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.

[–] valis1984 9 years ago

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

"John Wayne...at least had the grace to bash down Burton's door and thrust the statuette into his hands and say, 'You should have this, not me.' Burton was touched"

Rich: The Life of Richard Burton (1988) by Melvyn Bragg

"It is a good thing for an uneducated man to read books of quotations" Winston Churchill (1874-1965)

[–] marktayloruk (2589) 3 years ago

Midnight Cowboy grossly overrated. Wayne should have got Oscars for both True Grit and The Searchers