2005′s ‘Crash’ may well be worst Oscar Best Picture winner ever
by Sam Juliano
One of the most popular ongoing Oscar games is to identify the absolute worst choices ever made for Best Picture over the 86 year history of the awards. Some takers will always choose to name what they feel are the worst films to win, while others prefer to cite the films that won over far more deserving winners. On the latter front a popular choice will always be 1941′s How Green Was My Valley, a John Ford masterwork that had the temerity to top the film that many consider the greatest of all-time: Orson Welles’ Citizen Kane. Yet, How Green Was My Valley would be a legitimate winner practically any other year, so the strong indignation for 1941 seems misguided. It would be safe to contend that roughly half of the films named Best Picture over eight decades plus are unworthy of the ultimate designation for either of the two reasons, or a combination of both. Of the remaining half we could discount another 50% or so that are acceptable, but uninspired. That leaves us with maybe one-quarter of the actual selections that can be regarded as valid and worthy of the Oscar. Needless to say, the Academy Awards, by their very make-up rarely show the proper attention for foreign-language cinema, so even in the minority instance where they did get it right there is a significant asterisk next to the choices. Ironically enough the last time the Academy got it right was just a year ago, when the critically-venerated The Artist earned the top prize after nearly every critics’ organization worldwide made the same call. There are a number of other instances over the years where movie lover are nearly unanimous in their belief that justice was served: Lawrence of Arabia, All Quiet on the Western Front, No Country For Old Men, The Return of the King, West Side Story, Midnight Cowboy, The Godfather, The Godfather Part 2 among them.
But more often than not the wrong film won. In many instance the choice made was not only the wrong film, but a film that had no business even being considered. Some of the winners are deplorable. Everyone has different ideas as to what the worst winners are, and I have offered up my own list of what I feel are the most egregious Best Picture winners. I will reserve specific analysis and commentary for possible employment in the comment section of this post.
I urge all readers to add their own lists of the ’20 Worst Oscar winners’ to the comment section.
The 20 Worst Oscar winners for Best Picture:
1. Crash
2. Mrs. Miniver
3. Cavalcade
4. The Great Ziegfeld
5. Rocky
6. Cimarron
7. Titanic
8. The Greatest Show on Earth
9. Broadway Melody of 1928
10. Million Dollar Baby
11. Around the World in 80 Days
12. A Dangerous Mind
13. Rain Man
14. Braveheart
15. Out of Africa
16. In the Heat of the Night
17. Going My Way
18. Gentleman’s Agreement
19. The Life of Emile Zola
20. The Best Years of Our Lives
