As campy as it is, this movie is based in steeped in truth

The Oscar has gone down in history as one of the campiest movies of all time. I think the movie was so bad that it ruined Stephen Boyd's career. Tony Bennett even made fun of it.

On the other hand, I can't help but wonder if the filmmaker and writers deliberately went over the top to avoid getting blacklisted or sued for defamation. (I read somewhere that the obnoxious blonde starlet was based on Caroll Baker from Baby Doll.)

I say that because there's something about what the movie was showing that seems to be true about Hollywood stars in general, that many of them are just lowlifes off the street who just happened to have a talent for acting. There was so much depravity in Hollywood at one point that there had to be a morality clauses in everyone's contracts, so you really have to wonder. For example, Frank Sinatra and other stars were definitely mobbed up, and other actors have been guilty of everything from pedophilia and rape to cold-blooded murder. So, I can't help wondering if the people behind The Oscar just decided to play things loose and campy so the elites in Hollywood didn't get their dander up.