Oscar Slights

[Tommy Rocket]

Ok - new Topic. I hope I'm doing this right. Let's play a game - inspired by a discussion of this year's FAR FROM HEAVEN slight. What are your pet peeve Oscar Slights or award miscalculations? I'll start:

What comes to mind first is in the Best Actress performance category: the unbelievable 1954 debacle in which Grace Kelly for THE COUNTRY GIRL won Best Actress over Judy Garland in A STAR IS BORN, simply because the usually glamorous Princess Grace was not her usual sexy self. A good performance, admittedly - but better than Ms. G in STAR? I think not!

I'm concerned a similar slight may be repeated (though I pray not) with Julianne Moore being shut out by either Nicole Kidman (whose fake nose is akin to Grace Kelly out of Dior) or Renee Zellweger because her singing and sort-of dancing is a surprise.

Thoughts?

[dave durbin]

First one that comes to mind: Ghandi winning Best Picture over E.T. I know many who have refused to watch the Academy Awards since that fateful night. My personal outrage was Robin Williams's win over Burt Reynolds's -poor Burt Reynolds- bravura work in Boogie Nights. (Kim Basinger's award over Joan Cusack or Julianne Moore was also ludicrous.) Other notable mentions: Donna Reed over Thelma Ritter, Ginger Rogers over Bette Davis, Anne Bancroft over Bette Davis, Maggie Smith over Jane Fonda, Jane Fonda over Jill Clayburgh, Jodie Foster over Glenn Close, Julia Roberts over Ellen Burstyn (my favorite joke), Al Pacino over Denzel Washington, Lee Marvin over Rod Steiger, Henry Fonda over Burt Lancaster, Paul Scofield over Richard Burton, Robert Redford over Martin Scorsese, Warren Beatty over Spieberg or Malle, Gigi over any of the other nominees, In the Heat of the Night over Bonnie & Clyde, A Beautiful Mind over Moulin Rouge (or any of the other nominees), Ron Howard over David Lynch or Robert Altman, Franklin J. Schaffner over Robert Altman, Tony Richardson over Fellini. I could go on all day.


Most upsetting omissions: Dennis Quaid, Todd Haynes(direction), Alan Arkin

Most upsetting nominations: Queen Latifah, Renee Zellweger, Catherine Zeta-Jones, Rob Marshall

[oscar jubis]

Grand Hotel over SCARFACE
Cavalcade over KING KONG
Mutiny on the Bounty over THE 39 STEPS
Great Ziegfeld over MODERN TIMES
Gone with the Wind over THE WIZARD OF OZ
How green was my Valley over CITIZEN KANE
Mrs. Miniver over THE MAGNIFICENT AMBERSONS or SULLIVAN'S TRAVELS or THE PALM BEACH STORY
Going my Way over LAURA or DOUBLE INDEMNITY or MEET ME IN ST LOUIS
The Lost Weekend over SCARLET STREET or THEY WERE EXPENDABLE
All the King's Men over WHITE HEAT or GUN CRAZY
The Greatest Show on Earth over SINGIN' IN THE RAIN
From here to Eternity over THE BIG HEAT or SHANE
Marty over THE NIGHT OF THE HUNTER
Around the World in 80 Days over THE SEARCHERS
Gigi over TOUCH OF EVIL
Ben Hur over RIO BRAVO or SOME LIKE IT HOT
The Appartment over PSYCHO or SPARTACUS
My Fair Lady over DR STRANGELOVE
Oliver! over 2001:A SPACE ODYSSEY
Patton over 5 EASY PIECES or THE HONEYMOON KILLERS
The French Connection over WALKABOUT or McCABE and MRS. MILLER
Rocky over TAXI DRIVER or THE FRONT
Ordinary People over RAGING BULL
Chariots of Fire over REDS
Ghandhi over E.T.
Amadeus over THE KILLING FIELDS
Out of Africa over BRAZIL
Driving Miss Daisy over DO THE RIGHT THING or HENRY V
Dances with Wolves over GOODFELLAS or MILLER'S CROSSING
Forrest Gump over PULP FICTION or THE LION KING
A Beautiful Mind over MULHOLLAND DR.

