Word: hfpa
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Dates: during 2000-2009
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...seen as leading indicators for the Oscars. This time, who knows? Will Atonement, deemed Best Drama, and Sweeney Todd, the Best Comedy or Musical (we say Musical), even be nominated by the Motion Picture Academy? And if Hollywood grandees don't ornament their big dinner, isn't the HFPA revealed as, let us say, one of the lesser critics' groups? Without the star-stacked, televised party, they're just 82 schlubs with funny accents...
...Last night's starless show underlines how much the awards hoopla, and the Globes as a free, high-rated showcase, mean to the "little" films that get nominations. The HFPA may have lots of stars, and several blockbusters, among their finalists; but like every critics' group it wants to remember the neediest, to reward the little movies that could. Producers of indie films often factor the "Globes bump" into their production and marketing budgets. Exposure on the Globes program puts their product in front of millions of new eyes and can mean millions at the box office...
...HFPA has taken heat for being a club of undistinguished foreign newsmen, desperately avid for access to the stars. Show business reporters for some top newspapers (The Times of London and Le Monde, for example) are not among its members (though others, including The Daily Telegraph and Rome's La Reppublica, are.) But the important point isn't the pedigree of the journal; it's the job of the journalist. And the job of most HFPA members is to cover the entertainment industry, not to write film reviews. They should be voting on Most Cooperative Actor, Least Obstructive Publicist, Best...
...Actually, the parasitic relationship of the HFPA to the movie industry is part of its raffish charm. The group was founded in 1945, the same year as the United Nations, and in the spirit of postwar amity its first awards list included a citation for Best Film for Promoting International Good Will. But the Association soon found a way to distinguish itself from the Oscars: by giving prizes for people who don't win Oscars. In 1950 it instituted a Most Promising Newcomer award. (What the young actors had to promise the members remained vague.) This was the category that...
...Through the 50s, the HFPA found inventively silly ways to honor celebrities who might never grace an Academy Award stage. Guy Madison was named Best Western Star (for acting in horse operas, not visiting the hotel chain). A category called World Film Favorite could be roughly translated as: a famous person who'll come to our party. Early winners here included Marilyn Monroe, Kim Novak and swimming star Esther Williams. In 1956 Williams received a second honored: the Hollywood Citizenship Award. (Only two of these were handed out, Ronald Reagan winning the other one.) Zsa Zsa Gabor was named Most...