Most outrageous Oscar winners

[KarlGauss]

I'm still pissed about 1969 when John Wayne (True Grit) beat out Dustin Hoffman (Midnight Cowboy) for best actor.

And, can you believe that Rocky was considered the best picture over Taxi Driver in 1976?

Do I dare criticize the choice of Julia Roberts as best actress last year? OK. What a joke. Has she ever played a role where, even for a minute, you could forget that it was Julia Roberts on the screen?

Has this been done before?

[xanadu]

I'm still wondering how Hilary Swank beat out Annette Bening for best actress. Annette Bening's portrayal of Carolyn in American Beauty was pure comic genious IMHO.

[xanadu]

I did a search on this and found that "Titanic" won for best picture in 1998, beating out "As Good As It Gets" and "Good Will Hunting." Titanic?!? What were these people thinking?

[delphica]

Fyi, the Internet Movie Database has a nominations and awardees database at http://www.imdb.com/Sections/Awards/Academy_Awards_USA/

I'm always amazed that Jodie Foster (Silence of the Lambs) beat Geena Davis and Susan Sarandon, both nominated for their roles in Thelma and Louise, for Best Actress in 1992. But, I remember at the time there was talk that nominating two actresses from the same film essentially split their vote. Personally, I would have voted for Susan Sarandon.

More amazing to me is that Thelma and Louise wasn't even nominated for Best Picture that year. The nominees were JFK, Bugsy, Beauty and Beast, Prince of Tides, and the winner, Silence of the Lambs. .

I don't know if Rocky is a better picture than Taxi Driver, but for what its worth, Rocky is a much better film than I remembered it being. It was on TV recently, and I was completely surprised by how good it is, and how little of it is actually about boxing. I had always thought its Academy Award was a bit unbelievable, but now I've downgraded it from "bonehead choice" to plain old "weird choice."

I thought Annette Benning was the best part of American Beauty, but Hilary Swank was hands down fantastic in Boys Don't Cry. Two good performances, but Swank had the better role, IMHO, which gave her the edge on the award.

I think this is an urban legend (I hope it is), but perhaps someone can shed some light on it. I've heard that Marisa Tomei's 1993 award for Best Supporting Actress for My Cousin Vinny was actually a mistake, that the presenter read the wrong name as the winner. Could this possibly be true? Or is this just sour grapes from people who didn't think a comedic role should have won over more serious contenders?

[Protesilaus]

Originally posted by delphica
I think this is an urban legend (I hope it is), but perhaps someone can shed some light on it. I've heard that Marisa Tomei's 1993 award for Best Supporting Actress for My Cousin Vinny was actually a mistake, that the presenter read the wrong name as the winner. Could this possibly be true? Or is this just sour grapes from people who didn't think a comedic role should have won over more serious contenders?
It's not true. (http://www.snopes.com/movies/actors/tomei.htm)

[tracer]

I still can't believe that Annie Hall won out over Star Wars for best picture in 1977.

I mean, Annie Hall?!?!! What the hell were they smokin'?!

[Cisco]

Originally posted by KarlGauss

And, can you believe that Rocky was considered the best picture over Taxi Driver in 1976?



I can believe it. Taxi Driver is the worst movie I've ever seen in my life. It's worse than bad. It's in a category of it's own several levels below the category with all the other bad movies.

[LifeWillFall]

Alright, Seriously who paid off the votes to get Forrest Gump to win best picture over The Shawshank Redemption.

[Kaitlyn]

The worst year for best picture was without a doubt 1941.

In a year that produced Citizen Kane, The Maltese Falcon, Suspicion, Sergeant York, Dumbo, and Fantasia, the best picture award went to How Green Was My Valley.

But at least that was a good movie. Last year's best picture wasn't, IMO, a good movie, and the best movie of the year--Chicken Run--wasn't even nominated. I gotta go to bed, but I'll come back and rant some more. But you can't top 1941, the low point in Academy history.

[RealityChuck]

"The Greatest Show on Earth" is often listed as the worst-ever Best Picture.

And John Wayne deserved his "True Grit" Oscar, especially after being robbed for "She Wore a Yellow Ribbon."

Do I dare criticize the choice of Julia Roberts as best actress last year? OK. What a joke. Has she ever played a role where, even for a minute, you could forget that it was Julia Roberts on the screen?

