Overlooked by Oscar?
Robert Osborne, host of Turner Classic Movies and Oscarologist extraordinaire (he's author of "80 Years of Oscar") would NOT like to thank the members of the Academy for some of their more glaring oversights.
Overlooked by Oscar?
Carrie Rickey, Film Critic
Robert Osborne, host of Turner Classic Movies and Oscarologist extraordinaire (he's author of "80 Years of Oscar") would NOT like to thank the members of the Academy for some of their more glaring oversights.
More than 68 years after the fact, he still can't believe that in 1940 Henry Fonda was passed over for best actor in "The Grapes of Wrath" -- "I can't think of a better screen performance in the 1940s, can you?" -- in favor of James Stewart in "The Philadelphia Story." But then, he says by phone from his New York apartment today, Jimmy Stewart's performance the prior year in "Mr. Smith Goes to Washington" was passed over in favor of Robert Donat's in "Goodbye, Mr. Chips."
Of the best-picture contenders who were robbed, Osborne believes that the most egregious year was 1951 when "An American in Paris" edged out "A Place in the Sun" and "A Streetcar Named Desire." So embarassed was "Paris" ' studio, M-G-M, says Osborne, "That it took out an advertisement showing its shamefaced mascot, Leo the Lion, confessing, "Honestly, we were just standing in the Sun waiting for a Streetcar."
Osborne has a theory as to why some of the most beloved Hollywood figures -- including Fred Astaire, Charlie Chaplin, Greta Garbo, Alfred Hitchcock and Barbara Stanwyck -- never won competitive Oscars. "They were always so good. Often, the ones who win have often been mediocre and are honored when they surpass themselves."
Not only does Osborne's convivial Oscar chat anticipate Thursday's announcement of the Academy Award nominations, it also anticipates TCM's "31 Days of Oscar," its annual monthlong program devoted to movies that either were nominated for or won statuettes. "31 Days" begins on February 1 and will mark the TCM premieres of nominees that include "Carnal Knowledge" (1971), "Boyz N the Hood" (1991) and "Bugsy" (same year).
Your nominations for the movies, actor, actress or director that got robbed?
Catherine Zete Jones....ridiculous pick for a few minutes of dancing.— Constance- Catherine Zeta Jones....ridiculous pick for a few minutes of dancing.— Constance
- Catherine Zeta Jones....ridiculous pick for a few minutes of dancing.— Constance
Comment removed.- John, "Four Little Girls," Spike Lee's account of Birmingham Sunday and its casualties, is one of the greatest documentaries ever. No one remembers the movie it lost to, but everyone remembers "Four Little Girls."— carrierickey
- "competitive Oscars" is the problem. When we try to make art a competitive sport we will always fail. What are we looking at when we view a film, is it quantity or quality? If we are talking about quality we find that there are just too many to measure so we end up talking about quantity. Which is the best picture? Impossible to answer. There are so many different Oscars because there are so many qualities but when we wonder why our favorite film was not chosen the answer to that is likely found in what quality we value.— jimf
- I'm tired of the recent trend of acting awards nominated and won that are merely impersonations of actual people. Ray Charles, Harvey Milk, Queen Elizabeth, Nixon, Idi Amin, Malcolm X, Hurricane Carter. The list goes on. Whatever happened to actors bringing life to original characters? Nowadays, it's study the subject's mannerisms and speech and get nominated.— brio
- Tommy Lee Jones, for The Fugitive, over Ralph Fiennes in Schindler's List. I mean, really, come on...— drewc74
- I take your point, Brio, but I think Helen Mirren was mighty fine in "The Queen," likewise Jamie Foxx as Ray Charles and decidedly Sean Penn as Harvey Milk. These performances go beyond impersonation and verge on the spiritual embodiment.— carrierickey
- The worst "Overlooked by Oscar" for me is James Cagney not winning - not even being nominated, if I remember correctly - for "White Heat." In a larger sense, the fact that comedy performances and movies virtually never win is the most frustrating chronic failing of Oscar.— wwolfe
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