Pinning down the single best Oscar night is like choosing comedy over drama -- it all depends on what floats your boat. There are pure nostalgists, who would pick the 1939 Oscars, regarded as the best year of the Golden Age of Hollywood. Or there is controversy: 1977, when Vanessa Redgrave's reference to "Zionist hoodlums" drew boos and a reprimand from Paddy Chayefsky. Or there is sentiment: 1971, when a five-minute standing ovation greeted Charlie Chaplin as he received an honorary Oscar.
The Oscar ceremony that had all of those elements, however, took place in 1970.
This was the year that the fissures of old and new Hollywood were coming to the fore. On Oscar night, studio-system legends bumped up against youth-movement icons, and it made for heavy drama, amusing conflict and sincere sentiment.
The dichotomy was reflected at the box office in 1969: It had such landmarks as "Easy Rider," "The Wild Bunch" and "Midnight Cowboy" -- American film had achieved full adult status -- but the movie that made the most money was Disney's "The Love Bug."
Similarly, the best picture contenders ranged from the lavish, G-rated musical "Hello Dolly!" to the X-rated "Midnight Cowboy." There was also the political thriller "Z" -- the first foreign-language best pic nominee in 31 years -- and "Anne of the Thousand Days," produced by Hal Wallis, whose first nomination came way back in 1932. As a blockbuster everyone liked, "Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid" looked like the compromise choice. That didn't stop Universal from conducting one of the more ostentatious Oscar campaigns for "Days," with countless screenings where, instead of popcorn and soda, U served filet mignon and champagne. Wags dubbed the pic "Anne of the Thousand Filets."
The culture clash was most apparent in the actor race, where John Wayne was up for "True Grit" against both Dustin Hoffman and Jon Voight in "Cowboy." Voight said he was hoping for a Wayne victory. But the Duke, already the industry's biggest hawk on Vietnam, told Playboy he considered "Midnight Cowboy" a "perverted" movie, and described it as "a story about two fags."
Wayne, however, was in for a bitter greeting when he arrived on the red carpet. A lone picketer displayed a sign stating, "John Wayne is a racist." There were also, for the first time ever, organized Oscar demonstrations. A handful of people were miffed that the show's orchestra contained but three black musicians, while 80 others protested the nominations for "Butch Cassidy" and "The Wild Bunch," insisting these Westerns presented Latinos as "inferior, incompetent, worthless and ignorant."
Others were scandalized that screenplay nominee Dennis Hopper wore a white cowboy hat to the formal affair, and then didn't remove the Stetson at the Governors Ball afterward. Henry Fonda groused that his son Peter's collaborator on "Easy Rider" "ought to be spanked."
Conspicuous consumption butted up against hip style. Elizabeth Taylor wore the celebrated $1.5 million diamond necklace given to her by husband Richard Burton, while supporting actress nominee Jane Fonda showed up in a black turtleneck and a silver lamé coat. Earlier, Academy President Gregory Peck put his foot down about the dress code, insisting on tuxes when co-host Elliott Gould wanted to wear then-trendy corduroy trousers. Another co-host, Candice Bergen, wore a casual Arnold Scaasi poncho; her parents, Edgar and Frances Bergen, were so appalled that they wouldn't speak to her.
More often, however, sentimentality ruled, in what the New York Times' Vincent Canby called a "lively affair" that was "shot through with intimations, all unconscious, of the imminent departure of just about everything -- Hollywood, conventional movies, conventional stars, us."
Another co-host, Bob Hope, thrived on the nature of the year's pics. " 'The Sterile Cuckoo' -- I thought that was the life of Tiny Tim."
Frank Sinatra presented an honorary award to Cary Grant, who, in a great sin of omission, had never won. Grant self-deprecatingly told the standing ovation, "You're applauding my stamina."
In a major upset, Britain's Maggie Smith won the actress Oscar for "The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie" over second-generation favorites Liza Minnelli and Jane Fonda. Goldie Hawn, the 24-year-old cut-up from "Laugh In," would win supporting actress for "Cactus Flower," but veteran Gig Young won supporting actor for "They Shoot Horses, Don't They?" Asked backstage, "Is it old-timers night?" Young responded: "It is, as far as I am concerned. With pictures getting lewder and lewder, this is my last chance."
Further proving that age and agility can mix, 70-year-old Fred Astaire performed a rousing solo dance to '60s-era spy movie music. Even the likes of Jack Nicholson looked impressed. The largest applause was reserved for Wayne, clearly moved when he accepted his best actor trophy from Barbra Streisand.
That said, there was no doubt the Oscars had come of age when "Midnight Cowboy" won best picture. It remains the only X-rated film to do so, a victory so unprecedented that some journalists couldn't even write about it. Copley News Service forbade X pics from its editorial space.
Hope ended the show with what amounted to an explanatory gesture. "The troubled kooky characters that have peopled the screen are not examples to emulate but to learn from and to try to understand and perhaps hopefully contrive help for."
Damien Bona is the author (with Mason Wiley) of "Inside Oscar" and "Inside Oscar 2."
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