Unforgiven won the Oscar for Clint Eastwood in 1992. The best picture nominees that year did not include the year’s best film which was Robert Altman’s The Player. Oscar voters like to reward movies about themselves in a flattering reach-around. But they don’t like it so much when a writer, or a director, nails them. The Player’s basic plot repeats itself continually in Hollywood. Whether it’s the drugged out and discarded hooker who became a modern day Cinderella in Pretty Woman to every focus-grouped happy ending you see before you now. In The Player Hollywood is moving towards their new motto, “Movies Now More Than Ever.” Probably Altman and co. had no idea what Hollywood would become in 2013. The Player was nominated for Director, Screenplay and Editing. Malcolm X nominated for Best Actor and Costume.
Not for Best Actor for the brilliant Tim Robbins and not for Best Picture – of course.
Husbands and Wives, A River Runs Through It, and most notably, Malcolm X also ignored. In their place: A Few Good Men, Howards End, Scent of a Woman, The Crying Game. The Podcast will go up probably around Monday – give or take.