Ray(s) of Light

Celebrated author Larry McMurtry died last week at the age of 84. Among myriad achievements, he won a Pulitzer Prize for “Lonesome Dove”, no mean feat, though here at Cinema Romantico, a movie blog, we will remember McMurtry for winning Best Screenplay, along with his longtime writing partner Diana Ossana, for “Brokeback Mountain” (2005). More crucially, however, we will remember what McMurtry wore to that 2006 Academy Awards ceremony: bowtie, tuxedo jacket and jeans.

I mean, that takes the Oscar fashion five-layer cake, doesn’t it? What can beat it? When we’re talking Oscar fashion, we’re talking Kirsten Dunst’s dress with pockets, we’re talking Sharon Stone’s Gap t-shirt, and we’re talking Larry McMurtry wearing jeans like he’s rolling into Ruby Tuesday on a Wednesday. Even- 

I was about to observe that even Kidman couldn’t pull off jeans to the Oscars. But then I stopped. No disrespect to Mr. McMurtry, of course, obviously, the man wrote “The Last Picture Show”, for God’s sake. But you’re telling me that if Nicole Kidman, her eminence, rolled into the Oscars sporting her “Days of Thunder” look she wouldn’t bring the Dolby Theatre down? We can dream.