DTH Omnibus Page 9
Thursday March 22, 1990
Page 8 DTH Omnibus
Thursday March 22, 1990
I D LIKE TO
By Richard Smith
Senor Writer
he Oscars are some sort of
masturbatory fantasy," said
Elliot Gould back in 1969.
He was right then, and he's
right now. The Academy Awards are
designed, above all, to make the Acad
emy happy. If Academy voters can
come away feeling smart, then that
helps. If they can come away with the
notion that they made "the popular
choice," then so much the better. Like
so many of Hollywood's movies, it's
primarily a feel-good event.
Bernardo Bertolucci understood the
ironies of this self-indulgence perfectly
when his 1987 film The Last Emperor,
as foreign a film as the Academy is
ever likely to recognize, swept die board,
winning all of the nine awards for which
it was nominated. "If New York is the
Big Apple," Bertolucci said when he
won the director's award, "then to
night Hollywood is the Big Nipple."
His film had undoubtedly sucked it
dry.
Last year was a reaction against the
Bertolucci sweep. The Academy, even
in the nominations, virtually assured
that all honors would stay this side of
the Atlantic. In a foregone conclusion,
Rain Marx took the top spot, and be
came the most successful film ever to
win Best Picture, grossing an astonish
ing $170 million.
Bearing all this in mind, here are
the 1990 Oscar predictions; a noble, if
mildly pointless, attempt at leaping into
the minds of the nefarious Academy,
what it has done in the past and what
it is likely to do on Monday night. For
the most part, they are predictions of
what is most likely to happen, not nec
essarily what any of us want to happen.
Each category can be divided into
those who won't win, those who stand
a chance, and the one, given here in
bold type, who's gonna get it.
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Denzel Washington (center), was nominated for his role in 'Glory,' while Morgan
We might as well start with a tough
one in fact, this year's toughest cate
gory to call. We should dispense with
Kenneth Branagh first. He's nominated
here for his film debut in Shakespeare's
Henry V, and also nominated in the
direction category for the same film.
Without doubt, these two nominations
will be seen as reward enough.
Robin Williams stands the next least
chance. Despite the fact that his Dead
Poets Society performance was his best
yet, he will always be a comedian. To
put it simply, the Best Actor Oscar is
not for comedians.
Daniel Day Lewis, however, with a
brilliant catalogue of film performances
behind him (consider the range of his
work in My Beautiful Laundrette, Room
With a View and The Unbearable Light
ness of Being), is a more difficult man
to ignore. He has been nominated for
My Left Foot, in which he plays a fiery
Irish artist with cerebral palsy. Day
Lewis has already won a plethora of
awards for the role, but the Academy
is not the same as the New York or Los
Angeles Critics Circles and, in any
case, he has to contend with a much
more popular wheelchair-bound actor.
No, the real race is between the
two favorites for Best Picture, Born on
the Fourth of July and Driving Miss Daisy.
More specifically put, that's Morgan
Freeman and Tom Cruise.
Freeman, acclaimed by New Yorker
film critic Pauline Kael as America's
greatest actor, is nominated for the role
he created in the original off-Broadway
production of Driving Miss Daisy,
for which he won several drama awards.
The success of Miss Daisy is at least 50
percent his doing, but Freeman is not
going to win for the simple reason that
someone else will.
Despite the fact that he is so young
(usually a disadvantage), the Academy
will reward heroics over dignity and
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Tom Cruise can be expected to give
an acceptance speech. Of all the young
American actors, he has shown ability
and some daring in his choice of roles:
consider the variety, and box office
success, of Risky Business, Top Gun,
The Color of Money and last year's Rain
Man. He is thus respected in the in
dustry. This, plus the fact that in Born
on the Fourth he plays with some skill a
sportsman-turned-paraplegic war vet
eran, makes him an irresistable choice
to the same Academy so thrilled with
Dustin Hoffman's autistic savant per
formance last year.
