The First Golden Raspberry Awards took place on this date in 1981. Here are 10 things you might not know about the Razzies.
The Golden Raspberry Awards were created by publicist John J.B. Wilson as a humorous alternative to the formal awards season.
They are also known as the Razzies and Razzie Awards. The name comes from the action of "blowing a raspberry", that is making a Fart noise by placing the tongue between the Lips and blowing. It’s usually done to signal derision. The action is also sometimes referred to as a Bronx cheer.
Wilson first got the idea after seeing a double feature of Can't Stop the Music and Xanadu and during his drive home decided that those movies deserved awards for their low quality, and subsequently started thinking of all the other films which had disappointed him in 1980.
The first ceremony took place in Wilson’s living room. He was in the habit of hosting a potluck supper on Academy Awards night and the night of the 53rd Academy Awards was no different. However, after the main event, Wilson passed round a ballot for his friends to vote for the worst films of the year. Then he stood at a lectern made of cardboard in a tacky tuxedo, with a foam ball attached to a broomstick as a fake microphone to announce the result.
Approximately three dozen people came to the 1st Golden Raspberry Awards. Over the next couple of years, that number doubled and doubled again, and it started getting attention from the media. Wilson soon figured out that bringing his event forward, so it took place before the Academy Awards, it got more publicity.
The first film to receive a Razzie was Can't Stop the Music, and the first individual to receive one was Neil Diamond, winning Worst Actor for The Jazz Singer.
At time of writing, Sylvester Stallone is the most-awarded actor ever, with 12 awards.
On occasion, the Razzies have had to retract an award because they later found out there were tragic reasons behind an actor’s less than stellar performance. In 2022, a dedicated award category, Worst Bruce Willis Performance in a 2021 Movie, was created after the star had appeared in several flops. On March 30, Willis's family announced that he had been diagnosed with aphasia. The Golden Raspberry Awards retracted the award category, saying it was inappropriate to award a Golden Raspberry to someone whose performance was affected by a medical condition. Another time was in 1981 when Shelley Duvall won worst actress for The Shining. Some years later, Duvall admitted in an interview that Stanley Kubrick had subjected her to constant verbal and mental abuse throughout the making of the film, which had affected her performance. The Razzies rescinded the nomination and publicly apologised to her.
In 1989, McDonalds mascot, Ronald McDonald, won a Worst New Star award, and in 1991, Donald Trump won a Worst Supporting Actor Razzie for playing himself in Ghosts Can't Do It.
Sometimes actors get nominated for both a Razzie and an Oscar in the same year, for example, composer Alan Menken in 1993, screenwriter Brian Helgeland in 1997, and actress Sandra Bullock in 2010, although it has to be said that in each case the awards were for different films. Disney's The Hunchback of Notre Dame is the only animated film to date to be nominated for an Oscar and a Razzie.
Beta
(Combat Team Series #2)
Steff was abducted by an evil alien race, the Orbs, at fourteen. Used as a weapon for years, he eventually escapes, but his problems are just beginning. How does a man support himself when his only work experience is a paper round and using an Orb bio-integrated gun?
Warlord is an alien soldier who knows little but war. When the centuries-old conflict which ravaged his planet ends, he seeks out another world where his skills are still relevant. There are always wars on Earth, it seems. However, none of Earth's powerful armies want him.
Natalie has always wanted to visit England and sees a chance to do so while using her martial arts skills, but there are sacrifices she must make in order to fulfil her dream.
Maggie resorted to crime to fund her sister's medical care. She uses her genetic variant abilities to gain access to the rooms of wealthy hotel guests. The Ballards look like rich pickings, but they are not what they seem. When Maggie targets them, little does she know that she is walking into a trap.
Hotel owner Hamilton Lonsdale puts together a combat team to pit against those of other multi-millionaires. He recruits Warlord, Natalie, Maggie and Steff along with a trained gorilla, a probability-altering alien, a stockbroker whose work of art proved to be much more than he'd bargained for, a marketing officer who can create psionic forcefields, a teleporting member of the landed gentry, and a socially awkward fixer. This is Combat Team Beta.
Steff never talks about his time with the Orbs, until he finds a woman who lived through it, too. Steff believes he has finally found happiness, but it is destined to be short-lived. He is left with an unusual legacy which he and Team Beta struggle to comprehend; including why something out there seems determined to destroy it.
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