Oscar Winners from the Early 1990s
The Academy Awards' Five Best Pictures from 1990 to 1994
These years are memorable in that all five best pictures from this period also appear on the American Film Institute's list of 100 best American movies.
The five best picture winners from the first half of the 1990s included two westerns, a suspense thriller, a story of unusual courage, and a loveable figure who made "Stupid is as stupid does" a part of the English language.
1990 Best Picture: Dances with Wolves
Kevin Costner directed and starred in this movie of a white soldier, Lt. John Dunbar (Costner), who meets a tribe of Sioux Indians and eventually lives with them. Along the way, he develops a strong friendship with a tribe member (Graham Greene) and a white woman (Mary McDonnell) who has been raised by the tribe.
The film is beautifully photographed and the story, although slow moving at times, is well told. Costner added an air of authenticity to the film by casting actual Native Americans in Sioux roles, and having them speak Lakota and not English. Costner, Greene, and McDonnell were all nominated for Oscars, but did not win.
1991 Best Picture: The Silence of the Lambs
Based on the best selling book by Thomas Harris, Silence of the Lambs tells the story of a young FBI agent (Jodie Foster) who arranges to meet with the imprisoned Hannibal Lecter (Anthony Hopkins). The agent hopes that Lecter, a brilliant cannibalistic serial killer, will be able to help her track down another killer on the loose, but instead spends most her time with him in a cat and mouse mind game.
The movie won all five major Academy Awards -- Best Picture, Best Actor, Actress, and Director (Jonathan Demme), the first to do so since One Flew over the Cuckoo’s Nest. The movie had both a prequel, Manhunt, and a sequel, Hannibal.
1992 Best Picture: Unforgiven
Unforgiven may be the finest anti-Western ever made. In it, director and star Clint Eastwood shattered many of the myths and icons of the traditional "oater." There are no white hats vs. black hats in this film, just the latter.
When a bounty is put on two cowboys who have brutalized a prostitute, ex-gunfighter William Munny (Eastwood) comes out of retirement. Barely making it as a pig farmer, Munny needs the reward money to support his farm and two motherless children. He is helped in this endeavor by his old partner, Ned Logan (Morgan Freeman), and a would-be gunslinger, The Schofield Kid (James Woolvett). Together, the three head for the town of Big Whiskey where they meet a corrupt sheriff, "Little Bill" Daggett (Gene Hackman).
Hackman won an Oscar for Best Supporting Actor and Eastwood won as Best Director.
1993 Best Picture: Schindler’s List
This true story, based on the book by Thomas Kenneally, is about an opportunistic German businessman, Oskar Schindler, who first exploits Jewish slave labor in Nazi occupied Poland, but then following a change of heart, saves many of them from the death camps. Liam Neeson, as Schindler, Ben Kingsley as his Jewish accountant, and Ralph Fiennes, as a brutal Nazi officer, are all excellent in their roles.
Somber, unsentimental and filmed almost entirely in black and white, Schindler’s List is considered to be one of the finest movies ever made. Director Steven Spielberg won his only Oscar for this movie.
1994 Best Picture: Forrest Gump
This adaptation of Winston Groom's novel is the story of a mentally challenged and kind hearted man who unwittingly becomes involved in many of the major events of the late 20th century. A mixture of drama and comedy blended around a feel good and cheery message, the movie was a box office hit and made popular the phrases, “Stupid is as stupid does” and “Life is just a box of chocolates.”
The movie has been either loved or ridiculed by both critics and audiences, who either praise its warm sentimentality or scoff at it as being mawkish and shallow. Tom Hanks won his first best actor Oscar as the title character.
The first half the 1990s saw many excellent films as can be seen by these Oscar winners. The rest of the decade was, arguably, not as strong.
