him what he heard and announces that he is in possession of a radio – in the ghetto a crime punishable by death. It doesn’t take long for word of Jakob’s secret to spread – suddenly, there is new hope and something to live for – and so Jakob finds himself in the uncomforting position of having to come up with more and more stories.

 

 

NOCE I DNIE (1975)

Also Known As : Nights And Days
Country : Poland
Director : Jerzy Antczak
Writer : Jerzy Antczak (writer), Maria Dabrowska (novel)
Genre : Drama | Romance | War
Main Cast : Jadwiga Baranska, Jerzy Binczycki, Emir Buczacki, Stanislawa Celinska, Wladyslaw Hancza

Plot : Based on the four-volume saga of Maria Dabrowska, who lived from 1889 to 1965, this film is about a family living in the Polish countryside, and it chronicles the adventures of most of the books’ characters during a 50-year period.

 

 

 

 

PASQUALINO SETTEBELLEZZE (1975)

Also Known As : Seven Beauties
Country : Italy
Director : Lina Wertmüller
Writer : Lina Wertmüller (written by)
Genre : Comedy | Drama | War
Main Cast : Giancarlo Giannini, Fernando Rey, Shirley Stoler, Elena Fiore, Piero Di Iorio

Plot : Pasqualino, an Italian everyman, deserts the army during World War II. Germans capture him and send him to a prison camp, where he does just about anything to survive. In lengthy flashbacks, we see him and his family of seven unattractive sisters (the seven beauties), his accidental murder of one sister’s lover, his confession and imprisonment, his calculated switch to an asylum, his rape of a patient, and his volunteering to be a soldier to escape confinement. To the chagrin of his obese German captor, his weak and cowardly character enables him to survive the war and return to Naples where he has a plan to survive the next world catastrophe.