It was Steven Spielberg's night at the 66th annual Academy Awards, as "Schindler's List" took home seven Oscars - including best picture and best director - and "Jurassic Park" won three.
The latter has become the biggest worldwide movie hit in the history of cinema, but Spielberg's historical drama, the 31/2-hour black-and-white "Schindler's List," was the award favorite, and a more personal film for Spielberg."Schindler's List" is the true story of Oskar Schindler, a German Nazi who saved the lives of some 1,100 Jews during World War II. Spielberg, clutching the statuette for best director, told the audience the award was also for the "6 million who can't be watching . . . tonight," a reference to the estimated number of Jews exterminated by Nazis during the war. He won a statuette a few minutes later for best picture.
Three of the four acting awards also went as widely predicted - Holly Hunter was named best actress for "The Piano," Tom Hanks won as best actor for "Philadelphia," and, as best supporting actor, Tommy Lee Jones was honored for "The Fugitive."
But the fourth, to 11-year-old Anna Paquin for her role as Hunter's daughter in "The Piano," took everyone by surprise. Paquin is now the second-youngest performer to win an Oscar, after 10-year-old Tatum O'Neal in 1973 for "Paper Moon."
Ironically, Paquin has not been allowed to see "The Piano," as her parents feel she is too young for the R-rated erotic drama.
Critics nationally felt the supporting actress award would be a tossup between Winona Ryder, for "The Age of Innocence," and Rosie Perez, for "Fearless." And no one was more surprised than Paquin herself, who was wide-eyed and speechless as she walked up to the stage and faced the audience.
Hunter said of her competition, "I am so overwhelmed to be with that group of actresses. It just slays me." She enthusiastically thanked Jane Campion, writer-director of "The Piano," who won an Oscar for best original screenplay.
And Hanks, who won for his role as a homosexual lawyer dying of AIDS, thanked his gay high school drama teacher and said, "I know that my work, in this case, is magnified by the fact that the streets of heaven are too crowded with angels."
Jones, whose head was shaved bald for a movie role (as baseball legend Ty Cobb), graciously accepted his award with humor: "My thanks . . . for the very finest, greatest award that any actor can ever receive. The only thing a man can say at a time like this is, I am not really bald."
Spielberg's first-time wins came after nearly 20 years of turning out Hollywood's biggest hits, from "Jaws" to "E.T. The Extra-Terrestrial" to the "Indiana Jones" adventures and, of course, "Jurassic Park."
The director had been nominated before - for "Close Encounters of the Third Kind," "Raiders of the Lost Ark" and "E.T." He won the honorary Irving Thalberg award in 1987.
But winning an Oscar for achievement was obviously something he had been yearning for, referring to it as "the best drink of water after the longest drought in my life."
Spielberg got a laugh as he told Academy members, "I have friends who have won this before - but I swear I have never held one before. This is the first time I've ever held one in my hands."
One of those friends is John Williams, who took home his fourth Academy Award for the musical score to "Schindler's List." It was Williams' third Oscar for a Spielberg movie, after "Jaws" and "E.T. The Extra-Terrestrial."
"Schindler's List" also won for best adapted screenplay, art direction, film editing and cinematography. The film was the first black-and-white movie to win a best picture Oscar since Billy Wilder's "The Apartment" in 1960.
The best supporting actress upset came early in the telecast but did not pave the way for further surprises. In fact, the Oscar telecast, though faster paced than usual (it ended before 10:30 p.m. for the first time in several years), was rather dull.
First-time host Whoopi Goldberg couldn't seem to connect with the audience, and her material was laced with tired jokes about Lorena Bobbitt, Heidi Fleiss, the Reagan administration and the Texas Book Depository.
Oddly, as dull as the proceedings were, the show's pacing was better than usual, with shorter speeches, quicker transitions and a minimum of technical glitches. But there were occasional odd moments, as when one of the winners accepting for the best documentary short, "Defending Our Lives," gave a brief, impassioned plea against domestic violence. As she finished, the camera cut to a reaction shot in the audience of Laurence Fishburne, nominated as best actor for his portrayal of wife-beater Ike Turner in "What's Love Got to Do With It."
The affair received a touch of class with two special awards, an honorary Oscar went to Deborah Kerr for career achievement, and Paul Newman received the Jean Hersholt Award for humanitarian efforts.