Gold Watch/Last Hurrah

If I was a name-brand filmmaker in the last act of my life, I would politely refuse the Academy’s offer of an Irving Thalberg or Governor’s Award. If your career hasn’t been going great guns, accepting these honors at the Oscar awards, I feel, is a kind of admission to the world that you’re over.

These awardings are always a warm and emotional tribute, yes, and a profound moment of glory. Who could fail to be moved by the Academy saying “we’ve loved your work all these decades, and we want to show our appreciation even though you’ve been winding down for a while…we love you”?

But if you accept this honor, you’re basically saying, “Yeah, you’re right…I’ve had a great career but I’m now officially finished.” If people haven’t been returning some of your calls prior to accepting an honorary career Oscar, they won’t return any of them the morning after. No matter what your “friends” may tell you at parties, you’ll strictly be seen as a retirement village guy from then on. I would rather dream the foolish dream while writing my latest script or meeting with financiers or talking with directors about my next part, etc. Fuck the Gold Watch. Never say die.

This year’s honorees are directors Francis Ford Coppola (i.e., the Irving Thalberg recipient) and Jean-Luc Godard (Governor’s Award) and actor Eli Wallach. Okay, I’d accept it if I was Wallach because he’s…what, in his early 90s? He’s untouchable and un-diminishable. But if I were Godard and Coppola I’d respectfully tell the The Academy fathers “thanks but no thanks.”

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23 thoughts on “Gold Watch/Last Hurrah”

  1. I get what you’re saying but I’m not sure I agree with you re. the Thalberg Award. Spielberg picked one up way back in ’86, Eastwood in ’95. Granted, they do seem to be exceptions in terms of post-Thalberg productivity. Still, can’t understand Spielberg accepting in ’86 unless he was still stinging from the (perceived by him) Color Purple snub and wasn’t sure he’d ever get a statue.

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  3. I’m kind of with Peter O’Toole on this. If, like Coppola, you’ve already won the real thing, I think it’s okay. Otherwise, they do seem kind of like those little trophies they give to middle school kids for “participation.”

    A bigger issue for me is the tribute section of the Oscars. Between them, these guys are responsible for literally hundreds of movies. Are they planning on giving out the Best Picture award during Good Morning America on Monday?

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  5. The Spielberg one was strange, but Godard and Coppola haven’t really been relevant for anything outside of DVD rereleases of their classics for decades. Worst case maybe this is a kick in the ass to Coppola to finally make a couple winners before father time finishes him off.

    Tangeantally I’d rather see them acknowledge someone without an Oscar than a guy who already won 5.More than enough praises have been lavished on Coppola for his phenomenal work in the 70s.

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  6. Since they’re probably going to have a separate ceremony, they should have given honorary Oscars to all the surviving Cahiers du Cinema guys.

    At least Rivette would be more likely to show up, same with Chabrol. Or they could have even expanded it to include Resnais and Varda as well.

    Also, I don’t think this award is going to slow down Coppola. Youth Without Youth and Tetro were both exciting, original films, regardless of what you think of his success, and are more promising than ANYTHING he did in the 80′s and 90′s.

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  7. Rich S.:

    These awards are, sadly, no longer given out during the actual Oscar ceremony. Last year’s recipients were Lauren Bacall, Roger Corman, and…someone else I can’t remember because they wasn’t featured on the show itself.

    So don’t worry, the Best Picture prize will be handed out right on schedule. Just as soon as the dance numbers are over.

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  8. Boy, I’m the opposite. I’ve always dreamed of getting a lifetime achievement award from the Academy. Literally, it is one of my fantasies. When I was a kid the honorary Oscar segment was my favorite part of the telecast. They would show beautiful clips from wonderful old movies and the actor or actress featured would be so dashing and elegant and beautiful. Then, when the clip package finished, the honoree would take the stage like a coronation. Dressed in their tuxedo or gown they would glow with the same charisma as their youth but with the wisdom and class of old age. Even when they were infirm, like Henry Fonda in 1981, they retained their dignity and starpower and it was a thrill to see them honored and the crowd rise to its feet in praise.

    Now they don’t have the honorary awards on the broadcast anymore. Too sad. Still, to receive an Oscar cheered by an auditorium of my peers, is one thing I would always want.

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  10. I’m damned glad Kevin Browlow is getting one for all of his efforts. Coppola…he’s already got a couple so no big deal there for me.

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  11. Pardon me, Brownlow. Very stupid of me to screw up the spelling, considering I’m a fan of his work. I’d give anything to see his version of Napoleon.

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  13. “Youth Without Youth and Tetro were both exciting, original films, regardless of what you think of his success, and are more promising than ANYTHING he did in the 80′s and 90′s.”

    No. Definitely not.

    If you want to think ‘Tetro’ is good, fine. I won’t argue that point anymore, the only people who actually saw that movie were pretty far in Coppola’s tank already (even further than I thought I was going into it), so there’s no point in trying to point out all the blatant failings of the movie.

    But ‘Tetro’ is so obviously a pales-by-comparison remake of ‘Rumble Fish’ that I can’t let your statement go unchallenged. It’s pretty clear that Coppola still thinks ‘Rumble Fish’ is his unsung masterpiece (he’s repeatedly listed it among his favorites, if not at the top), and figured that, since nobody has seen it, he could just do the same thing again, but more obviously, more pretentiously, and with fewer interesting actors.

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  14. “Granted, they do seem to be exceptions in terms of post-Thalberg productivity.”

    I mean, I assume we’re not counting John Calley, who was never “productive” in terms of credit, but are we just going to write off the entire Hannibal Lecter franchise that Dino De Laurentiis produced? Did David Brown not get two further nominations post-Thalberg? (Zanuck’s not doing *too* bad either.) Lucas has directed as many films post-Thalberg as pre-. Broccoli spent more than a decade continuing to do exactly what they gave him the award for doing. And what about… oh, forget it, I thought Zaentz had a credit on ‘Lord of the Rings’.

    12 people have won since 1980; there are three who have basically nothing post-Thalberg (Wilder had actually retired, and Beatty soon did as well). And I’m sure Beatty can still get anybody on the phone that he wants to.

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