OVP: Cactus Flower (1969)

Film: Cactus Flower (1969)
Stars: Walter Matthau, Ingrid Bergman, Goldie Hawn, Jack Weston, Rick Lenz
Director: Gene Saks
Oscar History: 1 nomination/1 win (Best Supporting Actress-Goldie Hawn*)
Snap Judgment Ranking: 3/5 stars

When my brother and I were young, probably I was 11 or 12, one of our favorite nerdy pastimes was to flip through my almanac, and quickly figure out how many of the "Big 6" Oscar winning films we'd seen (Picture, Director, and the four acting trophies).  We did this with obscene frequency, too often, really, if you think about it, since we did it more than we would actually see the movies (in the era before home computer spreadsheets, this was really the only way you could keep track of such a thing).  I'm not going to go and do the numbers right now of where I stand (suffice it to say I have improved my counts since then), but doing this so often, weird films start to develop a mythic quality to them.  I have relatively few films from, say, pre-1995 (when this habit would've started & therefore were recited the most) that I haven't seen, so when I do, even if it's a minor film in terms of cinematic history, it still feels like a big deal, and it takes a while afterward for me to sort of stop instinctively thinking "well, I haven't seen that" because I've been saying for 25 years that I haven't.  This is probably going to be the case with a movie like Cactus Flower, which I finally saw this past weekend for the first time, and is indeed one of those "Big 6" Oscar winners.

(Spoilers Ahead) The movie is about Toni Simmons (Hawn), a young woman who lives in the Village in the late 60's (read-she's kooky & wears a mini skirt), who tries to kill herself because her dentist boyfriend Julian (Matthau) stands her up on their one-year anniversary, presumably because he's with his wife (it gets less depressing in a second).  She is saved by her cute next door neighbor Igor (Lenz), who spends the movie slowly trying to romance her (his naked torso plays a larger role in this movie than you'd think), but she is committed to Julian, particularly after he decides to leave his wife for her.  But first, she wants to make amends with his wife, which is a problem...because he made up the wife to try and get her not to want to marry him (as he's a playboy).  Instead, he convinces his rigid assistant Stephanie (Bergman) to be his "wife," and in the process, he realizes as she lets her hair down around him that she's in fact a beautiful woman (duh, she's Ingrid Bergman) who has been madly in love with him.  In the end, everyone ends up with someone, but not who they started with, and they all live happily ever after.

Cactus Flower is mostly known simply for being the movie that Hawn won her Oscar for today, but it was actually a big hit in 1969, and the score (by a young Quincy Jones) is pretty hip for its time.  Jones features covers of hits by the Monkees and Lulu in his orchestral setup, which feels right for a movie where one of the principle characters works at a record store (and because everything today is through the lens of Covid-19, man I was practically salivating at the idea of browsing through a record store).  The film manages to do something that was occasionally a struggle for American films of the era at that time, especially those focusing on youth culture-feel like it wasn't just of one specific era, but a more universal story.  Weirdly Jones' ability to put timeless hits like "I'm a Believer" and "To Sir with Love," songs that are so iconic they don't feel like part of any era, helps that situation even if they were recent at the time.

The film itself is fine, it's the sort of movie that's easy to know the plot of the second it begins.  Matthau is neither charming nor handsome, so you have to suspend belief as to why two gorgeous women are throwing themselves at him (his "swinging bachelor" is not something he ever really convinces this audience is real).  The women are much better.  Ingrid Bergman is not known for doing comedy, but she's charming as a woman finding herself, and realizing that she doesn't need to devote herself to a man in order to secure one.  This would have been too light to nominate Bergman, a long-time, serious actress for (though she did get a Globe citation), but I kind of wonder if she was closer than you'd think.  Hawn won the Oscar, and brings an innocence to the role that feels authentic.  It's a hard part to play-she has to be both brainy (it's obvious in hindsight that she didn't want to marry Julian the second he became available to her), and dumb, but that's been Hawn's schtick for forty years now so you know she can do it, even though it was brand new then.  I'm a big fan of hers in general, and it's weird to see her so young, to the point where her wealthy Beverly Hills accent hasn't yet developed into what we know from Overboard or The First Wives Club.  A great start to her career, and yet another "Big 6" victor off of my viewing list.

OVP: Best Friends (1982)

Film: Best Friends (1982)
Stars: Goldie Hawn, Burt Reynolds, Ron Silver, Jessica Tandy, Barnard Hughes, Audra Lindley, Keenan Wynn
Director: Norman Jewison
Oscar History: 1 nomination (Best Original Song-"How Do You Keep the Music Playing?")
Snap Judgment Ranking: 3/5 stars

Admittedly I should probably be getting political today, again (and am on my Twitter page, so follow me if you don't), but my lovely travel plans for the weekend got cancelled and I'm bummed from that, so instead I am spending the weekend cleaning out my DVR in preparation for the 31 Days of Oscar that is about to bestow itself upon us all as a radiant sign of hope (my DVR, TCM, and I have a bit of a war every year over how many movies I can fit on it, and I always lose in not getting as many as I want, but I'm at least giving myself a running chance right now).  Therefore in the next week (and likely over the next month or so), in addition to politics, Oscar articles, and modern movie reviews, expect to see some pretty eclectic films come forward that have been cited by the Academy but may not be as headliner as they once were.  We'll start that list with 1982's Best Friends, starring Goldie Hawn and Burt Reynolds.

(Spoilers Ahead) It's always something I have to acclimate to when I'm revisiting movies from a previous era who were the "movie stars" of the time that didn't necessarily gain immortal status, which is always that way with Reynolds in particular, but it's worth recalling Burt Reynolds at this time was one of the biggest stars in Hollywood (career misfires, then Evening Shade, then Boogie Nights, then more career misfires, would soon follow), as was Hawn, who had enough of a role in my childhood that I don't have to remind myself of her screen presence (she's one of my favorites).  The film shows them as Paula and Richard, two successful screenwriters, friends and lovers, who decide on a whim that it's time they get married.  The film then shows them as they move into a more domestic role while meeting their parents, considerably more eccentric than they are used to in their work-powered Los Angeles existence.