False assumption here -- a good acting role does not require that you forget the star playing it. There's a prejudice that good acting requires emoting and range, but that's just not so.

[therealblaze]

The first name that came into my mind when I saw the subject was Julia Roberts. I Agree fully with KarlGauss. Awarding someone with a Oscar just for having extraordinarily big muzzle is pretty ridiculous.
The Oscar should have gone to Ellen Burstyn or Laura Linney.

[Robot Arm]

1983, Best Picture. Terms of Endearment winning over The Right Stuff was criminal.

[zuma]

Originally posted by LifeWillFall
Alright, Seriously who paid off the votes to get Forrest Gump to win best picture over The Shawshank Redemption.

I believe that year's best picture (I believe it was 1994) was a poster-boy for bad oscar winners. My beef is that Forrest Gump beat out both The Shawshank Redemption and Pulp Fiction. I'd have given it to PF first, TSR second, altho I think both films were vastly superior to FG.

[Lionors]

I'm going to draw a fusillade of fire on this, but IMHO, the most outstanding 'they picked WHAT?' by the Academy was American Beauty. Not knocking anyone who particularly liked it, but I simply did not.

Same goes for Good Will Hunting and As Good As It Gets -- Good Will Hunting was at least watchable, but As Good As It Gets was simply boring. (Of course, I don't care for Helen Hunt as an actress, either.) I generally will go out of my way to see Robin Williams and Jack Nicholson, but comparatively speaking, they've both had better roles in other movies.

Titanic certainly had its flaws, but I could at least appreciate the amount of work and detail that went into the production.

I agree with zuma, too -- FG wasn't a bad movie, but I much preferred both Shawshank and PF.

[Why A Duck]

The worst was definitely the year Jethro Tull won the award for best heavy-metal album. I mean what were they thinking?

What?

What do you mean "Read the gosh-darn subject"?

Oh.

Then let me be the first to decry what a piece of dingo dreck Gladiator was. Who should've won? Any movie except the gloomy gladiator (and Erin Brockavich of course).

[Legomancer]

Originally posted by Lionors
Same goes for Good Will Hunting and As Good As It Gets -- Good Will Hunting was at least watchable, but As Good As It Gets was simply boring. (Of course, I don't care for Helen Hunt as an actress, either.) I generally will go out of my way to see Robin Williams and Jack Nicholson, but comparatively speaking, they've both had better roles in other movies.

God I HATED As Good As it Gets. It was like being kicked in the groin for two hours. Was Nicholson even acting in that? Because it seemed to me that he was just being Jack Nicholson - that is, an arrogant asshole. OOH! I HOPE THE SWEET LADY HOOKS UP WITH THE ASSHOLE IN THE END! And I never felt like he stopped being the asshole. Even the line everyone talked about: "You make me want to be a better person." She gave you a chance to say something nice about her and not talk about yourself and you still couldn't do it, but apparently nobody noticed. Pah.

Sorry, sorry. Bad oscar choices. Whatever got best picture instead of Pulp Fiction.

[KarlGauss]

Originally posted by Cisco
Taxi Driver is the worst movie I've ever seen in my life. It's worse than bad. It's in a category of it's own several levels below the category with all the other bad movies.

To each his own. Still, it featured one of the greatest acting roles ever (De Niro as Travis Bickle), and it perfectly fit and depicted a bleak time in the US (mid 70's). Parts of the movie, and even its theme, have become film icons.

Plus it had a killer soundtrack by Bernard Herrmann.

[Anamorphic]

Costner (Dances With Wolves) beating out Scorsese (Goodfellas) for Best Director. Ha, I say, ha! I'll say it again... ha!

[Oblong]

Shakespeare in Love winning best picture.
Dancing With Wolves
Art Carney beating out Al Pacino in 1974
Marisa Tomei
Titanic (only best picture winner not nominated for a writing category)

[Beadalin]

Pretty much all the Oscars that Shakespeare in Love got, with the exception of Best Costumes. Not that it was a bad movie, but it sure as hell wasn't that good.

[Wolverine]

I agree with the Shakespeare in Love votes. I enjoyed the movie when I saw it in the theater but no way was it the Best Picture. People could make solid cases why Saving Private Ryan (my favorite) shouldn't win but not why SIL should. Still blows my mind.

