[10] The award honors "creative producers whose bodies of work reflect a consistently high quality of motion picture production".

[17] Upon being named producer, Koch responded in a press release, stating, "I plan to involve all the professional and creative talents of the motion picture community in this program, as the Academy Awards, in the public's mind, represents the entire field of filmmaking.

[21] Henry Mancini served as musical director and conductor for the ceremony, where he conducted an overture performed by the orchestra at the beginning of the show.

The Arizona Republic columnist Michael Maza wrote, "Watching last night's 52nd Annual Academy Award ceremonies was like sitting through three hours and 15 minutes of near-flawless close order drill.

"[23] Jack Mathews of the Detroit Free Press commented, "In any event, the 52nd Academy Awards presentation will stand as one of the smoothest, most predictable, and most reasonable Oscar nights in history.

"[24] The Baltimore Sun television critic Bill Carter quipped, "We found out Monday night when this year's edition of the Oscarcast streamlined to the point of emaciation (and still more than three hours long), thudded along like some awards dinner of the meat-packing industry."

He praised Carson's hosting performance, but said, "For all the excitement this parade of stars provided, they might as well have sent in their stand-ins, or maybe some robot, or well dressed mannequins from a boutique on Rodeo Drive.

Los Angeles Times film critic Charles Champlin mused, "As a show, the Marty Pasetta-Howard Koch special revealed again a gift for all that pizzazz."