The film is one of those love stories that has aged and dated badly.  The idea of marriage "changing everything" is a bit more alien now when romantic couples regularly live together without getting married, and the idea of going from a career woman to a "wife" is a bit prosaic (you can be both!), but there are cute moments in the film.  The parents (Tandy, Hughes, Lindley, and Wynn) are all caricatures of human beings, but they get some fun lines in (particularly a bawdy Tandy, miles away from what she would soon bring to Miss Daisy), and Hawn and Reynolds are both incredibly watchable movie stars.  It all feels, though, like we're expecting too little from their characters-are they so sheltered that they can't put up with the insanity of their spouse's family for a week?  I think expecting patience out of two grown adults, particularly considering that the in-laws are by-and-large quite kind (if indeed pushy) shows a plot point that I'm missing-were we expected to think that people had less patience in 1982?  Couple that with a late scene that, while at the time probably wasn't nearly as heinous as it is now, but wouldn't fly in a movie in 2017 (Reynolds smashes open a window and pushes Hawn's head through the opening so she can "get some air," a violent scene that wouldn't be fitting today in a scene where they're about to reconcile), made me not like the movie, even if I did in fact enjoy it more in the middle than the script was giving me options to do.

The movie received a sole nomination for Best Song, one of many creations from Alan & Marilyn Bergman to be such cited, and it's actually quite lovely.  James Ingram, a solid good luck charm in the 1980's and 1990's for Oscar, performs the song with Patti Austin, and it's a lovely 80's power ballad, better than you'd remember even if a bit overly sappy.  The song features throughout as a melancholy love theme, only properly playing over the end credits but also appear in snippets throughout.  It's not a bad nomination, for the record, though I doubt when we get down to it in the OVP that Oscar made the wrong call going with An Officer and a Gentleman.  We shall see then, though.

Those are my thoughts on this romantic comedy from 1982-how about you?  Anyone have a fond memory of this, and if not, share your favorite film moments of Reynolds or Hawn?  And also, which of James Ingram's many soundtrack-sourced love ballads is your favorite?  Share below!

OVP: Swing Shift (1984)

Film: Swing Shift (1984)
Stars: Goldie Hawn, Kurt Russell, Christine Lahti, Ed Harris, Fred Ward, Holly Hunter
Director: Jonathan Demme
Oscar History: 1 nomination (Best Supporting Actress-Christine Lahti)
Snap Judgment Ranking: 2/5 stars

Watching older films always has a bit of a catch, especially in terms of where we're at with progressive politics.  I suspect twenty years from now, in fact, we'll watch films ranging from Legally Blonde to August Osage County (not sure why those were the first two that came to my mind-just go with it) and wonder about specific angles of the film and their portrayals of what is considered politically correct or important at the time.  Swing Shift presented this problem, but in a way I hadn't really anticipated.  As the cinema gets older, and in the 1980's it was pushing ninety in terms of age, it starts to revisit eras where the cinema was already an option.  Indeed, we frequently find allusions to that era in Swing Shift, mentally picturing actresses like Rosalind Russell or Susan Hayward taking on the roles that here are played by Goldie Hawn and Christine Lahti.  The chief problem with the film, which has a host of them, is that even in the 1980's the politics of the movie, and the way they present them, feel regressive.  The film has too many directions it gets pulled, and you can tell that there were troubles behind-the-scenes of the picture as the end product doesn't really know what it wants to be.

(Spoilers Ahead) The film famously hosted a major fight between director Jonathan Demme, then just starting out in his Hollywood career, and Goldie Hawn, who was one of the biggest stars on the planet when Swing Shift was hitting theaters.  The film tells the story of Kay (Hawn), a woman in a happy if a bit stifled marriage to Jack (Harris), who sits around waiting for her man to come home each day and occasionally passes judgment on her provocatively-dressed neighbor Hazel (Lahti) who moonlights as a nightclub singer.  The film takes a turn when World War II breaks out, and Jack is sent to the South Pacific, and much to his chagrin, Kay takes up as a factory worker to fill the gap left by the men going to war.  She slowly befriends Hazel and falls in love with a musician named Lucky whose heart condition keeps him from fighting in the war.  The film ends with Kay going back to Jack, Hazel ending up sleeping with Lucky and then randomly marrying the guy who first promoted her as a singer, and Lucky returning to the road, all the time watching all of the women lose their jobs so that the men coming home could have them back.

The film's tonal problems are what deserve its harshest retribution, in my opinion, as the politics of the 1980's are less familiar to me (though not so much that I don't have some comments on the way that women are portrayed here).  The film cannot decide for the life of itself whether or not it is a comedy or a drama, and that was a direct result of Hawn (who wanted it to be a comedy) fighting it out with Demme (who wanted a more dramatic picture).  The film, from scene-to-scene, underwrites certain elements of the film and you cannot tell whether or not the movie is going to be light-hearted or especially what drives the main character of Kay.  The film gets bonus points for being unpredictable, but that's more due to bad plotting than anything else.  We never really get any insight into Kay, whom Hawn plays entirely surface-level, and whether or not she's upset about losing her job or whether she really wanted Jack back or just settled with him because Lucky left and it was easier this way.  The ending, with Kay and Hazel making up also feels cloying and ridiculous, partially because we never understand why Kay and Lucky, who don't really care for each other, slept with each other in the first place. In the TCM introduction to this film (I want to be Ben Mankiewicz-how do I get that job?) he says that Hawn, after Demme got fired, had the film re-edited, and you wonder if part of Lahti's performance got cut in the dust-up which explains some of her character's more erratic decisions.

