European Stars and Stripes (Newspaper) - March 29, 1992, Darmstadt, Hesse From a Beauty to terminator 2,�?T the race is on the list of nominees for monday nights 64th annual Academy awards presentations picture Beauty and the beast bugs Juk the Prince of tides the silence of the lambs. Actor Warren Beatty bugs Robert de Niro Cape fear Anthony Hopkins the silence of the lambs Nick Nolte the Prince of tides Robin Williams the Fisher King. Actress Geena Davis Thelma amp Louise Laura dem rambling Rose Jodie Foster the silence of the lambs Bette Midler for the boys Susan Sarandon Thelma amp Louise. Supporting actor Tommy Lee Jones Juk Harvey Keitel bugs Ben Kingsley bugs Michael Lerner Barton Fink Jack Palance City slickers. Supporting actress Diane Ladd rambling Rose Juliette Lewis Cape fear Kate Nelligan the Prince of tides Mercedes Ruehl the Fisher King Jessica Tandy Fried Green tomatoes. Director John Singleton Boyz n the Hood Barry Levinson bugs Oliver Stone Juk Jonathan Demme the silence of the lambs Ridley Scott Thelma amp Louise. Original screenplay John Singleton Boyz n the Hood James Toback bugs Richard Lagrave Nese the Fisher King Lawrence Kasdan and Meg Kasdan grand Canyon Callie Khouri Thelma amp Louise. Adapted screenplay Agnieszka Holland Europa Europa Fannie Flagg and Carol Sobieski Fried Green tomatoes Oliver Stone and Zachary Sklar Juk Pat Conroy and Becky Johnston the Prince of tides Ted tally the silence of the lambs. Foreign film children of nature Iceland the elementary school Czechoslovakia Mediterraneo Italy the of Sweden raise the red lantern Hong Kong. Art direction Barton Fink bugs the Fisher King Hook the Prince of tides. Cinematography bugs Juk the Prince of tides terminator 2 judgment Day Thelma amp Louise. Costume design the Addams family Barton Fink bugs Hook Madame Bovary. Documentary feature death on the Job doing time life inside the big House in the Shadow of the stars the restless conscience resistance to Hitler within Germany 1933-1945, wild by Law. Documentary Short subject Birdne sters of Thailand Shadow Hunter deadly deception general electric nuclear weapons and our environment a Little vicious the Mark of the maker memorial letters from american soldiers. Film editing the commitments Juk the silence of the lambs terminator 2 judgment Day Thelma amp Louise. Makeup Hook Star trek i the undiscovered country terminator 2 judgment Day. Music original score Beauty and the beast bugs the Fisher King Juk the Prince of tides. Music original song Beauty and the beast from Beauty and the beast Belle from Beauty and the beast be our guest from Beauty and the beast everything 1 do i do it for you from Robin Hood Prince of thieves when you re alone from Hook. Animated Short film blackly manipulation strings. Live action Short film Birch Street gym last Breeze of summer session Man. Sound Bac draft Beauty and the beast Juk the silence of the lambs terminator 2 judgment Day. Sound effects editing Bac draft Star trek i the undiscovered country terminator 2 judgment Day. Visual effects Bac draft Hook terminator 2 judgment Day. Marlon Brando was a Winner in a Streetcar named desire but not with the a Broadway Melody and other Low notes Winby Michael Wilmington los Angeles times a re the oscars emblems of motion picture excellence or a dubious popularity contest they Are both which is something Worth remembering at Academy award time. Many Oscar selections look strange after several decades. Ever see 1929�?Ts the Broadway Melody with its bulbous chorus Dopey jokes and Stock still camera or Cecil b. Demiller a elephantine circus melodrama the greatest show on Earth that one beat out High noon the quiet Man and the a nominated Viva Zapata and singing in the rain some winners hold up magnificently How Green was my Valley Casablanca on the waterfront Lawrence of Arabia and the godfather i amp ii. But its the omissions that always seem most onerous. The four top sound Era studio directors through the 60s were probably John Ford Howard Hawks Alfred Hitchcock and Maverick Orson Welles. Yet Only one won a directorial Oscar in open Competition