With the Academy Awards imminent, there are a lot of people making predictions about the winners. Personally, I think The Social Network will take the statue for Best Picture on the strength of its contemporary relevance, although The King’s Speech was technically a better film and might pull through. But getting into that argument seems a little too easy. I thought instead I would take a look back and analyze those times when the Academy fell short and handed the Oscar to entirely the wrong film. Granted, when choosing a winner, they don’t have the advantage of knowing in advance how each film will hold up, and it isn’t to say that the winners have been bad exactly, but every now and then they’ve allowed a true classic to fall through the cracks in favor of a film that’s easily forgotten.
I’m going to work backwards on this list, so let’s start with something recent.
2009
What Won: The Hurt Locker
What Should Have Won:
Up
The Case: Here’s an interesting fact: no animated film has ever won Best Picture in the history of the Oscars. In fact, even though animation has been around for just as long as the Academy Awards, only three animated films have even been nominated: Toy Story 3, Up, and Beauty and the Beast. In all fairness, American animation has historically been a medium pigeonholed as children’s entertainment and rarely has it ever had anything profound to say, but Up was a completely different story. Up, in spite of all its goofiness and fun and talking dogs, was built from a mature story… even, dare I say, a primarily sad story about an old man trying to fulfill a promise to his now-deceased wife. In fact, the film wouldn’t have worked at all if the audience didn’t sympathize with Carl Fredricksen. The heart of the movie is his sense of loss and sadness. But, at the same time, the film has all the charm and whimsy that animation is made for. Up showcased what animated films could really do.
The Hurt Locker was, in comparison, very dry and lacking in plot or character development. It did many things well, following the life of a bomb squad dealing with IEDs in Iraq and presenting their struggles in an intense and realistic sort of way. But in the end, there are plenty of war movies out there, and The Hurt Locker (already among the lowest-grossing Best Picture winners of all time) seems destined to fade into the crowd and become a footnote, a well-made but ultimately ordinary war film. As I see it, 2009 was the year for animation to finally have its day, but the Academy missed that chance.
1998
What Won: Shakespeare in Love
What Should Have Won:
Saving Private Ryan
The Case: I’ve seen Shakespeare in Love, but it’s been a long time, so I only remember it vaguely. It was a comedy about a romance between William Shakespeare and a cross-dressing actress named Viola, while he struggles to write Romeo and Juliet (which, in real life, he just stole from somebody else, but that’s OK because the original version was lame). I actually would kind of like to watch this film again, because I really do love the works of Shakespeare, and there are plenty of things in it for a Shakespeare-lover to enjoy. The plot itself is an amalgam of various Shakespeare plays, especially Romeo and Juliet and Twelfth Night, and there are plenty of other references on top of that. And as anyone on the Internet knows, references are often the most rewarding form of humor.
But come on, Shakespeare in Love has been all but forgotten, and Saving Private Ryan is a classic. This was the war movie that redefined war movies. Without Saving Private Ryan, there wouldn’t have been The Hurt Locker to begin with. Saving Private Ryan really tried to capture the reality of war, without glorifying or censoring it. It was gritty. It was bloody. It was honest. The combat was frightening, and the soldiers were scared for their lives. There weren’t any epic battle speeches or larger-than-life heroes. These were real people in a real war, where the bullets kill for real. The Oscars definitely have a bias against comedic films, so I hate to dethrone one of the few that actually made it, but Saving Private Ryan was simply too important a movie not to win.
1977
What Won: Annie Hall
What Should Have Won:
Star Wars
The Case: OK, I am not a Star Wars fan. I’m more of a Trek guy. But you’ve got to respect the trilogy. The story was epic, the characters were some of the most memorable characters in the history of anything, and the special effects were unlike anything the world had ever seen at the time. Star Wars was a work of genius. Sadly, we can’t get into The Empire Strikes Back, but even the original film was brilliant. Sadly, yet another bias the Academy has always had is a disdain for science fiction. Fun fact: to date, no science fiction film has ever won Best Picture. So in one of its earliest sci-fi snubs, the Academy picked Annie Hall as the winner instead.
I admit that I don’t really “get” Woody Allen’s brand of humor, so I don’t want to be unfair to Annie Hall. It’s considered a classic as well, though I personally didn’t like it. It’s remembered fondly for its offbeat humor and disjointed narrative style, and is credited with revitalizing the romantic comedy genre. Still, either way you look at it, Star Wars was a bigger accomplishment and represents the result of a lot more effort and imagination. So Star Wars get the win, at least from me.