After all, it's Lahti who got the praise here.  Despite Hawn being the star, Lahti managed to turn this into a major career move, and in fact won the film's only Oscar nomination.  At first I didn't really get the nomination, as after all this was just Christine Lahti and she has always had incredible onscreen presence (part of me wonders if the nomination was simply a way to tell casting directors "hire her!"), but as the film goes on Lahti makes the most out of a thankless comic side role.  She finds depths in Hazel that no one else is really pining for (watch the way that she has to continually abandon her dreams, and the way she doesn't really know what happiness is-that's not really in the script, but Lahti makes sure you notice it), and she steals literally every scene she's in in the movie.  Lahti would have benefited from a better screenwriter (I wonder if she'd have won the Oscar if we'd received Demme's original vantage of the script), but she's way better than the movie and (in my opinion) one of those rare random Oscar nominations of the 1980's that actually deserved inclusion.

Before I go I would be remiss if I didn't come back to the feminist argument here, as it's interesting to watch this film or a movie like A League of Their Own and wonder how tragic it was that America decided it didn't have room for women in the workplace and the athletic field decades earlier than the Women's Liberation movement of the 1970's (think of what we might have accomplished!).  We get little sense from either Demme or Hawn over the unfairness of the women, who now have more experience in the factory, getting fired just so their husbands can go back to work, or the complicated political ramifications of such a decision (since their husbands were forced to go to war and give up their jobs due to a draft and national pressure).  That would have made an interesting picture, but Hawn and Lahti let on little other than the occasional complaint from a random coworker that they shouldn't have to be fired to give their job to a man.  As a result, the film feels decidedly anti-feminist which is the exact opposite of what it was going toward.

All-in-all, I left this film thoroughly disappointed, save for the excellent work being done by Christine Lahti, and also with a newfound (ahem) appreciation for Ed Harris in a naval uniform.  If you've seen the picture, what are your thoughts-do you agree the film feels disjointed and lacking a clear vision?  Are you also wondering why Lahti didn't become a bigger film star as a result of this movie?  And which of the 1984 Supporting Actresses gets your vote?  Share in the comments!

Oscar Trivia: Presenting the Oscars, Part 1

All right Oscar trivia nerds, it's time to step up to the plate as a project I came up with last month and have been scouring through books and websites since to figure out (okay, one book and one website, but I don't get to do a lot of research projects in my life so indulge me) has come to a close and now we'll have some articles as a result.  I recently was googling, and could not find a list of the most frequent presenters at the Oscars.  I found lots of lists of the most-common host (Bob Hope), but never regarding the presenters and I thought that was just silliness, so I took it upon myself to come up with the list.  As I was compiling, I realized there was a whole host of trivia to come out of such an idea, so I figured why not create a blog post or two on the matter.  Therefore, we'll be having a short three-part series called Presenting an Oscar over the next week.  Today, we'll go with a straight-up list of the Top 10 most frequent presenters, as well as a little trivia about them in regard to Oscars.  Shall we begin?

(Note: People count as Oscar presenters if they introduce an award, performance, clip reel, or nominated film.  I'm not counting hosting unless you also presented a specific award and I'm not counting performers of musical numbers for this list at least.)

8. Michael Douglas (tie)

Times He's Presented: 12
First Presented: 1984 (Best Documentary Short)
Latest Presented: 2012 (Best Director)
Has He Presented Best Picture?: Yes, twice in 2000 and 2002 (the latter with his father Kirk, for Chicago, a film starring his wife)
What's His Oscar History?: Douglas is weirdly two-for-two when it comes to Oscar, having won for both Best Picture (One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest) and Best Actor (Wall Street).  Those are his only two nominations.  It feels like the right number of wins, but I'm surprises Douglas, a movie star for over forty years, hasn't been able to score more nominations.

8. Goldie Hawn (tie)

Times She's Presented: 12
First Presented: 1970 (Best Actor, famously stating "oh my god" before announcing George C. Scott...it's vintage flower-child style Goldie if you've never seen the clip)
Latest Presented: 2013 (Best Picture segments for Captain Phillips, Philomena, and 12 Years a Slave)
Has She Presented Best Picture?: No, and considering how frequently it's levied at the Oscars that they are pretty repetitive and sexist when it comes to who gets to hand out the top honor, this seems like a pretty damn good choice.  Get on it AMPAS!
What's Her Oscar History?: Hawn won an Oscar for Cactus Flower in 1969 and was nominated eleven years later for Private Benjamin.  It's worth noting that Goldie, despite being a frequent attender and even a two-time host of the Oscars, wasn't there to pick up her only Oscar, instead having Raquel Welch pick up her trophy.

8. Audrey Hepburn (tie)

Times She's Presented: 12
First Presented: 1954 (Writing Awards)
Last Presented: 1991 (Honorary Award to Satyajit Ray)
Has She Presented Best Picture?: Yes, four times (second only to Jack Nicholson) in 1955, 1960, 1966, and 1975
What's Her Oscar History?: Audrey won Best Actress in 1953 for Roman Holiday, and was nominated in 1954 (Sabrina), 1959 (The Nun's Story), 1961 (Breakfast at Tiffany's), and 1967 (Wait Until Dark).  Her humanitarian work also won her the Jean Hersholt in 1993.

8. Nicole Kidman (tie)

Times She's Presented: 12
First Presented: 1991 (Presented by Best Song nominee "Everything I Do (I Do It For You)")
Latest Presented: 2014 (Best Foreign Language Film)
Has She Presented Best Picture?: Not yet, though there's time considering she's relatively young by such standards.  Her ex-husband Tom Cruise did, though, in 2011.
What's Her Oscar History?: Despite a truly impressive filmography in the past decade (one could argue this number should be double what it is), Kidman has three Oscar nominations from 2001 (Moulin Rouge!), 2002 (The Hours), and 2010 (Rabbit Hole), winning for The Hours.

