The WORST film to ever win best picture.

[Guest imajackoff?]

So, which film do you think was the most undeserving of the gold statue??

 

Im going to go with Forrest Gump(1994).

 

Color me cynical, but I never bought into this film.  Im aware that it was intended to be an abstract "fantasy" world, but I could never get past the feeling that society would chew Gump up and spit him out.  I would probably be more forgiving of this film if it didnt outright screw Pulp Fiction of its rightful place in Oscar history.

[Guest bps "The Truth" 21]

Driving Miss Daisy

 

Fuck that movie.

 

Field of Dreams was soooooo much better.

[Guest Anorak]

Nothing discredited the Oscars more for me than when Titanic cleaned up with all the top awards. It was a glorified tv movie with terrible acting.

[Guest Black Lushus]

Gladiator was a good flick but it certainly wasn't the BEST flick of last year....just my own personal opinion...

[Guest bps "The Truth" 21]

Last Year...I'd have gone with Crouching Tiger...

 

BUT

 

Whatever wins this year will probably be my new "worst movie to win best picture"

 

None of those movies are even in my top 5.

[Guest hardyz1]

Titanic

The English Patient

 

Truman Show was robbed!

[Guest ArkhamGlobe]

Forrest Gump. Sentimental crap that pissed me off to no end.

[Guest Choken One]

Shakespere in Love Over Saving Privite Ryan?

Titanic over L.A Confidental and Good Will Hunting?

Braveheart over Babe?

[Guest bps "The Truth" 21]

It didn't bother me that Saving Private Ryan didn't win...because the thin red line was the better movie IMO.

 

As far as upsets go...What beat Citizen Kane?

 

That has to be up there.

[Guest teke184]

How Green Was My Valley beat Citizen Kane, but that was at a time when there were about 10 nominees for Best Picture each year.  Considering Kane's lack of commercial success and the critical panning at the time of its release (mostly due to WR Hearst's efforts against the film and people being low on wunderkid Welles), it's lucky that it even got nominated.

 

As for the worst picture, Cimarron (1931) is the usual name that film buffs throw around, but I'd go with Titanic (which I've seen) or Driving Miss Daisy (which I refuse to watch).

[Guest Ravenbomb]

Gladiator was annoying, and CTHD and Traffic were both WAY better, but my vote goes to Rocky. No WAY was that better than Taxi Driver. Raging Bull was by far the better boxing movie and THAT didn't win either! I blame politics.

[Guest Army Eye]

I want to say Forrest Gump.  It was just so unbelievable that this won the award over Shawshank Redemption and Pulp Fiction..

 

But I lean towards Gladiator.  I don't see what's so special about this movie.  It was GOOD, but nothing more than that.  I didn't really like Forrest Gump, or Titanic, but I can at least see some qualities in those which some people would really like.  In Gladiator I just don't see anything outstanding.

 

Even some of the recent Best Picture winners I haven't bothered to see, like Driving Miss Daisy, Shakespeare in Love, etc.

[Guest Youth N Asia]

Out of Africa...what a long boring steaming pile of infiant crap this was...

 

The best movie hardly ever wins really...almost never

[Guest bps "The Truth" 21]

Here's a good follow up question:

 

When has the best picture...really been the best picture?

 

Obviously this probably applies more to modern movies...because...you know...On the Waterfront is one of my all time favorite flicks...but I haven't seen too many movies from 1954...

 

anyway...

 

My votes go to:

 

Schindler's List

Unforgiven

Silence of the Lambs

Dances with Wolves

and Rain Man

[Guest redbaron51]

Some of the bad movies:

 

Out of Africa

Titanic

Gladiator (even though I liked that movie, Crouching Tiger was f'n amazing)

Forrest Gump (Shawshanke should have won, but it wasn't "popular")

[Guest Kahran Ramsus]

Lawrence of Arabia, Ben-Hur, Patton & Bridge on the River Kwai are other best pictures to actually win that award.

 

As for worst, Titanic is a steaming pile of crap that should have won a Razzie instead of an Academy Award.  There are plenty of films that won that weren't classics, but they usually were at least decent.  Titanic was horrible.

[Guest Crazy Dan]

I have a few...

 

Chariots of Fire... when it should have gone to Raiders of the Lost Ark

 

Dances with Wolves... Goodfellas got screwed

 

Terms of Ederment... I don't know who this should have gone to, but I ma sure there was a better choice

 

Ordinary People... should have gone to Raging Bull, whom many call the best movie of the 80's

 

Forest Gump... Pulp Fiction was way better flick, one which will have a lasting effect on movies influence wise

 

Driving Miss Daisy... Born on the Fourth of July, Field of Dreams, or Dead Poets Society would have made a better choice

 

Titanic... should have gone to either LA Confidetial or Good Will Hunting

 

Gladiator... should have gone to Traffic

[Guest AngryJohnny]

Titanic. Titanic. TITANIC.

 

 

CLICK HERE AND GET ABSOLUTELY NO PORN

[Guest Vyce]

Shakespeare in Love totally did not deserve the Oscar.  If anything, Ryan deserved it that year.

 

BUT I'm a fan of Gwyneth Paltrow, and I generally feel that both Spielberg & Hanks are pretentious assholes (let's change E.T. to remove all mention of terrorists!  Liberal sellout douche bag), so I was glad that SPR didn't win.

