How did ‘Brokeback Mountain’ lose?

‘We were so shocked’
“Crash” writer/director Paul Haggis, for his part, said he hadn’t “for a second” believed the whispers, which grew louder as Oscar night approached, that “Crash” had the momentum to overtake “Brokeback.”

“I didn’t believe any of that nonsense,” he said. “In fact, we were so shocked. I mean, we’re still trying to figure out if we got this.”

“Crash” came out to mixed reviews in May, considered much too early for a film to stay in voters’ minds. But Lionsgate Films reminded voters and critics of the film’s potency by flooding them with copies of the DVD late in 2005.

In winning over the heavily favored “Brokeback,” the film evoked major upsets of the past, most recently the 1999 triumph of “Shakespeare in Love” over “Saving Private Ryan.” Another famous underdog champ was “Chariots of Fire,” which in 1982 beat both Warren Beatty’s historical epic “Reds” and the family story “On Golden Pond.”

One disturbing difference for the Academy: a lot more viewers tuned in to see those upsets. An estimated 38.8 million people watched Sunday’s telecast on ABC — down 8 percent from last year and the second-worst showing in nearly two decades, according to Nielsen Media Research. Except for the 2003 count of 33 million viewers — when “Chicago” took the best-picture award — viewership hadn’t dipped below 40 million since 1987.

So what is to be learned from Sunday night’s upset result? Not much, says Walter, the film professor. You just really never know what Academy voters are going to do.

“It’s just a crapshoot,” Walter said. “You go to Vegas and you put your money on number 17.

“There is NO lesson to be learned from all this. It doesn’t mean a thing.”

Academy Awards ‘Crash’ joins short list of best-picture dark-horse champs The previous 77 Academy Awards ceremonies have had their share of unexpected twists, though the best-picture win by underdog “Crash” over “Brokeback Mountain” ranks as one of the biggest in Oscar history. Some other instances where underdogs have triumphed: —For best picture of 1948, the poignant drama “Johnny Belinda,” a homegrown Hollywood production, seemed to have the edge, only to lose to a British upstart, Laurence Olivier’s “Hamlet.” —Three years later, the song-and-dance romance “An American in Paris” pulled off a best-picture stunner over dramatic heavyweights “A Place in the Sun” and “A Streetcar Named Desire.” —The next year, Gary Cooper’s Western “High Noon” looked as though it would ride into the winner’s circle, but the splashy circus tale “The Greatest Show on Earth” came out on top. —The 1968 best-picture award went the musical route again as “Oliver!” became an upset winner over the more popular musical “Funny Girl” and the palace-intrigue saga “The Lion in Winter.” —One of Oscar’s biggest underdogs, the Olympics tale “Chariots of Fire,” ran off with best picture for 1981 over the historical drama “Reds” and the family story “On Golden Pond.” —For the 1998 Oscars, “Saving Private Ryan” had been viewed as a best-picture shoo-in until “Shakespeare in Love” showed up at the last minute in December, the latter film ultimately winning the showdown.

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