The 98th Oscars are this Sunday. John and Zac head back forty years to the 59th — the 1987 ceremony celebrating the films of 1986 — and find the Academy getting some things defensible, some things wrong, and largely missing the bigger picture. Platoon wins Best Picture and Best Director (Oliver Stone, Vietnam veteran — defensible). Sigourney Weaver loses Best Actress for Aliens to Marlee Matlin (not defensible). David Lynch is nominated for Blue Velvet and loses (also not defensible). Paul Newman wins Best Actor for The Color of Money in what looks like a long-service award. Meanwhile the films with real staying power — Top Gun, Ferris Bueller, Labyrinth, Highlander, Aliens, Stand By Me — were largely absent or overlooked. 1986 had more going on than the Academy noticed.
SHOW NOTES
Event: 59th Academy Awards | March 30, 1987
Hosts: Chevy Chase, Paul Hogan, Goldie Hawn
Key winners and verdicts:
Overlooked by the Academy: Labyrinth, Highlander, Big Trouble in Little China, Ferris Bueller, The Fly, Short Circuit, Flight of the Navigator, Manhunter
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