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Classic Era - Marlon Brando

1973 Academy Awards

Marlon Brando is known as being one of the greatest actors of all time and also pioneering method acting, he dominated the 50s with his performances in Elia Kazan’s ‘A Streetcar Named Desire’ (1951) and ‘On the Waterfront’ (1954). His star power dropped in the 60s after many box office fails, but he made his mainstream revival in ‘The Godfather’ (1972), his portrayal as Vito Corleone is iconic and he was a heavy favourite to win the 1973 Academy Award for best actor. He had already won the Academy Award for acting, for his character Terry Mallory in ‘On the Waterfront’, this time he decided to take a different approach, when his name got announced as the winner of the best actor Oscar a woman dressed in a traditional Native American outfit walked towards the stage, the announcer said that her name was Sacheen Littlefeather and that she would be accepting the award on behalf of Marlon Brando. When she got to the stage Roger Moore (of James Bond fame) started to hand her the Oscar statue but she waved it away, she then talked to the crowd, introducing herself as an ‘Apache [and the] president of the National Native American Affirmative Image Committee’ she said she was an amateur actor and that she represented Brando, she went on saying ‘that he very regretfully cannot accept this very generous award, and the reasons for this being are the treatment of American Indians today by the film industry.’ Parts of the audience started to boo but were eventually overpowered by claps and cheers. She also said that Brando prepared a more thorough speech for Littlefeather to say but that she couldn’t because of time, The New York Times released the full speech the next day.

Marlon Brando accepting his first oscar at the 1955 Academy Awards

Sacheen Littlefeather's speech at the 1974 Academy Awards

Reasoning

The 50s and 60s were dominated by westerns, stars like John Wayne and Clint Eastwood were household names because of their presence in western classics such as ‘The Searchers’ (1956) and ‘The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly' (1966). The westerns of this era portrayed Native Americans as half-dressed madmen, a gross misrepresentation of the Native American, this was a problem that many people turned a blind eye to. The red power movement in the 60s brought a much-needed conversation to the table, Native Americans were being misrepresented in society, and especially in film.

Still from 'The Searchers' (1956)

Original board of the American Indian Movement

Rumors

Being one of the most famous moments in the history in the Academy Awards, there has been some speculation and rumours about this event. Apparently, John Wayne had to get held back as Littlefeather walked past him, apparently, Littlefeather got told she would be physically removed from the stage and arrested if the speech went over 60 seconds, apparently most Hollywood studios agreed to ‘blacklist’ her after she stood up against the norm. Because this event was highly political people will lie and exaggerate to get there point across so we may never know what really happened that night.

Marlon Brando Discussing the event 3 months later on

'The Dick Cavett Show'

Sacheen Littlefeather waving off Oscar Statute

Influence

The Oscars are viewed by millions of people and are the most talked about and prestigious film awards ceremony. The classic Oscar speech is a place to thank people and send a message to the world, Leonardo DiCaprio commenting on climate change and Joaquin Phoenix on the human ego, has been the more recent examples, but these speeches have been nowhere near as impactful and famous because they didn’t push against anything, they still accepted, some people just saw this as a good PR move for them. Brando took a risk, he had the guts to refuse the award that most people could only dream of getting, and he took a stance against the industry that had given him fame and wealth, this was a bad business move, but he did it anyway.

Joaquin Phoenix's Speech at the 2020 Academy Awards

Leonardo DiCaprio's speech at the 2016 Academy Awards

Conclusion

Marlon Brando used the platform that he worked so hard on to try to make a change in something that he believed in, but did it result in a positive change? It’s hard to tell, the westerns that were such a big moneymaker in the 50s and 60s, started going out of fashion. The crime drama was the new money maker, ‘Bonnie and Clyde’ (1967) popularised it, but, the film that got Brando his Oscar ‘The Godfather’ (1972) made it into a massive genre. Because westerns weren’t being made anymore, the Native American went from being misrepresented in cinema to not being represented at all. Brando might have made a difference but Hollywood was moving on anyway.

Cast of 'The Godfather' (1972)

Still from 'Bonnie and Clyde' (1967)