[Skijumper]

Gwyneth Paltrow (Shakespeare In Love) over Cate Blanchett (Elizabeth). I still sigh over this, but that's just me.

[obfusciatrist]

A lot of recent-years bias in this thread.

Thanks to the wonderful Netflix, I recently concluded a three-month period where I watched every best picture winner available on DVD (which meant starting with All Quiet on the Western Front from 1930).

One thing I have to say is that regardless of whether the selection was the best film in a given year, the Academy has done an incredible job of picking movies that withstand the test of time.

It Happened One Night could easily feel incredibly out-dated, but it doesn't. A Gentleman's Agreement, The Best Years of Our Lives, and How Green Was My Valley could all understandably fail under the weight of time, but they don't. The Lost Weekend (1945) is still one of the best movies of all time on addiction. (Of course, it could be that the ones not yet available on DVD all suck terribly)

The reputation of Rocky has been completely destroyed by what came later, but it really is a marvelous film. The best example of time moving away from a nominee is probably The Towering Inferno, which was nominated for best picture in 1974 (can you imagine that film being nominated in the same year as Chinatown, The Godfather, Part II, and Lenny?

The single worst selection, though, was 1963's Tom Jones. I've only seen one of the other films that were nominated with it that year, but there have to have been many television shows that year more worthy of a Best Picture Oscar. I had to watch it in three sessions because it was so bad.

[LifeWillFall]

I still think 1994 with Forrest Gump winning is the worst ever! and anyone who says Pulp fiction is better than The Shawshank Redemption-well I guess that's a judgment call.

but in 1987, now I'll agree I never saw the winner The Last Emperor but look at all the fine films made that year (I'm going in order with the best at the top)
-The Princess Bride
-Good Morning, Vietnam
-The Untouchables
-Full Metal Jacket
-Leathal Weapon (Starting here are just good movies but can't have possibly been best pictures)
-Robocop
-Innerspace
-Predator
-Dirty Dancing
-Mannequin

and none of these were even nominated for Best Picture

[Guinastasia]

How about Helen Hunt winning Best Actress instead of Judi Dench. I loved Mrs. Brown. Dench WAS Queen Victoria. That was a DAMN good movie. But they gave it to Miss Perky Face.

[Oblong]

The 1998 and 1999 awards were really whacked out in my mind.

There's the aforementioned SIL. I forgot about Paltrow winning. She should be banned just for her acceptance speech (just how one 'surmounts insurmountalbe odds' I don't know). Then we had Roberto Benigni or however you spell it.

1998 was probably the worst of all time. We already talked about Titanic(hello-LA Confidential? Full Monty?). Then we had the cute little game of giving it to Hunt and Nicholson. Robert Duvall and Peter Fonda should have won it. And what did Kim Basinger do in LA Confidential to deserve an Oscar?

I remember Norm McDonald, after Jodie Foster was nominated for Nell said the academy is coming up with a new category-"Best Retard"

Another observation-any movie about the holocaust will win whatever it's nominated for.

[gigi]

Russell Crowe beating out Ed Harris in Pollock was pretty disappointing.

[tiny ham]

I still fly into an inconsolable rage every time I'm made to remember that Tommy Lee "Look At Me I'm Yelling" Jones (The Fugitive, I believe) beat out Ralph Fiennes in Schindler's List.

RALPH FIENNES IN SCHINDLER'S LIST? My GOD! He should have gotten fifty oscars for that.

[Michael Ellis]

Originally posted by obfusciatrist
The best example of time moving away from a nominee is probably The Towering Inferno, which was nominated for best picture in 1974 (can you imagine that film being nominated in the same year as Chinatown, The Godfather, Part II, and Lenny?

But did those other films have Steve McQueen and Paul Newman in a burning building? I don't think so!

Kidding.

I think O Brother, Where Art Thou? should have won, and so should have Saving Private Ryan

[Legomancer]

Originally posted by LifeWillFall
-Mannequin

and none of these were even nominated for Best Picture

I know, Mannequin totally got robbed.

[plnnr]

Mannequin? A good movie? Good for what?

Last Emperor was incredible on early all counts. It deserved the Academy Award that year.