8. Jack Nicholson (tie)

Times He's Presented: 12 (and yes, I figured this number would be greater too, but Jack took some long breaks in presenting)
First Presented: 1971 (Best Picture)
Latest Presented: 2012 (Best Picture)
Has He Presented Best Picture?  If you are actually asking this question, you need to start watching the Oscars.  Jack always presents Best Picture, having done it eight of his twelve times at presenting.  He did it in 1971, 1976, 1977, 1989, 1992, 2005, 2006, and 2012.  It's worth noting that with A Few Good Men competing in 1992 and The Departed in 2006, he's actually presented in years where he was in the eligible picture, which is rare.
What's His Oscar History?: Jack Nicholson is a twelve-time Oscar-nominated legend.  Cited for Easy Rider (1969), Five Easy Pieces (1970), The Last Detail (1973), Chinatown (1974), One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest (1975), Reds (1981), Terms of Endearment (1983), Prizzi's Honor (1985), Ironweed (1987), A Few Good Men (1992), As Good As It Gets (1997), and About Schmidt (2002), Nicholson is second only to Meryl Streep in terms of nominations and second only to Kate Hepburn in terms of wins (he won for Cuckoo, Terms, and As Good As It Gets).  He is also tied with Michael Caine for most consecutive decades with a nomination.

8. Steven Spielberg (tie)

Times He's Presented: 12 (again, I thought it would be more too)
First Presented: 1979 (Best Director, along with Goldie Hawn no less...wonder if Spielberg could convince her to make another movie?)
Latest Presented: 2010 (Best Picture)
Has He Presented Best Picture?: Yep, three times (2003, 2008, and 2010)
What's His Oscar History?: Steven Spielberg has a truly weird career with the Oscars.  While everyone today thinks of a Spielberg film as a gimme nomination, prior to his wins for Schindler's List, it was very hit-and-miss.  He wasn't nominated for directing Jaws, The Color Purple, or Empire of the Sun, and films like Close Encounters couldn't seal-the-deal in the Best Picture race with a nomination.  Still, he has 15 nominations with three wins amongst them (Best Picture/Director for Schindler's List and Best Director for Saving Private Ryan), plus he also has the Thalberg Award won in 1986), so it's not like they haven't amply rewarded the man.

7. Dustin Hoffman

Times He's Presented: 13
First Presented: 1967 (Best Cinematography)
Latest Presented: 2012 (the Writing Awards, with Charlize Theron)
Has He Presented Best Picture?: Twice, in 1986 and in 2004 (which he co-presented with his Meet the Fockers costar Barbra Streisand)
What's His Oscar History?: Hoffman has been nominated seven times for Best Actor, for The Graduate (1967), Midnight Cowboy (1969), Lenny (1974), Kramer vs. Kramer (1979), Tootsie (1982), Rain Man (1988), and Wag the Dog (1997); he won for both Kramer and Rain Man.

5. Bob Hope (tie)

Times He's Presented: 14 (he also hosted the show eighteen times, a record that will likely stand forever considering the fickle nature of entertainment)
First Presented: 1938 (Short Subjects)
Last Presented: 1990 (Presented a montage called "My First Movie")
Has He Presented Best Picture?: No, likely because he was always too busy getting ready to close the show.
What's His Oscar History?: As Hope lamented many, many times through the years he was never able to get nominated for an acting award during his illustrious career (likely because he dabbled in comedy more than drama, and also because he was far better at playing Bob Hope than he was a fictional character).  The Academy didn't forget him, however, and gave him five honoraries in 1940, 1944, 1952, 1959 (the Jean Hersholt), and 1965.  One hopes they shell out at least one eventually for his modern-day equivalent Billy Crystal.

5. Jack Lemmon (tie)

Times He's Presented: 14 (he also hosted the Oscars four times)
First Presented: 1955 (Art Direction, which he handed out with singer Peggy Lee)
Last Presented: 1997 (the Writing Awards with his longtime costar Walter Matthau, who with eleven awards presented just missed this list)
Has He Presented Best Picture?: Yes, in 1965 to The Sound of Music
What's His Oscar History?: Lemmon was nominated for eight Oscars in 1955 (Mister Roberts), 1959 (Some Like It Hot), 1960 (The Apartment), 1962 (Days of Wine and Roses), 1973 (Save the Tiger), 1979 (The China Syndrome), 1980 (Tribute), and 1982 (Missing); he won for Mister Roberts and Save the Tiger.

4. Gregory Peck

Times He's Presented: 16 (in addition to being a major movie star, Peck also served as president of the Academy which helps in his count here)
First Presented: 1957 (Art Direction, with Eva Marie Saint who has presented ten times at the Oscars so far, nearly making this list)
Last Presented: 1994 (Presented the Quiz Show Best Picture segment)
Has He Presented Best Picture?: Once, in 1964 to My Fair Lady
What's His Oscar History?: Peck was nominated five times in 1945 (The Keys of the Kingdom), 1946 (The Yearling), 1947 (Gentleman's Agreement), 1949 (Twelve O'Clock High), and eventually winning in 1962 in To Kill a Mockingbird.

3. Tom Hanks

Times He's Presented: 17
First Presented: 1986 (Best Animated Short Film, with co-presenter Bugs Bunny)
Latest Presented: 2011 (Best Cinematography and Art Direction)
Has He Presented Best Picture?: Twice, in 2001 and 2009.
What's His Oscar History?: Everybody's favorite movie star of the 1990's has been nominated five times in his career, in 1988 (Big), 1993 (Philadelphia), 1994 (Forrest Gump), 1998 (Saving Private Ryan), and 2000 (Cast Away), winning for Philadelphia and Forrest Gump.

