MovieChat Forums > John Wayne Discussion > Shut up with the 'He robbed Dustin Hoffm...

Shut up with the 'He robbed Dustin Hoffman of the Oscar' talk, already!

posted 10 years ago by vinidici
10 replies | jump to latest

I'm really fed up with John Wayne bashers who come to these boards spouting their drivel that Wayne ought to have lost to Dustin Hoffman as Best Actor for 1970.

Do you really think MIDNIGHT COWBOY had a prayer of grabbing the lion's share of Academy Awards in 1970?

The movie was innovative and edgy for its day and didn't go with the flow of mainstream Hollywood pictures. It was originally Rated X. We often forget how different both the industry and society were in those days; giving numerous awards to indy-type productions like MIDNIGHT COWBOY, EASY RIDER, etc., just wasn't done back then. It isn't John Wayne's fault that Hollywood wasn't yet ready to dole out more than one or two token Oscars to pictures you wouldn't want to take your kids to see.

Even if John Wayne hadn't been given the nod for his Rooster Cogburn role in TRUE GRIT, it's still not likely that Dustin Hoffman would have won, either.

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[–] bari2525 10 years ago

No...he's right on target.

I've fought this battle several times myself. If the Hoffman crowd isn't shouting about it the "injustice," the Voigt or Burton folks ae screaming about it..

I don't act...I react. John Wayne

[–] vinidici 10 years ago

If they could, the Wayne-bashers would blame him for Hoffman not even being nominated the following year for his terrific performance in LITTLE BIG MAN.

[–] coz3737 10 years ago

Like John Wayne...was very good in True Grit...but Richard Burton got robbed for not winning

[–] bari2525 10 years ago

No one was robbed...least of all Richard Burton.

I don't act...I react. John Wayne

[–] HarpoSpoke 10 years ago

Agreed.

The Academy "gets it wrong" all the time according to film fans. How about Wayne not winning for The Searchers? The real problem is trying to give out "best" awards for art. That will always fail and they continue to prove it every year.

Wayne "won" what counts. There is a reason why Wayne still appears on favorite actor polls several decades after his death. The idea that he couldn't act is absurd. No offense to Richard Burton, whom I like, but I doubt many actually know his name today. There are reasons for this happening that film elitists can't do anything about. They can complain and hate Wayne all they want, but people like watching him act. It's over...the public has decided he was a great actor.

[–] bari2525 10 years ago

Yep -

The same thing was true about "Sands of Iwo Jima," and not even being NOMINATED for "She Wore A Yellow Ribbon, or "The Quiet Man," or "Island In the Sky," or as you noted, "The Searchers..."

The Academy was (after the war) starting to become "more sophisticated," and JW was just too straight forward for them, and they REFUSED to see his nuanced performances...not they they COULDN'T, mind you, they WOULD NOT...

You're right about people - including FILM CRITICS - remembering JW 36 years after his death, putting him in the Harris poll (2nd place no less this year!), EVERY years since it's inception in 1994!

They KNOW a great actor when they see one, and what's more, they know a STAR - a MEGA star! THAT'S what John Wayne was, and STILL is...

HE will live as long as there are mediums to display his work, and he will ALWAYS be remembered!

I don't act...I react. John Wayne