It’s no great secret that the Oscar for Best Picture has been awarded to some puzzling choices over the years. Way back in 1944, the musical comedy Going My Way won the award, rather than Billy Wilder’s classic Film Noir Double Indemnity. Then flash forward to 1952 when Cecil B. DeMille’s tiresome circus picture The Greatest Show on Earth trounced High Noon, whilst in later years Dr Strangelove lost to My Fair Lady, Rocky outdid Taxi Driver and (notoriously) Driving Miss Daisy ran over My Left Foot.
In recognition of this, here’s a purely personal look at ten times when the Academy Award for Best Picture went to a dubious choice, and which movie arguably should have won.
With the changes in the composition of the Academy voters and other initiatives, the occasionally bewildering absence of some deserving movies could become a thing of the past…or throw up leftfield choices which may bemuse an older audience.
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