# 1994 Best Picture Oscar Mistake?

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/1994-best-picture-oscar-mistake/111913>\
**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:** 3\
**Page:** 3

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**Author:** ![Rilchiam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/2bfe46/32.png) [@Rilchiam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rilchiam)\
**Post date:** [June 6, 2002, 6:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/1994-best-picture-oscar-mistake/111913/41 "2002-06-06T06:50:16Z")

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> [@](#):
>
> _Originally posted by bryanblit_  
> **Pulp Fiction was much more influential and broke new ground in filmmaking**

> [@](#):
>
> _Originally posted by Sofa King_  
> **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.**

This evening, Mr. Rilch and I rented **Chariots of Fire**. He had seen it once, I, never. Mr. Rilch said he no longer remembered much, if anything, about it, and had never been motivated to see it again.

We were vastly underwhelmed.

Afterwards, I came up here to check the IMDB, because Mr. Rilch had wondered, “What else was nominated the year this won? **Heaven’s Gate** , maybe? Had to have been the weakest year in cinema!”

The also-rans were **Atlantic City** 😕; **On Golden Pond** (another Oscar bait); **Reds** (eh); and Raiders of the Lost Ark. A film whose opening sequence is widely regarded as a perfect, I said perfect, ten-minute movie in itself, and is held up, as **SK** said, to film classes as an example. That lost to ambiguous wide shots of guys running, posh mumbling that we needed the closed-captioning to understand, pointless second-unit footage, and a lot of singing by the cast to compensate for the weak soundtrack. (Apart from that everlasting theme, which was too grandiose to be taken seriously and became a joke, the rest of the music is wallpaper.)

I like **Max Carnage** ’s suggestion of retroactive Oscars. Yes, I know you weren’t serious, but the measure of a film’s worth is its staying power.

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**Author:** ![Koxinga](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/4af34b/32.png) [@Koxinga](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Koxinga)\
**Post date:** [June 7, 2002, 5:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/1994-best-picture-oscar-mistake/111913/42 "2002-06-07T17:54:14Z")

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> [@](#):
>
> \*Originally posted by adam yax \*  
> \*\*  
> 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. \*\*

When I saw the thread title, I was sure it was going to be centered on the antics of a drunk Jack Palance.

Talking about underappreciated 90s movies, and nobody’s mentioned LA Confidential losing out to Titanic? Or the fact that my personal favorite, [Ronin](http://us.imdb.com/Title?0122690), wasn’t nominated for nothin’? Feh.

Pulp Fiction. Feh.

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**Author:** ![bryanblit](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/b5a626/32.png) [@bryanblit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bryanblit)\
**Post date:** [June 7, 2002, 11:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/1994-best-picture-oscar-mistake/111913/43 "2002-06-07T23:35:04Z")

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Yeah, LA Confidential losing was pretty bad, too…

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