A Comprehensive Breakdown of the 1972 Academy Awards 

Gordon Willis is my grandfather! He retired when I was really little and passed before I could truly grasp how prolific he was, and it seems silly, but it just never fully struck me while he was alive that he was anything other than my loving grandfather, so hearing about his legacy from others really touches my heart. I, of course, agree that he was snubbed in this year and others. Thank you for remembering him!

Amazing stuff for Oscar nerds and cinephiles like me. Thank you, keep it going! Please consider doing all the 70s, it’s the greatest Oscars decade in my opinion.

This was great. If you did one of these for every Oscars year, I’d watch them all 😂 added a bunch of of movies to my watchlist I hadn’t heard of before, especially Images, which I’m dying to see now. Thanks!

No real idea what the "RU-vid algorithm" is or how it works, but so glad it pointed me in the way of this channel. Two incredible documentaries so far and hopefully so many more to come! Thank you!

Cabaret is my favourite movie and I always defend it when it comes to the 1972 oscars hahaha. I would love to see a video about the 1950 oscars and the upset in the best actress category, or even a more contemporary race like the miramax/weinstein wins (1998, 2002, etc). I'm loving the videos, can't wait for the next ones!

I never knew I’d enjoy a video about a 51 year old Oscar’s show this much

You’ve made an excellent case for 1972! This is a fascinating and entertaining video. Thank you so much, and I can’t wait for your next project!

Despite no special ties to or affection for 1972 films, this thoroughly entertained me. The research burden sounded daunting, but selfishly I’m hoping you make more of these. I’ll watch whatever direction you take your channel though. Great work (again)!

Another Best Supporting Actress snub: Golden Globe nominated Helena Kallianiotes for "Kansas City Bomber" of whom Roger Greenspun of The New York Times wrote: "An incredible performance. Slouching sullenly in doorways, staring moodily into space, cadging booze from a bottle hidden in a skating boot, she goes to the dogs with an inappropriate passion rich enough to suggest an over-the-hill Sarah Bernhardt being traded off to the minors by the Comédie Française."

I love your channel! Thank you for your work. And it’s great to hear praise for “The Emigrants”-an under-seen masterpiece that deserves to be seen and talked about!

John Wayne being held back from assaulting Sacheen Littlefeather was so on brand. He is the poster child of performative masculinity

I love when you became profane in describing Madeline Khan's 'fucking funny' performance. One of the freakin funniest ever on film. She was such a gem. Love your detailed overviews.

A really well researched, balanced, nuanced yet passionate analysis.

This video is wonderfully well researched, well edited, and well written. Informative yet entertaining, thorough yet concise! Kudos.

What a fantastic overview of the 1972 Academy Awards! Thank you so much for this amazing work!

I was surprised how well Cabaret did .

This was wonderful and I love long-form works like this. Thank you.

This is actually the 1973 Oscars, celebrating the best films OF 1972.

this is the video essay gone with the wind

I say this as a Godfather simp, but wow, this was incredibly thoroughly in every single way and I love it. I have never heard of the Emigrants and barely heard of Sounder. I also forgot that Deliverance was this year, but like, I have no concept of time so that should be surprising to no one lmao I hope you look at more years where one or two films get overwhelming attention compared to their contemporaries. There's a whole lot of good or interesting films that were released at the "wrong" time.

Loved this! Would love to see your take on the 29th or 31st Academy Awards. I find the 29th especially interesting because it's where The Red Balloon takes Original Screenplay, and I find the 31st interesting just because Gigi (which I don't think is the best work of really anyone involved with it) swept against Cat on a Hot Tin Roof, The Defiant Ones, and Vertigo.

Thank you for such an in-depth study of this Oscar year. I loved the fun details about weird technicalities, such as The Emigrants being nominated for different categories in 2 separate years, and Chaplin winning for a film made 20 years prior. The Academy's eligibility rules are so odd. Like you mentioned, Nino Rota's score for The Godfather was ineligible for having used music from a prior film. However, he ended up winning the following year for The Godfather Part II, despite it containing the same piece of music again. Looking forward to your next video!

