Why Isn't "The Oscar" (1966) on DVD/Blu-ray?

Legitimately, I mean. There are some years when I'd rather watch this stinker than the actual Oscars ceremony. The only copy I have is a VHS dupe from an old Embassy tape, made years ago. Why has this never surfaced on a real DVD (or Blu-ray)? Is AMPAS so embarrassed by it that they've quashed any further release? It is that bad, but good for a truckload of laughs.

I might just have to watch this instead:

 

Isn’t Steven Boyd clapping at the end a meme?

 

Harlan Ellison thought it sucked wind, and he wrote it. Have they run out of good movies to put on BR before they go for crappy ones?

 

The movie deserves to be seen, and I would recommend people watch it. For a potboiler style common at the time, I would put it ahead of something like The Carpetbaggers. It's entertaining! Hence the SCTV parody.

 

The Oscar (1966) has played a couple of times at the Egyptian Theater in Hollywood, CA -- to a fairly decent-sized audience. The first time, Ellison showed up and talked briefly about it (funny speaker!) The second time, about 4-5 years ago, Elke Sommer showed up with her husband, and she spoke as well (interestingly, she mentioned that same year, 1966, her other film "Boy, Did I Get a Wrong Number" did better box office than "The Oscar"!). However, what shocked me the most, since I'd like to see it on either studio DVD or blu ray, is that apparently there's only ONE copy of the film in existence! At both screenings, the host speaker explained The Egyptian retrieved the copy from, what I believe, The University of Kentucky (!) or something like that. Both screenings the presentation was REALLY pink-looking; you eventually got used to it. Sadly, this is not too incredible to believe. Also in L.A., I saw Bruce Davidson speak at Quentin Tarantino's public movie theater about two years ago, about an extremely controversially film he did in 1969 called "Last Summer". OUTSTANDING film! Yet I was shocked the X-rated version of it was completely lost, and the version we saw is the only one in extistence -- Tarantino had it brought in from Australia (!). Anyhoos, I'm just explaining how there are so many great, if not only enjoyable, films out there that might not be with us for that long (don't forget Scorsese & Spielberg had to pool their financial resources back in the early 80s to "save" Lawrence of Arabia). 95 percent of all films made before 1930 have now been lost. Something we need to think about regarding our culture.

 

He told me it paid for half his house on Coy Drive (which he lived in until the day he died), so it was a profitable venture. But it was rewritten several times by other people, and instead of becoming Harlan's success at branching out into mainstream movies, it was savaged by critics and became an enormous bomb. Harlan has written about the experience several times in essays.

That is not true. Grover Crisp, Exec. VP of Film Restoration at Sony Pictures, spearheaded the push to get Lawrence of Arabia restored, and they spent a fortune on it. Because it was a 65mm Super Panavision production, they wound up having to do all the scanning and restoration in 6K, which is a very costly and time-consuming process. I think all in, Sony spent a couple of million bucks and 12 months putting all the pieces back together and fixing all the problems the film has had over the years, accessing the original neg plus backup copies where necessary because of lab issues in the 1960s and 1970s. It is true that Spielberg and Scorsese have been very vocal at saving important films, but theirs are not the only voices out there. And they didn't spend anything on this particular project.

The final color correction was done by Scott Ostrowsky over at Sony's old Colorworks facility in Culver City, which is now gone but was active between 2010 and 2015 or so.

 

I believe the Spielberg and Scorsese reference may refer to the circa 1987 - 88 restoration of 'Lawrence ...' headed by Robert Harris and John Painten and not to the 50th Anniversary restoration. The statements I've read phrase it that S&S "helped" or "assisted" or "participated" in that earlier restoration. I've never read any details of their involvement and assume that they contributed some money and/ or some behind the scenes pressure and promotion of the project.

 

yeah that rings a bell - and not trying to derail the thread - but isn't the story that when funding/support stalled mid-restoration both Scorsese and Spielberg went to the head of Columbia and basically said fund this if you ever want to see either of us making films for your studio.

 

It still blows my mind that this kind of thing is an issue, even though I realize studios still haven't figured out that their back catalogs are important. The Oscar, of course, is a touchy case, since it reportedly paints a very tawdry picture of the behind the scenes maneuverings of the Hollywood machinery (I've never seen it). The studios make billions. You'd think they'd find a tax deductible way of channeling a significant portion of that money into preservation.

 

Like I said over a year ago - the first copy I had (of The Oscar) was from an Embassy VHS version (panned and scanned IIRC). And, I believe it played from time to time on local TV during the '60s and '70s. There must be - at least - some 16mm copies around? (Now that this is back on the tracks of my train of thought...I'm 90% sure The Sopranos used a brief clip from it. Someone is watching TV and it's from the scene at the club where the sleazy owner is threatening Stephen Boyd with a knife and saying "Pretty, pretty...")

 

Bob, Kino/Lorber has heard your call, as well as mine:

KLStudioClassics on Twitter

Coming 2/4/2020! Brand New 4K Master!

The Oscar (1966) Starring Stephen Boyd, Elke Sommer, Ernest Borgnine, Milton Berle, Eleanor Parker, Joseph Cotten, Jill St. John, Tony Bennett, Edie Adams, Ed Begley, Walter Brennan, Brodrick Crawford, Peter Lawford, James Dunn and Jack Soo.

There was one other "so bad that it actually takes your breath away" title that bad film aficionados have been awaiting on Blu and K/L also has you covered there:

Cobra Woman (Special Edition)

I can't wait!