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The Oscar ceremonies have had their share of controversial moments over the years, from Marlon Brando sending a Native American surrogate to refuse his Best Actor Oscar for “The Godfather” to Michael Moore being booed off the stage when he tried to get political while accepting the Best Documentary trophy for “Bowling for Columbine.” No controversy was as big and dramatic though as the Best Supporting Actress category at the 1978 Oscar ceremony, which was awarded to Vanessa Redgrave for “Julia” (1977). On this the 40th anniversary of her win Gold Derby takes a look back at an incredibly memorable Oscar night.

Vanessa Redgrave was a popular and frequent nominee with academy members in her early years in film. She received three Best Actress nominations in quick succession for “Morgan” (1966), “Isadora” (1968) and “Mary, Queen of Scotts” (1971). For 1977 she received her first Best Supporting Actress nomination for her role in “Julia.” That film...

Presenting the Supporting Actress Nominees of '77. A mother with extraterrestrial problems, a highly neurotic swinger, a wealthy political activist, a precocious daughter, and a timid ballerina.

The Nominees 

John Travolta opening the envelope

If the characters weren't quite typical this time, the shortlist formation was a familiar mix of career glories. Consider the slotting: Oh look, there's the child actor slot that the Supporting Actress category is famous for going to Quinn Cummings; Tuesday Weld wins the underappreciated enduring talent nod; No typical shortlist is complete without a newish critical darling with momentum which in 1977 was Melinda Dillon (she had created the "Honey" role in Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf  on stage but didn't get to do the movie and was finally making film inroads via her role in the previous year's Best Picture nominee Bound for Glory ); Finally, you have to have a current Oscar darling with considerable...

The Supporting Actress Smackdown Of 1977 is coming. You already met two of our panelists. And here are the other three (including me). 

Meet The Panelists 

Panelist: Sara Black McCulloch

Bio: Sara Black McCulloch is a Toronto-based researcher, translator and writer. She has written for i-d, cleo Journal, Adult, The Hairpin, Gawker, Bitch Magazine and The National Post. You can read more of her work here. 

Question: What does 1977 mean to you? 

1977 seemed to be steeped in so much disillusionment. I think that, like the years that signal the end of a decade but don't quite bookend it, it was...fraught. The year was packed with events that pointed to change and fueled uncertainty. It was the year the U.S. signed the nuclear-proliferation pact and the same year that the U.S. government voted against covering elective abortions through Medicaid. The Apple II computer hit the market and Jimmy Carter...

The Supporting Actress Smackdown Of 1977 Is Just One Week Away. Get your votes in by Friday early evening. This week will be a '77 blitz at the blog to get you in the mood.

The Nominees were...

Leslie Browne, The Turning Point

Quinn Cumming, The Goodbye Girl

Melinda Dillon, Close Encounters

Vanessa Redgrave, Julia

Tuesday Weld, Looking for Mr Goodbar

Readers are our final panelist for the Smackdown so if you'd like to vote send Nathaniel an email with 1977 in the header line and your votes. Each performance you've seen should be rated on a scale of 1 to 5 hearts (1 being terrible 5 being stupendous) -- Remember to only vote for performances that you've seen! The votes are weighted to reflect numbers of voters per movies so no actress has an unfair advantage.

Click to embiggen to see the 1977 goodies

Meet The Panelists

We'll do this piecemeal so you don't feel overwhelmed.

You thought we'd forgotten the Smackdowns. We have not! Here's what's coming this season. You know you want to join in the movie merriment! We're giving you a headstart so you can get to watching these 13 movies for the first time (or revisiting them) over your summer vacations. More details to follow as we get closer to the actual Smackdowns. 

Sunday July 31st

The Best Supporting Actresses of 1977

The Oscar went to the legendary but controversial Vanessa Redgrave for Julia and while she might be impossible to beat, the movies are all juicy in this category. Tuesday Weld co-stars in the provocative Looking for Mr Goodbar, Melinda Dillon was part of the fine cast of Close Encounters of the Third Kind, Quinn Cumming charmed voters in The Goodbye Girl, and Leslie Browne, a dancer, debuted in Oscar's all time biggest loser The Turning Point (nominated for 11 Oscars but it lost every category!

'True Grit' 2010: Hailee Steinfeld and Jeff Bridges. 'True Grit' 2010 review: 'Far Superior' to 1969 John Wayne Western I've gotten to the point with the Coen brothers where I just expect something wonderful every time they make a movie. For me, that was the case even with an effort like True Grit. For others, however, it was different. When the Coens announced their plans to adapt Charles Portis' novel, heads turned and were scratched by many. After all, not only were the brothers going to adapt a book, something they had done only once before (twice if you count The Odyssey), but they were going to remake a movie made famous by John Wayne in 1969. To many, especially lovers of Westerns, touching True Grit was sacrilege. But the Coens weren't deterred, and thankfully so. Their adaptation of True Grit is not only far superior to Henry Hathaway's 1969 version, it...

