Sunday February 22, 2009
Oscar omissions
Compiled by Joseph Raj
THE 81st edition of the Academy Awards will be beamed live worldwide from the Kodak Theater in Los Angeles on Sunday night (Monday morning Malaysian time).
As like every year, the who’s who of Hollywood will be in attendance, gracing the red carpet first, bedecked in all their finery as their fans gather to cheer them.
But as with all awards, the Academy Awards or Oscars (as the event is often referred to) has not necessarily honoured the best-of-the-best. As a matter of fact, there are numerous occasions where movies and stars were said to have been “robbed of” the recognition they deserved.
According to http://www.filmsite.org/oscars.html, “like any other awards, recognition, or best lists, the top nominees and winners do not necessarily reflect or objectively measure the greatest that cinematic history has to offer”.
“The establishment of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (and its awards system) has had a major effect and influence on the film industry, due to the enormous boost a nomination or award (for a film or actor) creates, by giving prestige and bottom-line profits to a studio or performer.
“The Academy has, with limited success, tried to limit the influences of pressure groups and promotion, box office gross receipts, and studio public relations and marketing on voting results.
“It has also attempted to limit votes for melodramatic sentimentality, atonement for past mistakes, personal popularity, and prestige or epic scale, but those influences have often had a decided effect upon the outcome of some of the poll results.
“Unfortunately, the critical worth, artistic vision, cultural influence, and innovative qualities of many films are not given the same voting weight. Especially since the 80s, moneymaking ‘formula-made’ blockbusters with glossy production values have often been crowd-pleasing titans (and Best Picture winners), but they haven’t necessarily been great films with depth or critical acclaim by any measure,” it adds.
According to the site, among the great films that did not get even one Academy Award nomination were King Kong (1933), The Postman Always Rings Twice (1946), The Wild One (1953), The Misfits (1961), Dirty Harry (1971), and Play It Again, Sam (1972).
“The greatest and most famous classic adventure-fantasy (and part-horror) film of all time is King Kong. But this remarkable film received no Academy Awards nomination.
“It contained many revolutionary technical innovations for its time (rear projection, miniature models about 18 inches in height, trick photography, etc), and some of the most phenomenal stop-motion animation sequences and special effects ever filmed.
“The Postman Always Rings Twice is one of the best film noirs of all time – and one of the earliest prototypes of today’s ‘erotic thrillers’.
“This fatalistic film from director Tay Garnett is best known for one of the hottest portrayals of a sultry and seductive femme fatale – it is one of Lana Turner’s finest performances.
“Dirty Harry (portrayed by steely-eyed Clint Eastwood in a career-boosting role) is a seminal vigilante film of the decade, along with The French Connection (1971), the UK’s Get Carter (1971), Death Wish (1974) featuring a vengeful Charles Bronson, Walking Tall (1973), The Seven-Ups (1973), and the Australian film Mad Max (1979) with Mel Gibson.
“Countless other cop-action films have been made to copy this original law-and-order film that was one of the first to appear on movie screens. However, the influential film received no Academy Awards nomination,” the site says.
There were also great films that were nominated for Academy Awards but failed to pick up any Oscars. Among them was Rebel Without A Cause (1953).
“The colourful wide-screen Cinemascope feature is most remembered for being the film that best presented the talent of young charismatic cult star James Dean, shortly before his premature death in 1955.
“The film received only three Academy Awards nominations (without wins): Best Supporting Actor (Sal Mineo), Best Supporting Actress (Natalie Wood), and Best Motion Picture Story (Nicholas Ray).
“Ironically, Dean was not nominated for his role in this film (although it eventually became his iconic career role),” it adds.
The site also has a list of great actors and actresses who never had the pride of displaying an Oscar on their mantelpieces. Among them are Robert Redford, Mickey Rooney, Cary Grant, Steve McQueen, and Peter O’Toole, who actually failed to win despite being nominated eight times!
Among the actresses who bombed at the Oscars although they were huge box office hits were screen legends like Ava Gardner, Greta Garbo, Judy Garland, Deborah Kerr and Lana Turner.
Kate Winslet is also in the list (no wins despite five nominations) but bookmakers believe that her drought at the Academy Awards would end this time around.
It is perhaps because of these “misses and omissions” that the Academy Awards are said to be losing some glitter.
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