What were they thinking?: Five awful best picture outcomes
First things first, the Oscars don’t matter.
The best picture winner isn’t the year’s best picture any more than People’s Sexiest Man Alive is really the sexiest man alive.
It’s all subjective.
So if you thought Adam Sandler’s “Blended” was the best picture of 2014, to you it was.
Although you should probably keep that information to yourself.
Still, over the years there have been some pretty egregious best picture “winners” that don’t look any better in hindsight.
1942: “How Green Was My Valley”
Nothing against director John Ford’s Welsh mining drama. And Ford would be at the very least a second-ballot inclusion into the directing hall of fame. But it’s impossible to argue that “How Green Was My Valley” is a more deserving winner than its fellow nominees “Sergeant York,” “The Maltese Falcon” or a little movie you might have heard of called “Citizen Kane.”
1953: “The Greatest Show on Earth”
Cecil B. DeMille’s big-top drama is considered by many to be among the worst movies to ever win best picture. Making its victory look downright silly is the fact that it kept “High Noon” from winning. “Singin’ in the Rain,” one of the best movie musicals — heck, one of the best movies period — wasn’t even nominated.
1981: “Ordinary People”
Another of the greatest movies you could ever hope to see, “Raging Bull” should have pummeled Robert Redford’s dysfunctional family drama.
1991: “Dances with Wolves”
This wasn’t a particularly strong year for best picture nominees. “Awakenings,” “Ghost” and “The Godfather Part III” made the cut. But a decade after getting stiffed by “Ordinary People,” Martin Scorsese was denied again as “Goodfellas” lost out to Kevin Costner’s Western.
1995: “Forrest Gump”
Oh, sure, it inspired a chain of tacky seafood restaurants, but there’s no discernible measurement by which “Forrest Gump” is better than “Pulp Fiction.” And if it’s better than “The Shawshank Redemption,” why wasn’t it shown on TBS every other weekend for the better part of a decade?
