The National Board of Review resumed its tradition of being the first to announce its annual winners in 1977, naming Herbert Ross’ The Turning Point as Best Picture of the year. They eschewed Ross for the Best Director award, however, bestowing that honor on the legendary Spanish director Luis Bunuel for That Obscure Object of Desire.

The National Society of Film Critics were up next, naming the NBR’s runner-up, Woody Allen’s Annie Hall as Best Picture. Like the NBR, they named Bunuel Best Director.

The L.A. Film Critics were up next and following the tradition they established in their first two years of voting, gave their award to a popular pick, the then biggest box office hit of all time, George Lucas’ Star Wars. They gave their Best Director award to The Turning Point’s Herbert Ross.

The New York Film Critics were up next and showed solidarity with the National Society by naming Annie Hall the year’s Best Picture but disagreed on Best Director, giving that award to Annie Hall’s Woody Allen over Bunuel.

The Golden Globes brought things back to the beginning of awards season by naming The Turning Point as Best Picture – Drama and director Ross’ other film that year, The Goodbye Girl as Best Picture – Musical or Comedy. Ross also won the Best Director award for The Turning Point.

Oscar’s Best Picture nominees included all four winners to date, Annie Hall, The Goodbye Girl, Star Wars and The Turning Point, with the fifth nomination going to Fred Zinnemann’s Julia.

Allen, Lucas, Zinnemann and Ross (for The Turning Point, not The Goodbye Girl) were all nominated for Best Director as they had been by the Directors Guild. Joining them as he had with the DGA, Steven Spielberg was the fifth nominee for Close Encounters of the Third Kind.

What, then, would have been the other five Best Picture nominees had Oscar gone to a ten picture slate this year? Close Encounters of the Third Kind, certainly. That Obscure Object of Desire, probably. That leaves three slots.

I suspect they would be filled by Saturday Night Fever; Looking for Mr. Goodbar and Equus.

Though Looking for Mr. Goodbar and Equus were disappointments, their sources (best-selling novel for the former; hit stage play for the latter) gave them a shot. Goodbar had been nominated for two awards, Equus for three. Saturday Night Fever surprisingly only garnered one nomination but it was a big one, a Best Actor nod for relative newcomer John Travolta.

The Turning Point with eleven nominations and Star Wars with ten seemed tough to beat, but in the end it was Annie Hall and Star Wars that dominated Oscar night, with Annie Hall winning four of its five nominations including Best Picture, Director and Actress (Diane Keaton) while Star Wars took home six, all in technical categories. The Turning Point set a record of its own, becoming the biggest loser in Oscar history – it didn’t win a single one of the awards it was nominated for, a record tied eight years later by The Color Purple directed by another of the evening’s big losers (Steven Spielberg).