# Most outrageous Oscar winners **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [September 4, 2001, 3:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-outrageous-oscar-winners/79617 "2001-09-04T03:49:07Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Wolverine](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/ba9def/32.png) [@Wolverine](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wolverine)\ **Post date:** [September 4, 2001, 5:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-outrageous-oscar-winners/79617/21 "2001-09-04T17:07:33Z")
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. ---
**Author:** ![Skijumper](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/3e96dc/32.png) [@Skijumper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skijumper)\ **Post date:** [September 4, 2001, 5:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-outrageous-oscar-winners/79617/22 "2001-09-04T17:07:51Z")
Gwyneth Paltrow (Shakespeare In Love) over Cate Blanchett (Elizabeth). I still sigh over this, but that’s just me. ---
**Author:** ![obfusciatrist](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/4af34b/32.png) [@obfusciatrist](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/obfusciatrist)\ **Post date:** [September 4, 2001, 5:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-outrageous-oscar-winners/79617/23 "2001-09-04T17:28:07Z")
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. ---
**Author:** ![LifeWillFall](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/46a35a/32.png) [@LifeWillFall](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LifeWillFall)\ **Post date:** [September 4, 2001, 5:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-outrageous-oscar-winners/79617/24 "2001-09-04T17:54:01Z")
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 ---
**Author:** ![Guinastasia](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guinastasia/32/5751_2.png) [@Guinastasia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Guinastasia)\ **Post date:** [September 4, 2001, 6:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-outrageous-oscar-winners/79617/25 "2001-09-04T18:06:14Z")
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. ---
**Author:** ![Oblong](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/c0e974/32.png) [@Oblong](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Oblong)\ **Post date:** [September 4, 2001, 6:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-outrageous-oscar-winners/79617/26 "2001-09-04T18:38:34Z")
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. ---
**Author:** ![gigi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/a587f6/32.png) [@gigi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gigi)\ **Post date:** [September 4, 2001, 6:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-outrageous-oscar-winners/79617/27 "2001-09-04T18:49:13Z")
Russell Crowe beating out Ed Harris in **Pollock** was pretty disappointing. ---
**Author:** ![tiny\_ham](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/a183cd/32.png) [@tiny\_ham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tiny_ham)\ **Post date:** [September 4, 2001, 6:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-outrageous-oscar-winners/79617/28 "2001-09-04T18:54:43Z")
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. ---
**Author:** ![Michael\_Ellis](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/977dab/32.png) [@Michael\_Ellis](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Michael_Ellis)\ **Post date:** [September 4, 2001, 6:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-outrageous-oscar-winners/79617/29 "2001-09-04T18:57:40Z")
> [@](#): > > \*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** ---
**Author:** ![Legomancer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/779978/32.png) [@Legomancer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Legomancer)\ **Post date:** [September 4, 2001, 7:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-outrageous-oscar-winners/79617/30 "2001-09-04T19:15:20Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by LifeWillFall \* > \*\*-Mannequin \*\* > > and none of these were even nominated for Best Picture I know, Mannequin totally got robbed. ---
**Author:** ![plnnr](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/7ea924/32.png) [@plnnr](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/plnnr)\ **Post date:** [September 4, 2001, 7:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-outrageous-oscar-winners/79617/31 "2001-09-04T19:30:19Z")
Mannequin? A good movie? Good for what? Last Emperor was incredible on early all counts. It deserved the Academy Award that year. ---
**Author:** ![Lionors](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/c37758/32.png) [@Lionors](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lionors)\ **Post date:** [September 4, 2001, 8:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-outrageous-oscar-winners/79617/32 "2001-09-04T20:10:35Z")
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? ---
**Author:** ![tracer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tracer/32/20578_2.png) [@tracer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tracer)\ **Post date:** [September 4, 2001, 8:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-outrageous-oscar-winners/79617/33 "2001-09-04T20:18:06Z")
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. ---
**Author:** ![Michael\_Ellis](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/977dab/32.png) [@Michael\_Ellis](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Michael_Ellis)\ **Post date:** [September 4, 2001, 9:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-outrageous-oscar-winners/79617/34 "2001-09-04T21:23:49Z")
> [@](#): > > \*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? ---
**Author:** ![tracer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tracer/32/20578_2.png) [@tracer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tracer)\ **Post date:** [September 4, 2001, 9:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-outrageous-oscar-winners/79617/35 "2001-09-04T21:26:40Z")
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. ---
**Author:** ![Munch](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/munch/32/5281_2.png) [@Munch](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Munch)\ **Post date:** [September 4, 2001, 9:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-outrageous-oscar-winners/79617/36 "2001-09-04T21:40:34Z")
“Saving Private Ryan” over “Shakespeare in Love”? Are you forgetting about “Life is Beautiful”?!? ---
**Author:** ![BobT](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/8e8cbc/32.png) [@BobT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BobT)\ **Post date:** [September 4, 2001, 10:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-outrageous-oscar-winners/79617/37 "2001-09-04T22:16:02Z")
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”. ---
**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:** [September 4, 2001, 10:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-outrageous-oscar-winners/79617/38 "2001-09-04T22:28:39Z")
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. ---
**Author:** ![DPWhite](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/d26b3c/32.png) [@DPWhite](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DPWhite)\ **Post date:** [September 4, 2001, 10:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-outrageous-oscar-winners/79617/39 "2001-09-04T22:55:21Z")
> [@](#): > > \*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. ---
**Author:** ![Guinastasia](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guinastasia/32/5751_2.png) [@Guinastasia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Guinastasia)\ **Post date:** [September 4, 2001, 11:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-outrageous-oscar-winners/79617/40 "2001-09-04T23:03:07Z")
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!!! [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-outrageous-oscar-winners/79617.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-outrageous-oscar-winners/79617.md?page=3)