What's the most undeserving Best Picture winner ever?
 

This should be interesting:
What's the most undeserving Best Picture winner ever?

My vote (of the ones I've seen) would have to go to Titanic.

hmm.. so many undeserving! too hard to choose one! heh.. i dont know actually, i'm not up on my oscar history, but i felt Titanic and Gladiator were not deserving.

While I agree with the posts above, you need to remember something.

Go to a site which lists Best Picture Winners from every year.

Then ask yourselves how many of those movies you have seen; how many repeatedly; and how many you own copies of.

The results may surprise you. :) It's the easiest way to verify the relative irrelevancy of this weird Institution.

Rocky... in the same year that Taxi Driver and Network were nominated? What a joke.

Great, this thread again ...

While I personally disagree with MANY Best Picture pics, the one that stands out in my mind as the most undeserving considering the competition would be <B>Gladiator</B>. I hate to pick something so recent as I have strong feelings about each year, trailing back to the 40's, but I don't find any of those picks as bad as <B>Gladiator</B>. I love the movie, but it's competition was way too strong for it to win the award.

das

While I love both those films, <B>Rocky</B> is a great ... great ... GREAT film. The sequels are debateable, but the original is a great movie on so many levels.

das

Gladiator.

One movie immediately leaps to my mind:

Out of Africa

Titanic.

:lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol:

:up: :up: :up: das: I agree 100%

I'm anxiously awaiting an explanation for why this is not a great film.

das

An argument can definitely be made that Gladiator was one of the worst choices. It's an enjoyable enough flick, but the fact that it was even nominated is laughable, let alone that it won. (However, I also must add that I thought 2000 was a pathetically bad year for films in general. I honestly can't think of a single film that -- in my opinion -- deserved "best picture" status. Maybe Requiem for a Dream? But that's stretching things...)

The one that leaps out at me as undeserving is Ordinary People in 1980. Yikes. (This is the same year that Raging Bull, The Elephant Man, Kagemusha, and The Empire Strikes Back were released.)

THE GREATEST SHOW ON EARTH (1952) was pretty pitiful IMHO, even for a DeMille movie, especially when great movies like HIGH NOON and SINGIN' IN THE RAIN should have won.

Ditto... thats what I was going to say.

How Green was My Valley (1941) beat Citizen Kane!! How many people can say that movie was better than what many consider the greatest movie ever?

Titanic: talk about the academy selling out! I think they were afraid not to reward it.

Shakespeare in Love: beating out Saving Private Ryan, WTF?!?!

Amadeus: Yuck!!! Granted, it had great music, but none of it was original.

Dr. DVD

Please change your nick to something more appropriate, such as "I like trash".

(Removed personal attacks. Enjoy your suspension. - JustinS)

Now, to answer the question in the title, I think "Out of Africa" is probably on top, followed by "The English Patient."

The English Patient 1996

Well, obviously I can't say that I've seen all of them. But from those that I have seen, I will say:

Dances with Wolves
Gladiator

At least in Gladiator's case, there wasn't a whole lot better that came out that year, so I didn't mind so much.

Let's see.... awful script, horrible acting (including an obscenely laughable scenery-chewing performance by Burgess Meredith), lackluster cinematography, cheesy score.

Paper: Man, I am so sick and tired of people picking on How Green Was My Valley... It is a wonderful life-affirming movie that brings tears to my eyes every time I see it. The fact that it came out the same year as Citizen Kane just goes to show you what a great year that was for movies. ;-)

As for an underserving film, I won't say Gladiator because I loved the flick, but had Requiem for A Dream been nominated, it wouldn't have been a contest.

My pick is Titanic over L.A. Confidential. I mean, what the hell?!

Gladiator was awesome and deserved all the recognition it got. My pick for most undeserving Best Picture is Dances With Wolves... how the hell it could win over the best film ever made, GoodFellas, is beyond my comprehension! -eek-

I also have to go with The Greatest Show on Earth...pure fluff...
Another would be Around the World in 80 Days.

Ordinary People over Raging Bull.

Academy played it safe. Luckily they did not the year Silence of the Lambs was nominated. Not your normal Oscar winner, but the best film that year. IMHO.