# 1994 Best Picture Oscar Mistake? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [June 1, 2002, 5:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/1994-best-picture-oscar-mistake/111913 "2002-06-01T17:47:08Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Sauron](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ce7236/32.png) [@Sauron](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sauron)\ **Post date:** [June 3, 2002, 3:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/1994-best-picture-oscar-mistake/111913/21 "2002-06-03T15:45:48Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by thermalribbon \* > How can this be, as the best picture Oscar is given last and the Best Supporting Actor award is one of the first Oscars handed out? Doesn’t sound right to me. Well, I meant that Denzel had some pointed things to say in the press after the ceremony. Although, now that I come to think of it, I’m not even sure _Glory_ was nominated. I do seem to recall Denzel saying something on the stage as he was accepting the award about the best picture category. Perhaps he was chiding the Academy for not nominating _Glory_ as a Best Picture candidate. ---
**Author:** ![ftg](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ftg/32/2801_2.png) [@ftg](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ftg)\ **Post date:** [June 3, 2002, 7:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/1994-best-picture-oscar-mistake/111913/22 "2002-06-03T19:17:13Z")
_Shawshank Redemption_??? The “which one doesn’t belong” of it’s Oscar class. IMHO, for that year: 1. _Forrest Gump_ 2. _Pulp Fiction_ (but virtually a tie) 3. _Four Weddings and a Funeral_ are all in my “can watch over and over” category. That leaves _Natural Born Killers_ and _Clerks_ for numbers 4 and 5. One these days I’d like to see a _Shawshank Red._ debate thread so I can try to figure out why people like that movie. To me, if it was in the grocery store it would be on the generic aisle. Note a single memorable scene or line in the whole thing. ---
**Author:** ![Tars\_Tarkas](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/6a8cbe/32.png) [@Tars\_Tarkas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tars_Tarkas)\ **Post date:** [June 3, 2002, 7:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/1994-best-picture-oscar-mistake/111913/23 "2002-06-03T19:39:18Z")
> [@](#): > > One these days I’d like to see a Shawshank Red. debate thread so start one!! ---
**Author:** ![Kepi](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kepi/32/7251_2.png) [@Kepi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kepi)\ **Post date:** [June 3, 2002, 7:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/1994-best-picture-oscar-mistake/111913/24 "2002-06-03T19:45:11Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by thermalribbon \* > How can this be, as the best picture Oscar is given last and the Best Supporting Actor award is one of the first Oscars handed out? Doesn’t sound right to me. _Glory_ was not nominated for Best Picture that year. The nominees for Best Picture were: _Born On The Fourth Of July Dead Poets Society Driving Miss Daisy_ (winner) _Field Of Dreams My Left Foot_ ---
**Author:** ![Ike\_Witt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ike_witt/32/283_2.png) [@Ike\_Witt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ike_Witt)\ **Post date:** [June 3, 2002, 7:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/1994-best-picture-oscar-mistake/111913/25 "2002-06-03T19:46:21Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by bryanblit \* > **I know the Academy Awards often makes mistakes in the winners of the awards. Actually, I’m not too upset by the nominations usually but the winners are sometimes…** You _ **KNOW** _ that the Academy makes mistakes? Or, is it that you _ **THINK** _ that the Academy makes mistakes? If you know, I need to see some proof. If you think, well then carry on. ---
**Author:** ![SpartanDC](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/b2d939/32.png) [@SpartanDC](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SpartanDC)\ **Post date:** [June 3, 2002, 11:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/1994-best-picture-oscar-mistake/111913/26 "2002-06-03T23:58:18Z")
I go back and forth on this one all the time. 1994 was a phenomenal movie year, and Pulp Fiction, Forrest Gump or Shawshank Redemption could have won best picture in other years. Sadly, they were all up against eachother. Gump was, in my opinion, the most conventional of the three. Aside from some great CGI, it was pretty much a contemporary Horatio Alger story. It was well-acted, yes, but I didn’t leave this movie totally overwhelmed by it. It was fun and very well-done, but it was lacking a certain something. Pulp Fiction was easily the most innovative. It’s a very profound thing to turn non-linear plot structures from an art house curiousity to a mainstream film-making technique. Extremely well acted with an incredibly good mix of characters. It deftly combines so many genres in such an original way. But I think movies like that are bigger than their time, and some historical distance is needed before its full impact can be assessed. Shawshank is my sentimental favorite. I love movies that make me believe in things like hope, dreams, human dignity and all that stuff. **Ftg** , no memorable scenes?? (SPOILERS AHEAD) The opera scene and the escape sequence are at the top of a very long list in my mind. Also, the movie has the feel and the lines of a 1940s classic, like: **Andy Dufresne:** “The funny thing is - on the outside, I was an honest man, straight as an arrow. I had to come to prison to be a crook.” **Red: _(narrating)_** “Andy Dufresne - who crawled through a river of shit and came out clean on the other side.” IMDB has plenty more where that came from. It’s that old fashioned writing (but without the Hayes Code to water it down) that makes me love this movie. It doesn’t pull any punches, and it shows just how bad prison life is. That’s what makes the end shine through so much. I always feel better about life after watching this movie. ---