2. John Travolta

Times He's Presented: 18
First Presented: 1977 (Best Supporting Actress)
Latest Presented: 2014 (Best Original Song, with Idina Menzel, whose name he infamously butchered the year before...considering he'd presented 17 times at that point you'd think he could have better practiced).
Has He Presented Best Picture?: Nope, not yet, though I'm sure it will eventually happen-maybe when he eventually takes over number one?
What's His Oscar History?: Travolta is a two-time nominee, for 1977's Saturday Night Fever and 1994's Pulp Fiction.  While he's never won, I have to imagine that either an Honorary Award or an "old-age" style award is in his future as he seems genuinely popular in Hollywood and consistently makes movies, though lately not very many good ones.

1. Jack Valenti

Times He's Presented: 24
First Presented: 1966 (Honorary Award to Y. Frank Freeman)
Last Presented: 2002 (Best Documentary Short Subject)
Has He Ever Presented Best Picture?: Nope, Valenti's appearances at the Oscars almost always happened in the middle hour of the ceremony and he rarely got a marquee award.
What's His Oscar History?: For those of you saying "who?!?" in regard to Valenti topping movie stars like Travolta and Hanks on this list, Valenti was once one of the most powerful figures in Hollywood.  The head of the MPAA, he was imperative to creating the modern ratings system and spent years fighting the idea of home video (saying it would be the death of the movies).  Valenti was also in one of the most iconic photos in American history-he can be seen in the bottom left corner of the picture of President Lyndon Johnson, as he served as a media adviser for him.  Despite his repeated awards from the industry (he won an honorary trophy from both the PGA and DGA), he never won an Honorary Oscar.

And there you have it folks-we'll get into some other fun minutia of the presenters later this week, but in the meantime-who is a surprise on this list?  Who did you expect to top the list?  Do you have a favorite amongst these presenters?  Share your thoughts in the comments!

A Mother's Day Celebration: Hollywood's Best Mother-Daughter Pairs

In honor of Mother's Day, I thought it would be fun to look at my five favorite mother-daughter pairs in Hollywood.  Below I have ranked the best mother-daughter pairs at the movies:

5. Diane Ladd and Laura Dern

Laura finally started to catch up with mama Diane at the Oscars this past year.  The Rambling Rose costars have had a long history with Oscar, with Ladd nominated three times versus Dern's two nominations.  Both are brilliant performers who also costarred on HBO's Enlightened.

4. Debbie Reynolds and Carrie Fisher

Debbie was one of the biggest stars of the 1950's, headlining dozens of romantic comedies, and is still celebrated today (she recently won the SAG Life Achievement Award), while Carrie Fisher would have enormous success in front of the screen in the Star Wars films (she'll be in Episode 7 later this year) and behind the screen as a comedian and screenwriter.

3. Goldie Hawn and Kate Hudson

Goldie Hawn is perfect, and I've always LOVED these two together whenever they do interviews or talks on the red carpet.  Kate hasn't had the career her mom has, but she's always insanely fun and I constantly wish she'd pull her mom out of retirement for some sort of mother-daughter comedy (who wouldn't want that?).

2. Judy Garland and Liza Minnelli

Both legends in their own-right, two of Classic Hollywood's biggest stars both won Oscars (Judy a juvenile award, while Liza emerged victorious with Cabaret), and both became immortal for their singing prowess and stage presence.

1. Janet Leigh and Jamie Lee Curtis

Janet's a Hollywood icon, starring in three of the best films ever made (Touch of Evil, Psycho, and The Manchurian Candidate) while Jamie Lee Curtis has headlined films as diverse as Halloween, True Lies, and Freaky Friday.  Together they're not just Scream Queens of different generations-they're my favorite mother-daughter pair in Hollywood.

Those are my favorites-how about yours?  Who else would you add to this list?  Share in the comments!  And Happy Mother's Day!

Everybody's Linking for the Weekend

We haven't done this in a while.  Here's some of the top stories of the past week...

Oscar Winner Goldie Hawn

In Entertainment...

Huffington Post: Easily the best entertainment news of the week, Goldie Hawn has signed with CAA, giving us hope that she's returning to show business.  Hawn hasn't made a film in twelve years (her last was her Golden Globe-nominated work in The Banger Sisters), and I've missed her perfect comic timing and sassy onscreen presence desperately.

Grantland: Mark Harris wrote this week's "must-read" piece-a fascinating look at how the larger Best Picture field has actually limited the number of films that are nominated for the Oscars.  It's truly a remarkable observation-I hadn't noticed before, but if you look at the "Big 8" (producing, acting, writing, and directing) only twelve films take up the forty slots, a mere three of which weren't Best Picture nominees.  That's absurd, and this locks out the truly little films (such as last year's Compliance with Ann Dowd's superb work in a bid for Best Supporting Actress or the excellent Short-Term 12 in a bid to gain a writing citation) that aren't playing in Best Picture but are trying to make a run at it in other categories.

CNN: Harvey Weinstein has vowed to no longer make violent pictures.  This is A) a little bit late to the conversation, Harvey and B) infuriating.  Censorship is almost never the answer, and a better rule would be for Harvey to make it more difficult for theatergoers to let children into R-rated films (such as how it is in Europe) or to make violence have the same sorts of strict criteria that sex have with the MPAA.  But at the end of the day, violent films, television, and video games are not what you should be focusing on in this debate-easy access to guns and violent weapons and lack of proper background checks are where the real issue is.  Not the movies.

The Guardian: Speaking of Harvey, have you heard that Grace of Monaco will once again disappear from the release schedule?  The film, about the late Princess Grace, starring Nicole Kidman, was at one point a threat in the Best Actress race, and had now moved to March (release dates are up-in-the-air right now).  Now the question is simply will anyone ever see it, as the delays sound to be of a pretty tumultuous nature.

In Politics...

