Oscars: 6 Movies That Were Harmed By Winning Best Picture

2. Shakespeare In Love (1998)

Shakespeare In Love's Best Picture win at the 71st Academy Awards was one of the biggest upsets in Oscar history, and it also shows how much an Oscar campaign can affect a film's chances of winning. Produced by Hollywood juggernaut Harvey Weinstein, Shakespeare In Love's campaign was aggressive and cost millions, which had never been attempted by a non-studio title before. It worked, and the film took the Oscar away from the frontrunner, and the film that undoubtedly deserved it more: Saving Private Ryan. That's right, a comedy about William Shakespeare falling in love, which leads him to write Romeo and Juliet beat Spielberg's harrowing WWII masterpiece for the top spot and the title of "best film of the year." Many blame Weinstein for the win, while others claim that Spielberg had already won enough awards in 1994 for his other WWII masterpiece, Schindler's List, so giving him more accolades was unnecessary. The bottom line here is that it just shows that there is more going on behind the scenes of these awards than audiences would like to admit, and that definitely leaves a bitter taste. Shakespeare in Love didn't just steal the award from Spielberg. It also kept Elizabeth (a much better period piece), Life Is Beautiful, and The Thin Red Line from winning. Maybe voters grew tired of the horrors of the holocaust and WWII, and were charmed by Shakespeare In Love's lighter, easier to digest tone. Either way, the movie has gone down in infamy as one of the most debated Best Picture winners, and the general consensus has rather unfairly moved to consider it a bad movie.