Walk the Line burned burned burned the competition at the 63rd Annual Golden Globe Awards.
The Johnny Cash biopic announced itself as a serious Oscar foil to the Brokeback Mountain buckaroos, snapping up a trio of trophies Monday night: Best Picture, Musical or Comedy and Best Actor and Actress honors for leading duo Joaquin Phoenix and Reese Witherspoon, who portrayed Cash and June Carter Cash in the film.
Phoenix offered his thanks to "John and June for sharing their life with all of us," while Witherspoon said the film was "about where I grew up, it's about the music I grew up listening to, so it's very meaningful."
Brokeback Mountain continued its awards season winning streak, scaling yet another lofty pre-Oscar peak with four Golden Globes: Best Picture, Drama; Best Director for Ang Lee; Best Screenplay for Larry McMurtry and Diana Ossana; and Best Original Song, "A Love That Will Never Grow Old."
Entering the night with a field-best seven nominations, the gay cowboy romance fell short in several key categories, including Best Actor, Drama (Heath Ledger) and Supporting Actress (Michelle Williams), something Lee chalked up to stiff competition.
"I think this has been an amazing year for American cinema," Lee said. "So, I just want to give my first thanks to my fellow filmmakers for strengthening my faith in movies."
Felicity Huffman's turn as a cross-dressing man desperate to become a woman in Transamerica earned her the award for Best Actress, Drama, while Philip Seymour Hoffman's portrayal of author Truman Capote's obsession with the murders of a Kansas family in Capote earned him the Best Actor, Drama prize.
George Clooney, a triple Globe nominee, walked away with the Best Supporting Actor award for Syriana, while Rachel Weisz earned the Best Supporting Actress prize for The Constant Gardner.
On the small-screen side, the HBO miniseries Empire Falls was the lone contender to notch multiple wins, earning the awards for Best Miniseries or Movie and Best Supporting Actor for Paul Newman.
ABC's plane-crash-survivor saga Lost was found worthy of the Best Drama Series hardware. Hugh Laurie took the Best Actor, Drama prize for his work as a grumpy but highly skilled doctor on House, while Geena Davis won Best Actress, Drama for playing the president on Commander in Chief.
Though four out of five of the leading ladies nominated in the Best Actress, Musical or Comedy television category were Desperate Housewives stars, Mary-Louise Parker, the lone nominee not featured on the ABC show, took home the award for her work on Showtime's Weeds. Backstage, Parker expressed surprise that Huffman didn't repeat her Emmy success and win the Globe, too.
But some solace for the ladies of Wisteria Lane came in the form of the award for Best Television Series, Musical or Comedy, won by their show for the second straight year in spite of its questionable comedic status. (Ironically, the Golden Globes moved this year's show from Sunday to Monday to avoid a showdown with Housewives.)
Less in dispute were the comic talents of Steve Carell, who won Best Actor, Musical or Comedy for playing an incompetent boss on The Office.
Notable shutouts included Good Night, and Good Luck (four nominations, zero wins), Match Point (four nominations, zero wins), The Producers (four nominations, zero wins), The Sopranos (four nominations, zero wins) and The Life and Death of Peter Sellers (yup, four nominations and, you guessed it, zero wins).
The night's only sure winner, Anthony Hopkins, was presented with the Cecil B. DeMille Award by his pregnant Proof costar Gwyneth Paltrow, who called him "the greatest actor of our generation."
"Ready when you are, Mr. DeMille," Hopkins quipped upon accepting the award.
Globe recipients were determined by the 80 members of the Hollywood Foreign Press Association, an organization made up of foreign journalists based in Los Angeles.
While not infallible, the Golden Globes have a relatively strong track record when it comes to predicting the eventual winners of the Academy Awards. Oscar nominations will be announced Jan. 31, and the awards will be presented Mar. 5.
Complete list of the winners of the 63rd Annual Golden Globe Awards.