# Drop the little golden man and nobody gets hurt! **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [February 2, 2003, 5:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/drop-the-little-golden-man-and-nobody-gets-hurt/152259 "2003-02-02T05:54:16Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![II\_Gyan\_II](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/bbe5ce/32.png) [@II\_Gyan\_II](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/II_Gyan_II)\ **Post date:** [February 2, 2003, 3:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/drop-the-little-golden-man-and-nobody-gets-hurt/152259/21 "2003-02-02T15:06:40Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by JohnT \* > \*\* > Me? I’d take the 1982 BP Oscar away from Ghandi and give it to ET. \*\* I agree with that sentiment. But I think Gandhi was good enough that had it been released earlier or later, it would have deserved a Best Picture award. Since you’re here, read this [Pit thread](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?s=&threadid=159869) ---
**Author:** ![asterion](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/4da419/32.png) [@asterion](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/asterion)\ **Post date:** [February 2, 2003, 4:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/drop-the-little-golden-man-and-nobody-gets-hurt/152259/22 "2003-02-02T16:37:44Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Harborwolf \* > \*\*Lord Vader, the rebels have hijacked the thread!!! \*\* I find your lack of faith disturbing. ---
**Author:** ![MonkeyMensch](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/82dd89/32.png) [@MonkeyMensch](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MonkeyMensch)\ **Post date:** [February 2, 2003, 6:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/drop-the-little-golden-man-and-nobody-gets-hurt/152259/23 "2003-02-02T18:02:34Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Wumpus \* > I’d take away all of them, and give them to Alfred Hitchcock, Orson Welles… \*\* Peter O’Toole \*\*…Gloria Swanson, and all the other extraordinarly talented people who never won a thing. Well at least they’re going to give a lifetime achievement award to Petey this year to make up. ---
**Author:** ![Sampiro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/2acd7d/32.png) [@Sampiro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sampiro)\ **Post date:** [February 2, 2003, 6:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/drop-the-little-golden-man-and-nobody-gets-hurt/152259/24 "2003-02-02T18:37:49Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by MonkeyMensch \* > \*\*Well at least they’re going to give a lifetime achievement award to Petey this year to make up. \*\* Too bad he’s [not going to accept it](http://www.upi.com/view.cfm?StoryID=20030129-023507-5507r) . ---
**Author:** ![DoctorJ](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/doctorj/32/2904_2.png) [@DoctorJ](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DoctorJ)\ **Post date:** [February 2, 2003, 6:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/drop-the-little-golden-man-and-nobody-gets-hurt/152259/25 "2003-02-02T18:50:27Z")
Ellen Burstyn’s Oscar for _Requiem for a Dream_ is unfortunately sitting on Julia Roberts’ mantle. I mean, I like breasts as much as the next guy, and I thought _Erin Brockovich_ was a good flick and all, and Julia did a good job. Still, it wasn’t even in the same league with Burstyn. That’s the most glaring one I can think of. ---
**Author:** ![RealityChuck](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/realitychuck/32/195_2.png) [@RealityChuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RealityChuck)\ **Post date:** [February 2, 2003, 7:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/drop-the-little-golden-man-and-nobody-gets-hurt/152259/26 "2003-02-02T19:10:28Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Tristan \* > \*\ ***Sol** - I wasn’t really aware at the time, since I was a toddler, but from what I’ve read. Star Wars had most of the critics ho-humming. It would appear that the mediocre to atrocious acting that was in the movie really swayed a lot of critics away from the decent but not outstanding special effects. > \*\* Wrong. The critics raved about Star Wars from the beginning. I challenge you find any reviews from the time that don’t speak well of the film. SW geeks have been repeating this fairy tale for years without a single basis in fact. Here are a few quotes, both from reviews written at the original opening: [quote] I loved STAR WARS and so will you. – Jack Kroll, _Newsweek_ George Lucas’ delightful science-fiction adventure fantasy “Star Wars,” opening today at the Uptown, is a new classic in a rousing movie tradition: a space swashbuckler. – Gary Arnold, _Washington Post_ Do they sound lukewarm to you? Of course, no one in their right mind would rave about a movie just because of the special effects. Also, despite its massive popularity, Star Wars as ultimately a trivial film – great adventure, but nothing