Finding what Oscar got wrong is far easier, as it turns out, than finding what Oscar got right. Every once in a while a performance comes along that is so utterly perfect the Oscar cannot be denied. It isn’t just because the performance is good; the person has to be known well enough to recognize how good the performance is. The combination of love for a performer and their work can sometimes rise to a point where their recognition is undeniable. Recently, that was Helen Mirren in The Queen. But another one that has stood the test of time and remains undeniable is Shirley MacLaine in Terms of Endearment.
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G9jP4Rdpol8[/youtube]
What is remarkable about her win, though, is how long it took. Four leading actress nominations for Some Came Running, The Apartment, Irma La Duce, and The Turning Point. She was, however, not nominated for Postcards from the Edge, which I think remains one of her absolute best.
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gFUqV_vVAwY[/youtube]
Speaking of Postcards from the Edge, it joins the ranks of those films that were designed to win Oscars but never made it for one weird reason or another. This occurred to me recently while contemplating films like Postcards, or A River Runs Through It (or any Redford film except Ordinary People or Quiz Show).¬† Some of them were genuinely good and deserved to be nominated but others weren’t. Was this because when a film is too Oscar baity voters shy away? Is that still true?
It isn’t like the other films nominated over Postcards were any better: Dances With Wolves, the big winner, isn’t a bad film but it is hardly one that resonates powerfully now. Awakenings, Ghost, The Godfather II and Goodfellas.
It’s hard to imagine Goodfellas up against all of those films and it not winning. But weirder still is that those films were chosen over Postcards from the Edge, An Angel at My Table, Reversal of Fortune, and The Grifters.¬† Maybe it was just too embarrassing of a prospect to not have Godfather III nominated but it’s impossible to imagine that many voters putting it down in their top two, isn’t it?
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