by Heath Lynch, Contributing Writer
Welcome back to another Oscars: What If, our retrospective look at the Oscars!
Oppenheimer did it! It took home the big prize, Best Picture, and many more at this year’s Oscars. Congrats to everyone involved. But we’re not here to dive into Christopher Nolan’s epic. We’re here to look back at an awards season long gone. As a reminder, with our Oscars: What If… series, we look at categories the Academy Awards should be honoring, but for one reason or another, they aren’t, and we imagine what could’ve been regarding past Oscar seasons. Hopefully someday the Academy will do right by these creative talents, but until then we must do the Academy’s job for them. Let’s look back at the year Google was founded, assembly of the International Space Station began, the Good Friday Belfast Agreement was signed to mark the end of The Troubles in Northern Ireland, and the infamous Bill Clinton/Monica Lewinsky scandal rocked the news cycle. It is time to examine the films of 1998, celebrated at the Oscars in 1999. Let’s see what could have been!
Best Stunts and Choreography
Given to the best achievement in dance, stunts, related performances, and overall choreography.
And the nominees are… Blade, The Mask of Zorro, Saving Private Ryan, Rush Hour, The Thin Red Line
And the winner is… Saving Private Ryan!
As much as I’d love to give this to Jackie Chan, we’ve awarded him here before back in his early Police Story days. Time to spread the love. While something like The Mask of Zorro is in high contention for its explosive action and swashbuckling swordplay, this award has to go to Saving Private Ryan. The opening 20 minute D-Day sequence is an adrenaline-inducing, tension-filled nightmare that blows your hair back with all the impressive stunt work it accomplishes. That’s just the opening, and doesn’t mention the epic finale with bullets firing everywhere, bodies flying through the sky, and exploding tanks and bridges. Saving Private Ryan solidly earns Oscar gold with its incredible stunt work.
Best Performance by Voiceover or Motion Capture
Given to the best off screen voice performance, or on screen motion captured performance.
And the nominees are… Ralph Fiennes as Rameses II in The Prince of Egypt, Eddie Murphy as Mushu in Mulan, Kevin Spacey as Hopper in A Bug’s Life, Jennifer Tilly as Tiffany Valentine in Bride of Chucky, Ming-Na Wen as Fa Mulan in Mulan
And the winner is… Eddie Murphy as Mushu in Mulan!
Eccentric and over-the-top, Murphy is essentially just playing himself when it comes to the dragon, Mushu, in Mulan. But that still makes him quite exceptional in the role, and extraordinary in its performance. From his boisterousness to his sincerity in terms of the passion and emotion he elicits, or whether he’s talking to Mulan, Cri-Kee, or the Fa family spirits, he’s great. I’m delighted to give one of the greatest comedic talents of all time a long overdue Academy Award.
Best Performance by an Ensemble Cast
Given to the best overall ensemble cast performance for film.
And the nominees are… The Big Lebowski, Pleasantville, Saving Private Ryan, Shakespeare in Love, The Truman Show
And the winner is… Saving Private Ryan!
My guess is that most people give this to The Big Lebowski or The Truman Show. Hell, I’m sure there are some who’re upset that The Thin Red Line or Rushmore aren’t even nominated here. All fair and valid takes. But this is my column, and this is going to Saving Private Ryan. Why? Because it does the greatest job of showing us the whole ensemble’s strength while interacting, which in turn demonstrates their powerful chemistry. Importantly, this ties directly into one of the main themes of the film — the fraternal brotherhood of soldiers. The men who bond together, to love and support each other, in the bleakest of times. The stories they share, the emotion they exude, the vulnerability they display, all while portraying wildly different and unique characters, is fascinating. It’s made all the better when they interact with each other in some of the most desperate and violently visceral moments you could possibly imagine. If all that wasn’t impressive enough, these performances are absolutely incredible on an individual basis. You’d be hard pressed to find better acting… anywhere. For those reasons, I have to give the gold to Saving Private Ryan.
