The 2003 Best Picture Oscar race was one of the few times the Academy voters, the critics, and moviegoers were all in sync. No one was surprised or disappointed when The Lord of The Rings: The Return of the King won Best Picture. (In fact, it won all 11 awards it was nominated for.) If anything, the award seemed like recognition for all three films in Peter Jackson’s trilogy, as they were all part of one massive project, filmed at the same time but released over three consecutive Decembers. Given the enormous scope of Jackson’s accomplishment at turning the seemingly unfilmable Tolkien saga into movies that were critical successes, fanbase pleasers, and colossal worldwide hits, the award seemed well-deserved, but even judging Return of the King on its own merits — the thrilling battles, the heartbreaking intimacies of Sam and Frodo’s friendship, and the long and poignant farewells — it was still the most cathartic moviegoing experience of the year.
That’s no slight on the other Best Picture contenders. Lost in Translation remains a dreamy gem of a film. Mystic River turned the crime drama into an emotionally wrenching Greek tragedy. Seabiscuit transformed a typical underdog sports story into a national epic. And Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World remains one of the decade’s most woefully underrated movies, a thoroughly satisfying banquet.
Looking back from today’s perspective, which of these films doyou think is the best? Vote in our poll, and list your comments below.(For a refresher, watch the clips embedded after the jump, whichmay contain some NSFW language.) Remember, we’ll be running the Recall the Gold surveys every Tuesdayand Thursday until January, so you may go back at any time and vote inthe other polls (click hereto see them all), reexamining the Oscar races of 5, 10, 15, 20, and 25years ago. On Thursday, Nov. 20, we’ll look at the 1988 Best Supporting Actresscompetition. Watch also for commentary and context throughout EW.com,including on Dave Karger’s Oscar Watch blog.
The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King trailer
Lost in Translation trailer
Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World trailer
Mystic River trailer
Seabiscuit trailer
Comments (1-30) of 122 Add your comment
Of these, I’ve only seen Return of King and Lost in Translation. Lost in Translation was a fantastic little indie and any other year I would’ve been rooting for it, but 2003 was all about Lord of the Rings. Jackson managed to mold together story and action epic so perfectly. Because so many fail this way, he deserved the award. And the movie will definetly be remembered for generations to come.
The true snub in 2003 though was Bill Murray (Lost in Translation) losing Best Actor
I voted for Return of the King, but I’ll second Susman’s assertion that Master and Commander is a FABULOUS movie. Exciting, fascinating, funny, and with amazing attention to detail…
Despite the fact that this is my least favorite of the three LOTR movies (gawd, it would NOT end!), I 100% agree with this choice.
I’m usually not down with make-up Oscars, or handing out statues as some sort of a career achievement award, but I’m COMPLETELY ok with giving ROTK and Jackson all the Oscars they received for their remarkable achievement.
I realize they came out in three separate Decembers, but this was really one massive, incredible triumph.
“Return of the King” is hands down still the winner. And it definitely deserved its mountain of Oscars – it truly is one of the best films of all time. And the fact that the previous two Lord of the Rings films had not won any major awards made the victory for “Return of the King” that much sweeter (at least for me!)
That being said, in any other year – especially the past few years – I would have given the Best Picture Oscar to “Master and Commander”. It really is a shame it came out the same year as “Return of the King”, because it truly is an excellent film. And yes, very underrated and sadly forgotten by many.
Wow, that year was really an embarrassment of riches for Best Picture. Any one of the losers would’ve been the strongest contender in another year, but it was kind of hard to think that anything was better than ROTK.
oh lord -Lost in Translation is one of the most overrated movies EVER!
I agree with the Return of the King but I would have been happy had Seabiscuit won- what a great movie.
And this is from someone who *loved* ‘Lost in Translation’…
You really have to give it to Lord of the Rings – they could have won with either of the first two films, but its a shame that Seabiscuit and Master and Commander picked a tough year. Those are two quality and enduring movies.
The only one I haven’t seen is Seabiscuit. I definitely agree that LOTR: The Return of the King was the clear winner. However calling Master and Commander “one of the decade’s most woefully underrated movies” is outright embarrasing. I think it’s the worst Best Picture nomineed of the past decade and simply cannot fathom how people are comparing it to any of these other films (with the possible exception of Seabiscuit, which I have not seen).
The Oscars got this one right. “Return of the King” was the perfect culimation of the trilogy. As other people have said, this year had an embarassment of riches. The weakest of the lot was probably “Seabiscuit”, and that was a thoroughly enjoyable film experience. But at the end of the day, the final chapter of LOTR deserved all the little gold guys it won.
this may be the first time every comment here has been the in sync! LOTR all the way!!! i’ve seen all the others that were nominated and feel that they are all highly overrated. Lost in Traslation and Master & Commander were boring, Seabiscuit was cute & nice but fairly predictable and I just didnt get into Mystic River. I was alll about LOTR for 3+ whole years and to see it finally get the recognition it deserved after the other 2 equally deserving years was the highlight of my night back then. never gonna recall this one!
I guess I don’t understand this little game. If you clearly believe that LOTR deserved the Oscar, why are you asking if it should be recalled? I mean, shouldn’t “Recall the Gold” be about winners that clearly didn’t deserve it, like Robert Redford winning Best Director for Ordinary People rather than Martin Scorcese for Raging Bull?
That being said, I completely agree that LOTR deserved everything they threw at it – that film, and the entire trilogy, are landmarks in film history for the sheer scope, drama, cinematography, special effects…in addition to some glorious performances.
I also agree that Master and Commander is terribly underrated. I watch my DVD of it every few months and it always captivates me with its history, characters and incredible detail. Make me wonder why Parag down there seems to loathe it so much.
