1983 House Clark “Simpson” Awards

​The Academy Awards          
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Best Picture
Gandhi
E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial
Missing
Tootsie
The Verdict
 
Best Actor  
Ben Kingsley – Gandhi
Dustin Hoffman – Tootsie
Jack Lemmon – Missing
Paul Newman – The Verdict
Peter O'Toole – My Favorite Year
 
Best Actress 
Meryl Streep – Sophie's Choice
Julie Andrews – Victor/Victoria
Jessica Lange – Frances
Sissy Spacek – Missing
Debra Winger – An Officer and a Gentleman

House Clark Awards
 
Best Picture 
Blade Runner
E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial  
Victor/Victoria
Star Trek 2
Evil Under the Sun
 
Best Actor
William Shatner – Star Trek 2
Sylvester Stallone – First Blood
Harrison Ford – Blade Runner
Rutger Hauer – Blade Runner
Paul Newman – The Verdict
 
Best Actress 
Meryl Streep – Sophie’s Choice
Sean Young – Blade Runner
Julie Andrews – Victor/Victoria
Debra Winger – An Officer and a Gentleman
Diana Rigg – Evil Under the Sun ​

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Best Comedy
Victor/Victoria
 
Best Ensemble Cast
Evil under the Sun
Peter Ustinov, Maggie Smith, James Mason, Sylvia Miles, Diana Rigg, Roddy McDowall, and Emily Hone.
 
Most overrated movie
Gandhi
 
Best juvenile performance
Drew Barrymore – ET
 

Notes from awards committee:
Blade Runner is our top choice for this year’s Best Motion Picture. And shame on the Academy for snubbing this Ridley Scott masterpiece. The acting, storyline and soundtrack were all outstanding. The film is still just as visually unique now as it was when it came out, and it defined the look and feel of a futuristic urban dystopia. And like many of the other great sci-fi films, Blade Runner looks at what it means to be human by examining our interactions, and conflicts, with technology. Like the movie tag line say, “Man has made his match…now it is his problem.”  The Replicants are fascinating with Aryan DNA, memories and human emotions.
 
The World at Large

• The Falkland War – Argentina invaded the British Falkland Islands. The UK responded and won the war in ten weeks.
• Vietnam Veterans Memorial unveiled with mixed reactions. 

Fun Surprises -
Victor/Victoria - Paris 1934, coloratura soprano Victoria (Julie Andrews) can't get a job as a singer and is flat broke and desperate. What happens next is a rags to riches story that words fail to explain; you have to see it. Julie Andrews is in magnificent musical form and James Garner gives one of his best comedic performances since Support Your Local Sheriff. The support cast is outstanding with Lesley Ann Warren as a dizzy blonde and Robert Preston as the ultimate gay blade. The song and dance routines are first-rate with some great tunes by Henry Mancini. In the mood for an old fashioned screwball-sex- comedy–musical, this is one of the very best.
 
Still of the Night – creates an eerie atmosphere and a strangely memorable film. Meryl Streep is excellent as the alluring, blonde Viking beauty with dark secrets. Scheider is a believable psychiatrist, and Jessica Tandy does a nice turn in a brief supporting role. Recommended for lovers of mystery movies and those who have not seen much early Streep, she is great in this film.
 
Star Trek 2: The Wrath of Khan - This film rises above its status as just another installment in a big, commercial saga. You could show this movie to someone who had never seen any Star Trek episodes, and it would still resonate on many levels. Captain James T. Kirk (William Shatner) has both a son and an arch-enemy that he didn't know about. Shatner delivers a powerful performance in the classic role that he owns. Billy is long overdue for a Best Actor award.
 
The Thing – is one of the best monster horror films of the decade. A shape-shifting alien capable of assimilating and imitating its human hosts goes on a deadly rampage. A corrosive atmosphere of apprehension, paranoia, division and distrust sets the tone. The grim, ambiguous ending elevates the story to another level. The question remains, who, if anyone, is human by the end?
 
ET – was the champ of the 1982 Summer Blockbuster Club. And it cemented Spielberg’s Ace Director Reputation of having the Midas touch. When he drops the camera to child height, omits adult movie stars, improvises a bunch of kids interacting with a charming alien prop, and sets the movie mostly in a typical suburban house, the net profits go through the roof.
 
Evil Under the Sun - stars Peter Ustinov as Hercule Poirot, the famous literary Belgium detective, and is well supported by a talented cast. Set on a lovely Greek island in an art deco hotel, every scene is a treat for the eye. Maggie Smith and Diana Rigg are particularly charming when they sing a duet. For a baffling mystery and suspects you’ll love to hate, check it out.
 
First Blood - is one of the best action movies of the year, and the beginning of the Rambo franchise. It begins with a character study of a troubled war veteran that quickly, and violently, transforms into a survivalist thriller. The set pieces are thrilling, but at its heart this is the story of a soldier’s unexamined trauma (PTSD). This is Stallone’s finest performance since Rocky.  
 
Class of 1984 - is one of the great exploitation films of the 1980s. The screen portrayal of a dysfunctional big city high school and a vigilante-teacher was so shocking; the film was banned in the UK. It is framed around the collision of violent juvenile criminals and weak law enforcement, with the poor teachers trapped in the middle. Memorable performances by Roddy McDowell as a genial, sensitive biology teacher and a young Michael J. Fox add to the cult cache of this low budget masterpiece. The flick has been re-released in a sparkling Blu-ray, uncut edition.
 
Conan the Barbarian – stars Arnold Schwarzenegger as Conan in his first major hit film. Arnie is the perfect barbarian and is supported by an excellent cast. The film is a hugely entertaining sword and sorcery and leather sandals adventure. Director John Milius never loses his way. He keeps the narrative arc simple and brilliant; all the way to Conan’s final showdown with the evil, charismatic cult leader Thulsa Doom. Stunning cinematography and production design.   
 
Disappointments -
Gandhi - I enjoy good historical movies, but this one just stinks up the theater. It is a complete Hollywood manipulation of the truth. The real Gandhi was an arrogant, diehard nationalist, and not a saintly humanitarian. After India gained independence in 1947, it collapsed into chaos and anarchy and genocide. Gandhi was soon killed and India fell apart into 3 countries (India, Pakistan & Bangladesh).  Also the movie slyly omits anything about Gandhi’s strange personal habits that wouldn't go over well in the West.
 
Sophie’s Choice - is famed for Meryl Streep’s knock out performance as Sophie, an emotionally wounded survivor of a Nazi prison camp. This is Streep in her prime affecting a perfect Polish accent and projecting enormous heart and courage. House Clark is in rare agreement with the Academy for the choice of Streep for Best Actress. The film is not without major flaws – slow-paced, painfully over-long with a strange, muddled romance plot and some annoying support characters. SC would have been nothing without Streep’s performance.
 
Tootsie – is a gender-bender comedy without laughs; and that’s a big penalty. Watch Victor/Victoria instead.
 
Dead Men Don’t Wear Plaid - spoofed the film noirs of the 1940s by having Steve Martin interact with footage from those films. Yes, it is a workmanship accomplishment of cut-and-paste, but the result is flat and not funny. The best, and funniest, vintage film-noir satire is the 1978 The Cheap Detective starring Peter Falk with a support cast of outstanding comedians – male and female. 

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1982 AWARDS

1984 AWARDS