Enough Bouquets to Go Around

In a year when Hollywood tried not only to entertain but educate and enlighten movie audiences, the Golden Globes were awarded Sunday night to films that dealt with social injustice, the human drama, dark satire and even an odd assortment of toys with a heart and a mission.

“American Beauty,” a bleak fable about a middle-age Everyman stuck in a boring job and a loveless marriage, won three Golden Globes--including best feature-length drama, director and screenplay. The win vaulted the Sam Mendes-directed film to the head of the pack in the all-important Academy Awards race.

“Toy Story 2,” the hugely popular sequel to Disney/Pixar’s animated 1995 blockbuster, “Toy Story,” also captured best film honors for a musical or comedy, beating out such live-action films as “Being John Malkovich” and “Notting Hill.” Two other Disney-animated legends--”Beauty and the Beast” and “The Lion King”--were previous winners.

In television, cable flexed its muscles as shows like “The Sopranos,” “Sex and the City” and movies like “RKO 281” and “Inherit the Wind” beat out the network competition.

The 57th annual Golden Globes, one of the glittering party events of the year in the film and television communities, were broadcast on NBC from the Beverly Hilton Hotel in Beverly Hills. Though usually known for its unpredictability and raucous atmosphere, the three-hour event this year was more emotional than rowdy. At one point, former boxer Rubin “Hurricane” Carter, now free after spending two decades in prison for a crime he did not commit, stood before a crowd of celebrities and television viewers everywhere as Denzel Washington, who portrayed Carter in the movie “The Hurricane,” placed his hand on his shoulder and said, “This man is love.”

Washington was named best actor in a drama for his portrayal of Carter’s pursuit of justice. Washington is the first black performer to win a Golden Globe in this category since Sidney Poitier did it 36 years ago for “Lilies of the Field.”

A true underdog--Hilary Swank--won best actress in a drama for her role as a woman murdered in a small Nebraska town after leading a double life as a man in the film “Boys Don’t Cry.” With cropped hair and a mannish demeanor, Swank’s portrayal of the real-life Brandon Teena has already won a lion’s share of critics’ awards.

In her acceptance speech, Swank, 25, took note of the late Teena’s memory, thanking him for inspiration and saying, “He will always be in my heart.” Backstage, she added that after the filming, “I felt like I had lost every ounce of my femininity. I was floating between genders.”

*

In the comedy or musical category, Jim Carrey and Janet McTeer took best actor and actress honors. Carrey, ever the clown prince of Hollywood and a favorite of the Hollywood Foreign Press Assn., which sponsors the Golden Globes, took home his second statuette in two years, this time for his dead-on impression as the bizarre and unpredictable comedian Andy Kaufman in “Man on the Moon.” Last year, Carrey won best actor in a drama for “The Truman Show,” but the prize he really coveted--an Oscar nomination--never materialized.

Backstage, he remarked that “Man on the Moon” is the kind of role that comes along rarely in an actor’s career.

“There will never be another one like this,” he noted. “It was just such a tremendous odyssey. I’ve never thrown myself into something so drastically. I’m going to take six months off and live a life.”

Tony Award-winning British actress McTeer won as best actress in a comedy or musical for the small, independent film “Tumbleweeds” as a much-married, carefree divorcee with a much more stable young daughter. The role demanded that McTeer shed her upper-class British accent for an earthy Southern twang.

In two of the evening’s most hotly contested races, superstar Tom Cruise and rising young actress Angelina Jolie walked off with statuettes for their supporting performances.

Cruise won a Golden Globe for his fiery role as a sexist self-help lecturer in Paul Thomas Anderson’s ensemble drama “Magnolia.” Ironically, a year ago, Hollywood insiders would have thought that Cruise would be a shoo-in for a best actor nomination for the much-anticipated Stanley Kubrick film “Eyes Wide Shut,” but that movie failed to match expectations, both critically and financially.

“Wow, I didn’t expect this,” said Cruise, who also won a Golden Globe a decade ago as best dramatic actor in “Born on the Fourth of July” and, in 1997, as best comedy actor in “Jerry Maguire.”

