Did They Get it Right? – Best Picture – Oscars 1968

Here are the five nominees: (Winner in Bold)

Funny Girl
The Lion in Winter

Oliver!

Rachel, Rachel

Romeo and Juliet

Biggest Snub:

2001: A Space Odyssey

My Overall Thoughts:

This has been always considered quite a weak year in Oscar history because the ultimate winner just isn’t considered among the best films ever made let alone in that year.

Once again the two winners at the Globes duked it out for the top award here with the comedy/musical winner prevailing over the drama one.

I think that when looking at both of those films, it’s easy to see that the Drama is a much more powerful and poignant of the two.

Unfortunately, the voters didn’t see tit that way too.

My Rankings:

Movies

• 5. – Rachel, Rachel -Woodward does a nice job as the lead character here trying to find herself, but the story itself is too weird and doesn’t work well enough.
• 4. – Oliver! – Nice choreography is the best thing that can be said about this pretty boring musical.
• 3. – Romeo and Juliet – Great adaptation of one of Shakespeare’s best plays. Whiting and Hussey are both amazing as the star crossed lovers
• 2. – Funny Girl – Streisand is the star here in her debut film role.  Does a great job balancing the dramatic and comedy scenes but still runs a bit too long for its own good.
• 1. – The Lion in Winter – An amazing dialogue driven film that really gives us a sense as to what monarch need to deal with when trying to decide on a heir.  O’Toole and Hepburn are amazing here in this epic story done right.

Do I agree with the Oscar winner? – Not at all! Oliver is a nice production, but the story moves along too slowly to be enjoyable.  TLoW was a great medieval epic that was done just right and was much more powerful a story.

Let me know what you think about these films and my rankings!

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