AndyM108 Posted February 20, 2015 Share Posted February 20, 2015 One of our local radio stations did a complete "rewrite" of all the past Oscar winners, and surprisingly did a great job of it, even if nobody's going to agree with everything he says. You can click on each year individually to see the choices. REWRITING OSCAR HISTORY Here's one year in particular that I know will please a lot of noir fans: 1947 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Swithin Posted February 20, 2015 Share Posted February 20, 2015 One of our local radio stations did a complete "rewrite" of all the past Oscar winners, and surprisingly did a great job of it, even if nobody's going to agree with everything he says. You can click on each year individually to see the choices. REWRITING OSCAR HISTORY Here's one year in particular that I know will please a lot of noir fans: 1947 This is a pretty silly list. Not because there isn't a choice here and there that I might agree with (though not in 1947, apart from the sensible actress switch). But because the Oscars, even when you don't agree with their choices, tends to be logical, in that Best Picture will almost always win Best Director, or at least Best Screenplay. This new list doesn't do that -- it seems to want to have as many movies as possible represented. If a Best Picture doesn't win either Best Director and/or one of the Best Screenplay categories, what's "Best" about it? An illogical list. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AndyM108 Posted February 20, 2015 Author Share Posted February 20, 2015 This is a pretty silly list. Not because there isn't a choice here and there that I might agree with (though not in 1947). But because the Oscars, even when you don't agree with their choices, tends to be logical, in that Best Picture will almost always win Best Director, or at least Best Screenplay. This new list doesn't do that -- it seems to want to have as many movies as possible represented. If a Best Picture doesn't win either Best Director and/or one of the Best Screenplay categories, what's "Best" about it? An illogical list. Nothing at all "illogical" about it. With hundreds of movies a year to choose among, it's entirely conceivable that the awards could be split among different movies. But in any event, there are quite a few years on that list where the same picture got multiple awards*, so I'm not sure you've done much more than skim a few years before making your comment. *Just to take 3 examples, 1950 has 3 awards for All About Eve. 1947 has 3 for Out of the Past, including Best Picture, Best Actor, and Best Supporting Actor. 1941 has Citizen Kane winning Best Picture, Best Director, Best Supporting Actor, and Best Original Screenplay. And so on. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Arturo Posted February 20, 2015 Share Posted February 20, 2015 One of our local radio stations did a complete "rewrite" of all the past Oscar winners, and surprisingly did a great job of it, even if nobody's going to agree with everything he says. You can click on each year individually to see the choices. REWRITING OSCAR HISTORY Here's one year in particular that I know will please a lot of noir fans: 1947 I have a book about The Alternate Oscars (not sure if that's the title). And another book I have, Inside Oscar, has an appendix at the end, which lists all the nominees in all the categories listed by year, with asterisks for the winners. At the end of each year, the author then lists movies and actors that he felt should have been nominated. Both books are interesting reads, and while I think there have been Many lapses in judgement, downright bad taste, and even outright injustices in the selections of winners and even nominations, I don't care for this type of rewriting history using current tastes and sensibilities. It is what it is, and of its time. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AndyM108 Posted February 20, 2015 Author Share Posted February 20, 2015 I have a book about The Alternate Oscars (not sure if that's the title). And another book I have, Inside Oscar, has an appendix at the end, which lists all the nominees in all the categories listed by year, with asterisks for the winners. At the end of each year, the author then lists movies and actors that he felt should have been nominated. Both books are interesting reads, and while I think there have been Many lapses in judgement, downright bad taste, and even outright injustices in the selections of winners and even nominations, I don't care for this type of rewriting history using current tastes and sensibilities. It is what it is, and of its time. Not having read the book you mention, I can't comment on the specifics. But just as historians are constantly reinterpreting past events in the light of new knowledge and changing standards, I can't see any particular reason why Oscar awards should be exempt from that sort of scrutiny. And anyway, I'd hope that nobody making these revised lists is trying to claim any sort of "objectivity", any more than the original Oscar voters were themselves being "objective". We're all just giving our opinions based on our subjective preferences and values. