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Title: Inside Oscar: The Unofficial History of the Academy Awards by Mason Wiley, Damien Bona, Gail Maccoll Jarrett, Gail MacColl ISBN: 0-345-31423-9 Publisher: Ballantine Books Pub. Date: 01 March, 1986 Format: Hardcover Volumes: 1 List Price(USD): $24.95 |
Average Customer Rating: 4.67 (15 reviews)
Rating: 5
Summary: THE definitive reference tool for ALL Oscar fans!
Comment: For everyone who gets 'movie madness' every March by eagerly anticipating Oscar night, this is a must-own book. It is the bible of Oscar knowledge and includes every nomination and winner from 1927 until the mid-90's. It is by far the greatest Academy Award reference tool that is available and just by paging through the nominee list in the back for a few minutes, your video rental list will grow by the foot.
The first portion gives the reader a quick history lesson including how the illustrious Academy began and how the golden statue got his trademark name. Following that, every year gets its own chapter in which the authors tell of the studio campaigns to get their films nominated, what the critics and gossip writers were reporting at the time, and who got a nominee and who got screwed. The chapter ends with an "Oscar Night," section, which goes down to the most minute detail of each Awards ceremony from the lame jokes the host tried to crack ("U-ma, O-prah!"),to the most flubbed speeches, embarrassing dance performances (Rob Lowe and Snow White?!), timeless quotes ("You like me, you really like me!") and hideous dresses. It also gives the list of presenters and the highlights of the post-Awards parties.
The back though, with the nominee history, is easily my favorite and one can spent countless hours paging through and remembering the classic films of years past or debating with friends about who got robbed in the best supporting category in 1962. I like to use the back as a checklist of what I've seen and need to see next.
My paperback edition is thoroughly warped and I hope the authors put out a new edition or else mine is going to fall apart soon. A warning though, the book does get rather depressing in April because that means there's 11 more months until next year's big show!
Rating: 5
Summary: A dishy classic, it's the ONE movie book you've gotta own.
Comment: Wiley and Bona have created the premier reference work on the Oscars - the complete list of nominees and victors, taking up the book's final 200 pages, is reason enough to buy it. It's the liveliest reference work you'll ever read: Each annual essay contains bite-size recollections of the impact (or lack of same) of movies big and small, at the box office and in the press, full of dishy reviews and catty responses. Each essay year has info that the most dedicated movie buff won't remember or never knew, particularly the fascinating narrations of Tinseltown Oscar campaigns. The level of detail is astonishing, down to which '90s ceremony participants did and didn't wear AIDS ribbons. Lovingly detailed descriptions of ceremony attire, highlights of speeches and host schtick - good and (much more often) bad, and follow-ups to big wins, failed campaigns and Oscar night emabarrassments never fail to fascinate. The book is more than 1,000 pages long, and once it's over, you'll be begging for more. Guys, write about 1995-99! If you have the first edition (which runs through 1987), buy the latest edition (which runs through 1994). The new essays are even more exhaustive, since the source material is contemporary, and, presumably, contains the authors' firsthand reporting. Only one quibble: In a book stuffed with deliciously nasty commentary from film reviewers, Wiley and Bona beg off from relating John Simon's "too cruel" criticisms of Sofia Coppola in The Godfather, Part III. Mason, Damien: You don't pull a punch anywhere else in your masterpiece. WHAT DID HE SAY?
Rating: 5
Summary: The "Gone With the Wind" of Oscar books
Comment: Baseball has the World Series. Football has the Super Bowl. Movie freaks have the Oscars. We sneer at them, challenge them, and forget who won a week later. But we watch, not only to bask in the reflected glory of the annointed ones, but also for the rare opportunity to see them disappointed, as four out of five nominees are, year after year.
Now, in this age of media saturation, we know the Oscars are more than a one night affair. The Academy Awards are a contest as competitive, and sometimes just as dirty, as the race for the White House. Mason Wiley and Damien Bona's "Inside Oscar" is the "Gone With the Wind" of Oscar books, the only one that fully details the tasteless and sometimes cutthroat tactics that have been employed to impress Oscar, Hollywood's most enduring superstar.
This mammoth volume covers the show-biz ritual from the very beginning at a small ceremony that attracted little notice ("Wings" was named best picture) through the era when Oscar emerged as a superstar of the small screen in the 50s, right through to the crowning of "Forrest Gump" as best picture of 1994.
There's the inside dope on such controversies as George C. Scott's refusal to accept his Oscar for "Patton" (shamelessly calling the ritual a "meat parade"), and Sacheen Littlefeather's speech on behalf of Marlon Brando who turned down his Oscar for "The Godfather." Wiley and Bona are lively writers who never pass up an opportunity for an amusingly scathing observation. Their behind-the-scenes exploration of what really goes on in the battle for Oscar glory is more entertaining than many of the films honored.
For Oscar junkies, this book provides the most thorough coverage available. Wiley and Bona follow each potential contender through the entire awards season, starting with the prestigious awards from the National Board of Review, to the New York Film Critics Circle, and on to the Golden Globes, right through to Oscar night and its aftermath. There's also the complete list of winners and nominees for each category, a full list of the presenters, and a step-by-step coverage of the Oscar ceremony, complete with the most memorable moments.
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Title: Inside Oscar 2 by Damien Bona ISBN: 0345449703 Publisher: Ballantine Books Pub. Date: 19 February, 2002 List Price(USD): $16.00 |
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Title: 75 Years of the Oscar: The Official History of the Academy Awards (Seventy Years of the Oscar, 4th Ed) by Robert Osborne ISBN: 0789207877 Publisher: Abbeville Press Pub. Date: 01 September, 2003 List Price(USD): $75.00 |
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Title: Movie Awards : The Ultimate, Unofficial Guide to the Oscars, Golden Globes, Critics, Guild and Indie Honors by Thomas O'Neil, Tom O'Neil ISBN: 039952651X Publisher: Perigee Books Pub. Date: 09 January, 2001 List Price(USD): $19.95 |
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Title: All About Oscar: The History and Politics of the Academy Awards by Emanuel Levy ISBN: 0826414524 Publisher: Continuum International Publishing Group Pub. Date: 01 January, 2003 List Price(USD): $29.95 |
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Title: The Academy Awards Handbook 2003 (ACADEMY AWARDS HANDBOOK) by John Harkness ISBN: 0786015527 Publisher: Pinnacle Books Pub. Date: 01 January, 2003 List Price(USD): $6.99 |
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