karenkdempsey Posted February 23, 2014 Share Posted February 23, 2014 Just watched this for the first time. When Ben M. did the intro he noted that Barry Fitzgerald-is that his name? was nominated for both actor and supporting actor. Could this be because both him and Bing Crosby were equal and they wanted to insure an award to him? It sure was a good movie and I wonder if Bing was acting something close to his heart, as he was catholic? by the way, I grew up in Spokane. I heard Gonzaga owes a lot to him. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sepiatone Posted February 23, 2014 Share Posted February 23, 2014 There are some here karen who slam the movie for it's being sugary and mauldlin. But I don't care. I like it, too. Don't know any of the why as to the Oscar business. But, if for no other reason, I at least try to catch the scene where the kids sing "Swinging on A Star". Always liked that tune. Sepiatone Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jakeem Posted February 23, 2014 Share Posted February 23, 2014 >karenkdempsey wrote: Just watched this for the first time. When Ben M. did the intro he noted that Barry Fitzgerald-is that his name? was nominated for both actor and supporting actor. Could this be because both him and Bing Crosby were equal and they wanted to insure an award to him? I'll never understand the politics of the Academy Awards, particularly the apparent snubs of Steven Spielberg over the years (and he's still won two Best Director awards). It's possible that Fitzgerald was a sentimental choice for his work in "Going My Way", but he may have received enough votes for Best Actor and Best Supporting Actor to qualify in both categories. Of course, the rules were changed so that it could never happen again. I remember there was some thinking that Sir Anthony Hopkins should be nominated for Best Supporting Actor of 1991 for his performance as Hannibal Lector in "The Silence of the Lambs." I'm not sure what happened -- perhaps Hopkins expressed a preference for the Best Actor category -- but he won for a leading performance. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DownGoesFrazier Posted February 23, 2014 Share Posted February 23, 2014 After this film, I can see why the St. Louis Browns eventually moved to Baltimore and became the Orioles. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
roverrocks Posted February 23, 2014 Share Posted February 23, 2014 A big ditto Sepiatone: This is a truly wonderful feel-good movie that I love no matter how many times I see it. Would have been a truly great escapist movie for the WW2 days when it came out. Nobody should ever feel bad about enjoying this movie. Schmaltz in this kind of package is wonderful. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TikiSoo Posted February 23, 2014 Share Posted February 23, 2014 >Schmaltz in this kind of package is wonderful. This is why I enjoy these boards....there's actually sentimental saps (like myself) out there, unafraid to admit it. Frankly, I'm sick & tired of seeing the glazed bored expressions people wear these days, what ever happened to celebrating life? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
karenkdempsey Posted February 23, 2014 Author Share Posted February 23, 2014 yes it's a real miracle. it just made me feel so darn good and happy to be alive to watch it for the first time. Going My Way is why I watch TCM. Thank heaven for little gems and all that schmaltz that goes with it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
redhook47 Posted February 23, 2014 Share Posted February 23, 2014 There is nothing in the Academy rules to preclude voting for a performer in either the lead or supporting category. I'm sure Barry Fitzgerald received enough votes in both categories to receive two nominations. After this occurrence, the Academy amended its rules so that a performer could not receive nominations in both acting categories for the same role. If a performer qualified for the top 5 in both categories, he or she would be nominated in the category that they received the most votes. As a general rule, a studio will push for a specific category for a performer; especially if it is a role that is borderline between lead and supporting, so that votes will not be split. This year, Julia Roberts certainly could have been promoted for lead in August: Osage County, but probably due to her co-star Meryl Streep vying for a lead nomination, Roberts was pushed for Supporting. In this case, both were successful. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
karenkdempsey Posted February 23, 2014 Author Share Posted February 23, 2014 As this is Academy Award month, thank you for that information. I have wondered how actors get nominated for supporting and lead roles when there are two or more great performances within one movie. Can a director be nominated for directing and another category, say screenwriting ? Does a Best Picture always have a Best Director too? I can't see one without the other. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
