Best Picture Oscar Winners : The Good, The Bad and The Really?

Discussion in 'Visual Arts' started by Wildest cat from montana, Dec 15, 2019.

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  1. PNeski@aol.com

    [email protected] Forum Resident

    Location:
    New York
    my list of Oscar screw ups

    Days of Heaven should have won best art direction
    1900 and Last Tango in Paris should have won for Best Cinematography
    Heavens Gate should have won best Art Direction and Cinematography
    Art Carney should never have won best Actor
    2001 should have won best Picture and Director
    Apocalypse Now should have won best Picture and Director
    Mulholland Drive should have won best Picture and Director
    El Sur should have won Best Director Victor Erice
     
  2. Bobby Buckshot

    Bobby Buckshot Heavy on the grease please

    Location:
    Southeastern US
    Late to the party on Green Book but dang - that was bad for a Best Picture winner. It was great for an after school special though.

    I didn't see many from '19 in that category other than Black Panther (another one full of tropes) & A Star Is Born but simply based on that I'd say Green Book is nowhere in the same league as Star.
     
  3. Oatsdad

    Oatsdad Oat, Biscuits, Abbie & Mitzi: Best Dogs Ever

    Location:
    Alexandria VA
    I disliked the lead character. I'd need to consult my review for details, but I couldn't stand her, and that made me dislike the whole movie...
     
  4. rjp

    rjp Senior Member

    Location:
    Ohio
    did all 3 of them have the same name?
     
  5. PNeski@aol.com

    [email protected] Forum Resident

    Location:
    New York
    No. Not true. UA did a pretty elaborate "for your consideration" campaign for BULL... Big trade ads, many screenings in LA
     
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  6. profholt82

    profholt82 Resident Blowhard

    Location:
    West Michigan
    I did this exercise a few years ago, and still had the word doc saved on my PC. I went through each year of the Oscars and selected what I considered the Best Picture regardless of whether it was nominated or not. My opinions on certain years may have changed over the past few years (apparently I did this in 2012), but it was a fun exercise.

    1927/28 - Metropolis
    1928/29 - The Passion of Joan of Arc
    1929/30 - Pandora's Box
    1930/31 - City Lights
    1931/32 - The Blue Light
    1932/33 - The Mummy
    1934 - The Man Who Knew Too Much
    1935 - The Informer
    1936 - Modern Times
    1937 - La Grande Illusion
    1938 - Bringing Up Baby
    1939 - Stagecoach
    1940 - Fantasia
    1941 - Citizen Kane
    1942 - Sullivan's Travels
    1943 - Casablanca*
    1944 - Double Indemnity
    1945 - Mildred Pierce
    1946 - Rome, Open City
    1947 - Black Narcissus
    1948 - The Treasure of the Sierra Madre
    1949 - The Bicycle Thief
    1950 - Sunset Boulevard
    1951 - Rashomon
    1952 - Singin' in the Rain
    1953 - I Vitelloni
    1954 - On the Waterfront*
    1955 - Ugetsu
    1956 - The Burmese Harp
    1957 - The Sweet Smell of Success
    1958 - Touch of Evil
    1959 - Rio Bravo
    1960 - Hiroshima, Mon Amour
    1961 - Breathless
    1962 - To Kill a Mockingbird
    1963 - 8 1/2
    1964 - Dr. Strangelove
    1965 - The Naked Kiss
    1966 - The Good, the Bad and the Ugly
    1967 - Bonnie and Clyde
    1968 - 2001: A Space Odyssey
    1969 - Midnight Cowboy*
    1970 - Patton*
    1971 - The Last Picture Show
    1972 - The Godfather*
    1973 - American Graffiti
    1974 - Chinatown
    1975 - Barry Lyndon
    1976 - Harlan County, USA
    1977 - Aguirre, The Wrath of God
    1978 - Days of Heaven
    1979 - Apocalypse Now
    1980 - Raging Bull
    1981 - Raiders of the Lost Ark
    1982 - Diner
    1983 - Fanny & Alexander
    1984 - The Terminator
    1985 - Ran
    1986 - Blue Velvet
    1987 - The Last Emperor*
    1988 - The Thin Blue Line
    1989 - Do the Right Thing
    1990 - Goodfellas
    1991 - Barton Fink
    1992 - Unforgiven*
    1993 - Blue
    1994 - Pulp Fiction
    1995 - Crumb
    1996 - Fargo
    1997 - The Ice Storm
    1998 - The Truman Show
    1999 - Magnolia
    2000 - Traffic
    2001 - Mulholland Drive
    2002 - The Pianist
    2003 - The Twilight Samurai
    2004 - Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind
    2005 - Fateless
    2006 - Letters From Iwo Jima
    2007 - There Will Be Blood
    2008 - The Wrestler
    2009 - The Hurt Locker*
    2010 - Inception
    2011 - The Tree of Life

