When Betamax was still around, I was lucky to have friends thoughtful enough to lend me copies of their American and European classic movies. Today, I spend a lot of time rummaging through the racks of Video City and National Bookstore to look for copies of old movies. (My greatest latest find was Gerry de Leon’s Sanda Wong, which I sent to Christopher de Leon – through Gorgy Rula – who must be thrilled to have it since it stars both his parents, Lilia Dizon and the late Gil de Leon.)
Whenever I am in the US, I hardly leave the house because I spend hours and hours (starting from breakfast) watching all the old classic movies on cable.
Watching those old films – especially those crowned with Oscars – sometimes makes me wonder why this or that performance won an award. A classic example is the Best Actress win of Loretta Young in The Farmer’s Daughter, which should not have earned a nomination in the first place.
Then, there was Julie Andrew’s victory in Mary Poppins, which only happened because everyone in Hollywood that time sympathized with her for losing the Eliza Doolittle part (which she popularized on stage) to Audrey Hepburn when My Fair Lady was produced for the big screen.
In the Oscar honor roll, there is a long list of undeserving winners. But there are also those who deserved their awards. The other day, I made a list of Best Actress winners (the most colorful category) who I believe really deserved to win. Below is the continuation:
• Shirley Booth for Come Back, Little Sheba (1952) – Ms. Booth had spent three decades acting on sher very first film. Even if she was a first time movie actress here, she still had an edge over her competitors because she had done that same part for over a thousand times on Broadway by the time she did it for film. Yes, it was something she could have done with her eyes closed – which explains why she came out marvelously in this movie and won the Oscar deservingly.
• Anne Bancroft for The Miracle Worker (1962) – Like Shirley Booth, Ms. Bancroft also benefited from playing the same part (Annie Sullivan, Helen Keller’s teacher) in The Miracle Worker.
• Elizabeth Taylor for Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf? (1966) – I’ve never really been a fan of Ms. Taylor’s acting, but she was really the deserving winner in 1966 if only for the fact that competition was really weak that year.
• Liza Minnelli for Cabaret (1973) – She was such a dynamite acting, singing and dancing the part of Sally Bowles in Cabaret and rightfully won the Oscar.
• Ellen Burstyn for Alice Doesn’t Live Here Anymore (1974) – Her performance as a woman who is left penniless with a young son to raise after her husband’s death in this Martin Scorsese film is tantalizing from beginning to the end.
• Sally Field for Norma Rae (1979) – As a TV addict, expect me to be a Sally Field fan. But objectively speaking, she rightfully deserved to win for Norma Rae as a textile factory worker who begins organizing a union.
• Meryl Streep for Sophie’s Choice (1982) – Although a lot of other people feel that Jessica Lange (for Frances) was the more deserving winner that year, I totally disagree. Streep’s performance in Sophie’s Choice, as far as I am concerned, is one of the best ever in the history of Hollywood. I also believe that she was robbed of an Oscar for A Cry in the Dark and even in Ironweed.
• Shirley MacLaine for Terms of Endearment (1983) – Some actors win the Oscar because they are sentimental favorites. For this movie, it was true that she was a sentimental favorite. However, she was also deserving of the award because she gave the best (and most inspired) performance that year.
• Jodie Foster for The Accused (1988) – As the sexual assault victim in The Accused, there’s only one word to describe her performance: Gripping.
• Holly Hunter for The Piano (1993) – As mute-by-choice Scotswoman who goes to New Zealand in the 19th century, her performance is truly mesmerizing.
• Hillary Swank for Boys Don’t Cry (2000) – That was truly a difficult role which the very feminine Ms. Swank played in this film – a lesbian trying to be one of the boys. But she was truly convincing here and I applaud the Oscar voters for selecting her Best Actress that year.
• Charlize Theron for Monster (2003) _ It’s not really the greatest performance–no, not even in the past decade. But for this year, I have no complaints about the Best Actress result or in the other Oscar categories for that matter. The Oscar show may have been such a blah (oh, how boring it was!), but I liked the roster of winners.