[Johann]

This is real easy for me. (I'll do "best actor" for now)

Earned it (from the 60's up):

Marlon Brando, Gene Hackman, Jack Nicholson, Rod Steiger, Sidney Poitier, George C. Scott, Lee Marvin, John Wayne (although he IS debatable), Robert DeNiro, F. Murray Abraham, Clark Gable, Dustin Hoffman, Daniel-Day Lewis, Al Pacino, Kevin Spacey, Anthony Hopkins, Jeremy Irons, Geoffry Rush, Roberto Benigni, Robert Duvall and Michael Douglas.

Who should have one by now:

Sean Penn, Johnny Depp, Ed Norton, Leonardo DiCaprio, Jim Carrey, Tom Cruise, Philip Stone, Klaus Kinski, Gerard Depardieu, Marcello Mastroianni, James Woods, Forest Whittaker, Toshiro Mifune (arguably the greatest actor of them all), John Leguizamo, John Turturro, Oliver Reed, Martin Sheen, Donald Sutherland,

ah, forget it the list is fucking endless.........

[Tommy Rocket]

Love all the Oscar knowledge. Some thoughts:

Dave - should I do the research or will you tell us the films [or at least give us a hint with the years] of your performance pet peeves? Yeah Julia Roberts over Ellen Burstyn is pretty ridiculous. And re: GIGI. Right? How ludicrous is that? It's as bad as MY FAIR LADY, DRIVING MISS DAISY, OLIVER and THE GREATEST SHOW ON EARTH taking home the statuette.

Oscar - my only disagreements with you: ORDINARY PEOPLE really hits me hard. Sadly, Robert Redford's best directing work. With a fine screenplay and stunning performances all around (especially from the underappreciated and, may I point out another slight, overlooked Donald Sutherland). A very different kind of film from RAGING BULL, but equally hard hitting. (Can I take a moment to point out the shameless similarity between ORDINARY PEOPLE and 1997's Best Original Screenplay - GOOD WILL HUNTING????? Did anyone tell Ben Affleck and Matt Damon that they robbed OP for their plot??) I digress - though GONE WITH THE WIND is a big soap opera, it is pretty fabulous - though I can't necessarily say it deserved the Oscar over WIZ OF OZ. It's a tough choice for me. But THE GREATEST SHOW ON EARTH (*yawner*), And OUT OF AFRICA (another big yawn). And what's with MARTY over THE NIGHT OF THE HUNTER? Sometimes Oscar likes these films that take the place of my sleeping pills. And let's not even mention AROUND THE WORLD... what an embarrassement to the Academy!

Johann - ok - enjoyed reading your list of Earned It and Deserve It. But whooo boy do I disagree with most of them. JOHN WAYNE? eek! TOM CRUISE???? Toshiro Mifune, however, is super-fab. One of the greats. His work in THRONE OF BLOOD makes my blood run deliciously cold - but would he have ever been eligible for an Oscar? What ARE the rules on foreign film stars?

My greatest argument with film fans - SHAKESPEARE IN LOVE, with its brilliant screenplay, gorgeous art direction, sumptuous costumes, excellent performances, subtle direction and (again) brilliant screenplay, certainly deserved the Oscar over the hackneyed SAVING PRIVATE RYAN. (And Dame Judi stole me away with her 8 minutes of screen time in a role that could have been a throwaway bit. She turned it out!!!)

[Tommy Rocket]

oh - and did anyone mention
Song of Bernadette over CASABLANCA??

[oscar jubis]

Originally posted by Tommy Rocket
oh - and did anyone mention
Song of Bernadette over CASABLANCA??
Casablanca beat Song of Bernadette for Best Picture of 1943. Do you mean Jennifer Jones as Bernadette beating Ingrid Bergman(who was actually nominated for her performance in For Whom the Bell Tolls)?

[oscar jubis]

Johann, thanks again for sharing your knowledge and joie de vivre. It is INCONCEIVABLE that Marcello and Toshiro never won. Sean Penn will win one day. He's had 3 Oscar and 3 Golden Globe noms but no wins. I can't wait to see him in 21 Grams(from the director of Amores Perros!) and Clint Eastwood's Mystic River (with senores Robbins and Bacon).

