Best/Worst Oscar Winners for Best Picture

Discussion in 'Movies, TV and Music' started by GringoTex, Jul 31, 2002.

  1. GringoTex

    GringoTex Member

    Aug 22, 2001
    1301 miles de Texas
    Club:
    Tottenham Hotspur FC
    Nat'l Team:
    Bolivia
    Pick the five best and fives worst movies that have won the Oscar for Best Picture. A list of winners can be found at http://chevy.imdb.com/Sections/Awards/Academy_Awards_USA/

    Five Best:

    Rebecca (1940)
    Best Years of Our Lives (1946)
    All About Eve (1950)
    The Godfather II (1974)
    Unforgiven (1992)


    Five Worst:

    Cimarron (1931)
    Around the World in Eighty Days (1956)
    Oliver! (1968)
    Driving Miss Daisy (1989)
    American Beauty (1999)
     
  2. Alberto

    Alberto Member+

    Feb 28, 2000
    Northern, New Jersey
    Club:
    New York Red Bulls
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
    I'm game, here's my list

    Five Best:
    Casablanca
    Godfather Part II
    Patton
    Bridge on the River Kwai
    Dances with Wolves/One flew over the Cuckoo's Nest

    Five Worst:
    Oliver
    The Deer Hunter
    Gladiator
    Wings
    Broaday Melody (1929)
     
  3. obie

    obie New Member

    Nov 18, 1998
    NY, NY
    Club:
    New York Red Bulls
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
    Five worst, all in no particular order:
    Forrest Gump
    Gladiator
    Titanic
    Dances With Wolves
    Driving Miss Daisy

    I've never seen Oliver!, though I know that many critics consider it a terrible choice.

    Five best:
    Casablanca
    Ben-Hur
    On The Waterfront
    The Best Years Of Our Lives
    Amadeus (personal fave)
     
  4. Nobby

    Nobby New Member

    Feb 18, 2002
    Kirkland, WA
    Best:

    Midnight Cowboy
    Casablanca
    Bridge on the River Kwai
    Ben-Hur
    The French Connection

    I've not seen The Godfather series.

    Worst:

    Titanic
    Forest Gump
    Oliver!
    The Greatest Show on Earth
    Gone With The Wind

    I've not seen Driving Miss Daisy, Dances With Wolves, Cimmarron or Broadway Melody.
     
  5. Ted Cikowski

    Ted Cikowski Red Card

    May 31, 2000
    worst: Titanic
     
  6. PSU92

    PSU92 Member

    Feb 27, 1999
    Annandale VA
    Club:
    DC United
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
    Best:
    Chariots of Fire
    Casablanca
    Patton
    West Side Story
    Bridge on The River Kwai


    Worst:
    Titanic
    Forest Gump
    Driving Miss Daisy
    Kramer vs Kramer
    Greatest Show on Earth
     
  7. Ghost

    Ghost Member+

    Sep 5, 2001
    Best:

    Godfather Part II (1974)
    Lawrence of Arabia (1962)
    Unforgiven (1992)
    Schindler's List (despite its problems) (1994)
    The Godfather (1972)

    Worst:(Keep in mind that I don't go around renting the truly heinous older films.So ths is obviously skewed. )

    Greatest Show on Earth (1952)
    Gladiator (2000)
    American Beauty (1999)
    Rain Man (1988)
    Gone Wth the Wind (1939)

    IT's interesting to see the other lists and note some of the popular choices. Forrest Gump is far from a great film, but I would say it's a decent, entertaining film. I hate the popular belief that it's a great film more than the film itself. I don't think that Driving Miss Daisy is a bad film either --- just not a really good, with the addtional offense of winning over other more worthy choices -- DO the Right Thing and Drugstore Cowboy come to mind.

    In looking at the list, there's a lot more disappointment than I expected.
     
  8. CrazyF.C.

    CrazyF.C. New Member

    Jun 15, 2001
    Washington D.C.
    I dont know much, but I do know that Gladiator and Titanic sucked.
     
  9. DoctorJones24

    DoctorJones24 Member

    Aug 26, 1999
    OH
    I'm not sure I've ever watched a "Best Picture" winner and thought, "Man, that sucked!" They DO tend to be popular, pleasurable movies. Granted, rarely, if ever, has a winner been a truly daring or creative work of art. But Hollywood really isn't about that, and the Oscar's are about Hollywood celebrating Hollywood. That's why it's always seemed a bit silly to me to get very bent when a given film is "robbed" by the Academy.

    Anyway, awards are a notoriously poor measure of any artwork's lasting impact. Few Nobel prize winning authors are mainstays in the canon, and the it's even more extreme in other media.

