1963--Tom Jones, Tony Richardson

 

1963--Tom Jones—Tony Richardson

Nominated: America America, Cleopatra, How the West was Won, Lilies of the Field

Should have won: The Great Escape

Be Sure to See: The Birds, It's a Mad Mad Mad Mad World, The Pink Panther

“The word 'religion' is as vague and uncertain as any in the English language.”--Squire

     The box the copy of Tom Jones came in when I checked it out had a quote from Newsweek saying it is the best comedy ever made. Clearly whoever said this had never seen, well, any other movie ever made. I didn't think any movie could overtake Crash as the worst best picture winner ever (though Midnight Cowboy came close) but alas I might have found it. Ultimately, I believe I will place it third to last because at least it had a solid costume design and two good sword fights. Crash winning made me want to bust in the Oscar ceremony when it was announced winner and shoot up the place.

    Tom Jones, unfortunately, is not about the charismatic singer of “What's new pussycat?” and “It's not unusual.” That might have made for an interesting film. This Tom Jones begins like an old silent movie with just an organ playing over title cards. In old England a woman has a bastard baby (I've always wanted to legitimately say that) and she is banished from shame and degradation by the Squire. He vows to raise the child as his own and names him Tom Jones. Years later, Tom turns out to be quite the ladies man though he only really wants Sophie.

     I guess that's about it for the story. Obviously there is more but why bother? Some of the scenes worked okay, others were puzzling. As I mentioned the sword fights were pretty good, but Tom was no Errol Flynn or Inigo Montoya. There were some out of place comic scenes like when Sophie’s uncle kept falling over hay bundles or when Tom gives an extremely accurate impression of Moe Howard when he is injured during a deer hunt. I don't think it was intentional though.

     The sound was muffled and the picture was grainy. I don't believe it was the disk and I don't think the film has dated. I'm guessing that is how it was shot. Some of the color pallet and the editing looks like it was done by a B+ student in film school; sloppy but succeeded in pulling if off.

     Tom looks at the camera a few times and one time, after he discovers some money missing, was a pretty funny moment I suppose. And when he meets his long lost father who tries to rob him, the payoff of that scene was curiously amusing. There is also a scene where he rescues a woman (the first of the two sword fights) and they go to eat. The cameras linger on them eating their food with no dialogue. We just watch them eat their meals for several minutes. It was a curious scene. Not good or funny or even important but it kept my attention. There is a footsie under the table scene that reminded me of Booty Call. Who would have thought in a blog about best picture winners you would read the title Booty Call?

    I would say watch this movie only if you are a completest. It is among the worst movies to win best picture. But from what I've read other people say, at the time it came out it was funny and considered pretty sexy. Now I like old movies a lot. To the point where I don't typically say “Well at the time...” I just say it was good then and it is good now. Tom Jones is an exception. Let's just say I don't take time frames into consideration for whether something is good or bad, I consider old movies fine as they are. But it's not unusual for me to find an exception like I did with Tom Jones. Sorry, I just couldn't resist to work that in somehow. Skip this movie, it is a ridiculous mess...for the most part.