Did Gladiator really deserve the best picture Oscar?
Ridley Scott’s summer spectacle, which turns 20 this month, was lifted into prestige with a surprise Oscar haul, something that’s tainted its legacy
www.theguardian.com
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Guardian: Did Gladiator really deserve the best picture Oscar?
- Thread starter Sqrt
- Start date
www.theguardian.com
Do you agree, Era?
The Oscars are a Hollywood celebration so it's fine. To be fair it wasn't the greatest bunch of nominees that year.
Parasite may have been the first non-English Best Pic winner in 2020 but it really should have happened 20 years earlier with either Yi Yi or In The Mood For Love.
Gladiator was incredible, so of course plus the other movies nominated where no where near entertaining imo.
Those weren't even nominated for foreign language category though, neither did Infernal Affairs and its remake won the main prize.
Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon could have done it, it had the momentum and wouldn't get any complaints from me. Neither does Gladiator, both were entertaining movies. Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon did break a lot of grounds for an Asian language movie anyways.
Iconic soundtrack, great gifs, really what's not to like?
Certainly wasn't an defining Oscar year, but a very entertaining film.
Certainly wasn't an defining Oscar year, but a very entertaining film.
took long enough but here it is
I've been meaning to rewatch this, might do it this weekend.
Anyway Cast Away was robbed that year.
Also I always confuse Traffic and Crash and I've seen neither
heh? Also Bardem's performance > Crowe's
Looking at the year in film of 2000 I wonder which have endured most twenty years on. Snubbed films like Memento, In the Mood for Love, Dancer in the Dark, Unbreakable...
As far as the BP nominees , say you asked people on the street to recall them, I wonder which of those films people would most remember
Crouching Tiger really should've won that year in retrospect, I think at some point it was the favourite but then a lot of the old conservative hollywood guys had a bit of a 'well why don't we reward our epic historical drama instead of their one?' backlash towards it.
Which ignores that Crouching Tiger was mostly an American funded studio film that happened to be in Mandarin, but still.
Traffic would also have made a good winner even if that hasn't held up amazingly, it seemed a bit cruel for Soderbergh to lose Picture twice in one year but at least they gave him Director.
Which ignores that Crouching Tiger was mostly an American funded studio film that happened to be in Mandarin, but still.
Traffic would also have made a good winner even if that hasn't held up amazingly, it seemed a bit cruel for Soderbergh to lose Picture twice in one year but at least they gave him Director.
Memento and In the Mood for Love came out in '01 in the US so were eligible the next year. I think the 2000 BP lineup has generally held up OK, although in retrospect obviously stuff like Almost Famous, Dancer in the Dark, etc. should've been there.
Gladiator's Best Picture win is probably one of the least egregious of the past 20 years. I'd have loved Crouching Tiger to win, but Gladiator was an highly accomplished rousing historical epic that you don't get much of (it was the first really successful historical epic of it's kind in a long while when it was made if I remember correctly) so I don't really begrudge its victory. And it was definitely iconic. It also hasn't been completely forgotten like so many other Best Picture winners.
Now the less said about the likes of Crash, Argo and The King's Speech the better...
Now the less said about the likes of Crash, Argo and The King's Speech the better...
Framing this anniversary from such revisionist (and negative) perspective seems another good reflection on journalism' state nowadays. With that said, Gladiator was a serious contender throughout the whole season, in a three-way race between Traffic, Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon and this. I think Soderbergh's dual effort with Brockovich and Traffic might have split votes in favor of Gladiator, though he did win Best Director and both movies went to get five statuettes, as many as Gladiator itself. Tiger and Dragon was on its own a very strong contender (back then a bigger phenomenon than the likes of Parasite, though the film was also more international in terms of production); it probably wasn't a dominant pick among voters for Best Picture, but I assume it was still voted more than the average third or fourth choice. Unfortunately, we'll never know.
My guess is Gladiator won because it was the happy combination of a well-liked, popular "historical" film, led by a director/actor who were long overdue by the Academy (Scott still is) and the open race gave it the extra push to prevail before a very dark film (Traffic) and the international flick (Tiger and Dragon).
