Welcome back to Oscars Playback, in which Gold Derby editors and Experts Christopher Rosen and Joyce Eng revisit Oscar ceremonies and winners of yesteryear. This week, in our first bonus episode, we cover the 62nd Academy Awards in 1990, honoring the films of 1989.
This ceremony, which marks Billy Crystal‘s hosting debut — his first of nine — was topped by “Driving Miss Daisy,” whose four wins from nine nominations included Best Picture and Best Actress for Jessica Tandy, who at 80 became the oldest acting winner at the time. It won despite a directing snub for Bruce Beresford, becoming the first film since “Grand Hotel” in 1932 to win Best Picture without a directing bid. It is, of course, now more common as “Argo” (2012), “Green Book” (2018) and “CODA” (2021) have achieved it. Would Beresford have won had he made it in or would Oliver Stone (“Born on the Fourth of July”) still have prevailed?
“Driving Miss Daisy” does not, uh, have the most revered place in Oscar history and remains a controversial pick — a gentle race relations film — over Spike Lee‘s incendiary “Do the Right Thing,” which wasn’t even nominated for Best Picture, an omission that rankled Kim Basinger so much that she chastised the academy while presenting on the show. We debate whether “Do the Right Thing” would’ve been nominated in a field of 10.
Elsewhere, we discuss if Tom Cruise would’ve prevailed for “Born on the Fourth of July” had it been released another year and try to figure out if Jack Nicholson is lead or supporting in “Batman.”
Timestamps:
Intro and our favorite 1989 films (0:00)
Ceremony thoughts (30:54)
Best Picture (43:12)
Best Director (58:11)
Best Actor (1:03:07)
Best Actress (1:10:12)
Best Supporting Actor (1:13:11)
Best Supporting Actress (1:16:09)
Screenplay awards (1:18:30)
Music awards and other categories (1:21:20)
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