And the Winner Isn't

Aside from it being a three hour extravaganza/love fest for limousine driving Liberals (grin), one of the main reasons I don't watch the Academy Awards is that my favorite movies are not often represented.

One of these days, I'm going to do a study correlating films which have won "Best Picture" Oscars and compare that to the list of films which have "stood the test of time" (whatever that means).

For instance, in 1941, Citizen Kane, generally viewed as the "best picture of all time" on multiple lists, actually LOST to How Green Was My Valley.

Filmsite.org has an interesting list of "Best Pictures Not Nominated for Best Picture."

I culled a quick list of winners from the "Best Picture" category for the last fifty years along with more deserving flicks (in my opinion, of course) from the same year.

• 1950: All About Eve WON, The Asphalt Jungle NOT nominated
  
  


• 1956: The Searchers WASN'T nominated - Around the World in 80 Days won
  
  


• 1957: Vertigo, Touch of Evil NOT nominated - Gigi won
  
  


• 1959: Ben Hur BEAT Anatomy of a Murder
  
  


• 1964: My Fair Lady beat Dr. Strangelove
  
  


• 1976: Rocky beat Taxi Driver (close call)
  
  


• 1961: West Side Story beat The Hustler
  
  


• 1968: 2001: A Space Odyssey NOT nominated - Oliver! won (what's up with all the musicals winning anyway?)
  
  


• 1970: Patton beat MASH, Five Easy Pieces and Love Story (well, okay, they got it right in that year!)
  
  


• 1979: Kramer vs. Kramer beat Apocalypse Now and Breaking Away
  
  


• 1980: Ordinary People BEAT Raging Bull
  
  


• 1982: ET nominated (didn't win) but Blade Runner wasn't nominated
  
  


• 1990: Dances with Wolves (zzzz) won beating GoodFellas AND The Godfather Part 3 (horrid) was nominated BUT Miller's Crossing WASN'T
  
  


• 1997: Titanic won (nuff said)
  
  


• 1998: Shakespeare in Love beat Saving Private Ryan
  
  


• 1999: American Beauty (argh) beat The Sixth Sense
  
  


• 2001: Gladiator won...Memento NOT nominated