Seabiscuit?!! bleh.
are u kidding, there is no point in discussing that year! They got it right…all the way! A movie(s) never matched, thrilling, endering, pleased the masses and IT WON!
Return of the King all the way. Not only did it deserve to win, so did Fellowship of the Ring and the wonderful The Two Towers. The only thing missing were acting nominations – all the principles deserved to win.
Sue
This whole concept is ridonk. I really hope the academy voters who respond to your mailings all vote the same way they did originally.
This was truly a great year in the Best Picture category. All very good films. My personal favorite is and always will be Lost in Translation, an absolute gem of a movie. But I have no problem with ROTK winning. The LOTR trilogy is one of the greatest achievements in film history. I agree that M+C is a terrific and too-forgotten movie.
As much as I love Master and Commander (it’s my favorite movie), I’m happy that RotK won in 2003. RotK definitely should have had acting noms as well.
M&C also had the misfortune of coming out after PotC, so many people probably expected an action packed film. It, like the book series it is based on, is more character driven. In fact, I think it meshes in beautifully with the world Patrick O’Brian created. Continuity between film and books aside, it feels like something O’Brian created.
Well, here I am, one extremely disappointed person that LOTR won Best Picture–but I definitely wasn’t surprised. I have seen all these nominees except Seabiscuit, and I just can’t get behind this sweeping the Oscars. It makes me just as angry then as it does now.
This article outlines the biggest problem in this victory: it was an outright vote for the trilogy, not the movie. Everyone says that he deserved it just for doing the trilogy justice, and that just irks me. These awards should be decided on the individual movie’s merit, not a director’s body of work (and, of course, it was impressive).
I saw the whole trilogy, and was impressed. They were very well-made movies, and brought to life a fiercely beloved tale wonderfully. But “Mystic River” was, without a doubt in my mind (aka my opinion), the better film. It just tears into you. And it did it all by itself.
Continued…
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If the Academy truly felt the LOTR movies stood on their own, then why did only the last movie win? It’s not like it was a weak field, and most fans admit that this third installment was the weakest (albeit not “weak”–I’m not trying to say that). It was just such a clear reward, and while I understand how tempting that is and that Peter Jackson deserves tremendous kudos for pulling this off, it is not how the Oscars are supposed to work. It irritates me when they do it to actors (just giving them an Oscar because previous performances were worthy), and it irritates me here.
So here is my five year-old rant on LOTR winning Best Picture. Sorry to play devil’s advocate.
Why are you even discussing this – the biggest rob EVER at the Oscars was “Shakespeare in Love” over “Saving Private Ryan”. Please do an article on that? Weinstein bought that one. Ryan will go down in history as one or the greatest movies ever!!! They gave him director and not movie – what is that about? Shakespeare wasn’t even that good of a movie.
Shakespeare in Love. I agree. What a joke. However, I believe the real crime that year was “Life is Beautiful” not winning BP. Roberto Begnini won best actor and that was an Oscar first for a foreign film – EVER. However, that bespeaks of a film that should have done the same in the picture category. They simply did not want to acknowledge the subtle brilliance of this most engaging masterpiece.
It did however, because of it’s strengths, open the mind of the Academy toward more serious consideration of foreign films since then. Foreign film makers can thank Begnini for that!
probie123, if you click on the “Recall The Gold” link above, you’ll find that the very first blog post was about the 1998 Best Picture race. Like you and 58% of voters, I agree that “Saving Private Ryan” holds up better over time.
I think the other two films didn’t win because voters didn’t want to reward an epic that falls apart at the end of the film. Its funny because 2003 was the only year where the academy really got it right with five great films.
oh of course, RTK!! Actually, the first should have won over A Beautiful Mind. Wished that Sean Astin had been nominated – he was the heart of the films.
M&C is also WONDERFUL film and was sadly overlooked by the public -guess they weren’t ready to buy Russell Crowe in a frilly shirt. And I agree with Wildecat – shouldn’t it be for films/actors/directors that not should not have won, but prob should not have even been nominated?
2003 was a remarkable year for movies. I can barely remember the Best Picture contestants of the past few years or so…in my opinion No Country and the The Departed were good films, but won simply because the competition was so weak.
Now, for 2003 I adored simply every single Best Pic contestant. All these movies were not only poignant, but exciting and thrilling cinematic experiences as well. Master and Commander, LOTR, Mystic River + Seabiscuit managed to be “prestige” films without sacrificing the entertainment + thrill value, something Best Pic contenders lack nowadays.
I re-watch Master and Commander regularly, and grow to love it more and more with every re-viewing. Mystic River is one of my all-time favorite movies. Lost in Translation is a truly wonderful film, and I never get tired of watching Seabiscuit, either. And LOTR is the best of the five. Simple as that.
W
Who is choosing the categories to be discussed? This year, like you said, is one year when the Academy, critics, and the public were in sync; therefore, why discuss it when there are 100s of other categories that are debatable… Like the 2001 Best Actress race, where Julia Roberts and her smile stole the award from Ellen Burstyn (who gave one of the greatest screen performances EVER!)
I think ‘Mystic River’ was the best film of that year, so I voted that way, however ‘The Return of King’ definitely deserved the Best Picture award. The ‘Lord of the Rings’ trilogy was a great achievement on every level and the filmmakers earned every recognition they got those 3 years.
I completely agree with hunter Lord of the Rings clearly desrved the win for all the reason that were listed. While Ellen Burstyn’s performance is the most unforgettable acts i have ever seen, better than Julia Roberts.
The “Lord of the Rings” trilogy is so over-rated, but if any of them was deserving of Best Picture, it was definitely not “The Return of the King,” a bloated and boring mess.