OK i am completely perplexed at the reality that this movie...practically the best and most obvious classic of 1981 did not win Best Picture and Director also. It had all the makings of a Academy award winning picture? (and if that didn't work why not give it to Warren Beatty's Reds)...but i still prefer ON GOLDEN POND, it should have won all the five major awards.
Does anyone else agree?
I think Chariots of Fire was far and away the better picture. While I like On Golden Pond, and it is moving and meaningful, next to COF it's something of a Hallmark Hall of Fame movie.
COF was perfection. Perfect acting, perfect directing, perfect screenplay, perfect storyline and plot, perfect concept (two very different, and very passionate, and zealous on two very different accounts, British Olympic runners who ran, with dramatic twists, in the same Olympics); perfect music; perfect costumes, perfect period atmosphere (including Gilbert and Sullivan! and aristocrats jumping over champaign glasses), perfect cinematography, and perfect sum of its parts. It even rose above the sum of its parts in that it touched a spiritual, sublime chord in its viewers.
Golden Pond is a delicious New England home-cooked meal. Chariots of Fire is fine dining at a four-star restaurant. Some prefer the home-cooked meal; but there's no question that the four-star haute cuisine deserves the award.
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Let's face it, folks. The movie academy will never give a best picture Oscar
to a film whose hero is a commie. REDS was the BROKEBACK MOUNTAIN victim of
1981 - - no commies or queers need apply to contaminate their best picture
pantheon. Its Oscar to Warren Beatty was a consolation prize.
Now on to CHARIOTS. What a drag. Not only do few moviegoers remember little
about this film, but what's there to remember? A plot we all could predict
it's outcome ten min. into the film? Another sexless, England-loves-her-own
fuddy duddy? A racial angle catering to the politically correct membership?
Please. I see little to reward with its highest honor a sports movie that's
more theme music in search of a film.
ON GOLDEN POND was the true daring film of the year. That's because movies
about old people seldom make money. Who cares how CHARIOTS got its money?
It's what's up there on the screen that matters: great script, great acting,
great heart, wonderful music & camerawork. A film that has stood the test
of time. Hugely popular with audiences young and old. More entertaining
than guys running around in their underwear for two hours.
The Oscar show annually is big on promise, but small on delivery. 1982 was
no exception.
- - SoundTrak
***I'm 39 yrs old, and I still don't know a single person who saw Chariots of Fire, or remembers seeing it.***
45 here, saw it in a theatre...twice, in fact. Very good movie, probably the best of 1981, although my personal favorite was "Raiders of the Lost Ark."
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It won coz it had running... in slow motion what's more!
SpiltPersonality
Q: Why did Chariots of Fire win Best Picture?
A: It was the best film of the year
On Golden Pond and Reds are incredibly overrated film.
Raiders of the Lost Ark is the most remembered of the Best Picture nominees that year, however it is well known that they academy never voted for the top grossing film especially if it is an action/adventure type film i.e. Star Wars. So it was really a race between Chariots of Fire, On Golden Pond and Reds since Atlantic City was never really a top contender. Chariots of Fire was much better than Reds and On Golden Pond.
i just saw this for the first time and loved it Kate was amazing and Henry Fonda in his last role. Very touching film. I think i can see why Chariots Of Fire won it was a great story of thr 1924 Olympics it could have easily gone to either film. I can't speak for Reds because i havent seen it but i plan to rent it soon.
shareDefinitely agree. When COF won I was so disappointed. I just could not understand it and all these years later (I was 13 when the movie came out and 45 now) I still feel the same way.
shareWell, Chariots was a better film overall but all the best acting was in On Golden Pond. It was a tough call though.
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