thedrifter
02-13-06, 06:50 AM
Academy Awards: No Laughing Matter
Written by Burt Prelutsky
Monday, February 13, 2006
It is once again that time of the year when people start yakking about the Academy Awards. The contenders for most of the top prizes include “Brokeback Mountain,” “Capote,” “Munich,” “Crash,” and “Good Night, and Good Luck.” As is nearly always the case with the Oscar contenders, the one thing all these movies have in common is that they take themselves as seriously as the Academy members take themselves.
Even though they’ve been handing out these golden statuettes for nearly 80 years, only a small handful of comedies has ever won for Best Picture, and that holds true even if you stretch the definition of comedy to include the likes of “All About Eve,” “Marty,” and “The Apartment.”
When it comes to the actors and actresses, those who have been cast in comedies have fared even worse. You stood a better chance of copping an Oscar if you played a mute than if you made us laugh.
Now I know that people don’t always agree about what’s amusing, but doesn’t it strike you as odd that Ginger Rogers was never even nominated for “The Major and the Minor,” “Bachelor Mother” or any of the classics she made with Fred Astaire, but as soon as she made the tear-jerker, “Kitty Foyle,” they couldn’t wait to hand her an Oscar?
Steve Martin, one of the finest physical comedians to make movies since the hey-day of Harold Lloyd and Buster Keaton, has never even been nominated.
It’s true that Cary Grant was the recipient of two nominations, but the Academy, in its infinite stupidity, nominated him for dramatic roles that any number of people could have done better, but never for any of those urbane performances that nobody has ever done as well.
Spencer Tracy won two Oscars, but, naturally, they were for playing a priest and a Portuguese fisherman, not, God forbid, for any of the delightful comedies he made with Katharine Hepburn.
Even more amazingly, Hepburn, who was nominated a dozen different times, winning on four occasions, never went home a winner for a comic performance.
Writers and directors fare no better. Although there is general agreement that in the five years beginning in 1940, Preston Sturges wrote and directed half a dozen of the funniest movies ever made, not one of them was nominated, even though back then the Academy nominated, not just five movies a year, but ten.
In spite of the fact that movie fans of a certain age look back fondly on the screwball comedies of the 30s, none of the female screwballs--Jean Arthur, Irene Dunne or Carole Lombard--ever won an Academy Award.
Things haven’t improved since then. It’s not possible that I’m the only person who can’t imagine how it is that Joe Pesci wasn’t nominated for “My Cousin Vinny,” Charles Grodin for “Midnight Run” or Albert Brooks for “Defending Your Life” or “Lost in America.” Where was the nomination for Vince Vaughn in “Swingers,” Jeff Goldblum in “The Tall Guy” or Christopher Guest in “Waiting for Guffman”? How is it possible that both Reese Witherspoon and Matthew Broderick were overlooked for “Election”? And why is it that Robert DeNiro, who gets nominated just for rolling out of bed in the morning, didn’t get a nod for either “Midnight Run” or “Meet the Parents”?
To give you one final example of how biased Hollywood is when it comes to things comical, in 1993, when Marisa Tomei deservedly won a Best Supporting Actress Oscar for her brilliant performance in the hilarious “My Cousin Vinny,” people were aghast. How could she have possibly beaten out the likes of Vanessa Redgrave, Joan Plowright, Judy Davis, and Miranda Richardson? Not only were those ladies known for making audiences gulp, gasp, and weep, but they were also foreign-born.
So, while I was sitting home, thinking that the Academy voters had gotten it right for once, the rumor immediately began circulating that presenter Jack Palance, a notorious scamp, had read off Tomei’s name as a practical joke.
Even though Academy officials rushed forward to assure the world that Ms. Tomei was the honest-to-goodness winner, to this day the doubts remain.
I can only imagine that the members of the Academy who voted for her figured that for once they’d go with their heart, assuming they could count on their colleagues to do the right thing, and keep them from being held up as, of all things, a laughing stock.
About the Writer: Burt Prelutsky is a humorist, movie reviewer, writer for television series and movies, and author of the new book, "Conservatives Are From Mars, Liberals Are From San Francisco." His website is at burtprelutsky.com. Burt receives e-mail at BurtPrelutsky@aol.com.
