I am a big fan of watching blockbuster films. With a stack of DVD’s stuffed in my bedroom drawer, I never miss my Sunday fix of watching Oscar winning films. Do you know which movies have won 10 or more Oscars until now? I asked this question to my cine buff friends but no one knew the answer! Here are a handful of films that have swept 10 or more Academy Awards and have made history:
10 Oscars: West Side Story (1961)
10 Oscars: West Side Story (1961)
Ooooh, how much I love crooning to the evergreen songs of this film? I remember my parents having passed on their LP record of this musical to me. Actually, the songs of the movie made me watch this film which swept 10 Oscars in 1961. Voted numero uno in the categories of Best Picture, Best Supporting Actor (George Chakaris), Best Supporting Actress (Rita Moreno) and Best Direction (Robert Wise and Jerome Robbins), West Side story completely raised the bar of the quality of musicals. The amazing creativity with which this film combined ballet, drama and opera, it was nominated for 11 Academies. Now that’s what I call a clean win!
11 Oscars: Ben Hur (1959)
11 Oscars: Ben Hur (1959)
If someone today made a movie that was 3 hours and 32 minutes long, I’m pretty sure everyone would walk out if the cinema halls. But not with William Wyler’s magnum opus Ben Hur! With a dizzying nomination in 12 categories, this historical epic swept 11 awards for Picture, Director, Actor, Supporting Actor, Cinematography, Art Direction, Best Sound, Score, Editing, Costume Design and Special Effects. I was watching this film again the other day and was completely stunned to even think about how they must have created such dramatic historical sets and scenes without CG effects in those days. Did you know that the film’s famous chariot race scene took three weeks to shoot with about 15,000 extras? Wow – those were the masters! I can imagine how the 32nd Academy Awards would have been – Ben Hur stealing all the thunder.
11 Oscars: Titanic (1997)
11 Oscars: Titanic (1997)
I hardly know anyone who hasn’t seen this classic of our generation. James Cameron's Titanic took the Kodak Theater by storm in 1997, and by the way, here’s an interesting trivia: the film was nominated for 14 categories – the highest numbers of nomination any film has ever received! Who can forget those beautiful scenes of old Rose throwing her beautiful aquamarine neckpiece in the dark blue ocean waters or when Rose and Jack stood at the helm of the ship deck with their arms spread wide, entangled with one another? Wow, I still get goose bumps when I think of those moments in the film. Although Titanic managed to bring home 11 awards, I was disappointed because my favorite Kate Winslet didn’t make it to be Best Actress!
11 Oscars: The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King (2004)
11 Oscars: The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King (2004)
Personally, I am not a big fan of the fantasy-fiction genre, but after watching Lord of the Rings, I was totally converted. A true masterpiece of the modern times, the epic journey of humans, dwarfs, elves, hobbits and wizards won a record breaking 11 Oscars, sweeping every category in which it was nominated. This final chapter in Peter Jackson's grand fantasy trilogy not only swept all the accolades on stage but also won the hearts of millions of fans around the world. In fact, Billy Crystal who was hosting the awards presentation that year, kept joking that New Zealand couldn’t be thanked enough – referring to the trilogy being shot there extensively. This amazing feat by Peter Jackson has surely gown down the pages of film history. I’ll tell you something really crazy - If you put together the wins and nominations of the entire Lord Of The Rings trilogy, then it has won a whopping total of 17 Oscars, 247 other awards and a total of 227 nominations. Wow – that’s record breaking for sure!
Just an aside, I suggest you also watch a few other films that just missed getting more than 10 awards – check out Gone with the Wind, Gigi, Slumdog Millionaire, The Last Emperor, Cabaret, Gandhi, Amadeus, The English Patient, From Here To Eternity and many more.
