GALECA’s 10 Best Movies About the Oscars


GALECA: The Society of LGBTQ Entertainment Critics has revealed its picks for the 10 best pics about the Oscars. Keep reading for the full list by John Griffiths for GALECA:

Boyd does he wanna win! (Image via Embassy Pictures)

(1) The Oscar (1966)

Poor sociopath Frank Fane (Stephen Boyd, 1931-1977) wants that Best Actor trophy so bad, he’ll almost kill for it — literally — in this temples-bulging melodrama with all the Tinseltown trimmings. Where to begin? Fane’s disillusioned lover: Elke Sommer (b. 1940)! Disillusioned pal: Tony Bennett (b. 1926)! Agent Kappy Kapstetter (Kappy Kapstetter?!): Milton Berle (1908-2002)? Gossip queen Hedda Hopper (1885-1966), famed costumer Edith Head (1897-1981) and Nancy Sinatra (b. 1940) play themselves, adding a bit of glam reality, but the king of Academy Awards pics is to be enjoyed for its campy dialogue and deliciously over-the-top emotions (Harlan Eillison, who died last year at 84, co-wrote).

Gr8erDays asked Nancy Sinatra for any The Oscar memories (Image via Twitter)

The final scene — our palm-sweaty hero sits on the edge of his velvet seat, waiting for Oscar host Bob Hope (1903-2003( to shut up and just get to what he expects will be his magical moment — is stunning. Fun fact: Sanctioned by the AMPAS itself, The Oscar was nominated for two statuettes itself — and lost.

Wanting ... needing ... waiting ... (Image via Warner Independent)

(2) For Your Consideration (2006)

A near-perfect poke at Hollywood puffery, written by (and featuring) satire gods Christopher Guest (b. 1948) and Eugene Levy (b. 1946). Catherine O’Hara (b. 1954) plays the appropriately named Marilyn Hack, the second-rate star of a decidedly random flick — Home for Purim, a highly emoted drama about a Jewish family in the 1940s South — that generates Oscar buzz. Watching the vain actress and her co-stars [played, sublimely, by the likes of Parker Posey (b. 1968), Harry Shearer (b. 1943) and John Michael Higgins (b. 1963)] act humble while jockeying for various nominations is painfully funny. As are Hack’s suddenly giant, collagenated lips. Fun fact: Parker’s ingenue character gets lots of praise for her bold performance in Purim as a lesbian who comes out to her dying mom pre-kreplach.

There's just no let-up ... (GIF via GIPHY)

(3) A Star is Born (1954)

Yes, Janet Gaynor (1906-1984) and Fredric March (1897-1975) were touching in the 1937 version, which was, yes, based on the early talkie What Price Hollywood? (1932). But no one beats Judy Garland (1922-1969) as sweet, loving Vicki Lester, the actress who rises from dork (real name: Esther Blodgett) to elegant, humble name-above-title. And no one trumps James Mason (1909-1984) as her self-pitying husband Norman Maine, a suicidal alcoholic who sees his own acting career sink like a Klieg light. When Esther, er Vicki, glides to the stage for her Best Actress trophy, and a blitzed Norman ruins the moment for all to see, it’s sad indeed [and much more realistic than Gaga’s (b. 1986) Grammy acceptance speech alongside a soiling-himself Bradley Cooper (b. 1975) in the latest remake]. Fun fact: Esther’s Oscar debacle was included on several of the movie’s posters.

And the winner for best sham marriage is ... (Image via Columbia)

(4) California Suite (1978)

In Neil Simon’s (1927-2018) ’70s-chic comedy about various histrionic guests at the Beverly Hills Hotel, Maggie Smith (b. 1934) steals the limelight as Diana, a British actress up for her first Academy Award. Her jitters are exacerbated by worries that her closeted husband and best friend [Michael Caine (b. 1933)] is about to leave her. Fun fact: the cast and crew were granted access to the actual Oscars, so when Diana and her man walk the red carpet at the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion, that’s the real deal. Oh, and Smith won a Best Supporting Actress Oscar for her role. Sweet!

Stiller, waters (GIF via Paramount)

(5) Tropic Thunder (2008)

The premise is thunderously funny: four pampered stars of a Vietnam War flick [played by Ben Stiller (b. 1965), Robert Downey Jr. (b. 1965), Brandon T. Jackson (b. 1984) and Jack Black (b. 1969)] are thrown into the jungle for a big scene, guerilla-style, and think the real-life, deadly drug gang they encounter are just actors! Stiller, as Tugg Speedman, a faded action star à la Bruce Willis (b. 1955), chews up the scenery, almost literally, in this clever skewering of showbiz entitlement and grandiosity. Yet there’s wish fulfillment, too: Naturally, the men’s daring exploits are captured on film, leading to a monster hit and Tugg’s first Oscar! Un-fun fact: Tugg’s costar Kirk (Downey Jr.), an insufferable, Academy Award-laden method actor, dies his skin to play an African-American for his part, Tropic‘s dicey jab at tokenism that many moviegoers found painful instead of painfully funny. Downey Jr., nonetheless, was nominated for a Best Supporting Actor Oscar for his spin as a white guy daring to play a black guy in a weird bid to win an Oscar. What a meta-go-round!

