Academy Best Picture Winners That DID Deserve It
- Sunrise (1927)
- All Quiet on the Western Front (1930)
- It Happened One Night (1934)
- Rebecca (1940)
- Casablanca (1942) - only problem is, it won in 1943
- The Lost Weekend (1945)
- All About Eve (1950)
- On the Waterfront (1954)
- The Apartment (1960)
- Lawrence of Arabia (1962)
- Patton (1970)
- The Godfather (1972)
- The Sting (1973)
- The Godfather, Part II (1974)
- One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest (1975)
- Annie Hall (1977)
- The Deer Hunter (1978)
- Amadeus (1984)
- Platoon (1986)
- Silence of the Lambs (1991)
- Unforgiven (1992)
- Schindler's List (1993)
There are so many times when the Academy gave out a Best Picture Oscar to a movie that didn't deserve it. But here's a challenging list. Which movies actually DID deserve the best picture winner? Here is a list of best picture winners that actually are the best pictures of their respective years (or at least pretty damn close). I have not seen all of these films, so sometimes I'm going by their reputations.
Notes:
1) This is a list of 22. There have been 74 Best Picture winners. So the Academy gets it right about 30% of the time.
2) The strongest decade for Best Picture winners was obviously the 1970's.
3) The Academy hasn't gotten it right since 1993. Sad, really.
4) The Academy tended to get the film right when the year ends in a zero... up until 1980, when they ignored Martin Scorsese's best movie... and 1990, when they ignored Martin Scorsese's 2nd-best movie.
5) On my pick of "On the Waterfront" - I know what you're thinking, but "The Seven Samurai" was not released in America until 1956. That still leaves "Rear Window" as the best film of 1954, but I think "On the Waterfront" is 2nd place.
6) The following films were omitted intentionally:
Best Years of Our Lives (1946) - May be my favorite film of the year. Going by critical acclaim, however, it doesn't hold up to "Notorious", "It's a Wonderful Life", "The Big Sleep", or "My Darling Clementine."
Bridge on the River Kwai (1957) - A great film, but, IMHO, not as brilliant as "12 Angry Men", "Paths of Glory", "The Seventh Seal", or "Witness for the Prosecution."
American Beauty (1999) - I haven't seen this, or some other acclaimed movies of 1999 ("Fight Club", "The Green Mile", "The Straight Story", "The Insider", "The Cider House Rules"), but I think the general feeling is that, while "American Beauty" is great, it didn't deserve to win. I agree that it will have a hard time competing with "Being John Malkovich."
i agree with your list except,unforgiven and patton both of those movies had no effect on me.they just left me cold.
I haven't seen "Unforgiven", so I can't really comment, but I think it is perceived to be a great movie.
I'd have to disagree with you on "Patton" though; I thought it was a fascinating movie with a great performance by George C. Scott. But, "Patton" doesn't really have much competition in 1970 anyway. You could make a case for "M*A*S*H", but I personally am not a huge fan of that movie. There are some other 1970 movies that might be contenders ("Little Big Man", "Five Easy Pieces", "The Garden of the Finzi-Continis", "Woodstock", "The Conformist"), but alas, I haven't seen them, and I did love "Patton."
P.S. Actually, "The Garden of the Finzi-Continis" did not see U.S. release until 1971.
Your right "Bridge on the river of Kawai" is great but it is not "The 7th Seal" by far.
Ah! Now, see, THIS is a MUCH easier and shorter list to make than 'Oscar mistakes.'
Not to mention more optimistic. I guess I'm just a "glass is half-full" kind of person. :-)