Originally posted by WildTrout:
...I'm still surprised that one of them didn't win, as they all turned in masterful performances.

Originally posted by WildTrout:
I really didn't think there were another three from the same movie. Did any of them actually win?

BEST PICTURE
What won: The Godfather What should have won: no disagreement. The Godfather was the rightful winner.

BEST ACTOR
Who won: Marlon Brando for The Godfather Who should have won: Al Pacino for The Godfather

BEST ACTRESS
Who won: Liza Minnelli for Cabaret Who should have won: no disagreement; they liked Liza.

BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR
Who won: Joel Gray for Cabaret Who should have won: James Caan for The Godfather

BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS
Who won: Eileen Heckart for Butterflies are Free Who should have won: Claire Bloom for Limelight (even though she wasn't nominated)

BEST DIRECTOR
Who won: Bob Fosse for Cabaret Who should have won: Francis Ford Coppola for The Godfather

1972 was a very strange year for movie awards, as the Academy managed to honor The Godfather and snub it at the same time. One of the most eagerly anticipated films ever made, The Godfather didn't disappoint, featuring an iconic performance by Marlon Brando and star-making ones by Al Pacino, James Caan and Robert Duvall, dynamic direction by Francis Coppola, and one of the most quoted and memorable scripts in film history. Ranked as the third greatest American film ever made by the AFI (after Citizen Kane and Casablanca), The Godfather was the overwhelming favorite at the Oscars and took home the Best Picture award.

Yet the Academy's admiration for The Godafther was grudging at best, allotting its only additional awards to Marlon Brando as Best Actor and for the film's screenplay. The movie the Academy really seemed to prefer in 1972 was Bob Fosse's comparatively forgotten film of the stage musical Cabaret, giving it eight awards, the most ever awarded for a film that didn't go on to win Best Picture. With the landmark status now afforded The Godfather, some of the awards Cabaret was given seem very peculiar indeed (especially Fosse's selection as Best Director over DGA winner Coppola and Best Supporting Actor Joel Grey over Pacino). Cabaret is a fine film on its own merit, but compared with the masterpiece that is The Godfather, it simply ceases to exist.

THE WORST AWARD [yes, this is the author's actual title for this next segment; it's not something I inserted]

When NBC aired An Evening With Fred Astaire in 1958, the landmark special won an unprecedented nine Emmy Awards. But the only award Astaire won personally, Best Single Performance by an Actor, caused a major controversy; because while his indelible charm and magnificent dancing made the show one of the most memorable in television's Golden Age, his performance couldn't really be categorized as acting. Joel Grey's Best Supporting Actor winning-turn as the Master of Ceremony in Cabaret falls into a similar situation, because while there is no denying his brilliance in singing and dancing the numbers in the title setting or that he provides a chilling presence, the role does not require him to create a characterization where he truly interacts with the other characters. He has no dialogue in the role, and the character (which is really nothing more than a dramatic device) does not have what acting students typically describe as "an arch."

In a lesser year it might not have mattered, but 1972 offered some of the greatest acting ever seen in supporting film roles. The best of these were from The Godfather, which garnered a record-tying three supporting nominations for Al Pacino (who really should have been nominated - and won - in the Best Actor category), James Caan and Robert Duvall, but which offered equally impressive work by Sterling Hayden, John Marley, and particularly by the underappreciated Richard Castellano (who The Godfather author Mario Puzo felt was robbed of a nomination). Enduring work was also offered by Eddie Albert in The Heartbreak Kid..., Ned Beatty in Deliverance,... and the great Buster Keaton [for] his performance in Chaplin's Limelight...

BIGGEST OVERSIGHT [again, this is the author's title]

[C]inematographer Gordon Willis... his landmark work on The Godfather was overlooked, in a year when the Academy chose to honor such conventionally photographed films as 1776, Butterflies are Free and Travels With My Aunt...