In severe contrast . to its male
counterpart, there is simply no compe
tition in the Best Actress category. Isa
belle Adjani, nominated for the French
film CamiUe Claudel, won't win because
foreign-language actors never do.
Pauline Collins, for Shirley Valentine,
won't win because not enough people
saw her film. The same is true for Jes
sica Lange in Music Box. Michelle Pfief
fer is nominated for her steamy per
formance in the sultry Fabulous Baker
Boys, but her time has not yet come.
No, if there is any certainty regard
ing this year's awards, it's that
octogenarian Jessica Tandy will win
for her part in the great Miss Daisy
success story. It doesn't matter that the
Academy prefers age over youth; Tandy
will win because, of the nominated
bunch, she gave the best performance.
Which, one naively supposes, is ex
actly what the Oscars should be about.
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The Academy is remarkably fickle
in its approach to supporting awards.
Often they favor old actors who haven't
previously been recognized (Sean Con
nery, Peggy Ashcroft for instance).
Marlon Brando, this year's blast from
the past, has won before, most notably
for The Godfather. Brando didnt turn
Freeman (right) got one for 'Miss Daisy'
up to accept that award; instead he
sent a woman named Littlefeather to
accept it on his behalf, as a protest
against the treatment of Native Ameri
cans in the film industry. It's doubtful
that the Academy will risk a rerun of
that little number. Still, Brando's the
wild card.
Denzel Washington gets his second
Oscar nomination for his role in the
civil war epic Glory (he was nomi
nated for Cry Freedom in 1987), but
unfortunately the talented actor didn't
really stand out enough to get a win
here. Dan Aykroyd won't win either:
his nomination is more due to the suc
cess of Miss Daisy than his individual
perfonnance in the film.
The real battle here is between Do
the Right Thing's Danny Aiello and
Crimes and Misdemeanors actor Martin
Landau. Both were excellent in their
films; both are screen veterans of sorts.
Aiello's advantage is that, whereas
Landau's work was hidden amongst a
typical Woody Allen ensemble cast,
Aiello stood out as the white voice in
Spike Lee's controversial film. Martin
Landau's advantage, however, is that
he was nominated last year for Tucker:
a Man and His Dream, and this might
swing the balance for him.
Just to complicate matters, this year's
Supporting Actress list involves two
actresses who have won before. Anjelica
Huston, nominated for Enemies, a Love
Story, won in 1986 for Prize's Honor;
Dianne Wiest, nominated for Parent'
hood, won in 1987 for Hannah and Her
Sisters. They're both worthy candidates,
but are they good enough to win twice?
Brenda Fricker, brilliant in My Left
Foot, is also nominated.
The principle fight here though, is
between rising star Julia Roberts for
her sterling Steel Magnolias perform
ance, and Lena Olin for her astonish
ing work in Enemies, a Love Story.
There's no question who deserves the
role more; Olin gave the best perform
ance of any woman in any film last
year, but Roberts is undoubtedly more
"Hollywood." Despite this, it's worth
assuming, if only for this category, that
the Academy's actors know a good per
formance when they see one. Lena
Olin will win.
On to the technical and writing
awards, the area in which Best Picture
awards are traditionally won and lost.
The films most likely to win top hon
ors have to fight in these less glamor
ous categories, and the key is to notice
when certain films win awards that
they don't deserve. That is to say, films
can gather what you might call mo
mentum. If a film wins an award it
really shouldn't be winning (let's say
Driving Miss Daisy wins Costume De
sign, or Born on the Fourth of July wins
Adapted Screenplay), then that film's
chances of snatching the big one can
be seen as being greatly enhanced. In
these categories then, it's not just which
film wins, but what gets beaten to win.
Interestingly, this year the two
favorites, Miss Daisy and Born on the
Fourth, go head-to-hcad in only two
non-actinc categories (excluding Best
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Jessica Lange probably won't win
Picture), which might suggest an even
spread of honors.
Traditionally, the Academy's art
directors favor films that are sumptu
ous, epic, serious, or preferably all three
(think of Gandhi and Amadeus). This
would exclude such flights of fancy as
The Abyss, The Adventures of Baron
Munchausen and Batman, all worthy
contenders.
