The 71st Annual Academy Awards

How in the blue hell can you vote for a movie like Shakespeare in Love over a legendary all time great war movie like Saving Private Ryan is my question. Ryan is still a movie that gets regular play in syndication while I don't think that many people have really given SiL that much thought since then. I'm not saying that SiL is a bad movie by any means but no way it's in even the same class as Ryan. The Omaha Beach scene to start off the movie should've been enough on its own to guarantee SPR the Oscar for Best Picture.

Also not very fond of Roberto Benigni winning the Best Actor Oscar, I guess they determined with Hanks recent success in Philadelphia and Forrest Gump already making him a two time Oscar winner that they had to give it to someone else. But even Nick Nolte for Affliction or Edward Norton for American History X would've been better choices.

the one big mistake committed by the Academy this year was giving Best Picture to "Shakespeare in Love". "Saving Private Ryan" was by far the more deserving film. I'm happy that Spielberg won the Oscar for Best Director for this film. I was also happy seeing Roberto Benigni win for Best Actor since I'm italian. I think there were some really good movies nominated this year, certainly better than in 2001 and this year, 2002. But I still believe "Shakespeare in Love" is a most overrated movie.

Does anyone have a copy of this ceremony? It was the 71st Annual Academy Awards at the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion at the Los Angeles County Music Center, hosted by Whoopi Goldberg. Shakespeare in Love won Best Picture over Saving Private Ryan, The Thin Red Line, Elizabeth, and La Vita e Bella (Life is Beautiful). The ceremony was held on Sunday, March 21, 1999, broadcast on ABC. The 71st Oscars featured performances by Mariah Carey, Whitney Houston, Aerosmith, Allison Moorer, Andrea Bocelli, Celine Dion, Randy Newman, and Peter Gabriel. I have the 63rd, 69th, 70th, and 72nd-77th ceremonies on either VHS or DVD. I would be interested in seeing any Oscar ceremony from the 60th-62nd, 64th-68th, and 71st which I do not have. If anyone has a copy of any of these please let me know via e-mail.

I still can't understand why they gave "Shakespeare in Love" Best Picture. I was rooting for "Life is Beautiful". Even "Saving Private Ryan" and the conspicuously snubbed "Truman Show" were better. But at least they gave Roberto Benigni the two Oscars that he really deserved; does anyone deny that his acceptance speech was the ceremony's highlight? I know that some people deride Whoopi Goldberg as a host, but I really like her (especially with that "20th century fox" remark). Probably the funniest comment of the night was Robin Williams's "Guns and Moses: The Charlton Heston Story. But you can't say Moses; you have to say The Artist Formerly Known as the Prince of Egypt!" As for Elia Kazan, I say that honoring him for his movies would be like honoring Pol Pot for stamping out corruption. At least the cameras showed people not applauding (among them Nick Nolte).

Overall, a worthy ceremony.