1939, the big toe on the foot of movie years.
The Playlist put together an interesting list of the five best years of Best Picture nominees. In other words, the five years where the Academy nominated a group of movies that were really deserving. That’s rarely the case–Most years there is at least one, probably two nominees for Best Picture where you say, “What…?!” To wit–this year’s “Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close.” Sometimes it’s because there just weren’t enough good movies to be nominated, sometimes it’s because someone politicked better or had more campaign money than someone else (just like every other kind of politics).
Here’s the list they came up with–go to The Playlist to see their rationales and their “almosts.”
1939
The Best Picture Nominees:
“Gone With The Wind” (winner), “Dark Victory,” “Goodbye Mr Chips,” “Love Affair,” “Mr Smith Goes To Washington,” “Ninotchka,” “Of Mice and Men,” “Stagecoach,” “The Wizard Of Oz,” “Wuthering Heights”
1948
The Best Picture Nominees:
“Hamlet” (winner), “Johnny Belinda,” “The Red Shoes,” “The Snake Pit,” “The Treasure Of The Sierra Madre”
1972
The Best Picture Nominees:
“The Godfather” (winner), “Cabaret,” “Deliverance,” “The Emigrants,” “Sounder.”
1975
The Best Picture Nominees:
“One Flew Over The Cuckoo’s Nest” (winner), “Barry Lyndon,” “Dog Day Afternoon,” “Jaws,” “Nashville”
2007
The Best Picture Nominees:
“No Country For Old Men” (winner), “Atonement,” “Juno,” “Michael Clayton,” “There Will Be Blood”
Additionally, each of these years had other candidates who would have been equal to the ones that made the list (2007 also had movies I love, like “Zodiac” and “The Diving Bell and the Butterfly;” 1939 could easily have had another ten nominations).
Commenters on the list also brought up 1994–”Forrest Gump” (winner), “Four Weddings and a Funeral,” “Pulp Fiction,” “Quiz Show,” “The Shawshank Redemption.” I’m not a huge fan of “Forrest Gump,” am okay on “Four Weddings” (better comedies have been neglected), but really love the other three. I’m not sure that’s enough to put it over any of the ones The Playlist chose.
