# Oscar Best Picture elimination thread **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [March 9, 2010, 11:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oscar-best-picture-elimination-thread/531924 "2010-03-09T23:29:28Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/7cd45c/32.png) [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elendil_s_Heir)\ **Post date:** [March 10, 2010, 4:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oscar-best-picture-elimination-thread/531924/41 "2010-03-10T16:53:16Z")
Hey, I used to look like the kid in _Oliver!_: [http://paisley.presys.com/graphics/oliver.jpg](http://paisley.presys.com/graphics/oliver.jpg) I’ll evict _The Apartment_. Boring, whiny and self-pitying. ---
**Author:** ![MovieMogul](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f08c70/32.png) [@MovieMogul](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MovieMogul)\ **Post date:** [March 10, 2010, 4:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oscar-best-picture-elimination-thread/531924/42 "2010-03-10T16:53:51Z")
Going My Way…out! ---
**Author:** ![KneadToKnow](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kneadtoknow/32/3999_2.png) [@KneadToKnow](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/KneadToKnow)\ **Post date:** [March 10, 2010, 4:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oscar-best-picture-elimination-thread/531924/43 "2010-03-10T16:55:57Z")
> [@HelloNinja](#): > > Take off _American Beauty_. That movie hasn’t held up well. Interesting comment, with which I could not disagree more. May I ask what about it you feel hasn’t stood the test of time? ---
**Author:** ![Sigmagirl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/c89c15/32.png) [@Sigmagirl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sigmagirl)\ **Post date:** [March 10, 2010, 5:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oscar-best-picture-elimination-thread/531924/44 "2010-03-10T17:00:20Z")
Sorry, Tom Jones. ---
**Author:** ![astorian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ad7895/32.png) [@astorian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/astorian)\ **Post date:** [March 10, 2010, 5:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oscar-best-picture-elimination-thread/531924/45 "2010-03-10T17:39:56Z")
Still in the running… Wings The Broadway Melody All Quiet on the Western Front Grand Hotel It Happened One Night Mutiny on the Bounty The Great Ziegfeld You Can’t Take It With You Gone with the Wind Gone with the Wind Rebecca How Green Was My Valley Mrs. Miniver Casablanca The Lost Weekend The Best Years of Our Lives Hamlet All the King’s Men All about Eve An American in Paris From Here to Eternity On the Waterfront Marty Around the World in 80 Days The Bridge on the River Kwai Gigi Ben-Hur West Side Story Lawrence of Arabia My Fair Lady A Man for All Seasons In the Heat of the Night Midnight Cowboy Patton The French Connection The Godfather The Sting The Godfather Part II One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest Annie Hall The Deer Hunter Ordinary People Gandhi Terms of Endearment Amadeus Platoon Rain Man The Silence of the Lambs Unforgiven Schindler’s List The Lord of The Rings: The Return of The King Million Dollar Baby The Departed No Country for Old Men The Hurt Locker ---
**Author:** ![YogSothoth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/y/8edcca/32.png) [@YogSothoth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/YogSothoth)\ **Post date:** [March 10, 2010, 5:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oscar-best-picture-elimination-thread/531924/46 "2010-03-10T17:42:41Z")
> [@HoboStew](#): > > Not my thread, but I feel some explanation should be required for the vote. I’m more curious WHY you want it eliminated than what you are eliminating. I picked Gladiator because it was a simply an enjoyable action film and that’s it, no different from the pile of action films with big name stars that is released every year. Years later, it remains still, just an action film. Most everyone in the film’s beginning is the exact same at the film’s end. There was little that made it stand out. I was rooting for Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon that year because, while also filled with typical Hong Kong-style martial arts, there was a genuine growth of characters, it wasn’t like every other movie out there (at least in American cinema), and broke some ground. Gladiator didn’t do any of that. ---
**Author:** ![Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/7cd45c/32.png) [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elendil_s_Heir)\ **Post date:** [March 10, 2010, 5:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oscar-best-picture-elimination-thread/531924/47 "2010-03-10T17:44:19Z")
So… do we each get a second vote, or only one per person for the life of the thread? ---
**Author:** ![GrandWino](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/grandwino/32/67_2.png) [@GrandWino](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GrandWino)\ **Post date:** [March 10, 2010, 5:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oscar-best-picture-elimination-thread/531924/48 "2010-03-10T17:50:08Z")
> [@KneadToKnow](#): > > Interesting comment, with which I could not disagree more. May I ask what about it you feel hasn’t stood the test of time? Not saying it’s not a good film, just that the themes and whatnot that it reflects of the time (1999) don’t really resonate the same way they did then. It certainly isn’t the best Best Picture winner of all time, so may as well take it off the list sooner than later. ---
**Author:** ![Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/7cd45c/32.png) [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elendil_s_Heir)\ **Post date:** [March 10, 2010, 5:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oscar-best-picture-elimination-thread/531924/49 "2010-03-10T17:51:00Z")
…and I’d disagree about _Gladiator_; it wasn’t a one-dimensional action film, IMHO. We first see Crowe’s character, Maximus, eager for the war to end and to return to his family’s embrace. Then he suffers terrible tragedy and is consumed by the desire for revenge, but still does his best to set his beloved Rome again on track towards a republic at the end. The evil emperor seems to regret the “need” to kill his own father, and struggles with his attraction to his sister. The sister apparently has an unrequited love for Maximus and must watch him die just when she might have hoped they had a future together. I think they each have a character-development arc over the course of the movie. Then there are the great battle scenes, impressive cinematography, soaring score, etc. ---
