8DTHOmnibusThursday, March 23, 1989
Dean, Smith make predictions for this year's Oscars
By RICHARD SS.HTH
and jaj.:-s dean
Staff Writers
Next Wednesday, the great
cinematic ceremony of the year
will be upon us again. The Academy
Awards will grace the screens of
millions of television sets through
out the free world. Your friendly
film critics have once again put
their heads together in an
attempt to make some sense of
the nominations and predict the
winners.
In each category, our predicted
winner is in bold type.
Though there will be no clean
sweep this year in the manner of
last year's last Emperor," each
category can, as usual, be divided
into those who may win and those
who simply wont.
BEST ACTOR
The wonts in this category are
Max von Sydow and Edward
James Olmos. Sydow receives a
nod for "Pelie the Conqueror" in
the same spirit as Marcelio Mas
troianni did last year for "Dark
Eyes." An actor in a foreign lan
guage film just does not win,
however brilliant the perfor
mance may be. Oimos's out-of -the-blue
nomination for "Stand and
Deliver," while not undeserving,
also stands little chance, in a less
competitive year, the award could
have gone to Gene Hackman for
his most memorable performance
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Dean Stockwell (above) was
in years in "Mississippi Burning."
(Hackman, of course, won Best
Actor back in 1 971 for "The French
Connection.")
This , year's underdog is the
youthful Tom Hanks, who receives
a worthy nomination for the
summer hit comedy, "Big." in
Hanks's favor is his equally good
performance in a more dramatic
role in "Punchline." Last year's
recipient Michael Douglas won for
"Wall Street." but his "Fatal Attrac
tion" role undoubtedly helped, the
same could work for Hanks. The
clear favorite, however, is Dustln
Hoffman, whose virtuoso perfor
mance as the autistic savant in
"Rain Man" is just the stuff for
which Oscars are made. Should he
win, it would be his second after
winning in 1979 for "Kramer vs.
Kramer."
BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR
Clearly there was a major lack
of supporting "roles for men in
1988, if the nominations are any
thing to go by. It's hard to even
remember what role Martin Lan
dau played in "Tucker: The Man and
His Dream." The still-pubescent
River Phoenix, who showed great
promise in "Stand by Me" and "The
Mosquito Coast," receives a nom
ination for the largely unseen
"Running on Empty." He might
have stood a chance, had the film
been successful. Dean stockwell
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one of the few capable Supporting Actors of 1988; Mira Nair's "Salaam Bombay!" (right) is in the
obviously had a good time with
his Mafia king role in "Married to
the Mob," but his character never
rose above the level of a carica
ture. Kevin Kline had even more
fun as the zany American in "A Fish
Called Wanda' although his perfor-.
mance verged on the irritating, his
comic talent was a revelation to
many and may be enough to
swing the vote.
But the Academy, for reasons
best known to itself, has always
favored veteran British actors in
supporting roles, in the past three
years Peggy Ashcroft, Michael
Caine, and Sean Connery have all
won Supporting Oscars, and in this
manner Alec Guinness is likely to
continue the tradition for his role
in the seven-hour Dickensian epic,
"Little Dorrit," particularly with
the lack of competition.
BEST ACTRESS
Definitely the hardest category
to call. Meryl Streep's performance
in "A Cry in the Dark" stands out
as last year's best, but it is too
unglamorous a role in too small a
film. And there's always the feeling
that shell probably win next year,
in a more typically Streepian role,
Sigourney Weaver put in her most
assertive work to date as anthro
pologist Dian Fossey in "Gorillas in
the Mist." She is, however, more
likely to win in the Supporting
Actress category where the com
petition is weaker. Melanie Griffith
is undoubtedly the current media
darling (remarriage to Don John
son, pregnant, etc.,), but her role
in "Working Girl," while worthy, is
unlikely to clinch the award.
More likely is Glenn Close for
"Dangerous Liaisons." She so
obviously wanted to win last year
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for "Fatal Attraction," and her
deliciously spiteful performance
this year has its many admirers.
But Jodie Foster gave the most
startling performance of the year
as the rape victim in "The
Accused." The unexpected quality
of her portrayal, in such a difficult
role, transcends all the others, and
with a little justice she should win.
BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS
It is almost as difficult to pick
a clear winner in this category,
which may be due to the youth
fulness of the nominees. Joan
Cusack certainly gets Best Hair
style for "Working Girl," but along
. with Frances McDormand in "Mis
sissippi Burning," stands little
chance. Michelle Pfeiffer had a
great year. After "Married to the
Mob" and "Tequila Sunrise," she
gave her most accomplished per
formance in "Dangerous Liaisons;"
the role, however, may not be
outstanding enough.
Geena Davis certainly stood out
as the quirky dog trainer of "The
Accidental Tourist." The eccentric
ity of her character though, while
a delight, may be the reason she
doesn't win. Double nominee
Sigourney Weaver's supremely
confident portrayal of the high
flying New York executive in
"Working Girl" gives her the edge.
Jessica Lange was nominated for
"Tootsie" and "Frances" in 1982,
and won for the lighter of the two
roles,- weaver will probably do the
same.
BEST CINEMATOGRAPHY
Although it's difficult to discard
"Roger Rabbit." the competition is
between Bergman cinemato
grapher Sven Nykvist for his work
on the undernominated "The
"".. .
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Unbearable Lightness of Being,"
John Seale's beautiful photo
graphy for "Rain Man" and Peter
Biziou for his effective work in
"Mississippi Burning." The Academy
usually favors American cinemato
graphers, however, and John
Seale should probably win over
Biziou.
BEST COSTUMES
The only reason that James
Acheson might not win for "Dan
gerous Liaisons" is because he won
last year for "The Last Emperor."
BEST VISUAL EFFECTS
No competition. The "Roger
Rabbit" team.
BEST EDITING and SOUND
Anyone's guess.
BEST ART DIRECTION
Of the nominations, only
"Tucker," "Dangerous Liaisons" and
"Roger Rabbit" stand out for their
art and set decoration. All three
are period pieces, but "Tucker"
owes its authenticity to its art
direction more than the others,
which should be enough to win.
MAKEUP
The Academy usually goes for
big makeup jobs, in which case
"Beetlejuice" would win over
"Scrooged." In "Coming to Amer
ica," however, Eddie Murphy and
Arsenio Hall's disguised cameos
demonstrated a more subtle side
to the art, which may get make
up wiz Rick Baker another Oscar
for a dubious film after last year's
"Harry and the Hendersons."
BEST ORIGINAL SONG
Terrible songs always win
Oscars, so Bob Telson's haunting
n
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Best Foreign Film category.