It's hard to stop counting Oscars

Dear Mr. Smithee: Which films hold the record for the cast that has the most Oscar wins? I can think of three films whose casts have won eight Oscars each:

1 "Bad Day at Black Rock" (1955): Walter Brennan (3), Spencer Tracy (2), Lee Marvin (1), Dean Jagger (1) and Ernest Borgnine (1).

2 "Murder on the Orient Express" (1974): Ingrid Bergman (3), Sean Connery (1), John Gielgud (1), Martin Balsam (1), Vanessa Redgrave (1) and Wendy Hiller (1).

3 "Death on the Nile" (1978): Bette Davis (2), Peter Ustinov (2), Maggie Smith (2), George Kennedy (1) and David Niven (1).

DEAN BRONSON, MINNEAPOLIS

Dear Mathematical: I can think of lots of movies that have a cast with eight Oscars among them:

"Julia," "Reds" (if you count Warren Beatty's director Oscar, which I certainly do), "Alice Adams" (as long as you count Walter Brennan even though his scenes were deleted), TV's "Jesus of Nazareth," "Gone With the Wind" and "Philadelphia."

"How the West Was Won" (1962): Henry Fonda (1), Karl Malden (1), Gregory Peck (1), James Stewart (1), John Wayne (1), Walter Brennan (3) and the narrator, Spencer Tracy (2).

"American Creed" (1946): Ingrid Bergman (3), Katharine Hepburn (4), Jennifer Jones (1), James Stewart (1) and Shirley Temple (1, a special juvenile award).

Now, Dean, you might want to argue that "American Creed" is a 20-minute film short, but I don't recall you putting restrictions on the tally.

Or maybe 11 sounds better.

"That's Entertainment!" (1974): Bing Crosby (1), Liza Minnelli (1), Frank Sinatra (1), James Stewart (1), Elizabeth Taylor (2), Joan Crawford (1), Clark Gable (1), Ginger Rogers (1), Wallace Beery (1) and, as long as I count special juvenile Oscars, Margaret O'Brien (1).

"The Player" (1992): Tim Robbins (1), Whoopi Goldberg (1), Sydney Pollack (2, for directing and producing), Cher (1), Louise Fletcher (1), Joel Grey (1), Anjelica Huston (1), Jack Lemmon (2), James Coburn (1), Marlee Matlin (1), Susan Sarandon (1), Rod Steiger (1) and Julia Roberts (1). (Yes, I realize most of those were cameos.)

Need more? Would you consider 16?

"The Oscar" (1966): Ernest Borgnine (1), Ed Begley (1), Walter Brennan (3), Broderick Crawford (1), James Dunn (1), Frank Sinatra (1) and -- drumroll, please -- Edith Head (8). Maybe she did win her Oscars for costume designing, but she appeared in "The Oscar."

And, having saved my best for last, how about 22?

"Mickey and the Beanstalk" (1947). Walt Disney (22). After all, Walt provided the voice of Mickey Mouse.

P.S. You get a "Wall-E" mini-cooler and T-shirt.

Kelly's fashion faux pas Dear Mr. Smithee: I recently watched "Take Me Out to the Ballgame," starring Gene Kelly, Esther Williams and Frank Sinatra. The movie's setting appears to be somewhere around 1910. In one dance number, Gene Kelly wears a white turtleneck while all the other male dancers have on striped buttoned shirts and bow ties.

Of course, Gene looks hip in his turtleneck, but it certainly isn't in keeping with the traditional dress of the early 1900s.

I was wondering if you were aware of other fashion faux pas in movies.

JOAN KOESTER, NORTHFIELD, MINN.

I am far less concerned with fashion faux pas than I am intrigued by how far some people will go to overthink, if not overdress, their movie.

For example, one might be puzzled to learn that for "The Untouchables," Robert De Niro insisted he needed to wear the same style of silk underwear that his real-life character, Al Capone, wore.

He, being De Niro, got his way. And, lucky us, he kept his pants on.

ALAN

P.S. You get a "Love Guru" figure and a "Get Smart" Frisbee.