The Oscar (1966): So Bad It's Good.
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 9 ก.ย. 2024
- Time for some bad cinema, so bad it's good. The Oscar is notorious for being one of the most enjoyably bad studio films of the 1960s.
Starring Stephen Boyd, Elke Sommer, Eleanor Parker and Tony Bennett, it's a strident train-wreck of a movie with an originally 344 page script by the great Harlan Ellison.
Kino Lorber have now released it on Blu-Ray. Their web site is: www.kinolorber...
You can buy The Oscar on blu-ray at: amzn.to/2ZzRlKr
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I remember watching this years ago. Instead of paying attention to the plot, I kept thinking over and over "So when's Tony gonna sing?"
He does... on the soundtrack album. 😉
According to a Paramount press release promoting the film, producers Clarence Greene and Russell Rouse were already aware of how great Tony was as a singer. But when they saw him as a guest on "THE ANDY WILLIAMS SHOW" {on March 1, 1965}, they were impressed- and "were struck by an extraordinary warmth and sensitivity which came over on the television screen". They gave him a screen test.......and he earned the role of "Hymie Kelly", which was his only appearance in a movie where he didn't sing- and wasn't playing "himself".
I love ‘so bad they’re good’ movies. Otherwise I wouldn’t watch anything from The Asylum! Great video again.
Thanks. The Asylum are crazy people.
@@terrytalksmovies You say that like it's a bad thing!
Please tell me you were joking when you showed the #Spartacus on the picture of Stephen Boyd and Charlton Heston, as seen in BEN HUR lol. Love your videos BTW.
Thanks. 😀
From your description it actually seems like it might be worth a look! 👍😊
It is. Sometimes bad films are entertaining and instructive on what actually works in a movie.
Terry, thanks for another great effort. I haven't seen "The Oscar" but will check it out. I think I am definitely in your camp re: appreciating movies that are so bad they are good. I recently enjoyed again one of my favorites of these: "The Power"--1968, George Hamilton, Suzanne Pleshette--with all the hallmarks, including ridiculously overblown plot, wildly improbable situations, inane dialogue, etc. but still great fun to watch. Available for free (perhaps illegally) on TH-cam. Very best--stay safe.
The Power was way ahead of its time and the SFX technology available. I like it a lot though George Hamilton was never a good actor.
Just watched the Blu-Ray. My jaw is still scraping the floor. One droll review somewhere calls it “Campfire of the Vanities.” Nice to see Jack Soo, who of course later had an actual decent role in Barney Miller.
Jack Soo also stole Flower Drum Song. Hell of a talent.
Boyd was GREAT in this movie! He played it exactly like he should have; campy and over the top. He totally dominates and steals every scene he's in. The stage rehearsal scene is one of the highlights. Also when he fakes crying to impress Eleanor Parker, who was also great.
Eleanor Parker was always great.
I was just watching the SCTV spoof of this movie, "The Nobel". It's almost as funny as "The Oscar".
And for a really crazy movie about movie-making, try "The Stunt Man".
@@greenmonsterprod Think that's good, try Jean-Paul Belmondo running down an avalanche of rocks in The Burglars. That's some crazy stuff.
@@greenmonsterprod I saw that film with zero expectations coming in and I L-O-V-E-D it! Railsback and O'Toole were their usual larger-than-life selves and there wasn't a single dull scene in it. Great choice!
@@DavidTSmith-jn5bs The DVD set includes a documentary on how Richard Rush put the film together. Peter O'Toole's reaction when offered the part of Eli was...interesting.
I once saw it on TCM a few years ago. Train wreck is the perfect description of this film. The fact that Josh Olson and Patton Oswalt gave commentaries to the Blu-Ray gives me every reason to hunt this film down! Only Harlan's friends can effectively trash a film that he wrote. Patton was right BTW. Hymie Kelly's famous line "If you lie down with pigs, you come up smelling like garbage!" was an excellent Harlan-ism that I could hear him say regarding working "in showbiz!" I too met Harlan a few times, each a delight. He's deeply missed...
Harlan was definitely a one -off phenomenon. His books of 1960s TV criticism The Glass Teat and The Other Glass Teat are also recommended.
@@terrytalksmovies When I first met Harlan, it was at a Forbidden Planet book store that was opened in Manhattan (sadly, it doesn't exist anymore). The first thing that I told him while he was autographing a copy of "Medea: Harlan's World" was "I loved your collections of TV criticism "The Glass Teat..." " and he finished my statement with "And the OTHER Glass Teat?" and I said yes and he shook my hand and said "Thank you!" He was so used to being complimented for that Star Trek show that he wrote (you know the one!) that he seemed genuinely surprised that someone would actually compliment him for a project that was actually near and dear to his heart....