    * denotes won best picture

    Note that I chose each movie based on its year of eligibility for the award. For instance, even though 'Aguirre, The Wrath of God' was originally released in 1972, it was not released in North America until 1977 which was the year it was submitted to the Academy.

    Also, some of the greatest movies of all time were never eligible for the award, such as 'Tokyo Story' which was not released in North America until 1972 and was never submitted to the Academy.
     
  7. Solaris

    Solaris a bullet in flight

    Location:
    New Orleans, LA
    I mean that period, early to mid 70s for both of them. Cuckoo’s Nest is so devastating I haven’t been able to watch it for years, and it probably doesn’t help that I worked in psych hospitals in my 20s, so that film seems painfully familiar in some ways.
     
  8. 3
    I don’t think Gump is a bad movie but it was far from the best and an easy pick for the Academy because some of the other choices were better but not as easy. The dazzzling integration of old and new footage impressed them so much they didn’t c9nsider the better films. Shawshank is both a great feel good movie by the end, mainstream and well made. If not for Stephen King’s source story probably being held against it, it could have won (and if it did well at the box office)
     
    Last edited: Jan 15, 2020
  9. Wildest cat from montana

    Wildest cat from montana Humble Reader Thread Starter

    Location:
    ontario canada
    Enjoyed your choices. Some of them are right on the money. And I couldn't agree more about ' Tokyo Story '
     
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  10. the pope ondine

    the pope ondine Forum Resident

    Location:
    Virginia

    oh I don't think they were so bad, it's a soap....with the normal tearjerker acting....I think if they toned it down there would be nothing there....except "the loons!!! the loons!!" wonder what happened to the kid...Billy? dont remember seeing him again
     
  11. Mechanical Man

    Mechanical Man I Am Just a Mops

    Location:
    Oakland, CA, USA
    One that people typically don't mention in conversations such as these, but I don't think the academy had any business choosing Terms of Endearment when The Right Stuff was nominated alongside it.
     
  12. PNeski@aol.com

    [email protected] Forum Resident

    Location:
    New York
    Good list,but a few wrong choices. No Woody? El Sur is better than Fanny
    Heat. Is better than the good Crumb, I-like Barry Lyndon but Picnic at hanging Rock is better No Comformist?,My Darling Clemente? And Blade Runner definitely over Diner
     
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  13. clayton

    clayton Senior Member

    Location:
    minneapolis mn
    When Forrest Gump came out I thought it was great, in hindsight I find it manipulative, Pulp Fiction should have won, It's stood the test of time for me.
     
  14. profholt82

    profholt82 Resident Blowhard

    Location:
    West Michigan
    Well, these things are subjective. Obviously my list isn't the be all, end all. Just one film geek's opinion. :p

    In fact, when I sat down and did this list (it was for a feature on a movie blog if I recall), I remember hemming and hawing on quite a few years. Just off the top of my head, I know I had trouble with 1927/28 (Sunrise v Metropolis), 1929/39 (Man With a Movie Camera v Pandora's Box), 1950 (Sunset Blvd v In a Lonely Place), 1958 (Touch of Evil v Vertigo), and many more. It would have been much easier to compile a top 5 or so for each year and not have to rank them. And there you'd likely see all of the movies you prefer to my choices, and even some Woody flicks. :D

    Also, I should add that back in my film school days, I studied Italian neo-realism and post-war Japanese cinema fairly heavily, so in many cases I have preferences for movies that are unknown to most American filmgoers. Hence, why these lists can be so subjective. If I were to do this exercise and limit it to American movies, it would likely be similar to those of many others here, as I've seen so much excellent taste throughout this thread.

