Last weekend, the Oscars were awarded to films, directors, actors, writers, musicians, etc., nominated earlier this year. Fashion is huge, but so are the winners and losers. And let's face it -- it's an annual ritual that many love.
Usually, when that envelope is opened, the film or actor has not starred in a "genre" style flick. Dramas, epic blockbusters, war films or biopics have earned the most statuettes for Best Picture. Romance and musicals have fared so-so, depending on the era and Hollywood's mood. Despite the popularity of the other types of films - mystery/crime, fantasy, science fiction, horror, adventure, and especially westerns with American audiences (proof in the pocketbook), the Academy often withholds their votes.
Sorry, but it's true. You'd think, given the number of westerns that Hollywood has churned out since its earliest days, that there'd be a TON of golden statuettes lined up along the trail. Not hardly, pardner. Oh, don't get me wrong. There's been PLENTY of nominations - 129 westerns, in fact. Check out the list.
BUT only three, count 'em, THREE, won a Best Picture Oscar. Can you name them? Yes, the answer is below, but try to guess. I'll give ya the first one -- 1930's Cimarron, a "pre-code western", whatever that means, based on the Edna Ferber novel.
Start guessing! My first try, Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid, and one of my favorite films (okay, it might have played fast and loose with history, but it sure was fun!), didn't fare so well.
My second guess, the 1956 film The Searchers, based on the book by Alan LeMay, received ZIP. Nada. Nothing! No nod to John Wayne, director John Ford, not a even a Cinematography nomination! That's criminal!
But it has withstood the test of time and is considered a masterpiece, plus one of the most influential films - inspiring David Lean in making Lawrence of Arabia and probably many other sweeping epics. So there.
How about Little Big Man, with Dustin Hoffman? Based on the book by Thomas Berger, by the way, but only Chief Dan George received a nomination for Best Supporting Actor. Hm. Okay, maybe it was "revisionist" history, but still.
Let's try another guess - one of my favorites, True Grit, based on the Charles Portis novel. Yes, John Wayne won a Best Actor Oscar in 1970 for portraying Rooster Cogburn (he deserved it, even though some people believed it to be a 'sympathy vote'). In fact, after accepting the golden statue, he said, "If I'd known that, I'd have put that patch on 35 years earlier." Ha!
The film received TEN, count 'em, TEN nominations. Lost every time. Hmph. Does this mean Hollywood has given up on western films? Well, Christoph Waltz received a Best Supporting Actor for Django Unchained in 2012. But when it comes to Best Picture? Three. Cimarron (1956). Dances With Wolves (1990). Unforgiven (1992). Sigh. Only three Best Picture Oscars. We'll see if Quentin Tarantino can pull off any nominations next January for The Hateful Eight.
Mystery author Meg Mims lives in Southeastern Michigan with her husband and a 'Make My Day' Malti-poo dog. Meg loves writing novels, short novellas and short stories, both contemporary and historical. Her Spur and Laramie Award winning books - Double Crossing and Double or Nothing - are now among the Prairie Rose Publications book list. Meg is also one-half of the D.E. Ireland team writing the Eliza Doolittle & Henry Higgins Mystery series for St. Martin's Minotaur. Wouldn't It Be Deadly, Book 1, has been nominated for a 2014 AGATHA AWARD for Best Historical Mystery! Book 2, Move Your Blooming Corpse, will be released on September 22, 2015. You can find Meg (and D.E. Ireland) on Twitter, Facebook and Pinterest.
My ghast is flabbered. The only one I knew was Cimarron. Thought sure The Searchers would have won one. And The Unforgiven (the Audie Murphy film from an Alan Lemay book). Obviously the Academy voters are nuts. But then we knew that when they passed over American Sniper for something no one has ever seen.
ReplyDeleteLOL - no kidding, Frank!! Blarg.
DeleteExcellent post, Meg. But there is a western movie that could claim to be the first best movie. That was Sunrise, which won three Oscars at the inaugural Academy Awards of 1929. It won Best Actress in a leading role, Best Cinematography and Best Unique and Artistic Production. In that first year the awards were given for the movies of 1927 and 1928 and there were two categories considered equal at the top of the bill - Best Unique and Artistic Production and Outstanding Picture. The following year they dropped Best Unique and Artistic Production as a category and retrospectively gave the Outstanding Picture the top billed award, for posterity. The award continued as Outstanding Picture until 1962, when it became Best Picture.
ReplyDeleteYet that very first Unique and Artistic Production was the western movie Sunrise. I did a piece on my blog More on the Range last year. The movie is worth checking out. It is certainly very different!
Keith
http://moreontherange.blogspot.co.uk/2014/04/sunrise-song-of-two-humans.html
WOW! I didn't know that - I guess I didn't reach back far enough into the Oscar history. Thanks for setting the record straight!
DeleteWell done.
ReplyDeleteThanks, Charlie! :-D
DeleteSince the "Academy" is notorious for voting for movies, actors, actresses who portray the "human condition" at its grittiest, most hopeless, and sometimes, ugliest, one would think westerns would have fared better over the years. *shrug*
ReplyDeleteHa! no kidding there.
DeleteWhat a shame Shane didn't win or Stagecoach, or Outlaw Josey Wales, or She Wore a Yellow Ribbon? With so many white males running the academy, you'd think they would have always voted the most macho films as winners--westerns, right?. Thanks for a great article Meg.
ReplyDeleteHmph. You'd think!! but noooo... and thanks.
DeleteOh my Meg, please don't get me started on the Oscars. I have been doing the 'Oscar' thing for about 9 years (seeing all the nominated films) and they only get worse. That's all I'm going to say because there isn't enough space to say how I really feel. But you are correct, Westerns tend to get overlooked. Doris McCraw/Angela Raines
ReplyDeleteOf course "The Ox-Bow Incident" is still a favorite and it was nominated.
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DeleteI liked the Ox-Bow Incident too. Yeah, lots of noms but too few cigars... er, statues. ;-D
DeleteWhat a fantabulous post this has been. Never seen this kind of useful post. I am grateful to you and expect more number of posts like these. Thank you very much. Oscars live coverage online free
ReplyDelete