[Guest Brush with Greatness]

Should Have Won/Eventual Winner

 

2000:Requim for a Dream, Almost Famous, Traffic  W:Gladiator

 

1999:American Beauty, Fight Club, Being John Malkovich   W:American Beauty

 

1998:Life is Beautiful, American History X    W:Shakespeare in Love

 

1997:LA Confidential, Goodwill Hunting    W: Titanic

 

1996:Fargo  W: English Patient

 

1995:Usual Suspects  W: Braveheart

 

1994:Pulp Fiction, Shawshank Redemeption  W: Forrest Gump

 

1993:Schindlers List, In the Name of the Father, Philadelphia   W: Schindlers List

 

1992:Unforgiven, Glengarry Glenross   W: Unforgiven

 

1991:Silence of the Lambs, Boyz in the Hood  W: Silence of the Lambs

 

1990:Goodfellas     W: Dances with Wolves

 

As well, not to take away anything from The French Connection, but A Clockwork Orange was better.

 

I probably forgot a few "should have wons" up there but...

[Guest J*ingus]

Everyone's got a "movie X was WAY better than movie Z!" opinion about every year, and they're all different.  For example, I do think that Titanic deserved the award, although I seem to be in the extreme minority.  

 

That being said, here are a few Best Picture winners that we can probably all agree shouldn't have gotten it:

 

How Green Was My Valley (won over Citizen Kane, The Maltese Falcoln, Sergeant York)

An American in Paris (over A Streetcar Named Desire, The African Queen, A Place in the Sun)

Around the World in 80 Days (over The King & I, Giant, The Ten Commandments)

The Sting (over Cries & Whisper, Last Tango in Paris, The Exorcist)

One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest (over Nashville, Dog Day Afternoon, Jaws)

Ordinary People (over Raging Bull, The Elephant Man, Coal Miner's Daughter)

Gladiator (over Traffic, Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon)

 

Personally, I'd pick the worst ones as being Around The World In 80 Days (big-budget star-studded nonsense), One Flew Over The Cuckoo's Nest (overrated, and how the hell did Nurse Ratched get best actress?), and Gladiator (ripped off the worst parts of Spartacus and Saving Private Ryan).

[Guest ArkhamGlobe]

Regarding when the best film has actually won best picture, only four come to my mind, the Godfather, One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest, Annie Hall and the Silence of the Lambs. Possibly add the French Connection to that list, but then again, did I really think the French Connection was better than the Last Picture Show or A Clockwork Orange? For me it's impossible to really decide. Then again, I rarely find the films to actually win to be really BAD (note: I have not seen Titanic, for the reason that while I don't try to judge a film I haven't seen, it looks like a film I would just fucking hate), but there's always a film I like better.

 

1974: The Godfather II (a masterpiece of modern cinema, but I like Chinatown just a bit more).

 

1976: Rocky (Good film, but in no way shape or form do I find it to be better than Taxi Driver).

 

1979: Kramer vs Kramer (Again, good film, but no fucking way is it better than Apocalypse Now).

 

1992: Unforgiven (Great film, but the Crying Game was better, or so I thought).

 

1998: Shakespeare in Love (I liked the film and was overjoyed that it beat Saving Private Ryan, which I thought was outrageously overrated, but both the Thin Red Line and Elizabeth were better films in my own honest opinion).

 

1999: American Beauty (Fantastic film, but was it really better than the Insider? I personally can't decide).

 

2000: Gladiator (I really liked the film a lot, but better than Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon and Traffic? Hardly).

 

Again, in most of these cases I thought that the films that won best picture were just fine, but there were other films I just liked better.

[Guest Shaved Bear]

titanic

 

what are the nominees for this year

[Guest Kahran Ramsus]

This year:

 

In the Bedroom

Lord of the Rings:  Fellowship of the Ring

A Beautiful Mind

Gosford Park

Moulin Rouge

[Guest jedisrm]

DIE TITANIC DIE!!!!

[Guest Army Eye]

1999: American Beauty (Fantastic film, but was it really better than the Insider? I personally can't decide).

 

The Insider was GOOD.  Crowe deserved an Oscar for that a lot more than he did for Gladiator.

[Guest Kahran Ramsus]

The Insider definitely should have won over American Beauty.

[Guest jonstreich]

I'm suprised that no one has metioned how South Park: Bigger, Longer, and UnCut was completely screwed in 1999.  Only one nomination for a song that wasn't even the best one in the movie.  Also, Titanic sucked more schlong than Leonardo DiCaprio, but that's all been said already.

[Guest Tomato Can]

You are totally off point on One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest.  That movie is one of the all time greatest (it's in my personal top 20).  Jaws was awesome, but not deserving of Best Picture.  Same goes for Dog Day Afternoon.

[Guest ArkhamGlobe]

The Insider was GOOD.  Crowe deserved an Oscar for that a lot more than he did for Gladiator.

I believe one film critic here in Sweden referred to the situation as the "Jeremy Irons situation", as in 1989 (I believe), Irons was nominated for his dual role in David Cronenberg's Dead Ringers, but didn't win, but in afterwards, basically everyone thought he should have won, and lo and behold, next time he was nominated he won. Granted, Irons was DAMN good in both films and deserved the award, but a lot felt he got the award for Reversal of Fortune because he didn't win for Dead Ringers.

 

EDIT: Some quick fact checking turns out that the academy REALLY screwed Irons over in regards to Dead Ringers as he wasn't even nominated. The point still remains though, I think.