Got a Magnum on ya? (Image via Paramount)

(6) In & Out (1997)

It could happen this Sunday night! Thrilled over his Oscar win for playing a gay soldier, hipster movie star Cameron Drake [Matt Dillon (b. 1964] gives thanks to his gay acting coach from his high school days. Trouble is, said teacher Howard Brackett [Kevin Kline (b. 1947)] is in the closet with an unwitting fiance [Joan Cusack (b. 1962)]! Groundbreaking for its long, man-on-man kissing scene [Howard sparks the interest of a showbiz reporter played by Tom Selleck (b. 1945)], Out actually rings funnier and braver nearly 20 years after its debut. And not just because homophobia deserves tweaking more than ever — the showbiz humor shines, too. Actor Cameron’s fellow noms, revealed by presenter Glenn Close (b. 1947) with perfectly wan smarm, include Paul Newman (1925-2008) “for Coot : Fun fact: screenwriter Paul Rudnick’s (b. 1957) inspiration for Out came from an actual Oscar moment. In 1994, when Tom Hanks (b. 1956) accepted his Best Actor award for his role as a man with AIDS in 1993's Philadelphia, he thanked his own high school drama coach and flagged him as gay — only in that case with the teacher’s approval.

Most Actress of the Year (Image via Paramount)

(7) Mommie Dearest (1981)

Intense Faye Dunaway (b. 1941) as intense Joan Crawford (circa 1905-1977) accepting her Oscar for her comeback flick Mildred Pierce (1945) while sick in bed, with reporters and radio mics surrounding her? As tasty as cherry pie! Fun fact: The scene wasn’t a case of “creative license” — Crawford milked the moment pretty much as depicted!

So sad! And yes, I would've been bidding. (Image via 20th Century Fox)

(8) The Star (1952) 

Crawford’s silver-screen rival, Bette Davis (1908-1989) is admirably self-aware in this cautionary showbiz tale as Margaret, an aging movie queen desperate to regain her fame (and youth). The woman is so frustrated she can’t land great parts, she gets trashed, grabs the Oscar she won in her salad days, and takes her tiny friend on a wild joyride in her car. Maggie got a D.U.I., while Davis herself landed an Oscar nomination.

Just plane satisfying (GIF via GIPHY)

(9) The Bodyguard (1992)

If Oscar were truly anthropomorphous, he’d be running for cover in the final scene of this chunk of cheese starring the late Whitney Houston (1963-2012) in her singing and acting prime. Thanks to smitten bodyguard Frank [Kevin Costner (b. 1955)], superstar Rachel Marron (Houston) is able to evade a psycho stalker through most of this romantic thriller. Somehow, the would-be assassin breaks into the Academy Awards pre-show, hides a gun in a TV camera, and starts shooting at Rachel just as she’s about to accept her Oscar for Best Actress, live! Hmmm, wonder if the show enjoyed a ratings bump the following year?

Prepare for take-off ... (GIF via GIPHY)

(10) Naked Gun 33⅓: The Final Insult (1994)

Turns out 2017’s infamous Oscars show — the one with the La La Land-wrongly-named-best-pic debacle — coulda been worse. In the last of the pratfall-filled The Naked Gun movies, accident-prone Los Angeles lawman Frank Drebin [Leslie Nielsen (1926-2010)] tries to stop some mobsters from blowing up the Academy Awards [the moll’s played by Anna Nicole Smith (1967-2007)]. One funny bit: Florence Henderson (1934-2016) is in the running for one of the gold statuettes! And, in the comedy’s climax, Frank interrupts presenter Raquel Welch (b. 1940) during the live telecast in the slapstickiest of ways. How this flick ever made it past AMPAS's team of ultra-protective brand hawks is a mystery. 

Honorable Mention

What’s Cookin’ Doc? (1944)

“Who, who, will win the Oscar?” intones the narrator in this fun, respectful spoof of awards races starring . . . Bugs Bunny! Filmdom’s most animated rabbit one-ups the aforementioned Frank Fane of The Oscar as he begs for the prize even after losing to — spoiler alert — James Cagney (1899-1986). This snarky cartoon short is mixed with clips of L.A.’s then-hopping nightlife, with stops at the Trocadero, Hollywood Bowl, Coconut Grove and Chinese Theater. Don’t miss the epilogue, in which Bugs winds up winning a special something in an moment that’s genuinely, surprisingly gay. Now that’s a fun fact! 

Dishonorable Mention

Somehow, it wasn't nominated for Best Makeup & Hairstyling. (Image via Universal)

The Lonely Lady (1983)

Oh, Lonely Lady, why do you taunt us? Jerilee Randall, played by notorious Golden Globe winner Pia Zadora (b. 1953), is no Frank Fane. This scheming seducer — a screenwriter despite her Barbarella-remake-worthy looks — actually scores the little gleaming guy, who here isn’t called Oscar, but rather some sort of mumbled “Major Award.” An award that just happens to look like the Oscar and Emmy had a one-night fling after a crazy night at L’Orangerie. And Jerilee is not a graceful winner. “I suppose I’m not the first woman here who had to [bleep] her way to the top!” she tells the quasi-Oscar audience. And then she pulls a Marlon Brando (1924-2004) and rejects the prize ... something none of the characters in the above cinematic treats would ever do. 

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