GUARDIAN ANGELS vs. DENNIS HOPPER — The Guardian Angels protest Dennis Hopper’s 1988 cops-and-gangstas drama Colors. As you can see, the would-be crime fighters claimed that Hopper’s film deserved a “Poisonberry Award” for being pro-gang, pro-crime, pro-murder, and so forth. It’s a little hard to take the Angels seriously considering the sketchy legacy of the organization’s self-promoting leader, Curtis Sliwa.
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Robin Williams and Roger Rabbit voice Charles Fleischer presenting an award at the Oscars in 1989: Photo by Paul Chinn, courtesy of the Los Angeles Public Library.
If you cover up Robin William’s jawline it turns into my father and I’m really uncomfortable with that
I’m uncomfortable with your father having giant mouse ears.
OSCARS FAN CRUSH, Hollywood, 1959:
“More than 2500 movie fans, one of the largest crowds in recent history of the event, jammed the Pantages Theater sidewalks to watch the parade of stars arriving for the Academy Awards presentation on April 7, 1959. After the ceremony began, some of them surged through ropes and chain barriers toward the theater entrance. Finally, police formed a ‘human chain’ to turn back the tide.”
Photo by Howard Ballew.
Academy Awards protest, Los Angeles, 1988: “Members of the violence prevention organization, Guardian Angels, protest Dennis Hopper’s film Colors during the 60th Academy Awards, held on April 11, 1988 at the Shrine Auditorium in Los Angeles.” Photo by Dean Musgrove.
Looks like Oscar had a really good time in 1997. Photo by Anthony Friedkin. Courtesy of the Los Angeles Public Library.
Weird Moment in Oscar History — Marlon Brando refuses his Best Actor trophy:
Everyone in Hollywood expected Marlon Brando to win Best Actor for his portrayal of mob patriarch Don Corleone in The Godfather–including Brando himself, who boycotted the ceremony and sent a woman named Sacheen Littlefeather to officially refuse the award on his behalf. Attired in full ancestral Apache wear, Littlefeather delivered a short speech decrying the stereotypical treatment given Native Americans by the film industry, which drew a smattering of polite applause, and a few boos, from the bewildered crowd.
How is this a weird moment?
Everything Marlon Brando ever did had at least a dash of weird in it. He was a genuine American eccentric. George C. Scott turned down the Best Actor trophy two years earlier. That’s all he did. Brando one-ups him by sending an emissary, some unknown activist and aspiring actress styled to emphasize her First Nation roots. But just imagine how this plays in Peoria as they used to say. The audience tune tunes in to see Don Corleone and gets Pocahontas. It’s unexpected. It’s awkward. It’s weird. Brando made a political statement, but he also pulled America’s leg.
WILL WORK FOR BEST DIRECTOR OSCAR — Streisand impersonator protests at Academy Awards. Shrine Auditorium, Los Angeles, 1994. Photo by Gary Leonard.
Robin Williams and Roger Rabbit voice Charles Fleischer presenting an award at the Oscars in 1989: Photo by Paul Chinn, courtesy of the Los Angeles Public Library.
Smokey and the Bandit (1977): These are the kinds of images that won Hal Needham a lifetime achievement Oscar from the Academy.
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Spoiler alert, anyone? — James Caan has a bad day in a publicity still for The Godfather
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Robert De Niro snagged a Best Actor nomination for his role in Michael Cimino’s The Deer Hunter (1978)
Humphrey Bogart’s acceptance speech for winning Best Actor in the The African Queen at the 24th Academy Awards in 1953:
“It’s a very long way from the heart of the Belgian Congo to the stage of the Pantages Theatre, and I’m very glad to say that it’s a little nicer here than it was there. I just want to pay a slight, as a matter of fact a very big tribute to Mr. John Huston and Miss Katharine Hepburn, because they helped me to be where I am now. Thank you very much.”
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WHAT ABOUT BABS? — Photo by Javier Mendoza, Los Angeles Herald-Examiner, April 10, 1984: ”Barbra Streisand may not have attended the Oscars, but a group of about 100 of her fans made sure the Academy was made aware of their displeasure at the lack of any major nominations for ‘Yentl,’ which she wrote, produced, directed and starred in. In today’s Q&A, some of them explain.” The 56th Academy Awards was held at the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion on April 9, 1984.
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They should give this out as the Oscar — An incredible publicity image for The Godfather (1972)
The Oscar-winning 1944 documentary short With the Marines at Tarawa used authentic footage taken at the Battle of Tarawa to tell the story of the U.S. Marines in combat during the invasion and conquest of a Japanese-held island:
The film is in full color and uses no actors, making it a valuable historical document. The documentary showed more gruesome scenes of battle than other war films to date. According to the documentary The War, President Roosevelt himself gave approval for showing the film, against the wishes of many advisers.
Since the pictures were far too graphic to meet the standards of Hollywood producers and distributors, only the President could grant permission for its release to the general public. President Roosevelt consulted the only man who was present at the Battle of Tarawa that he personally knew and trusted, Time-Life photographer Robert Sherrod. Quoting Sherrod, “I tell the President the truth. Our soldiers on the front want people back home to know that they don’t knock the hell out of them every day of every battle. They want people to understand that war is a horrible, nasty business, and to say otherwise is to do a disservice to those who died.” Based on Sherrod’s prompting, FDR agreed to release the film, uncensored.
The film won the 1945 Academy Award for Best Documentary Short Subject.
You can easily find it on the web since it’s in the public domain.
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