Josh H

I think the title meant least regarded critically, not which you personally regard the least.

At least that's how I answered it, as I too don't buy movies unless I really like them and will watch them repeatedly.

The Ferret

American Beauty -- I've got to lay off the crack when I buy things.

Best: Lawrence of Arabia!

Filmmaker

Josh, the original post reads:

"Nearly all of us have the Citizen Kane's, Gone With The Winds's, Casablanca's in our collections, but what is the least highly regarded best picture oscar winner on your shelf? For me it's the 2 disc Around The World In 80 Days set - not really among the best-of-the-best for sure but still a nice movie. it was the second disc of features and I guess the nice case that made me buy it."

Seems pretty clear to me he's asking for people's personal opinions of which Best Pictures they own that they now consider to be less than worthwhile.

nightmaster

Yeah, I can see that....otherwise, Shrek 2 would have been best picture for the year and I'd have had to kill myself

nightmaster

It's not an anomoly by any means. Same applies to Michael Jackson and his music.....yeah, the guy did some incredible work but has FAR overshadowed it with his idiosyncracies/ behavior as well as the notoriety that's come with the trials. He won't likely be remembered (or regarded today) for his music. I'm not condoning it by any means, but it's realisticly true.

nightmaster

Seems to be alot of dislike for Driving Miss Daisy. I love that movie, but maybe it's a case of getting older and the movie growing on me. Morgan Freeman should have taken the best actor Oscar home with him that year.

Muad'Dib

It's gotta be a cross between Gladiator, Titanic, or Forrest Gump for me.

ThatGuamGuy

Being fair, though, Michael Jackson never sang a song (that I know of) about molesting little boys, while Woody Allen has made several films where he has sex with young women (Mariel Hemingway plays 17 in 'Manhattan', I think that's the youngest), and Roman Polanski made 'Tess', about a sexual young girl, and 'Death and the Maiden', about rape. So, while I personally agree with you, I can also see the flip-side, that knowledge of their personal lives makes those movies more difficult to watch (and how people just "don't want to support" them). Especially with Polanski who, on the one hand, pushed hard about how he was a Holocaust survivor making 'The Pianist' but, on the other hand, doesn't want the rest of his personal history to affect people's opinions of him.

That said, I don't think any person's profession should be dependent on their morality.

JLyon1515

Not necessarily. I don't own any of those, tho I consider myself a knowledgable DVD guy.


I don't think any of the 70 DVDs I have is a best picture winner on DVD. I keep my collection small...only getting movies that I really, really like that i know o'd watch over and over again.

FatTony

Of those that I used to own, it would probably have to be Gladiator (blind-buy, and I hated the shit out of it). Of those that I still own, it would be a tie between Forrest Gump and American Beauty.

Doctor Gonzo

Awright - somebody MUST have 'The Greatest Show On Earth' - that's gotta be the bottom feeder of best pics!

The Ferret

I think we were seperated at birth. I'm only at about 23.

I'll probably pick up ~10 dvds this year. So far i've only gotten Raging Bull. Soon to come is Citizen Kane, The Third Man, Vertigo, and maybe Rashomon or From Russia With Love.

Sorry... went a bit off-topic there.

PatrickMcCart

I think Woody Allen and Roman Polanski were horrible for doing what they did. I don't have a lot of respect for them as human beings, but I have tremendous respect for them as filmmakers. It seems that a lot of artists have major problems with their sex life...

Jazzbutcher

Probably 1955's Marty.

It's rarely mentioned, including discussions on this board. I, however, think it's one of the best ever. People goof on Ernest Borgnine for his later efforts, but he hit this one out of the park. Give it a try if you've never seen it. Pure magic.

Ripped from this site:
Marty (1955) is the poignant, simple character study of a lonely, unmarried, lovelorn middle-aged son who still lives with his love-smothering mother. By film's end, he and another homely female wallflower are liberated - both are triumphant over their respective limitations.

The film's screenwriter Paddy Chayefsky transformed his own original teleplay into a successful major motion picture - and the modest film remains one of the best examples of the cinematization of a television play. (The TV comedy-drama was originally presented on NBC-TV's "Philco-Goodyear Playhouse" series in May of 1953, with leads Rod Steiger and Nancy Marchand, during a period now recognized as the "Golden Age of Television.") It was the only film based on a TV drama to ever win Best Picture.

