The Emergence of the Oscar Movie Marathon, Part 1

I think it's only appropriate to lay out the path that led to the Oscar Movie Marathon. It's perhaps an interesting journey, and is worth tracing for posterity.

In the year 2000, I was invited to an Oscar party. This was apparently a tradition held by some friends of mine but was one which I had not taken part of up to this point. I arrived, in the snow, to a house that still SMELLED new! My friend (now known as "Quippage") had just moved into her new home and was hosting the Oscar party. I was invited to accompany a friend of mine who was a good friend of Quippage; I felt I was a mere acquaintance. When we arrived, late as is customary of my friend, one guest had already arrived: my friend later known as Reckless.

At the time, Reckless and I were acquaintances, had been seen in the same bar with each other, but had not yet realized the full potential of our friendship. Before the ceremonies began I, as is sometimes the case, felt the need to hop up on my soapbox and throw a nugget into the room to see where it would land. The nugget on this particular evening was "All movies suck."

The nugget barely hit the air when Reckless gobbled it up, turned to me and said something to the effect of, "what the HELL? How can you say that?" The conversation that ensued changed the trajectory of my life and earned me a good friend.

At the time, I felt that movies had shifted in their purpose. They used to be a vessel to distribute opinions of all sorts, to help the public keep their thumb on the pulse of society; and even to expand horizons a bit. But lately, they were a huge disappointment. They had become drivel, a mass of self-serving, self-promoting old-white men who had lost the ability to formulate an opinion let along pass along a fresh idea or viewpoint of the world. I had decided it was not worth my money going to movies.

AAH, but Reckless challenged me on this opinion. Her argumentative nature is perhaps something of legend. We discussed my "all movies suck" notion throughout the Oscars broadcast. She pointed out that since I hadn't actually SEEN many movies, that I didn't really have the first-hand evidence to make such a proclamation. That was certainly an argument that I couldn't refute.

I made two goals that night.

First, I decided that I would go to a movie in a theater for every weekend that there was in the year; I swore to see 52 movies in 2000. Since the Oscars were in March, I was behind about 10 movies already.

Secondly, I decided to watch every movie that had ever won an Oscar for Best Picture. I figured this would be a more challenging feat, so I gave myself until I turned 35 to do so. I turned 33 in the year 2000 so that gave me 2.5 years to watch all 75 movies that had been given the Best Picture statuette.

As I went to movies, I recorded the movie, the date seen, and a general rating of the movie in a notebook that I carried with me. I've since made this list electronic and added to it the Oscar movies that I watched that year. I had a process: On Friday's, I'd make a list of the movies showing over the weekend. I'd decide which movies to see when I arose on Saturday and typically saw two movies each weekend. On Sunday, I'd look at the TV Guide from the paper and find the Oscar Best Pictures that were showing on TV during the next week. Then I would either watch or record them.

I learned a lot that year; about myself, movies, The Oscars. The Oscar Movie Marathon at the end of 2000 was just a grain of sand in the oyster of my movie-watching adventures. Over the next 3 years it will grow into the pearl we celebrate today....