Oscar Winner: Best Writing, Screenplay Based on Material from Another Medium

A Beautiful Mind manages to twist enough pathos out of John Nash's incredible life story to redeem an at-times goofy portrayal of schizophrenia. Russell Crowe tackles the role with characteristic fervor, playing the Nobel prize-winning mathematician from his days at Princeton, where he developed a groundbreaking economic theory, to his meteoric rise to the cover of Forbes magazine and an MIT professorship, and on through to his eventual dismissal due to schizophrenic delusions. Of course, it is the delusions that fascinate director Ron Howard and, predictably, go astray.

On his deathbed, Court Composer Antonio Salieri confesses to having killed Mozart, the Genius composer. Flashback to Mozart's arrival in Vienna. His brash and vulgar manner is the antithesis of his divine musical gift. Salieri cannot reconcile that God would endow such genius on this coarse boy. The story unfolds as Mozart becomes more and more popular and Salieri becomes more obsessed with destroying him and getting his revenge on God. Using his influence, Salieri drives his rival to poverty.

In the Watergate Building, lights go on and four burglars are caught in the act. That night triggered revelations that drove a U.S. President from office. Washington reporters Bob Woodward (Robert Redford) and Carl Bernstein (Dustin Hoffman) grabbed the story and stayed with it through doubts, denials, discouragement. All The President's Men is their story. Directed by Alan J. Pakula and based on the Woodward/Bernstein book, the film won four 1976 Academy Awards: Best Supporting Actor/Jason Robards, Adaptation Screenplay, Art Direction and Sound.