“The Woman In Red” (1984)
The 1980s were a time where movies that otherwise wouldn’t have gone anywhere near the Academy (“Flashdance,” “White Nights,” “Top Gun,” “Dirty Dancing”) ended up with a little something in their trophy cabinet thanks to the Best Original Song race. Perhaps the worst of these was the Oscar won by Gene Wilder’s “The Woman In Red.” The sleazily dull sex farce is regrettable on a number of levels, but particularly for giving the world Stevie Wonder’s “I Just Called To Say I Love You,” a song so bad that it inspired a whole scene in “High Fidelity.”
“The Fly” (1986)
It’s not totally unheard of for a David Cronenberg film to get Oscar nominations (both “A History Of Violence” and “Eastern Promises” got acting nods), but it’s gratifying that the director’s only film to actually win one is one of his grossest. The slimy, grisly make-up in his classic remake of “The Fly” is pure Cronenberg, which makes it all the more satisfying that the film picked up the Best Make-Up Oscar and against strong work from Rob Bottin on “Legend” as well.
“Innerspace” (1987)
The Best Visual Effects category has always been the most blockbuster-friendly of the categories, but Joe Dante’s “Innerspace,” a comedic riff on “Fantastic Voyage” (which also won the same prize) still feels like a bit of an outlier in the category. Admittedly, the category was thin (“Predator” was its only competition, though films like “Robocop” went un-nominated), and ILM’s work is very strong, but it’s positively quaint when compared to the kind of films that win today.
“Harry & The Hendersons” (1987)
Perhaps better known now for the TV show it inspired (and a pretty inspired extended “30 Rock” riff featuring John Lithgow), “Harry and the Hendersons,” a comedy about a human family who adopt a Sasquatch, nevertheless made a slight impression at the Oscars, winning Rick Baker the second of his seven Academy Awards to date for the work on the ersatz Bigfoot of the title.
“Dick Tracy” (1990)
Which comic book movie was the most successful at the Oscars? If you answered “The Dark Knight,” you answered wrong, because it was actually Warren Beatty’s 1990 revival of comic strip hero “Dick Tracy.” Despite being a box-office disappointment, the yellow-coated detective picked up seven Oscar nominations (that’s one more than “Goodfellas” the same year…), and won three: Art Direction, Makeup and Best Original Song for Stephen Sondheim’s torch song for Madonna.