Who Should've Won?
Submitted by thecritic on Mon, 04/16/2001 - 04:05
Tags:
- 1929 - Wings / Pandora's Box
- 1930 - All Quiet on the Western Front / The Blue Angel
- 1931 - Cimarron / M
- 1932 - Grand Hotel / Scarface
- 1933 - Cavalcade / King Kong
- 1934 - It Happened One Night / It Happened One Night
- 1935 - Mutiny on the Bounty / The Bride of Frankenstein
- 1936 - The Great Ziegfeld / Modern Times
- 1937 - The Life of Emile Zola / Grand Illusion
- 1938 - You Can't Take It with You / Bringing Up Baby
- 1939 - Gone With the Wind / Mr. Smith Goes to Washington
- 1940 - Rebecca / His Girl Friday
- 1941 - How Green Was My Valley / Citizen Kane
- 1942 - Mrs. Miniver / The Magnificent Ambersons
- 1943 - Casablanca / Casablanca
- 1944 - Going My Way / Double Indemnity
- 1945 - The Lost Weekend / Brief Encounter
- 1946 - The Best Years of Our Lives / The Best Years of Our Lives
- 1947 - Gentleman's Agreement / Out of the Past
- 1948 - Hamlet / The Bicycle Thief
- 1949 - All the King's Men / The Third Man
- 1950 - All About Eve / All About Eve
- 1951 - An American in Paris / Rashomon
- 1952 - The Greatest Show on Earth / Singin' in the Rain
- 1953 - From Here to Eternity / Tokyo Story
- 1954 - On the Waterfront / The Seven Samurai
- 1955 - Marty / The Night of the Hunter
- 1956 - Around the World in Eighty Days / Invasion of the Body Snatchers
- 1957 - The Bridge on the River Kwai / The Bridge on the River Kwai
- 1958 - Gigi / Touch of Evil
- 1959 - Ben-Hur / North by Northwest
- 1960 - The Apartment / Psycho
- 1961 - West Side Story / The Hustler
- 1962 - Lawrence of Arabia / Lawrence of Arabia
- 1963 - Tom Jones / 8 1/2
- 1964 - My Fair Lady / The Umbrellas of Cherbourg
- 1965 - The Sound of Music / The Shop on Main Street
- 1966 - A Man for All Seasons / Persona
- 1967 - In the Heat of the Night / Belle de Jour
- 1968 - Oliver! / Once Upon a Time in the West
- 1969 - Midnight Cowboy / The Wild Bunch
- 1970 - Patton / Five Easy Pieces
- 1971 - The French Connection / The Last Picture Show
- 1972 - The Godfather / Last Tango in Paris
- 1973 - The Sting / Badlands
- 1974 - The Godfather Part II / Chinatown
- 1975 - One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest / Nashville
- 1976 - Rocky / Taxi Driver
- 1977 - Annie Hall / Close Encounters of the Third Kind
- 1978 - The Deer Hunter / The Deer Hunter
- 1979 - Kramer vs. Kramer / Manhatten
- 1980 - Ordinary People / Raging Bull
- 1981 - Chariots of Fire / Raiders of the Lost Ark
- 1982 - Gandhi / Blade Runner
- 1983 - Terms of Endearment / The King of Comedy
- 1984 - Amadeus / Amadeus
- 1985 - Out of Africa / Prizzi's Honor
- 1986 - Platoon / Blue Velvet
- 1987 - The Last Emperor / Wings of Desire
- 1988 - Rain Man / The Unbearable Lightness of Being
- 1989 - Driving Miss Daisy / Sex, Lies and Videotape
- 1990 - Dances with Wolves / Goodfellas
- 1991 - The Silence of the Lambs / Raise the Red Lantern
- 1992 - Unforgiven / Unforgiven
- 1993 - Schindler's List / Short Cuts
- 1994 - Forrest Gump / Pulp Fiction
- 1995 - Braveheart / Babe
- 1996 - The English Patient / Breaking the Waves
- 1997 - Titanic / Titanic
- 1998 - Shakespeare in Love / Life is Beautiful
- 1999 - American Beauty / All About My Mother
- 2000 - Gladiator / Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon
Author Comments:
The actual Academy Award winner is listed first and is followed by the film that most deserved the award for that year.
By my count, the Academy has been correct exactly ten times.
There's a lot of these that aren't worth arguing about. However, there is a few I strongly disagree with (the beauty of listology, voicing opinions).
1975 One Flew Over The Cuckoo's Nest was the obvious choice here. Nashville is very good, but Cuckoo's Nest is the benchmark all filmmaking should be used against.
1964 Dr. Strangelove is the best of this year and the decade. Too many foreign films in your list of entries.
1968 2001:A Space Odyssey is in a different universe thanOnce Upon a Time In The West.Leone's epic is grand and sweeping, and no doubt great. But this is still the year I have found to be the biggest disparity.
