The In Memoriam montage is one of those parts of the Academy Awards that we look forward to every year. This year, we heard the theme from Ghost and at first were confused and then it hit us: montage time! Patrick Swayze was one of the movie stars we lost this past year, but Oscar breezed through his quick clip at the start of the montage — hardly the tribute fitting the star of such films as Dirty Dancing and Point Break. It made us think, “Hey, we could do this better.” So here’s five ways we would have made this year’s Oscar Memorial Montage better:
1. No James Taylor. Although we love the soulful singer’s guitar melodies, an orchestral version of “Unchained Melody” would have brought the house — and the tears — down.
2. More Swayze. What’s a Patrick Swayze tribute without a little “No one puts Baby in the corner” ??
3. Where’s Farrah? Farrah Fawcett was noticeably missing from the memorial montage. Sure, she was better known as a television actress and model, but she did work on several movies, including The Cannonball Run and the Jonathan Taylor Thomas vehicle Man of the House.
4. Put it up front. By the time the Academy got around to the memorial montage, the show was already running long. At that point in the show, every little second counts, but we want to sit back and enjoy the montage, not feel like screaming “Wrap it up!” at the TV.
5. Let the viewers chip in. If there is one thing the Internet has taught us, it’s that there are some people at home in their basements who are better montage/mash-up creators than those guys that work for the Academy. If we were in charge, we’d let the people pick their favorite moments from dead stars’ movies, send in submissions and spread out the memorial love in short snippets throughout the show. User generated content!
Now, watch this year’s montage, and add your own critiques in the comments below.
(Photo by Kevin Winter/Getty Images)
