Acclaimed or award-winning films which are now forgotten?

[DieselsDen]

Whenever I see lists of favorite flicks, or Desert Island Discs, there are a bunch of once-acclaimed or Academy Award winning films which seem to never appear. Moreover, I rarely see any demand for their "special edition" release on DVD or Blu-ray.

As it turns out, I've missed seeing a lot of these movies and I'm wondering if they're worth watching after all, such as:

PRIZZI'S HONOR
ORDINARY PEOPLE
CHARIOTS OF FIRE
COMING HOME
REDS
THE KILLING FIELDS
ON GOLDEN POND
MISSING
THE MISSION
MY LEFT FOOT
PAPER MOON
ALICE DOESN'T LIVE HERE ANYMORE
THE DRESSER
PLACES IN THE HEART
THE ONION FIELD

Any others?

[RobLutter]

Shakespeare in Love is one that immediately jumped into my mind.

I'm gonna disagree with REDS though... I don't think that one is forgotten at all. It's certainly gotten the Special Edition treatment both on DVD and Blu-ray and most film lovers still consider it a classic.

EDIT: While we're on the subject of Warren Beatty... I will say that I think Bulworth (which I personally LOVE) could qualify for this list also. Totally loved by all when released, nominated for an Academy Award (for the screenplay, also co-written by Beatty) and all that's ever been released is a crummy non-anamorphic DVD.

[Ash Ketchum]

CAVALCADE, the Best Picture winner of 1932/33, was forgotten almost immediately thereafter and has been difficult to find ever since. I've never had the opportunity to see it and I know very little about it except that it's based on something (a play?) by Noel Coward and it's about an English family. The star is someone named Diana Wynyard.

Its competition in the Best Picture category included such long-remembered classics as 42ND STREET, the Busby Berkeley musical that's since been turned into a Broadway hit; LITTLE WOMEN, the first sound film version of Louisa May Alcott's novel, starring Katharine Hepburn and directed by George Cukor; Frank Capra's LADY FOR A DAY, which has since been remade as A POCKETFUL OF MIRACLES, also by Capra, and MR. CANTON AND LADY ROSE (aka MIRACLES), starring and directed by Jackie Chan; the Warner Bros. prison drama, I AM A FUGITIVE FROM A CHAIN GANG, starring Paul Muni (SCARFACE); A FAREWELL TO ARMS, based on Hemingway; SHE DONE HIM WRONG, one of Mae West's best films; and Charles Laughton in THE PRIVATE LIFE OF HENRY VIII.

CAVALCADE's director, Frank Lloyd, beat out only two opposing nominees, Capra and Cukor. When Will Rogers presented the award for Best Director, he looked at the card with the winner's name and said, "Come up and get it, Frank." So Capra stood up and started walking up until he saw Frank Lloyd bound up to the stage. But Capra would win it next year with IT HAPPENED ONE NIGHT, which remained the only film to get all four top Oscars (Best Picture, Best Director, Best Actor and Best Actress) until ONE FLEW OVER THE CUCKOO'S NEST did the same some 40 years later. Both films also won Best Adapted Screenplay.

[Shannon Nutt]

I still think CHARIOTS OF FIRE beating E.T. was one of the big WTF? moments in Oscar history. E.T. is one of the few "perfect" films. Has anyone seen CHARIOTS OF FIRE more than a few times? Probably not.

[Tracer Bullet]

Originally Posted by Shannon Nutt

I still think CHARIOTS OF FIRE beating E.T. was one of the big WTF? moments in Oscar history. E.T. is one of the few "perfect" films. Has anyone seen CHARIOTS OF FIRE more than a few times? Probably not.

I don't care for E.T.

[troystiffler]

Originally Posted by Shannon Nutt

I still think CHARIOTS OF FIRE beating E.T. was one of the big WTF? moments in Oscar history. E.T. is one of the few "perfect" films. Has anyone seen CHARIOTS OF FIRE more than a few times? Probably not.

Yea. The popularity of that score really drove it. Still a good sports flick. ET gets rereleased 20 years later and makes another $30mil.

Ash - I never had a living grandpa. Could I come over to your house and lay on the floor, while you tell me stories from your recliner?

Spoiler:

This is a compliment.

I don't feel like wasting the next hour of my life looking this stuff up. But it'd be interesting to see what The Killing Fields, Alice Doesn't Live Here Anymore, etc. went up against. And what movies from those years turned out to be solid, modern classics.

[Defiant1]

How about Dangerous Liaisons from 1988? That was the year of Rain Man. DL got 7 Oscar noms, including Best Picture, Actress (Glenn Close), Supporting Actress (Michelle Pfeiffer), and Adapted Screenplay, and won 3 awards that night. Its DVD is pretty atrocious, barely above VHS quality and a possible high-def version is far on the horizon and the movie's a high brow, costume drama so it doesn't get discussed much on the interwebs.

[auto]

A Beautiful Mind. Horrible movie so I'm glad it's forgotten.

There are movies that I consider great that I would only want to ever watch once. Some of those would fall into this category.