1971
What Won: The French Connection
What Should Have Won:
Fiddler on the Roof
The Case: Tradition! Ah, how that one word encapsulates everything about Fiddler on the Roof. This is a film about tradition; what’s good about it, what’s bad about it… OK, mostly the latter. The film looks into the struggle of one devout Jew desperately trying to hang onto his culture’s sense of tradition in a fast-changing world. “Tradition” is Tevye’s refrain throughout the film, starting out as a powerful chorus in the first wonderful song of the movie, and growing less powerful as the story progresses, until his last mention of it, a meek and darkly ironic passing thought. But the most powerful moment has to be when the third of his daughters goes against his wishes and runs away with her boyfriend to get married, and he impotently shouts the word into the heavens in protest. But for all the hard stuff that happens in the film, it’s just as memorable for Tevye’s lightheartedness and sense of fun. He’s the guy who sang the deliciously quirky “If I Were a Rich Man” after all.
The French Connection is just bland in comparison. It’s an entirely straightforward crime drama with no interesting twists or likable characters, and there’s nothing memorable about it aside from one pretty well constructed chase scene, and even that doesn’t stand out all that much. I really don’t get why it won at all.
1964
What Won: My Fair Lady
What Should Have Won:
Dr. Strangelove; or, How I Learned
to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb
The Case: My Fair Lady is quite simply a lousy movie. There’s nothing insightful about it. The story is completely contrived and mostly pointless. The female lead is annoying and uninteresting. Hell, even the songs are formulaic and boring, and this is supposed to be a goddamn musical. The only, only saving grace for this movie is Henry Higgins, for the sole reason that one can imagine that he’s somehow aware that he’s in a musical and is simply refusing to go along with it. Think about it, whenever one of his songs pops up, he just talks through it instead of singing, and he shows absolutely no character development throughout the story – he’s the same jerkass at the end that he was at the beginning.
Dr. Strangelove is at least an interesting movie, whatever your individual impression of the film might be. It’s odd and quirky, and bitingly satirical. It had the balls to poke fun at the US-Soviet arms race while it was still going on, and just because that wasn’t dark enough it decided to end with a full-on nuclear Armageddon. Yes, this is a comedy. The film gave us the iconic image of a man riding an atomic bomb like a bucking bronco as it falls to the ground and dooms us all. It gave us the priceless line, “Gentlemen, you can’t fight here… this is the War Room!” And of course it gave us Dr. Strangelove himself, in all his paraplegic, Nazi splendor. Which film is the more memorable of the two? It hardly seems like it needs to be asked.
1961
What Won: West Side Story
What Should Have Won:
Judgment at Nuremberg
The Case: OK, you might be scratching your heads at this one, since West Side Story is still remembered as a classic, while Judgment at Nuremberg has been largely forgotten. Clearly the Academy made the right call, you might be thinking. Well, fine, I admit that this one is mostly just my opinion. But I honestly don’t get why everyone thinks so highly of West Side Story. The songs aren’t that great, the story is a direct copy of Shakespeare’s most incessantly duplicated play of all time, and even all that prancing and finger-snapping that everyone remembers it for only happens once (during a song that nobody remembers). Sure, there are parts that I like. A few of the songs do stand out, and it does have the guts to actually have a guy getting knifed on-screen, which is rare for musicals. But still, I just found it more obnoxious than entertaining.
Judgment at Nuremberg is a cerebral piece of film, and perhaps the most challenging movie I’ve ever seen. The story revolves around an American judge who is called to Germany in the aftermath of World War II to try a number of German judges who sentenced people to imprisonment in the concentration camps. The defendants being, y’know, Nazis, it seems like a pretty open-and-shut case, but it turns out to not be so simple. The lawyer for the defense doesn’t try to excuse the atrocities of the Holocaust, but he does argue that the judges were not responsible for it, that their job was to uphold the law, not rewrite it as they saw fit. As the debate goes on, the audience inevitably comes to the sickening realization that he’s technically right. The question that Judgment at Nuremberg asks is about where to draw the line between technically right and morally right. It’s a powerful film, and even though it isn’t widely remembered I wholly recommend seeing it.
1957
What Won: The Bridge on the River Kwai
What Should Have Won:
12 Angry Men
The Case: This one’s kinda tough because… well, The Bridge on the River Kwai is an incredible film. It’s one of my favorite movies, and if it had been released in almost any other year I wouldn’t even think of challenging it. The psychological game of chicken between Nichols the prisoner and Saito the captor is thrilling and captivating, and as the movie goes on the spirit of camaraderie and optimism that builds in the wake of that fight is positively uplifting. Plus it popularized the Colonel Bogey March, one of the finest whistling tunes ever composed.
