1959 — Year in Review
Fritz Golden Superlatives

1. Ivan the Terrible Part II: The Boyars’ Plot (dir: Sergei Eisenstein, US Release Date)

2. The 400 Blows (dir: François Truffaut)

3. The Human Condition: No Greater Love (dir: Masaki Kobayashi)

4. Rio Bravo (dir: Howard Hawks)

5. Some Like It Hot (dir: Billy Wilder)

6. North by Northwest (dir: Alfred Hitchcock)

7. Floating Weeds (dir: Yasujiro Ozu)

8. Odds Against Tomorrow (dir: Robert Wise)

9. Day of the Outlaw (dir: Andre de Toth)

10. Ride Lonesome (dir: Budd Boetticher)

Honorable Mentions (in alphabetical order): Anatomy of a Murder (dir: Otto Preminger), Ben-Hur (dir: William Wyler), Black Orpheus (dir: Marcel Camus), A Bucket of Blood (dir: Roger Corman), Compulsion (dir: Richard Fleischer), The House on Haunted Hill (dir: William Castle), Imitation of Life (dir: Douglas Sirk), Les Cousins (dir: Claude Chabrol), The Lovers (dir: Louis Malle), Nazarin (dir: Luis Buñuel), Pillow Talk (dir: Michael Gordon), Porgy and Bess (dir: Otto Preminger), Room at the Top (dir: Jack Clayton), A Summer Place (dir: Delmer Daves), and Tiger Bay (dir: J. Lee Thompson)

Best Picture: Ivan the Terrible Part II: The Boyars’ Plot
Director: Sergei Eisenstein Producer: Sergei Eisenstein
US Distributor: Janus Films

Best Director:
Sergei Eisenstein, Ivan the Terrible Part II: The Boyars’ Plot
2. Alfred Hitchcock, North by Northwest
3. Masaki Kobayashi, The Human Condition: No Greater Love
4. Billy Wilder, Some Like It Hot
5. François Truffaut, The 400 Blows

Best Actor:
Jean-Pierre Léaud, The 400 Blows
2. Tony Curtis, Some Like It Hot
3. James Stewart, Anatomy of a Murder
4. Jack Lemmon, Some Like It Hot
5. Harry Belafonte, Odds Against Tomorrow

Best Actress:
Marilyn Monroe, Some Like It Hot
2. Lana Turner, Imitation of Life
3. Doris Day, Pillow Talk
4. Jeanne Moreau, The Lovers
5. Simone Signoret, Room at the Top

Best Supporting Actor:
Dean Martin, Rio Bravo
2. Joe E. Brown, Some Like It Hot
3. George C. Scott, Anatomy of a Murder
4. Pernell Roberts, Ride Lonesome
5. Tony Randall, Pillow Talk

Best Supporting Actress:
Hayley Mills, Tiger Bay
2. Eva Marie Saint, North by Northwest
3. Pearl Bailey, Porgy and Bess
4. Juanita Moore, Imitation of Life
5. Eve Arden, Anatomy of a Murder

Best Original Screenplay: 
Rio Bravo — Leigh Brackett, Jules Furthman, and B.H. McCampbell
2. The 400 Blows — Francois Truffaut and Marcel Moussy
3. Pillow Talk — Stanley Shapiro, Maurice Richlin, Russell Rouse and Clarence Greene
4. Les Cousins — Claude Chabrol and Paul Gegauff
5. North by Northwest — Ernest Lehman

Best Adapted Screenplay:
Some Like It Hot — Billy Wilder and I.A.L. Diamond
2. Day of the Outlaw — Philip Yordan
3. Anatomy of a Murder — Wendell Mayes
4. Nazarin — Luis Bunuel, Julio Alejandro, and Emilio Carballido
5. Imitation of Life — Eleanore Griffin and Allan Scott

Best Cinematography: 
The Human Condition: No Greater Love — Yoshio Miyajima
2. Ivan the Terrible Part II: The Boyars’ Plot — Eduard Tisse and Andrey Moskvin
3. Black Orpheus – Jean Bourgin
4. Odds Against Tomorrow — Joseph C. Brun
5. Ben-Hur — Robert Surtees

