Remember David Poland? He's that guy a while back that challenged my credibility over ARMAGEDDON and whether or not I was a good or bad thing in the world. Well recently here, he and I have been writing back and forth a little bit and today... well today he sent me an advance copy of his column that appears at RoughCut.Com. Ordinarily I wouldn't be printing up his journalistic opinions without having seen this movie, but I've been being turned down from seeing an advance screening of the film, while it seems that folks on both coasts are seeing the film. Tis ok, Hallenbeck will be seeing it today, so if there are problems with the film, we'll know soon enough. But in the meanwhile... Well... It seems that a fellow Austinite TERRENCE MALICK may be getting the ol boat in the buttocks. What follows is a travesty. To hold a 'official BEST OF 1998' film contest and to have over 50 percent of your voters not see (AT ALL) what many consider to be... flat out the best film of the year... Well, to me, it just feels like the GOLDEN GLOBES aren't worth a golden hued slab of shit. But, I haven't seen the film... I can't say one way or the other, so I leave that to my good friend at RoughCut... David Poland....
The Hot Button
Box Office Extra
by David Poland
December 18, 1998
TARNISHED GLOBES
I truly thought that the fight to get a fair hearing for The Thin Red Line in the world of the critics awards and on to the Golden Globes and Academy Awards was over. A number of L.A. critics have headed back to the theater to revisit the film before printing their reviews, the NY Film Critics Circle gave the film awards for directing and cinematography and the Men of Thumbs both have their appendages pointing north. A complete shut out at The Golden Globes had me shaking my head though. Five nomination slots for Best Drama. Five nomination slots for Best Dramatic Actor. Six slots for Best Supporting Actor Drama. Plus director, cinematographer, adapted screenplay and score. Nothing. Nada. Okay, so life sucks. I can live with a decision I disagree with.
But here is the real story, first broken by Jeff Wells of Mr. Showbiz. More than 88 members of the Hollywood Foreign Press Association vote for the Golden Globes. Only 43 of them saw The Thin Red Line. Less than 50 percent. In other words, had 50 percent of the voters who saw the movie voted for it for Best Picture, it wouldn’t have made the cut.
Are you angry yet?
Terrence Malick, after 20 years away form this insane business, had to deliver his film three weeks before he had to have it ready for the theaters. Why? One reason only. To try and snag critics awards and Golden Globe nominations. This film, unlike Saving Private Ryan (a dammed good film in it’s own right), doesn’t have Steven Spielberg’s imprimatur and mega-stars Tom Hanks and Matt Damon riding shotgun. It needs support from the critics and the awards. And it at least deserved a fair shot. It got less that 50 percent attendance from the once joke-of-a-award award show that now is considered critical to Oscar hopes.
Doesn’t it seem to you that a December 25 deadline to open and a December 3 or 4 unofficial but-you’d-better-do-it-or-you -are-out-of-the-running deadline that is now the rule are a conflict? Aren’t all these awards supposed to be celebrating film? Hasn’t it instead become a competition of "who’s first" that has nothing to do with the films, but a whole lot to do with building prestige for each award giving organization?
How has this happened? Well, the studios do have to take some blame. They enjoy the hype and have bent to it. I f they really were determined to push the process back, they probably could make some real inroads in that direction. But those of you who vote in each of these groups have to take some heat as well. Little doubt, the jokes about The Thin Red Line coming out of the December 7 screening caused a "don’t bother seeing it" buzz amongst the Hollywood Foreign Press members who weren’t there. The infection spread.
Critics have had to see well over 35 possible Oscar contenders in the last month, films that will make up the vast majority of award contenders. Wouldn ’t a couple of more weeks before a vote add some much needed perspective? Is there any real reason to be voting in the first week of December other than to get the P.R. value of being pre-Golden Globes? And why would The Golden Globes need to be voted on this early? One reason and one reason only. Money. This award show has become a cash cow for the networks and has taken on an air of legitimacy for that reason only. Early announcements mean early domination of the "awards game" and plenty of free publicity for the show.
Unlike the absurd process for nominating documentaries that has embarrassed the Academy for years, members of the press can turn the tide on this. They are the bodies politic of these groups. They can say that being right is better than being first. And they can keep groups like the Hollywood Foreign Press Association from running roughshod over films like The Thin Red Line with impunity (and I’m sure it’s not alone) by filling out their awards stories with the truth behind the nominations. Sometimes shorthand interpretation of the news is fine. But in this case, there is more than another teen scream flick at stake. Real artists making real effort are being bent, folded and mutilated in the process. Audiences are taking all of this more seriously than ever. Now if only the organizations who have created this responsibility for themselves took it nearly as seriously, we could all just be debating choices instead of process.