[Lionors]

Erg, I'd completely blanked the Shakespeare in Love fiasco. It was a decent movie. It certainly didn't deserve all the hype. Private Ryan got completely shafted. And Cate Blanchett WAS Elizabeth. How she could have missed out...

I didn't like Gladiator, either, and I really expected/wanted to do so.

Bleh. Maybe the better question is, why do we agree with the Academy that their opinion on films is worth a pair of fetid dingo's kidneys?

[tracer]

Gwyneth Paltrow, Helen Hunt, Julia Roberts ...

I have a theory as to why the Best Actress awards seem so screwed up.

The Best Actress Oscar is a popularity contest. It has nothing to do with her acting ability, or the quality of her performance in the film she's nominated for. The Best Actress Oscar goes to whichever major-motion-picture leading actress is the best looking, gives you the best warm-fuzzy feeling, and generally makes you most want to have sex with her. You might as well be electing a prom queen.

[Michael Ellis]

Originally posted by tracer
The Best Actress Oscar goes to whichever major-motion-picture leading actress is the best looking, gives you the best warm-fuzzy feeling, and generally makes you most want to have sex with her.

Then why didn't Audrey Hepburn win for Breakfast at Tiffany's? Hmm?

[tracer]

By "you", I meant "the members of the Academy who get to vote for Best Actress." Not actually you. Unless you're in the Academy, and get to vote for Best Actress.

[Munch]

"Saving Private Ryan" over "Shakespeare in Love"? Are you forgetting about "Life is Beautiful"?!?

[BobT]

In 1963, "Tom Jones" was up against "America, America", "Cleopatra", "How the West Was Won", and "Lillies of the Field."

Two of those were epics that didn't do as well at the box office as expected and two were smaller films.

"The Greatest Show on Earth" beat out "High Noon" and "The Quiet Man", which was a crock.

In recent times, "Braveheart"'s win ticked me off. I would have given the Oscar to "Babe".

[Sofa King]

Films that won no Oscars at all:

Lolita
Blade Runner
The Maltese Falcon
The Thin Man
The Wild Bunch
The Great Dictator
Double Indemnity

And...

Notorious
Rear Window
Vertigo
Psycho

You think Spielberg's been screwed by the Academy?! Talk to Hitchcock.

[DPWhite]

Originally posted by LifeWillFall
I still think 1994 with Forrest Gump winning is the worst ever! and anyone who says Pulp fiction is better than The Shawshank Redemption-well I guess that's a judgment call.

but in 1987, now I'll agree I never saw the winner The Last Emperor but look at all the fine films made that year (I'm going in order with the best at the top)
-The Princess Bride
-Good Morning, Vietnam
-The Untouchables
-Full Metal Jacket
-Leathal Weapon (Starting here are just good movies but can't have possibly been best pictures)
-Robocop
-Innerspace
-Predator
-Dirty Dancing
-Mannequin

and none of these were even nominated for Best Picture

The Last Emperor was brilliant, and the only picture on the list here that was in its league was Full Metal Jacket, which is Kubrick's best work IMHO. Untouchables, Princess Bribe were excellent examples of their genre, and wonderful films, but rather minor league compared to The Last Emperor and Full Metal Jacket.

[Guinastasia]

Even though it was somewhat sentimental in its own right, Doctor Zhivago was definitely better than The Sound of Music. I HATE THE SOUND OF MUSIC!!! I HATE JULIE ANDREWS!!!!

[obfusciatrist]

Originally posted by Lionors
Bleh. Maybe the better question is, why do we agree with the Academy that their opinion on films is worth a pair of fetid dingo's kidneys?

Maybe it is because it is the people who make the movies telling us which they think are the best.

William Goldman always gives his impressions of the Oscars and nominees by prefacing with the fact that nothing he is about to say makes the Academy wrong or him right. It is just his opinion.

For example, Shakespeare in Love, in my opinion, is a better movie than Saving Private Ryan. After the first 20 minutes, Ryan is crap (further ruined by the fact that the movie is the flashback of someone who wasn't there). I don't think Shakespear in Love was the best movie of that year, but it was a better movie.

[capacitor]

If Crouching tiger, Hidden Dragon or Life is Beautiful didn't win for best picture, then it shows that no foreign film (other than from Britain) will ever win in the Best picture category.

