Customer Reviews

The Academy Awards: The Complete Unofficial History

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As an Academy Awards fan, I was pleased to receive this book as a birthday present. My version goes through 2001 and "A Beautiful Mind." It's a handsome book -- big, heavy, but nicely designed. For each year presented, brief bios of winners and photos of each are accompanied by facts and figures, as well as a short overview of that year.

Unfortunately, it's filled with errors from beginning to end. Perhaps these were caught in later editions, but it was embarassing. As I was reading it, I kept a running list of mistakes ... and they ranged from small to large. For example, in the write-up for Katharine Hepburn's first Oscar, it claims that she "went on to win eight Academy Awards by the end of her career." While she is the all-time acting champ in terms of wins, she won four, not eight. Marie Dressler's birth date is listed as 1838 in her bio ... which would mean she was 92 when she made "Min and Bill"! The correct date, I believe, is 1868. The description for Melvyn Douglas' win in 1979 is almost word-for-word the same description for his 1963 win! Shirley MacLaine's bio in 1983 lists films for which she was nominated but did not win, including two for which she was not. Then it says she was nominated six times, when in reality it was five. I could go on and on. The factoids called "Sins of Omission" list actors, actresses and films that failed to win a nomination. But every so often, it lists a person or film that WAS nominated. And in a complete headscratcher, under "Sins of Omission" for 1998, it lists as movie called "Sight Unseen" as an omitted best picture nominee. I'm fairly movie savvy, and I've NEVER heard of a film called "Sight Unseen."

The point is that these errors are presented as fact. And for readers unfamiliar with the Oscars, they will not realize that these errors exist. Again, I hope that later editions of this book clean up these errors. Otherwise, I'd go with another book on the Oscars if you're interested in learning about them.

This book is not only poorly edited and proofread, as a previous reviewer said, it is INCREDIBLY poorly edited and proofread. Also, it is not well written. Some entries are very sparase--it seems that the writers know nothing of the movie being honored, or the actor or actress winning the trophy, or the role for which they are winning. Did these writers even bother to see "A Passage to India"? You wouldn't know it from their discussion of Peggy Ashcroft's best supporting actress win. They wonder at Dianne Wiest forgetting to thank Woody Allen when she won her first Oscar for "Hannah and Her Sisters" remarking that Wiest was a frequent star of Allen's movies--but "Hannah" was her first movie with Allen. A lot of similar nonsense throughout the book, but it seems to get worse as we get closer to the present, and the carelessness becomes more and more enfuritating.

I checked for the errors in the 2006 update of this book that BGK noted in his previous review. Most of the errors are corrected. I don't think the write-up on Melvyn Douglas constitutes an error. A number of people won multiple Oscars, and some duplication of copy is inevitable. The only error I've found in this edition so far is that Michael Caine's name is put in bold for ALFIE in 1966, which indicates he won best actor. As the page before it notes, Paul Scofield won for A MAN FOR ALL SEASONS. But with this much factual info, it's almost impossible for something not to be wrong, and at least the authors and publisher have been willing to correct errors. The book has great pix, many in color. It doesn't replace Damien Bona's INSIDE OSCAR and INSIDE OSCAR 2 for sheer wealth of info, but it's an easily browsed reference that almost any Oscar fan would enjoy. By the way, it covers the Oscars all the way to the 2006 ceremony, when CRASH trumped BROKEBACK MOUNTAIN for best picture--a travesty that will echo through Hollywood's history.

it's a nice book to have but Inside Oscar is sooo much better (specially Inside Oscar 2), so is Tom O Neill's Movie Awards which has a lot of inside info, not like Inside Oscar, but at least you get a look at every other awards show.

The problem with this book is that all you get are trivia facts from just the winners, and only for the four acting winners, director and picture, plus an hororary or a Thalberg, at best you'll get a small paragraph of the whole evening but it isn't enough. And as a person who owns Inside Oscar and has read ONeill's book a thousand times, you can tell that many of the comentaries are borrowed from those books as the phrases, sentences, words are the same.

But who cares right? At least you have a book that's nice to look at the has a lot of correct facts....WRONG! It has an incredible amount of mistakes. Everytime you get to a year were the current winner has won something before they tell you, for example, "for more on Beatty go to 1981" meaning Beatty who got a Thalberg or an Honorary in 99 also won in 81 and there's more info there. But the book actually tells when you're on Beatty and his special award from 1999 to go to 1961 something when he wasn't even nominated and there's nothing on him. Same goes with Dustin Hoffman, they tell you "for more on Hoffman go to 1979"...problem is...you're already on 1979...