to say. Awards (especially in the 70s) are generally given to films that attempt to say something more than “the hero defeated the bad guys.” It also could be argued that Star Wars wrecked the Hollywood movie industry. Certainly, it caused the proliferation of mindless adventure “thrill rides” for 12-year-olds. This is doubly sad, since it came at a time when Hollywood was finally growing up and beginning to stop thinking its audence was a bunch of morons. ---
**Author:** ![Wumpus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/8c91f0/32.png) [@Wumpus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wumpus)\ **Post date:** [February 2, 2003, 7:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/drop-the-little-golden-man-and-nobody-gets-hurt/152259/27 "2003-02-02T19:16:28Z")
I wasn’t counting honorary Oscars on my list, BTW. (They’re just consolation prizes. And Welles did win one Oscar, for the the Citizen Kane screenplay, but none as a director or actor.) ---
**Author:** ![Otto](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/bbe5ce/32.png) [@Otto](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Otto)\ **Post date:** [February 2, 2003, 7:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/drop-the-little-golden-man-and-nobody-gets-hurt/152259/28 "2003-02-02T19:55:50Z")
Take away Judy Holliday’s for Born Yesterday and give it to Gloria Swanson for Sunset Boulevard. Take away Grace Kelly’s for The Country Girl and give it to Judy Garland for A Star is Born. Take away Phil Collins’ for that hideous crap song from Tarzan and give it to “Blame Canada.” Take it away from “Take My Breath Away” and give it to “Mean Green Mother from Outer Space” from Little Shop of Horrors. Take away Best Picture from The Greatest Show on Earth and give it to…hell, give it to any other picture from the same year but for the love of God take it away from TGSOE! ---
**Author:** ![ruralrage](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/df788c/32.png) [@ruralrage](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ruralrage)\ **Post date:** [February 2, 2003, 8:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/drop-the-little-golden-man-and-nobody-gets-hurt/152259/29 "2003-02-02T20:32:10Z")
I am going to look into the future and i am going to make my piece known. Take the oscar for best picture away from Chicago and give to Lord of the Rings: The Two towers. Seriously, it takes a lot of skill to make a movie or groups of movies from a deemed ‘unfilmable’ book. It takes a lot of talent and doggedness to get the job done and Petey J. did that. Chicago, as its produced by mirimax and it is a musical, will push itself until it steals the golden man. Give the oscars to whom they truly belong. Take back Denzel Washington’s award and give it to Rusell Crowe, who can at least change the way he acts from movie to movie. A slight hijack, but i am seriously hoping that Jack Nicolson will win best actor this year…he has to. But he probably won’t unless the film company put in a lot of money to the Academy jury. End of hijack… ---
**Author:** ![The\_Man\_Who](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/c2a13f/32.png) [@The\_Man\_Who](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Man_Who)\ **Post date:** [February 2, 2003, 9:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/drop-the-little-golden-man-and-nobody-gets-hurt/152259/30 "2003-02-02T21:01:39Z")
1977 Best Picture Nominees: Annie Hall The Goodbye Girl Julia Star Wars The Turning Point. Winner: Annie Hall Not nominated, but eligible: Saturday Night Fever Close Encounters of the Third Kind Looking for Mr. Goodbar Oh, God! Equus Airport '77 (heh-heh) Pete’s Dragon The Rescuers Smokey and the Bandit Egg cetera, egg cetera, egg cetera. I’d still go with Annie Hall. -Myron ---
**Author:** ![Minor\_Irritant](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/e495f1/32.png) [@Minor\_Irritant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Minor_Irritant)\ **Post date:** [February 2, 2003, 9:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/drop-the-little-golden-man-and-nobody-gets-hurt/152259/31 "2003-02-02T21:31:08Z")
Take Best Picture away from Dances With Wolves, and give it to the far more deserving Goodfellas. While you’re at it, take away Kevin Costner’s Oscar, and give it to Ray Liotta. ---
**Author:** ![DoctorJ](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/doctorj/32/2904_2.png) [@DoctorJ](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DoctorJ)\ **Post date:** [February 2, 2003, 9:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/drop-the-little-golden-man-and-nobody-gets-hurt/152259/32 "2003-02-02T21:49:52Z")
Agreed on Goodfellas. I’d also go back and include both The Usual Suspects and Almost Famous in the Best Picture nominees from their respective years. (Almost Famous was in a tough year, but it was far better than Chocolat or Erin Brockovich. Tha absence of The Usual Suspects is inexplicable.) ---