The battle will be fought between
Glory and Miss Daisy. Glory's advan
tage is that it is more explicitly histori
cal and has a more obvious sense of
importance about itself. Miss Daisy is a
more delicate affair altogether. How
ever, this category will be an indica
tion of Driving Miss Daisy's momen
tum, and I predict that the old girl will
be rolling.
Winning films tendto have a sense
of scope and high drama (previous win
ners include The Killing Fields and Mis
sissippi Burning) there's power in
that thar lens. This suggests that Blae
and The Fabulous Baker Boys don't pos
sess the goods, leaving Glory, Bom on
the Fourth and The Abyss to squabble
for top cat.
In terms of power and scope, Bom
on the Fourth has the edge over Glory.
The spanner in the works is The Abyss,
that extraordinary, totally pointless
foray into underwater filmmaking. Will
the Academy's photographers reward
technical wizardry? Not over Born on
the Fourth of July.
Costume-design and art-direction
awards often go hand in hand, which
suggests another win for Miss Daisy.
It's unlikely however (if Miss Daisy wins
here then there's no stopping it), for
all four other competitors featured more
noteworthy designs. Baron
mi
for her performance in 'Music Box'
Munchausen's whimsy; Harlem Nights'
twenties pizazz; Vaimont's 18th-century
style and Henry Vs 14th-century cos
tumes: who knows? Henry V might
win: it's an unusual period.
The Abyss must surely win over
The Adventures of Baron Munchausen
and Back to the Future , Part 11.
Always a tough category to figure
out. Complicating matters is that this
is the only technical category which
pits the two Best Picture favorites
against each other. Other nominated
films The Bear, The Fabulous Baker
Boys and Glory might have to take
a back seat. The difficulty is, however,
that Born on the Fourth and Miss Daisy
are as different as chalk and cheese;
the former bombastic and frenetically
paced, the latter more gentle and
smoothly flowing. Looking at the films
that have previously won this award
(Raiders of the Lost Ark and The Killing
Fields), Bom on the Fourth would seem
the likely choice. It is possible too that
neither will win. I'm voting for The
Bear.
Last year we made the mistake of
thinking that the clever cameos of
Eddie Murphy and Arsenio Hall in
Coming to America would be praised
above the malarky of Beetlejuice. So
this year, having learned the lesson, I
should ignore the seamless aging proc
esses undertaken by Jack Lemmon in
Dad, and Tandy and Freeman in Miss
Daisy, and say that this is the category
that The Adventures of Baron
Munchausen will win. Except I'm a bad
learner: Driving Miss Daisy.
No question: Alan Menken's deli
cious score for The Little Mermaid.
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No question: as sung by a crab called
Sebastian, "Under the Sea" from The
Little Mermaid.
SieslcSound'
The more complicated the film, the
harder it is to create the soundtrack.
The Abyss has the edge, so to speak.
Same thing, only different. Purely
for sentimental reasons, let's go for In
diana Jones and the Last Crusade.
A category full of unclassifiables.
Woody Allen may not win (he's won
twice before and not cared either time,
prefering to play his clarinet at
Michael's Pub, Manhattan). Spike Lee
and Steven Soderbergh, the young driv
ing forces of American film-making,
won't win because they are the young
driving forces behind American film
making. Tom Schulman might win for
his sentimental Dead Poets Society (if
he does, then look to Dead Poets to
bring about the coup of the evening).
A more likely winner would be Nora
Ephron for her dating-game comedy,
When Harry Met Sally... It contained,
of course, the most talked-about scene
of the year, and generally had audi
ences rolling in the aisles with delight
and hysteria. Ephron has one disad
vantage in the eyes of the Academy:
she's a woman. So they'll get to feel
really good about themselves for such
a bold move.
Here we go. Undoubtedly, the adap
tors of Enemies, a Love Story, Field of
Dreams and My Left Foot are going to
be lost in the wake of Bom on the
Fourth and Miss Daisy.
