And you thought that NORBIT nomination last year was weird…

February 23rd, 2009 at 03:25pm Will Pfeifer

If you’re not completely sick of reading Oscar-related trivia by now, I highly recommend zipping over to Turner Classic Movie’s Movie Morlocks site for a couple of posts by “morlockjeff” examining strange Oscar contenders of the past. Did you know, for example…

… that CRAZYLEGS, a 1953 biopic of football legend Elroy “Crazylegs” Hirsch (starring Crazylegs as himself) earned a best editing nomination? It lost, of course, to FROM HERE TO ETERNITY.

… MINSTREL MAN, a 1944 drama that frequently featured its lead character in blackface (and not TROPIC THUNDER blackface, either — this was strictly un-ironic blackface) earned nominations for best music and best song?

…. Steven Seagal’s 1992 action flick UNDER SEIGE was nominated for best sound and best sound effects editing? (Actually, it’s a pretty good movie.)

… MONDO CANE, one of the sleaziest documentaries ever made, earned a best song nomination in 1963 for its theme, “More,” which became a standard among nightclub singers. (MONDO CANE’s title, by the way, was the inspiration for all those “mondo” phrases and titles that followed. The title actually translates idiomatically as “A dog’s world,” so if you see the phrase “mondo world,” it actually means “world world.”)

Check out more Oscar Oddities here and here.

Entry Filed under: Just plain weird, Oscars