The New York film critics' (sometimes) vicious circle

Don't be surprised by the flapdoodle surrounding Josh Brolin's smear of Russell Crowe and his profanity-laced denunciation of a New York Times theater critic at the New York Film Critics' Circle gala on Monday night. That group has long been a vicious circle wherein wags have done many dicey things in the past.

However, usually it's the critics acting up, not the guests.

At this year's gala — where wine and bubbly flowed freely — supporting actor champ Josh Brolin introduced his "Milk" costar, best actor champ Sean Penn, thus: "Sean Penn, quite an actor. Amazing. Not an . . . like Russell Crowe. Quite an actor. You're an amazing actor. I loved you in 'Milk', I thought what you did with that role was incredible. We've known you as an actor who doesn't smile very much, and the fact that you smiled as much as you did in this film is amazing. Truly incredible. You are an amazing actor. You are going to get the Oscar. Because you smiled so much."

Within hours, the blogosphere was buzzing with shock over Brolin's attack on Crowe. The next day Brolin apologized, blaming "the ambiance of the room." Said Brolin, "I love him. I think he's amazing. He's a friend. I was bummed out when I saw that today."

That wasn't the first time someone got publicly insulted at a New York Film Critics Circle gala with use of the "a" word. At the 1989 fete, when John Simon of New York magazine barked "Shut up, you fool!" to a rambling presenter, Richard Freeman of Newhouse newspapers shouted back at Simon something Jimmy Stewart never said to Bob Hope at the Oscars: " . . . off, you . . . !"

Another stormy incident occurred in 1982 when novelist William Styron attended to present an award. He was so upset about a recent review of the film version of his book "Sophie’s Choice," Variety reported, "Styron leveled a broadside at New Yorker critic Pauline Kael (not by name) as someone 'plainly better suited to another line of work' for her ‘ludicrous ill will' in slamming the pic."

When Sophie’s Choice star Meryl Streep claimed her plaque as Best Actress, Variety said, "Streep reeled off a memorized list of the Gotham critics, intentionally mispronouncing Sophie debunker Andrew Sarris (Village Voice) as Tsouris (yiddish idiom for ‘aggravation’), then vouching that 'it's great to get your own back sometimes.'"

Brolin did a similar thing at Monday's New York Film Critics Circle event, but he went after esteemed New York Times theater critic Ben Brantley over an old review. "I hate that . . . !" he growled. "And I don't think he's a good writer!"

Oh, why can't these events reclaim the gentility of their early days in the 1930s, 1940s and 1950s when the gala was held in the Rainbow Room atop Rockefeller Center? Playwright/critic Robert Sherwood attended those soirees and once told the assembled crowd that this was the first time that "any group of critics has ever invited its victims to a cocktail party."

But they gladly came anyway and the earliest parties set the precedent for how much fun — and how glamorous — the event could be. During the late 1930s, the "fog-choked" Rainbow Room, as one press account called it, sparkled with such glitterati as Vivien Leigh, Laurence Olivier, Bette Davis, Kitty Carlisle, William Wyler, Ernst Lubitsch and Fritz Lang. Mary Pickford looked "slim and pretty in black and mink," said the Post, and Ethel Merman “stunning in silver fox." Gloria Swanson was spotted wearing "the cutest hat, making her appear like a Tibetan sorceress."