Every year, a little controversy surrounding the nominees and the winners. It can be argued that it is rather silly to vote on the artistic merits of a group of films and even sillier to argue about the results of those votes. But debating the winners and losers is a large part of what makes the Oscars so fun.
Throughout the 92-year history of The Academy Awards, there have been certain instances when the Academy clearly got the night’s biggest award, Best Picture, right. Then there are times when the choice was so bad the repercussions have been felt for decades to come (Out of Africa over The Color Purple?!?!). So let’s take a look at some times the academy got best picture right and some they got wrong.
Right: The Godfather (1972)
Generally regarded as one of the greatest films ever made, Francis Ford Coppola’s sweeping mob epic had a bit of a bumpy path on its way to collecting Best Picture at the 1972 Academy Awards. Paramount Pictures looked at several directors before going with Coppola and then attempted to replace him during production due to their concerns over budget, the production schedule, and casting. Speaking of casting, Coppola famously had to battle Paramount for Al Pacino to land the iconic role of Michael Corleone. Everything paid off in the end, though, as The Godfather was a huge financial and critical success, ultimately beating out films such as Deliverance and Cabaret to take home the Oscar.
Wrong: Dances With Wolves Over Goodfellas (1990)
Kevin Costner’s film about a Union Army lieutenant who befriends a group of Lakota was well-received by critics and was a huge hit at the box office in 1990. Unfortunately, the Academy got it wrong when they awarded the film the Oscar for Best Picture. Time has shown that the more deserving film in 1990 was Martin Scorsese’s Goodfellas. Scorsese’s film is held in high regard by audiences and critics alike and is often cited as a milestone in American filmmaking. The two films’ IMDb and Rotten Tomatoes scores further bear this out, as Goodfellas sits at 8.7 on IMDb and 96% critics / 97% audience on RT, whereas Dances With Wolves holds an 8.0 on IMDb and 82% / 87% split on RT.
Right: The Silence Of The Lambs (1991)
Over the course of its 92-years, the only genre more overlooked at the Academy Awards than comedy has been horror. Currently, only six horror films have been nominated for a Best Picture Oscar: The Exorcist in 1973, Jaws in 1975, The Silence of the Lambs in 1991, The Sixth Sense in 1999, Black Swan in 2010, and Get Out in 2017. Of those six, only Silence of the Lambs took home the big prize, beating out Beauty and the Beast, JFK, The Prince of Tides, and Bugsy to become the first and only horror film to win top honors.
Based on the 1988 novel by Thomas Harris, director Jonathan Demme’s film about a young FBI agent, Clarice Starling (Jodie Foster), who tracks down a serial killer with the help of imprisoned killer Dr. Hannibal Lecter (Anthony Hopkins) also nabbed Oscar wins for Best Director, Actor, and Actress.
Wrong: Forrest Gump Over Pulp Fiction (1994)
Robert Zemeckis feel-good love letter to America told through the eyes of simpleton Forrest Gump was a monster hit at the box office in 1994, becoming the highest-grossing film in America that year. Adapted from the novel by Winston Groom, audiences and critics embraced the film, powering it to the Best Picture Oscar for ‘94. It can be argued, however, that Forrest Gump was only the fourth-best movie nominated that year, behind The Lion King, The Shawshank Redemption, and the film that should have won, Quentin Tarantino’s Pulp Fiction. Perhaps a bit too extreme for the Academy at the time (especially compared with the saccharine Forrest Gump), Pulp Fiction has proven to be much more influential (both culturally and cinematically) and ranks higher on virtually all critical metrics than Forrest Gump (IMDb’s Top 250, Rotten Tomatoes, and Metacritic).
Right: Titanic (1997)
As one of the most commercially successful films of all-time (it currently sits at #3, behind Titanic was able to connect on an emotional level that few films rarely do. Furthermore, the movie was an incredible technical achievement, faithfully recreating the sinking of the unsinkable ship. Up against a strong field of nominees that included Good Will Hunting, L.A. Confidential, As Good as It Gets, and The Full Monty, the Academy avoided doing what they’ve too often done (i.e., penalizing films for being too successful) and gave the big prize to the more deserving (and enduring) Titanic.
Wrong: Shakespeare In Love Over Saving Private Ryan (1998)
This was one of those instances where the Academy’s choice for Best Picture immediately felt wrong. Steven Spielberg’s World War II epic just felt like a bigger cinematic achievement than Shakespeare in Love by nearly every measure.
Ask nearly anyone to recall at least one thing about Saving Private Ryan and almost invariably they will bring up the opening scene where U.S. soldiers storm Omaha Beach in Normandy. Ask the same of Shakespeare in Love and most have not even seen the film. While that should not necessarily be a mitigating factor, it does go to show the impact and influence that scene (a high-point in cinema, especially in the war genre) and Saving Private Ryan as a whole have had since its release.
Right: American Beauty (1999)
The race for Best Picture in 1999 was one of the strongest in recent memory. The field included The Green Mile, The Cider House Rules, The Insider, The Sixth Sense, and the winner, American Beauty. With a list like that, a case could be made for any of those five films to be named Best Picture. But this time, the Academy made the right choice. Sam Mendes’ film about the underlying disillusionment, repression, and sadness in everyday suburban life left a lasting impression on audiences, punctuated by strong performances from Kevin Spacey (winner of Best Actor for his role), Annette Bening, Wes Bentley, and Chris Cooper, among others.
Wrong: Crash Over Brokeback Mountain (2005)
In 2006, Brokeback Mountain came into the 78th Academy Awards with a ton of momentum. The film, about two sheepherders who have a ionate, yet doomed, same-sex relationship, was widely seen as the front-runner heading into the ceremony. Yet it was Crash that walked away with the award. There are many theories on why this happened, many of them having to do with the controversial subject manner of Brokeback Mountain and how that resonated with some of the more conservative voters of the Academy. While a fine film, Crash is seen by many today as one of the least deserving Best Picture winners of all-time, whereas Brokeback Mountain is viewed as a groundbreaking film in American cinema.
Right: Moonlight (2016)
The 89th Annual Academy Awards in 2017 will almost always be ed for the Best Picture presentation snafu in which Warren Beatty and Faye Dunaway were given the wrong envelope. They mistakenly named La La Land as the winner, when in fact Moonlight was the correct winner. It’s too bad that happened and it really took away from Moonlight’s big moment, not to mention embarrassing the La La Land producers as well as Beatty and Dunaway.
La La Land was considered the favorite heading into the ceremony, but it was Moonlight’s story of a young black male dealing with issues of sexuality, identity, and abuse that resonated more loudly with Academy voters. It may have been an unfortunate mix-up that tainted Moonlight’s win, but at least the Academy got it right in the end, in more ways than one.
Wrong: Slumdog Millionaire Over The Dark Knight (2008)
The 81st Annual Academy Awards, presented in 2009, featured a strong lineup of nominees for Best Picture, with Milk, Frost/Nixon, The Reader, The Curious Case of Benjamin Buttons, and the ultimate winner, Slumdog Millionaire. While Slumdog Millionaire is great, The Reader being nominated is the real issue here. The Reader (currently with a Rotten Tomatoes score of 63%) is a romance directed by Stephen Daldry starring Kate Winslet and Ralph Fiennes. Never heard of it? You’re not alone. Many people felt that the spot it took among the nominees should have gone to The Dark Knight instead and it’s hard to argue with them. The second film in director Christopher Nolan’s Dark Knight trilogy, TDK is one of the most well-regarded and influential comic book movies of all-time, elevating the genre to a new level. The snub was so egregious it played a part in the Academy expanding the Best Picture nominees from five to a max of ten the following year.