Ezra Klein

Slate: The world's most adorable political/economics blogger, Ezra Klein, will be leaving the Washington Post to start a new project.  As someone who reads the Post daily online, this is a big disappointment, as Chris Cillizza is no Ezra Klein, and Klein actually has opinions and insights that you couldn't read on every Politico article.  Hopefully his next project (which is mired in secrecy) will be out soon.

Mediaite: Have you all seen Lawrence O'Donnell's attack ad against Chris Christie?  I am not a Christie fan at all, but I feel like this is a step too far from MSNBC.  There's being partisan, and then there's going to a place you can't come back from-is there where we're at now with the news?  Is this where we want to be with the news?  My guess is no one wants their newsmen out there writing political ads against sitting members of the government.

Just One More...

CNN: I don't have a lot to say on Justin Bieber (I'm really too old for either, but since I don't like to tie myself down with age-specific stereotyping, I'm a proud Directioner and not at all a "Belieber").  However, I do want to say that A) someone needs to get involved in this young man's life and fast before we run into another Amy Winehouse style situation and B) what's with the smiling in the mugshot?  I get that his publicist probably said right beforehand that he should smile because it will play well in the media (still one of the smartest decisions Tom DeLay ever made), but this was a bit much, and made him look...odd.  Perhaps skip the teeth next time Justin?

Golden Globe Nominations ≠ Oscar Nominations, Part 2

Earlier this week, we took a look at the actors that the Golden Globes have nominated the most without ever receiving a subsequent Oscar nomination.  Today, however, we look at the actors that the Globes simply favored over the Oscars, but both have spread some love toward.  The weird thing about this list is that, in many cases, the Oscars have been fairly generous to the nominees: no one is a one-time Oscar nominee, and 80% of those included below have won an Academy Award.  Let's take a look:

I used the same weighting system as before (favoring leads in dramas, supporting roles, and comedies in that order), so there are a number of contenders, such as Cary Grant, Julie Andrews, Sally Field, and Walter Matthau who just miss the cut.  Also, for the sake of uniformity, I'm only including the below actors' film acting nominations, though I am aware at least two of them have received nominations in other categories at the Globes or the Oscars.

10. Al Pacino

Nominated for Both Globes and Oscars: 8 (The Godfather, Serpico, The Godfather Part II, Dog Day Afternoon, ...And Justice for All, Dick Tracy, Glengarry Glen Ross, Scent of a Woman)
Nominated for Just Oscar: 0
Nominated for Just Globes: 5 (Bobby Deerfield, Author! Author!, Scarface, Sea of Love, The Godfather Part III)
Winner?: 1 Oscar (Scent of a Woman) and 2 Globes (Serpico, Scent of a Woman)
Closest He Got to Another: The Godfather Part III

Like de Niro, Duvall, Hoffman, and Nicholson, Pacino enjoyed a "do-no-wrong" sort of joyride for a while with awards bodies, from roughly 1972-92 (he is, to date, the only one of those five to not have been nominated in the past twenty years).  One of Oscars favorites, it's hard to imagine him receiving many more nominations (eight puts him fifth amongst all male actors), though one has to wonder how close he must have been for The Godfather Part III.  The film received seven Academy Award nominations, including Best Picture, and Pacino had to be close to taking out his longtime buddy Robert de Niro (who was probably just included over his costar Robin Williams) or Gerard Depardieu (who was likely close to cancelling himself out with the successful Green Card also in theaters that year).  One wonders if, in this alternate universe, pressure would have mounted to give Pacino one of the two Oscars that he was nominated for, and thus giving Denzel Washington his Malcolm X Oscar, which many feel he deserved.

9. Gene Hackman

Nominated for Both Globes and Oscars: 3 (The French Connection, Mississippi Burning, Unforgiven)
Nominated for Just Oscar: 2 (Bonnie and Clyde, I Never Sang for My Father)
Nominated for Just Globes: 5 (The Conversation, The French Connection II, Under Fire, Twice in a Lifetime, The Royal Tenenbaums)
Winner?: 2 Oscars (The French Connection, Unforgiven) and 3 Globes (The French Connection, Unforgiven, The Royal Tenenbaums)
Closest He Got to Another: The Royal Tenenbaums or The Conversation (see below)

Hackman actually has a pretty solid track record outside of the Globes-two nominations without a Globe nomination for either is a pretty solid position to be in, especially considering they both came before his first Globe nod.  However, the Globes were particularly fond of him in the sixteen years between The French Connection and Mississippi Burning, giving him a nomination even for the "really?" sequel to The French Connection.  I'd say that The Conversation was the most likely nominee, possibly taking out Albert Finney, but with Hoffman's Lenny, Pacino's Godfather 2, and Nicholson's Chinatown, they may have had enough of the new generation and it might have been a longshot for Hackman to make it too.  The Royal Tenenbaums likely would have gotten him a nomination had they been a little clearer on his campaign-he won the Globe for lead but they campaigned him in supporting, a smart move, but the confusion probably cost him and benefited surprise nominee Ethan Hawke.

8. Goldie Hawn

Nominated for Globes and Oscars: 2 (Cactus Flower, Private Benjamin)
Nominated for Just Oscar: 0
Nominated for Just Globes: 6 (Butterflies are Free, Shampoo, The Duchess and the Dirtwater Fox, Foul Play, Best Friends, The Banger Sisters)
Winner?: 1 Oscar (Cactus Flower) and 1 Globe (Cactus Flower)
Closest She Got to Another: Shampoo or Butterflies are Free

Am I the only person who desperately misses Goldie Hawn?  I don't think it's fair that she retired on us so abruptly after 2002's The Banger Sisters and am always hoping someone finds a role suitable for her.  She might be the most surprising entry on this list-unlike Pacino and Hackman, she hasn't given so many critically-lauded performances to put her into a ubiquitous, "always-nominated" state.  Every single one of her "extra" nominations happened for comedies, which likely caused this big gap, though I suspect that she had a shot to take out Maggie Smith in Butterflies are Free (competing at the time with Carol Burnett for the fifth slot).  There's also a chance that she could have gotten in on the wild mess that was the 1975 Best Actress race, though Marilyn Hassett, Faye Dunaway, and Hawn's costar Julie Christie were all also trying to break into that wild category.  Considering her enormous influence on the Globes you would think she could get the DeMille at some point.

