The Academy Awards show, which has become boring in the past ten years, was spiced up a bit on Sunday when actor Will Smith took offense at one of comedian/actor Chris Rock’s jokes, walked up onto the stage, slapped Rock in the kisser, returned to his seat and proceeded to cuss Rock out, using profanity.
Supposedly, Smith was offended by Rock’s joke about Smith’s wife’s shaved-bald head (the poor lady suffers from alopecia). If that was the case, his assault and battery might be excused (in fact, Rock declined to press charges), although comedians like Rock regularly include insult jokes in their shtick.
If comedians were to be assaulted whenever they offended someone, Don Rickles, Eddie Murphy, Lisa Lampanelli, Larry David and others would be regular customers in emergency rooms. (Hey, maybe they should be?)
What if the outrageous “assault” was staged? Just sayin’, but the Oscars show is an event to honor the theatrical arts and to give a PR boost to the motion picture industry… which needs some help following the pandemic. Will viewers be more or less likely to watch the next Oscars if such theatrical incidents are possible? If there is a chance that DeCaprio and Clooney would “throw down” on stage? I’d tune in, just sayin’.
I’m old enough to remember a few incidents at previous Oscar telecasts, since I began watching the Oscars back in the 1950’s with my Mom.
The Oscar telecast tends to drag on and on each year due to long acceptance speeches that note every person in the production and all of the honoree’s relatives and friends. There have been two exceptions to this abominable standard: the brief acceptance speeches of Anthony Quinn in 1956 (Best Supporting Actor) and Patti Duke in 1962 (Best Supporting Actress), which included only two words, “Thank You”.
Bless them.
A special Honorary Oscar was given to early cinema actor Charlie Chaplin in 1972. The legendary comedian was treated to a 12-minute continuous standing ovation by the audience. That, Folks, is respect. Without Chaplin, there may not have been a motion picture industry.
In 1973, an American Indian activist appeared onstage to refuse Marlon Brando’s Best Actor Oscar for “The Godfather”, reinforcing his image as a weird duck.
Back in 1974, some naked dude “streaked” across the stage as actor David Niven was at the podium. Niven ignored the man’s shortcomings and soldiered on without missing a beat. What a pro!
At the 1992 telecast, 73-year-old Jack Palance celebrated his Best Supporting Actor for “City Slickers” win by doing some one-armed-pushups onstage. The geezer earned a sequel but croaked early in the film. Too much exertion, probably.
David Letterman’s host effort at the 1995 Oscars bombed, including a lame joke about Oprah Winfrey’s and Uma Thurman’s names. One wag called Letterman’s performance “an explosion of excrement”. The late night TV host was never invited back.
In 2017, oldtimer Warren Beatty was given the wrong envelope and announced “LaLa Land” as the Best Picture, even though the real winner was “Moonlight”. This slow-motion catastrophe, which took several minutes to rectify, is known around Hollywood as Envelopegate.
My wife Charlie and I have been watching The Oscars for the past 48 years together. To be honest, these specials have gotten more and more unwatchable as time has gone on. I don’t know how much longer we will tune in. Maybe more fisticuffs will help?
Charlie does, however, love to watch the Oscars’ Red Carpet pre-show, where many female celebrities arrive in the latest fashions. In fact, the Oscars has tended to be a showcase for the world’s most famous high fashion designers and would-be fashion influencers.
The most famous dress in Oscars’ history was the “swan dress” worn by Icelandic artist Bjork in 2001. Why this unknown celebrity attended the Oscars telecast is unknown, except to promote the fashion designer, whose name is mercifully forgotten.
Bad taste is always in vogue, it seems. There is always some celebrity who feels it necessary to make a scene on the runway, one of those “What were they thinking?” moments caught on camera.
For the most part, the ensembles (dress, shoes, jewelry) tend to be classy, however there have been some horrible “looks” and “wardrobe malfunctions”, as well. Occasionally, a slit skirt will ride up too high or there will be some visible boobage. How much of this is “accidental” (or a PR stunt to get attention?) is debatable.
In recent years, there has been a move toward more cleavage (breast and ass) in the outfits, which lends itself to exposure here and there. There was one of those “Oops!” moments this year, when tennis star Venus Williams suffered a televised “nip slip” and had to cover up during the festivities.
One big improvement to the Oscars telecast is the fact that the show has been trimmed down a bit by eliminating the several choreography pieces that used to bore the Hell out of me. It was, basically, a chance for the Academy to showcase the talents of a lot of dancers, harking back to the old days when musicals were a staple of Hollywood entertainment. Those days are long gone, thank God.
However, last night there was a big dance number… and it was placed in a most inappropriate position in the telecast. Every year, the Academy honors deceased members (who died in the past year) with photographs of them and somber background music. This year, for some reason, one of the producers decided to besmirch the segment by having a dance troupe energetically bounce around to up tempo music during the Memorium segment. It was totally disrespectful, more shameful in my opinion than Will Smith’s ill-advised haymaker. Whoever thought up that choreographed abomination should be fired.
To be truthful, Charlie and I don’t go “to the movies” anymore and don’t do a lot of feature film streaming, either. I refuse to watch a film involving warefare with swords and bows and arrows, cartoon features, Marvel superheroes, and such, and Charlie won’t watch horror or sci fi films. These restrictions probably account for 90 percent of the new offerings. So, we hardly recognize the names of the current moviestars, such as they are.
Honestly, the fact that comedian/singer/actor/pugilist Will Smith is sitting in the front row of the Kodak Theater, where the biggest “stars” sit, as a Best Actor nominee, demonstrates, in my opinion, how low this “awards show” has fallen.
I like Will Smith and think he is a talented fellow and serviceable actor. However, I doubt that he will ever be compared to Spencer Tracy, Laurence Olivier, Marlon Brando, Jack Nicholson, Robert DeNiro, Morgan Freeman, Daniel Day Lewis, or Denzel Washington. Let’s face it, Samuel L. Jackson has appeared in $8 jillion worth of big movies: Will Smith couldn’t carry his jockstrap (or Clark Gable’s or John Wayne’s, for that matter). Mrs. Smith might disagree on that latter point.
But, I’ve been wrong about a lot of things in my life. Maybe Will Smith will win a bunch of Oscars? Maybe Santa Claus is real? And, maybe Donald Trump will be awarded the 2020 election, after all?
I suppose I need to get jiggy with it, to use the title of one of Will Smith’s rap songs.
