OSCARS PLAYBACK: WHEN ‘ORDINARY PEOPLE' KNOCKED OUT ‘RAGING BULL'
Welcome back to Oscars Playback, in which Gold Derby editors and Experts Christopher Rosen and Joyce Eng revisit Oscar ceremonies and winners of yesteryear. In our Season 3 premiere, we cover the 53rd Academy Awards in 1981, honoring the films of 1980.
If you were waiting on pins and needles back then to see who would win, you had to wait an extra day. For the first time since 1968, the Oscars were postponed following the attempted assassination of President Ronald Reagan. Once the ceremony was underway, which included a video message from the actor-turned-POTUS taped weeks earlier, it was an extraordinary night for “Ordinary People.” The Robert Redford-helmed drama collected four awards, including Best Picture, but now receives undue hate as the film that beat Martin Scorsese‘s “Raging Bull.”
It wasn’t a full sweep for “Ordinary People” though. Donald Sutherland was surprisingly snubbed in Best Actor, but no one was beating Robert De Niro in “Raging Bull.” [Editor’s Note: This episode was recorded before Sutherland’s death on June 20.] As icy matriarch Beth, Mary Tyler Moore played against type and won the drama Golden Globe, but lost the Best Actress Oscar to Sissy Spacek for her turn as Loretta Lynn in “Coal Miner’s Daughter.”
Elsewhere, we discuss Johnny Carson‘s hosting stint — his antepenultimate one — Henry Fonda‘s honorary award, just a year before he wins competitively, which is not the only time that happens in the ’80s.
Timestamps:
Intro and ceremony postponement (0:00)
Our favorite films of 1980 (6:19)
Ceremony thoughts (22:05)
Best Supporting Actor (32:34)
Best Supporting Actress (48:05)
Best Actor (53:47)
Best Actress (1:05:07)
Best Director (1:15:57)
Best Picture (1:27:09)
Screenplay awards (1:34:12)
Other categories (1:35:16)
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