7. Nicole Kidman

Nominated for Globes and Oscars: 3 (Moulin Rouge!, The Hours, Rabbit Hole)
Nominated for Just Oscar: 0
Nominated for Just Globes: 6 (Billy Bathgate, To Die For, The Others, Cold Mountain, Birth, The Paperboy)
Winner? 1 Oscar (The Hours) and 3 Globes (To Die For, Moulin Rouge!, The Hours)
Closest She Got to Another: Cold Mountain or The Paperboy

With actresses that aren't named Meryl, Oscar frequently forgets that they exist once they've won their trophy.  Think of how many women have done interesting work that was looked over for years, perhaps forever, after they won their Oscars.  Kidman, at least up until Rabbit Hole (which, despite it being the best of the year, seems like a sort of fourth or fifth slot nomination rather than one the Academy actively pursued).  She was obviously in the running for Cold Mountain, though the 2003 Best Actress race is one that I think we all can agree was Oscar (thankfully) thinking outside of the box, so it's difficult to gage where the more standard nominations like Kidman would have fallen into place.  The Paperboy was definitely outside of the box, and Jacki Weaver clearly upset some frontrunner, though I partially think it was Maggie Smith for Best Exotic who was in sixth place rather than Kidman (who knows though-throw in Ann Dowd and those four women had to have been separated by single-digits).

6. Leonardo DiCaprio
Nominated for Globes and Oscars: 3 (What's Eating Gilbert Grape, The Aviator, The Departed)
Nominated for Just Oscar: 0
Nominated for Just Globes: 6 (Titanic, Catch Me If You Can, The Departed, Revolutionary Road, J. Edgar, Django Unchained)
Winner?: No Oscars, but he won the Globe for The Aviator
Closest He Got to Another: Django Unchained

Look at the spread of time that DiCaprio has wracked up nine nominations.  Over the course of fifteen years, he scored nine Globe nominations, and three led to Oscar.  That's a stunningly low conversion rate, particularly when you consider that he has never been nominated in a comedy.  Part of his problem is that the Oscars don't care for younger men-DiCaprio has not yet turned forty, whcih is when the Oscars really start paying attention for men, but some of these are just odd, particularly Django.  Considering that Waltz was a lead and Arkin was on autopilot (and Waltz, oddly enough, was not a sure thing at the Oscars), had DiCaprio been able to trounce him and get into the race, he likely would have won taking on four previous winners.  It seems deeply apparent that at some point DiCaprio is going to pull a Paul Newman and win the big trophy after his golden boy looks have faded, but clearly the Globes are going to rub their "we honored him first" at Oscar for the time being.


5. Johnny Depp
Nominated for Globes and Oscars: 3 (Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl, Finding Neverland, Sweeney Todd)
Nominated for Just Oscar: 0
Nominated for Just Globes: 7 (Edward Scissorhands, Benny & Joon, Ed Wood, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest, The Tourist, Alice in Wonderland)
Winner?  No Oscars, but one Globe for Sweeney Todd (though sadly he won during the Writer's Strike, so instead of Depp accepting we had to sit through Billy Bush prattling)
Closest He Got to Another: The Tourist...just kidding, probably Ed Wood (though admittedly none of these were super close)

Depp seems content to be without an Oscar indefinitely at this point, as his constant, garish cartoons that Tim Burton has dreamt up keep him from getting back to the comedic brilliance that he hit in Pirates.  It's worth noting that with the exception of Finding Neverland (which did gain him an Oscar nod), he's never been nominated in the drama category, which puts him in a situation where he's rarely going to be nominated for an Oscar based off of Globes love (the comedy category, especially for men, is usually a slate of broken dreams for those HFPA-nominees with Dolby-aspirations).  Of the ten on this list, he's the one I see moving up the most frequently in the future, as his star status is still huge, getting him Globe attention and the Globes, oftentimes a bit pressed for Comedy nominees, go with the big hits rather than the critical ones on a regular basis (can't you see him landing for the cringe-worthy Lone Ranger?).

4. Barbra Streisand
Nominated for Globes and Oscars: 2 (Funny Girl, The Way We Were)
Nominated for Just Oscar: 0
Nominated for Just Globes: 8 (Hello, Dolly!, The Owl and the Pussycat, Funny Lady, A Star is Born, Yentl, Nuts, The Mirror Has Two Faces)
Winner?: 1 Oscar (Funny Girl) and 2 Globes (Funny Girl, A Star is Born)
Closest She Got to Another: Babs usually gets closer behind the camera when she misses, but my best guess would be Yentl.

Yes, before anyone says anything I am aware that Streisand has been nominated for directing, producing, and song-writing in her long awards career with these two bodies, but this, as I mentioned above, is limited to acting nominations only.  Even then, Streisand, who is treasured by the Globes, comes ahead by eight.  She and Hawn are the only two people on this list to have only two acting nominations with the Oscars, and like Hawn, Streisand won these nominations predominantly for comedies or musicals.  Streisand has a long history with the Oscars, and has been fairly vocal about her inability to be nominated for directing for Yentl or The Prince of Tides, so it's actually quite overlooked how frequenty she's missed in the acting categories.  She was probably in sixth or seventh place for Yentl (but based on the strength of the eventual Oscar nominees, wasn't a major contender).  And of course, as she made a film in 1975 that was somewhat noteworthy, she was part of the conversation in that weirdest of Best Actress years, though probably not to the extent that Hawn was.