Most underrated channel, please never stop!

dunno how i have not even heard of the emigrants. as you were beginning to describe it, i thought, "this is sooo up my alley," and then 2 of my faves, liv and max, showed up on screen. i'm excited to find and watch it now.

I absolutely love your videos! So insightful and thorough, you clearly put so much work into these and I’m here for it. Keep it up!!

Thank you SO much for this video! I appreciate all the research and work that has gone into this and it’s such an informative and entertaining video. Aside from that I feel like you have made the perfect video for me, nobody in my life understands my obsession of the Oscar’s which I have loved since a child. Nobody gets it and I’m always thinking about different years in movie and what was going on culturally at the time. The 70s was also one of my favourite decades for movies and a time I wish I had lived in! Truly hope you make more but if you don’t , please know that I appreciate you and this made me smile today!!!

More of these! Please, so many more of these. If you want, of course, this was so good because your passion really came through

"Or, rewatch Cabaret." That's what I did this afternoon because of your video 😊 Man, look forward to more of your comprehensive breakdowns like this! This was spectacular. Incredibly informative, and I added sooooo many movies to my watch list. Thank you!

I think it really says something that well over half of the people who watched this video have also subscribed to your channel, including me. Such a great video…. Thanks!

i found your channel this morning while looking for a video essay to watch and i chose your 1939 oscars breakdown and i was amazed and immediately chose to watch this video after. absolutely love your channel thank you for making such detailed and just fantastic videos!!

Only one thing better than a lengthy awards show is a lengthy video picking an awards show to pieces with references to media mentions and quotes from journalists. Really great work!

Very well written - your views are charming and interesting and warm! Looking forward to more!

This is amazing work (again) - congratulations, really. I'm going to try to share this with as many people as possible lmao.

I was hesitant to watch a video that lasted over an hour about one Oscar ceremony. You were comprehensive and interesting. I also liked your narration.

You’re film knowledge is SO impressive! I’d love to see as many movies and know as much about them one day

I would love to see a video like this for every year as much as that is a gargantuan task, so interesting to understand what the narrative around the awards was that year. Normally you can just only find that won and that’s it but interesting to hear the whole perspective of that year

I have yet watched the first 20 minutes - so interesting! Thank you for the amount of work that was clearly put into making this video.

I love this video, thank you!! 1972 was indeed amazing. To me, the 70's Oscar year that rivals '72 for greatness is '75, at least with the Best Picture line-up, which I think is *the* all-time great: Barry Lyndon, The Conversation, Dog Day Afternoon, Jaws, & One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest. Absolutely killer, 5 classics, straight up.

That was so inciteful and detailed. I wish you would do every year!

I agree 1000% that "The Poseidon Adventure" should have won Best Art Direction, the one category where it really does outshine the winner.

I saw Cabaret in the theatre - it went OVER my head (I was little). I saw What's Up Doc that same year -- and I LOVED IT !!!!!!!

1982 is the best year for movies especially SyFy and horror. I can't believe more people don't realize that. Even critical darlings like GANDHI E.T. THE EXTRA-TERRESTRIAL TOOTSIE, THE VERDICT, SOOPHIES CHOICE, An officer and a Gentleman and 48Hours came out in 1982 Blade Runner, Conan The Barbarian, Creepshow and John Carpenter's The Thing all came out in 82

PLEASE keep this kinda content coming!!

Surprised you didn't mention 1994 for "Best Year in Film." And please do continue doing videos like these.

Bravo, this is an epically entertaining tour of the films of 1972, great stuff. You have excellent taste in both commercial and arthouse films.

This is AMAZING! It really is a movie-lover's dream!

Wild that this is only your second video. Amazing

This video did make me rewatch Cabaret, but also add Murmur of the Heart & What’s Up Doc to my watchlist :). Love these deep dives so much, hope you keep making them!

