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“John Wayne “ from the Web but not the NYT article.
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'Brokeback' Wins Top
Golden Globes
By REUTERS, from the
NYTimes on the Web, January 17, 2006
BEVERLY HILLS, California -- A
heady mix of political drama and romance -- both gay and straight -- won major
Golden Globe Awards on Monday with "Brokeback Mountain" earning the best film
drama prize and "Walk the Line" best musical or comedy.
"Brokeback," which has wowed critics and found a sizable audience at box offices
with its homosexual love story, walked off with four Golden Globes, more than
any movie, including best director for Ang Lee, screenplay and song.
The movie entered the show a favorite among its rivals after having been
nominated in a leading seven categories, and it now becomes a clear front-runner
for Oscars, the U.S. film industry's top awards that will be given out in March.
But "Walk the Line," about the long love affair between singers Johnny Cash and
June Carter Cash, may be a close No. 2. It earned three Golden Globes and
won trophies for stars Joaquin Phoenix and Reese Witherspoon as best actor and
actress in musical or comedy, respectively.
Felicity Huffman was named best actress in a film drama playing a man on the
verge of a sex change in "Transamerica," and Philip Seymour Hoffman was named
best film actor in a movie drama for his role as author Truman Capote in
"Capote."
The film awards capped a night in which gay movies and characters dominated the
winners circle, and the movies' makers and actors urged audiences to see beyond
the gay stories and into deeper themes of love, family ties and fearmongering.
"You can never categorize or stereotype a region or a place. People fall
in love, period," Lee said backstage. This is a universal story ... I just
wanted to make a love story."
OIL, POLITICS & PALESTINIANS
But politics played a major role at the Golden Globes, too, especially early in
the evening when George Clooney was named best supporting actor in a film
playing a veteran CIA agent in Middle East oil drama "Syriana."
"This is early, I haven't had a drink yet," Clooney joked when he took the stage
to accept his award, the first award of the night. But he turned serious
when acknowledging the film's writer/director Stephen Gaghan, as well as Warner
Independent Pictures for releasing such a politically charged film.
"These are tough questions to ask, and I'm very proud that the studios are
willing to ask these questions," he said about "Syriana's" take on the Middle
East and the politics of oil.
British actress Rachel Weisz was named best supporting actress in a film drama
for her portrayal of a social activist in Africa in thriller "The Constant
Gardener."
Palestinian film "Paradise Now," which looks at why suicide bombers take their
own lives and kill others, was named best foreign language film. Its
director, Hany Abu-Assad, called the award "a recognition that the Palestinians
deserve their liberty and equality unconditionally."
Golden Globe winners are chosen annually by about 85 members of the Hollywood
Foreign Press Association and are widely watched as a measure of which movies
will later vie for Oscars, the top U.S. film honors voted on by some 6,000
members of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences.
Golden Globe winners often go on to win Oscars, and the stars turned out for
Monday's show in tuxedos, gowns and fine jewelry to wow viewers in some 172
countries around the world.
(Abridged)
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