Keep in mind that the Oscars are an industry award; big glitzy spectacle pictures like Towering Inferno (or Dr. Doolittle, or Cleopatra) get nominated because they give jobs to a LOT of people in the industry. And they are always made fun of when it happens! The 1968 slate for Best Picture: In the Heat of the Night The Graduate Bonnie and Clyde Guess Who's Coming to Dinner and... Dr. Doolittle I highly suggest the book Pictures at a Revolution, which takes a thorough look at the Oscar race for that year and the five very different movies that were nominated. This was a turning point in Hollywood history as the new generation were knocking at the door and the old guard were still flexing their muscles. Fascinating stuff if you are interested in how these films get made, marketed and nominated for awards.
My favorite part of the book is Warren saying that he didnt know that movies could be that good after seeing The Rules of the Game, and it is that good.
Cut the guy some slack, didnt he do Pans Labyrinth, which was the best picture of that year. Devils Backbone is no slouch eithrr.
Yeah, 1968-1969 is basically the beginning of "New Hollywood vs. the Old Hollywood." It was an interesting but sad time of careers wrecked, terrible change, and finances dashed... but I think ultimately, that kind of change was necessary. A much earlier book, Easy Riders and Raging Bulls, covers the same period and the same problem, only from the filmmakers' point of view... Required reading for anybody who wants to understand how Old Hollywood got transformed into New Hollywood in the 1970s and 1980s. You can make an argument that the same thing is happening again, with traditional theatrical releases vs. streaming: Netflix, Amazon, Apple, HBOMax, and all those companies have pushed everything sideways, where nobody really knows how to make hit movies anymore. I like to believe that the only ure thing is that "people always want to watch good entertainment," but figuring out what that is and how to bring it to them is a challenge.
I still maintain the Best Picture of 1975 slate (awarded in 76) is still the best line-up ever. Any of the films were deserving of the award
Looking over the winners list for the last two decades, it appears one of a film's best chances for taking home the Oscar is to have a one word title. Perspective filmmakers should keep this in mind.
I disagree with Tom Jones, I thought it was great with a wonderful script by playwright John Osborne. I agree with most of the other ones, except the ones that came after the year 2ooo. I only saw one of them, shakespeare in love, which I liked a lot, but it may not have deserved an oscar.
Here are all 42 winners I've seen (or at least remember seeing) in chronological order of the Oscar years: All Quiet On The Western Front Mutiny On The Bounty Gone With The Wind Casablanca The Greatest Show On Earth Around The World In 80 Days..................(The Ten Commandments should've won that year.) The Bridge On The River Kwai Ben-Hur West Side Story Lawrence Of Arabia My Fair Lady The Sound Of Music A Man For All Seasons Oliver! Midnight Cowboy The Godfather The Sting The Godfather Part II One Flew Over The Cuckoo's Nest Rocky The Deer Hunter Chariots Of Fire Gandhi Platoon Rain Man Driving Miss Daisy........................(There were more worthy films than this one, such as Born On The Fourth Of July, Dead Poets Society, Field Of Dreams, and My Left Foot. Hell, all the other nominees were more worthy.) Dances With Wolves............................(Unfortunate for Goodfellas being in the same year as this movie.) The Silence Of The Lambs Unforgiven....................................................................(This was a shoo-in, but I particularly didn't like it. One of my least favorite Clint westerns. Didn't like any of the other nominees that year. My favorite film from that year was The Last Of The Mohicans and that wasn't even nominated for best picture, which was a disgrace that it didn't.) Forrest Gump........................................(Liked it and glad it won, but Shawshank Redemption and Pulp Fiction were more deserving.) Braveheart........................(another shoo-in) The English Patient..........................(I liked Jerry MaGuire and Fargo better.) Titanic American Beauty.......................(The Sixth Sense and The Green Mile were more deserving.) Gladiator A Beautiful Mind The Lord Of The Rings: The Return Of The King.......................(another shoo-in and well-deserved.) Million Dollar Baby........................(Probably won because not much competition that year. Ray or Sideways were probably the only movies that year that even had a long shot chance of winning.) Crash....................................(Didn't like any of the movies nominated that year.) The Departed No Country For Old Men..................................(The ending ruined it for me. Up until the ending, I thought it was great.) Argo.........................(Like it, but I also liked Django Unchained, Life Of Pi, Lincoln, and Zero Dark Thirty from that year.) (Didn't see any of the winners after Argo, as none of them appealed to me.) The first winner that I remember seeing in the theatre when it was released was The Sting. I was just 7 years old, but I remember seeing it in the theatre with my parents and brother. All the other winners I listed prior to that year I either saw at 2nd run Drive-ins with the family as a kid or on TV. And I'm sure I've seen bits and pieces of other winners while channel surfing, but not remember any particulars.
I must be an old fart at heart. I didn't see any of the movies from the 2000s that won an Oscar. I also got to be honest here. While I respect the Godfather and Godfather II as much as the next white American dude, Casablanca, It Happened one Night, and The Grand Hotel are my favorites. Actually, Citizen Kane would be my favorite, if it won.
I also must be more artsy -fartsy than I thought because cries and whispers is my favorite. the only other movie on that list that I saw was american graffitti . it was pretty good. to me the secret weapons of that film were candy clark and charles martin smith.
except for towering inferno, 1974's nominees were all powerhouses. I agree that cuckoos nest should have one. however, barry lyndon is a sentimental favorite. I love that period of history and it is my favorite stanley kubrick film. I love Rocky, particularly the romance between Rocky and Adrian. However, Taxi Driver and the slightly overrated Network really captured the zeitgeist of the time.
I remember seeing CRASH well after the fact and thinking of the brief flash of those sort of narratives: BABEL, SYRIANA, TRAFFIC. It's an interesting way to tell a story on an epic scale. But CRASH was, by far, the weakest of those movies and IMO not worthy of a nomination, much less a win. BABEL, on the other hand, is still lodged in memory as one of the more powerful films of the last couple decades.
I attended an 'art house' showing of Cries And Whispers when it was nominated. The film broke at one point and the screen went dark. When the house lights came up temporarily, the audience filed out, thinking that the film had ended. Riveting stuff, that (lol). I didn't find out until years later that the film wasn't designed to have a "cold" ending!
Look at the nominees for 1975: One Flew Over the Cuckoos Nest, Dog Day Afternoon, Barry Lyndon, Nashville, and Jaws. Each one a 4 star masterpiece
Saw all of them at the theater the year they came out. Of the 10 nominated this year saw one On tv. Of the 10 nominated this year
I think you’re selling Del Toro a little short. He’s a talented director. ‘Pacific Rim” wasn’t his finest hour but he needed a hit. Who cares of “Nightmare Alley” was a flop? It’s still a brilliant neo-noir. I certainly don’t think “The Shape of Water” was best picture material but that doesn’t detract from his talent.