He's in excellent company, side-by-side with American filmmakers who've never won a directing Oscar like Orson Welles, Alfred Hitchcock (who was nominated six times, incidentally, and lost all six times--and wasn't even nominated for his masterpiece, Vertigo), Robert Altman, John Cassavettes, Charles Burnett, Buster Keaton, D.W. Griffith, Robert Flaherty...and that's just off the top of my head.
Not to mention the non-American filmmakers: F.W. Murnau, Carl Dreyer, Yasujiro Ozu, Mikio Naruse, Isao Takahata, Ritwik Ghatak, Raj Kapoor, Mrinal Sen, Jean Renoir, Robert Bresson, Jacques Rivette, Jean Luc Godard, Tian Zhuangzhuang, King Hu, Tsai Ming Liang, Hou Hsiao Hsien, Lino Brocka, Mario O'Hara, Mike de Leon.
In fact, looking at the list I just assembled, the non-Oscar winners are more impressive than the Oscar winners, and if Scorsese were to join the ranks of recepients of that golden doorstop, it would only improve their prestige, not enhance his.
I don't think the filmmaker who did Mean Streets, Taxi Driver, Raging Bull, King of Comedy and The Last Temptation of Christ needs any further enhancement of his prestige. The films speak for themselves.
So I still think the Oscars are a joke, and Scorsese's better off without one. He lost another one? Good for him.
2 comments:
From a self-proclaimed Pop-Culture junkie (who likes esoteric stuff too): True, the Oscars are a joke in a way, but I still enjoy watching them. And I guess they have the Lifetime Achievement awards as a way of honoring people like all the great directors you've mentioned. --Albert (#3 Pick this week)
the oscars are fun to watch, if you haven't clipped your toenails lately. mine were garnering complaints in bed, so i got the news from aol.
a lifetime award would be an insult. i'd politely refuse it myself, with maybe some judicious application of my toenails.
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