Oliver Stone and Ron Kovic's adap
tion of Kovic's book is an inconsistent,
muddy affair at best. The film loses the
book's more complete understanding
of why (not just how) Kovic trans
formed from being pro- to anti-Vietnam
war. It is unlikely, however, that
the Academy will have picked up the
paperback, and in any case, this is not
necessarily a category that judges the
worthiness of a screenplay against its
original source.
Even so, Alfred Uhry, Driving Miss
Daisy's writer, is a more likely winner.
His screenplay, based on his Pulitzer
prize-winning play, was a model of
stage-to-screen adaption, and will be
recognized as such.
Sadly, none or the nominated films
listed for this award have yet made it
to North Carolina. I have only seen
one of the five: the Canadian entry,
Denys Arcand's Jesus of Montreal. Ar
cand is best known for his controversial
Decline of the American Empire. Jesus of
Montreal is the story of a man who
gathers actors for a reworking of the
Passion and, true to form, the film aims
a few well-sharpened arrows at institu
tional religions. From the way the crit
? Second-Guessing The Academy Is
Never Easy, But We Tried Anyway
ics are talking, it might well win.
The favorite to win, however, is
Italy's Cinema Paradiso, a reportedly
delightful film about a village and its
movie theatre. Favorites have a knack
of losing, however (think of Au Revoir
Les Enfants and Women on the Verge of
a Nervous Breakdown), so I'm hedging
for a win for Canada and Jesus of
Montreal.
One thing is apparently certain
Denmark's run of winners (Bakette's
Feast and Pelle the Conqueror) is over:
Waltzing Regitze is not a candidate by
all accounts. The remaining nomina
tions are CamiUe Clauael, starring nomi
nee Isabelle Adjani as artist Rodin's
abused assistant, and Santigo, the Story
of His New Life, a film from Puerto
Rico.
Best Director and Best Picture have
gone to two different films on only
three occasions in over 30 years. Only
Bom on the Fourth, Dead Poets Society
and My Left Foot have been nomi
nated in both categories. That puts
otherwise favorite Miss Daisy at a dis
tinct disadvantage for top spot.
Both Henry V's Kenneth Branagh
and My Left Foot's Jim Sheridan are
first-time directors, and that's the prin
cipal reason why neither of them will
win. Woody Allen won't win because
Crimes and Misdemeanors hasn't got a
Best Picture nod, and because, as pre
viously mentioned, he really doesn't
care.
The competition is between
Australian Dead Poets director Peter
Weir who was last nominated for Wit
ness in 1985, and Bom on the Fourth's
Oliver Stone, who has won two Os
cars, the first for his Midnight Express
script in 1979 and the second for Pla
toon in 1987. There is no questioning
who has made the more important film
in the eyes of the Academy, or which
film the Academy is more likely to
recognize. After last year's Rain Man,
they will want to sink their teeth into
more substantial stuff. Oliver Stone
should pick up his third Oscar.
This is tricky. It's obvious that My
Left Foot won't win. However good it
is, it's not the Academy's right stuff. In
terms of what the Academy goes for, -the
male mysticism of Field of Dreams
probably gives it the edge over Dead
Poets Society.
Steven Spielberg, however, got it
exactly right when he said of the
Academy's choices, "History is more
weighty than popcorn." So who are we
trying to kid? We all know who the
competition's really between.
As mentioned above, Bom on the
Fourth has the advantage because these
days Best Director and Best Picture go
hand in hand. But is the three-in-30-years
statistic just waiting to be
smashed? It's possible.
The more important question then
in this feelgood-fest is; which film will
make the Academy feel most good
about itself?
