The Chris Moeller Archives

Checking Oscar

We're now less than a week away from the 81st Annual Academy Awards telecast on that network that shows "Lost", and I'm as giddy as a baby in a swing, to quote the Oscar-winning song of 1945. (That's accurate. Look it up.) The drama of next Sunday's ceremony may pale by comparison to the sight of Shaq and Kobe in the same starting lineup at the NBA All-Star game, but America's Drama Club can throw a party just as good as the jocks, and with more defense. (I'm not sure what that means.)

There are still 16 films that I want to see for 2008, but of the 30 I've already witnessed, "Slumdog Millionaire" is an early front-runner for the CM Blog's Picture of the Year. Simultaneously, I'm hearing that it's a front-runner to win the Academy Award for Best Picture. Such an overlap would be highly unusual, though I'm starting to feel myself move more and more into the Academy mainstream as I approach my mid-30s. Last year, my top 5 films matched 80 percent of the Academy's top 5, and only its failure to recognize "Mr. Woodcock" prevented a clean sweep. I'm recalling a long-ago episode of "The Simpsons" in which Homer announces to all, "I'm a white male, age 18 to 45-- every one listens to me," as he chows down on a food product whose packaging reads "Nuts and Gum: Together at Last."

The Academy has gotten it right on occasion, it seemed to me-- but not very often. And for a while, I'd been interested in seeing my all-time best picture choices up against Oscar's. Then I remembered-- shit, I have a blog.

So, without further ado, here's Oscar's all-time Best Picture list, side-by-side with my annual choices-- many, of course, selected with the benefit of lengthy hindsight. I've advocated many of my favorites before, so you won't often be surprised by selections on the list. In fact, it's a veritable "what's what" of the CM Blog's Top 50 American films, posted back in late 2004 and early '05. My choices below have been framed modestly in parentheses for easy perusing. Turns out the Academy has gotten it right about as often as the Dodgers win the World Series. Enjoy.


1928- Wings-- (Steamboat Bill Jr.)
1929- The Broadway Melody-- (Queen Kelly)
1930- ALL QUIET ON THE WESTERN FRONT

1931- Cimarron-- (City Lights)
1932- Grand Hotel-- (Freaks)
1933- Cavalcade-- (Duck Soup)
1934- IT HAPPENED ONE NIGHT
1935- Mutiny on the Bounty-- (A Night At the Opera)
1936- The Great Ziegfeld-- (Swing Time)
1937- The Life of Emile Zola-- (Grand Illusion)
1938- You Can't Take It with You-- (Bringing Up Baby)
1939- Gone with the Wind-- (Ninotchka)
1940- Rebecca-- (The Grapes of Wrath)

1941- How Green Was My Valley-- (Citizen Kane)
1942- Mrs. Miniver-- (To Be or Not to Be)
1943- CASABLANCA
1944- Going My Way-- (Double Indemnity)
1945- THE LOST WEEKEND
1946- The Best Years of Our Lives-- (The Big Sleep)
1947- Gentleman's Agreement-- (Out of the Past)
1948- Hamlet-- (The Treasure of the Sierra Madre)
1949- All the King's Men-- (The Bicycle Thief)
1950- All About Eve-- (Sunset Boulevard)

1951- An American in Paris-- (Strangers on a Train)
1952- The Greatest Show on Earth-- (Singin' in the Rain)
1953- From Here to Eternity-- (Roman Holiday)
1954- ON THE WATERFRONT
1955- Marty-- (One Froggy Evening [film short])
1956- Around the World in 80 Days-- (Giant)
1957- The Bridge on the River Kwai-- (Love in the Afternoon)
1958- Gigi-- (Mon Oncle)
1959- Ben-Hur-- (Some Like It Hot)
1960- The Apartment-- (Psycho)

1961- West Side Story-- (Splendor in the Grass)
1962- Lawrence of Arabia-- (The Manchurian Candidate)
1963- Tom Jones (8 1/2)
1964- My Fair Lady-- (Dr. Strangelove or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb)
1965- The Sound of Music-- (none)
1966- A Man for All Seasons-- (The Fortune Cookie)
1967- In the Heat of the Night-- (Bonnie and Clyde)
1968- Oliver!-- (Rosemary's Baby)
1969- Midnight Cowboy-- (Take the Money and Run)
1970- Patton-- (M*A*S*H)

1971- The French Connection-- (The Last Picture Show)
1972- THE GODFATHER
1973- The Sting-- (Mean Streets)
1974- The Godfather, Part II-- (Chinatown)
1975- One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest-- (Nashville)
1976- Rocky-- (Taxi Driver)
1977- Annie Hall-- (Star Wars: A New Hope)
1978- The Deer Hunter-- (Pretty Baby)
1979- Kramer vs. Kramer-- (Manhattan)
1980- Ordinary People-- (Airplane!)

1981- Chariots of Fire-- (Reds)
1982- Gandhi-- (Tootsie)
1983- Terms of Endearment-- (The King of Comedy)
1984- Amadeus-- (The Natural)
1985- Out of Africa-- (Lost In America)
1986- Platoon-- (Ferris Bueller's Day Off)
1987- The Last Emperor-- (Angel Heart)
1988- Rain Man-- (Bull Durham)
1989- Driving Miss Daisy-- (Do the Right Thing)
1990- Dances With Wolves-- (Henry & June)

1991- The Silence of the Lambs-- (L.A. Story)
1992- Unforgiven-- (Glengarry Glen Ross)
1993- Schinder's List-- (Groundhog Day)
1994- Forest Gump-- (Pulp Fiction)
1995- Braveheart-- (Leaving Las Vegas)
1996- The English Patient-- (Fargo)
1997- Titanic-- (Eve's Bayou)
1998- Shakespeare in Love-- (Gods and Monsters)
1999- American Beauty-- (Election)
2000- Gladiator-- (O Brother, Where Art Thou)

2001- A Beautiful Mind-- (Mulholland Drive)
2002- Chicago-- (Y Tu Mama Tambien)
2003- The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King-- (Capturing the Friedmans)
2004- Million Dollar Baby-- (Sideways)
2005- Crash-- (Good Night, and Good Luck)
2006- The Departed-- (Half Nelson)
2007- No Country for Old Men-- (There Will Be Blood)
2008- ??????-- (??????)

posted by CM @ 8:51 AM