Did They Get it Right? – Best Picture – Oscars 1965

Here are the five nominees: (Winner in Bold)

Darling

Doctor Zhivago

Ship of Fools

The Sound of Music

A Thousand Clowns

Biggest Snub:

The Flight of the Pheonix

My Overall Thoughts:

Once again, this year has a great list of nominees where 4 of the 5 would have been worthy choices of winning the top award.

Ultimately, it once again was left up to the voters to choose between the two winners of the Globes that year – best Musical/comedy (The Sound of Music) and the best Drama (Doctor Zhivago).

Looking back after over 50 years, it’s clear to see that Ship of Fools was an even better choice for Drama because of how it depicted society of the 30’s, yet remains relevant to viewers from any time frame ever since.

My Rankings:

Movies

• 5. – Darling – Film that was probably better received when it came out due to Christie’s performance and the shock and awe of the premise, but doesn’t hold up well now.
• 4. – Doctor Zhivago – Epically Lean, but the story doesn’t flow as well as some of his other achievements.  Christie and Sharif have great chemistry together and had this film flowed better it would have been the one to beat.
• 3. – A Thousand Clowns – Great film that shows the absurdity of social services.  Amazingly witty and clever dialogue makes this lots of fun to watch.
• 2. – The Sound of Music – Excellent musical that understandably won because of it message and the high level of entertainment when watching it.  Andrews is superb here in a role she was pretty much born to play and Plummer is great because despite seemingly miscast in this role, he is very assertive even when he needs to sing.
• 1. – Ship of Fools – Amazing character study that has so much to say about society of the 1930’s but is still relevant so many years later.  Amazing ensemble cast helps make this even better to watch.  Unbelievable dialogue is so crisp and engaging.

Do I agree with the Oscar winner? – Yes and No. The Sound of Music is a great movie because of its scope, but Ship of Fools is an amazing character study unlike any other film ever made.

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