Oscar ★★ 1991 (PG)

The improbable casting of Stallone in a 1930s style crime farce (an attempt to change his image) is hard to imagine, and harder to believe. Stallone has little to do as he plays the straight man in this often ridiculous story of a crime boss who swears he'll go straight. Cameos aplenty, with Curry's the most notable. Based on a French play by Claude Magnier. 109m/C VHS, DVD . Sylvester Stallone, Ornella Muti, Peter Riegert, Vincent Spano, Marisa Tomei, Kirk Douglas, Art La Fleur, Ken Howard, Chazz Palminteri, Tim Curry, Don Ameche, Richard Romanus; D: John Landis; W: Michael Barrie, Jim Mulholland; C: Mac Ahlberg; M: Elmer Bernstein.

Os·car¹ / ˈäskər/ • n. trademark the nickname for one of the golden statuettes given as an Academy Award. ∎  (the Oscars) the annual presentation of the Academy Awards.Os·car² • n. a code word representing the letter O, used in radio communication.

os·car / ˈäskər/ (also oscar cichlid) • n. a South American cichlid fish with velvety brown young and multicolored adults, popular in aquariums. • Astronotus ocellatus, family Cichlidae. Alternative name: velvet cichlid.

Oscar (officially Academy Award) Prize awarded annually for services to the cinema by the US Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. The gold-plated bronze statuettes stand 25cm (13.5in) high, and are reputed to have been nicknamed after the Academy librarian's uncle Oscar.

Oscar the nickname (a trademark in the US) for a gold statuette given as an Academy award. One of the several speculative stories of its origin claims that the statuette reminded Margaret Herrick, an executive director of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, of her uncle Oscar.