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bogie56 Posted February 20, 2015 Share Posted February 20, 2015 I have a book about The Alternate Oscars (not sure if that's the title). And another book I have, Inside Oscar, has an appendix at the end, which lists all the nominees in all the categories listed by year, with asterisks for the winners. At the end of each year, the author then lists movies and actors that he felt should have been nominated. Both books are interesting reads, and while I think there have been Many lapses in judgement, downright bad taste, and even outright injustices in the selections of winners and even nominations, I don't care for this type of rewriting history using current tastes and sensibilities. It is what it is, and of its time. I too have the books you mention and enjoyed them very much. And I like this list presented by Andy. If I were to do something similar I think I would go a few steps further and not try to mirror the Oscar contenders so much. After all, the Oscars are really just a LA film festival offering. Films are eligible in the year they are screened in LA. For instance, Casablanca then falls in 1943 instead of 1942. Olivier's Henvy V was considered in 1946 instead of 1944 when it was released in Great Britain. The Academy allows actors to be put in the wrong category all the time, often to boost one's chances of taking a trophy home. For instance, Tatum O'Neal was not a supporting actor in Paper Moon. I'm glad to see that this Rewriting list allowed some animated films (e.g., Snow White) and foreign language films in their choices (e.g., Grand Illusion) whereas the Oscars place these films in their own distinct categories. But if you were judging Best Pictures with the inclusion of all possible animated or foreign language pictures I'm sure there would be even more of them present. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sepiatone Posted February 20, 2015 Share Posted February 20, 2015 Since we have some "newbies" in here,I'll forward this query again ....... What if there WAS a year, in which NONE of the movies released, and NONE of the performances in them STOOD OUT? NO movie was worth the price of a ticket, and ALL of them ranked NO higher than "one star" (or ROSE, in SUSAN STARK'S case) or less. WOULD they STILL feel it neccesary to HAVE an award granted that year? Shouldn't the award go to....the most exceptionally written, filmed, performed and favored movie of that year? Or simply, the LEAST mediocre? And, IF that's the case, how meaningful then, can that award BE? Sepiatone Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AndyM108 Posted February 20, 2015 Author Share Posted February 20, 2015 Since we have some "newbies" in here,I'll forward this query again ....... What if there WAS a year, in which NONE of the movies released, and NONE of the performances in them STOOD OUT? NO movie was worth the price of a ticket, and ALL of them ranked NO higher than "one star" (or ROSE, in SUSAN STARK'S case) or less. WOULD they STILL feel it neccesary to HAVE an award granted that year? Shouldn't the award go to....the most exceptionally written, filmed, performed and favored movie of that year? Or simply, the LEAST mediocre? And, IF that's the case, how meaningful then, can that award BE? Sepiatone Not very, but then unless you're either a nominee for one of those awards or a big time Kool-Aid fancier, I can't see how you'd ever want to take any Oscar award seriously in the first place. They're a good starting point for a discussion about the merits of various movies, but other than that they're pretty much nothing but a popularity contest. Not that there's anything wrong with that, but it does have its limitations. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kingrat Posted February 20, 2015 Share Posted February 20, 2015 This sort of thing is always fun. Too bad that the list is hard to access, rather than being available in one long document. But I have to say--if you're taking away Oscars, you let Charlton Heston keep his Best Actor award over Jack Lemmon (Some Like It Hot), James Stewart (Anatomy of a Murder), Laurence Harvey (Room at the Top), etc.? Sheesh. What were these people thinking? And Andy, I love me some film noir, but the best film of 1947 is OBVIOUSLY (he says, pounding his shoe on the table) Black Narcissus. