CHRIS:Let me start off by saying I adore the firstRocky.
And, in theory, I have no problem with it winning Best Picture.
In fact, it makes almost perfect sense coming as it did in Americas feel-good bicentennial year.
Credit: Everett Collection
Is it the greatest sports movie of all time?
Rockyis an endearing, rousing underdog story that most people wrongly remember as a triumph-of-the-the-little-guy epic.
After all, Rocky lost in the end to Apollo Creed.
Everett Collection
But that gets overlooked due to its slew of formulaically triumphant sequels.
Still, the public was on its side.
I remember once askingNetworkdirector Sidney Lumet about that years Oscars and being snubbed.
Everett Collection
He still seemed stung by it.
And he said, Its just the sort of sentimental crap they love out there.
And he was right.
What do you think, Leah?
IsRockysentimental crap that didnt deserve Best Picture?
Dont I sound fun?
Invite me to your next Oscars party!)
And a monosyllabic boxer from the wrong side of Philadelphia was all of us.
CHRIS:Leah, you are welcome at my Oscar party any time!
Trust me, I was alive in 1976, and the country seemed to be festooned in red-white-and-blue bunting.
These were not a nation of Travis Bickles and Howard Beales (yet!).
For a brief moment, we were all Uncle Sam and Rocky Balboa.
So theRockypick makes sense.
And I dont have a beef with that at all, really.
Its still a hell of a movie.
So, lets move past picture for a sec and into performances from 76.
Its a disco-era time capsule.
His ruffled tuxedo shirt collars look like they came from JC Penneys highly-flammable Studio 54 polyester line).
And her costar, Beatrice Straight, won Supporting for what was essentially one great scene.
Maybe you want to give the edge to Carries Piper Laurie there?
I think the Academy absolutely got it right with Jason Robards as Ben Bradlee inAll the Presidents Men.
But what aboutRockys Burgess Meredith orNetworks Ned Beatty or evenMarathon Mans orthodontic Nazi sadist Laurence Olivier?
Do you thinkRockys Talia Shire orCarries Sissy Spacek should have beat out Dunaway?
Yo, Adrian, I love you but in a Golden Globes kind of way, at the most.
But lets not judge too harshly, should we?
After all, the Academys Song of the Year wasBarbra Streisands Evergreen,from aStar Is Born.
