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Filed under: Imported

This time we offer a sound clip from a movie that's an overflowing treasure trove of terrible writing and acting, the 1966 anti-classic The Oscar, starring Stephen Boyd and Tony Bennett. It was Tony's cinematic debut and swansong rolled into one, and after you listen to this scene, you'll agree that he should never have been allowed to act at all, let alone a second time. But don't blame him for his horrible performance-- Laurence Olivier couldn't have done anything with the wretched prose provided by Harlan Ellison, one of the worst writers who ever lived. This moving moment comes from the end of the film, where Bennett's character, a flunkie named Hymie Kelly, tells the arrogant and unscrupulous actor Frankie Fane (Boyd) that he won't be his stooge anymore. The lines are pure Ellison, such as "I let you castrate me inch by inch" and "I was just twitchin', just like a spastic", and all of it delivered as only a natural-born non-actor like Tony could. Wonderfully awful! (Note: File size is 500K.)