Bom on the Fourth, need it be said,
is typical Best Picture stuff. It's histori
cal, heroical, popular, well-made, very
Hollywood; it features a big issue, verges
on the controversial (if it had over
stepped the mark it wouldn't stand such
a good chance); it features some star
names (Cruise, Dafoe, Berenger), it's
directed by a well-known, once-mav-erick,
now-respected director all things
the Academy loves. It's the only nomi
nated film that has any kind of gutsy,
emotional power behind it. In com
parison, all the others seem too senti
mental. To its disadvantage is that it's an
angry film: it has a rage that is disqui
eting to its audience and may have the
same effect on Academy voters.
Driving Miss Daisy may seem to be
too small for the job. It's all words and
poignant moments: no high drama or
self-importance here. It verges on com
edy at times, usually a disadvantage. It
has a minimal cast, a tiny set, little
location work. Sure, Miss Daisy is his
torical, and even comes with an under
lying race relations theme (just the
sort of thing the Academy can feel
trendy about), but it might be too subtle
for its own good. Not only this, but
Miss Daisy was made by, shock horror,
an independent company.
Herein, however, lies an interest
ing detail. Released by Warner Brothers,
Miss Daisy was made by The Zanuck
Company, a film -making group recently
formed by producers Richard and Lili
Zanuck. They may sound small on the
face of it, but it would be foolish to
that have won the
Oscar for Best
Picture, 1928-1988
1927-28 Wings
2829 Broadway Melody
29- 30 All Quiet on the Western
Front
30- 31 Cimarron
31- 32 Grand Hotel
32- 33 Cavalcade
34 It Happened One Night
35 Mutiny on the Bounty
36 The Great Zeigfield
37TiieLifeofEmileZola
38 You Can't Take It With You
39 Gone With the Wind
40 Rebecca
41 How Green Was My Valley
42 Mrs. Miniver
43 Casablanca
44 Going My Way
45 The Lost Weekend
46 The Best Years of Our lives
47 Gentlemen's Agreement
48 Hamlet
49 All the King's Men
50 AU About Eve
51 An American in Paris
52 The Greatest Show on Earth
53 From Here to Eternity
54 On the Waterfront
underestimate the influence and tal
ents of the Zanucks. Richard Zanuck,
son of legendary Hollywood giant Dar
ryl F. Zanuck, headed 20th Century
Fox when it produced such films as
The Sound of Music, Pattern and The
French Connection. Zanuck first went
independent in 1972 when he was re
sponsible for the success of, among other
films Jaws, The Stingand Cocoon. Make
no mistake, Driving Miss Daisy is no
small-fry production. More importantly,
the Academy could give it an award
and still feel they were rewarding their
own, and that, of course, is a real ad
vantage. Which will it be? Bom on the Fourth
of July probably still has the odds tipped
in its favor, but Miss Daisy is hard to
discount. Driving Miss Daisy would
be the more popular choice, and that's
why it's worth flying in the face of
odds and better judgment and predict
ing it will win.
Bear in mind that all of the theories
and opinions above could be wrong.
I'm kind of hoping that they are. An
evening's warfare between Bom on the
Fourth and Miss Daisy isn't going to be
gripping stuff exactly, especially when
so many other films should be vying
for the top spot in their stead. No, the
best reason to be watching Monday
night's extravaganza is in the hope of
an upset or two. A little spilled milk,
over which there is no use in crying, is
all we ask.
55Marty
56 Around the World in 80 Days
57 The Bridge Over the River
Kwai
58Gigi
59Ben-Hur
60 The Apartment
61 West Side Story
1 62 Lawrence of Arabia
63 Tom Jones
64 My Fair Lady
65 The Sound of Music
; 66 A Man For All Seasons
67 In the Heat of the Night
68 Oliver!
69 Midnight Cowboy
70Patton
71 The French Connection
72 The Godfather
73 The Sting
74 The Godfather, Part H
75 One Flew Over the Cuckoo's
Nest j
76 Rocky I
77 Annie Hall
78 The Deer Hunter
79 Kramer vs. Kramer ;
80 Ordinary People
81 Chariots of Fire
82 Gandhi
83 Terms of Endearment
84 Amadeus I
85 Out of Africa
86 Platoon . ;
87 The Last Emperor !
88RainMan . !