Drama
1966

Director: Mike Nichols Cast: Richard Burton, Elizabeth Taylor, George Segal, Sandy Dennis

Academy Awards: Best Actress in a Leading Role (Elizabeth Taylor); Best Actress in a Supporting Role (Sandy Dennis); Best Cinematography, Black-and-White; Best Art Direction-Set Decoration, Black-and-White; Best Costume Design; Black-and-White

Also Nominated For: Best Picture; Best Actor in a Leading Role (Richard Burton); Best Actor in a Supporting Role (George Segal); Bets Director (Mike Nichols); Best Adapted Screenplay; Best Sound; Best Film Editing; Best Original Score

I First Saw In: 2015

Synopsis: A bitter aging couple with the help of alcohol, use a young couple to fuel anguish and emotional pain towards each other.

Did You Know? This was the first film to be given the MPAA tag: “No one under 18 will be admitted unless accompanied by his parents.”

And now a Word from the Guise:
I found myself to be rather confused by the end of this film. It kept building and building to this great revelation, and I thought I knew right where it was going, but then it went somewhere completely different, without really going there at all. It’s quite clear that this film was made expressly to defy the Production Code Office with its “shock value” language and content. I mean this in no way to undercut the performances of the actors, all four of whom gave powerful and triumphant performances (absolutely well-deserved Oscars to Elizabeth Taylor and Sandy Dennis); I just mean that the two-hour film felt like a six-hour roller-coaster ride that just kept going up and when it finally went down you were like, “Oh, that was it?”

Oscar Madness Ranking – ??? out of 233