TrekBBS Academy Awards: #9 - Best Picture, 1994

[Star Treks]

Ninth in a series examining which movie, of the original nominees, should have won the Oscar. Up next: Best Picture, 1994... which nominee was most deserving? Comments encouraged.

Normally I try to wait two days between posting new polls, but the results for 1986 are a blowout... and I am very curious to see the response to this year. I think it's one of the most interesting years in Oscar history, in terms of nominees for Best Picture, and I expect a lot of discussion and debate about this one.

Any year where both Pulp Fiction AND The Shawshank Redemption can be nominated for the same award is interesting; any year where they both lose is even more interesting.

 

[Hermiod]

Pulp Fiction for me.

 

[Roger Wilco]

That was a strong year, Shawshank Redemption is imdb's #1 of all time, Pulp Fiction is #6 and Forrest Gump is #46.

I'm not a big fan of Forrest Gump, if they had held back a little on the cheese it would have been a much better movie and the message it sends is sort of strange, but it's not an unworthy winner. Any one of these three movies would have been a deserving winner imo, and Four Weddings and a Funeral and Quiz Show are enjoyable movies also.

My vote goes to Pulp Fiction, which is one my absolute favourite movies ever.

eta: I just saw that Quiz Show actually has an outstanding rating on rottentomatoes (96%) - was that film the critics' favourite to win the Oscar that year?

 

[Hermiod]

^Quiz Show is an excellent film. With the exception of Four Weddings and a Funeral, I would not complain if any of these films had won.

 

[Kira's Mom]

Shawshank Redemption.

Forrest Gump was okay, but too damn sappy.

 

[Jax]

Tough year but The Shawshank Redemption, which is my favourite movie of all time.

 

[Kirkman1987]

I would give it to Shawshank Redemption, but just barely. It was a tough year.

 

[Out Of My Vulcan Mind]

For comparison, the top-rated English language feature films of 1994 on IMDB are:

The Shawshank Redemption (9.2)
Pulp Fiction (8.9)
Léon (8.6)
Forrest Gump (8.5)
Ed Wood (8.1)
The Lion King (8.1)
Clerks (7.9)
Once Were Warriors (7.9)
Ladybird Ladybird (7.7)
Heavenly Creatures (7.6)
Bullets Over Broadway (7.5)
The Crow (7.5)
Fresh (7.5)
Quiz Show (7.5)

Four Weddings and a Funeral scores a 7.1.

1994 was an exceptionally strong year, yielding three nominated films easily worthy of winning Best Picture: Forrest Gump, Pulp Fiction, and The Shawshank Redemption. Since I think all three are great all-time classic films, and since I'm sure that Forrest Gump will be underrepresented in the voting, that's where I'll throw my vote.

The one sore spot for me in the nominations is Four Weddings and a Funeral. It's a decent film (although it hasn't aged particularly well), but Ed Wood, The Lion King, and Heavenly Creatures were far more deserving of the nomination.

 

[aladinsane]

Other than 4 Weddings, those are all great pictures. While Pulp Fiction is one of my all-time favorites--maybe even top 10, Shawshank Redemption is the better film. Easily one of the finest ever made. Revisionist history should hand it the Oscar for best pic.

 

[Harvey]

Pulp Fiction earns my vote. I have to come out and confess I've still never seen The Shawshank Redemption, though.

Easy enough to vote against Forest Gump, though. Schmaltzy, sentimental crap. Hanks and Zemeckis can and have done better. And a shame Ed Wood wasn't nominated.

 

[Out Of My Vulcan Mind]

The most amusing thing about that Oscar ceremony was that Samuel L. Jackson put up none of the usual "I'm happy for the winner" pretense when he lost Best Supporting Actor to Martin Landau. Instead Jackson grimaced and clearly said, "Ah, shit."

 

[CaptainCanada]

I love Forrest Gump; one of my favourite movies; but The Shawshank Redemption is even better, so it gets my vote. Either deserved it.

 

[ALF]

I feel Pulp over Shawshank has much more enjoyable repeat viewing.

 

[Mistral]

I hurried to pick Shawshank-and then slammed on the brakes when I saw Pulp and Gump-puzzled a while, scratched head and went with Shawshank-just a richer story overall. But any other year.....

 

[Star Treks]

For me, Forrest Gump is a good - but not a great - movie. It just didn't move me emotionally the way The Shawshank Redemption does... and Pulp Fiction is probably more original and more influential than either of them. So for me it's a pick between Pulp, which is probably a "greater" film, and Shawshank, which is probably a more thoroughly transcendent filmgoing experience (I know, weird logic, but there it is).

I went with Shawshank because it was an absolute sin that it got shut out at the Oscars. Tim Robbins wasn't even nominated. It has its flaws (I find a few lines of dialogue cringeworthy, and it dips its toes into the schmaltz that Forrest Gump dives headfirst into) - but, honestly, #1 on IMDB really does have to count for something. It's a great movie.

I can think of several Oscar years where Quiz Show would have been more deserving than any of the nominees (take 1989, for example).

 

[trevanian]

QUIZ SHOW definitely, though PULP FICTION and ED WOOD are up there as well.

I never expect my faves to win best picture (between PATTON and SILENCE OF THE LAMBS, I had ZERO winners picked -- although many of those years, my choices weren't even nominated), but in the 90s, I was very annoyed that SE7EN and LA CONFIDENTIAL didn't win. Right up there with the bullshit of BABE beating APOLLO13 for the vfx oscar, which is as ridiculous as Doug Trumbull not having an oscar after working on TMP and BLADE RUNNER and CLOSE ENCOUNTERS.

 

[trevanian]

The most amusing thing about that Oscar ceremony was that Samuel L. Jackson put up none of the usual "I'm happy for the winner" pretense when he lost Best Supporting Actor to Martin Landau. Instead Jackson grimaced and clearly said, "Ah, shit."

SLJ shoulda been up for lead anyway, his character is who I think of first whenever I think of PULP FICTION.

 

[DeafPoet]

I love Pulp Fiction to death, but Shawshank is even better. A good year for movies, for sure.

 

[TheArsenal]

While Pulp Fiction makes a strong runner up, the The Shawshank Redemption was the best film that year for me.

Even so, for quite a few years Pulp Fiction had the greater impact on film making than any of those other movies. The end result was it crammed the cineplexes with diluted and too clever by half Tarantino knock offs, which did the memory of the original no favors. I personally grew tired of that style of film long before I should have.

 

[PKTrekGirl]

VERY tough year.

I'll go with Shawshank Redemption. But I'd be just as happy about Forest Gump.

Four Weddings and a Funeral and Pulp Fiction are also really good films, but a step down from Shawshank and Gump.