What was the last truly immortal Best Picture winner? Cases can be made for this or that throughout the years, but for my money, the last film to win the Academy’s top prize that is absolutely a film for the ages was Clint Eastwood’s “Unforgiven.”
And you can get the Blu-ray on Amazon for less than eight bucks. Do it!
Anyway, nothing other than that on a lazy Sunday. Though it inspired me to dig up Eastwood’s acceptance speech for his Best Director win back in March of 1993. Naturally, the Academy is stingy with embeds, but have a look and listen here if you’re bored.
Oh, and here is Eastwood introducing the film at the AFI’s 40th anniversary celebration a few years ago. And Gene Hackman winning Best Supporting Actor. And Eastwood on Hackman’s character, Little Bill Daggett.
Sorry, I could go on forever about this one. After the jump, a few choice selections.
Perhaps one of the film’s central conceits: the lie of America’s bravura:
And one of the cinema’s great finales:
I’ve been talking up the western quite a bit lately. I’m thinking I’ll finally put this list of the genre’s 50 best in honor of the Coens’ latest installment later this year.
Comments
76 responses to “We all got it comin’”
Kris, you ask which immortal BP winner was last. “Schindler’s List” comes to mind….
I imagine many will say the same. I’m not on board.
Clearly “No Country for Old Men,” I think. It felt like a classic the minute it came out, and boy does it ever now.
I’m going to second “No Country for Old Men.” It’s brilliant in every sense of the word.
I agree wholeheartedly. It’s the last Best Picture winner that is also my favourite film of that given year. It’s also my favourite film of the 90s, period. (Glengarry Glen Ross, from the same year, comes a close second).
I would say “No Country for Old Men.” Beyond that, I would accept both “Schindler’s List” and “Unforgiven.” By the way, thanks for the tip… I just bought the blu-ray!
I think if you count the whole trilogy, the BP win for “The Lord of the Rings: Return of the King” goes down as iconic and ‘for the ages.’ I mean, the films aren’t everyone’s cup of tea, but I think they left an undeniable mark on cinema.
I third “No Country for Old Men”. It’s stature will only increase as the years go by.
I would say No Country For Old Men is a much better film than Unforgiven as well.
I have to disagree with everyone on No Country for Old Men, much as I love the film. There Will Be Blood is generally the more revered nominee these days.
I would place Unforgiven on a list of the top 25 films ever made. That’s my standard. Those quick to mention No Country for Old Men, I’m curious…would you place it so high?
I love “No Country for Old Men” and “There Will Be Blood” almost equally… I think I find myself wanting to watch “There Will Be Blood” more… but I find myself more consistently entertained in “No Country.” Both are beautifully put together, but “No Country” is paced better.
Kris – I would place it maybe in top 50… Maybe. I’m not saying “No Country for Old Men” is better than “Unforgiven” but you did ask for most recent.
No, I would not, but there are hardly any Best Picture winners from the last 30 years I actually would.
Personally, I have to go back to 1977 and Annie Hall to find what I consider to be a masterpiece. Even Platoon was only the third best nominee.
What? No love for ‘American Beauty’?
In what way are we describing ‘immortal’? If we’re talking critical immortality, ‘Schindler’s List’ would probably top a lot of lists. As far as commercial/popular immortality, can anyone argue against ‘Titanic’?
Personally, if I’m forced to choose between Eastwood BP winners, I’d choose ‘Million Dollar Baby’…that movie just does it for me on so many levels.
KBJr: I guess it’s obviously a subjective thing, but immortal, to me, is rubbing shoulders with the greatest cinema has ever offered.
I love American Beauty, but No Country is more recent, so yeah.
Ummm, Forrest Gump? That’s the last one, at least from that decade that resonates with me. Come to think of it, quite a few of the best picture winners that decade weren’t so great. Dances with Wolves over Goodfellas, Braveheart over Apollo 13, English Patient over Fargo, Titanic over L.A. Confidential, Shakespeare in Love over Saving Private Ryan, and American Beauty over Green Mile or The Insider. Interesting in retrospect.
But Drew, you are omitting Forrest Gump over Pulp Fiction, which I think nine out of ten cinephiles would prefer.
As to American Beauty, eh. People still like that?
LA Confidential
There Will Be Blood
oh wait, they didn’t win
“Annie Hall” and “Godfather I & II.”
“Dacnes with Wolves” and “The English Patient” are EXCELLENT.
Errr… that should be “Dances.”
For me, No Country for Old Men is the last “immortal” BP. It’s a film that’s both of it’s time and for all time, capturing the paranoia and uncertainty of war, the death of our ideas about heroes and “the west” and being just a great, suspenseful chase film with a delicious villain.
Although, I’d submit that Unforgiven is probably the next greatest recent BP winner, and somewhat similar in tone to the Coen Bros. film.
I quite like The Hurt Locker, too, but it feels too confined a story to fit the “immortal” label and it came a few years too late to have lasting cultural resonance about the war. If only a film of its quality and stature about Iraq had emerged in 2005 or 2006, but no major studios or filmmakers had the guts or resources to go for it.
I admire Schindler’s List, Forrest Gump and Unforgiven, but none of them are immortals in my book. I would probably have to go all the way back to the Godfather Part II for an immortal BP winner.
It was depressing to read through the list of best picture winners in recent years, realizing how many of them aren’t ‘immortal’ as you say.
That said, “No Country for Old Men”, “American Beauty” (Watched it again a few weeks ago; still wonderful), and “Million Dollar Baby” stuck with me the most.
Return of the King.
