Word: amadeus
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...most part, the evening belonged to Amadeus, the fictionalized account of the last years of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart. It won eight awards in all, including those for Best Picture, Best Director (Milos Forman), Best Actor (F. Murray Abraham for his role as Salieri, Mozart's nemesis) and Best Screenplay Adaptation (to Peter Shaffer, who rewrote his hit play). Tom Hulce, 31, also received a Best Actor nomination for his all-American, Huckleberry Finn interpretation of Mozart. Though he was not honored, Jeffrey Jones, 38, deserves a crown of his own for his portrayal of the blandly arrogant Emperor Joseph...
...lavish Amadeus is not exactly Cinderella, it is an odd choice for so much Hollywood glory. It is long (2 hr. 38 min.), without the epic quality that often marks lengthy pictures. Its theme, moreover, is rarefied: God's inexplicable gift of genius to a lout (Mozart, as Shaffer conceives his character), and his assignment of mediocrity to someone who is eminently deserving (the devout Salieri). But the biggest obstacle is Mozart, whose very name intimidates many moviegoers. The picture has prospered anyway, grossing $34 million in the U.S. and Canada even before the awards...
...Oscar-night triumph will probably transform Amadeus from a moderately successful film into a big hit. "We now have a chance to make $60 million or better in domestic box office," says Producer Saul Zaentz. "And we have a chance to reach an audience that is afraid of classical music, afraid of Mozart." Orion Pictures has deliberately distributed the film to only a limited number of theaters, hoping to create the feeling that it was special, an "event," in the word of Orion's president of distribution, Robert Cheren...
...affectionately wrought drama based on Actress Coral Browne's chance encounter with Soviet Spy Guy Burgess (played with world-weary charm by Alan Bates). In January A&E telecast the first modern public performance of Mozart's "lost" Symphony in A Minor, with Tom Hulce (an Oscar nominee for Amadeus) serving as an agreeable host...
...choreographs, Mr. B. must deal with Capezio salesmen, the costume shop, injured performers, the installation of a gigantic set, his own deepening weariness. But the old ebullience flares. He is outraged by the attempt on the Pope's life, scornful of the play Amadeus, deciding that the playwright, Peter Shaffer "will be sorry in heaven" for his work. Heaven, in fact, must have been an easy transition for Mr. B. Confounded by his problems, he consoled himself by announcing that on opening night, "Tchaikovsky will probably be there with his entourage: Borodin, Moussorgsky, Cui, Balakirev, Rimsky- Korsakov." From the evidence...