Part One: The 1980 Retro Hollmann Awards

The first day of the 1980 Retro Hollmann Awards. I have ordered the categories the same way they came in the original Oscar telecast of March 31, 1981. Just nine categories for today, starting with Best Ensemble (not an Oscar category, but...look, just read on).

Best Ensemble

Fame
Howard Feuer / Jeremy Ritzer, casting directors

2. The Blues Brothers; 3. Raging Bull; 4. Airplane; 5. Breaker Morant

What other film could win this category but Fame? I knew I would nominate it when I saw the students, by turns friendly and vicious, with unexpected chemistry and vulnerability in star-making roles (Barry Miller, hello!). But then came the teachers, each fully realized, demanding but not heartless, with their own backstories (Anne Meara, hello!). But what gives it the win - the equal attention in the development of the parents, some pushy, some distant, some not understanding why their kid wants to perform but backing them 100 percent anyway (Eddie Barth, hello!).

In second place, the comic geniuses and genuine music legends of The Blues Brothers. In third, the family and "the Family" crossing paths, and each other, in Raging Bull. In fourth, the mix of comic talents and seasoned dramatic actors to harness Airplane!'s absurdity. In fifth, the three accused, their attorney, and the powers closing in around them in Breaker Morant.

Best Supporting Actor, Best Supporting Actress, and more after the jump....

Casting Coup: Raging Bull

NOMINATIONS

Best Picture, Irwin Winkler/Robert Chartoff

Best Director, Martin Scorsese

Best Actor, Robert De Niro - WON
Best Supporting Actor, Joe Pesci
Best Supporting Actress, Cathy Moriarty
Best Cinematography, Michael Chapman

Best Film Editing, Thelma Schoonmaker - WON

Best Sound, Donald O. Mitchell/Bill Nicholson/David J. Kimball/Les Lazarowitz

I trust I do not need to go into my love of Raging Bull again - after all, of the ten categories we covered for the 1980 Oscars flashback, I voted for it in all five categories it was up for. Scorsese has always been concerned with the practiced peacocking of American masculinity and virility; what could be better than a sports drama set in the world of boxing, where fighting prowess makes you a winner?

The cast assembled for Raging Bull was raw. Flawlessly so. No one is ever going to match that. So I'm not even gonna try - the best I can do is offer the best people for the job now. And here they are. I think.

Melvin's Mary and Others: Supporting Actress, 1980

It's the first-timers club, an entire category full of nominees who have never before had the honor - and, even more strange, would never be so honored again!

The winner was Mary Steenburgen, as the supportive-then-frustrated housewife in Melvin and Howard. Surprisingly, this is her only nomination so far, though I for one think she should have been up for Cross Creek three years later.

You might think Eva Le Gallienne, 81 years old, is the overdue one - but her film work was minimal. Her medium was The Theatre, and she did it all: acting, directing, even translating the works of Chekhov and Ibsen. Her sage grandmother in Resurrection earned her her first and only Oscar nod.

More overdue: Eileen Brennan. Her ball-busting sergeant in Private Benjamin was her first and only nomination, though she won an Emmy reprising the role for the television series. She previously appeared in Best Picture winner The Sting and Best Picture nominee The Last Picture Show.

Not so overdue: Cathy Moriarty. Girl was just starting out - 20 years old, making her film debut as Jake La Motta's child bride in Raging Bull. Apparently, Joe Pesci had seen her picture on the wall of a bar, where she had won a beauty contest. This was Moriarty's first, and so far only, nomination.

And then there's Diana Scarwid, a woman among men as the waitress in Inside Moves. A busy year for her, as she was also in Honeysuckle Rose and the Emmy-winning TV movie Guyana Tragedy: The Story of Jim Jones (not to be confused with the exploitation fictionalization, Guyana: Cult of the Damned).

Supporting Actress has always been one of my favorite categories, and I will always tip my cap to StinkyLulu's Brian Herrera for helping to fuel that - indeed, he weighed in on this very lineup at The Film Experience, where Nathaniel Rogers has revived the Supporting Actress Smackdowns! Take a look at that. I did not participate at the time, of course, as I'd seen absolutely none of these movies until a month ago. If I had...here's what I might have said......