Amazing dude. Such an in depth analysis. The most interesting look at an Academy awards year since I first got interested in the ceremonies after reading the brilliant book "Inside Oscar" by Mason Wiley and Damien Bona.

This was excellent and all the lil jokes were hilarious. Please never stop doing this.

That was great thanks, liked that you made room for Avanti and Frenzy right at the end, two classics

The best analysis I have ever seen about the Oscars, bar none! I really liked the creator's premise that 1972 is the best year ever for movies, and I think his aperçus on how the Oscars rewarded them-or ignored them-is spot-on. All Talking Pictures, whoever you are, please do more content also focused on the 1970s. I would love to see your take on 1977. In my opinion (seconding Guillemo López Cañal below), the 1970s was peak Oscar territory, and it has kind of been downhill ever since. Anyway, congratulations! Job very well done!

Ok I am now obsessed with your channel and have subscribed! You only have two videos please start making more. With the passing of Raquel Welch she is perfect to cover in your next video.

This is a wonderful for video and as a movie love I am in heaven. Your voice is very soothing as well. Please do more like this the 9kder the better. Bravo!!!!

ok, i'm commenting again, but i just love this? so much? of course, i love cabaret, and the godfather is the godfather, but it made me so happy to hear you talk about solaris and petra von kant. anyway, you're doing great!

FANTASTIC stuff and reminds me of the importance of watching not just the WINNERS of every year, but the 'losers' as well. Thank you for your continued and excellent critiques and analysis! I am now subscribed and awaiting the next project :D

Wow I completely agree about Robert Altmans Images 1972, it’s a classic amazing film and the score is fantastic. Susannah York played an amazing role as a woman losing her mind

A terrific analysis of '72 and how the movie landscape was changing - and becoming vastly more interesting. You're absolutely right - '72 was one of the great years for movies. But frankly, you could probably pick almost any year from the 70s and find a group of now landmark titles. (Consider '77 for example: Network, Taxi Driver, All the President's Men, Bound for Glory - Rocky wound up winning which is utterly inexplicable to me, but clearly the Academy was playing it safe.) What I think the 70s is truly notable for is that produced a group of landmark titles that really reset the high watermark for multiple genres: you note Godfather and Cabaret, but you could also talk about Chinatown, The Exorcist, Taxi Driver, Network, Dog Day Afternoon, Godfather Part II, Don't Look Now, Nashville, Clockwork Orange ... I mean, the list of profoundly influential films from that era just goes on and on. I look forward to hearing to your thoughts on all of them.

Excellent work, the care and meticulous detail you have put into each video makes them a joy to watch. I agree with another comment saying this account is on par with Be Kind Rewind. I liked, subscribed, and look forward to seeing more!

38:00 Is Al Pacino really “borderline a lead” in _The Godfather_ when he has 26 more minutes of screen time than Marlon Brando?

Hollywood musicals in the early 1930s were also like Cabaret - set in theatres and the musical numbers are part of the show

Before your Best Picture video, I didn't know anything about the history of the Academy Awards (except you know the big moments like Littlefeather). But you putting the Best Pictures into perspective was so interesting that I really wanted to watch more videos like this. So of course I had to watch your new video as well when it ended up in my recommendations. Super interesting and I definitely put some movies on my watchlist that I would have never known existed without your video (if I can find them somewhere is a different story). I don't care which year you do next but please keep it up! Personally, I would like to look back into the 2000s since those were the first Oscars I witnessed as a casual film watcher and would love to see put into a more cinephile perspective (2002 or 2009 perhaps?). This seems like a lot of work and I hope you will eventually get a great number of subscribers out of it (I am one of them now!).

I have fairly set opinions in how i feel towards these wins, but your insights are super precious and well informed! For example - for art direction i would say it's fair to immediately think of "Cabaret", but your notes on the set of the "poseidon" got me like "AH, TRUE! HE'S RIGHT"! Your videos are absolutely fabulous, well-researched, witty and funny. Thank you so much!

