A Look Back At Best Picture races

With most of the races this year seemingly settled before telecast (Jeff Bridges, Christoph Waltz, Monique are all considered locks), all the drama is rightfully placed on The Hurt Locker vs. Avatar for Best Picture. To celebrate the biggest award in the entertainment industry, I’m going to take a look back at all the Best Picture races since 1994. I figure this is a good place to start because it was the last time a Best Picture race symbolized the traditional vs. progressive ideologies of the industry. Will Hollywood embrace the future of the industry by voting for Avatar or will it go the traditional route the way it did for Forrest Gump in 1994? I’ll post 1994-1999 now and then 2000-2008 later tonight. I’ll list the movie that won the award first and in bold-faced.


1994:
Forrest Gump
Four Weddings and a Funeral
Pulp Fiction
Quiz Show
The Shawshank Redemption

Best Picture in Retrospect: Pulp Fiction

First of all, I’ve been thinking a lot lately about how 1994 might be the greatest year in pop culture since 1967. Incredible year for movies, huge year for music (the Golden age for alternative rock, Kurt Cobain’s death), the debut of Friends, E.R., Party of Five(ok, so that’s huge in the Pollock household), great year for New York sports teams (Rangers won the Stanley Cup, Knicks making it to the finals, Yankees on the way to playoffs until the strike occurred) and of course, it was the year of O.J.

As much as I love Forrest Gump, Pulp Fiction is a better movie. History has not been kind to Gump. The popular perception now is that its simplistic view towards American history and over sentimentality outweighs the movie’s other achievements. Even those who love Gump may concede that the movie isn’t even the second best on the list. That honor goes to Shawshank Redemption.

1995:
Braveheart
Babe
Apollo 13
Il Postino
Sense and Sensibility

Best Picture in Retrospect: Braveheart

Braveheart is the kind of epic the Academy usually loves. I’m not sure what the race was like back then, but Braveheart must have been close to a lock for the award. I do remember Ron Howard getting snubbed for a Best Director nomination. In a year of solid, if not necessarily classic, movies Braveheart is still the right choice.

1996:
The English Patient
Fargo
Jerry Maguire
Secrets & Lies
Shine

Best Picture In Retrospect: Fargo

This one got me angry. Like Braveheart, The English Patient was the obvious choice given the Academy’s love for sweeping epics. Unlike the previous year’s winner, The English Patient was simply style over substance. I feel like it was made as an experiment to see if the Academy would give a movie the Best Picture award if it just looks the part. Fargo, on the other hand, was an immediate classic and should have won the award.

1997:
Titanic
As Good As It Gets
The Full Monty
Good Will Hunting
L.A. Confidential

Best Picture in Retrospect: Titanic

Back in 1997, this was not even up for debate. Like Avatar, the pure awe of seeing Titanic on the big screen was a mesmerizing experience. The nomination of Avatar for Best Picture immediately made people point out that if the movie wins the award, then the Academy is valuing technical achievement over other aspects. I don’t think there was as big of an argument when Titanic won. Although its occasional hokey dialogue sticks out more on the small screen, Titanic’s reputation is pretty much in tact. L.A. Confidential and Good Will Hunting are very good movies too, but Titanic was and still would be the right choice.

1998:
Shakespeare in Love
Elizabeth
Life is Beautiful
Saving Private Ryan
The Thin Red Line

Best Picture in Retrospect: Saving Private Ryan (but only by a little!)

People talk about 1998’s decision being as bad as when How Green Was My Valley beat Citizen Kane in 1941. I don’t think Shakespeare In Love deserves that distinction at all. One problem is the scopes of both movies. Saving Private Ryan was a beautifully shot, superbly acted, long war movie. It seemed to have Oscar written all over it. Shakespeare in Love was a witty, historical film that did not aim to address any huge societal issues. Both films were great in their own right although I still content that Saving Private Ryan is slightly over-praised. Yes, the first and last battle scenes rank as the greatest in war movies, but I think the middle section felt very stagnant at parts. If we recognize that the Academy too blindly awards the sweeping epic then we should also see that there is a lot of value in an excellent, smaller scale movie like Shakespeare in Love. All things being equal, Saving Private Ryan still may have been the better film. I just think the scopes of these two movies exaggerate the difference in quality.

1999:
American Beauty
The Cider House Rules
The Green Mile
The Insider
The Sixth Sense

Best Picture In Retrospect: American Beauty

I love American Beauty, but I wonder if The Sixth Sense will be the most memorable movie of this bunch years down the road. American Beauty certainly wasn’t a controversial pick, and I don’t think many would argue the pick today.