AFI Gives Michael Douglas an Lifetime Achievement Award. No, Really.
Filed under: Awards
Maybe it gives away my age, but I really do think I remember a time when awards were given to people purely because an organization thought they'd actually earned them. I'm not crazy, am I? That really used to happen, right?Well, this week Michael Douglas was honored by the American Film Institute, who threw a gala black-tie shindig at Sony Pictures Studio and handed him their 37th AFI Life Achievement Award. Bob Dylan sang a song, and Douglas' wife Catherine Zeta-Jones performed an adorable little tap dance number, and Jack Nicholson was Jack Nicholson, and a stuntman fell through the ceiling in an homage to the ending of The Game. All in all, a nice evening of entertainment that'll be televised next month. But ... Michael Douglas?
The AFI award started out as a true Lifetime Achievement trophy -- the first went to John Ford in 1973. Over the next two decades, the awards went to actors and directors with long, impressive bodies of work, like Orson Welles, William Wyler, Bette Davis, Gene Kelly, John Huston, David Lean, and Sidney Poitier. It was actually a rather distinguished honor.
AFI later decided to relax the standards, however, so that they could give awards to people who'd be more appealing to an increasingly younger-skewed market. The awards have always been televised, and it's a condition of the award that the honoree actually shows up, so box-office popularity became a priority in choosing who would get one. Steven Spielberg, Tom Hanks, George Lucas and Al Pacino have been honored, as have Harrison Ford and Meryl Streep.
Seriously, though. Michael Douglas? Yes, the man has won Academy Awards (Best Actor for Wall Street, and one for producing One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest), and yes, he's considered a "mover and shaker" in the biz. Plus, he admittedly does a kick-ass imitation of producer Robert Evans as the smarmy ghost-uncle in the otherwise unremarkable Ghosts of Girlfriends Past.
But is he really in the same category as Martin Scorsese and Billy Wilder, lifetime achievement-wise? The AFI award ostensibly honors one "whose talent has in a fundamental way advanced the film art." Okay. Sure, I liked Romancing the Stone and The American President as much as the next guy, but I can think of six or eight people off the top of my head whose lifetime body of work is more worthy. Like, say, Robert Duvall, or Sally Field, or Anthony Hopkins, or Francis Ford Coppola, or Jodie Foster.
But the entertainment industry is, first and foremost, a business. You'll recall that AFI also produces those TV-friendly "100 Years of ..." specials that everyone watches and then gets angry about (There's Somethin About Mary ranks higher than The Thin Man and Sullivan's Travels?! WTF?) Maybe all the really worthy talent was deemed too old, not old enough, or just too boring to get TV ratings -- and AFI's struck a four-year deal with the cable network TV Land, so the ceremony will air as "TV Land PRIME Presents The AFI Life Achievement Award honoring Michael Douglas" on July 19th.
So, Cinematical readers ... who do you think's worthy of a Lifetime Achievement Award, anyway??
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
6-14-2009 @ 7:55AM
Scott Weinberg said...
How about ... his dad?
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6-14-2009 @ 5:16PM
David said...
Robert Altman never got one. Sidney Lumet should. And I always thought that they should have given one to Chuck Jones -- which would have been a GREAT TV special. Think of everyone they could have booked to pay tribute.
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6-14-2009 @ 5:18PM
Gray McAdam said...
I've always hated the award because they never gave it to Paul Newman. I've figured it had to have been because he refused it or something because he couldn't have been THAT overlooked. But what about Peter O'Toole or Robert Redford?? Dumb.
Oh, and Kirk Douglas has won it, so unfortunately they are exempt from that scorning.
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6-15-2009 @ 10:27AM
Dan said...
Good call. Paul Newman was really something special. He still deserves it.
6-14-2009 @ 5:58PM
Stan Winsome said...
Good god yes. Try saying this in 20 years when it's Ryan Reynolds or Amy Adams getting the award for all those deep romantic comedies you get to watch on Delta Airlines...
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8-03-2009 @ 4:08AM
Bryan Hickman said...
Michael Douglas deserves this award, saying that he won "a few Oscars" and downplaying that like it is no big deal. That is the standard in the industry for being taken seriously and he still can't get a break. Yes, other people deserve the award as well, but that doesn't mean that Douglas doesn't deserve the award. Saying that George Lucas and Steven Spielberg won it simply because they appeal to the fans is heinous. They both made huge impacts on the way films are made, and "American Graffiti" and "Saving Private Ryan" and "Schindler's List" give them more critical credit. Al Pacino! Godfather 1 and 2, Scarface not enough? Harrison Ford is an icon for multiple characters, and he set the archetype for tough-guy hero that actors try to copy now. Saying that Sally Field is more deserving of this award then those people is just trying to create a fuss and an argument rather than actually thinking about it.
6-15-2009 @ 7:58PM
bud said...
Michael Caine or Gene Hackman
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6-14-2009 @ 7:55PM
Alex said...