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cigarjoe Posted February 21, 2015 Share Posted February 21, 2015 One of our local radio stations did a complete "rewrite" of all the past Oscar winners, and surprisingly did a great job of it, even if nobody's going to agree with everything he says. You can click on each year individually to see the choices. REWRITING OSCAR HISTORY Here's one year in particular that I know will please a lot of noir fans: 1947 A great Idea Andy, I mentioned i another thread that TCM should have a 31 days of NO-scar, all the great films for each year there was an Oscar that were't even nomiated that are best remembered today. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HelenBaby2 Posted February 21, 2015 Share Posted February 21, 2015 I only got up to 1941 before I got tired of clicking back & forth, but it's obvious that whoever put this list together has certain favorites whether they be films, actors or directors. Like a preference for comedy and comedic performances, at least in the years I looked at. Or maybe it's my prejudice showing. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AndyM108 Posted February 21, 2015 Author Share Posted February 21, 2015 I only got up to 1941 before I got tired of clicking back & forth, but it's obvious that whoever put this list together has certain favorites whether they be films, actors or directors. Like a preference for comedy and comedic performances, at least in the years I looked at. Or maybe it's my prejudice showing. Of course he's got his preferences. What other reason would he have for raising the subject? His preferences are more along the lines of how a film has held up over time rather than how it did at the box office back then, and for the most part (though not always) his "rewrite" choices are better than the originals. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AndyM108 Posted February 21, 2015 Author Share Posted February 21, 2015 I only got up to 1941 before I got tired of clicking back & forth, but it's obvious that whoever put this list together has certain favorites whether they be films, actors or directors. Like a preference for comedy and comedic performances, at least in the years I looked at. Or maybe it's my prejudice showing. About halfway through this, I wondered what the point was, but I didn't want to be like the Marx Brothers after they'd run out of gas halfway across the ocean. So What the H e l l, here's the whole list. You can see that he didn't agree with too many of the original choices, and that pretty much every genre was represented. You'll note that he combined categories, which means that some of these movies wouldn't have even been eligible for "Best Picture" in the first place, but so what? Restricting "Best Picture" to domestic movies has always been a strange sort of affirmative action that Hollywood films shouldn't need. 1927/28: Wings / Sunrise The General 1928/29: The Broadway Melody The Man with a Movie Camera 1927/28: Wings / Sunrise Wings / Sunrise The General 1928/29: The Broadway Melody The Broadway Melody The Man with a Movie Camera 1929/30 All Quiet on the Western Front 1930/31 Cimarron Cimarron City Lights 1931/32 Grand Hotel Scarface 1932/33 Cavalcade King Kong 1934 It Happened One Night 1935 Mutiny on the Bounty Top Hat 1936 The Great Ziegfield Modern Times 1937 The Life of Emile Zola Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs 1938 You Can’t Take It With You Bringing Up Baby 1939 Gone With the Wind The Wizard of Oz 1940 Rebecca The Grapes of Wrath 1941 How Green Was My Valley Citizen Kane 1942 Mrs. Miniver Yankee Doodle Dandy 1943 Casablanca 1944 Going My Way Double Indemnity 1945 The Lost Weekend Rome: Open City 1946 The Best Years of Our Lives It’s a Wonderful Life 1947 Gentlemen’s Agreement Out of the Past 1948 Hamlet Bicycle Thieves 1949 All The King’s Men The Third Man 1950 All About Eve Sunset Boulevard 1951 An American in Paris A Streetcar Named Desire 1952 The Greatest Show on Earth Singin’ in the Rain 1953 From Here to Eternity Tokyo Story 1954 On The Waterfront The Seven Samurai 1955 Marty Pather Panchali 1956 Around the World in 80 Days The Searchers 1957 The Bridge on the River Kwai 12 Angry Men 1958 Gigi Vertigo 1959 Ben Hur Breathless 1960 The Apartment Psycho 1961 West Side Story 1962 Lawrence of Arabia 1963 Tom Jones 8 1/2 1964 My Fair Lady Dr. Strangelove 1965 The Sound of Music 1966 A Man For All Seasons The Battle of Algiers 1967 Guess Who’s Coming To Dinner? The Graduate 1968 Oliver! 