Who do you want to win Best Picture?
This is where the excitement really begins at the arrivals.
You know, if you think of the Oscars as sort of a video fan magazine,
then the arrivals are like the table of contents.
This is where the fans get their first glimpse of the stars,
and where the stars get their first taste of Oscar night jitters.
Something special is gonna happen tonight.
Wonderful! I just feel like, what am I doing?
I've been cool, but I'm very nervous tonight.
Well, I'm glad that it's only once a year. Let's say that.
My nerves are great, but I'm done. I'm done.
I hope my earrings don't fall off. That's the only thing I'd be nervous about.
If I were Paul Noe when I'd be nervous, I think I'm just gonna go and have a good time.
Part of me wishes it were over. Part of me wishes it would never end.
Will you be glad when it's over?
I think so, but I really want to have a lot of fun tonight.
Feeling a little nervous right now? Yeah. Yeah.
I am so sure we're not gonna win, but I have no nerves at all.
Star Trek 4 has four nominations. I hope we win something.
Will you be glad when it's over?
No, I've come for a party. I'm gonna have a wonderful time.
I'm Jean Wolf, backstage in the press room.
On Oscar night, everything the stars do makes news.
What they win, what they say, who they show up with, and of course, those glamorous outfits.
What you saw at this celebration and costume parade were the glittery looks that you expected,
but nothing very daring, nothing very extreme.
It's a Norma Kamali dress, and I basically wore it because it's comfortable and I feel easy in it.
This is a dress that's about seven years old, and I wore it when I hosted the Emmys. It's very heavy.
While fans added up the wardrobe dollars, Rita Moreno told us her designer gown was bought on sale,
where you wouldn't pay full price when they left off the back,
and Helena Bonham Carter admitted she, too, had watched the price tag.
I don't know. It's what I put on and put together, and in fact, cost about 30 pounds, but I suppose I shouldn't say that.
Cleavage was the fashion statement of the evening, and Rodney Dangerfield played fashion commentator.
They all look cute, don't they? They all get dressed up. How can they miss?
They got things that make them bigger, things that make them smaller, you know?
And they go out and meet a man, and they want truth.
Last year, I was sitting in the second row holding my collar because the dress was so tight I couldn't breathe.
So I am thrilled that this year the dress fits.
Jean Wolf Entertainment tonight.
Well, it is obviously a nerve-racking night for the nominees,
but the loved ones watching back home, well, they also have the jitters.
When we come back, we'll spend a day in the life of several of the Oscar nominees
and a day in the lives of a nominee's mother and father. Talk about jitters.
I hear you guys have gone to my hometown.
Yes. In Arkansas?
Yes, in Arkansas.
I know that your mom and a bunch of your fans at Arkansas are watching.
Now, here's your chance to say something to them.
Hi, folks. Please act like you know how to wear shoes and have indoor plumbing.
An Academy Award nomination means fulfillment of a lifelong dream for one, at least one of the Oscar nominees.
Of course, that makes the awards day one of anticipation and one of excitement.
And as it happens, Mary, that's Hollywood. That's when the real festivities begin.
You'll go out on the town with us all over town when we come back.
Let's go.
Travel arrangements furnished by Pan American World Airways.
Pan Am flies to more places in Europe than all other U.S. airlines combined.
Expect more from Pan Am.
We are standing just outside of Spagos where Super Agent Swifty Lazar holds his annual Oscar party.
This is definitely the place to be on awards night and all of Hollywood clamors to get in.
Are you clamoring?
I've been in a clamoring frenzy all night, Mary.
Outside of the beautiful lights of Hollywood at night, inside the jewels of the city are the stars themselves.
David Frost is inside now with a bird's eye view for us.
They say that an invitation to Super Agent Swifty Lazar's annual Academy Award party is the hottest ticket in town.
And that anybody who's anybody turns out.
There's lots of reasons why this party is such an attraction.
The chance to sit with your friends, good food and wine, and watch the Oscars as well.
But it's not quite as simple as that.
Swifty can explain. What's the secret of packaging a good party like this?
This is easy. It's really not very difficult because there are so many nice people in this town.
All you have to do is invite everybody and they all come.
Swifty throws a very nice party. This is the second time I've been.
I think it's wonderful.
I mean, during the commercials we wander around and we visit with friends that we never get to see
because when you do a series you never get to see anybody.
The pizza's very good. The ribs are too salty. And there's a very good glass of wine waiting for me.