**Author:** ![ClydeFontaine](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/9d8465/32.png) [@ClydeFontaine](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ClydeFontaine)\ **Post date:** [March 10, 2010, 5:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oscar-best-picture-elimination-thread/531924/50 "2010-03-10T17:57:56Z")
How Green Was My Valley. I should not have to explain why. ---
**Author:** ![GrandWino](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/grandwino/32/67_2.png) [@GrandWino](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GrandWino)\ **Post date:** [March 10, 2010, 6:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oscar-best-picture-elimination-thread/531924/51 "2010-03-10T18:02:05Z")
How about some sort of “Vote Back In” rule where a certain number of votes for a movie already taken off the list can get it put back on? I don’t think this would affect anything already taken off but it could make this thread even more interesting. ---
**Author:** ![BrotherCadfael](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/977dab/32.png) [@BrotherCadfael](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrotherCadfael)\ **Post date:** [March 10, 2010, 6:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oscar-best-picture-elimination-thread/531924/52 "2010-03-10T18:05:25Z")
\*\*Return of the King \*\*just wasn’t as good as **Fellowship of the Ring**. Fellowship deserved Best Picture. Return didn’t. ---
**Author:** ![Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/7cd45c/32.png) [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elendil_s_Heir)\ **Post date:** [March 10, 2010, 6:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oscar-best-picture-elimination-thread/531924/53 "2010-03-10T18:36:50Z")
> [@BrotherCadfael](#): > > \*\*Return of the King \*\*just wasn’t as good as **Fellowship of the Ring**. Fellowship deserved Best Picture. Return didn’t. :: wincing :: But I agree with you. ---
**Author:** ![MovieMogul](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f08c70/32.png) [@MovieMogul](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MovieMogul)\ **Post date:** [March 10, 2010, 6:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oscar-best-picture-elimination-thread/531924/54 "2010-03-10T18:53:37Z")
The Broadway Melody. ---
**Author:** ![KneadToKnow](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kneadtoknow/32/3999_2.png) [@KneadToKnow](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/KneadToKnow)\ **Post date:** [March 10, 2010, 7:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oscar-best-picture-elimination-thread/531924/55 "2010-03-10T19:21:17Z")
Update: Wings All Quiet on the Western Front Grand Hotel It Happened One Night Mutiny on the Bounty The Great Ziegfeld You Can’t Take It With You Gone with the Wind Gone with the Wind Rebecca Mrs. Miniver Casablanca The Lost Weekend The Best Years of Our Lives Hamlet All the King’s Men All about Eve An American in Paris From Here to Eternity On the Waterfront Marty Around the World in 80 Days The Bridge on the River Kwai Gigi Ben-Hur West Side Story Lawrence of Arabia My Fair Lady A Man for All Seasons In the Heat of the Night Midnight Cowboy Patton The French Connection The Godfather The Sting The Godfather Part II One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest Annie Hall The Deer Hunter Ordinary People Gandhi Terms of Endearment Amadeus Platoon Rain Man The Silence of the Lambs Unforgiven Schindler’s List Million Dollar Baby The Departed No Country for Old Men The Hurt Locker ---
**Author:** ![MovieMogul](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f08c70/32.png) [@MovieMogul](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MovieMogul)\ **Post date:** [March 10, 2010, 7:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oscar-best-picture-elimination-thread/531924/56 "2010-03-10T19:29:07Z")
Ugh. Can’t believe _The_ far-from-great _Great Ziegfeld_ has lasted this long. ---
**Author:** ![Monstre](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/e274bd/32.png) [@Monstre](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Monstre)\ **Post date:** [March 10, 2010, 7:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oscar-best-picture-elimination-thread/531924/57 "2010-03-10T19:44:11Z")
> [@HelloNinja](#): > > Take off _American Beauty_. That movie hasn’t held up well. Seconding this. I don’t think it held up ten years ago. Overrated and pretentious. ---
**Author:** ![astorian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ad7895/32.png) [@astorian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/astorian)\ **Post date:** [March 10, 2010, 7:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oscar-best-picture-elimination-thread/531924/58 "2010-03-10T19:48:47Z")
\*\*\*You Can’t Take It with You \*\*\*was Capra corn at its worst. Maybe, while the Great Depression was still going on, the message of “Don’t worry about money, just enjoy life” resonated with people. But the eccentric family that’s SUPPOSED to be charming just annoys me. That one needs to go. ---
**Author:** ![Bear\_Nenno](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bear_nenno/32/3358_2.png) [@Bear\_Nenno](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bear_Nenno)\ **Post date:** [March 10, 2010, 7:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oscar-best-picture-elimination-thread/531924/59 "2010-03-10T19:50:28Z")
Bye HURT LOCKER! ---
**Author:** ![Spoke](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a88e57/32.png) [@Spoke](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spoke)\ **Post date:** [March 10, 2010, 7:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oscar-best-picture-elimination-thread/531924/60 "2010-03-10T19:58:38Z")
**MArty** is MAwkish and MAudlin. Farewell Ernie Borgnine. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oscar-best-picture-elimination-thread/531924.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oscar-best-picture-elimination-thread/531924.md?page=4)