My first thoughts on Oliver! are that is was one of the least deserving films to ever win Best Picture and that it was one of the least entertaining films that I can remember while working on this project. In fact, aside from about 30-45 minutes in the second and third acts, there wasn’t a …
Category: Best Picture Blogs
1967 Winner for Best Picture – In the Heat of the Night
What a wonderful film In the Heat of the Night is. This is a film that has a lot of great things going on in it, from a very strong, layered story with socially significant theme to a very strong cast with actors who are at the top of their respective games playing roles that …
1966 Winner for Best Picture – A Man for All Seasons
I was thoroughly impressed with this film. I must admit that I knew nothing about it going in, and I had actually never even really heard about it before I started this exercise. All I knew about A Man for All Seasons going in was what I read about it on the back cover of …
1965 Winner for Best Picture – The Sound of Music
For the second year in a row, the third time in five years, and the fourth time in seven years, the Academy bestowed its highest honor on a musical. In fact, The Sound of Music would take home a total of five Oscars, including Best Director for Robert Wise, who helmed his second Best Picture …
1964 Winner for Best Picture – My Fair Lady
I did not love this film. I know I’m in the minority here, and I actually did like it quite a bit, I just didn’t love it. Starting off, my biggest beef with it is that it’s too long, coming in at just under three hours. They could have easily cut 30-40 minutes out of …
1963 Winner for Best Picture – Tom Jones
I did not like this movie. In fact, I really don’t have much desire to write about it because I’ve already lost 2 hours of my life that I’m never going to get back by watching it, and I don’t want to spend a bunch of time writing about it. Tom Jones just wasn’t a …
1962 Winner for Best Picture – Lawrence of Arabia
Following in the tradition of Ben-Hur and The Bridge on the River Kwai, Lawrence of Arabia was a stunning and dramatic, nearly 4-hour epic shot in cinemascope. In fact, this was the second David Lean picture in 5 years to come away with the Academy’s top award, and like those films, and unlike so many …
1961 Winner for Best Motion Picture – West Side Story
I am a bit conflicted about West Side Story. On the one hand, you have a film that is considered to be one of the greatest films of all time. AFI has it ranked #51 on its list of the 100 best movies. On the other hand we have a film that is terribly dated …
1960 Winner for Best Motion Picture – The Apartment
For the first time in 5 years, the Academy awarded its highest honor to a black and white, non-cinemascope film. In The Apartment Billy Wilder directed his second Best Picture winner (The Lost Weekend) after also coming close with Double Indemnity, Sunset Blvd and Witness for the Prosecution, proving that he was one of the …
1959 Winner for Best Motion Picture – Ben-Hur
This is what I have to say about Ben-Hur: it is one of the finest films that I’ve ever had the pleasure to see. Over the past 50 years, it’s probably become something of a parody, with the chariot race being parodied by everyone from The Simpsons to Star Wars. That chariot race, by the …