Best Film Editing:
North by Northwest — George Tomasini
2. Some Like It Hot — Arthur P. Schmidt
3. The 400 Blows — Marie-Josephe Yoyotte
4. Floating Weeds — Toyo Suzuki
5. Odds Against Tomorrow — Dede Allen

Best Original Score:
North by Northwest — Bernard Herrmann
2. Anatomy of a Murder — Duke Ellington
3. Ben-Hur — Miklós Rózsa
4. The 400 Blows — Georges Delarue
5. A Summer Place — Max Steiner

Best Production Design:
Ben-Hur — Edward Carfagno, William A. Horning, Vittorio Valentini and Hugh Hunt
2. North by Northwest — William A. Horning, Merrill Pye, Robert Boyle, Henry Grace and Frank McKelvey
3. The Diary of Anne Frank — George W. Davis, Lyle Wheeler, Stuart A. Reiss and Walter M. Scott
4. Journey to the Center of the Earth — Franz Bachelin, Herman A. Blumenthal, Lyle Wheeler, Joseph Kish and Walter M. Scott
5. Black Orpheus — Pierre Guffroy

Best Costume Design:
Some Like It Hot — Orry-Kelly
2. Ben-Hur – Elizabeth Haffenden
3. Porgy and Bess – Irene Sharaff
4. Day of the Outlaw — Elva Hill and Robert Martien
5. The Diary of Anne Frank — Charles LeMaire and Mary Willis

Best Visual Effects:
Ben-Hur

Best Sound:
Ben-Hur

Best Ensemble Cast:
Anatomy of a Murder

Orson Welles’ Best First Feature:
François Truffaut, The 400 Blows

Best Ensemble Cast: 
Anatomy of a Murder (dir: Otto Preminger; in alphabetical order): Eve Arden, Orson Bean, Ben Gazzara (pictured), Kathryn Grant, Murray Hamilton, Arthur O'Connell, Lee Remick, George C. Scott and James Stewart (pictured)

Orson Welles' Best First Feature Award: 
François Truffaut’s 400 Blows

RECAP

W I N S:

Some Like it Hot — 3,
The 400 Blows — 2, Ben-Hur — 2, Ivan the Terrible Part II: The Boyars’ Plot — 2, North by Northwest — 2, Rio Bravo — 2, Anatomy of a Murder — 1, Ben-Hur — 1, The Human Condition — 1, Tiger Bay — 1

M U L T I P L E
N O M I N A T I O N S:

Some Like it Hot — 8,
North by Northwest — 7, The 400 Blows — 7, Anatomy of a Murder — 6, Ben-Hur — 6, Odds Against Tomorrow — 4, The Human Condition: Part I — 3, Imitation of Life — 3, Ivan the Terrible Part II: The Plot of the Boyars — 3, Pillow Talk — 3, Rio Bravo — 3, Black Orpheus — 2, Day of the Outlaw — 2, The Diary of Anne Frank — 2, Floating Weeds — 2, Nazarin — 2, Pory & Bess — 2, Ride Lonesome — 2

the year-end project:
2023, 2022, 2021, 2020, 2019, 2018, 2017, 2016, 2015, 2014, 2013, 2012, 2011, 2010, 2009, 2008, 2007, 2006, 2005, 2004, 2003, 2002, 2001, 2000, 1999, 1998, 1997, 1996, 1995, 1994, 1993, 1992, 1991, 1990, 1989, 1988, 1987, 1986, 1985, 1984, 1983, 1982, 1981, 1980, 1979, 1978, 1977, 1976, 1975, 1974, 1973, 1972, 1971, 1970, 1969, 1968, 1967, 1966, 1965, 1964, 1963, 1962, 1961, 1960, 1959, 1958, 1957, 1956, 1955, 1954, 1953, 1952, 1951, 1950, 1940 - 1949, 1930 - 1939, 1920 - 1929 + Superlatives Index

Best of the Decade:
2010s, 2000s, 1990s, 1980s