Academy Awards Showcase the Best and Worst of Hollywood

I have been quite astonished by the negative reviews of last Sunday’s Oscar broadcast, not only Paul Brownfield’s (“Hipper, Sleeker but Longer,” March 27) but numerous others in other papers and online magazines as well. Brownfield stated it was “something of a chore to watch (it will always be something of a chore to watch),” which proves him to be both stupid and prescient.

It was, in my opinion, the finest Oscar telecast in recent memory, maybe of all time. It was intelligent, witty (the opening montage alone was a classic) and moved quickly along. It gave the audience a real sense of being there, being a part of it. So what if it was four hours--it is always four hours--but this time there was no feeling of a dictator in the wings with a robotic hook.

The choice of Richard and Lili Fini Zanuck to produce the telecast was inspired. Rather than selecting someone finishing out a so-so career, the academy chose working producers, people of intelligence who looked at what had been done in the past and said, let’s improve on this, make it better.

As a producer, I would hate to have to follow this year’s broadcast. If we’re very, very lucky, maybe they’ll come back next year and do it again. Thank you, Zanucks!

ROBERT DUNCAN

Sherman Oaks

*

Is there anything tackier than the Academy Awards? Presidential primaries, avocado green appliances, Bill and Monica, the royal family--tacky all, but not big tacky, not huge tacky like Oscar 2000. The finest in Kmart blue-light specials don’t hold a penny candle to the Oscars.

Oscar night is the hands-down penultimate in max tack, the self-serving sine qua non of bad taste. Cher tripping on her dress with a cross swinging at her crotch says it all. It would all be so much more pathetic celebrity froufrou if it weren’t for the fact that this year’s Oscars were drumming up box office for such a nasty little pack of minor films celebrating murder, incest, abortion, gender duplicity and other Macbethean vices.

Did the Oscars in the dumpster caper really happen, or was it just an ingenious virtual metaphor?

RANDALL MORGAN

Buhl, Idaho

*

Brownfield called the Oscar telecast “hipper” and “sleeker” but I thought it was trying so hard to be hip that it got in its own way. I saw enough of the statues via endless moving camera shots to last me a lifetime. And that floor! It was “Saturday Night Fever” without John Travolta.

Next year I hope the academy remembers that viewers want to see celebrities, not glimpse them through techno-wizardry and special effects.

SHERRY BARBER

Whittier

*

Once a year, people around the world tune in to watch a truly American ritual, the Academy Awards. Unfortunately, none of the viewers will be told the actual location of the event. TV reporters will instead claim they are reporting from downtown Los Angeles.

Why can’t the media acknowledge they are in the heart of the South-Central community when they cover entertainment award shows at the Shrine Auditorium? Does the media believe if the stars knew they were actually in South-Central they wouldn’t show up, or that people would turn their TV sets off?

For those of us who proudly live and work in South-Central, it would be nice for the world to know that our community is home to the best venue in the city for this spectacular event. However, if by chance a crime or tragic event happens across the street from the Shrine, you can be sure the second story will end with the standard “reporting live from South-Central Los Angeles.”

KAREN BASS

Executive Director,

Community Coalition

*

The singing of classics from Hollywood films was panned by Paul Brownfield and Kenneth Turan (“As It Turns Out, Voters Live in the Real World,” March 28). I, for one, felt that any Judy Garland fan felt payback for her loss of Oscar to Grace Kelly--the greatest robbery since Brinks, per Groucho Marx’s comment at the time.

When I saw the clip from “A Star Is Born” of Judy clutching Oscar, I said “Yes!” Finally we see Judy holding Oscar in the very appropriate surroundings while Queen Latifah sings Judy’s song. I don’t know who conceived the idea for that segment but I would like to thank him or her for acknowledging Judy in her greatest role.

DIANE BARRIE

Torrance

*

The Zanucks blew a great opportunity. Why didn’t they have Haley Joel Osment introduce the “In Memoriam” segment?

LAUREL DELMAR MURRAY

Valley Village

*

After hearing the nominated songs, I could not help wondering if, 55 to 65 years from now, anyone (even the winner’s descendants) would know or care what song won.

HARRIS FARBER

Los Angeles

*

Interviewed on television as he entered the Academy Awards show, Richard Farnsworth, nominated for best actor in “The Straight Story,” made a statement that bears repeating:

“I’ve been in movies for 65 years and never had to say a cuss word on screen.”

SHIRLEY E. ROTH

Fountain Valley

*

In all the well-deserved praise being heaped on “American Beauty,” I don’t seem to recall much being made of the performance of Chris Cooper--a brave piece of work, without which there would be no story. If you’ve seen this remarkable actor in films like “Lone Star” and “October Sky,” you’d instantly realize what jewel-like craftsmanship he brings to the task of film acting.

And no, I’m not his publicist.

JOEL DRAZNER

Los Angeles

*

In accepting, one of “American Beauty’s” Oscar winners thanked the studio for its “brilliant marketing effort.” I suppose that’s the real name of the game.

MIMI GERSTELL

Pasadena

*

Sunday night I watched the American film industry bestow its highest honors on films whose themes included gender confusion, abortion, incest, dysfunctional families, adultery and hermaphrodites. If imitation is the sincerest form of flattery, the Oscar for the Uncrowned King of Hollywood goes to: Jerry Springer.

MICHAEL ROWLAND

Fullerton

*

I work as an assistant sound editor on feature films and television. You refer to “The Matrix” as having won four Oscars in “technical categories”: film editing, sound, sound effects editing and visual effects. Using the word “technical” to describe the work done by artists in these categories is an insult.

The word “technical” should only be used in reference to the scientific awards given to the many talented engineers who have pioneered groundbreaking new motion picture technologies. Such individuals represent the “sciences” in the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. Everyone else represents the “arts.”

SHAWN KERKHOFF

Thousand Oaks

*

Once again, everyone is complaining about how long the Oscar telecast ran. I just have one question: Is four hours really all that much time to spend, once a year, honoring American film, one of America’s greatest gifts to the world?

SCOTT MILLER

St. Louis