I've read them. He originally wrote those columns for the L.A. FREE PRESS.
Great episode as always Terry, and another movie to add to my list.
You should! It's an entertaining train-wreck.
I love, love, love TheOscar because it stinks, stinks, stinks. It truly is a movie so bad it is a classic. I had no idea Harlan Ellison was involved in the movie. All the (20+) times I’ve watched this movie I never inspected the credits.
An early scene where a dirty bar owner try’s to rip off Frankie and BAM! a super fast zoom in to a closeup of a knife with bongo threatening music tells the viewer this movie breaks convention at light speed.
The Percy Faith music is IMO pretty good. Am I wrong, or did the real Academy Awards use the albums Main Title song to ever open the actual telecast? If they didn’t, they should.
Thanks for the insights on this super-campy movie.
BTW, it could be said that Peter Lawford’s scene and character wasn’t acting at all. That was ‘him’, for real…sad.
The Oscar is up there with The Carpetbaggers. Salacious characters that only vast sums of undeserved money can produce.
Hollywood and The Academy Awards have earned their last decades of poor ratings. The cancel culture of foregoing a host because nobody’s perfect, and the 2022 ‘slap’ may scuttle the whole show. So many movies get remade that never should. Maybe The Oscar should be remade with Seth Rogan as Frankie Fayne and Patton Oswald as Hymie Kelly.
I like the soundtrack album, too. Rule #5 is always read the credits. 😀
why do you think it's bad??
My nomination for atrocious movies would be anything doris day was in.
I have a fondness for Move Over Darling. It was the first movie I ever saw and my Mum took me into Sydney city to see it.
I have not seen "The Oscar" but I will check it out. Another bizzare movie about hollywood which I saw recently is "The Day of the Locust" (1975) directed by John Schlesinger.
Imprint recently released a great blu-ray of The Day Of The Locust. I mentioned it in a haul video. Hell of a good movie.
@@terrytalksmovies Thanks for the info, I am still catching up with your videos and enjoying them all, I have not seen that haul vid that you mentioned yet.
Yes! Day of the locust!!!!!
Terry I haven't laughed this hard in such a long timeI I saw it originally as a kid when it aired on ABC Sunday Night Movie. I was so inspired by it portrayal of Hollywood and Southern Calif that I worked for ABC Prospect and CBS Television City as an electrical engineer designing Studios broadcast facilities. I even attended two oscars as a reward for three straight days supervising the movie clip transfers. The Oscars at that time were at the Dorothy Chandler Pavalion. .
True Story. My wife is a huge fan of Tony.. He was doing a cd signing and when we saw him I immediately did the abandonment scene by Elke, Tony and even Jack Soo playing the butler. Tony says in that raspy voice "Frankie you turn everything into garbage .... Tony looks at me like he wants to kill me "My wife says Mr. Bennet this man is not with me" the movie elicits this kind of reaction from many.
My fav scene was at Chasen's with Peter Lawford as the maitre dee and Fraankie giving him a hunde and Peter says sure i'll take it cause you are all afraid, And frankie says you use to be big. So when he joins Cappy Milton Berle {with the baby powder gray highlights
0 it reminds me of Christmas Future scene from A Christmas Carol.
My faorite movie about hollywood id "the Bad and Beautiful".
love Raskins score and the last scene with Lana Turner, Dick Powell and Barry Sulivan hearing Johnathon , Kirk on the phone about his latest idea is a classic,
Your deepan delivery is superb. Have you done a tretus on "its a mad mad mad world" My all time fav. Have you every watched the World Premire footage of it at Cinerama Dome with everyone. So telling. There is a reason everyone loved Mickey Roony, such a pro and a generous man to the fans, sweetly signing every fans request foran autograph.. Thank You for reignating the crazineness.
The Bad And The Beautiful is one of my faves, too.
The most entertaining bad movie of them all. I never tire of watching it. RIP, Tony Bennett.
Indeed. So glad I got The Oscar on blu-ray. Tony Bennett was a gent.
Has Grant never seen Plan 9, I wonder? Or Space Mutiny? Or Troll 2?? All examples of clearly great Bad Movies!
The Oscar is at its own level of bad for a mainstream drama.
OMG I've got to see the Blu-ray. That commentary sounds fantastic.
What breaks my heart about the movie, tho, is that I adore Stephen Boyd for a few reasons. He was almost literally a slave to the studio system: this film preceded the nadir years of his career which would only last another decade.