As a feature film, it was one of the biggest 'sleepers' in Hollywood history, from the independent production company of Harold Hecht and actor Burt Lancaster. A modest, black and white film in an era of wide-screen color epics, its critical acclaim and box-office success were phenomenal. It was also the first American film to take the Golden Palm (Palme d'Or) at Cannes.

Marty was nominated for eight Academy Awards - and was awarded four - Best Picture!, Best Actor (character actor Ernest Borgnine in a role quite different from his menacing, sadistic villains or murderous 'heavies' in From Here to Eternity (1953) and Bad Day at Black Rock (1955)), Best Director (Delbert Mann), and Best Screenplay. It was also the shortest Best Picture winner at 91 minutes.

Nick Danger

I'm not really sure, and I'm thinking this out as I type. I liked the setup, I liked the intereaction between the wife and the bullying servants, and how she was shut out from everything by her husband. I think the presence of a deep dark secret seemed artificial to me, and its final discovery was forced.

There's also my problem that the genre of 'beautiful, intelligent, young woman marries a brooding nobleman' never appealed to me, and Rebecca uses that genre as it's foundation. The genre is an expression of the fear that young women had of marriage and becoming a man's chattel, which isn't part of my culture. It's also an expression of the fear of men and sex in general, and my adolescent fears ran more towards women and rejection. So I miss a basic emotional connection to the story.

tommyp007

A Beautiful Mind

frenchy

I hate to be an echo, but Gladiator for me, too. While I don't think it's bad, I would have rather had Crouching Tiger take the award that year.

Filmmaker

A fair point, and I don't wish to harangue you over it, but isn't the point of art (or at least one of the key points of art) to open up the breadth of human feeling and thought beyond what we as individuals would be able to know or experience in our own personal lives, so we can vicariously understand mentalities beyond our normal ken, or feel experiences we'll never encounter?

PopcornTreeCt

Probably Kramer Vs Kramer. Even though it came out in 1979, I believe it started the worst period of Best Pictures. The 80's. While Rain Man is one of my all time favorite movies the rest of the 80's winners do not interest me at all. Even though I own a few of them. A Beautiful Mind, Gladiator, not exactly great movies are still better than the dreck of the 80's. The "Best" Best Pictures being:

Casablanca
On The Waterfront
The Bridge on the Rive Kwai
The Apartment
Lawrence of Arabia
Patton
The Godfather Part 1 & 2
One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest
Lord of the Rings

Mao

Doctor Gonzo,

Thank you! Easily the least, but still has moments of tacky fun!

rampo

Considering that probably 90% of my DVDs are Asian films, I'm surprised that I have even 2 Best Picture Winners - All About Eve and The Last Emperor. (I like 'em both.)

ThatGuamGuy is quite correct that Citizen Kane (which I also own and love) never won Best Picture - How Green Was My Valley won that year. I think it did win Best Original Screenplay.

hobbes4444

Personally, the most least regarded: Forrest Gump (dislike greatly, and naturally not on my shelf). Of those on my shelf: Chicago (good pic, but worthy of being best pic ???), A Beautiful Mind (ditto).

Most ludicrous nominations: The Towering Inferno, Godfather III

Nick Danger

I agree with that. But in this case, it didn't work for me. An NPR report I once heard describing growing up in a harem had more impact on me than all the subterranean terrors of any gothic novel.

It may be that the artist has to either find a common point of reference with the viewer or to build a solid foundation. When I watch a John Woo movie, I come into it understanding, on a smaller scale, the conflict between duty and desire. When I watch Hoop Dreams, I am brought into an alien culture, and have to be educated on how much people will sacrifice to get out of the ghetto.

A third possibility is to assume that the viewer has already been educated on the genre conventions. The sheriff will face the gunman in the final reel, the oddball kids will defeat their better-coached rivals for the championship, and the entire cast will stop what they're doing for a gigantic dance number.

A gothic is built on unspoken conventions. Either the viewer gets it or he doesn't.