The doors open wide on Oscar analysis
Regarding “The Academy Awards Coverage” [March 5]: During the Oscars, there was a tribute to veterans of U.S. wars. Clips were shown from movies that depicted heroic stories of soldiers in action. One film that didn’t get a slot was Oliver Stone’s “Born on the Fourth of July,” which received eight nominations and won two Oscars. Was it overlooked because it is an antiwar picture? Certainly, Ron Kovic (the focus of the biopic) paid a big price for his service: the loss of the use of his legs.
My generation got the shaft because we were lied to by our leaders about Vietnam. But the only lesson they took from that war was “don’t show coffins returning from the battlefield.”
“Born on the Fourth of July” didn’t glorify war. It was an effort to teach that maybe if we used our resources to clean up the poor areas in our cities instead of meddling in civil strife outside our borders, America would be even greater than it already is. John Densmore Los Angeles
Oscar voters must have fallen under the Kobe-Kardashian syndrome, as “Dear Basketball” was the least worthy of all the animated shorts nominated.
“Dear Basketball” won almost certainly due to the Kobe Bryant celebrity factor, not because it was the best of the nominees. I recall hearing that those attending the luncheon for Oscar nominees were all atwitter at the presence of Bryant and that dozens of Hollywood celebrities crowded around him for selfies. Kevin S. Avery Tarzana
While it was nice to see best picture presenters Warren Beatty and Faye Dunaway get it right the second time around (after last year’s “envelope-gate”), a serious error occurred on the show, nevertheless: the omission of Howard Gottfried from the “In Memoriam” segment. Gottfried was not only the producer of the classic 1976 film “Network,” which received a best picture nomination, but he also brought “Torch Song Trilogy,” “The Hospital,” “Body Double” and “Altered States” to the screen.
If the film academy saw fit to feature a clip from “Network” with Peter Finch shouting one of the most famous lines in movie history, why didn’t it mention the man who made that movie possible in its honor roll? Bill Royce Cathedral City