I never knew that City Slickers won any kind of Oscar. I'm glad too. It's such a great movie. I know comedies almost exclusively get snubbed, but that movie is way more than a comedy, and Palance's portrayal of a grizzly old rancher was wonderful.
Only thing more memorable to me was in 1974 when David Niven was hosting the Oscars and a nude streaker ran across the stage. Niven's reply was classic, "...isn't it fascinating to think that probably the only laugh that man will ever get in his life is by stripping off and showing his shortcomings?"
After confusing me for so long, the ceremony year over film year finally makes sense with Judas and the Black Messiah and The Father being 2021 films honored in 2021
It’s simply category fraud. He’s in almost every single scene, but the filmmakers knew that he stood no chance at winning against Robert De Niro in Raging Bull for lead actor, so they campaigned him in supporting so he would be a guaranteed winner.
It's a longstanding tradition that young actors and actresses are run in supporting categories, even when they're almost inarguably the leads. Haley Joel Osment in The Sixth Sense, Quvenshane Wallis in Beasts of the Southern Wild, Hailee Steinfeld in True Grit, Tatum O'Neal in Paper Moon. There's always a good deal of wiggle room when deciding between lead and supporting, but with young actors, they almost always wiggle their way over to Supporting.
The one big exception to that rule is Quvenzhané Wallis, who was nominated in lead actress. She currently holds the record for the youngest actress nominated in the Lead Actress category (a record she will likely hold for a VERY long time).
Don Ameche winning for Cocoon has always been a huge headscratcher for me. I know it's been a while since I last watched that movie but his performance was probably the most forgettable part of it.