[5] Other winners included Tess with three awards, The Empire Strikes Back, Fame, Melvin and Howard, and Raging Bull with two, and Coal Miner's Daughter, The Dollar Bottom, The Fly, From Mao to Mozart: Isaac Stern in China, Karl Hess: Toward Liberty, and Moscow Does Not Believe in Tears with one.

"I am delighted that the Academy will have the benefit of Norman Jewison's insight and creativity," said AMPAS President Fay Kanin in a press release announcing the selection.

Jewison explained the decision to hire Carson, saying that the host was "an entertainment institution whose spontaneous wit and charm would add a great deal to the quality of the show.

The segment, which was filmed nearly four weeks prior to the show, was eventually broadcast, with host Carson giving a preface explaining the decision to postpone the event.

[21] Marble Arch Films publicist Regina Gruss, who was in charge of hosting the Hungarian delegation at the Oscars, said that Rofusz contacted Dosai to accept the award on his behalf, but Academy officials asked him not to come up onstage unless his name was announced.

"[24] The Salt Lake Tribune television critic Harold Schindler wrote, "On the whole, the 53rd annual Academy Awards telecast Tuesday was overly long, expectedly dull and surprisingly lacking in those highlights which make Oscar night conversation.

"[25] Bill Mandel of the San Francisco Examiner quipped, "After the real and completely unscripted emotional explosions of Monday, all the manipulated thrills of the movie industry seemed like the efforts of those bullfight clowns who distract the bull when the matador is injured.

President Reagan's taped greeting – combined with emcee Johnny Carson's assurance that the First Couple were comfortably watching – instilled a happier mood than might otherwise have prevailed.

[32] Nevertheless, the ceremony presentation won an award for Outstanding Art Direction for a Variety Program (Roy Christopher) at the 33rd Primetime Emmys in September 1981.