Gordon Willis is the best cinematographer America ever produced. There. I said it. If he'd only shot the Godfather trilogy, Manhattan, Zelig and All the President's Men (let alone Pennies From Heaven, Interiors, Klute and Broadway Danny Rose), he'd have at least earned consideration among the greats like Gregg Toland and Billy Bitzer and his Oscar-winning contemporaries Conrad Hall and Haskell Wexler. And very few would argue against Willis being the best American cinematographer to never win an Oscar -- until tomorrow, that is, when Willis will join Roger Corman as a recipient of a long, long over lifetime-achievement Academy Award. In a series of clips after the jump, see some of what the Academy missed (and is finally making up for) all these years.
1. The Godfather (1972)
Before we get started, keep in mind that we're kind of at YouTube's mercy here. In a just world, where owning the rights to a perfect film means having an obligation to make it available in high-definition on demand at any time, the opening scene of The Godfather would look better than what we've got here. That said, it established with certitude, conviction and unerring precision the visual tone that Willis and Francis Ford Coppola would employ in their adaptation of Mario Puzo's bestseller. Paramount hated it. Then it opened. A billion-dollar franchise later, the rest is history: The Godfather earned 11 Oscar nominations and won three, including Best Picture. Willis wasn't among any of them.
2. The Godfather Part II (1974)
Willis and Coppola went even darker with their relatively huge-budget sequel, often clashing over set-ups and exposures that left the actors almost completely enshrouded in shadow. (Of Michael Corleone's heart-to-heart with his mother just before her death, even Willis has admitted he could have opened up a stop or two.) Take Michael's showdown with Fredo after his brother's return to the family's Tahoe compound:
The film's most important (and impressive) set piece follows Vito Corleone's rooftop route over the San Gennaro Parade in Little Italy, stalking Don Fanucci before assassinating the mafia kingpin in his own doorway. The bulb flick is like showing off, but that's why he's Gordon Willis.
3. All the President's Men (1976)
Willis had a terrific relationship with Alan J. Pakula, shooting six of the director's films -- more than a third of Pakula's total output -- over a 26-year span. All the President's Men was their peak, from the vast, littered sanctum of the Washington Post newsroom to the parking-garage catacomb where Bob Woodward (Robert Redford) met Deep Throat (Hal Holbrook) -- the appropriately shadowy source who would help the young journalists topple a president.
4. Pennies From Heaven (1981)
Herbert Ross's lip-synch musical was something of a noble failed experiment, but as Willis's only tuner, it endures as a something of a curio blending the candy-colored spectacle of Depression-era jazz with his native dark, earthy, dramatic tones. (Plus the guy lit nighttime car interiors better than anybody who ever lived, and Pennies features his best.) For a taste of the former, look no further than the great Christopher Walken hoofing and stripping (!) to "Let's Misbehave."
And for the more serious side -- but not without a song -- check Bernadette Peters and Steve Martin:
5. Manhattan (1979)
Willis's only more fruitful directorial collaboration came with Woody Allen, with whom he made eight films -- the best of which are probably in black and white. Does Manhattan need any introduction? Besides the Gershwin-scored city montage, that is, another iconic bit of cinema that joyless MGM has repeatedly yanked from the Web. There's always that ending, though, Allen's widescreen resolution to follow Mariel Hemingway's simple, stirring advice: Have a little faith in people.
6. Zelig (1983)
Zelig is Willis's most playful collaboration with Allen, the title of which has passed into the zeitgeist as a person who is seemingly always at the crossroads of history almost without trying. His mix of film stocks, hand-cranked cameras and more adventuresome black-and-white tricks earned Willis the first of his two career Oscar nods. The second came in 1990 for The Godfather Part III; Willis would retire seven later after reuniting with Pakula on The Devil's Own. A tip of the cap and many congrats on his belated honor this weekend.