2001: A Space Odyssey 1969 Midnight Cowboy Easy Rider 1970 Patton M*A*S*H 1971 The French Connection A Clockwork Orange 1972 The Godfather 1973 The Sting The Exorcist 1974 The Godfather Part II Blazing Saddles 1975 One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest Jaws 1976 Rocky 1977 Annie Hall Star Wars 1978 The Deer Hunter Days of Heaven 1979 Kramer vs. Kramer Apocalypse Now 1980 Ordinary People Raging Bull 1981 Chariots of Fire Raiders of the Lost Ark 1982 Gandhi E.T 1983 Terms of Endearment The Right Stuff 1984 Amadeus This Is Spinal Tap! 1985 Out of Africa Back to the Future 1986 Platoon 1987 The Last Emperor Full Metal Jacket 1988 Rain Man Cinema Paradiso 1989 Driving Miss Daisy Do the Right Thing 1990 Dance With Wolves Goodfellas 1991 The Silence of the Lambs 1992 Unforgiven 1993 Schinder’s List 1994 Forrest Gump The Shawshank Redemption 1995 Braveheart Toy Story 1996 The English Patient Fargo 1997 Titanic 1998 Shakespeare in Love Saving Private Ryan 1999 American Beauty 2000 Gladiator In the Mood For Love 2001 A Beautiful Mind Amelle 2002 Chicago City of God 2003 The Lord of the Rings: Return of the King 2004 Million Dollar Baby Downfall 2005 Crash Brokeback Mountain 2006 The Departed Pan’s Labyrinth 2007 No Country For Old Men 2008 Slumdog Milliionaire Let the Right One In 2009 The Hurt Locker Up In The Air 2010 The King’s Speech The Social Network 2011 The Artist 2012 Argo 2013 Twelve Years a Slave American Hustle 2014 Boyhood 1930/31 Cimarron City Lights 1931/32 Grand Hotel Scarface 1932/33 Cavalcade King Kong 1934 It Happened One Night 1935 Mutiny on the Bounty Top Hat 1936 The Great Ziegfield Modern Times 1937 The Life of Emile Zola Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs 1938 You Can’t Take It With You Bringing Up Baby 1939 Gone With the Wind The Wizard of Oz 1940 Rebecca The Grapes of Wrath 1941 How Green Was My Valley Citizen Kane 1942 Mrs. Miniver Yankee Doodle Dandy 1943 Casablanca 1944 Going My Way Double Indemnity 1945 The Lost Weekend Rome: Open City 1946 The Best Years of Our Lives It’s a Wonderful Life 1947 Gentlemen’s Agreement Out of the Past 1948 Hamlet Bicycle Thieves 1949 All The King’s Men The Third Man 1950 All About Eve Sunset Boulevard 1951 An American in Paris A Streetcar Named Desire 1952 The Greatest Show on Earth Singin’ in the Rain 1953 From Here to Eternity Tokyo Story 1954 On The Waterfront The Seven Samurai 1955 Marty Pather Panchali 1956 Around the World in 80 Days The Searchers 1957 The Bridge on the River Kwai 12 Angry Men 1958 Gigi Vertigo 1959 Ben Hur Breathless 1960 The Apartment Psycho 1961 West Side Story 1962 Lawrence of Arabia 1963 Tom Jones 8 1/2 1964 My Fair Lady Dr. Strangelove 1965 The Sound of Music 1966 A Man For All Seasons The Battle of Algiers 1967 Guess Who’s Coming To Dinner? The Graduate 1968 Oliver! 2001: A Space Odyssey 1969 Midnight Cowboy Easy Rider 1970 Patton M*A*S*H 1971 The French Connection A Clockwork Orange 1972 The Godfather 1973 The Sting The Exorcist 1974 The Godfather Part II Blazing Saddles 1975 One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest Jaws 1976 Rocky 1977 Annie Hall Star Wars 1978 The Deer Hunter Days of Heaven 1979 Kramer vs. Kramer Apocalypse Now 1980 Ordinary People Raging Bull 1981 Chariots of Fire Raiders of the Lost Ark 1982 Gandhi E.T 1983 Terms of Endearment The Right Stuff 1984 Amadeus This Is Spinal Tap! 1985 Out of Africa Back to the Future 1986 Platoon 1987 The Last Emperor Full Metal Jacket 1988 Rain Man Cinema Paradiso 1989 Driving Miss Daisy Do the Right Thing 1990 Dance With Wolves Goodfellas 1991 The Silence of the Lambs 1992 Unforgiven 1993 Schinder’s List 1994 Forrest Gump The Shawshank Redemption 1995 Braveheart Toy Story 1996 The English Patient Fargo 1997 Titanic 1998 Shakespeare in Love Saving Private Ryan 1999 American Beauty 2000 Gladiator In the Mood For Love 2001 A Beautiful Mind Amelle 2002 Chicago City of God 2003 The Lord of the Rings: Return of the King 2004 Million Dollar Baby Downfall 2005 Crash Brokeback Mountain 2006 The Departed Pan’s Labyrinth 2007 No Country For Old Men 2008 Slumdog Milliionaire Let the Right One In 2009 The Hurt Locker Up In The Air 2010 The King’s Speech The Social Network 2011 The Artist 2012 Argo 2013 Twelve Years a Slave American Hustle 2014 Boyhood Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AndyM108 Posted February 21, 2015 Author Share Posted February 21, 2015 I only got up to 1941 before I got tired of clicking back & forth, but it's obvious that whoever put this list together has certain favorites whether they be films, actors or directors. Like a preference for comedy and comedic performances, at least in the years I looked at. Or maybe it's my prejudice showing. About halfway through this, I wondered what the point was, but I didn't want to be like the Marx Brothers after they'd run out of gas halfway across the ocean. So What the