**Author:** ![socialxray](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/35a633/32.png) [@socialxray](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/socialxray)\ **Post date:** [June 4, 2002, 12:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/1994-best-picture-oscar-mistake/111913/27 "2002-06-04T00:23:48Z")
“I hope to see my friend and shake his hand. I hope the Pacific is as blue as it is in my dreams. I hope.” When Red says that final “I hope” and the camera pans back and you can see him and Andy embrace on the beach, tears well up every time. _sniff_ God, I love that movie. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Rilchiam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/2bfe46/32.png) [@Rilchiam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rilchiam)\ **Post date:** [June 4, 2002, 3:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/1994-best-picture-oscar-mistake/111913/28 "2002-06-04T03:44:15Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Cartooniverse \* > \*\*What kind of title is it? It’s a movie based directly and fairly faithfully on a Stephen King novella called **Rita Hayworth and The Shawshank Redemption**. > > Be grateful it was trimmed down a bit. 😃 > > Cartooniverse \*\* God, what is, this, Talk Down to Rilchiam Day? I **know** what it was based on. I **read** the novella years before the movie was released. **That’s** why I thought the objections were being unreasonable. I also know that Paul McCartney was in a band before Wings. ---
**Author:** ![Rilchiam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/2bfe46/32.png) [@Rilchiam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rilchiam)\ **Post date:** [June 4, 2002, 3:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/1994-best-picture-oscar-mistake/111913/29 "2002-06-04T03:46:22Z")
**RickJay** : Precisely. ---
**Author:** ![waterj2](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/858c86/32.png) [@waterj2](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/waterj2)\ **Post date:** [June 4, 2002, 4:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/1994-best-picture-oscar-mistake/111913/30 "2002-06-04T04:11:37Z")
Really, how often does the Oscar go to the most inventive and daring film out of the choices? ---
**Author:** ![Max\_Carnage](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/max_carnage/32/12775_2.png) [@Max\_Carnage](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Max_Carnage)\ **Post date:** [June 4, 2002, 4:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/1994-best-picture-oscar-mistake/111913/31 "2002-06-04T16:45:08Z")
(see Memento and Lord of the Rings for further stress of the above) ---
**Author:** ![Eve](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/9e8a1a/32.png) [@Eve](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eve)\ **Post date:** [June 4, 2002, 5:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/1994-best-picture-oscar-mistake/111913/32 "2002-06-04T17:11:29Z")
I’m with Waterj2. The Oscars are a joke: “best film” and “best performance” arer totally subjective; only a small percentage are even nominated; and the voting is totally biased and political. A good number of people who vote have never even _seen_ the films. I stopped even pretending to pay any attention the year neither Lillian Gish nor Bette Davis were even _nominated_ for _Whales of August_. Feh. ---
**Author:** ![Sauron](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ce7236/32.png) [@Sauron](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sauron)\ **Post date:** [June 4, 2002, 7:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/1994-best-picture-oscar-mistake/111913/33 "2002-06-04T19:01:59Z")
In my opinion, the best line in _Shawshank_ belonged to Morgan Freeman, sorta early in the movie. It’s a word-for-word repeat of what’s in the book (where it worked quite well), but it’s just perfect in the movie. Dufresne goes up to Red (Freeman) and asks him why people call him “Red.” Freeman thinks a moment, and says “Maybe it’s because I’m Irish.” Classic. ---
**Author:** ![Tuckerfan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/eada6e/32.png) [@Tuckerfan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tuckerfan)\ **Post date:** [June 4, 2002, 9:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/1994-best-picture-oscar-mistake/111913/34 "2002-06-04T21:11:31Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Rilchiam \* > \*\* > > God, what is, this, Talk Down to Rilchiam Day? I **know** what it was based on. I **read** the novella years before the movie was released. **That’s** why I thought the objections were being unreasonable. > > I also know that Paul McCartney was in a band before Wings. \*\* He was? Must have been some obscure bar band or something. 😉 ---
**Author:** ![pldennison](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/9fc29f/32.png) [@pldennison](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pldennison)\ **Post date:** [June 4, 2002, 9:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/1994-best-picture-oscar-mistake/111913/35 "2002-06-04T21:21:12Z")
Well, now I’m really confused, because I have next Tuesday pencilled in as Talk Down to Rilchiam Day. Am I a week behind? ---