3. Meryl Streep
Nominated for Globes and Oscars:15 (The Deer Hunter, Kramer vs. Kramer, The French Lieutenant's Woman, Sophie's Choice, Silkwood, Out of Africa, A Cry in the Dark, Postcards from the Edge, The Bridges of Madison County, One True Thing, Music of the Heart, Adaptation, The Devil Wears Prada, Doubt, Julie and Julia, The Iron Lady)
Nominated for Just Oscar: 1 (Ironweed)
Nominated for Just Globes: 8 (She-Devil, Death Becomes Her, The River Wild, Marvin's Room, The Hours, The Manchurian Candidate, Mamma Mia!, It's Complicated, Hope Springs)
Winner?: 3 Oscars (Kramer vs. Kramer, Sophie's Choice, The Iron Lady) and 7 Globes (Kramer vs. Kramer, The French Lieutenant's Woman, Sophie's Choice, Adaptation, The Devil Wears Prada, Julie and Julia, The Iron Lady)
Closest She Got to Another: Hmm...probably The River Wild or The Hours

Yes, Virginia, there is someone who loves Meryl more than the Oscars, and it is the HFPA.  Streep, despite seventeen Oscar nominations, has managed to pull off another eight Globe nominations that Oscar didn't cite.  It's worth noting that Mamma Mia and It's Complicated couldn't land her Oscar nominations, as she was already nominated (the Oscars limit their actors to one performance per category, the Globes do not).  Meryl gets the occasional Globes-loving-celebrities sorts of nomination where it seems more about the person having a film out than about the performance (She-Devil, anyone?), but I can see a few films here where she was clearly making a play with Oscar.  The Manchurian Candidate I distinctly remember as part of the conversation, though people were divided on the remake.  The Hours she was obviously in sixth place, but that Best Actress race was impenetrable (it's hard to say who was in sixth place, as they were all so obviously going to be nominated).  I think, therefore, the closest she got was for her surprise nomination for The River Wild.  Meryl kind of came out of nowhere to get the nomination, and then once she became part of the conversation and I have a feeling she almost landed her nomination (in the same way that she got her fifth place nod for Music of the Heart over Reese Witherspoon and Sigourney Weaver).

2. Jack Lemmon
Nominated for Globes and Oscars: 7 (Some Like it Hot, The Apartment, Days of Wine and Roses, Save the Tiger, The China Syndrome, Tribute, Missing)
Nominated for Just Oscar: 1 (Mister Roberts)
Nominated for Just Globes: 9 (Under the Yum Yum Tree, Irma la Douce, The Great Race, The Odd Couple, The Out of Towners, Avanti!, The Front Page, That's Life!, Dad)
Winner?: 2 Oscars (Mister Roberts, Save the Tiger) and 3 Golden Globes (Some Like it Hot, The Apartment, Avanti!)
Closest He Got to Another: Dad?

Lemmon for years held the title of the most-nominated actor at the Globes (until Meryl took the title, like she is wont to do).  Though he is one of the rare comedic actors to make a significant impression on Oscar, there was still plenty of room for him to score at the Globes for his many comedies of the 1960's and 1970's.  Looking at the nine films that he didn't get nominated for, none really scream out as odd that the Oscars didn't nominate him-The Odd Couple is a classic, but one where he shared the lead and likely split the vote with his longtime costar Walter Matthau.  I don't know enough about the 1989 acting race to make a guess, but based off most years, a nomination for Best Actor in a Drama (the only time he missed with Oscar but got in at the Globes in that category) is usually a tip of someone making a play for the Oscar, though with Al Pacino and Jack Nicholson also Globe-nominated for memorable roles, I can't be sure (I'd love some thoughts in the comments for those who remember that year's Oscars).

1. Shirley MacLaine
Nominated for Globes and Oscars: 4 (Some Came Running, The Apartment, Irma la Douce, Terms of Endearment)
Nominated for Just Oscar: 1 (The Turning Point)
Nominated for Just Globes: 10 (Ask Any Girl, The Children's Hour, Gambit, Woman Times Seven, Sweet Charity, Being There, Madame Sousatzka, Postcards from the Edge, Used People, Guarding Tess, In Her Shoes)
Winner?: 1 Oscar (Terms of Endearment) and 4 Globes (The Apartment, Irma la Douce, Terms of Endearment, Madame Sousatzka)
Closest She Got to Another: Postcards from the Edge, Being There, Madame Sousatzka...let's discuss.

Shirley MacLaine is one of the best actors who doesn't instantly come up on lists of the greatest actors.  Sure, you get to her eventually (as do most life achievement awards bodies, the Kennedy Center Honors being the strange and remaining holdout), but she's not Streep, Nicholson, de Niro instant.  She also has a weird history with the Oscars.  Despite five nominations (solid) in four different decades (damn impressive), you could make a very legitimate argument that the number should be considerably higher.  How many actors, especially high-name actors, miss out on performances like Being There (getting bumped for Marsha Mason in a fairly one-note role?) or Postcards from the Edge (again, I liked Diane Ladd in Wild at Heart, but MacLaine is much more in their wheelhouse)?  And MacLaine is one of only six actors to have won the Drama lead Globe and then not get nominated for an Oscar (oddly enough, our leader in the other Globes countdown, Jim Carrey, is one of the remaining six).  Is it perhaps MacLaine's politics that turns off the Academy (the Globes seem to court controversy a bit more)?  Whatever the reason, it's a weird circumstance and one worthy of discussion  (especially since this is one of the only film nomination awards lists where someone beats Meryl)!  Theorize in the comments, and also on which of these actors perhaps got the closest to either going up (Globe snubs-we know they happen) or down (Oscar snubs-the weirdest of the Top 10 for me is Pacino in Godfather III, but I'd love your thoughts!)