Christian Bale and wife Sibi Blazic Bale at the Oscars Christian Bale and wife Sibi Blazic on the Academy Awards' Red Carpet Eventual Best Supporting Actor winner Christian Bale and wife Sibi Blazic Bale are seen above on the Red Carpet of the 83rd Academy Awards, held on Feb. 27 at the Kodak Theatre in Hollywood. The Welsh-born Bale took home the Oscar statuette for his performance as a boxer turned coach and junkie in David O. Russell's boxing drama and sleeper hit The Fighter. His co-stars were Mark Wahlberg (who also co-produced the film), Best Supporting Actress winner Melissa Leo, and Best Supporting Actress nominee Amy Adams. Christian Bale movies The Fighter was Christian Bale's first Academy Award nomination. Among his other movie credits are: The Dark Knight (2008). Director: Christopher Nolan. Cast: Christian Bale. Heath Ledger. Maggie Gyllenhaal. Aaron Eckhart. The Prestige (2006). Director: Christopher Nolan. Cast: Hugh Jackman.

A few movies would venture into portraying the AIDs scare amongst the homosexual community of the 1980s.

In Chris Mason Johnson’s “Test,” rather than celebrating the death from AIDs, unlike many movies do, it showcased the community living in fear of the disease and the panics surrounding it.

The film is set around the free-spirited San Francisco of 1985 as it follows a young dancer in a modern dance company who must deal with the fear of disease, homophobia, effeminophobia during that period. And his ultimate escapism was through the music and dance.

The dance drama was on the film festival circuit for some time and won two grand jury prizes at Outfest.

Latino-Review had an exclusive phone interview with director Chris Mason Johnson last week. We discussed about the AIDs epidemic of the 1980s, homophobia, and the changes for gay cinema through the years.

“Test” is currently in theaters...

On Wednesday, September 5 at 730pm at NYUs Skirball Center for the Performing Arts 566 Laguardia Place, dance icon Mikhail Baryshnikov will be honored at the NYC Dance Alliance Foundations Bright Lights Shining Stars Gala where he will receive their prestigious Ambassador for the Arts Award which will be presented to him by longtime friend and colleague Liza Minnelli. Last years Ambassador for the Arts Award recipient, celebrated American singer, songwriter, musician and four-time Grammy-winner Roberta Flack, will also be present on 95. Also set to appear that evening will be Abt star Julie Kent, Oscar-nominee and celebrated dancer Leslie Browne and Tony Award-winning choreographers Jerry Mitchell and Andy Blankenbuehler.

Blu-ray & DVD Release Date: Feb. 28, 2012

Price: DVD $24.95, Blu-ray $29.95

Studio: Olive Films

Alan Bates (l.) and George De La Pena star in Nijinsky.

The lives, the loves and the madness of the legendary and mercurial Russian ballet star Vaslav Nijinsky are chronicled in Herbert Ross’s 1980 film Nijinksy.

Portrayed in the film by George De La Pena (One Last Dance), Nijinsky was the most celebrated dancer of the early 20th century. But offstage, he was in turmoil, torn between the beautiful ballerina he married and the domineering mentor he loved.

Alan Bates (The Sum of All Fears) plays Sergei Diaghilev, Nijinsky’s mentor and lover who’s the impresario and founder of Ballets Russes. The increasing tension between these powerful egos, exacerbated by homosexual desire and jealousy, becomes triangular when the young ballerina Romola de Pulsky (Leslie Browne, The Turning Point) tries to draw the mentally unstable Nijinsky away from Diaghilev.

Darren Aronofsky's New York ballet psychodrama is a watchable if rather pretentious study of artistic obsession

Darren Aronofsky made a strong impression in 1998 with Pi, his low-budget debut as writer-director, in which a number theorist descends into insanity as he searches for a mathematical solution to the secret of the universe. He followed this up with Requiem for a Dream, about four people in a rundown corner of New York whose dreams are destroyed by their addiction to drugs. His third film, the confused fantasy The Fountain, dealt with a 16th-century conquistador, a present-day American scientist and an astronaut in the 26th century searching for eternal life. This was followed by The Wrestler, a somewhat earthier study of an ageing practitioner of a despised, lowlife profession, much given to self-mutilation and prepared to risk his life in order to make the comeback that will restore some self‑respect.

His latest film,...

Movie stars should earn their spurs in vaudeville, then next time a Black Swan comes around, the lead can do her own fouettés

Much as I enjoyed Black Swan (tutus, blood, evil ids – what's not to like?), I thought it was a shame Natalie Portman couldn't do all her own dancing. Don't get me wrong – the girl done good. She nailed the bun, achieved a creditable facsimile of the neurotic thoroughbred physique, and managed Ok with the expressive arm-flapping.

But anyone can dance with her arms. What I would call the "proper dancing" had to be performed by a professional with Portman's face overlaid using CGI. It's not her fault she didn't have the technique; she's an actress, not a ballerina. To pull off the highlight of the Odette/Odile double-role – the 32 fouettés en tournant – you would need to have practised 25 hours a day, from birth, on a diet of Silk Cut,...

It now appears to be more likely than not that Hailee Steinfeld, the 14-year-old actress who makes her big screen debut in the Coen brothers’ critically and commercially successful Western “True Grit,” will score an Oscar nomination — and perhaps even a win — in one category or another for her film-stealing performance. Consequently, some of you may be wondering if any other newcomer has ever earned that kind of recongition over the 82 year history of the Academy Awards. The answer is yes — in fact, it has happened precisely 47 times, 16 in lead and 31 in supporting.

Some of those women were famous before they received their nods (i.e. Jennifer Hudson and Barbra Streisand); most were not (i.e. Mary Badham and Gabby Sidibe). Some never made another movie after they received their nods (i.e. Jocelyne Lagarde); some made a few and then dropped off the face of the earth (i.e.