Cher winning an Oscar — Page 2

Nice story, best12!

Fact of the day : Both Glenn Close and Cher (and Alfre Woodard!) lost out to Linda Hunt for Supporting Actress back in '84.

---

Updated On: 10/21/13 at 10:40 PM

I've been a Cher fan most of my life, ever since I watched her show sitting on my mom's lap in the 70s. Her performance in MOONSTRUCK was absolutely flawless. I forgot I was watching Cher. She embodied her character: heart and soul and her Oscar was richly deserved.

Oh, the Oscar ceremony was so lovely then. I love the interaction an how they let them finish a speech.

---

I liked Cher in Moonstruck, but still think Meryl's performance in Ironweed was the performance of the year. It was one of many Meryl performances that she was nominated, but couldnt win because she was held to a different standard, imo.

I did love Cher's speech and her thanking Mary Louise Streep and Streep's supportive loss.

I also remember Dukakis' speech which she ended, "c'mon Michael, let's go!" It didnt happen.

---

I think Glenn Close is the best actress who has yet to win an Oscar. She really has quite a range of roles. (I think part of it is she's always been in Meryl's shadow to an extent.) She has a very real ability to become the role she is playing. (My favorite performance of hers is "Dangerous Liasons" actually. She should have won for that I think. She just plays the Marquise de Merteuil so well-she's vicious, and yet, human, as you realize that the character does love the Viscount. (And she loses him twice, really).)

Just saying.

And I must be the only one who thinks Moonstruck is overrated and cannot understand how Cher won (maybe to boost TV ratings, who knows).

"Pure magic."

And that's why I write movies.

I recall many believing Cher would win. Moonstruck was a very popular movie, Cher had been very good in Silkwood and was overlooked for a great unnominated performance in Mask.

I don't think Holly Hunter's win would have been a shock. There was talk of Sally Kirkland being a very dark horse. Ironweed was not a particularly successful film and Meryl had already won two oscars (Kramer v. Kramer, Sophie's Choice) in very recent memory.

In retrospect, it seems that Glenn Close might have been a favorite, but I don't recall that being the case at all.

Did Cher deserve an oscar for Moonstruck? I thought she was fine in it but I don't think she deserved the oscar. Arguably, it was the least interesting performance of those nominated. In my opinion Cher was more impressive in The Witches of Eastwick (the same year) than she was in Moonstruck.

Who gave the most memorable performance by a leading actress that year? In my opinion it was Diane Keaton in Baby Boom.

In addition to Keaton, there was great work, not nominated, by Lilian Gish in The Whales of August, Maggie Smith in The Lonely Passion of Judith Hearne, Angelica Huston in The Dead (although this was probably more of a supporting (ensemble member) performance; btw The Dead was IMHO the year's best movie, thought it was not nominated for best picture), Christine Lahti in Housekeeping, and Emily Lloyd in Wish You Were Here.

Lloyd won the National Society of Film Critics Award, second place went to Keaton, third to Hunter. Hunter won the New York Film Critics Award. Hunter and Kirkland shared the LA Film Critics Award. The Globes went to Cher and Kirkland. Gish and Hunter tied for the Nat Board of Review award.

Updated On: 10/22/13 at 02:17 PM

Gish's performance in Whales - I'm also not a big fan of the movie - was beautiful.

I'm sorry you feel that way about The Dead, best12. I enjoy every minute of it - it's only 83 minutes btw - and the final scene is devastating. Huston's direction was so precise and loving and the cast is flawless.

I just have the agree with the overall sentiment of this thread--that Moonstruck is one of those rare moments of film perfection. Every character, every actor who portrayed those characters, every line delivery, facial expressions, gestures, the screenplay, the direction were all just flawless. Cher was astounding, and one of the few times I am glad someone else got the award when Streep had been nominated (most of the time, I just think Meryl should win for simply stepping in front of the camera as she equals brilliance like no other--and actually hasn't really won that much despite the onslaught of nominations).

I think a bit needs to be said about Sally Kirkland. She hired a couple of press agents, wrote personal letters to every Academy member, and had Shelley Winters to make 150 phone calls to voters.

You have to admire her determination (if not necessarily her performance).

I don't know if any of you have been frequenting The Dissolve but they've set themselves with a great little film site over there. One of their weekly features has been called Performance Review where they look back at a certain year's award in one category, who won each of the major awards, and discuss the merits of the "competitors" as they were.


It so happens, they've discussed Cher/Holly Hunter/Sally Kirkland etc in the 1988 Best Actress race

---

Totally forgot that was the year of "Housekeeping"! Lahti deserved the oscar, imo, with Meryl a close second. I dont think I saw Lahti's performance before the oscars, though, so was not disappointed even though I had loved the novel.

Cher's win was predicted before her film opened, which was not as prevelant as it is now in the digital era. That statue was hers from the beginning.

And, Poritzkova was better than Kirkland in "Anna".

---

Thanks for that link, jnb.

Reginald, that's interesting about Sally Kirkland - are you saying that's perhaps why Lillian Gish was shut out, or did Sally's campaign only start after the nominations?

---