18th in a series of polls examining the opinion of you, the TrekBBS users. Which of the original five Academy Award nominees actually should have won? Up next: Best Picture, 1981... which nominee deserved the award most? Comments encouraged.
TrekBBS Academy Awards #18: Best Picture, 1981
- Thread starter Star Treks
- Start date
For comparison, the top-rated English language feature films eligible for Oscars in 1981 on IMDB are:
Raiders of the Lost Ark (8.7)
Lion of the Desert (7.8)
Gallipoli (7.7)
Prince of the City (7.6)
An American Werewolf in London (7.5)
Atlantic City (7.5)
On Golden Pond (7.5)
Excalibur (7.4)
My Dinner with Andre (7.4)
Reds (7.4)
Body Heat (7.3)
Chariots of Fire (7.3)
I've seen four of the five nominated films (Atlantic City is the one I haven't seen). It's an easy choice this time: my vote goes to Raiders of the Lost Ark, one of the most perfectly crafted entertainments ever made.
Raiders of the Lost Ark (8.7)
Lion of the Desert (7.8)
Gallipoli (7.7)
Prince of the City (7.6)
An American Werewolf in London (7.5)
Atlantic City (7.5)
On Golden Pond (7.5)
Excalibur (7.4)
My Dinner with Andre (7.4)
Reds (7.4)
Body Heat (7.3)
Chariots of Fire (7.3)
I've seen four of the five nominated films (Atlantic City is the one I haven't seen). It's an easy choice this time: my vote goes to Raiders of the Lost Ark, one of the most perfectly crafted entertainments ever made.
I reeeeeaaaallly wanted to be juvenile and vote for Raiders, but my grownup side won out and voted for boring ole Reds. 
I actually liked Chariots of Fire. 
I think it deserved to win, even over Raiders.
I think it deserved to win, even over Raiders.
I've only seen Raiders, and while I do consider it one of the greatest action/adventure films ever made, I obviously can't say for sure that it's better than the other films on the list.
Looks like a strong group, on the whole. I'll have to get around to the rest of them one of these days, although to be honest, I'm not really familiar with Atlantic City (despite visiting it a couple of times
).
Looks like a strong group, on the whole. I'll have to get around to the rest of them one of these days, although to be honest, I'm not really familiar with Atlantic City (despite visiting it a couple of times
).
Raiders of the Lost Ark is one of those films that people are still going to be watching and enjoying decades from now. It's my absolute favorite film, so there's no way I can't vote for it.
I've seen four of these. Chariots of Fire did absolutely nothing whatsoever for me (the incredible soundtrack aside) - I remember people gushing about it as we left the theatre and wondering if I'd somehow managed to watch an entirely different movie. 
Reds was dreary beyond any attempt at description and as much as I like Raiders it really isn't my idea of Oscar material.
Which leaves On Golden Pond (and of course Atlantic City, which I haven't seen and thus can't comment on). It lapsed into sentimentality at times but I still enjoyed it. I suppose it gets my vote by default.
Reds was dreary beyond any attempt at description and as much as I like Raiders it really isn't my idea of Oscar material.Which leaves On Golden Pond (and of course Atlantic City, which I haven't seen and thus can't comment on). It lapsed into sentimentality at times but I still enjoyed it. I suppose it gets my vote by default.
I've not seen Atlantic City...but of the rest of them, the winner for me is On Golden Pond.
Raiders is a summer blockbuster and while exciting, is not Oscar material. Meanwhile, On Golden Pond was a touching story and included some of the best acting ever done by Henry Fonda. Kate and Jane were great too. But Henry stole the show.
Raiders is a summer blockbuster and while exciting, is not Oscar material. Meanwhile, On Golden Pond was a touching story and included some of the best acting ever done by Henry Fonda. Kate and Jane were great too. But Henry stole the show.
To the OP, I'm pretty sure you knew how this would turn out on TREKBBS(!!!!) even before you posted this thread.
Yes, but I guess it was obligatory to at least put the poll up. No reason to skip the year even if the result was pretty obvious.
People are going to laugh, but I could easily have accepted nominations for An American Werewolf In London (one of my favorite movies) and My Dinner With Andre, both excellent and both very different.
"Raiders..." is the only one I've seen so...
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