More the reason I'm rooting for Shrek to win next year. A fall/winter movie will have to blow minds to even compare to this masterpiece.

Zhivago was boring; it was an extended classical music video you see in Classical Arts Showcase, while TSOM was about a troupe that escaped Nazi clutches while singing about it.

Have you guys seen the real Erin Brokovich? Oh my, Julia Roberts portrayed a much subtler, quieter version of her.

[Michele in SoCal]

This is an oldie, but I still think Rod Steiger (in The Pawnbroker) was robbed when Lee Marvin (in Cat Ballou) got Best Actor Oscar in 1965. Ok, I was only 11, but I remember how blown away I was by The Pawnbroker.

[tracer]

Sofa King wrote:

You think Spielberg's been screwed by the Academy?! Talk to Hitchcock.
Now now, Rebecca did win Best Picture.

[Milossarian]

OK, some of you are just plain being silly.

Saving Private Ryan wasn't even close to as good as Shakespeare in Love.

SPR had an amazing D-Day scene, and the rest of it was a pretty formulaic war movie, with one of Tom Hanks' least memorable roles in recent movies (not all his fault, though).

And I agree, a lot of you are being too hard on Rocky the First. Standing alone, it is a fantastic movie, that really, really stands up.

Mine's gotta be Marisa Tomei. Sorry; that role, and her performance of it, were not Oscar-worthy. I don't know how she even got nominated; let alone won. And this is coming from a person who would watch her read the phone book.

Additionally, how Al Pacino went Oscarless for both Godfather I and II is beyond comprehension.

And then they think they make it all better with their "sympathy Oscar," years down the road. They don't.

Pacino's performance in Scent of a Woman was very good. Maybe even Oscar-worthy. But it didn't touch his work in the first two Godfather films.

Roberts' win for Brockavich was undeserved and political in both the Hollywood sense (wanting to get Julia "her Oscar") and the politically correct sense (kind of storyline that the Academy always goes overboard for).

[Milossarian]

I want to add that Pacino's performance in Scent of a Woman (again; while great) was also not as good as his turns in And Justice For All and Dog Day Afternoon, either.

[Atreyu]

Originally posted by xanadu
I did a search on this and found that "Titanic" won for best picture in 1998, beating out "As Good As It Gets" and "Good Will Hunting." Titanic?!? What were these people thinking?

I was rooting for L.A. Confidential to win. A superb movie.

I didn't think Titanic was a bad movie, but it pales in comparison to L.A. Confidential.

[Michael Ellis]

Originally posted by Munch
"Saving Private Ryan" over "Shakespeare in Love"? Are you forgetting about "Life is Beautiful"?!?

Christ, I forgot that was from the same year.

I think we have a winner there.

[tracer]

Milossarian wrote:

Saving Private Ryan wasn't even close to as good as Shakespeare in Love.
I believe Bad Movie Night (http://www.hit-n-run.com/cgi/read_review.cgi?review=53449_jenlec) sums up my feelings about Shakespeare in Love quite nicely. :p

[Guinastasia]

TSOM was too cutsey, too happy singy. The singing nun, the curtain dresses-blah. Although I DO like Edelweise and My Favorite Things.

Give me Omar Sharif over Christopher Plummer any day. RRRRROWR!

[Mauvaise]

Originally posted by LifeWillFall
Alright, Seriously who paid off the votes to get Forrest Gump to win best picture over The Shawshank Redemption.

I have to agree with this statement. The Shawshank Redemption was, hands down, the best movie in that year. Pulp Fiction (which I loved) was also better than Forrest Gump (which I didn't really like).

As for the Cate Blanchett/Gwyneth Paltrow debate. Cate Blanchett was definitely the better actress, but I have to say that SIL was the better movie. While Blanchett was brilliant as Elizabeth, there were too many historical errors in Elizabeth for me to get totally swept away. That's not to say that SIL was historically accurate, but it was a romantic comedy, it wasn't supposed to be.

[RickJay]

Originally posted by LifeWillFall
Alright, Seriously who paid off the votes to get Forrest Gump to win best picture over The Shawshank Redemption.

