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Annie Hall

(Best Picture, 1977)

What Should Have Won: Star Wars ...period.

"The Official Story":  There is no real "official story" to why Annie Hall won as Best Picture. Some of the snootier elite are just "glad" that it did. Many of the more snobbish entertainment rags even insist that it was a shining moment for the Academy.

What We Think Happened: Whether you are among the two or three people who did not like Star Wars is immaterial. Let's put it this way: a romance comedy won as Best Picture. A romance comedy? "Best Picture of the year?"

Mind you, this is not the rant of a fanboy. It's not like Star Wars, or any film, was bulletproof. When E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial lost to Gandhi, that was an honorable loss, because Gandhi was the epic biographical drama. If Star Wars was released some other year and lost to, say, The Godfather, well then that's a perfectly honorable loss. Yet Star Wars lost to a romance comedy, and what's more; Oscar felt a romance comedy was the Best Picture of the year.

Best Pictures, as a rule, are meant to evoke emotional resonance, years after their time. We already know the sort of staying power Star Wars has, almost three full decades later. The powerful orchestral music score. The visuals...and for that matter: the vision. The movie that brought its genre, science fiction, to a whole new level forevermore. That's just extraordinary.

But why would The Academy not want to honor Star Wars? Keep in mind this was 1977, not 2007. Best Picture could not be something that made you think, made you dream, or worst of all, made you feel "like a kid again." The Best Picture of the year had to be a "realistic film" that only went slightly overboard ...like, say, a chick wearing a tie. There's no other explanation I can think of, aside from ones that would've required artificial substances. I'm serious...! Show me one Star Wars fan that doesn't respond to "Annie Hall beat Star Wars" with the understandable conclusion, "Were they high?"

What Makes It So Embarrassing "Today":  One of this film's sole sales gimmicks in 1977 sounds pretty silly today: a woman is wearing a tie! Ooooo! But to be fair, this was a "big deal"...in 1977. "The Annie Hall Look" was born! Huzzah! Feminists rejoiced at the liberation this gave, to wear something "only" guys wore. Only thing is: men actually hate wearing ties. In fact; had I worn a tie in 1977, and some lady wanted it, I would've gladly given it to her, permanently. As soon as women realized that there was nothing liberating in wearing a fancy noose around your neck, the Annie Hall Look slowly went the way of "disco"...ironically, right around the dawn of disco.

Next In Line: A Beautiful Snub.

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