1969.Midnight Cowboy. Period. Everything else is average compared.
1979 Apocalypse Now. After that maybe China Syndrome.I do think Manhattan is Allen's best though.
1981.Reds.Raider's is good, but thats all..
With the exception of Reds and China Syndrome, I considered each of the films you mentioned for the years you've noted. I find Nashville's complexity contains more depth than One Flew's simple yet powerful tale. Dr. Strangelove is great, but I favor the magical musical I listed above. 1968 may well have been the toughest year to select; both 2001 and Once Upon a Time were very close, but in the end, I went for Leone's odd yet gripping and moving masterpiece. Midnight Cowboy didn't really stand a chance against The Wild Bunch, and Manhattan barely nosed out Apocalypse Now. 1981 wasn't the greatest year for films. As far as I am concerned, Raiders takes the statue quite easily. I certainly like it much more than Reds, a good, not great, film.
Interesting, though. I enjoyed reading your selections.
I stand in agreement with you about 1981. It was a weak year for films. By your list and comments I can tell I respect you and admire your tastes. Thats why I would like you to maybe go back and watch Midnight Cowboy again. Read my review of it and see if something shows itself you may have missed. You da' man.
I hope I didn't give the wrong impression. My "easy" choice of The Wild Bunch for the best film of 1969 says more about how much I love the western rather than how much I do not like Midnight Cowboy. MC is a great film; I simply belive The Wild Bunch to be one of the best films ever.
For such an excellent list including many over-looked masterpieces (Once Upon a Time in the West, Touch of Evil, Short Cuts), I'm really rather shocked to see you affirm the Academy's choice of Titanic. Tell me that's a typo, please. :)
Shalom, y'all!
L. Bangs (A noted Titanic non-enthusist)
I found Titanic quite amazing. The script did have problems, but the film's large emotions and impressive story and visuals steamrolled over these. Titanic was quite a worthy winner.
You are so right on so much of this List. Particuliary happy to see the Magnificent Ambersons, but Titantic....yikes. I was rooting for the Iceberg to do a quicker job. I guess it is a visually stimulating movie but so much of the rest of your list screams out Plot and character development. You really think it was a better Movie than LA Confindential?
Well...boggie Nights should've probably got the nod for 1997. Titanic is good though, just a little hammy.
i look like an idiot! Boogie Nights not Boggie! sorry dude..
I agree with L. Bangs on Boogie Nights. It is a good but vastly over-rated film. I'd much rather watch Magnolia, a fantastic film, again.
Yes, I do. L.A. Confidential was a good repolishing of the modern noir genre, but hardly offered much new or great outside of the terrific performances which make the film. Titanic, while betraying many influences, is a grand, over-the-top entertainment that seems to be a beast all its own. Bold, flawed, and incredible.
While I love Titanic, I'll also mention that I feel like 1997 was an incredible awful year for American film. It was a year of looking backwards, with diminished results. L.A. Confidential was a lesser Chinatown, while Paul Thomas Anderson's Boogie Nights ripped off every technique and innovation of the 70s without having much of a clue as to how to use them. Both are actually quite good films, but neither are as good as their choirs of supporters (mostly 70s film fans, appropriately) imply.
Ok, I agree that 1997 was not a very good year for films-You say American which indicates there may be some good foreign films? True?.
I also agree we are living with a whole set of directors who were very influenced by the last great decade of Moviemaking the 70's.
I am thinking through the Chinatown LA Confidential comparison. It seems that never entered my mind. Obviously on reflection the similiarities are there, but I think to LA's credit It never entered my thoughts while watching the film. The performances are superb, I think Crowe often gets overlooked for this performance and Guy Pearce is quickly becoming a favorite. See Memento.
L.A. Confidential certainly had fantastic performances, and Crowe and Pearce were both stunning in the film.
1997 did produce some great foreign films. My understanding is that Life Is Beautiful was first released in Italy in 1997, though I would not swear to this. The wonderful Japanese film Fireworks is a 1997 film, as is Princess Mononoke (though it did not open here until much later) and Iran's The Taste of Cherry. Those are the few that leap to my mind, and they are all excellent.
I have seen Memento. A great film - the best I have seen this year (though, as L. Bangs pointed out, it is a 2000 film).
Thanks for the comments.
I finally saw Life is Beautiful and it was wonderful. While I've long been a defender of Shakespeare In Love (although Mirimax is more than capable in that role), I agree completely that Life is Beautiful was the better film. Now I just have to see Saving Private Ryan so my decision can be completely informed.
I did see Saving Private Ryan so I can now more informedly agree that Life is Beautiful deserved the award. And I just watched The Last Picture Show for the first time, and I too would pick it over the The French Connection in any category except "best car chase."
Esteemed thecritic, long time no see . . . I'm curious about your 2001 entry for this list.