They say Robert DeNiro has been in 3 Oscar winning movies...I asume they mean Best Pictures...DeNiro's only been in The Godfather II and Deer Hunter...what's the third one?

The say Sean Penn won a Globe for Dead Man Walking and he said "you tolerate me, you really tolerate me" like Sally Field in 84. In reality Penn said this at the Indie Spirit awards.

Sometimes you get as much as 5, 6 mistakes per year, which is a lot considering each year has about 2, 3 pages.

At times they'll say "he's been nominated 5 times" counting every single nomination until the book was edited, even if you're still in 1950. Then they'll do it the other way, they'll say how many nominations somebody has up util that certain year you're reading, even if they got 2, 3 more nods along the way. They couldn't even make a decision on that.

You want more mistakes? Here you go....In 1979 they say "Hoffman nominated 5 times with two wins" meaning they're already counting all the way through 88 when he won number 2 including that nod, which was his 6th not his 5th. And they didn't count his 7th in 97 for Wag the Dog.

Jodie Foster "earning 3 Oscar nods with 1 win"...She has 4 nods. If they're gonna count until 2005 for some people, they should do it for everybody.

Meryl Stree in 79: "winning Academy Awards and ten nominations"...they don't say how many she won....and by 2005 she had 13 nominations, not 10.

And this is all from the newest edition....some of the mistakes must've been there in past editions, they didn't even go back and read it all again to correct mistakes...

The maxim "You can't judge a book by its cover" is sometimes wrong, as in the case of this Must-Have "Complete Unofficial History" of the Academy Awards. The cool Coffee-table-able cover is awesome - all a-glitter - with an almost real envelope encasing "And the winner is ..."

I have been wanting a Guide to the Oscars for a long time. You know, you're sitting there going through the TV Guide and see a Movie, and it DIDN'T win that year's Oscar. I wonder what did? Now, it's easy to find out. This big glossy galaxy is laid out by year, from the beginning Wings in 1927 to Chicago in 2002: each with a picture and blurb of Best Picture, Best Actor, Best Actress, and Best Supportings. There is also a list of the Also-ran Nominees, with the winner of each catagory in bold type. There is an excellent Index in the back.

You'll like it! You'll really, really like it!
Reviewed by TundraVision, Amazon Reviewer

And the Oscar goes to....This Book is very Informative and a must for Oscar watchers. Telling you who should have been nominated, who was nominated and who should of won over who did. Hard to put down and great reference material. Perfect coffee table book available for the coffee stains.

There are so many mistakes in here...read the reviews for a highlight reel. I'll point out another one not listed: at the end of each year, there are lists of the nominees with the winner highlighted in yellow. Michael Caine nomination for 'Alfie' in highlighted depite the fact he lost.

Since my Junior High School years, I've been an avid fan of Oscar night, and the whole history of the Academy Awards and its winners. I guess I'll always love movies, and the allure of Hollywood, having lived in L.A. all my life, and being an aspiring actor in my younger years. In High School as a hobby, I and my best friend and fellow drama student, use to bet who could pick the most winners from each category every year. There is something about Oscar night, and all the glamour that goes with it, that keeps me glued to the set every year; first to hear the nominations, then the big ceremomy to announce the winners. And this book is up-to-date; from the very first winners of 1927, to 2005 and the surprise of "Crash" taking Best Picture honors (my personal favorite). If you enjoy films, and specificly The Academy Awards as much as I do, then you'll love this book.

I relate each years winners and nominees, to historic events and lifestyles of the times. Sort of an insight into what was going on then.

If film, actors and the Academy Awards are of interest, THE ACADEMY AWARDS: THE COMPLETE UNOFFICIAL HISTORY must be part of any serious home or public lending collection. It's been revised and updated here and offers behind the scenes and documented film history - nearly eighty years of it - complete with black and white and color photos throughout. Color sidebars of rich information include 'best of' roundups by year, and profile each actor or actresses' achievements. An outstanding keepsake edition documenting the Academy Awards' high points.

Diane C. Donovan

California Bookwatch

I bought this book for my 12 year old grandson for Christmas. He is a movie buff and had enjoyed another book about the greatest movies ever made co-authored by Jim Piazza. He wrote to me, "I was very happy with the book you got me on all the Academy Awards. I used it to make a long list of all the awards."