Jolie, daughter of past Golden Globe winner Jon Voight, captured the foreign press’ heart with her vulnerable yet manipulative patient in an institution for troubled girls in “Girl, Interrupted.” Jolie previously won Golden Globes for HBO’s “Gia” and TNT’s “George Wallace.”

While some people view the Golden Globes as a popularity contest, dispensed by some 80 foreign journalists who regularly write home about Hollywood films and TV shows, the studios themselves see the Globes as a serious marketing tool that can be used to position movies for the Oscars.

If the academy is taking note of Sunday night’s tally, one fact stood out: Bigger is not necessarily better, as witness the acting awards that went to “Tumbleweeds” and “Boys Don’t Cry.” Even “Magnolia” and “Man on the Moon” have not been enormous hits with the public.

If the Golden Globes prove anything this year, it is that a quirky, dark comedy like “American Beauty” can achieve mainstream acceptance.

Mendes, a Tony Award-winning theater director who had never made a major feature film before, beat out such veterans as Norman Jewison (“The Hurricane”) and Anthony Minghella (“The Talented Mr. Ripley”) for best director for “American Beauty.” Likewise, Alan Ball, who cut his teeth on TV sitcoms, picked up a golden statuette for his “American Beauty” screenplay.

Accepting the award for best foreign film, “All About My Mother,” was Spanish director Pedro Almodovar, who brought laughter to the evening’s program when he noted that when he makes a film, actors do it his way or else.

“I’m a dictator when I shoot.”

Almodovar’s comment came after Barbra Streisand’s lengthy speech accepting the Foreign Press Assn.’s Cecil B. DeMille lifetime achievement award, in which she talked about how she allows actors space to give their own input.

The evening was marked with poignant moments.

Though the late groundbreaking African American actress Dorothy Dandridge has been dead for more than 30 years, her presence was very much in evidence as Halle Berry, crying on stage and unable to believe she had won best actress in HBO’s TV movie “Introducing Dorothy Dandridge,” remarked in a halting voice:

“Tonight, as you honor me, who you really honor is the eminent Dorothy Dandridge. She never got to stand here and be recognized by her peers, but because she lived, I am able to thank you so very much.”

In another emotional scene, the audience gave a standing ovation to Michael J. Fox, star of ABC’s “Spin City,” who won for best actor in a television comedy or musical series.

Fox recently stunned the entertainment world when he disclosed last week that he will leave the series at season’s end to spend more time with his family and also seek a cure for Parkinson’s disease, from which he suffers.

And, in still another heartfelt acceptance speech, veteran actor Jack Lemmon received a standing ovation as best actor in the Showtime TV movie “Inherit the Wind,” a dramatization of the Scopes monkey trial.

Lemmon used his acceptance speech to pay tribute to his friend and “Inherit the Wind” co-star George C. Scott, who died a few months after the filming. “If it were not for George, I would not be up here right now,” Lemmon said.

*

The HBO mob series “The Sopranos” blew away the competition, which included the Emmy Award-winning series “The Practice” and “ER.” The drama earned four Golden Globes: best drama, best actor, actress and supporting actress.

In another TV category, a very nervous--and talkative--Sarah Jessica Parker won best actress in a musical or comedy TV series for HBO’s “Sex and the City.” Parker stars as a New York columnist who writes about love and the single girl.

“I’ve never won anything in my life,” Parker said. “I had money on all the other nominees in my category.” HBO’s “Sex and the City” beat out Emmy winner “Ally McBeal” as well as other popular network shows like “Spin City” and “Will & Grace.”

“The Sopranos’ ” principal stars also won Golden Globes. James Gandolfini, who plays mobster Tony Soprano, and Edie Falco, who plays his wife, took best actor and actress honors. Nancy Marchand was named best supporting actress as Tony’s maniacal mother.

Gandolfini paid tribute to Marchand, who has been ill and was unable to attend the ceremony: “I’m standing here ‘cause of her.”

*

Times staff writer Lorenza Mun~oz also contributed to this story.