The Aviator and Sideways best films at Golden Globes 

Jamie Foxx arrives at the Golden Globes Awards. Picture / Reuters

Veteran director Martin Scorsese's "The Aviator" and road comedy "Sideways" earned the top film awards at Hollywood's Golden Globes on Sunday, putting both in front-runner positions in the race for Oscars, the US film industry's top honors.

"The Aviator," about eccentric billionaire Howard Hughes, was named best film drama, and "Sideways," which tells of a pair of middle-aged men lusting and loving in California's wine country, earned the award for best movie musical or comedy.

To complicate the Oscar picture, Clint Eastwood won the best director's award for his boxing drama, "Million Dollar Baby," making the fight for Hollywood's top awards in February probably a three-way race.

Leonardo DiCaprio won the Golden Globe for best actor in a drama, playing Hughes in "The Aviator, and Hilary Swank was best actress in a drama as a woman boxer in "Million Dollar Baby."

Swank thanked her sparring partners and boxers who taught and trained her, as well as the women pugilists she battled in the movie whom, she said, "made me look like a champ."

She waxed eloquently about the joy of working with Eastwood, who at 75 seems to be at the top of his form.

Jamie Foxx won the award for best actor in a musical or comedy, playing blind soul singing legend Ray Charles, who died last year. The comedian-turned-actor led the audience in a Charles-like chant, then joked about a recent trip to Miami and advice from his publicist to avoid partying too much.

Talking about how his grandmother encouraged him as a young man to always believe in himself, Foxx turned teary.

Annette Bening won the best actress award for a comedy for playing a 1930's stage actress in a mid-career crisis in "Being Julia." Asked what Julia would think about winning a Golden Globe, Bening told reporters the actress would have been unimpressed, "Julia doesn't think much of movie stars."

Drama "Closer," about two cheating couples, earned Britain's Clive Owen the best supporting actor trophy and Natalie Portman the best supporting actress prize.

A stunned Portman, who portrays an American stripper living in London, took the stage to accept her award, thanking her family, co-stars and the film's director, Mike Nichols. "I had no expectation of this," she said.

Spain's "The Sea Inside," about a quadriplegic's battle to take his own life, was named best foreign language film,

The Golden Globes, given out by the 93-member Hollywood Foreign Press Association, are seen around the world and often provide hints on which films might go on to Oscars, the top film honors in the United States, given in February by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences.

As a result, the show is known for the many celebrities who turn up, including this year, Sarah Ferguson, the Duchess of York and actor and California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger.

The Golden Globes also earned a reputation for allowing stars to be fast-and-loose with their onstage "thank you's."

Robin Williams, who collected the Cecil B. DeMille award for career achievement, joked that he was glad to come to a show with an open bar, and he noted the stars in the audience.

"You know that when you have William Shatner, Prince, Puff Daddy and Mick Jagger on the same stage, that is a sign of The Apocalypse," Williams joked. He poked fun at Schwarzenegger's Austrian accent and called him "a great American," eliciting a smile from the California governor.

Because of their prominence in the race for Oscars, the film awards are closely watched, but the Golden Globe voters also hand out awards in television categories.

In the TV arena, "Nip/Tuck," about the lives of two plastic surgeons, was named best drama, while red hot show "Desperate Housewives," a satire about women dealing with lovers, husbands, families and murder, was named best comedy.

Jason Bateman was best actor in a comedy show, while Britain's Ian McShane was best actor in a TV drama.

Mariska Hargitay, the daughter of the late actress Jayne Mansfield, was best actress in a TV drama for her role as a police investigator in "Law & Order: Special Victims Unit," while Teri Hatcher was best actress in a TV comedy.

"The Life and Death of Peter Sellers" was named best TV mini-series or movie, and it earned Australian actor Geoffrey Rush the award for best actor in a TV mini-series or movie.

- REUTERS