H e l l, here's the whole list. You can see that he didn't agree with too many of the original choices, and that pretty much every genre was represented. You'll note that he combined categories, which means that some of these movies wouldn't have even been eligible for "Best Picture" in the first place, but so what? Restricting "Best Picture" to domestic movies has always been a strange sort of affirmative action that Hollywood films shouldn't need. 1927/28: Wings / Sunrise The General 1928/29: The Broadway Melody The Man with a Movie Camera 1927/28: Wings / Sunrise Wings / Sunrise The General 1928/29: The Broadway Melody The Broadway Melody The Man with a Movie Camera 1929/30 All Quiet on the Western Front 1930/31 Cimarron Cimarron City Lights 1931/32 Grand Hotel Scarface 1932/33 Cavalcade King Kong 1934 It Happened One Night 1935 Mutiny on the Bounty Top Hat 1936 The Great Ziegfield Modern Times 1937 The Life of Emile Zola Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs 1938 You Can’t Take It With You Bringing Up Baby 1939 Gone With the Wind The Wizard of Oz 1940 Rebecca The Grapes of Wrath 1941 How Green Was My Valley Citizen Kane 1942 Mrs. Miniver Yankee Doodle Dandy 1943 Casablanca 1944 Going My Way Double Indemnity 1945 The Lost Weekend Rome: Open City 1946 The Best Years of Our Lives It’s a Wonderful Life 1947 Gentlemen’s Agreement Out of the Past 1948 Hamlet Bicycle Thieves 1949 All The King’s Men The Third Man 1950 All About Eve Sunset Boulevard 1951 An American in Paris A Streetcar Named Desire 1952 The Greatest Show on Earth Singin’ in the Rain 1953 From Here to Eternity Tokyo Story 1954 On The Waterfront The Seven Samurai 1955 Marty Pather Panchali 1956 Around the World in 80 Days The Searchers 1957 The Bridge on the River Kwai 12 Angry Men 1958 Gigi Vertigo 1959 Ben Hur Breathless 1960 The Apartment Psycho 1961 West Side Story 1962 Lawrence of Arabia 1963 Tom Jones 8 1/2 1964 My Fair Lady Dr. Strangelove 1965 The Sound of Music 1966 A Man For All Seasons The Battle of Algiers 1967 Guess Who’s Coming To Dinner? The Graduate 1968 Oliver! 2001: A Space Odyssey 1969 Midnight Cowboy Easy Rider 1970 Patton M*A*S*H 1971 The French Connection A Clockwork Orange 1972 The Godfather 1973 The Sting The Exorcist 1974 The Godfather Part II Blazing Saddles 1975 One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest Jaws 1976 Rocky 1977 Annie Hall Star Wars 1978 The Deer Hunter Days of Heaven 1979 Kramer vs. Kramer Apocalypse Now 1980 Ordinary People Raging Bull 1981 Chariots of Fire Raiders of the Lost Ark 1982 Gandhi E.T 1983 Terms of Endearment The Right Stuff 1984 Amadeus This Is Spinal Tap! 1985 Out of Africa Back to the Future 1986 Platoon 1987 The Last Emperor Full Metal Jacket 1988 Rain Man Cinema Paradiso 1989 Driving Miss Daisy Do the Right Thing 1990 Dance With Wolves Goodfellas 1991 The Silence of the Lambs 1992 Unforgiven 1993 Schinder’s List 1994 Forrest Gump The Shawshank Redemption 1995 Braveheart Toy Story 1996 The English Patient Fargo 1997 Titanic 1998 Shakespeare in Love Saving Private Ryan 1999 American Beauty 2000 Gladiator In the Mood For Love 2001 A Beautiful Mind Amelle 2002 Chicago City of God 2003 The Lord of the Rings: Return of the King 2004 Million Dollar Baby Downfall 2005 Crash Brokeback Mountain 2006 The Departed Pan’s Labyrinth 2007 No Country For Old Men 2008 Slumdog Milliionaire Let the Right One In 2009 The Hurt Locker Up In The Air 2010 The King’s Speech The Social Network 2011 The Artist 2012 Argo 2013 Twelve Years a Slave American Hustle 2014 Boyhood Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
skimpole Posted February 26, 2015 Share Posted February 26, 2015 Let's look at this alternate oscar list: Oscar Best Pictures that are actually the best Picture: 8 On this revised list: 20 Changes that are an improvement: 49 Changes that are for the worse: 12 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TheGayDivorcee Posted February 26, 2015 Share Posted February 26, 2015 One year that leaps out is 1997: I would substitute L.A. Confidential for the rather schlocky Titanic. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
darkblue Posted February 26, 2015 Share Posted February 26, 2015 Let's look at this alternate oscar list: Oscar Best Pictures that are actually the best Picture: 8 On this revised list: 20 Changes that are an improvement: 49 Changes that are for the worse: 12 And what does that tell us about the integrity of the award? That it's an industry contrivance for the benefit of certain approved people - and that, for other than those who profit from that contrivance, it's pointless. "Soma" for star-watchers. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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