A Crystal Clear Winner

Adroit surprises, dramatic moments and a stellar performance as host by Billy Crystal made the 69th annual Academy Awards one of the best Oscar shows in memory -- downright tolerable and at times even entertaining. An old-fashioned sweep of major awards, this time by the imported romantic epic "The English Patient," contributed to the impression that the Oscars had found themselves after years of wandering in the wilderness.

Having one big fat blockbuster that dominates the Oscars seems to be good for the show and gives it some tension. Accepting the Best Song Oscar for a tune from "Evita," composer Andrew Lloyd Webber quipped, "Well, all I can say is, thank God there wasn't a song from 'The English Patient.' "

At the same time, major Oscars went to such smaller, more personal films as "Fargo" and "Shine," suggesting the Oscars are in touch with major changes in movies and moviegoing in this country. For the first time in a long time, the list of major winners didn't seem to include any outright outrages or horrendous miscarriages of justice.

In other words: Ha ha ha, Tom Cruise lost!

As telecast live last night on ABC from the Shrine Auditorium in Los Angeles, the as always hideously overlong show started out badly with a pompous speech by gnomic Arthur Hiller, president of the Motion Picture Academy. "We are related by humanity, not machinery," Hiller said, claiming that we go to the movies "to share our humanity," rather than for such a vulgar purpose as, say, to have a good time.

But soon Crystal burst forth, marking his return to the Oscar hosting role after years in which the likes of Whoopi Goldberg and David Letterman took over. Crystal starred in a cleverly executed film montage in which the comic was edited into scenes from Best Picture nominees and from such films of the past (and present) as "The Empire Strikes Back." Letterman himself appeared in the "English Patient" sequence, still spoofing his lackluster performance as Oscar host a few years ago and winning one of the unofficial good sport awards of the night.

Crystal followed this by reviving his Best Picture medley, a bunch of songs strung together with new lyrics condensing the plots of the major nominees. This was right after he said that nobody knew at this point who the Oscar winners would be and that "the only one guaranteed of waking up with a statue in the morning is Tipper Gore."

Throughout the night, Crystal was bouncy and engaging -- not as wickedly funny as Johnny Carson or Bob Hope was in the very gold days, but generally a pleasure to have around and a repeated relief from the pretentiousness of presenters and accepters and the usual assortment of gaseous Hollywood windbags.

The show's rousing first half-hour continued with the presentation of the first Oscar of the night -- the Best Supporting Actor award to Cuba Gooding Jr., everybody's favorite for his role in the sports movie "Jerry Maguire." Gooding, infectiously exultant, refused to be drowned out by the orchestra signaling him to conclude his remarks and just kept shouting "I love you" and dancing around the stage in glee.

Members of the audience began standing and cheering and soon the whole place was in a happy uproar. You know what it was like? It was like a scene from a great movie. Gooding had sent the night into orbit and it was only about 20 minutes old.

Wisely, the producers made certain that young Hollywood (and the young moviegoing audience) was represented in the festivities: Beavis and Butt-head, the animated imps from MTV who starred in their own feature-length film this year, presented one award, and the comedy team of Chris Farley and David Spade gave out a couple of statuettes.

The stunningly beautiful Juliette Binoche, who was first a presenter and then later a winner for her supporting performance in "English Patient," upped the charm quotient considerably. Lauren Bacall had been by far the favorite in Binoche's category for "The Mirror Has Two Faces" and Binoche, refreshingly enough, said from the stage as she held the Oscar, "I thought Lauren was going to get it, and I think she deserves it."

Madonna herself sang one of the five nominated songs, "You Must Love Me" from the huge flop "Evita." The TV director (Louis J. Horvitz) caught Barbra Streisand making what looked like a catty remark about Madonna in the audience just as the number was beginning. Another savvy surprise from the producers: pianist David Helfgott, subject of the nominated film "Shine," appeared on stage and tore off a frenzied "Flight of the Bumblebee."

Another emotional high point came with the announcement of an Oscar for the documentary feature "When We Were Kings," about great boxers of long ago. Two of the film's subjects, Muhammad Ali and George Foreman, were in the hall, and were virtually forced to go up onstage and take bows by the cheering of the audience.

Jim Carrey, the formerly hot and apparently hot again comic actor, greeted the crowd with a CinemaScopic smile and the rhetorical question "And how was your weekend?" He was gloating about the fact that his movie, "Liar, Liar," opened big -- grossing $32 million and making partial amends for "The Cable Guy," his thudding failure of last year.

Among the worst-dressed stars of the evening were Tim Robbins and Kevin Spacey, wearing ridiculous embellishments of the traditional tuxedo; even pornographer Larry Flynt, seated in the audience, looked better. The very strange Winona Ryder seemed stranger than ever in a dress that looked as if an angry mob had tried tearing it from her pale little body on her way into the theater.

For the most part, the stars looked like stars and dressed like them, too.

The ceremonies themselves were handsomely attired -- a beautiful set on the theater stage adding to the sense of glamour and event. By skillfully combining the best of the old and the best of the new, the producers of this year's Oscar show made a so-so year at the movies look like it had been absolutely terrific. It may have all been an illusion, but at least it was a competent illusion for a change.