Gladiator is not an outstanding movie, in my opinion, but it's certainly enjoyable and inaugurates what's to me the best period in Scott's filmography since the late 70s and early 80s: Black Hawk Down, Kingdom of Heaven (extended cut) and American Gangster next to this and a few other films that are more discreet, but still worth a watch.
My guess is Gladiator won because it was the happy combination of a well-liked, popular "historical" film, led by a director/actor who were long overdue by the Academy (Scott still is) and the open race gave it the extra push to prevail before a very dark film (Traffic) and the international flick (Tiger and Dragon).
Gladiator is not an outstanding movie, in my opinion, but it's certainly enjoyable and inaugurates what's to me the best period in Scott's filmography since the late 70s and early 80s: Black Hawk Down, Kingdom of Heaven (extended cut) and American Gangster next to this and a few other films that are more discreet, but still worth a watch.
hahhahahahahaha omg, I'm not even kidding every time I see "qft" it's used as " quit fkn talking"
Ah Gotcha. Almost Famous was my favorite that year
Is Gladiator the worst movie to win Best Picture? No. But was it better than the movies it beat? No, I don't think so. I would have given it to Crouching Tiger first and foremost, then to Traffic next...then maybe Gladiator after that (still haven't seen Erin Brokovich or Chocolat). But I would have also nominated Requiem for a Dream and given it to that before Traffic, so...(and don't get me started on Ellen Burstyn not winning Best Actress...that monologue with her and Jared Leto is devastating and one of the best acting performances I've seen.)
Gladiator beating Crouching Tiger was the first time in my young life (I was 17 at the time) that I was able to really be upset about one movie beating the other, because I had finally see at least three of the other Best Picture nominees and had an opinion of my own going into the awards. Up until then, it was mostly, "Well, it won Best Picture, it's gotta be a good movie!"
Gladiator beating Crouching Tiger was the first time in my young life (I was 17 at the time) that I was able to really be upset about one movie beating the other, because I had finally see at least three of the other Best Picture nominees and had an opinion of my own going into the awards. Up until then, it was mostly, "Well, it won Best Picture, it's gotta be a good movie!"
Traffic got robbed
best screenplay, editing, director and actor but not picture. alright then.
I mean logically if a movie is the best written, directed and edited movie you would think best movie but these awards don't always work by logic.
Gladiator – Douglas Wick, David Franzoni, and Branko Lustig, producers
Russel Crowe winning "best actor" is the true crime here.
- Chocolat – David Brown, Kit Golden, and Leslie Holleran, producers
- Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon – Bill Kong, Hsu Li-kong, and Ang Lee, producers
- Erin Brockovich – Danny DeVito, Michael Shamberg, and Stacey Sher, producers
- Traffic – Marshall Herskovitz, Edward Zwick, and Laura Bickford, producers
Russel Crowe winning "best actor" is the true crime here.
Of all the international movies you could choose from, you chose 2 romantic dramas no one will watch.
crouching tiger was clearly the best of those noms. Unfortunately the foreign language thing happened.
I disagree with this article.
It completely deserved it's best picture award. An absolute classic and my only complaint about the film is the lack of historical accuracy.
It completely deserved it's best picture award. An absolute classic and my only complaint about the film is the lack of historical accuracy.
I wonder that if Crouching Tiger happened now (or last year), whether the CCP would have raised a stink about the film representing Taiwan.
Did Braveheart win an Oscar? I think that was the beginning of the resurgence of historical epics, and that was 1995 I think?
Traffic was boring as fuck.Traffic got robbed
best screenplay, editing, director and actor but not picture. alright then.
I watched Gladiator again recently and it held up brilliantly. People forget that its special effects, camerawork and the CGI of Rome were a revelation back at that time.
As for the films it was up against, they were all excellent but I think only Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon would mount a persuasive argument at being the better film.
As for the films it was up against, they were all excellent but I think only Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon would mount a persuasive argument at being the better film.
Traffic is maybe the more forward-looking film but Gladiator is still excellent by BP standards - especially for that decade. I understand why it won though, it has an appeal that nothing else nominated could even touch.