So many choices here, but you folks are just not going back far enough. As bad a choice as “The English Patient” might have been, that wasn’t even close to the travesty that was the Best Picture Oscar for “Around The World In Eighty Days.”
The choice of “Oliver!” in 1968 was another ridiculous pick. “Oliver!” I mean, honestly.
Actually, I would have given it to him for The Insider. He was amazing in that movie. Unfortunately only a handful of people saw the movie.
The Oscars is often more about “honoring” an actor/director’s body of work rather than any one individual performance. And let’s face it, so much of it has to do with marketing and popularity (Julia Roberts?!). That said, people/films I’d take the Oscar away from:
Helen Hunt - I didn’t think she was that good in this. Was it a bad year for actresses?
Halle Berry - I just don’t get her appeal. Yes, she’s pretty, but as far as I’m concerned, she ruined the latest Bond.
Shakespeare in Love - It was cute and all, but…
A Beautiful Mind - Forgive me for expecting more depth. Way too syrupy.
Titanic
Forrest Gump - I must be the only person alive who did not like this movie with all my heart.
The English Patient - My brain liked this movie, but I wanted my heart to like it more.
I second or third Saving Private Ryan over Shakespeare in Love
And my other choice? I’ll take the best picture oscar that all of you are collectively attempting to steal from Titanic and put it right back on James Cameron’s bedside table where it belongs. There’s a reason that that movie (a) received critical raves, and (b) made far, far more money than any other movie, ever. And it’s not just special effects or heartthrob actors.
Damn Titanic-bashers!
I agree with you, ruralrage, but you know “everyone” (Hollywood type folk) is thinking “Well, ‘Return of the King’ is coming out for the 2004 Oscars. We’ll nominate and maybe award that and give PJ the Director award for the series at that time.” Some people are treating it as a throwaway that PJ will win next year, and as much as I’d love for that to happen, I’m bracing myself for when/if he doesn’t, because sometimes the awards just go to the bizarrest nominees. (I reiterate my disdain for Halle Berry as an example.)
I don’t know anyone who has seen Chicago… it isn’t playing in very many theaters.
I would take away Russel Crowe’s Oscar for Gladiator and give it to Tom Hanks for Cast Away. An outstanding performance, especially after he returns to civilization and must cope with a new life.
How did enough people see Jim Broadbent in “Iris” to vote him to a win? I don’t know anyone who saw that. Was this because he was in “Moulin Rouge”, but was only nominated for “Iris”? Ebert seemed to think so.
Jim Broadbent didn’t win for Iris or Moulin Rogue: he won for two decades worth of solid roles. Same deal as Chris Cooper this year. He may very well win, ostensibly for Adaptation, but it will really be for a body of work. Ditto for Tommy Lee Jones and The Fugitive. The Supporting awards often work this way, even more so than the lead categories.
A friend of mine clings to the idealistic belief that the Oscar should be awarded to the best nominee in each category regardless of past achievement, prior snubs, the nominee’s position in the Hollywood pecking order, or industry politics. The Oscars drive him crazy, of course.
I may be way off base here, and I didn’t see the movie he won for so take it with a grain of salt, but: Take James Coburn’s oscar, and give it to Haley Joel Osment. The 6th Sense gets my vote for best performance by a child actor ever. I know at the time the thought was that Coburn had a long career to reward and that Osment would surely win later when he grew up… But with Pay it Forward, The Country Bears, and Jungle Book 2, it’s not looking promising.
Chicago isn’t even in theaters where i am at…limited release films shouldn’t even be nominated…they just steal the show away from movies that worked hard to get released wide in the amount of time necessary. Limited release says to me that they are oscar greedy…end hijack part 2: demise of the vultures…
Totally agreed. I hate movies that are released in 2 theaters on Dec. 31st just to get in under the calendar year cut-off. These are also usually the movies that someone get a billion nominations/awards for what seems purely to be speculation on actors/writer(s)/director involved. Or the fact that 2 or 3 “key” critics have seen a critic’s screening. This year, I put “The Hours” and “Chicago” in that cateogry. They may very well be good movies, but … well, this is another tangent altogether.