**Author:** ![Rilchiam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/2bfe46/32.png) [@Rilchiam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rilchiam)\ **Post date:** [June 4, 2002, 10:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/1994-best-picture-oscar-mistake/111913/36 "2002-06-04T22:31:03Z")
Hey, all. I’d just like to apologize for that outburst. I think I’m the reason the board went down last night, so that was my penance, but I’m sorry it affected others. There was another post in another thread, but forget that. Sorry, all! :::Rilchiam dons sackcloth and ashes::: ---
**Author:** ![bryanblit](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/b5a626/32.png) [@bryanblit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bryanblit)\ **Post date:** [June 5, 2002, 2:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/1994-best-picture-oscar-mistake/111913/37 "2002-06-05T02:38:30Z")
\Adam Yax\: You’re right, I \think\ the Academy often makes mistakes. The reason I said I know is because if I had just posted the message as “The 1994 Oscar should have gone to Pulp Fiction. They made a mistake,” I would have gotten messages like “The Oscars constantly make mistakes, get over it.” My point mainly was that this mistake, in my mind, was worse than many others because I thought Pulp Fiction was the best film of the 90s. This made me more upset than I normally would have been that it didn’t win Best Picture for the one year it was released. I can tolerate Mulholland Dr. only getting 1 nomination this year more easily because I didn’t feel as strong an injustice. Btw, who was your favorite character in Pulp Fiction? Or favorite segment? I found that I didn’t like the Bruce Willis segment as much as the others, although it was very good too. It’s strange, but one of my favorite characters was Winston Wolf, Harvey Keitel’s character. I just like the way he delivers his lines: [Winston Wolf takes exception to Vincent’s taking exception to his brusque manner] Winston Wolf: So, pretty please - with sugar on top … clean the (bleep)in’ car! And when Jimmie says “I can’t believe this is the same car!” Wolf: “Well, let’s not start sucking each other’s d\*\*\*s just yet.” Great! Come to think of it, I really liked that whole episode… ---
**Author:** ![Number](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/number/32/242_2.png) [@Number](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Number)\ **Post date:** [June 5, 2002, 3:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/1994-best-picture-oscar-mistake/111913/38 "2002-06-05T03:19:52Z")
> [@](#): > > _Originally posted by Sauron_ > In my opinion, the best line in Shawshank belonged to Morgan Freeman, sorta early in the movie. It’s a word-for-word repeat of what’s in the book (where it worked quite well), but it’s just perfect in the movie. > > Dufresne goes up to Red (Freeman) and asks him why people call him “Red.” Freeman thinks a moment, and says “Maybe it’s because I’m Irish.” I always thought that line was funny. It works, but its meaning is completely changed. In the story, Red _was_ Irish. ---
**Author:** ![Sofa\_King](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/58956e/32.png) [@Sofa\_King](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sofa_King)\ **Post date:** [June 5, 2002, 3:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/1994-best-picture-oscar-mistake/111913/39 "2002-06-05T03:51:26Z")
Sometimes, the snub is more important than the Oscar. For example, Stanley Kubrick’s _2001: A Space Odyssey_ wasn’t even nominated for Best Costume Design in 1968. Instead, _Planet of the Apes_ took those honors, in spite of the directly competing costumes, one film’s of which is clearly superior to my eye. You can compare for yourself: [2001](http://www.imagesjournal.com/issue09/features/2001/panel2.htm) [Apes](http://www.scifi.com/planetapes/) This led to the delicious rumor (attributed by some sources to [Arthur C. Clarke](http://www.visual-memory.co.uk/amk/doc/gaffe.html)) that _2001_ wasn’t nominated for costume design because it was assumed by Academy members that Kubrick used _real apes_! That was the kind of publicity you couldn’t buy, until some assholes turned it into a marketing schtick all on its own with that Blair Witch crap. Still, the dis on _Pulp Fiction_, and a hundred other excellent films and roles which were overlooked by the Academy seems to as often as not help as often as it hurts. In twenty years, _Forrest Gump_ will be visibly dripping with the manipulative sap from which it was bagged, and nobody will want to watch it. _Pulp Fiction_, on the other hand, will probably still be watched in film study class–and parties. ---
**Author:** ![bryanblit](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/b5a626/32.png) [@bryanblit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bryanblit)\ **Post date:** [June 5, 2002, 4:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/1994-best-picture-oscar-mistake/111913/40 "2002-06-05T04:07:23Z")
I agree – what does everyone think about the AFI 100 Greatest Films list? Pulp Fiction was at 95; Forrest Gump was at 71. Hmmm…Come to think of it, that’s almost worse than the Oscar thing. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/1994-best-picture-oscar-mistake/111913.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/1994-best-picture-oscar-mistake/111913.md?page=3)