**Author:** ![ftg](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ftg/32/2801_2.png) [@ftg](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ftg)\ **Post date:** [February 2, 2003, 9:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/drop-the-little-golden-man-and-nobody-gets-hurt/152259/33 "2003-02-02T21:56:37Z")
The worst all time award is for makeup in 1969 which went to “Planet of the apes” instead of “2001: ASO”. There was a great line about “Did they think we used real apes?” from Kubrick. Makes “Titantic” winning awards look almost logical by comparison. ---
**Author:** ![jools](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/b3f665/32.png) [@jools](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jools)\ **Post date:** [February 2, 2003, 11:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/drop-the-little-golden-man-and-nobody-gets-hurt/152259/34 "2003-02-02T23:16:57Z")
I had heard that the time this one was a mistake and I have no trouble believing it: Marisa Tomei in 1992 (My Cousin Vinny) She was up against Judy Davis (Husbands & Wives), Joan Plowright (Enchanted April), Vanessa Redgrave (Howards End) and Miranda Richardson (Damage). Ok My Cousin Vinny was entertaining and she did a good part of that but winning an Oscar… gimme a break! Russell Crowe deserved an Oscar for the Insider and A Beautiful Mind but surely not for Gladiator… IMHO!! ---
**Author:** ![RealityChuck](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/realitychuck/32/195_2.png) [@RealityChuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RealityChuck)\ **Post date:** [February 3, 2003, 12:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/drop-the-little-golden-man-and-nobody-gets-hurt/152259/35 "2003-02-03T00:14:04Z")
My choice would be Beatrice Straight for her three minutes or so in “Network.” She makes Judy Dench’s role in “Shakespeare in Love” seem like epic length. And Dench, at least, made a strong impression; Straight did nothing of great import. Luckily, the actress who should have won the award hands down – Jody Foster in “Taxi Driver” – got a couple of Oscars of her own. The biggest oversight in recent years was “Three Kings,” which, despite being one of the best – if not the best – picture of 1999, got not a single Oscar nomination. ---
**Author:** ![Harborwolf](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/c89c15/32.png) [@Harborwolf](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Harborwolf)\ **Post date:** [February 3, 2003, 1:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/drop-the-little-golden-man-and-nobody-gets-hurt/152259/36 "2003-02-03T01:37:10Z")
Take the best picture away from Shakespeare In Love and give it to Saving Private Ryan. I still don’t know how that happened. ---
**Author:** ![II\_Gyan\_II](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/bbe5ce/32.png) [@II\_Gyan\_II](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/II_Gyan_II)\ **Post date:** [February 3, 2003, 1:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/drop-the-little-golden-man-and-nobody-gets-hurt/152259/37 "2003-02-03T01:43:12Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by RealityChuck \* > \*\* > The biggest oversight in recent years was “Three Kings,” which, despite being one of the best – if not the best – picture of 1999, got not a single Oscar nomination. \*\* :dubious: or is this a bait ? 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Harborwolf](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/c89c15/32.png) [@Harborwolf](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Harborwolf)\ **Post date:** [February 3, 2003, 1:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/drop-the-little-golden-man-and-nobody-gets-hurt/152259/38 "2003-02-03T01:55:14Z")
I’ll back up RealityChuck, Three Kings at least deserved a couple of nominations ---
**Author:** ![tracer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tracer/32/20578_2.png) [@tracer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tracer)\ **Post date:** [February 3, 2003, 2:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/drop-the-little-golden-man-and-nobody-gets-hurt/152259/39 "2003-02-03T02:40:28Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Wumpus \* > **And Welles did win one Oscar, for the the Citizen Kane screenplay, but none as a director or actor.** And, as with a certain other great film that lost out to _Annie Hall_ the year it came out, _Citizen Kane_ lost the Best Picture oscar to … **How Green Was My Valley?!?** :mad: ---
**Author:** ![AmatiDeus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/df705f/32.png) [@AmatiDeus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AmatiDeus)\ **Post date:** [February 3, 2003, 4:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/drop-the-little-golden-man-and-nobody-gets-hurt/152259/40 "2003-02-03T04:23:08Z")
1. I’d rip the golden man out of Sam Mendes hands and hand it gratefully to Paul Thomas Anderson. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/drop-the-little-golden-man-and-nobody-gets-hurt/152259.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/drop-the-little-golden-man-and-nobody-gets-hurt/152259.md?page=3)