    As far as the movies you mentioned, I'll address Blade Runner and My Darling Clementine specifically as those two were in heavy consideration for top spots, as I consider them all time favorites.

    Regarding Blade Runner, I think what held it just a hair below Diner for me, is the fact that, since its release, it has been altered so many times over the years. Trying to compare films on equal merit, you'd have to go with the original theatrical cut as it was screened in 1982. And to be honest, I'm not sure if that's even my favorite version of Blade Runner. In fact, it wasn't until the early 2000s that I finally saw that version, as I grew up with the Director's Cut on VHS. And I think you may be short-changing Diner, as many tend to do. It is a completely realized film full of deep characterization and heart. I don't believe Levinson has ever topped it. And I think it has been far more influential than people realize. For example, Seinfeld is given credit for being "a show about nothing" where the main characters often debate trivial matters at the diner. That was seen as revolutionary in the early 90s. Well, Diner did it in 1982.

    And My Darling Clementine, mmmmm, gosh I love that movie. I've been known to lean my chair back on the porch like Fonda's Earp; albeit, not as gracefully. ;)

    If Ford isn't my all time favorite director, it's Hitch, but gosh that'd be a close fight. As much as I love My Darling Clementine, and consider it to be a perfect western, I also think Rome, Open City is a masterpiece, and I picked it that day. Of Rossellini's neorealist trilogy, I think it is superior to Paisan and Germany, Year Zero. And at it's release, it was highly controversial and met with derision by Italian audiences. It felt too real, like a documentary, at a time when the country wanted to heal from the horrors of the war. I just think it's a stunning piece of cinema.
     
  15. PNeski@aol.com

    [email protected] Forum Resident

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    I would add that The Good The Bad and The Ugly didn't come out till 1967 in the US
     
  16. Oatsdad

    Oatsdad Oat, Biscuits, Abbie & Mitzi: Best Dogs Ever

    Location:
    Alexandria VA
    "Shawshank" didn't do much at the box office: $28m on a $25m budget...
     
  17. PNeski@aol.com

    [email protected] Forum Resident

    Location:
    New York
    some more. No Marx Brothers? Fields? Keaton?
    Not to mention Lawrence of Arabia,no Altman?
     
  18. Yes I remember the poor ROI but the Academy has looked past BO on occasion and it has always helped a film that struggled like SSR.
     
  19. Steve Litos

    Steve Litos Senior Member

    Location:
    Chicago IL
    Doug McKeon was in a teen comedy set in 1956 called Mischief (1985).

    The music was good. The rest of the cast was pretty good...Jami Gertz, Catherine Mary Stewart, and Kelly Preston.

    It was "ok".
     
  20. the pope ondine

    the pope ondine Forum Resident

    Location:
    Virginia
    yes! i remember that one..
     
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  21. HaileyMcComet

    HaileyMcComet Forum Resident

    Location:
    中華民國
    The movies, yes. The actors, no.
     
  22. HaileyMcComet

    HaileyMcComet Forum Resident

    Location:
    中華民國
    Anything shot by Vittorio Storaro should win for cinematography.
     
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  23. HaileyMcComet

    HaileyMcComet Forum Resident

    Location:
    中華民國
    He was also in the Tom Hanks/Ron Howard From the Earth to the Moon, Rob Reiner's LBJ, and directed Come Away Home with Lea Thompson and Paul Dooley.
     
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  24. HaileyMcComet

    HaileyMcComet Forum Resident

    Location:
    中華民國
    Terms of Endearment was awesome. The Right Stuff made Gus Grissom look like a bumbling coward, which is as far from the truth as you can get.
     
  25. profholt82

    profholt82 Resident Blowhard

    Location:
    West Michigan
    You got me, I am the worst. :wave:
     
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