I’m one of those people who thinks that Oscars should be awarded to the best movie/director/actor that year and not for extraneous reasons. So idealistic… Of course, a lot of Academy members don’t even see the movies, or else they let their spouses/families do the voting.
I’ll second the oscar from Russel Crowe for Gladiator to Tom Hanks for Cast Away. He had to carry most of that movie alone.
And I’ll raise you by taking every oscar that damned gladiator movie won. Personally, I HATED it. It was a cheap, shallow, summer movie that didn’t even deserve to get an oscar.
Under Academy rules, films are eligible for Oscar consideration if they play in Los Angeles for at least one week in a calendar year. Which is why you rarely if ever see a picture released Dec 26-31. The (IIRC) score from City Lights was nominated in the 50s, a few decades after it was made, because it didn’t play in Los Angeles until then. So it doesn’t really matter if a movie is limited release or wide release when it comes to Oscar contention.
I personally didn’t think it a very strong field, but they could have found someone else to whom to give the 1995 best supporting actress Ocsar. Mira Sorvino? No really, who was supposed to win?
1995 Best Supporting Actress
Win, Mira Sorvino, Mighty Aphrodite
Runner-Up, Joan Allen, Nixon
Runner-Up, Kate Winslet, Sense and Sensibility
Runner-Up, Kathleen Quinlan, Apollo 13
Runner-Up, Mare Winningham, Georgia
The thing is, distributors are well aware of the timeline of the awards and they release films accordingly. They want the movies that they’re going to push for awards still in theaters when the ceremony rolls around. So, they’ve developed a formula to get in at the deadline and work up in popularity from there. That’s why Oscar season starts around Christmas. Occasionally you’ll see a film from earlier the year before that gets a surprise nomination and is re-released for a couple of weeks after they’re nominated.
That seems to be the idea with Chicago, and even with Lord of the Rings. It’s no random choice that the films are Christmas releases rather than summer blockbusters. Chicago is a bit weird because of it’s really slow pattern of release. Miramax ran it in art houses (or just one or two screens in a city) exclusively for three or four weeks, like they were trying to get art credibility even though there are massively famous stars attached to it. And it seems to have worked, mostly.
There doesn’t seem to be any such thing as a film “working hard” to get a big release before Dec. 31st. Every single move this time of year (or any other time, really) is carefully calculated by the distributors. I don’t think Chicago should win or anything, though.
And more on topic, here is a great little story related to the OP.
Here are a few.
1966, Best Actor, take away Paul Scofield, give to Richard Burton “Who’s Afraid of Virginia Wolfe”
1968, Best Actress, take away Barbra Streisand and Kathrine Hepburn, give to Mia Farrow “Rosemary’s Baby”
1969, Best Actor, take away John Wayne, give to Jon Voight “Midnight Cowboy”
1972, Best Actress, take away Liza Minnelli, give to Diana Ross “Lady Sings the Blues”
1973, Best Actress, take away Glenda Jackson, give to Ellyn Burstyn “The Exorcist”
1974, Best Actor, take away Art Carney, give to Al Pacino “The Godfather II”
1977, Best Actor, take away Richard Dryfuss, give to John Travolta “Saturday Night Fever”
1983, Best Actress, take away Shirley McClaine, give to Debra Winger “Terms of Endearment”
1987, Best Actress, take away Cher, give to Glenn Close “Fatal Attraction”
1992, Best Actor, take away Al Pacino, give to Denzel Washington “Malcolm X”
2000, Best Actress, take away Julia Roberts, give to Laura Linley, “You Can Count On Me”
2001 Best Actor, take away Denzel Washington, give to Russell Crowe, “Beautiful