Oscar Flashback – Famous Big Splits

No, we’re not talking about Susan Sarandon and Tim Robbins (sob), but of those recent years where Picture and Director split. In most cases, not all, these were the most discussed. When they split it’s often because one film is more critically acclaimed and the other more beloved by audiences. Reds vs. Chariots of Fire, and Born on the 4th of July vs. Driving Miss Daisy seem to come up in Oscar discussions more than any other year. Both cases were extremely rare and broke all of the rules. And in both cases, there was a third film pushing at the edges. With Driving Miss Daisy, there was no Best Director nomination so there couldn’t be a win, but it continues to defy that rule as Oscar watchers often still hope for a Best Pic win for a film whose director isn’t nominated. With ten nominees for Best Picture, though, that rule seems to have evaporated.

In both cases, though, the winning film was lighter and more uplifting than the film that won Best Director.¬† In 1981, Reds and Chariots of Fire were up against On Golden Pond, which might have won the whole thing were it not for a three-picture split. Mucking things up further were Raiders of the Lost Ark and Atlantic City. Raiders may be the only one of the bunch with any staying power, as it turns out. Reds might be the best of the bunch and would most likely win today. Atlantic City won the Los Angeles Film Critics and Reds won New York. On Golden Pond won the Golden Globe. Warren Beatty won the DGA and yet, out of nowhere, Chariots of Fire won Best Picture in a shocker. Even Crash had the SAG ensemble warning.¬† The only award Chariots had won prior was the National Board of Review. Hugh Hudson was nominated for a DGA. But still, that film’s win remains inexplicable.

Fast-foward to 1989. The one film that should have been pushing at the edges, Do the Right Thing, was not nominated for Best Picture. But it won the LA Film Critics. My Left Foot won the New York Film Critics awards and was nominated for Best Pic. But the absence of Do the Right Thing put the charges of racism in the air, which may be part of the reason Driving Miss Daisy, winner of the National Board of Review and Golden Globe for Comedy, won. On the other hand, maybe they just liked the movie.

Since they couldn’t give Best Director to Bruce Beresford, they had to give it to somebody. Had Spike Lee been nominated, he might won it. Kenneth Branagh was all the rage for Henry V, and Woody Allen was in the mix for Crimes and Misdemeanors (again, should have been nominated for Best Pic). 1989 would have been a great 10 nominee year.

The next really big split was 1998, when Steven Spielberg won for Saving Private Ryan but Shakespeare in Love took Best Pic. Like 1989 and 1981, the epic lost to the more light-ish, uplifting fare. It’s arguable, I guess, if Born on the Fourth of July could have been considered an epic. But it, like Ryan, was a war film. Reds was undoubtedly an epic. Spielberg, like Beatty, like Stone was a “star.” All three were heavy weights with power in Hollywood, for the most part.

Here is a handy Director chart

Cut to The Pianist vs. Chicago in 2001. By this time, I was covering the Oscar race from the beginning of the year so it was easier to see how Roman Polanski won Best Director where Rob Marshall didn’t. The Pianist, if given another couple of weeks, might have won Best Picture.¬† Then again, Chicago was more entertaining and ultimately uplifting (not in terms of message but in terms of plot and tone). The Pianist was more critically acclaimed, yet Polanski’s reputation had prevented many from embracing it. Eventually, though, the power of his film prevailed. Polanski’s win was a surprise but unlike Chariots of Fire it didn’t come out of nowhere. The Pianist, another wartime epic, Chicago another light-ish film.

Then we get to our favorite year, 2004, the Crash v. Brokeback Mountain year. This is unique from the others in that Brokeback was not a war film. It was an epic, though, and it was most certainly the critics’ darling (and the guilds, etc.) Crash was an uplifting story with an unbelievably miraculous ending.¬† I mean unbelievably and unbelievable. Brokeback Mountain was the better movie, there is no question. I know that more people “liked” Crash better – that is, the muggles for sure. More people told me they liked Crash in real life than Brokeback. Me, I preferred Brokeback to almost every other film that year.

And now, here we are. Compared to the years described previously, this seems like a banner year, doesn’t it? With so many great movies being considered for the Oscars. 500 Days of Summer, Inglourious Basterds, Crazy Heart, A Single Man, Avatar, Up in the Air, Up, The Lovely Bones, Precious, An Education, and even mainstream films seem great, like Julie & Julia, Nine, Star Trek. We have so many films directed by women. Diversity, drama, comedy, and even a musical and an animated film, and we haven’t even gotten started on foreign language and doc. So maybe 2009 will prove to be a great year after all.

All of this to say that if Kathryn Bigelow wins Best Director for the wartime film The Hurt Locker and an uplifting movie wins Best Picture – Up in the Air or Avatar…it won’t be that surprising. But if any other movie wins, it will be.