Glad I found your channel.
Cheers.
My pleasure.:-) 😊
You are not alone in your feelings about Stephen Boyd.
Another great video, sir!
Thanks mate. Happy Halloween!
I beleive that Ellison did this movie and Valley of the Dolls and pretty much stayed with tv after that but then said fuck tv after all the rejected projects. Hollywood sucks.
Hollywood isn't the only game in town any more, fortunately. The streaming services are breaking that model.
The great Kino Lorber who put out the also great The Outer Limits and the great two Kolchak tv movies. Happy with all four purchases!😃😄😀
Kino Lorber is great for quality obscurities. I love their stuff.
Nice segment Terry. I will have to look for this film. A couple of films l like about Hollywood is a 1937 film called It happened in Hollywood with Richard Dix and Fay Wray also Boy meets Girl 1938 with James Cagney and Pat O’Brien as a couple of screenwriters. Like the hat l have the Hiroshima baseball top to go with it.
Gotta rewatch It Happened In Hollywood. The Hiroshima Toyo Carp hat I fell in love with in Hiroshima. I also have the carp towel.
I first saw this film in 1985 or 86 in Halifax, Nova Scotia on an after lunch movies show! I thought it was wild! My very first impression (and I haven't changed my thought on this) was that it was a very loose interpretation of the rumoured life of FSinatra (esp. the Peter Lawford bits). View it through this lens some time and the film gets even stranger in my opinion. Peace, Terry
It's a schlock classic.
I read the book. As I did back then.
It's a truly crazy film.
Terry's right...............the film is a train wreck yet it looks good.
It's fascinatingly bad, would be the way I'd put it.
@@terrytalksmovies That too.....lol.
Just discovered your page. This movie is pretty cheesy. "The Legend of Lylah Clare" is even more over-the-top--did you review that yet?
Not yet. I've seen it. It should have a blu ray release.
I love this film I’ve seen it 3 times , it fascinates me for all the reasons you mention especially every scene seems to be way over the top and times I burst out laughing . What an odd film with all those incredible actors and how about Milton Berle ? Uncle Milty in a straight role ? That really threw me and he was good , I thought so any way . Love the part where says “ what am I a genie ?” When Frankie demands he take care of Elke Sommer to get her a job . The whole piece with Borgnine and Adams so bizarre . Anyway another Film I loved about Hollywood was Day of the locust which I thought really was a masterpiece that was also panned by many . Why on earth did Harlan Ellison a sci fi writer come up with this ?
Ellison was making a living. Day of the Locust had a great Imprint release a while back. Beautiful film.
@@terrytalksmovies Really ? Love Locust Schlesinger was just coming off of Midnight Cowboy i believe, that was a masterpiece.
Luna sent me here (wink, wink, nudge, nudge).
Luna is one of my best supporters.
SEEN THIS MOVIE PROBABLY TWENTY TIMES! I STILL LOVE IT!!
The pseudo-hipster dialogue is groovy AF.
Manos
The Oscar is though ally enjoyable because you can tell they were going for something epic and embarrassing themselves every step of the way. The story has plot twists galore which makes it quite interesting , albeit absurd. The dialogue is a cross between snappy film noir and beatnik cool which winds up sounding like nothing anyone has ever said or would ever say. Add the garish technicolor and you have a garish trash fest that is a must-see for any film fan.
It's kooky AF.
The original novel (by Richard Sale) was better.
It would be hard for it to be worse.
Love this movie! Bad, tacky and wonderful.
Please tell me the name of the tune played during the opening credits of this fi???
It's music I get from Epidemic Sound. In The Hotel Lounge by Redeemin'.
@@terrytalksmovies Does the song have a name with the orchestra that plays it? I've been looking for this for years?
@@scottmiller6495 In The Hotel Lounge by Redeemin'.
@@terrytalksmovies Can't find it, I want the same track used in the opening of the film the oscar 1966, thank you.
@@scottmiller6495 www.soundtrack.net/album/the-oscar/
I worked in a movie theater when this appeared so I saw it a few times. Good video.
Did anyone say anything about the movie to you?
Roger Ebert wrote the script.
No he didn't. Harlan Ellison did.
Yeah 1960s what a time and a better world than now Period!!!!!
My 1960s were nightmarish, but the music and the movies were cool.
Despite all its flaws, The Oscar is far more engaging than this video. I think your musings would be more entertaining to read than listen to.
Ah but I got you to watch it and comment, so thanks for the attention and the click. 😀
@@terrytalksmovies It was the subject matter that did that.