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Year: 1986 (59th) Academy Awards
Category: Best Picture
Film Title: Platoon
Winner: Arnold Kopelson, Producer
Presenter: Dustin Hoffman
Date & Venue: March 30, 1987; Dorothy Chandler Pavilion
ARNOLD KOPELSON:
Thank you very much. I am deeply grateful. My profound thanks to John Daly and Derek Gibson for sharing my passion for this property and giving me the money to make it when all others passed. And thanks also to Gerald Green and Orion Pictures and Vestron Video and Garth Drabinsky for their support. And Richard Soames, for the completion guarantee. And Frans Afman of Credit Lyonnais, for having the money in the Philippine jungle when I really needed it. And to some other people [pulling out his notes]...Arthur Manson, and Marion Billings, and Andrea Jaffe. And to my wife Anne, who has been my business partner for sixteen years and has been with me every step of the way. And to our children, Peter, Evan and Stephanie, for urging me to make "Platoon" because their generation wanted to know more. And to Dale Dye and the entire cast and crew of "Platoon," for their dedication. And particularly Oliver Stone, for his brilliance. I would not be here tonight but for Oliver Stone's brilliance, and I thank you, Oliver.
The power of the motion picture medium is awesome. "Platoon" has brought to this generation a new perspective of war: That war is not glamorous, that it maims and it kills. And if perhaps "Platoon" could also influence people in this and other countries of the world to hesitate before they engage in war, to demand facts and ask questions before the bombs, then we, not just those of us that made "Platoon" but the entire motion picture industry, will have succeeded beyond our wildest imagination. Thank you so very much. I will treasure this [holding up his Oscar] forever.
© Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences
[Note: All winners are present except where noted; NOT all winners may have spoken.]
