Making an Oscar win for How the West Was Won even more ridiculous is the fact that, should you go by Academy Award count, this would position it as one of the best Westerns of all time.
While Chariots of Fire is precisely the type of film the Academy likes to take under its wing, the fact it won was a big surprise on the night; everybody present expected Warren Beatty’s Reds to take home Best Picture.
One such film is early victor In Old Arizona, which secured Warner Baxter a Best Actor win in the late 1920s.
While the Danny Boyle film’s win no doubt put smiles on the faces of commuters reading the morning papers the next day, the shine wears off its success with every rewatch.
Her win for The Iron Lady, though, was one Oscar too many.
