1992 was a year in which everyone agreed Emma Thompson was the year’s best actress in James Ivory’s film of E.M. Forster’s Howards End, but agreements on the other categories, particularly the year’s Best Picture and Director were difficult to come by.

The L.A. Film Critics were the first to announce his year.  Those chose Clint Eastwood’s hard-edged western, Unforgiven as Best Picture and Eastwood as Best Director.

The National Board of Review went with the genteel Howards End for which James Ivory was named Best Director.  The New York Film Critics chose Robert Altman’s The Player, an all-star satirical look at how films get made in modern Hollywood.  They named Altman Best Director.

The National Society of Film Critics agreed with L.A., but then the Golden Globes knocked it all for a loop by naming Martin Brest’s Scent of a Woman, a remake of a 1976 Italian comedy, as Best Picture – Drama over Howards End and Unforgiven as well as Neil Jordan’s The Crying Game and Rob Reiner’s A Few Good Men.  They couldn’t name Brest as Best Director because he wasn’t nominated so they went along with Eastwood.

The Globes chose The Player as Best Picture – Musical or Comedy.

The Directors Guild nominated Eastwood (Unforgiven), Altman (The Player), Ivory (Howards End), Jordan (The Crying Game) and Reiner (A Few Good Men) and gave the award to Eastwood who was now on a roll.

Oscar finally gave recognition to Martin Brest, nominating him for Best Director along with Altman, Eastwood, Ivory and Jordan.  Best Picture nominations went to Eastwood’s Unforgiven; Ivory’s Howards End; Jordan’s The Crying Game and Brest’s Scent of a Woman with Rob Reiner’s A Few Goo d Men the fifth nominee over Altman’s The Player.

Certainly The Player would have been along for the ride as the sixth nominee had Oscar gone to a ten film Best Picture slate, but what four films would have completed the list?

I’d add Robert Redford’s A River Runs Through It (three nominations, one win); Mike Newell’s Enchanted April (three nominations, no wins); Michael Mann’s The Last of the Mohicans (one nomination and win) and James Foley’s Glengarry Glen Ross (one nomination, no win).

On Oscar night,  Emma Thompson continued her reign as the year’s Best Actress while Al Pacino won a long overdue Best Actor award for Scent of a Woman; Gene Hackman won his second Oscar for Best Supporting Actor while Eastwood won as Best Director and his film, Unforgiven triumphed as Best Picture.

In the end though it was Best Supporting Actress that no one could stop talking about.  Marisa Tomei, a virtually unknown actress at the time and a surprise nominee for the comedy My Cousin Vinny, beat four distinguished actresses, any one of whom was expected to win.  They were Howards End’s Vanessa Redgrave; Enchanted April’s Joan Plowright; Damage’s Miranda Richardson and Husbands and Wives’ Judy Davis.  Tomei’s win was so surprising that critic/columnist Rex Reed propagated the idea that presenter Jack Palance had read the wrong name, repeating the last name on the outside of the envelope instead of the name that was inside.  The Academy hastily denied the charge.  Two nominations later, Tomei has proven her win wasn’t a fluke but Reed’s asinine assertion persists.