    Nontheless, my favs and least favs from the list:

    Favs:
    Annie Hall
    Casablanca
    Bridge on River Kwai
    Last Emperor
    Chariots of Fire


    Least Favs:
    A Beautiful Mind
    The Greatest Show on Earth
    Out of Africa
    Rocky
    Silence of the Lambs
     
  10. amerifolklegend

    amerifolklegend New Member

    Jul 21, 1999
    Oakley, America
    Top Five:
    1) Lawrence of Arabia
    2) The Godfather
    3) Gone With the Wind
    4) Annie Hall
    5) One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest


    Bottom Five:
    69) Out of Africa
    70) Terms of Endearment
    71) Titanic
    72) Chariots of Fire
    73) Dances With Wolves
     
  11. Unorthodox Yank

    Feb 27, 2001
    Constant Flux
    Club:
    --other--
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
    Well, i cant really say, but i know that forrest gump and rain man would DEFINITLEY not be on my "worst" list.

    I LOVE both those movies.
     
  12. condor11

    condor11 Moderator
    Staff Member

    Apr 2, 2002
    New Zealand
    worst
    gone with the wind
    ben hur
    casablanca
    titanic
    gladiator

    best
    forrest gump
    Platoon
    schidlers list
    thats about it i dont really like oscar winning movies
     
  13. folha

    folha New Member

    Jun 10, 2001
    best:
    All Quiet on the Western Front (1930)
    Bridge on the River Kwai, The (1957)
    One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest (1975)
    Annie Hall (1977)
    Amadeus (1984)

    worst:
    Gladiator (2000)
    Shakespeare in Love (1998)
    Titanic (1997)
    English Patient, The (1996)
    Braveheart (1995)
    Schindler's List (1993)
    Last Emperor, The (1987)

    ---
    OK, it's more than five in my worst list but I think they somehow are equally bad, I cannot just pick five. And I haven't seen some of the worst many others mentioned, so I can't decide.
    One thing, does that show Oscar are getting worse in the '90s?
     
  14. dearprudence

    dearprudence Member

    Nov 1, 2000
    Chi-town
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
    I find it really hard to come up with a 5 best or 5 worst Oscars list, for one reason: who was the competition? I mean, if it was a year that the movies really sucked, then maybe the winner WAS the best that year.

    On the other hand, I once saw a list of the movies that came out in 1939, and I'm amazed that they just awarded one Oscar!
     
  15. Col Mustard

    Col Mustard New Member

    Oct 16, 2000
    London
    Best

    Godfather Pt2
    In The Heat of The Night
    The Apartment
    The French Connection
    Annie Hall


    Worst

    Titanic
    Gladiator
    Braveheart
    West Side Story
    Oliver
     
  16. GringoTex

    GringoTex Member

    Aug 22, 2001
    1301 miles de Texas
    Club:
    Tottenham Hotspur FC
    Nat'l Team:
    Bolivia
    The following films have made both a best list and a worst list:

    Silence of the Lambs
    Gone With the Wind
    Forrest Gump
    Dances with Wolves
    West Side Story
    Casablanca (what is there to hate in this movie?)
    Schindler's List (ditto?)
    The Last Emperor


    Personally, I think the first half of GWTW is a great movie, the second half a lousy one.
     
  17. whirlwind

    whirlwind New Member

    Apr 4, 2000
    Plymouth, MI, USA
    Best:
    Patton
    Silence of the Lambs
    Amadeus
    Lawrence of Arabia
    Gandhi

    Worst:
    Dances with Wolves
    American Beauty
    Rain Man
    Terms of Endearment
    Titanic
    can't judge any of the films pre-1970.

    Best Films Not To Win An Oscar For Best Picture:
    The Sixth Sense
    Pulp Fiction
    Goodfellas
    Lord of the Rings: Fellowship
    Dead Poets Society
     
  18. cosmosRIP

    cosmosRIP Member

    Jul 22, 2000
    Brooklyn NY
    Top 5
    Unforgiven
    The Silence of the Lambs
    The Godfather
    The French Connection
    Midnight Cowboy

    Bottom 5
    Gladiator
    The English Patient
    Forrest Gump
    Dances With Wolves
    Terms of Endearment
     
  19. Ted Cikowski

    Ted Cikowski Red Card

    May 31, 2000
    why exactly do you people have American Beauty on the worst list?
     
  20. Unorthodox Yank

    Feb 27, 2001
    Constant Flux
    Club:
    --other--
    Nat'l Team:
    United States


    A-************ING-MEN!

    I wish theres was some sort of way they coulve splitted the oscar in 2 and given half to forrest gump, and half to pulp fiction.
     
  21. dearprudence

    dearprudence Member

    Nov 1, 2000
    Chi-town
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
    I'm with you on this one, Ted. American Beauty blew me away! I think Sam Mendes is a genius.
     