Ellie
Written by Burt Prelutsky
Monday, February 13, 2006
It is once again that time of the year when people start yakking about the Academy Awards. The contenders for most of the top prizes include “Brokeback Mountain,” “Capote,” “Munich,” “Crash,” and “Good Night, and Good Luck.” As is nearly always the case with the Oscar contenders, the one thing all these movies have in common is that they take themselves as seriously as the Academy members take themselves.
Even though they’ve been handing out these golden statuettes for nearly 80 years, only a small handful of comedies has ever won for Best Picture, and that holds true even if you stretch the definition of comedy to include the likes of “All About Eve,” “Marty,” and “The Apartment.”
When it comes to the actors and actresses, those who have been cast in comedies have fared even worse. You stood a better chance of copping an Oscar if you played a mute than if you made us laugh.
Now I know that people don’t always agree about what’s amusing, but doesn’t it strike you as odd that Ginger Rogers was never even nominated for “The Major and the Minor,” “Bachelor Mother” or any of the classics she made with Fred Astaire, but as soon as she made the tear-jerker, “Kitty Foyle,” they couldn’t wait to hand her an Oscar?
Steve Martin, one of the finest physical comedians to make movies since the hey-day of Harold Lloyd and Buster Keaton, has never even been nominated.
It’s true that Cary Grant was the recipient of two nominations, but the Academy, in its infinite stupidity, nominated him for dramatic roles that any number of people could have done better, but never for any of those urbane performances that nobody has ever done as well.
Spencer Tracy won two Oscars, but, naturally, they were for playing a priest and a Portuguese fisherman, not, God forbid, for any of the delightful comedies he made with Katharine Hepburn.
Even more amazingly, Hepburn, who was nominated a dozen different times, winning on four occasions, never went home a winner for a comic performance.
Writers and directors fare no better. Although there is general agreement that in the five years beginning in 1940, Preston Sturges wrote and directed half a dozen of the funniest movies ever made, not one of them was nominated, even though back then the Academy nominated, not just five movies a year, but ten.
In spite of the fact that movie fans of a certain age look back fondly on the screwball comedies of the 30s, none of the female screwballs--Jean Arthur, Irene Dunne or Carole Lombard--ever won an Academy Award.
Things haven’t improved since then. It’s not possible that I’m the only person who can’t imagine how it is that Joe Pesci wasn’t nominated for “My Cousin Vinny,” Charles Grodin for “Midnight Run” or Albert Brooks for “Defending Your Life” or “Lost in America.” Where was the nomination for Vince Vaughn in “Swingers,” Jeff Goldblum in “The Tall Guy” or Christopher Guest in “Waiting for Guffman”? How is it possible that both Reese Witherspoon and Matthew Broderick were overlooked for “Election”? And why is it that Robert DeNiro, who gets nominated just for rolling out of bed in the morning, didn’t get a nod for either “Midnight Run” or “Meet the Parents”?
To give you one final example of how biased Hollywood is when it comes to things comical, in 1993, when Marisa Tomei deservedly won a Best Supporting Actress Oscar for her brilliant performance in the hilarious “My Cousin Vinny,” people were aghast. How could she have possibly beaten out the likes of Vanessa Redgrave, Joan Plowright, Judy Davis, and Miranda Richardson? Not only were those ladies known for making audiences gulp, gasp, and weep, but they were also foreign-born.
So, while I was sitting home, thinking that the Academy voters had gotten it right for once, the rumor immediately began circulating that presenter Jack Palance, a notorious scamp, had read off Tomei’s name as a practical joke.
Even though Academy officials rushed forward to assure the world that Ms. Tomei was the honest-to-goodness winner, to this day the doubts remain.
I can only imagine that the members of the Academy who voted for her figured that for once they’d go with their heart, assuming they could count on their colleagues to do the right thing, and keep them from being held up as, of all things, a laughing stock.
About the Writer: Burt Prelutsky is a humorist, movie reviewer, writer for television series and movies, and author of the new book, "Conservatives Are From Mars, Liberals Are From San Francisco." His website is at burtprelutsky.com. Burt receives e-mail at BurtPrelutsky@aol.com.
Ellie