No narrative description can even begin to do justice to the glories of "The Oscar." Though apparently intended as a serious drama, this film plays out as one of the greatest comedies ever made. For years I would laugh out loud at the mere thought of some of the lines. Many campy performances in the minor parts, my personal favorites being Ernest Borgnine as the scurrilous Barney Yale and Walter Brennan as multi-millionaire Orrin C. Quentin (there's a name for you). But the film offers one scene that is strangely poignant. About halfway through, Frankie Fane (Stephen Boyd) goes to a Hollywood restaurant where he encounters an actor named Steve Marks. After some pleasantries they part and only then does Fane realize that Marks is now a waiter at the restaurant, his film career in ruins. Marks is none other than Peter Lawford, playing a role that eerily foreshadows his own decline.