How are you, David?
I'm fine.
There's no doubt about the most emotional moment of the night here at Spago.
It was when Michael Caine won as Best Supporting Actor.
We went up to Wolfgang's office and we called Michael.
And he was in his room in the hotel in Nassau and he was thrilled to bits. He had no idea.
What did he say? Did he say what happened when he saw it announced? Did he yell? Did he scream?
How does he react at the moment?
I should ask him if he was nervous and he said he was too drunk to be nervous.
Just when you think the party might be over, lo and behold, the Oscar winners and nominees start arriving
and party number one becomes party number two. What are your main memories of the night?
I thought if it took another ten minutes to get the best actress I was going to die.
I think it's cruel and inhumane. I don't know.
Well, party number one began at 5.30pm. Party number two began at 10 to 10.30pm when people came on after the Oscars.
It's now well past midnight but there are lots of people still here as you can see
probably hoping that there's going to be a party number three.
David Frost, Entertainment Tonight at Spago.
I'm Paula McClure here at the Beverly Hilton Hotel where most of the celebrities come to unwind
at one of the biggest parties of the year, the Governor's Ball.
Where's the party? I want to free my soul. Where's the party? I want to lose control.
And as the evening progresses, the truth comes out.
I was surprised that there weren't more surprises from my point of view.
A lot of surprises so that you couldn't call it by your scorecard.
It was a great night. It was a great night.
You look forward to it and you know you pick out your party dress and you hope your shoes fit and then it's gone. It's like a dream.
It was worth giving up my bowling night. I really mean it. It was really great.
From the Governor's Ball in Beverly Hills, I'm Paula McClure.
Well, no doubt about it.
As in any awards ceremony, the Oscars have ecstatic winners and disappointed losers
and then there are those people who are taken completely by surprise by the results.
And while almost everyone else in Hollywood was celebrating, our Leonard Malton and Eric Burns were burning a bit of the old midnight oil, analyzing the evening for us.
Gentlemen.
There are lots of people who like to gripe about the Oscars.
Well, I don't think there's a lot to gripe about this year, except maybe the fact that three big winners didn't show up to pick up their statues.
Seeing a still photo of Paul Newman or Woody Allen or Michael Caine doesn't exactly pack an emotional wallop, does it?
On the other hand, when it comes to awards, I don't know how you can complain when everybody came away a winner.
Not just Platoon, but Hannah and her sisters and children of a lesser God and room with a view.
Round Midnight was saluted for its wonderful music and the mission for its stunning cinematography.
Even Aliens for its special effects and The Fly for its fantastic makeup.
Now, when that many films walk away with Oscars, I think you can say that justice has been served.
And when Steven Spielberg talks about the need to renew our romance with the word, not just the image, well, it gives me hope for the future.
As for the show itself, well, what'd you think, Eric?
Well, you indicated, Leonard, that the awards themselves had a little something to make everyone happy.
I think so.
The show itself had a little something to make, if not everyone, at least a lot of people, embarrassed.
For instance, the winning nominee for Best Director was...
Oliver Stone for Platoon.
But this wasn't.
Marlee Matlin won for Best Actress, despite attempts to convince us she edited Top Gun.
Nobody won any awards for Quiet Scenery Moving.
Listen.
Now, now you get on. That's right.
Thank you, my dear.
That's right.
And despite Betty Davis' attempts to cue Robert Wise's acceptance speech for the absent Paul Newman, we never got it.
We got this picture instead.
It just seemed to me, Leonard, that for a show which was celebrating achievement in sound and pictures, it didn't achieve very much with its own sound and pictures.
Well, that may be. I thought it was pretty good, as Oscar shows go. And besides, any show that has Bugs Bunny and Paul Hogan can't be all bad.
It did have that diversity, as we have diversity of opinion here.
So have you had a good time?
I've had a great time.
Yeah, I think it's been a thrilling night for everybody involved. You've had a chance to see Hollywood in its most glamorous and exciting.
We're going to leave you with a song that won for the best achievement in music. So to the winners and the losers and to all the people who helped make this great night possible, and especially to our hardworking Entertainment Tonight staff, we salute you, all of you.
Good night.
All this.
Meet a Prime Bill Private Eye who recently posed for a popular men's magazine.
Michelle McMindy's has the town talking and PM Magazine finds out what they have to say about the successful businesswoman, next on Channel 8.
Then stay tuned for a great Tuesday night on NBC.