In my honest opinion, "Forrest Gump" was ten times better than "The Shawshank Redemption," which while a decent movie just isn't Oscar material. I thought "Forrest Gump" was a masterpiece, and I don't know why people have such an aversion to it, or why they have such a boner for TSR. I do notice that a lot of people who don't like it thought it was meant as a comedy, when it was (rather obviously) meant more as a serious film, but YMMV.

I also think Marisa Tomei was a good choice for Best Supporting Actress. Geez, has anyone even SEEN that movie before they rip her? She was hilarious, and that's no easier than acting British in a costume drama.

And "Rocky" was a great, great movie. I think people assume it was just like the sequels. How wrong you are.

The number of BAD choices exceeds the post character limit, but one thought: Peter Sellers didn't win for Dr. Strangelove, and from that point on the Oscars will always be tainted.

[KarlGauss]

A number of you have pointed out that the original Rocky was, in fact, a very worthy awardee for best picture. OK, maybe I was being a bit too harsh. I will try to rent it and watch it again. Afer all, 1976 was the height of my snooty time (sophisticated, (pseudo)intellectual), and I probably remember it unfairly.

But you'll never convince me that Taxi Driver is anything but a masterpiece.

[TeaElle]

The Tomei/Basinger question led me to take a look at Supporting Actress winners over the years and I came to a conclusion. Supporting Actresses win on the strength of a standout scene. Time and again, you'll see that there was one scene in which the winner just wowed the audience.

Basinger, in LA Confidential, and Tomei in My Cousin Vinny each had *two* such scenes.

Basinger's were the scene in her hallway where she and Russell Crowe take digs at one another and ends with her telling him that she wasn't given plastic surgery, she just changed her hair, and the scene when Russell Crowe hits her, specifically the line "I thought I was helping."

Tomei's were the "My biological clock is ticking like this! *stomp stomp stomp*" bit on the cabin porch with Pesci, and the excellent courtroom examination scene when she demonstrates her considerable (and, up to that point unseen) knowledge.

Were they the best performances overall in their respective years? It's a good question that can never be answered accurately. But given two power scenes that stick in voters' minds, an actress becomes a key player in awards consideration.

[Milossarian]

Tomei's were the "My biological clock is ticking like this! *stomp stomp stomp*" bit on the cabin porch with Pesci, and the excellent courtroom examination scene when she demonstrates her considerable (and, up to that point unseen) knowledge.
This transcended all other female supporting roles that year???

[jab1]

Did Gone With the Wind really deserve Best Picture? Or should the award have been given to The Wizard of Oz?

Isn't it a crime that the original King Kong won no Oscars at all, not even technical awards? Besides the animation effects, the score and sound effects are amazing when you consider that talkies had been around for only five years.

Walt Disney received more Oscars than anyone else, but for his two best works, Pinocchio won only for its music and Fantasia won only an honorary award.

[TheeGrumpy]

I must beat the Elfman drum...

There is no way The Full Monty deserved Best Musical/Comedy Score for 1997. While far from my favorite Danny Elfman score, Men In Black was the clear favorite that night. (Though it was clear there was no way the lackluster Good Will Hunting would win over Titanic in the Dramatic Score category.)

And The Little Mermaid for Best Score of 1989? You're kidding! And Batman wasn't even nominated?? (Neither was Glory, but Horner got the nom for Field of Dreams that year.) Then to doubly snub Elfman, his excellent Nightmare Before Christmas score isn't nominated for '93, despite being the token Disney musical that year!

Speaking of '89, it seems odd that Glory beat out The Abyss for Best Cinematography and Best Sound. I mean, which movie had to invent its own sound and camera equipment?

Lastly, despite its flaws, Apollo 13 is a better Best Picture than Braveheart. Though for 1995, I'd have gone with Dead Man Walking, which wasn't even nominated for the top prize that year.

[Southpaw]

I'm convinced the Academy didn't even see Judy Garland's performance in A Star Is Born. Because if they did, they would've never given the Best Actress Oscar to Grace "I slept my way to the top" Kelly.

While not all of these are bad movies, Titanic, Chariots of Fire, Oliver!, Tom Jones, West Side Story, Around the World in 80 Days, Greatest Show on Earth, and Going My Way did not deserve to win Best Picture in their respective years.

It's also a travesty that Barbara Stanwyck, Rosalind Russell, Claude Rains, and Alfred Hitchcock never won Oscars (although Stanwyck & Hitch were given lifetime achievement Oscars).

