The 1966 film "The Oscar," released on DVD and BluRay to coincide with the just-passed Oscar season, was panned upon its initial release. Now fully restored by purveyors of classic cinema Kino Lorber, "The Oscar" is worth a second look not because it's a great film, but because it's fun. The story of a ruthless actor who will do just about anything to win the coveted statue, it's loaded with familiar faces who, once upon a time, were big stars. Some of them have been forgotten with the passage of time.
The film stars Stephen Boyd (1931-77), a good-looking guy who was a fairly big name in Hollywood when the film was made. He plays Frankie Fane, a creep. Frankie's a talented actor, but he has no soul, using everyone who crosses his path, stepping on people along the way. Frankie is so utterly without any redeeming qualities that viewers might end up rooting for him to fail.
Frankie has a wife played by Elke Sommer, another star not well-remembered these days. She loves Frankie, but he barely gives her the time of day. His best friend Hymie Kelly is played by superstar crooner Tony Bennett, who fortunately stuck with singing and never again acted in a feature film. Throughout the film Hymie stands idly by and watches Frankie use one person after another, spitting each of them out. Why Hymie and the wife don't walk out on Frankie is one of the film's unexplained mysteries.
Frankie receives an Oscar nomination when his career is at a low point. He comes up with a preposterous scheme to make sure he wins: he digs up dirt from his own past and has a sleazy private detective (Ernest Borgnine) release it to the press. Frankie figures this will garner him the sympathy vote. But the private eye, played to slimy perfection by Borgnine, turns the tables on Frankie and blackmails him.
This may have been intended as a serious expose of the dark underbelly of Hollywood, but "The Oscar" is no "Sunset Boulevard." It's a campy melodrama hard to take seriously. The cameos are great fun to watch for those familiar with names from Hollywood's past. Joseph Cotten, still remembered for his work with Orson Welles, plays a studio boss who tells Frankie exactly what he thinks of him. Peter Lawford, a member of Frank Sinatra's legendary "rat pack," plays a down-and-out former star who finds himself working in an upscale Hollywood eatery. TV funnyman Milton Berle offers a dramatic performance as Frankie's agent. Broderick Crawford, a tough guy from generations past, plays a sleazy sheriff who railroads Frankie into jail before he's famous.
Several Hollywood superstars appear as themselves: Sinatra, the now barely remembered Merle Oberon, Bob Hope (who tells really bad jokes during the film's fictional Oscar ceremony), legendary costume designer Edith Head, and others.
It's hard to believe that the filmmakers intended "The Oscar" to be taken seriously, but apparently they did. The screenplay was co-written by noted sci-fi writer Harlan Ellison, and the film was produced by the respected Joseph E. Levine. They failed in their attempt to make a serious film, instead coming up with a curio that will elicit unintentional laughs. Kino Lorber offers a superb print, with a sharp picture, good sound, and two commentary tracks from film historians.