Best Directorial Debut
Given to the best achievement in direction by a debut directing talent for film.
And the nominees are… Darren Aronofsky for Pi, Tony Bancroft and Barry Cook for Mulan, Tony Kaye for American History X, Guy Ritchie for Lock, Stock, and Two Smoking Barrels, Gary Ross for Pleasantville
And the winner is… Tony Kaye for American History X!
Really could’ve gone several different directions with this one, and none of them would’ve really been wrong. Every single nominee deserves recognition. In the end, though, I’m awarding Kaye for his disturbing and impactful work with American History X. This is not a fun movie to watch. I would never call it entertaining. Frankly, I don’t know if I ever want to rewatch it. However, none of that changes the fact that the film is a brilliant work of art that tackles incredibly heavy subject matter, which has only become, frighteningly so, more and more prevalent. The rise in the alt-right, increase in hate crimes, and civil unrest sparked by political divide is at a fever pitch in this day and age, which is horrifying. But it makes a film like American History X feel even more impactful when we see an example, a path to deprogramming. Kaye’s framing of his subjects in the lens, the palette choices he makes with his cinematographer, the insight into extremist groups, and the performances he pulls from his cast are all beyond impressive. You’d expect a film like this to be handled by a multi-decade veteran of the industry. There’s so much raw power in this film, and it is largely thanks to Kaye’s hand, so I’m happy to gild him for his efforts.
Best Popular Film
Given to the best audience supported motion picture that earned a spot as one of the top 25 box office films of the year.
And the nominees are… A Bug’s Life, Mulan, Saving Private Ryan, There’s Something About Mary, The Truman Show
And the winner is… Saving Private Ryan!
At this point it may feel like I’m being biased towards Saving Private Ryan. Seeing as that’s my favorite film of all time, it’s hard to say I’m completely clean here. But, being as objective as I can, I do feel it has earned the two Oscars I’ve given it so far, and definitely earns the big award — Best Popular Film.
Saving Private Ryan was an absolute smash at the box office. It was the number-one movie domestically in ‘98, raking in $216.5 million. Although it is a war film, which can perform better at the box office, it’s still rare to see a prestige film take the number one spot, especially over big summer blockbusters of the time like Armageddon. Internationally, Private Ryan brought in an additional $265.3 million, which makes for a combined worldwide haul of $481.8 million. This was good enough for second place worldwide, only behind the aforementioned Armageddon, which picked up big gains in overseas markets. To put this into perspective, when accounting for inflation, this WWII film made about $917.2 million in today’s dollars. That’s absolutely crazy, and clearly shows that it was a massive hit with audiences.
In terms of awards, well… welcome to one of the most controversial wins in the history of the Best Picture category at the Oscars. It was seemingly always a competition between Saving Private Ryan and Shakespeare in Love this year. These films received 11 and 13 nominations, respectively, and when all was said and done, they earned five and seven wins respectively. But most of the critics, pundits, and general audience members felt that there was a consensus Best Picture winner: Saving Private Ryan. But when that envelope was opened, and the winner was announced, jaws hit the floor. To be clear, Shakespeare in Love isn’t a bad movie… but it’s not Saving Private Ryan. In hindsight, many Academy members have even said that the wrong movie won. So when you account for five wins against 11 nominations, the accolades already speak for themselves. When you add in the fact that it likely should’ve won Best Picture while already, arguably being the most popular film in the world, well… this isn’t much of a competition, is it? It’s ard to be biased when it’s this obvious. Saving Private Ryan takes home the gold for Best Popular Film, hands down.
Thanks for joining me on another trip down memory lane to see what could’ve been! We got to examine one of the greatest war films of all time, a precinct film as it pertains to reality TV, and Jackie Chan’s breakout into western cinema. Be sure to come back next month when we look at films like The Matrix, The Sixth Sense, and Fight Club, as we return for the Oscars of 2000, celebrating the films of 1999!
You can read more from Heath Lynch, and follow him on Letterboxd