Yes, even Academy Award voters can be wrong. Here are 10 of the most glaring errors in Oscar history, from the most horrible to the least horrible. Not every movie on this list is horrible. They are merely horrible choices as Best Picture.
The Hurt Locker
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| The Hurt Locker |
10. Director Kathryn Bigelow certainly deserved the praise heaped upon her, including the Best Director statuette, but was it really the kind of movie that belongs in the same breath as Best Picture winners like "Ben-Hur," "The Bridge on the River Kwai" or "Casablanca"?
A Beautiful Mind
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| A Beautiful Mind |
9. Opie won the Oscar for Best Director, but the film just didn't seem to have the epic scope of a Best Picture. Two other nominees -- "Moulin Rouge" and "The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring" -- did have epic qualities but did not have the same universal appeal.
Driving Miss Daisy
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| Driving Miss Daisy |
8. Politically, we're not sure this movie would be viewed in quite the same favorable light these days, with everybody's favorite God playing the chauffeur for a cantankerous old white Southern woman. It was based on a Pulitzer Prize-winning play, which may explain why voters thought it was better than it was.
Rain Man
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| Rain Man |
7. Dustin Hoffman as a savant. Tom Cruise in a cool suit. We can't think of another reason why this won.
Out of Africa
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| Out of Africa |
6. It was Sydney Pollack, the academy's favorite director at the time. It was Meryl Streep and Robert Redford, the academy's favorite actors at the time. And it was colonial Kenya, the academy's favorite setting for an epic. Enough said.
Oliver!
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| Oliver! |
5. It won six Oscars and was excruciatingly long, which might explain why it won Best Picture. Perhaps voters were promised that if they cast their ballot for "Oliver!" they would never have to watch it again.
No Country for Old Men
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No Country for Old Men |
4. The Coen brothers' ode to bad hair wasn't as good as Paul Thomas Anderson's "There Will Be Blood," another nominee that year. Maybe voters were overwhelmed by the violence and blinded by Javier Bardem's bangs.
Chicago
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| Chicago |
3. Rob Marshall directed this terribly miscast musical, and we're still mystified that it beat out "Gangs of New York," "The Hours," "The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers" and "The Pianist."
The English Patient
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The English Patient |
2. We started watching this movie in 1996 and can't tell you for sure what year it ended. We also can't tell you when we recovered from the brain numbness. This movie's only saving grace was that it didn't come out the same year as "Saving Private Ryan." Regardless, it swiped an Oscar from "Fargo" and "Jerry Maguire." The field was weak that year, and "The English Patient" clearly benefited.
Shakespeare in Love
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| Shakespeare in Love |
1. To be fair, Shakespeare didn't write the screenplay for this movie, so we shouldn't lump him in with the gang of thieves who stole the election.
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