Approaching 30 years since Quentin Tarantino's first masterpiece lost at the 1995 Oscars, it feels like an even worse decision than ever. When launched in 1994 pulp Fiction was only Tarantino's second film, released just two years later Reservoir Dogshis debut in electric driving. Despite being well received, pulp Fiction It was Tarantino's first true masterpiece, and it still remains one of the best in his entire filmography.
Helping to resurrect John Travolta's career, pulp Fiction paired the actor with Samuel L. Jackson and the rest is history. The film is a landmark of the postmodern genre and has continued to grow in reverence 30 years after its release. Notoriously, pulp Fiction is told out of chronological order and was an immediate huge success, winning the Palme d'Or at the 1994 Cannes Film Festival and grossing over $200 million on a budget of $8 million. The stylish film launched Tarantino to stardom but failed to win the coveted Oscar for Best Picture, a decision that remains baffling nearly 30 years later.
Forrest Gump won best film 29 years ago
Seriously though, how did this happen?
Forest Gump came out the same year as pulp Fictionand it was also an instant success, grossing over $670 million and taking home a huge amount of awards upon its release. It remains director Robert Zemeckis' biggest financial success, released just four years after he completed his Back to the future trilogy. Such was his success that Forest Gump was nominated in 13 categories at the 1995 Oscarswinning six of them.
It won awards for Best Visual Effects, Best Film Editing, Best Adapted Screenplay, Best Actor, Best Director and Best Picture, undeniably the biggest winner of the 1995 awards season. Tom Hanks' Best Actor win was his second in a row taking took home the previous year's award for the film Philadelphia, and it was his third nomination at the time. It was the first (and only) nomination for Best Director and Best Picture and a victory for Robert Zemeckis, although he was nominated for Best Screenplay in 1986 for Back to the future.
Pulp Fiction was snubbed for its rightful 1995 Oscar win
The best film win should have gone to Tarantino
That same year, pulp Fiction was nominated for seven Oscars, including Best Director and Best Picture, Best Film Editing, Best Screenplay, with Uma Thurman nominated for Best Supporting Actress, Samuel L. Jackson for Best Supporting Actor, and John Travolta for Best Actor. Surprisingly, that night it only took home one Oscar for Best Original Screenplay, which gave Quentin Tarantino his first Oscar – a feat he later repeated in the same category for Django Unchained.
Despite winning the Palme d'Or before the Oscars, which is one of the most prestigious awards in the industry, pulp Fiction it still lost Best Picture and Best Director, which was a huge snub at the time. It's a shame too, considering it was definitely the strongest film that year among the nominees. Despite all this, the awards received during his initial season set the stage for Tarantino for the next three decades of his career.
Forrest Gump has aged incredibly poorly
Zemeckis' sentimental epic bested several better films
No, Forest Gump It's not a terrible film. It's not even a bad film. It's still a well-received film that has endured since it was released 30 years ago. It simply didn't deserve to win the Oscar that year, especially when you compare it to the lasting legacy of two of the films it won. Not only did Forest Gump to knock pulp Fictionalso hit The Shawshank Redemption. Of course, all three films are some of the most culturally significant moments in American cinema, but Forest Gump definitely looks like an outlier.
Compared to pulp Fiction and The Shawshank RedemptionIt doesn’t feel so timeless.
Both pulp Fiction and The Shawshank Redemption essentially remained critical darlings for life, with both being in the Top Ten of IMDB's Top 250 Films, where The Shawshank Redemption it is currently in first place. Forest Gump It's still highly regarded, of course, but it has been continually re-evaluated over the years, inadequately by most assessments. Compared to pulp Fiction and The Shawshank Redemptionit just doesn't feel as timeless or as good.
It will always be a shame that pulp Fiction didn't win Best Picture at the 1995 Oscars, considering it was the best film of that year and one of Tarantino's undeniable masterpieces. Still, the loss didn't (and still doesn't) affect the film's legacy, which continued to endure for three decades and will continue to endure for decades to come. pulp Fiction is simply one of the best, no matter what he won or didn't win.