7. Taxi Driver/Network
What Won Instead: Rocky This one is tough. Rocky is a great film. It is a masterpiece. It shouldnt be cheapened by the fact that there were 5 sequels of varying quality, but it is. Sorry. Rocky won because it was an optimistic picture about the underdog overcoming the odds in a decade of gloom and cynicism. It is probably the only film on this list whose win bothers me the least, however it was competing in a tough year. Taxi Driver is the seminal film of 1970s America and especially 1970s New York. Its an infinitely watchable film, thanks in no small part to Robert De Niros performance and Paul Schraders script. Martin Scorsese created a haunting portrait of isolation in one of the greatest character studies of all time. So much has been said about the film that theres really no reason for me to continue typing. Network, written by Paddy Chayefsky, may be the single greatest screenplay ever. Rocky won because it was of its time, while Network was so ahead of its time, its slightly unsettling. Network predicted so much of the current state of news, celebrity, and media culture that is prevalent today. It was a satire then, yet it is somehow reality now. If you were to tell a film fan that Taxi Driver or Network didnt win Best Picture they might gasp in shock. When you tell them Rocky won they probably would say, Yeah, I guess. But still