Star Wars lost Best Picture, Best Director, and Best Original Screenplay to Annie Hall by Woody Allen. Given how significant Star Wars was to our culture, I think it was a mistake on the part of the Academy.
In retrospect, sure, but Annie Hall is a really really important movie as well.
Right, it's not like Annie Hall has faded into obscurity like, say, How Green Was My Valley which is now known primarily as the answer to a trivia question.
Also a better movie. The Academy Awards aren't a measure of cultural impact.
Hmmm. I'm a huge Woody Allen fan, but even so I'd have to say most of Annie Hall's value lies in its cultural impact. It's far from Allen's best work, but it is among his most accessible and most popular, which did factor into its Oscar win.
The basis of this opinion is ... italics?
Which opinion are you challenging, that the Oscars should be a metric of cultural impact, or that Annie Hall is better than Star Wars?
Annie Hall has the same sort of stand-up-routine-turned-into-a-feature-film vibe that a lot of Woody Allen's films have. It's funny and well done, but really facile, almost throwaway, all the same.
I greatly enjoy Star Wars, but it doesn't strike me as even remotely deserving of a Best Original Screenplay award.
Academy Awards aren't supposed to be based on popularity, they're supposed to be based on quality.