A Few Good Men-vs-Unforgiven Battle for OSCAR Gold

1992 was going to be Rob Reiners year. He was finally going to put an end to "Meathead" the nickname of the character he played on the classic TV series "All in the Family". The TV show had been very good to him. He had won Emmy Awards for Best Supporting Actor in both 1974 and 1978. He was now a highly successful movie director who showed great versatility and enjoyed increasing commercial success with the following movies: "This is Spinal Tap", "The Sure Thing", "Stand by Me", "The Princess Bride","When Harry met Sally"and "Misery". Now he was poised to enjoy his greatest commercial success as a director. He also stood to score some Oscar Nominations and very likely Oscar Gold. The vehicle of all this was courtesy of a Broadway play brought to him by a veteran producer know as "having the best nose in the business." That producer's name was David Brown. He originally started out as an executive at 20th Century-Fox. Where during his time the studio produced some hits but enough flops that he along with future producing partner Richard Zanuck were fired. The films they produced together were: "Jaws 1 and 2", "The Verdict", "Cocoon 1 and 2" and "Driving Miss Daisy". They shared the Irving G Thalberg award in 1990 which is awarded for best body of work. The play was "A Few Good Men" which was about some Marines who killed another Marine during a hazing incident and the attempt to clear them by their hot shot defense attorney. It is discovered that more than these two Marines are involved. When Rob Reiner decided to make it a movie and added a can't miss cast-Tom Cruise, Jack Nicholson, and Demi Moore it was considered a hot commodity with "Oscar Buzz". That was until a cowboy rode onto the horizon. The cowboy was none other than Clint Eastwood who got his start in Hollywood with a deal at Universal Pictures to be a contract player. After minor roles in a few movies he was cut. The reason for his dismissal was his adam's apple was too big. After struggling for years in more minor roles he got his big break when he was cast in the TV western "Rawhide". The show was a hit and he was on it from 1959-1965. In 1964 the film that made him a star was released-"A Fistful Full of Dollars". In it he played the iconic Man without a Name. He would play the character in two more films "For a Few Dollars More", and the "The Good the Bad and the Ugly". Then in the 70's he become an even bigger movie star. The main reason for his success was another iconic character San Francisco Police Inspector Dirty Harry Callahan. He would play this role in "Dirty Harry" (1971), "Magnum Force" (1973), and the "Enforcer" (1976). It was during this time he took on the ultimate actor cliche; he became a director. He made his directing debut in 1971 with "Play Misty for Me" which is about a woman (Jessica Walters) who becomes obsessed with a DJ (Eastwood). As it moved into the 80's he would score other hits with "Any Which Way You Can" (1980), "Sudden Impact" (1983), and the "Dead Pool" (1988). The first film was a follow-up to "Any Which Way But Loose" while the last two were more Dirty Harry Films. However outside of those films nothing did well either at the box office or with the critics. Plus when he was elected mayor of Carmel, CA it seemed he might end his end his career. He didn't but he might as well have because by 1992 he had starred in "Pink Cadillac" (1989) and "The Rookie" (1990 which he also directed) both of which were bombs. That was when he made the decision to do another western. It was "Unforgiven" which was released in August of 1992. The film was well received by the critics according Rotten Tomatoes,which is movie critc database, 96% of critics enjoyed it. It was also a box office hit grossing $101,157,447. The film would provide a boost not only to Eastwood but two other well know movie actors-Gene Hackman and Richard Harris. It would provide another career highlight for Morgan Freeman. By comparison "A Few Good Men" wasn't received as well by critics; only 83% enjoyed it according to Rotten Tomatoes. "A Few Good Men" grossed more money $141,340,178. However where it really counted "Unforgiven" really prevailed. It received nine Oscar nominations to Men's four Oscar nominations. However Rob Reiner wasn't one of them. Meathead was still alive. Prior to the Oscar ceremony Clint Eastwood would win the Director's Guild Award which in all but about four cases when a director wins this award he wins the Best Director Oscar. That trend held true. The film also won Best Editing, Best Supporting Actor (Gene Hackman beating Men's Jack Nicholson) and the big one Best Picture. Not only that but history has been better to "Unforgiven. " It was on the AFI Top 100 films of All Time (#98) which was released in 1998, when the list was redone in 2008 the film placed higher (#68). It was #4 on AFI's Top 10 Western's of All Time. In 2005 Time.com named it one of the Top 100 films of the past 80 years. By the way as to which film I like better its "A Few Good Men." I found it far more entertaining, better acted, and better written. I could watch it a few times a year not so much with "Unforgiven. " Therefore I disagree with the winner of 1992 Best Picture Winner.

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