Can you believe the Academy overlooked this gem also?
That is because the hollywood elite would rather see an artsy, though provoking, abstract film get the award, than a film which simply entertains time and time again.
I’ve never understood why Citizen Kane is so highly rated. Can anyone explain?
1958.
Two films I have in my collection, both which would easily make it in a list of top 25 films ever.
The Defiant Ones
Cat on a Hot Tin Roof
Now, Gigi may be a better film (I doubt it) but I will never find out because I’m usually asleep in the first ten minutes or so...
Interesting list.
Some very good picks, though I’d disagree with the author about both Fargo and Philadelphia being amongst the best overlooked films. IMHO, Taxi Driver, Network, and Raging Bull are all better choices.
I have tried to watch Citizen Kane a couple of times. It seemed like a hokey soviet propaganda video.
A Bridge Too Far isn’t mentioned on this list anywhere. Great movie, 1977. Bigtime underrated.
The only one on the list I really liked was Shawshank Redemption.
As for "Fargo", it is a great movie because it is so realistic. Like that scene where the customer and his wife come in to yell at that sleazy car salesman is classic because everybody's been there before (bought a car only to find it ends up costing "more" when they come to pick it up). Or that awkward scene at the Radisson where the old classmate of the police officer who had a crush on her in high school makes a total mess of his lunch date with her. Or the one crook who would rather go to "Pancake house" than go to a strip club. And on and on.
My favorite scene is when the pathetic and sleazy car salesman "flees the interview" with the police officer.
Meanwhile, around these ordinary scenes is pure evil as a "simple kidnapping" gets completely out of control.
Citizen Kane,
Shawshank Redemption,
Dog Day Afternoon,
Wizard of Oz.
I have a mild disagreement with the list regarding these films. All were excellent, but might have just barely "missed the cut". I could be persuaded, I think, to put these in the "should have won" category--but right now, I have doubts.:
Fargo,
Goodfellas,
Bonnie & Clyde.
A bit of a STRONGER disagreement exists regarding these:
2001: A Space Odyssey,
Star Wars
Again, not to put either film down...I enjoyed both, I just think the case is harder to make. The former--let's face it, though visually stunning--takes two or three viewings just to begin to make sense, and the latter is was a definite groundbreaker, but not unlike a B-movie spaghetti western in terms of plot. Isn't that how Lucas wanted it to be, anyway? Stunning visuals from both--and that is why they should be revered.
I VERY MUCH disagree that these three films should be on the list:
Psycho,
Philadelphia,
E.T.: The Extra-terrestrial.
Entertaining perhaps, interesting twists in the first--social commentary in the second, and lovely allegory and life lesson in the last...but Best Picture of the whole YEAR? Not a chance.
I cannot give a good opinion on
Vertigo,
Apocalypse Now,
or Some Like It Hot,
as I haven't seen them or it has been SO long since I watched them I cannot recall.
How THAT for my 2 cents?
I remember that episode. I had no idea that Kevin Spacey was such a talented impersonator. While that scene was great, one that had me rolling on the floor was Spacey impersonating Walter Mathau auditioning for Chewbacca: "What the hell's a Wookie?"
Mark
Interesting tidbit from the article link:
“The model for the Oscar statuette was a naked Mexican named Emilio Fernández, who had a platonic relationship with fellow Mexican and big Hollywood star, Dolores del Río. Her famous husband, Cedric Gibbons, had been assigned by the Academy to design their award. Del Río introduced Fernández to her husband and he agreed that Fernández was the perfect model.”
Ultimate Western: The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly.
I always thought 2001 was over-rated and I love science fiction. I found it dull, pretentious and the ending incomprehensible. Oliver was pretty good.
Bump for later...
Can't be bothered taking notice of the Academy Awards, which, anyway, never were anything other than capitalistic promotion of the movie industry, the crummy limousine liberal hypocrites.
1) The Searchers (arguably the best Western ever);
2) Shawshank Redemption (the best thing ever to come out of Steven King’s pen);
3) To Kill a Mockingbird (just a great film);
4) The Quiet Man (everyone is Irish when watching and enjoying this wonderful film);
5) High Noon (Great story; great theme song; Cooper at his very best; Grace Kelly, demurely seductive, rises to the occasion by abandoning her strong pacifist beliefs to save the life of her husband by shooting a bad guy in the back, and clawing the eyes of another just as he was about to kill him);
6) The Wizard of Oz (pure magic);
7) The Wild Bunch (Gritty, gutsy, pushing the envelope “kick-ass” movie that transitioned filmaking from illusion to reality; the seminal “blood and guts” movie that actually had a terrific story line, and some stellar performances from such talented folks as William Holden, Robert Ryan, Edmund O’Brien, Ernest Borgnine, Warren Oates, etc.);
8) The Unforgiven (Burt Lancaster and Audrey Hepburn; like “The Searchers”, a terrific story by author Alan LeMay);
9) The Treasure of Sierra Madre (Bogart’s descent into madness was chilling; great story; great direction by John Huston, who directed his father Walter in this splendid film);
10) Afican Queen (Bogart again, this time as the besotted riverscow skipper Charlie Allnut saddled with the evangelical prude Rose Sayer, played by Katharine Hepburn, in a wild ride down an always unpredictable African river during WWI);
11) Stalag 17 (”The Great Escape” without the scenery, but truly gripping);
12) Saving Private Ryan (the best D-Day movie ever);
13) Empire of the Sun (Spielberg’s best; the very best performance by a kid ever in Christian Bale’s “Jamie”; John Malkovich was, well, John Malkovich, with another superb performance);
14) Alive (feeling hungry will never be the same);
15) Bite the Bullet (I will never grow tired of watching this excellent movie of a horse race across the West by a roster of cast-offs and misfits hoping for glory and a buck; Gene Hackman and James Coburn as ex-Roughriders whose time and way of life have come and gone with nothing to show for it but scars and memories was fun to watch; and the classically beautiful Candace Bergen as the on-again/off-again hooker whose goal isn’t the money or the glory, but rather the break-out of her no-good lover from a prison chain gang, upon whom she finally realizes she has wasted her best days).
And, the movie that should have won an Oscar for Best Picture but for the fact it was never released in the theaters, but was a made-for-TV mini-series: “Lonesome Dove.”
1939 was an amazing year. Basically, ALL of the nominees were deserving and would win going away in most other years. Other than those films, ‘The Shawshank Redemption’ was the only “best picture” shoulda-been on the list.
Shawshank Redemption
North by Northwest
Psycho
Vertigo
Saving Private Ryan