redhook47 Posted February 23, 2014 Share Posted February 23, 2014 I don't want to go off on a tangent, but since it's your thread Karen, I don't feel bad talking a bit about Academy history. Best Picture and Best Director matches about 75% of the time. It is much rarer for a Best Picture not to have its director even nominated. It happened only 4 times in 85 years - the first Best Picture, Wings, the last Best Picture, Argo and two others in-between - Grand Hotel and Driving Miss Daisy didn't have their directors nominated. It can happen because Best Picture nominees are selected by all Academy members, while Best Director nominees are only selected by the much smaller Director's Branch of the Academy. A person can receive multiple nominations and it happens quite frequently. Warren Beatty received four nominations: producing, directing, writing and acting for Heaven Can Wait, 1978 and Reds, 1981. A Director can receive two Best Director nominations in the same year, e.g. Steven Soderbergh for Traffic and Erin Brockovich in 2000. An actor can receive two acting nominations in the same year, but they must be for different films in different categories e.g. Al Pacino - Best Actor nomination for Scent of a Woman and Best Supporting Actor nomination for Glengarry Glen Ross in 1992. Why the different rules for directors vs actors, I don't really know. Perhaps its because the movie going public know the actors more than the directors, and it wouldn't seem fair for performers to compete against themselves Edited by: redhook47 on Feb 23, 2014 5:39 PM Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JamesJazGuitar Posted February 23, 2014 Share Posted February 23, 2014 Interesting. I wonder how many votes Olivia DeHavilland got for Gone With the Wind as lead actress versus supporting? I use this example since it was a role that was some what in between. Either way Olivia wasn't going to win because the other GWTW actress for both awards gave an award winning performance. (but some say that Olivia did lose to McDaniels because many felt that Olivia's role wasn't a supporting role but more of a lead one). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Arturo Posted February 24, 2014 Share Posted February 24, 2014 GMW, the top grosser of 1944, winner of Best Picture as well as Best male acting.awards, is a sentimental treat, especially during the holidays, along.with its sequel. It single handedly established Bing Crosby as an actor, as opposed to just a singer, and put him over as America's top star for the next five years. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DownGoesFrazier Posted February 24, 2014 Share Posted February 24, 2014 Speaking of supporting v. lead role, I'm surprised that there developed such a bandwagon for Bette Davis for Best Actress Oscar for OF HUMAN BONDAGE. To me, her role seemed to be a supporting role (I guess there was no Supporting Actress Oscar as far back as '34. That may be the reason). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
crazyblonde7 Posted February 24, 2014 Share Posted February 24, 2014 Karen, The sequel The Bells of St. Mary's is also very good. I love Bing Crosby! He has many good movies. What a talent he was! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
redhook47 Posted February 24, 2014 Share Posted February 24, 2014 You are probably right. In 1935, Mutiny on the Bounty earned 3 Best Actor nominations for Clark Gable, Charles Laughton and Franchot Tone - the only time this has occurred. In all likelihood, Tone would have been considered for Supporting Actor, if the category was available. It would be the following year, 1936, that the Supporting Awards would begin. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DownGoesFrazier Posted February 24, 2014 Share Posted February 24, 2014 Well, the author of the Cary Grant bio took the step of mistakenly awarding the Best Supporting Actor Oscar to Tone for his role in MOTB. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
yogiboo Posted February 25, 2014 Share Posted February 25, 2014 I'd like to chime in as the sentimental sap that I am. GMW is great precisely because of its schmaltz. Part of the enjoyment of films like these is that everything is all so simple. Life in the USA, even then was probably never really like that. The Depression/ WW II era was a trying time, to say the least. It's Hollywood's version of what life should be not of what actually was. I'm sure there are many moments of truth in these heart tuggers but let's face it, lots of them were about making Americans feel good about themselves and their country. In the crazy times that we currently live in films like these could probably never be made so I believe that films like GMW and Bell's of St.Mary's (Karen, you really must see this. No one wore a nun's habit as well as Ingrid Bergman. Not even Audrey Hepburn. But that's just me.) really make one feel warm and fuzzy. I never let a Christmas holiday season go by without watching these two films back to back. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Create an account or sign in to comment
You need to be a member in order to leave a comment
Create an account
Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!
Register a new accountSign in
Already have an account? Sign in here.
Sign In Now