I love your videos. Thank you so much for your research, work and passion. Kisses from Brasil!

Another great video! I love this channel!

I think RU-vid must be screwing you on the algorithms. Ths video should have at least twenty thousand views by now. Anyway, thank you for another great video analysis on the Oscars and film industry. You do good work.

Fascinating Hollywood history, well done!

I subscribed. I’d love to see more year breakdowns in the future. I know this year and the ceremony very well and you challenged my thinking on a few points but it’s nice to be on the same page as someone for a change. The Oscars can be so divisive.

Thorough and stellar video essay! Can’t wait for future videos. :)

Well done! Insightful and entertaining.

It’s a delight for me as a 55 year old cinema nerd to see a young person so avidly interested in 1970s cinema

really well made video, thanks for making it. keep up the good work 💕

I really like this breakdown style you did for the ceremony. I definitely think 1991 or 1994, also commonly seen as all-time great years for film, would be good ones to pick if you plan on doing another one of these.

Top notch content friend, looking forward to more.

As somebody who frankly, doesn't give much of a damn about cinema, this essay still had me gripped the entire time. Amazing style!

I like your channel. Good videos and well thought out/researched. 👏 kudos

Hoping you do another year - any year - in a similar fashion and depth.

What an engrossing recap. You went above the call of duty in terms of research

I watched the 1980 Oscar video earlier, and this is another outstanding commentary. "Solaris" and "Aguirre" are both in my top 10 for 1972, but they, of course, were not released in America then so, alas, would have been ineligible for Oscar nods that year. My favorite 3 films of this year are Solaris, The Godfather, and - a very dark horse - Savage Messiah, a film which I am the only person on the planet who is an admirer. Also ignored by the Oscars are such excellent films like Fellini's Roma, The King of Marvin Gardens, Junior Bonner (which I prefer over The Getaway), Bad Company, Rohmer's Chloe in the Afternoon et al.

Great essay. I’ve always been fascinated by the 1972 Oscars and I bring them up all the time. I was sure no one cared but me. 😂 yay, I’m not alone

Nice video. If this was you looking at the year you considered the best in film is there one for the Oscars or in general that you would consider the worst? A matching pair for this video perhaps.

As I commented before, my mom would sometimes rent me a video of the animated short noms... not sure the year range but this years and 1980s were both familiar to me. but they did include that live action doll doc despite not being an animation but did NOT include the karma sutra one (unless my mom just turned it off at that point, lol)

Boy was I excited when I stumbled upon this video. I too have always thought 1972 was a watershed year for movies. Appreciated very much your depth of knowledge and your sophisticated taste levels in general. And it was fun to be presented with a fact that once I heard it, I thought to myself ...now why didn't I think of that? Like your nugget regarding comments made about Brando turning down the award and why didn't HE just decline the award in person? I thought to myself...YEA...why didn't he? LOL That cracked me up that I'd never even considered that possibility! So I'm very excited about checking out more of your videos & I'm going to subscribe. I do have ONE fairly serious negative reaction. That being your use of the F-bomb. Believe you used it two or three times. I urge/beg you to reconsider your usage of the word. Do I use the word? Of course. But I consider the time and place. What makes your usage of the word so egregious here is that it just doesn't fit. Here, I'm moving along, hearing a sophisticated, funny host providing a fun and fact filled video on a classic year in Hollywood and then WHAM, one of the crudest words you can say is just thrown out there like it's a nothing burger. Well it's not a nothing burger. It's got its reputation for a reason. And the usage of it just is so lazy. It's like you forgot yourself...weren't paying attention and you didn't notice it in the editing process. It's truly a shame. And while I'm not a prude by any means, do we really need to casually use the F-bomb knowing kids will be watching this? All the rest of the video you discussed mature/adult themes in, again, a sophisticated and smart manner. Dropping the F-bomb lowers the class level of the video big time and places it among the thousands of movie videos out there. You are SO close to being in the upper echelon of movie commentators. I can tell you've got the gift. So why go for the easy, vulgar word? Anyway, thanks for letting me speak my piece. Oh and including Pink Flamingos in your video was brilliance.

