This came up in conversation last night. Only three films have won all five of the top Oscars: Picture, Director, Lead Actress, Lead Actor, and Writing.
While all are extremely good movies, I wouldn't list any of them in my top picks. Certainly not top ten, maybe not even top 50. (Crap, now I have to think about my top 50.)
The common stats you see are films with the most wins and most nominations. I liked Titantic more than many of my friends, but while it's the top of those lists it's not the best film ever. All About Eve tied it with 14 nominations (and only 6 wins) and its certainly a great film, but any system that gives Mrs. Miniver 12 nominations has to be rethought.
Number of wins is skewed by what else was nominated that year and number of nominations places too much importance on minor categories like costumes or sound editing. At first thought, winning all of the top awards would seem to be a better measure of greatness than either of those two lists. But given the only three films that won the big 5, it doesn't seem too successful a measure either.
* Highlight below for answer *
"It Happened One Night in 1934
One Flew Over The Cuckoo's Nest in 1975
The Silence of the Lambs in 1991
and if you haven't seen any of them, you really should.
3 comments:
I've only seen 2 of the 3 (not the 1st) ; but how could either of those, especially the 2nd, not be in your top 50? Now I really want to see your top 50!
I did say *maybe*. :) Ok, you start thinking great movies and you go, (with a little help of netflix and the films I've given 5 stars), in no particular order....
Godfather I and II, Goodfellas, Citizen Kane, Casablanca, 12 Angry Men, Inherit the Wind, Rear Window, North by Northwest, Some Like It Hot, Adam's Rib, 2001, All About Eve, Annie Hall, Bridge on the River Kwai, Lawrence of Arabia, Princess Bride, Star Wars, 2001, Dr. Strangelove, Young Frankenstein, Blazing Saddles, Monty Python and the Holy Grail, The Great Escape, Hoop Dreams, The Lion in Winter, Paths of Glory, All Quiet on the Western Front, The Deer Hunter, The Wizard of Oz, Gone With the Wind, Spartacus, Planet of the Apes, Platoon, Raging Bull, Raiders of the Lost Ark, The Incredibles, Die Hard, The Matrix, Pulp Fiction, Shawshank, Saving Private Ryan, Schindler's List, Fight Club, Braveheart, The Wrong Trousers, The Gold Rush, City Lights, The General, The Birth of a Nation, Intolerance, MASH, Rocky, Stagecoach, High Noon, The Searchers, Singin' in the Rain, Sunset Blvd, The Thin Blue Line, ...
And that's almost entirely just american films. There's also The Wages of Fear, Seven Samurai, Fanny and Alexander, Metropolis, Ran, Shoah,
And I haven't really gone through great non-US directors like, Eisenstein, Kurosawa, Bergman, Fellini, Truffaut, Godard, Satyajit Ray, Tarkovsky, Renoir, Malle, Kieslowski, etc.
So that's over 50 films and "great" is hard to define. My list is some combination of fun to watch, expertly crafted, and historically significant. Want to argue that The Incredibles shouldn't be there or The Wrong Trousers is a short, or some of the others sure, lists are made to argue about.
But I got a ways before I get to these three.
The Adventures of Robin Hood, The Philadelphia Story, It's a Wonderful Life, The Red Shoes, On the Waterfront, Marty, West Side Story, Judgment at Nuremberg, To Kill a Mockingbird, The Sound of Music, The Conversation, Chinatown, Dog Day Afternoon, Jaws, Fargo, Sullivan's Travels, ...
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