Shawshank Redemption tops poll of Oscar losers
Story by Jack Foley
FRANK Darabont’s life-affirming classic The Shawshank Redemption has topped a poll of films that should have won an Oscar but never did.
Radio Times magazine conducted the poll on the eve of this year’s Academy Awards to showcase the many films that were robbed of Oscar limelight.
M Night Shyamalan’s supernatural chiller The Sixth Sense came second in the poll, while David Fincher’s Fight Club came third.
The Shawshank Redemption, however, has long been considered one of the biggest losers in Oscars history, topping a similar poll by the same magazine in 2004.
It had been nominated in seven categories but lost out in the all-important best film one to Tom Hanks’ star vehicle Forrest Gump (quite possibly one of the least deserving best pictures in Academy history!).
The jail drama, based on a short story by Stephen King and starring Tim Robbins and Morgan Freeman, follows the fortunes of a man wrongly imprisoned for murder, who subsequently develops a life-long friendship with a fellow lifer. It ends with his escape and the pair’s reunion in the outside world.
A total of 3,000 people took part in the poll which, according to Pearl & Dean spokeswoman Kathryn Jacob, showed the enduring appeal of Darabont’s movie.
The remaining losers in the Radio Times top 10 were:
1. The Shawshank Redemption
2. The Sixth Sense
3. Fight Club
4. Blade Runner
5= It’s a Wonderful Life
5= The Great Escape
7= Taxi Driver
7= Psycho
9. Singin’ in the Rain
10. Dr Strangelove