Golden Globes A Glittering Farce

Eric Ellis, Los Angeles

01/20/1997

Tonight, in a glittering ceremony, an army of film and television stars, directors, writers and various industry "luvvies" will celebrate the Golden Globe Awards in a storm of gushery, hoopla and, of course, the merit and sincerity one finds only in Hollywood.

Much of the phoniness will be showered on those supposedly responsible for the awards, the Hollywood Foreign Press Association.

"Responsible" is a moot point. To many, the association looks more like a bunch of superannuated hacks and hangers-on for whom objective journalism and artistic criticism would be a revelation.

That doesn't matter to Hollywood moguls. The last thing they want is criticism and objectivity. Their main prize is the box office, and the presumed cachet of an "award" from the association can add another $US50 million ($64 million) to the take and is promoted again and again as a "guide" to the main prize of the Oscars in March.

Moguls would have the movie-going public believe their movies have been judged by the cream of the world's press. The harsh reality is that many of the association's 90-odd active members are part-time freelancers "stringing" no more than the required four articles a year for publications in box office powerhouses like Lithuania, Egypt and Bangladesh.

By contrast the Academy Awards are voted on by more than 5000 industry players.

HFPA board member Mahfouz Doss is an engineer by training. Bangladeshi Munawar Hussein sells television appliances in Burbank and Tony Ponce runs an auto referral service and pens the occasional piece for newspapers in Costa Rica and the Czech Republic. All members have to do is write four articles a year to maintain their membership.

The association's selections are also questionable for their merit, such as the notorious example in 1993 when members were flown to New York for an "exclusive" interview with the reclusive Al Pacino, star of Scent of a Woman. Pacino won that year's Globe for Best Actor.

Or the time when members were flown to Las Vegas and entertained by businessman Meshulam Riklis, then husband of obscure actress Pia Zadora, who was starring in the very average Butterfly. Zadora got the Globe for Best New Female Star.

"This is a racket that does more harm than good," film scholar Howard Suber of UCLA's prestigious film school told The Washington Post recently.

"There are millions of people who watch and think this is something other than a corrupt little band. They think it means something when of course it doesn't."

But this year's awards are somewhat overshadowed by revolts.

Industry reporters repeatedly rejected by the association - it accepts just five applications a year and rejects most of them - have formed the breakaway International Press Academy.

The academy was formed in March and already has 185 members, who voted for their awards - the Golden Satellites - last week.

The HFPA is in a crisis. Some rising Hollywood heavies such as Quentin Tarantino have begun to question its merits and the nation's quality press is rounding on the body with scathing tales of its workings.

This comes as HFPA members are dying off - several are in their nineties -and dropping off due to lack of output (they can't even manage four articles a year) and the rise in popularity of independent film makers.

Still, in the face of these challenges, the HFPA looks like it's got some legs left and likely will have as long as movie studios prop it up.