But I have to challenge this decision because as amazing as The Bridge on the River Kwai is, 12 Angry Men is just better. Its simplicity is what makes it work so extraordinarily well; the characters don’t even have names, just juror numbers. There’s no mucking about with establishing the setting or getting into what the victim or the defendant or the witnesses at the trial are like. In fact, the trial is skipped over completely. The whole movie is composed of the jury’s deliberation, which adds an air of mystery to the film and makes the narrative thoroughly gripping. And since it’s all done in real time, once you get hooked you stay hooked. The intensity of the dialogue doesn’t give you any chance of losing interest. And, yeah, Juror #8’s independent investigation into the case is completely illegal, but it's also the basis for one of the most awesome single moments in movie history, so I officially don't care.
1956
What Should Have Won:
The Ten Commandments
The Case: Basically, Around the World in Eighty Days was based on a good book, but The Ten Commandments was based on the Good Book. OK, so that’s kind of a dumb joke, but that really is the gist of the reasoning here. Around the World in Eighty Days is a fun adventure story, and it’s a good movie, but there’s nothing important about it. There are plenty of good adventure movies, some of which are also based on classic novels. Around the World in Eighty Days could be replaced with any of those and no one would really be able to tell the difference.
Meanwhile, The Ten Commandments is an epic. It’s big and over-the-top and glorious. And being based on one of the most action-packed books of the Bible, it’s a chance to see God at his most in-your-face. I’m not a Christian, myself, but the great thing about this movie is that you don’t have to be. If you believe the Book of Exodus really happened, then this movie’s a historical reenactment. If not, it’s still a grand and powerful story with memorable characters and themes. Bigger doesn’t always mean better, but in this case an epic easily outclasses a mere story.
1952
What Should Have Won:
High Noon
The Case: The Greatest Show on Earth is probably one of the least remembered Best Picture winners of all time. To be fair, though, it’s actually pretty good. The story of a traveling circus has the advantage of involving lots of impressive stunts and exotic animals. The movie was directed by Cecil B. DeMille, who also directed The Ten Commandments, and it lived up to his trademark over-the-top style. The show really is a sight to behold. And the personal dramas of the performers are pretty interesting, especially in the aftermath of a nasty accident which leaves a high-profile acrobat crippled and unable to perform. But the problem with the film is that the personal drama keeps getting interrupted so that DeMille can show off how big a spectacle the circus is, and like I said, bigger isn’t always better. Many of the circus sequences are completely pointless, and bring the narrative of the movie to a grinding halt.
In contrast, High Noon is simple and understated, and it remains as one of the most classic westerns ever made. Like 12 Angry Men it drops you straight into the story with little buildup, and a more iconic western premise there could not be: the town marshal learns that a killer with a grudge against him is coming back to take his revenge and will arrive on the noon train. Following that, the film focuses on Kane’s struggle to drum up support, lest he be forced to take on Frank Miller and his cronies alone. There’s really nothing over-the-top about the movie. There’s no razzle-dazzle; just the people of the town and their reactions to the looming specter that is Frank Miller. This isn’t even as much an action movie as it is a drama. But it does something that The Greatest Show on Earth doesn’t: it draws you in. The foreboding atmosphere as high noon creeps closer and closer keeps you on the edge of your seat. But in 1952, the Academy got taken in by the flash and passed over High Noon for something pretty.
And now, here it is – the last and most egregious example of when the Academy went wrong:
1941
What Should Have Won:
Citizen Kane
The Case: Case? What case? It’s Citizen Kane, dammit! What else needs to be said? The only reason the film didn’t win was that William Randolph Hearst, of whom Kane was a thinly-veiled stand-in, used his resources to organize a smear campaign to ruin its chances. That allowed How Green Was My Valley to pull through and win. How Green Was My Valley is a decent film, and it’s still beloved by some, but it is quite simply nothing compared to Citizen Kane. Watch the two back to back and you’ll see what I’m talking about.
Is Citizen Kane the best movie ever made? No. It really isn’t; better films have been made over the years, whichever way you want to measure it. But, here’s the thing: in 1941, Citizen Kane was the best movie ever made. It changed the way movies were made, by doing things that movies had never done before. The cinematography, the lighting, the editing, the visual effects… all of it was meaningful and done with masterful strokes. Not a shot is wasted, and not a single decision is arbitrary. Citizen Kane changed the art of film from merely performing a play while a camera rolls to using every tool in the box to create a new and unique visual experience. Its influence can be seen and felt throughout all of movie history since. This, my friends, is a no brainer. Best picture of 1941: Citizen Kane.
So there you have it: ten years the Oscars totally screwed it up. I’m sure there are other examples, and I’m definitely sure there’ll be more examples in the future, but for now these are the ones that stand out to me. If you have a problem with any of my picks... well, screw you, start your own damn blog. (I'm kidding, I'm kidding; I welcome civil dissent, just drop me a comment) So until next time, I'm Karl, fighting tedium one top ten list at a time. See ya around!
Images used are property of their respective films and the distributors thereof, used here for reviewing purposes only.
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