Bob Banka
Grip
- Joined
- Jun 30, 1997
- Messages
- 17
In conversations with some freinds, as well as posts on forums on the Net, I'm occasionally suprised by how much faith folks put into the Academy Awards - both winners and nominations.
Yes, it's a lot of fun to watch the ceremony every year and see all the actors, directors and so on under one roof and sharing the stage, but the meaning of the awards themselves is very little with respect to how good a film was when compared to others nominated, or how good a performance was when compared to others nominated. Quite often, those who win are those who played the right kind of role in the right kind of movie at the right time of the year - and in a film with a theme that suits the movie industry's desired image at the time.
Of course, Adrien Brody was going to take the Oscar over Daniel Day-Lewis last year. No shock. True, both performances were very good, but when one compares the effort required to play the characters, and be beievable on screen, Day-Lewis clearly had the more challenging role. It's not really a question of which actor was most believable - they both were. For me, it's a question of who had the most difficult part to play. Day-Lewis - hands down.
I'm not trying to imply that the awards always go to less deserving performances, but at least as often as the do - they do not.
Other examples:
Robert DeNiro lost to Peter Finch for Best Actor in 1976. His Travis Bickle was not the type of character one honors with Oscars. Finch's nomination was posthumous. Who doubted he would get the Oscar instead. Fine work in NETWORK to be sure - but DeNiro's Travis clearly was the more difficult and brilliant performance.
Also on 1976 - Best Picture went to ROCKY. Now that's the type of feature the Oscars love to had the big prize to. ROCKY beat out TAXI DRIVER, as well as ALL THE PRESISENTS MEN, NETWORK and BOUND FOR GLORY. And best director went to John Avildsen for ROCKY. Martin Scorsese didn't even rate a nomination for TAXI DRIVER!
Martin Scorsese & Alfred Hitchcock never won Oscars, yet John Avildsen did! So did... excuse me - Kim Basinger. Oh my... and she won over Julianne Moore's stupendous work in BOOGIE NIGHTS.
Al Pacino was never "honored" with an Oscar for his work in the first two GODFATHER films. He lost to Joel Grey in CABARET, and Art Carney in HARRY AND TONTO. Instead he finally got a statue for SCENT OF A WOMAN - of course he did, he played a blind man! He just HAD to get the Oscar that year.
And Paul Newman - a great actor virtually incapable of a poor performance was passed over for his fine work in THE VERDICT, and then almost as an apology, he got the Oscar for his work in THE COLOR OF MONEY - one of his weakest perfomances to date, IMHO.
Excellent work was done by Russell Crowe in THE INSIDER, ROMPER STOMPER, L.A. CONFIDENTIAL and A BEAUTIFUL MIND. But did he get an Oscar for this work? Well, of course not. Instead he got "honored" for his comparitively simple work in GLADIATOR. Ugh!
The list goes on and on...
Ultimately all the Oscars do is up the asking prices for actors and directors when they begin signing contracts for new films after the night of the ceremony. Oh sure, they also - sometimes - bring people out to see a few movies they may have missed prior to the awards ceremony. That's it.
BB
Yes, it's a lot of fun to watch the ceremony every year and see all the actors, directors and so on under one roof and sharing the stage, but the meaning of the awards themselves is very little with respect to how good a film was when compared to others nominated, or how good a performance was when compared to others nominated. Quite often, those who win are those who played the right kind of role in the right kind of movie at the right time of the year - and in a film with a theme that suits the movie industry's desired image at the time.
Of course, Adrien Brody was going to take the Oscar over Daniel Day-Lewis last year. No shock. True, both performances were very good, but when one compares the effort required to play the characters, and be beievable on screen, Day-Lewis clearly had the more challenging role. It's not really a question of which actor was most believable - they both were. For me, it's a question of who had the most difficult part to play. Day-Lewis - hands down.
I'm not trying to imply that the awards always go to less deserving performances, but at least as often as the do - they do not.
Other examples:
Robert DeNiro lost to Peter Finch for Best Actor in 1976. His Travis Bickle was not the type of character one honors with Oscars. Finch's nomination was posthumous. Who doubted he would get the Oscar instead. Fine work in NETWORK to be sure - but DeNiro's Travis clearly was the more difficult and brilliant performance.
Also on 1976 - Best Picture went to ROCKY. Now that's the type of feature the Oscars love to had the big prize to. ROCKY beat out TAXI DRIVER, as well as ALL THE PRESISENTS MEN, NETWORK and BOUND FOR GLORY. And best director went to John Avildsen for ROCKY. Martin Scorsese didn't even rate a nomination for TAXI DRIVER!
Martin Scorsese & Alfred Hitchcock never won Oscars, yet John Avildsen did! So did... excuse me - Kim Basinger. Oh my... and she won over Julianne Moore's stupendous work in BOOGIE NIGHTS.
Al Pacino was never "honored" with an Oscar for his work in the first two GODFATHER films. He lost to Joel Grey in CABARET, and Art Carney in HARRY AND TONTO. Instead he finally got a statue for SCENT OF A WOMAN - of course he did, he played a blind man! He just HAD to get the Oscar that year.
And Paul Newman - a great actor virtually incapable of a poor performance was passed over for his fine work in THE VERDICT, and then almost as an apology, he got the Oscar for his work in THE COLOR OF MONEY - one of his weakest perfomances to date, IMHO.
Excellent work was done by Russell Crowe in THE INSIDER, ROMPER STOMPER, L.A. CONFIDENTIAL and A BEAUTIFUL MIND. But did he get an Oscar for this work? Well, of course not. Instead he got "honored" for his comparitively simple work in GLADIATOR. Ugh!
The list goes on and on...
Ultimately all the Oscars do is up the asking prices for actors and directors when they begin signing contracts for new films after the night of the ceremony. Oh sure, they also - sometimes - bring people out to see a few movies they may have missed prior to the awards ceremony. That's it.
BB