In Reply to: The point was simple... how did you manage to miss it? posted by Victor Khomenko on March 8, 2005 at 17:26:16:
Victor, he KNOWS that actors don't compete against actresses in the same categories.He meant that as good as Howard's and Neal's performances were in their *respective* categories, Newman's lead portrayal, arguably the greatest performance in the film, and certainly the engine of the whole shebang, went unrewarded.
Poitier is a very good actor, and was an icon for a generation of African American actors who rarely (if ever) got the chance to show what they could do on the screen. Hollywood was feeling pressure to recognize the leading black actor of the day. And they did. As it happened, Poitier didn't win for a pivotal role, but for a merely professional turn in a mediocre part in a forgettable movie. (He was much more memorable in In The Heat Of The Night). But it was time for Oscar to acknowledge to contributions of black acotrs, and Poitier was the most visible, accomplished (almost the ONLY) African AAmerican actor of the era. He became the stand in for many. It was an historic win. But it probably wasn't the right call artistically.
I don't expect much out of the Academy. Not then, not now.
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Follow Ups
- Uh... - Harmonia 22:37:36 03/10/05 (0)