MovieChat Forums > Sweet Charity (1969) Discussion > Shirley MacLaine was so ripped off of an...

Shirley MacLaine was so ripped off of an Oscar nomination

posted 14 years ago by don-lockwood
5 replies | jump to latest

Say what you want about the quality of the plot; it's not my favorite musical since it drags after the first half (the three best songs and most of the music are all early on).

But this has to be one of the biggest snubs in the history of the Oscar acting nominations ever. She sang, she danced, she laughed, she cried; MacLaine brought so much energy, passion, even nuance to a dynamic -- but in the wrong hands, broad -- role. No one else could have brought the same mixture of all those ingredients, including sass and vulnerability. The character itself may not seem that deep, but it's also a fantastic star turn.

Was it not subtle enough for the Academy's taste? Simply a musical they didn't love? I have yet to see Anne of the Thousand Days, but I plan on it soon, because I have a feeling Genevieve Bujold was just carried along by that film's overall popularity. Jean Simmons's nomination also seems like more of a comeback award to a hardworking actor with a long career than a recognition of a particularly great performance or character. Haven't seen enough of Liza Minnelli's movie to tell, but she seemed very interesting in a rare dramatic turn, even if she was really playing herself. And Jane Fonda was astounding, no arguments there.

All that said, the movie's ending really is AWFUL. The last half is so haphazard as it is, and it all leads up to torture for the viewer. Oscar sucked anyway.

[–] DryToast 14 years ago

The movie was received very poorly in 1969 and did terrible business. The film was trimmed and the ad campaign was changed (to make the movie look sexier) in order to try to find an audience, but it didn't work. Big budget movies that fall on their faces rarely get major Oscar attention.

I agree with you that MacLaine was magnificent, and it's great that audiences are rediscovering the movie today now that the original reviews and bad box office don't matter anymore but, believe me, I was there and an Oscar nomination for her was simply not in the air.

Maybe if Harvey Weinstein were around back then...

By the way, I think you might like to see Nights of Cabiria, the movie that Sweet Charity is based on. You would understand a little better why Sweet Charity is the show and the movie that it is, and you will see why some decisions were made, even if you don't entirely enjoy the end result.

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[–] mikwalen 14 years ago

Thank you, gentlemen. I too agree that Shirley's performance was Oscar-worthy.
It's a pity this film performed as it did. Was it the bad press that big budget musicals had been getting? Was it "too hip" for the older movie-musical fans, and "too square" for the younger movie-goers?

[–] don-lockwood 14 years ago

I do intend to see Nights of Cabiria. I suspect I might tolerate the sad ending in a straight drama a bit more. I think what Fosse did with Sweet Charity (and presumably what all the people associated with the original stage production did) was very ambitious in trying to make a musical with both comic and dramatic elements. It doesn't always succeed seamlessly for me, but I do have great respect for its undertaking, and even at its worst I was always emotionally pulled in. Nor do I mean for my criticisms to take anything away from MacLaine's performance. In fact, quite the contrary, she did everything she could to boost this movie, and it showed.

Also, as far as the film not getting a better reception, clearly musicals were on their way out in 1969 anyway. That same year Hello, Dolly! underperformed too. And yet it was nominated for a boatload of Oscars, even as its star Barbra Streisand was ignored. To be fair, Hello, Dolly! is a much more conventional and enjoyable movie musical with a great soundtrack and Gene Kelly directing. It's understandable why Sweet Charity was generally ignored, but not to nominate MacLaine's performance, it's as if people just didn't watch the movie.

I've read criticisms of her performance, as not living up to Gwen Verdon or whatever, but for the majority of us who never saw the stage original, who cares? Bottom line, MacLaine gives her all, but she isn't over-the-top either. I can only think not enough people looked upon it favorably because it was more of a star turn than a character role (like Genevieve Bujold in the Academy darling Anne of Thousand Days, for example).

Update: Just saw Anne of The Thousand Days on Youtube. It's certainly not the best film about the English monarchy; it's stagy and drags in parts. But Bujold definitely deserved her nomination even if it's clear that she didn't have the kind of talent or looks for this nomination to be anything more than a one-off. So now I'm left to wonder whether Jean Simmons really did enough in her small film to merit Shirley MacLaine getting overlooked.

[–] gittes98 12 years ago

Actually, to contradict another poster, Sweet Charity did recieve some very good reviews. Despite this, it was an undeserved b.o. flop. Part of the reason may be as someone mentioned in another post, the movie was trying to have it both ways. While Universal billed it as the movie of the 70s, with hippies and pot-smoking choruses to appeal to the younger crowd, they were also adamant to not try and alienate the older audiences who were the main patrons of big budget musicals.
Also, SW came out at a time of great upheaval in both Hollywood and the world. The film industry changed so drastically during that year, 1969. One only needs to consider the previous years best picture winner, the big budget G-rated musical Oliver! and the (very well deserved) winner for 69, the modest budgeted X-rated Midnight Cowboy. SW was clearly a movie caught in the middle.
The G rating the movie received, instead of the more appropiate M, may have been Universals attempt to attract all age audiences. Instead, the light rating turned off the younger audiences who were heading in droves to see the R and X rated pictures now being released due to the implimentation of the MPAA rating system that had come into effect recently.
This could also partly explain the b.o. disappointment of the sure thing, Hello! Dolly later that year.

Sorry if this sounds like a diseration, just wanted to add a personal theory. BTW- I saw Sweet Charity during its brief roadshow run in my city (Vancouver) and later when it returned in general release. None of the actual movie was cut, only the roadshow trappings (overture, intermission, exit music and the hightly touted full dimensional sound which, btw was great during the roadshow run.

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[–] lroy77 12 years ago

Watching her in the more recent movies, one tends to forget that Shirley used to sing and dance. I remember she even did variety specials (way past my bedtime).

Has anyone noticed that Charity wears black and red through out the entire movie until she goes to get the marriage license. I'm sure there must be some significance for that.