  22. Ghost

    Ghost Member+

    Sep 5, 2001
    Here's a list of alternate possiblities for the Academy Awards.The idea is to pick films that don't stray too far afield, and, except in the most extreme circumstances, Engliish-language. Generally, I will stick with films that received major nominations, as to keep it in the practical realm. This is not a "best film" of the year list, and keep in mind, it's off the top of my head.Didn't change all of them, when I thought they were worthy.

    2001: Mulholland Drive
    2000: Requiem for a Dream
    1999: Eyes Wide Shut
    1998: The Thin Red Line.
    97:The Sweet Hereafter
    96: Fargo
    95:Safe
    94:Hoop Dreams
    93: Short Cuts
    92: Unforgiven v. Howard's End tough choice
    91:Barton Fink
    90: Goodfellas
    89: Drugstore Cowboy/Sex, Lies, and Videotape/Do the Right Thing (good film year)
    88:The Thin Blue Line
    87:The Last Emperor
    86: A Room with a View
    85::Blood Simple
    84: The Killingf Fields
    83:The Year of Living Dangerously
    82: Blade Runner
    81: Gallipoli
    80: Raging Bull
    79: Apocalypse Now
    78: Days of Heaven
    77:Annie Hall
    76:Taxi Driver
    75: Nashville
    74: Godfather Part !! (But really take your pick Chinatown, the Conversation, the Parallax View, etc. )
    73: Badlands
    72:The Godfather
    71:A Clockwork Orange
    70: MASH
    69: Easy Rider
    68: 2001
    67: The Graduate
    66:Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf
    65:Doctor Zhivago
    64: Fail Safe
    63 Dr. Strangelove
    62: Lawrence of Arabia
    61: The Hustler
    60:psycho
    59: North by Northwest
    58: Vertigo
    57:paths of Glory
    56:The Searchers
    55:Night of the Hunter
    54:On the Waterfront
    53: From Here to Eternity
    52: HIgh Noon
    51 An Streetcar Named Desire
    50: Sunset Boulevard
    49:The Third Man
    48: Treasure of the Sierra Madre
    47:??
    46: The Best Years of Our Lives
    45: Henry V
    44:Double Indemnity
    43:Casablanca
    42:The Magnificent Ambersons
    41: Citizen Kane
    40: Rebecca
    39:The Wizard of Oz
    38:The Lady Vanishes
    37:The Petrified Forest
    36 Modern Times
    35: The Informer
    34 It Happened One Night
    33: King Kong
    32:Trouble in Paradise
    31:M
    30 All Quiet on the Western Front
    29:??
    28: The Passion of Joan of Arc
    27: The General
     
  23. GringoTex

    GringoTex Member

    Aug 22, 2001
    1301 miles de Texas
    Club:
    Tottenham Hotspur FC
    Nat'l Team:
    Bolivia
    Great list! Let me fill in your blanks:

    1929 - The Crowd
    1947 - Black Narcissus
     
  24. Ghost

    Ghost Member+

    Sep 5, 2001
    Ted,

    You probably won't like this answer, but here goes.

    Really, I don't have to do anything but quote the great critic Paulene Kael, who said of the film, "I didn't hate American Beauty. I detested it. Why can't liberals see when they're being blatantly pandered to." That basically was my sentiment.

    The overriding problem I have with the film is that it has an utterly teenage mentality. Adulthood is all about sex. Drugs are entirely benign, in fact good for you. Escaping this world by running away is presented as a brave, admirable happy ending..It's a film that wants to make you think it has adult concerns, when ifn fact it has a devoutly teenage outlook. It might as well be 10 Things I Hate About You. I wondered if a 16-year--old had written the script.

    Has there ever been a less deeply written character in a film than the wife? I thought Annette Benning dida great job just to make her presentable. She's a complete dartboard, and that's emblematic of the way it treats suburbia.

    the last hour of the film is basically a sitcom. It goes for the yuck-a-minute approach without showing any depth.

    There are so many more better takes on suburban ennui. I mean, has anyone seen Safe? The Virgin Suicides, I think, showed more complexity and detail in dealing with this topic.The adults in that film are real, even if they're wrong. Kathleen Turner turns out to be an overbearing wench, but i understand the concerns that make her one. I can't really say the same thing about Annette Benning.

    Anyway, I really don't like the film, although it does have some nice moments.
     
  25. GringoTex

    GringoTex Member

    Aug 22, 2001
    1301 miles de Texas
    Club:
    Tottenham Hotspur FC
    Nat'l Team:
    Bolivia
    "Mendes's harsh and hyperbolic, if not particularly funny, satire of suburban angst makes The Ice Storm seem a nuanced masterpiece of engaged cine-humanism and wiseguy Todd Solondz look like a Swiftian genius. Bleak as it is, American Beauty has a certain car-wreck fascination but, with all the rubbernecking, there's no narrative flow. As studied as its title would suggest, this is one cold movie. " - J. Hoberman
     

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