Ford who made up for the others by taking Home four a and two More for documentaries. The Academy has used career oscars to catch up with overlooked people such As Lillian Gish Cary Grant Charles Chaplin Groucho Marx and Many others. And although writers such As William Faulkner Graham Greene Nathanael West Tennessee Williams and Samson Raphaelson were Active in movies they too were Oscar less. Why does this happen Why do movies like Oliver and Ordinary people beat out movies like 2 h 1 a space Odyssey and raging Bull there arc a number of reasons not All of them obvious. Here Are a few. Genre movies rarely win this Isnit an ironclad Rule. More than a few musicals were Oscar winners a including the abominable Broadway Melody a but the majority have been the big prestigious Broadway adaptations rather than the Fred Astaire Judy Garland or Gene Kelly pictures that were the genres glory. Not Many comedies win a and fewer horror movies thrillers action movies or soap operas. Notably none of Western specialist Fords six oscars was for a Western a and dances with wolves won Only after the genre had been declared dead. Most often oscars go to social dramas historical films huge extravaganzas or adaptations of prestigious literary or dramatic properties movies thought to have elevated subject matter ambition and tone. Using Only that criteria the favourites for this years Oscar ought to be the Prince of tides and Juk and not horror movie the silence of the lambs crime picture bugs or cartoon musical Beauty and the beast. Unsympathetic characters rarely win in 1951, the Academy voters gave oscars to almost the entire Core cast of a Streetcar named desire a Vivien Leigh Karl Malden and Kim Hunter a but ignored the performance that became one of the most famous and influential in movie history Marlon Brando Sstanley Kowalski. Was it because the voters subconsciously reacted to Brando As Kowalski punished him for being a callous sexy brute while rewarding his a a victims that years Oscar went to Humphrey Bogart As the african Queen s likable Slob Charlie Allnut a after Bogart was repeatedly ignored for his classic Tough Guys of the 30s and 40s. But if the villains arc Short shifted films bad ladies fare somewhat better a the Bette Davies Shelley Winterset and Louise Fletcher a and they fare Best of All if they Are wildly off Type. Shiny clean Donna Reed and Shirley Jones both won for playing hookers. There is a kind of right the wrongs mentality that often takes hold of Oscar voters in Masse. Traditionally they like to Reward persecuted victims Joan Fontaine in suspicion Ingrid Bergman in gaslight Jodie Foster in the accused. And they re always on the Lookout for saints a Spencer Tracy won for playing lovable priests and fishermen rather than More flawed or corrosive roles a but they re suspicious of sinners. Several years ago Morgan Freeman As the sadistic Pimp in Street smart copped nearly every critics prize in sight and then was beaten in the Best supporting actor category by quintessential likable Sean Connery a martyred cop in the untouchables. That would seem to Bode ill for the three villainous Best actor nominees a Warren Beatty Robert do Niro and Anthony Hopkins a and Well for the favorite redeemed hard Guy Nick Nolte. The winners Are usually the kind of movies voters feel should be getting made rather than the kind that usually Are if you wanted to name a typical american studio movie of the 1980s, it would not be a realist drama such As Ordinary people and terms of endearment an epic biography such As Gandhi a literary or dramatic adaptation such As out of Africa amadeus and driving miss Daisy or a revisionist Western such As dances with wolves. That All those movies won partially recalls Louis b. Mayer a motives Back in the Academy a formative period the Industry putting its Best face Forward at a troubled time. The irony is that Hollywood a classics Are often its genre movies. And Many of its greatest performances Are by the comedians dancers and Tough Guys and gals who Are always getting ignored. Except by movie fans. And 29, 1992 sunday a Page 5