I would say the last immortal Best Picture winner is The Hurt Locker, but that might seem a bit premature to some people. I would call it a semi-masterpiece but maybe not stretch it as far as one of the greatest films ever made.
So the answer has to be No Country which absolutely qualifies as one of the towering achievements of cinema this past decade. And it was not even my faovorite film of 2007, that was Zodiac.
I find Unforgiven extremely over-rated and think Million Dollar Baby is Eastwood’s masterpiece, not this movie.
“I find Unforgiven extremely over-rated and think Million Dollar Baby is Eastwood’s masterpiece, not this movie.”
#statementsijustdontunderstand
No Country For Old Men definitely qualifies for me Kris, its in my top 50 of all time. Considering only 4 Picture winners are in my top 50 and only 7 are in my top 100… that’s pretty darn good. Its the third best winner ever for my money behind only Casablanca and the Godfather Part II.
While Unforgiven is a true classic, I still go with Return of the King. A great way to cap of the greatest trilogy EVER!
Funnily enough i just bought Unforgiven on saturday. Watching it again i was reminded of just how brilliant the cast and the writing is. Just a brilliant take on the western. The nature of violence and morality has rarely been explored in such a compelling way. I’m not a big fan of westerns and yet i love Unforgiven (also very fond of Assassination of Jesse James). In terms of the topic Schindler’s List comes to mind first then i think, but wait, Fargo came out in 1996. Then i have to remind myself that Fargo didn’t win best picture. Damn Academy.
Forrest Gump. I know its kind of clunky now, but its always a charmer. Would have much preferred Pulp Fiction, but 94 was a going to be a shinning Best Picture year no matter what.
Kris, would Unforgiven still resonate the way it does to you had Clint Eastwood not had so much history in the genre. Seeing as the movie is basically an epilogue to every western he’s ever been in. It would be interesting for someone with no prior knowledge of Eastwood’s earlier work to watch it and read it separate from its Eastwood/Western intertexts.
HOWARDS END for the win!!!
seriously.
I think Unvorgiven is very good, but a “film for the ages” it is not. That would be “Once Upon A Time In The West”, for me still the best film ever made.
Derek: Absolutely it would. I don’t think about his history with the genre when I think of that film and that script’s brilliance. It’s frosting on the cake.
Voland: That’s my #2 of all time, so certainly I agree it’s a film for the ages, just as Unforgiven is.
To me, Unforgiven is Eastwood’s best, and one of the top 4 or 5 Best Picture winners ever. But I actually think the Oscars have made some great choices since 1992 (and some crappy ones). Schindler’s List, The Lord of the Rings, The Departed, No Country for Old Men and, yes, The Hurt Locker, maybe they’re not films “for the ages”, but I’m pretty sure most of us will remember them fondly in 20 years time.
As you say, Kris, this depends on how you define immortal. I would define an immortal film as being either a masterpiece (one of the best films ever made kind of thing) or a near-masterpiece that left an indelible impact on cinema. Using this logic, I would say in the last 20 years:
No Country For Old Men
The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King
Schindler’s List
Unforgiven
The Silence of the Lambs
That’s all. Films like Titanic and Forrest Gump, though very noteworthy, aren’t good enough in their own right to be immortal.
disagree
The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King
one for the ages
I can even remember half of Unforgiven and it’s not something I would watch twice. LOTR on the other hand I have watched over and over and over……
Silence of the Lambs for me.
Big fan of American Beauty too but SiL is in my top 10 all time.
“What was the last truly immortal Best Picture winner? ”
No country for old men – to me the only truly great movie to win the top prize during the last decade.
Have to add:
My personal favourite from 2007 though was “The Diving Bell & the Butterfly”, best movie of the decade (and a zero Oscar winner, what a shame)!
I’m an American Beauty fan. Always have been – always will be.
I think there is a lot of strong winners in the last 20 years. Dances with Wolves, Silence of the Lambs, Schindler’s List, American Beauty, No Country for Old Men, The Hurt Locker etc. are all fantastic movies, and dare I say it, modern classics (the same with Titanic which I will always love). Some even “masterpieces”.
But if I were to use Kris’ own definition:
“immortal, to me, is rubbing shoulders with the greatest cinema has ever offered.”
Then I definitely agree that it should be Unforgiven.
Dan, I’m not sure that a film has to be of the highest quality to be “immortal.” Some things persist on the basis of influence, even if it’s debatable if their quality isn’t of the highest caliber.
Troy Patterson noted White Noise in the novel realm and Easy Rider in the film realm as being like that.
Also, Unforgiven is a Great movie but I wouldn’t call it one of the 25 best ever. I wouldn’t even call it one of the 25 best American. I think that degree of affection might come from the fact that you’re fond of Westerns, Kris.
To clarify, I just think immortal has enough of a connotation of its own, that you might come with another phrase. e.g. “Timeless masterpiece.”
I love No Country for Old Men, and I guess that would be mine, but There Will Be Blood is in my top 10 of all time, so I’m not sure NCFOM counts. So my pick would be Unforgiven, or even further back Amadeus.
Scratch Amadeus (not 20 years) I would put Return of the King.
I’ll back the Titanic crowd. It definitely has left the biggest stamp on movie-going culture. And for people that don’t spend their days reading blogs about movies and gaining pretension (I hate looking at myself in a mirror like that… but it’s true), Titanic is going to be remembered as the love story of the 1990s. I’m not saying its the most meaningful, masterfully made movie, but it is the most immortal.
Runner ups being:
Return of the King
American Beauty
Forrest Gump
Schindler’s List