I love the Academy. I wouldn’t have watched all of the Best Pictures if I didn’t respect the opinions of its male (77%), white (94%), sexagenarian governing body. #OscarsSoWhite. However, those opinions do not always correspond with mine, or indeed, those of the viewing public at large.
Cinema is art and art is subjective, so there’s bound to be some disagreement over which is the best film of any given year. The Oscars have rewarded a lot of outstanding motion pictures in their time – enter All About Eve (1950), Rocky (1976), The Silence of the Lambs (1991)… But sometimes their decisions are as ridiculous as Jennifer Lawrence beating Amy Schumer to Best Actress in a Comedy at the 2016 Golden Globes for Joy – a film with zero laughs! I mean, come on, in what world is Shakespeare in Love superior to Saving Private Ryan?
1. The Red Shoes (1948) – lost to Hamlet
The Red Shoes is, in no uncertain terms, a masterpiece. The movie stages a reimagining of the Hans Christian Anderson fairytale in which a young woman – tricked by a wily shoemaker – puts on a pair of magic ballet shoes that fuse to her feet. This is the first layer of the story. We’ve all seen a film-within-a-film, sure, but a ballet-within-a-film? Astonishing. Beyond that, there’s a fiery love triangle between ingénue dancer (Moira Shearer), her composer (Marius Goring) and her director (Anton Walbrook).
The fifteen-minute ballet sequence in the middle is just resplendent, as well as being ridiculously advanced for its time. Shearer pirouettes with shape shifting figures in changing locales as her character gradually succumbs to insanity. The Red Shoes is one of Martin Scorsese’s favourite films. And if it’s good enough for Marty, it’s good enough for me. He went so far as to restore this British classic in vivid Technicolor in 2009, upon learning that the ageing film stock was irreparably deteriorating. Daring, tragic, visually arresting, The Red Shoes stands the test of time. It’s streets ahead of Laurence Olivier’s fuddled adaptation of Hamlet.
2. Singin’ in the Rain (1952) – lost to The Greatest Show on Earth
Perhaps the biggest oversight of them all is that Singin’ in the Rain failed to garner a nomination for Best Picture. It didn’t win anything at the Oscars that year, not even Best Music. What an absolute travesty. If you have a pulse, you know and love Singin’ in the Rain, a musical comedy that has enthralled generations with its endearing wit and charm. In the film, a silent movie studio’s transition to talking pictures is frustrated by its female star, Lina Lamont (Jean Hagen), whose irritatingly shrill voice threatens to bankrupt Monumental Pictures.
Singin’ in the Rain is bursting with sunny numbers and exquisite dancing from its three protagonists, most notably Gene Kelly splashing around in puddles in the title song. The movie is a lot deeper than it originally appears. It is, arguably, a countercultural product that criticises the divide between low and high art while exposing the mechanics of filmmaking. Listen carefully to the lyrics of Make ‘em Laugh and you’ll catch my drift. International critics hail Singin’ in the Rain as one of the greatest films of all time. So why didn’t the Academy reward it accordingly?
3.The Graduate (1967) – lost to In the Heat of the Night
I bet the mere mention of The Graduate has got you whistling Simon & Garfunkel, am I right? A baby-faced Dustin Hoffman plays Benjamin Braddock, a listless college graduate who’s in no hurry to find direction in life. He is seduced by the beguiling Mrs Robinson (Anne Bancroft) – a stylish older woman and family friend – before falling for her daughter, Elaine (Katharine Ross). The film is marvellously captured with a jarring mixture of languid shots and rapid cuts to evoke Benjamin’s wavering between lethargy and excitement.
The Graduate is relentlessly memorable and universally recognised as cinematic gold. Think how often it’s parodied. Everyone knows that poster, that peeping glimpse of Hoffman from the curve of Mrs Robinson’s bent leg. When the figures are adjusted for inflation, The Graduate ranks as the second most popular film of all time, coming in behind The Sound of Music (which did win Best Picture in 1965). I rest my case. Here’s to you, Mrs Robinson.
4. E.T. (1982) – lost to Gandhi
Forget phoning home, let’s phone the Academy and find out why they thought that watching a blacked-up Ben Kingsley roam India for three hours was the most entertaining film of 1982. We all grew up with E.T., Steven Spielberg’s moving family drama that Rotten Tomatoes dubbed the greatest science-fiction film ever made. It also holds the record as the highest-grossing film of the 1980s.
Lonely schoolboy Elliott (Henry Thomas) befriends a stranded alien and helps him get back to his home planet. The friendship between Elliott and E.T is perhaps the most powerful to ever be presented on the big screen, hence its enduring relatability. Thomas’ performance is also incredibly convincing for such a young actor. Full disclosure, the visual effects do look a little tired to a modern eye. But when Elliot pedals furiously past the moon – and John Williams’ sweepingly majestic score carries you away on a sonic cloud – you won’t really care.
5. Jerry Maguire (1996) – lost to The English Patient
Jerry Maguire has everything you want to see onscreen: humorous dialogue, character development, American football matches, a romance plot…
Tom Cruise, riding on his heyday wave, plays the lead, a self-assured sports agent whose moral epiphany gets him the sack. Alongside single mother Dorothy (Renée Zellweger), Jerry must land a deal for his only client, rambunctiously difficult Rod Tidwell (Cuba Gooding Jr.). I believe you can judge how much a film has affected you by how easily you can quote it, and I’m expertly versed in Jerry Maguire quotes. If you’ve never told anyone to show you the money then you’ve missed a trick. The screenplay buzzes with honeyed conversations and stinging repartees. In one of the most romantic moments in movie history, Zellweger chokingly tells her husband, “You had me at hello.” Then all of the ovaries in the cinema explode.
Look out for my final Oscars special where I’ll be unveiling the very best of the Best Pictures.
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