[Norm de Plume]

Originally Posted by DieselsDen

As it turns out, I've missed seeing a lot of these movies and I'm wondering if they're worth watching after all, such as:
ORDINARY PEOPLE
THE KILLING FIELDS
ON GOLDEN POND

These are very much worth seeing.

[Hokeyboy]

Originally Posted by Shannon Nutt

I still think CHARIOTS OF FIRE beating E.T. was one of the big WTF? moments in Oscar history. E.T. is one of the few "perfect" films. Has anyone seen CHARIOTS OF FIRE more than a few times? Probably not.

I loathe E.T.

I don't care much for CHARIOTS OF FIRE, either.

Best film of 1982 was IMO Blade Runner.

Back to this list? "Out of Africa" and "Shakespeare In Love" were the first two that sprang to mind. I'd like to throw that politically correct bloated crapfest "Dances With Wolves", except people still bring it up when they talk about how far Costner's career tanked afterward.


And I think "A Beautiful Mind" is still a great movie.

[Zen Peckinpah]

Missing is great stuff. One of the last "70's" movies.

I think Fatal Attraction is a great example. It managed a ton of Oscar nominations, but it's not THAT great of a movie, and the concept had already been done far better as Play Misty for Me with Clint Eastwood and a pre-Lucille Bluth Jessica Walter. Maybe if they'd used the original ending, the movie would turn out a great atmospheric neo-noir.

[Hokeyboy]

I wouldn't call "Fatal Attraction" forgotten; it's deeply ingrained in pop culture lexicon. "She went all Fatal Attraction on me", etc.

But that reminds me of how GHOST got a Best Picture nomination in 1990. Motherfucking GHOST. To put things in perspective, "MILLER'S CROSSING" came out in 1990 and was roundly ignored. Heck, even "Quick Change" was a better movie. Grr!

[Zen Peckinpah]

Quick Change is fucking classic.

[TheySentYou]

Philadelphia (w/ Tom Hanks)

[Bluelitespecial]

Glad Shakespeare in Love was mentioned already, hated that movie.

[Coral]

Gladiator. What a piece of crap that was.

I agree with A Beautiful Mind.

[RyoHazuki]

Originally Posted by Coral

Gladiator.

Nobody remembers Gladiator?

[gglass4269]

Crash

[mcfly]

Originally Posted by gglass4269

Crash

Umm, I don't think anybody has forgotten about Crash given that the film is continuously brought up when discussing horrendous Oscar winners. That and it has its own show on Starz! with Dennis Hopper, so I wouldn't rank it up there with legitimate forgotten winners.

[PopcornTreeCt]

No Country for Old Men

I watch There Will Be Blood nearly every weekend because it's always on Showtime. Simply amazing movie. NCFOM -- not so much.

[Sondheim]

Funny, I've recently had a strong desire to revisit "No Country for Old Men". I saw it twice in the theater and twice on DVD and have been thinking about it a lot recently, even though it's been about a year since I last watched it.

I know there are quite a few people who don't like it, but judging from discussions I read on the internet and conversations I have with friends I don't think it's close to being forgotten.

-

As for the OP's original list of films, I'd say most of them are still worth watching and a few of them ("Reds", "Missing") are downright masterpieces.

The only two on the list I didn't particularly like were "Alice Doesn't Live Here Anymore" and "On Golden Pond", and I still haven't seen "Prizzi's Honor", "The Dresser", or "The Onion Field".

[Palaver]

It didn't take long for this thread to devolve into a "Movies I Hate" thread.

To answer the OP, I think On Golden Pond is a great movie that holds up great today. Not too sure what it was up against for the Oscar though.

[edstein]

Unforgiven - the last act was the best part of the movie.

[Drexl]

Originally Posted by RobLutter

I'm gonna disagree with REDS though... I don't think that one is forgotten at all. It's certainly gotten the Special Edition treatment both on DVD and Blu-ray and most film lovers still consider it a classic.

Well, it had some interviews, but I don't know if I'd call it a special edition. I think the problem is that Warren Beatty doesn't care much for special features. He didn't even like DVD at all until recently. Reds was the first time he participated in extras. That's probably what has kept Bullworth from getting a SE.

BTW, Chariots of Fire was 1981. It beat out Reds, actually. Bitch about Gandhi if you're going to say E.T. should have won for 1982.

[Solid Snake PAC]

Originally Posted by edstein

Unforgiven - the last act was the best part of the movie.

Really? I think everybody remembers this flick. Especially when we talk about Eastwood or a Best Western Thread. I mean...it's known as the best or one of the top 10 westerns out there, not my opinion on it's rank though. It's a fine flick that I don't think people forget. My only bother from the film is that..well...the whore isn't really cut up that badly as compared as to how everyone else talks about it. Looks like minor cuts after the "cutting" scene.

Once Upon A Time In The West is NEVER EVER brought up by the general filmgoer. I blame that on Paramount's theatrical release of it which I hear was a very very cut version than what we got now on DVD.