[tracer]

TheeGrumpy wrote:

And The Little Mermaid for Best Score of 1989? You're kidding! And Batman wasn't even nominated??
Yeah, but Batman didn't have cute songs performed by crustaceans.

Personally, I think it was criminal that James Horner's score for Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan wasn't nominated for the Best Score Oscar. It was his best work ever -- far better than Titanic, which he did win for.

[TheeGrumpy]

Oh wait, I'm the one who started it. Very well...

ALIENS didn't win for 1986, but it was a waste of a nomination. It was nothing more than recycled bits of Khatchaturian and Horner's own Klingon motif from STIII. The score was cut & pasted (though that wasn't neccessarily Horner's fault), with one cue (Bishop's Countdown) repeated twice within 10 minutes -- having replaced the other climactic crescendo, which is later heard at the ending of Die Hard! And there's some of Goldsmith's original ALIEN score used for some cues!

But it didn't win, so there's no point calling it outrageous. Ironically, Leonard Rosenman's limp score for ST4:TVH also was nominated that year, so that's two slots down the drain.

[jab1]

It's not unusual for a sequel to use music written for a previous film by a different composer. The Superman series re-used John Williams' themes, but he worked only on the first one.

[BJaneDoe]

delphica wrote;

"I think this is an urban legend (I hope it is), but perhaps someone can shed some light on it. I've heard that Marisa Tomei's 1993 award for Best Supporting Actress for My Cousin Vinny was actually a mistake, that the presenter read the wrong name as the winner. Could this possibly be true? Or is this just sour grapes from people who didn't think a comedic role should have won over more serious contenders?"

You are absolutely correct! The presenter DID read the wrong name at the awards ceremony, making Marisa Tomei an accidental Academy Award winner. Oops! I mean it made her an accidental Academy Award "goes to" (we all know it's not nice to say "winner" at the Academy Awards)

Anyway, the actual winner was none other than that unkempt Orangutan from the Clint Eastwood movies. IMHO that creature had Marisa beat opposable thumbs down! Unlike Marisa's character, Clyde showed incredible acting depth in his performance in a little known film entitled; The Full Monkey. It's really a tragedy that this mistake occurred, but all in all, things seemed to have balanced out. After all, Clyde has made two movies since 1993!

[BJaneDoe]

Oblong wrote;

"Titanic (only best picture winner not nominated for a writing category)"

That's because 6/5 of the script were these two words!....

JACK!!!!!

ROSE!!!!!

JACK!!!!!

ROSE!!!!!

Sheeesh! It was SO boring!!! It was a beautiful movie to watch (even though I fell asleep)

I liked SHAKESPEARE IN LOVE and they had me from the beginning until almost.....ALMOST the end. THEN......Lady Gwyneth had to lay on that stupid alter!!! Her ugly, pointy shoes were sticking up, so unnatual-like! Just like the wicked witch of the west! I dunno. It really bugged me. I lost all sympathy for her character. I thought, "How can I feel anything for what you're going through when you're laying there with those ugly, pointy shoes?!!!"

[howard38]

I agree that John Wayne should not have won in 1969 although I would pick Jon Voight over Dustin Hoffman. However, I do think that Wayne should have won for his role in the SEARCHERS (I'm not sure who won that year.

A few years ago I was shocked that Frances McDormand won for her annoying performance in FARGO. I thought if anyone was worthy in that film it was William Macy.

[bagkitty]

People are forgetting the joke of 1969. Best Picture was "Oliver!" also won for best director. Kubrick's 2001: A Space Odyssey wasn't even nominated for best picture. Now, I am not certain that 2001 should have necessarily won - The Lion In Winter was also out that year... but Oliver!? Gimme a freakin' break.

[TheeGrumpy]

Are there at least two different ways to be an outrageous winner? 1) You stink because someone else was worthy of an Oscar that year, and 2) You stink.

[saraphin]

I stopped watching the Awards in anger after ET was awarded the Best Visual Effects over Blade Runner in 1982. Wrong, just wrong. Perhaps they felt guilty Steve didn't get it for Best Picture, so they gave the stupid rubber puppet the nod as an SFX, and not Douglas Trumbull's amazing creation of an entirely new world? I think I lost a lot of my childhood innocence that night--
;)