NO EXCUSE!

            1975 was a pretty good year for movies, as is indicated by the following list of Academy Award nominees:

            Barry Lyndon – John Alcott, BSC – WINNER

            The Day of the Locust – Conrad Hall, ASC

            Funny Lady – James Wong Howe, ASC

            The Hindenburg – Robert Surtees, ASC

            One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest – Haskell Wexler, ASC & Bill Butler, ASC

            Nonetheless, I have a bone to pick with that era’s Cinematographers Branch of the AMPAS membership.  How in the name of all things holy did they not nominate Bill Butler, ASC for his incredible work on Stephen Spielberg’s Jaws?

            I watched the film for the umpteenth time the other night and was once again  gobsmacked by Butler’s brilliance.  His widescreen photography provides a clinic in deep-composition and economical staging.  Extended day\exteriors are difficult enough for any cinematographer to deal with.  Extended day\exteriors that take place on the water in a small, moving boat infinitely multiply the challenges.  Yet, Butler achieved a remarkable consistency that impresses to this day.

            As regards the nominees, put aside Alcott’s innovative though self-conscious approach to Barry Lyndon.  Ditto for the last vestiges of Old Hollywood style delivered by Howe and Surtees.  A few weeks ago, I wrote about the magnificent texture Hall brought to The Day of the Locust.  Forget that, too.  And also forget that it was no simple task for Butler to make such a seamless match to Wexler’s work after replacing him on Cuckoo’s Nest.  The real crime is that his more significant contribution went unrecognized by the people who were supposedly best qualified to make the choice.

            Since the Academy doesn’t publish vote totals, we’ll never know how close he came to making the short list.  But egregious oversights are not without precedent.  During the previous year, a similar injustice was inflicted upon Gordon Willis, ASC when he was overlooked for The Godfather, Part 2.  I mean no disrespect to Joseph Biroc, ASC and Fred Koenekamp, ASC – who shared the Oscar for The Towering Inferno.  But, seriously?  The two movies don’t even belong in the same conversation about superb cinematography.

            Taste, trends and politics all play a role in determining who reaps the glory and who ends up on the sidelines when awards season comes around.  We tend to forget that the notion of honoring creative pursuits in this way doesn’t hold up on close inspection.  I don’t know…  Maybe I’m making too much of it.

            Or, maybe I’m not.  As far as I’m concerned, I’ll always feel Bill Butler got screwed on this one.  Gordon Willis, too.

***Note well: The ceremony which honored the films nominated for the calendar year 1975 was held on March 29, 1976