some classic bits of fatherly wisdom.
Sunday’s 87th Academy Awards are no different — take this insight from Ethan Hawke, who earned a Best Supporting Actor nod for “Dad” in Boyhood:
“Everything? What’s the point? I mean, I sure as shit don’t know. Neither does anybody else, okay? We’re all just winging it, you know? The good news is you’re feeling stuff. And you’ve got to hold on to that.”
Depending on where you stand, Boyhood is either brilliant vérité or over-hyped treacle, but the point is that plenty of Oscar fathers have gotten it right over the years — like these guys:
Spencer Tracy As Stanley T. Banks
Best Actor Nominee: Father Of The Bride (1950)
“You have a little girl. She looks up to you. You’re her oracle. You’re her hero. And then the day comes when she gets her first permanent wave and goes to her first real party, and from that day on, you’re in a constant state of panic.”
Best Actor: To Kill A Mockingbird (1962)
“You never really understand a person until you consider things from his point of view. Until you climb inside of his skin and walk around in it.”
Best Actor Nominee: Fiddler On The Roof (1971)
“As the good book says, if you spit in the air, it lands in your face.”
Best Actor: The Godfather (1972)
“I work my whole life, I don’t apologize, to take care of my family. And I refused to be a fool dancing on the strings held by all of those big shots. That’s my life, I don’t apologize for that.”
Best Actor: Kramer vs. Kramer (1979)
“I’ve had a lot of time to think about what it is it that makes somebody a good parent. You know, it has to do with constancy, it has to do with patience, it has to do with listening to him. It has to do with pretending to listen to him when you can’t even listen anymore. It has to do with love.”
Best Screenplay, Director Nominee: Boyz N The Hood (1991)
“How many times do I have I told you, if a girl says she’s on the pill, you use something anyway. Pill ain’t going to keep your dick from falling off.”
Best Actor: Gladiator (2000)
“To my son – I tell him I will see him again soon. To keep his heels down while riding his horse. To my wife … that is not your business.”
Best Animated Feature: Finding Nemo (2003)
“I have to get out of here! I have to find my son! I have to tell him how old sea turtles are!”
Best Actor Nominee: The Pursuit Of Happyness (2006)
“You got a dream … You gotta protect it. People can’t do something themselves, they wanna tell you you can’t do it. If you want something, go get it. Period.”
Best Screenplay: Juno (2007)
“Good mood, bad mood, ugly, pretty, handsome, what have you, the right person is still going to think the sun shines out your ass.”