Tommy: Academy rules allow nomination of actors appearing in foreign-language films. It has happened many times. Max Von Sydow in Pelle the Conqueror, Isabelle Adjani in Camille Claudel, Gerard Depardieu in Cyrano, Massimo Troisi in The Postman,etc. Ordinary People is very good but Goodfellas came out on top of many Best of the 80s crits' and buffs' lists. It has aged like vintage Bordeux. OP is also worthy though. Lastly, I like Shakespeare in Love too. It's just that the battle scenes in Saving Pvt. Ryan achieved iconic status. The Normandy Invasion scene will forever remain, in my estimation, the collective image of WWII for future generations of Americans.

[Tommy Rocket]

Oscar - thanks for the correction on that 1943 win. Can you imagine that for years I had been under the mistaken impression that SONG OF BERNADETTE was the winner that year - oy- What a dunce! And I've been stewing about it. (Also good to know about foreign actors with Oscar noms.) Consider me the baby of the group - and just slap me when I'm wrong. I'm loving all the information everyone seems to have at their fingertips. Yeah, GOODFELLAS and RAGING BULL are definitely among Scorsese's best (along with my personal fave, TAXI DRIVER). Re: PRIVATE RYAN - those opening battles are eye-popping for the clarity of the story-telling and technical achievements - it is only the remaining 150 minutes which suffer.

Johann or Oscar - was Mifune ever nominated here? And where could I find out? Tangentally, though I'm exceptionally fond of Sir Alec G as Obi-Wan, I wonder what Mifune's performance would have been like.

T-bird

[oscar jubis]

Although he was never nominated for an Oscar, two films starring T.M. were given Oscars prior to the Academy bestowing a yearly foreign-language film award in 1956: Kurosawa's RASHOMON and Inagaki's SAMURAI aka Legend of Musashi. Mifune was nominated for best actor by the Brit Academy. He lost for his performance in 7 SAMURAI. Finally he won best actor award( twice) at Venice for YOJIMBO and RED BEARD. Mifune's place in the pantheon is assured by the wide availability of his major performances on high quality DVD(the Criterions are pricey but gorgeous, the Mei Ah and other budget releases are quite decent).

[Tommy Rocket]

Oscar - The Criterion DVD releases are prohibitively expensive for someone in my position, but fantastic nonetheless. Finally saw BLACK NARCISSUS for the first time in the Criterion release. Fantastic, strange, wonderful, gorgeous film. With really great documentary excerpts about Jack Cardiff.

But back to Mifune and Kurosawa - still waiting for THRONE OF BLOOD to be released and adding it to my wish list. Kurosawa is consistently gripping, but I think I've only seen the famous ones - RAN, RASHOMON, SEVEN SAMURAI, etc.

[dave durbin]

Tommy -boy!

Ginger Rogers for KITTY FOYLE over Bette Davis in THE LETTER
Jodie Foster for THE ACCUSED over Glenn Close in DANGEROUS LIASIONS
Jodie Foster for SILENCE OF THE LAMBS over Susan Sarandon in THELMA & LOUISE
Maggie Smith in THE PRIME OF MISS JEAN BRODIE over Jane Fonda in THEY SHOOT HORSES, DON"T THEY?
Jane Fonda in COMING HOME over Jill Clayburgh in AN UNMARRIED WOMAN
Henry Fonda in ON GOLDEN POND over Burt Lancaster in ATLANTIC CITY
Al Pacino in SCENT OF A WOMAN over Denzel Washington in MALCOLM X
Donna Reed in FROM HERE TO ETERNITY over Thelma Ritter in PICKUP ON SOUTH STREET(essential viewing by the way)

Anne Bancroft in MIRACLE WORKER over Bette Davis in WHATEVER HAPPENED TO BABY JANE?
Katherine Hepburn in GUESS WHO'S COMING TO DINNER? over Anne Bancroft in THE GRADUATE
Lee Marvin in CAT BALLOU over Rod Steiger in THE PAWNBROKER (!)
Paul Scofield in A MAN FOR ALL SEASONS over Richard Burton in WHO'S AFRAID OF VIRGINIA WOOLF?


I don't have much luck with movies that ask questions in their titles.