A politically-correct Academy Awards
History was made on April 7, 1970. The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS) honored "Midnight Cowboy" as the Best Picture of 1969. Orson Welles may have mixed feelings about it, as the Academy voters favored the inoffensive films over the revolutionary pictures. (The 14th Academy Awards saw John Ford's "How Green Was my Valley" taking the Best Picture Oscar over nine other nominees that included Welles's "Citizen Kane".) A trend was set, where Welles turned out to be lucky to be nominated. ("The Third Man", arguably the greatest British film of the 20th century, was left out in the Best Picture race in 1949.) AMPAS didn't seem to rectify this ignoble tradition, even change a long suspicion that it wouldn't be influenced by the changing of the times. A new page was turned when the 42nd Academy Awards was over.
John Schlesinger saw Don Quixote and Sancho Panza in Joe Buck and Ratso Rizzo respectively. Buck, a lanky gigolo with innocent, blue eyes, tried to keep an upbeat attitude while immersing in the Andy Warhol-like parties. It wasn't hard for moviegoers to detect the young man hiding his troubling past, as his foray into the New York scene was an escape (and a chance for a new life). The diminutive Rizzo, who conned Buck, became his unlikely companion in this urban jungle. He was belittled and ignored, yet he didn't hesitate to share his words of wisdom. All got lost once the duo headed to Florida.
This was the only Best Picture Oscar winner to be given an X rating, as the booze, drugs, and sex have never been lacking in this part of America. The Academy voters saw a changing of a trend in American Cinema, inspired by an auteur-driven direction that became popular in Europe throughout the 1960s. As a matter of fact, the Best Picture Oscar winners of the 1970s were considered game-changing moments in cinema. "Midnight Cowboy", which was supposed to be an aberration in the long list of recipients of the Academy Award for Best Picture, turned out to be a rare moment when AMPAS decided to roll the red carpet for the maverick filmmakers.
It seemed like a memory when recent memory included "Forrest Gump" winning over "Pulp Fiction" during the 67th Academy Awards. Lee Daniels, the second black filmmaker to be honored with an Academy Award nomination (for Best Director) rather looked at it differently.
“If I had thought that way - that the world was against me - I wouldn't be here now,” he said.
Hollywood already thought of political correctness long before it became part of the mainstream. Whether you love the Academy voters or hate them, the Oscars are what it is. There seemed to be another change, though. Voters used to have an ethnocentric outlook, which could be the reason why the likes of Simon Signoret won an Oscar in an English-speaking motion picture. The 80th Academy Awards marked the second time that the acting winners were born outside of the United States. There may be a repeat on February 26.