How about Sylvaster Stallone or Arnold Szenegger. Sorry I can't Spell Arnolds last name right. Denzel Washington would be a good choice also. James Cameron, Bruce Willis, Ridley Scott, Mel Gibson, Julia Roberts, Kevin Costner, and others that I can't seem to think of right at the moment.
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6-14-2009 @ 8:43PM
Julius said...
Douglas has achieved critical and financial success both in front of the camera and behind the scenes. He had a decent run as a legitimate movie star, and he's been making movies of varying quality for decades. Some, like "One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest" or "Wall Street" or "Fatal Attraction" are films that crossed over to have a significant cultural impact. He seems more than qualified to me. Sure, Coppola would absolutely be a better choice, and Hopkins deserves it even if he has only been cashing paychecks for a decade. I'm sure there are others, but Douglas isn't a big reach for an award that nobody cares that much about in the first place.
Also, "Sullivan's Travels" is a nice little movie. I love "The Thin Man". But "There's Something About Mary" is a freakin' masterpiece.
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6-15-2009 @ 8:53AM
Kevin said...
Saying "this person deserves it more than that person" does nothing to actually challenge whether or not the recipient deserves the award. Are there people out there who have not been honored by the AFI who deserve to win this more than Michael Douglas? Sure, I doubt anyone would really challenge that claim. But you still haven't even begun to answer the question of whether or not he deserves to win it. As Hickman pointed out, your examples of how the awards have been commercialized are pretty poor examples. Each person you cite has greatly contributed to the art of cinema. And to claim that they just used Michael Douglas to appeal to a younger audience is almost laughable. I very much doubt that kids aged 14-25 could pick Michael Douglas out of a lineup, let alone lineup to see an awards show honoring him.
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6-15-2009 @ 10:26AM
Riley Freeman said...
i would love to have seen video of the stuntman falling through the ceiling.
the game is one of the best movies ever
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7-02-2009 @ 4:49PM
TomnMovie Fan said...
How about 2 great actors the Academy has chosen to ignore? Christopher Plummer and Donald Sutherland.These guys are both class acts whose recognition is long overdue.
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6-15-2009 @ 7:57PM
Steve said...
Well, the points your make in your article are hard to argue with, Dawn. But subjectively, I can't quibble with the award because Michael Douglas is the star in three of my all-time favorite movies - A Perfect Murder, Falling Down, and The Game. And how about Wall Street?
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6-15-2009 @ 9:26PM
lenny said...
i can think of at least 5 worthy people who should receive the AFI Life Achievement Award....Michael Douglas must have bought it..because just having oscars doesnt mean that your body of work has stood the test of time...With this award, a person must be a true movie giant..and sorry to say michael douglas isnt...His father has received this award..also not a very good actor..but a true movie icon...so his award is deserving....who next year??? Kevin costner...HELP!!!
the 5 more deserving recipients
1. woody allen
2. robert redford
3. sidney lumet
4. peter o'toole
5. jane fonda
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6-16-2009 @ 2:41PM
dc said...
Who's he? Catherine Zeta Jone's doddery old man ...who hasn't been in a halfway decent movie since ...the last century, and wasn't even that good then.
Lifetime Achievement? What a laugh :)
Is he depressed? Is it Catherine's way of getting him out of his funk? His decrepitude is so far gone, it;s time he just retire to Florida and play golf.
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7-15-2009 @ 11:36PM
carol steeger said...
Do you live under a rock? I hate to hear what artists you think are talented or merit this award more than Douglas. His work speaks for itself. Millions of people can't be wrong. Rethink your opinion because it doesn't count.
6-16-2009 @ 2:36PM
Veonica said...
I think it is repugnant to dispute Michael Douglas' AFI lifetime award tribute-his body of work has been at the very least very influential cinematically - One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest, Wall Street,Fatal Attraction,Romancing the Stone,Basic Instinct,Falling Down,The Game,the list goes on... to place artists in a competetive line-up is ridiculous-do we compare van gogh with monet or Mozart with Led Zepplin? One appreciates the art and chooses individually based on style,mood,etc.-but to say Douglas does not merit the honor is absurd...his body of work has also influenced social consciousness of the time regarding marital, governmental,corporate,and interpersonal relationships and for well over 20 years! In this insatiable exploitive society we live in -can't we at least have the respect to pay a note of thanks to our artists while they are vital enough to walk on the stage and accept with some dignity. Why must artists be long dead or barely cognizant from a deathbed? True there are other artists to be honored on the list (await Redford, Lumet,Milos Foreman,Foster,Fonda and others) and who is to say they have not been asked and refused -that is their choice. To dillute any appreciation for the artist that has chosen to accept and is being honored is vulgar, disparaging, and ungrateful to the artists that make our reality extraordinary if only for a couple of hours and then some. Congratulations Michael Douglas!
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6-16-2009 @ 4:17PM
therealstain said...
> Maybe it gives away my age, but I really do think I remember a time > when awards were given to people purely because an organization
> thought they'd actually earned them. I'm not crazy, am I? That really > used to happen, right?
_Butterfield 8_.
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