24 FEBRUARY 2018 ArcAd A News By Eric Luse Each year at the Academy Awards, one film is awarded the Oscar statue for best picture. Being nominated places each film in an exclusive category of movie history. As Steven Spielberg put it in 2010, “One of these ten movies will join a list that includes, On the Waterfront , Midnight Cowboy , The Godfather and The Deer Hunter . The other nine will join a list that includes Grapes of Wrath , Citizen Kane , The Graduate and Raging Bull .” While in good company, that doesn’t mean the best picture winner is always as revered or even as remembered in the annals of pop culture as those listed by Mr. Spielberg. Movies win best picture based on political climate, trends in Hollywood and the ever- changing marketplace of cinema. Each person brings a unique perspective to the movies they see. Taste is subjective, but best picture winners are bound as time capsules of cinema. Here’s a few that seem to be lost in time and forgotten by pop culture. ● Amadeus (1984) - The 1984 best picture winner is a fictional account of the professional rivalry between Antonio Salieri and Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, based on an award-winning stage play. For how strong a movie Amadeus is, the world seems to forget it exists. It seems 1984 belonged to the populist picks with Ghostbusters , Beverly Hills Cop , Gremlins and Footloose standing their ground in cinematic history, while this witty fictional biography is left out of the pop culture spotlight. ● The Artist (2011) - 2011 wasn’t the strongest year for movies. Hollywood experienced a very visible drop in box office numbers, as more than a handful of big ticket movies under performed. The Artist (a modern silent movie with title cards and all) has one of the lowest box office grosses for a best picture winner. While other lower grossing best picture winners have found their place in history, The Artist never seemed to fly with mainstream audiences. There’s a self-congratulatory element to giving a movie about making movies best picture, as well as expecting general audiences to sit through a silent film and swoon. This win was for the Hollywood elite, not the average audience member. To be fair, audiences also made Transformers: Dark of the Moon the 2nd highest grossing film of that year...dark times indeed. ● How Green Was My Valley (1941) - A strong entry into director John Ford’s filmography. It’s a quality film that over the decades has been forgotten. One key factor is that it won its Best Picture award during the Oscar ceremony following the attack on Pearl Harbor. The star-studded event was substantially low key and less gaudy than it had been in the past. The film also won against Citizen Kane , which at the time was a dark horse nominee and a rebellious venture. Decades later, Citizen Kane is considered a crowning achievement of cinema that has stood the test of time, while its John Ford’s 1950’s works like The Searchers that he’s most remembered for... not How Green Was My Valley . ● Man of All Seasons (1966) - In a decade where The Sound of Music , Lawrence of Arabia and West Side Story won best picture honors, Man of All Seasons seems to get lost in the shuffle. A captivating performance by stage actor Paul Scofield charmed audiences in its day and certainly won over the academy. It seems since 1966 Man of All Seasons has been placed aside in favor of the gargantuan epics the 60’s has become known for. ● Moonlight (2016) - Perhaps enough time has not passed to determine the fate of this pick, but it will more than likely always be the movie that beat La La Land . Throughout award season, Hollywood seemed to pit these two movies against each other aggressively. It didn’t help that after a mix up in winner envelopes, for 30 seconds the world thought La La Land had won before the mistake was remedied. Both are well-made movies and deserving of the win in their own way. Unfortunately, just a year later it seems more likely you’ll run into someone that can sing a La La Land song than someone who has even seen Moonlight . — Eric Luse was born in Boston and raised in Arizona. He has worked as a screenwriter, casting director, producer and actor in the independent film industry. He is the proud instructor of the Arcadia High School Film and TV program. Forgotten Best Picture winners REEL TALK Moonlight

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