Comments on: Lauren Bacall and the 1997 Academy Awards http://www.altfg.com/blog/actors/lauren-bacall-and-the-1997-academy-awards/ thinking film Mon, 08 Sep 2008 03:49:20 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.6 By: Andre Soares http://www.altfg.com/blog/actors/lauren-bacall-and-the-1997-academy-awards/#comment-214867 Andre Soares Sat, 21 Jul 2007 08:16:21 +0000 http://www.altfg.com/blog/actors/lauren-bacall-and-the-1997-academy-awards/#comment-214867 Bill, First of all, thank you for writing. Now, Academy members are free to place acting nominees in whichever category they choose. Back in the old days -- up to 1963, if I'm not mistaken -- they had to nominate performers according to how the studios labeled them. "Stars" could only be nominated in the lead categories; others could be nominated as either "best actor/actress" or "best supporting actor/actress." The Tatum O'Neal story almost repeated itself in 2003, when Keisha Castle-Hughes was pushed in the best supporting actress category for "Whale Rider" -- but Academy members, for once, used their brains and nominated her as a lead actress. Castle-Hughes *is* the film. She even has the title role. But kids almost invariably have been nominated in the supporting categories, and that's where studios have usually tried to place them. And finally, I must admit that I'm one of the few who actually enjoyed -- to a certain extent -- "The Mirror Has Two Faces." I've never been a Lauren Bacall fan, but I did like her in that film. Now, Sean Connery in "The Untouchables," Don Ameche in "Cocoon," Al Pacino in "Scent of a Woman" ... Well, those are career awards that should have gone elsewhere. Bill,

First of all, thank you for writing.

Now, Academy members are free to place acting nominees in whichever category they choose.

Back in the old days — up to 1963, if I’m not mistaken — they had to nominate performers according to how the studios labeled them. “Stars” could only be nominated in the lead categories; others could be nominated as either “best actor/actress” or “best supporting actor/actress.”

The Tatum O’Neal story almost repeated itself in 2003, when Keisha Castle-Hughes was pushed in the best supporting actress category for “Whale Rider” — but Academy members, for once, used their brains and nominated her as a lead actress.

Castle-Hughes *is* the film. She even has the title role. But kids almost invariably have been nominated in the supporting categories, and that’s where studios have usually tried to place them.

And finally, I must admit that I’m one of the few who actually enjoyed — to a certain extent — “The Mirror Has Two Faces.” I’ve never been a Lauren Bacall fan, but I did like her in that film.

Now, Sean Connery in “The Untouchables,” Don Ameche in “Cocoon,” Al Pacino in “Scent of a Woman” … Well, those are career awards that should have gone elsewhere.

]]> By: Bill Bayard http://www.altfg.com/blog/actors/lauren-bacall-and-the-1997-academy-awards/#comment-211479 Bill Bayard Wed, 04 Jul 2007 20:07:36 +0000 http://www.altfg.com/blog/actors/lauren-bacall-and-the-1997-academy-awards/#comment-211479 I couldn't agree more about the injustices of the Academy Awards in regards to actors being placed in incorrect categories, though I understand a lot of that has to do with the studios that release the films rather than the actual Academy itself. Whatever the reasons, it should be looked into and some sort of guidelines should be established (amount of time on screen, size of role compared to others in the same film, etc.). I agree with most of Andre Soares' examples of the absurdities of this issue, though none compare to the ridiculousness of Tatum O'Neal winning a supporting actress Oscar for a movie in which she is in nearly every scene from beginning to end. She is not only the female lead, she is the star of this movie. These silly decisions also hurt other actors such as the late, great Madeline Kahn, who gave a truly wonderful supporting performance in the same film. She was nominated and to this day I still remember the look on her face when O'Neal's name was announced. By the way, I have nothing against O'Neal's fun child performance. It just is not in any way shape or form even close to a supporting role. Having said all of this, while I did not much appreciate the win by Binoche in The English Patient, Lauren Bacall simply did not deserve an Oscar for the mediocre "Mirror Has Two Faces". She's okay in it, but her winning would have brought up another Oscar problem and that is giving awards to undeserving performances because the performer has been overlooked in the past or is very famous or has had a successful career or whatever. In a perfect world, every Oscar winner should have won because the majority of voters thought they had given the best performance in their particular category. No other criteria should be used, but alas, that is not the case. There are too many examples to list them all, but Al Pacino in "Scent of a Woman" comes to mind first and Katharine Hepburn for "Guess Who's Coming to Dinner" is quickly thought of as well. Don't get me wrong. Neither of these are bad performances, but they were neither the best in their year nor in their careers (at the time, Hepburn had only one once back in 1933 and this was clearly a consolation/career achievement type of award). So, back in 1997, would I have rather seen someone in starring role win a supporting award or someone who was in a true supporting role win for giving a stock performance? There is no answer to the question as neither of these two should have even been nominated in the supporting actress category in that particular year. I couldn’t agree more about the injustices of the Academy Awards in regards to actors being placed in incorrect categories, though I understand a lot of that has to do with the studios that release the films rather than the actual Academy itself. Whatever the reasons, it should be looked into and some sort of guidelines should be established (amount of time on screen, size of role compared to others in the same film, etc.). I agree with most of Andre Soares’ examples of the absurdities of this issue, though none compare to the ridiculousness of Tatum O’Neal winning a supporting actress Oscar for a movie in which she is in nearly every scene from beginning to end. She is not only the female lead, she is the star of this movie. These silly decisions also hurt other actors such as the late, great Madeline Kahn, who gave a truly wonderful supporting performance in the same film. She was nominated and to this day I still remember the look on her face when O’Neal’s name was announced. By the way, I have nothing against O’Neal’s fun child performance. It just is not in any way shape or form even close to a supporting role. Having said all of this, while I did not much appreciate the win by Binoche in The English Patient, Lauren Bacall simply did not deserve an Oscar for the mediocre “Mirror Has Two Faces”. She’s okay in it, but her winning would have brought up another Oscar problem and that is giving awards to undeserving performances because the performer has been overlooked in the past or is very famous or has had a successful career or whatever. In a perfect world, every Oscar winner should have won because the majority of voters thought they had given the best performance in their particular category. No other criteria should be used, but alas, that is not the case. There are too many examples to list them all, but Al Pacino in “Scent of a Woman” comes to mind first and Katharine Hepburn for “Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner” is quickly thought of as well. Don’t get me wrong. Neither of these are bad performances, but they were neither the best in their year nor in their careers (at the time, Hepburn had only one once back in 1933 and this was clearly a consolation/career achievement type of award). So, back in 1997, would I have rather seen someone in starring role win a supporting award or someone who was in a true supporting role win for giving a stock performance? There is no answer to the question as neither of these two should have even been nominated in the supporting actress category in that particular year.

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