Spot on, Mr. Canal...typified by arguably 1 of the greatest musicals ( reimagined from its theater production ) of ALL time.. Fosse's 'Cabaret'!

What an excellent review and interpretation of the 72 Oscars! Intelligent, funny, very incisive. Please continue doing the same. How about the great 1939 or 1967 or 1968? Thanks!

I need to try focusing on just one Oscars ceremony like this seems like a fun analysis to do

A well done and thorough look at the fine cinematic output of 1972. Another movie to add to the mix is Chato's Land, a very dark Western in which Charles Bronson kills in self defense and is then pursued by a self appointed posse. One by one they're all killed off by Bronson driving the posse to become more cruel and violent. An and-then-there-were-none story that looks at the dangers of impulsive mob mentality, Jack Palance and Simon Oakland were worthy nominees for Best Supporting Actor as the two men at the center of the power struggle for control of the posse.

i loved your last video and this one was so great,- i’m excited to see what you do in the future !!

best video ever ❤❤ i need one for every single year this is like crack to me

i never comment on youtube videos. i just have to say your content is fantastic. the last video was probably my favorite video i have ever seen on youtube.

Your videos slap. Please don’t stop posting!

Joel Grey said in an interview that Bob Fosse didn't want him in the movie. Joel believes Fosse wanted to play the part himself

Wow, you really know your stuff. And I love your shout-outs to "What's Up, Doc?", which in my eyes ranks with "Cabaret" and "The Godfather" as an all-time great. I would have nominated it for Picture, Director, Screenplay, Actress, Supporting Actor (Liam Dunn...a true supporting role, and definitely more memorable than Eddie Albert; and I would have nominated Pacino for lead, leaving open two supporting spots, my other choice being Burt Reynolds, he was supporting), editing, and Madeline Kahn should have won for Supporting Actress. Not even close. Also, Touki Bouki, Aguirre The Wrath of God Sambizanga are among the amazing foreign language films that were ignored. Perhaps their respective countries did not submit them, all masterpieces, but that is still the Academy's fault for having that rule (one per country, nomination by committee). Look forward to watching more great videos from you, thanks!

First of all, this was fantastic. Well researched, well presented - what a beautiful video essay. And while I haven't seen... most of these movies, I have seen is What's Up Doc, and it's one of my favorite movies of all time. So I may have to sit down and watch a few of these. Are there any of these movies you'd particularly recommend, to someone who loves What's Up Doc? Just curious if you'd say anything else has a similar vibe.

This is such a good video. Thank you.

Another awesome video, keep up the good work 👍👍, i really like how detailed your videos are!

As a fellow lover of _La Souffle au Coeur_ (Murmur of the Heart), I completely agree that it should have won Best Original Screenplay! It's nice to see it get some love.

i've never really thought much about burt reynolds before, since the media he was popular in all aired well before my time and generally outside of my interests. thank you for awakening me because GOOD GOD i didn't realize he was THAT hot. gonna go watch every piece of media with burt reynolds in it now o///o

Brilliant. Absolutely absorbed.

If you want suggestions for another year, I guess the best "modern" year to have a breakdown on that isn't too recent is 2000. Gladiator vs. Traffic vs. Crouching Tiger for Best Picture. Huge upset in Best Director. Marcia Gay Harden winning without any precursor nominations. Bob Dylan wins his only Oscar. Gladiator, Traffic and Crouching Tiger almost split the Oscars evenly. The last original big budget Hollywood epic to win Best Picture to this day. It's also a bit relevant to the currently ongoing Oscars because of Michelle Yeoh. It's maybe not the best year in terms of the overall quality of the movies, but it's one of the most interesting for Best Picture and Best Director. But if you want to do another 70s Oscars, 1976 is kinda obvious with that Best Picture lineup of Rocky, Network, All the President's Men and Taxi Driver + first ever female Best Director nomination.