Sandra Bullock and Other Oscar Disasters--2010 Oscar Winners

Sandra Bullock, in a tie with sentimental favorite Marie Dressler, won the 2010 Best Actress Oscar last night, capping a list of interesting choices in the 2010 Oscars.  America's favorite middle aged ingenue may be the first actor to win a Razzie for Worst Actress and an Oscar for Best Actress in the same year.  Many speculate that Bullock's win for her role in The Blind Side was based on the wig or dye job that she sported during the movie.  Critics generally applauded her Razzie for Worst Actress in her role as a stalker with borderline personality disorder in the romantic comedy disaster All about Steve.  Alexander Woolcott, NNN film critic in residence, said "Bullock's work in All about Steve wasn't acting.  I'm not sure what it was but I left with the feeling that the movie taught me more about penguins than I ever wanted to know."

Movie historians are now trying to find Bullock's place in the list of all time worst Oscar choices.  Many believe that the worst ever was the 1992 dual win by Pam Anderson and Paulie Shore in the Wes Craven directed adaptation of Shakespeare's Antony and Cleopatra. Craven's gender bending casting of Anderson as Antony and Shore as Cleopatra was greeted with scorn by movie critics at the time.  There were accusations of blatant bribery and blackmail of Academy members.  NNN's Woolcott says, "I remember it well.  Young critic Gil Grissom compiled detailed chunk profiles from pools of vomit on the floors of theaters where the movie was shown.  I believe that 'buttered' popcorn and Raisinets were the most common components.  Grissom later published a monograph titled Concession Sales, Film Quality and Their Role in Reflux.  Grissom's choice to change careers was an excellent move."  Shore's Best Actress award is considered an Oscar nadir by many film buffs.

Other movie historians cite Clark Gable's 1942 win for his portrayal of Adolf Hitler in George Cukor's remake of The Triumph of the Will.  Cukor filmed his take on Riefenstahl's propaganda masterpiece on location in Yankee Stadium with thousands of extras filling the seats.    Although the 6 hour extravaganza was pulled from release quickly after riots broke out across the country on the day of the premiere, the studio  campaigned heavily for the award in order to erase Cukor's reputation as a woman's director.  Cukor later commented, "I'm not sure I'd do it again.  I was torn between Gable and John Wayne for the leading role. Wayne's psychopathic air made him a natural for the Hitler role but the studio wanted Gable's likeable self-deprecating masculinity to soften the character.  In retrospect I think Wayne would have been a better choice."

Here's a complete list of the 2010 Oscar winners and nominees with the winners in bold: