ROTTEN TOMATOES: How Does "The Departed" Rank Among Oscar's Best?

How Does "The Departed" Rank Among Oscar's Best?

by Tim Ryan | February 26, 2007

So Martin Scorsese finally has his long-overdue, much-deserved Oscar. But where does "The Departed" stack up in the annals of Academy history?

Pretty well, actually. "The Departed" is the 30th best-reviewed Best Picture of all time, placing it in between "The Lost Weekend" and "Lord of the Rings: Return of the King."

"I just won an Oscar! Drinks are on me!"

Though few doubt Scorsese's preeminence in the pantheon of filmmakers, until now, he's been the Susan Lucci of directors: oft-nominated, but never victorious. "Taxi Driver" (100 percent) lost to "Rocky" (93 percent); "Raging Bull" (100 percent) was beaten by "Ordinary People" (88 percent); "GoodFellas" (98 percent) fell to "Dances with Wolves" (77 percent); "Gangs of New York" (77 percent) was defeated by "Chicago" (86 percent); and "The Aviator" (89 percent) lost to "Million Dollar Baby" (92 percent).

In addition, Scorsese was a five-time also ran for the Best Director statuette: for "Raging Bull," he lost to "Ordinary People"'s Robert Redford; Barry Levinson ("Rain Man") topped him for his work on "The Last Temptation of Christ"; Kevin Costner ("Dances with Wolves") beat him for "GoodFellas"; Roman Polanski ("The Pianist") won over his work on "Gangs"; and Clint Eastwood took home the statue for "Million Dollar Baby," trumping "The Aviator."

"I'm gonna clear off my shelf to make room for that Oscar."

Scorsese didn't have any better luck in the Best Adapted Screenplay category; he was nominated twice but didn't win, for "GoodFellas" (with Nicholas Pileggi) and for "The Age of Innocence" (with Jay Cocks).

Click here to see the complete Best of the Best Pictures list!

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(1-20 of 38 posts) | Reply

ttboy80 writes:
on Feb 26 2007 04:47 PM

The Best, Best Picture Winner since American Beauty.

(Reply to this)

FireflyFan4evr writes:
on Feb 26 2007 05:04 PM

Gladiator still kicks all other Best Picture winners asses of the last 15 years.

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ImaRobot writes:
on Feb 26 2007 05:27 PM

pssh. Gladiator was the worst best picture winner I can remember..other than maybe shakespear in love. the departed's the only best picture nominee I can remember really liking since American Beauty. Good call ttboy.

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Thundaar writes:
on Feb 26 2007 06:44 PM

Departed is not even Marty Scorsese's best work - Goodfellas much better IMO. I liked Departed, but I liked Gladiator and Return of King better.

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originalsince84 writes:
on Feb 26 2007 06:46 PM

I have a hard time getting behind a movie that's a remake of a film from 2002. Not only is it a remake but the original is better than the remake. This was all a sympathy vote for Martin who should have won for any of his other movies.

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selke99 writes:
on Feb 26 2007 06:52 PM

Wow, that's pretty impressive for taxi driver and raging bull to have 100% tomato rankings while being widely reviewed.

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South_park300 writes:
on Feb 26 2007 07:22 PM

gladiator put me to sleep. definately one of my least fave movies.

i love how people praised the Departed when it came out, yet now everyone is badmouthing it. It was definately in my top 3 movies of 2006. My other 2 being Little Miss Sunshine(i knew it wouldnt win) and Children Of Men(which got ripped off by the Oscars)

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a.n.t. writes:
on Feb 26 2007 07:35 PM

i like the departed. i give it a 4 out of 4. but i still was in "MUCH, MUCH" favor for babel or little miss sunshine to win the best picture award.

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nardoguz writes:
on Feb 26 2007 07:53 PM

[b]the worst[/b]
Crash, IMO is the worst "best picture" in a long while. it has an RT score of 75. yes. seventy-five. departed has a 93. - if you are going to argue with those numbers then i'm confused as to why you are registered to this website

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lavatory love machine writes:
on Feb 26 2007 07:54 PM

IMO the tomatometer of movies tat were release before RT existed is not relevant to compared it to current releases

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lavatory love machine writes:
on Feb 26 2007 08:00 PM

the departed is not scorsese best but is still better than all the best pic winners of the last 12 years except the return of the king, witch is not a great feat if you think about other winners: shakespeare in love, american beauty, chicago, a beautiful mind, million dollar baby, all good movies but far from great, and least talk about crash the better

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Wlad writes:
on Feb 26 2007 08:46 PM

I was very happy with the winners (except Pan's Labyrynth not winning best foreign film, it reminds me when Hero lost :'( ). I don't care if The Departed is not Scorsese best, he deserved this award more than the other 4 directors combined. He is one of the greatest directors of our generation. And this is his best film since Goddfellas.

Babel is also a great film, but I thinh that 21 Grams (also directed by I�arritu) was better. Amores Perros is also a good one, he's a talented man, and we will see him again competing soon. I'm sure of that.

Sometimes I thinked that the best picture winnners were not the most deserved. For me Shakespeare in Love is not better that Saving Private Ryan, I prefered The Two Towers over Chicago. Gladiator is an excellent movie but my favorite of that year was Crouching Tigger Hidden Dragon. But I'm really happy that The Departed won, it was along with Children of Men, The Prestige and Letters From Iwo Jima, one of my favorites movies of the year.

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skasforfags writes:
on Feb 26 2007 09:25 PM

I don't see why everyone is getting all bent out of shape that The Departed won yet it wasn't his best work. Everyone knows Marty's been shafted for years. So it wasn't Goodfellas, but Goodfellas was 17 damn years ago! I also don't see how people could call it a pity award, or that somehow it doesn't mean as much because it's based on another movie. I think we are all in agreement that Children of Men got ripped off in a bunch of categories in which it wasn't even nominted, but I still thought The Departed was the best movie of the year.

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indiephantom writes:
on Feb 26 2007 09:27 PM

The last best picture winner I honestly thought was the best film of its year was THE GODFATHER PART II.

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nogard64 writes:
on Feb 26 2007 09:49 PM

In reply to this comment (#856839)
isn't that a perfect reason to be on this website to not agree with everything? or do you always agree with the majority? Do you do what everyone else does, and think like everyone else? So in your opinion everyone who registers on here has to accept the meter as dogma?

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Elixir writes:
on Feb 26 2007 09:58 PM

Pan's not winning best foreign film was the joke of the night. I was ok with the best director/film going to departed

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hongkong writes:
on Feb 26 2007 10:12 PM

[b]Because ignorant American syas it is a remake from[/b]
Because ignorant American syas it is a remake from JAPanese movie.

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carola writes:
on Feb 27 2007 04:31 AM

I heard that too- and almost choked. Japanese movie!! Who gave that lady the info? Mou gaan doo was superior to The Departed and I agree with originalsince84 that this was a sympathy vote.

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gbwillner writes:
on Feb 27 2007 08:49 AM

[b]WTF?[/b]
I don't get why people say "the Departed" deserved best picture because Scorsese has been "shafted for years". That's just stupid. Judge the movie on its merits. This line of reasoning may apply to best director- but best picture? please.

IMHO The Departed was WAAAY overrated. I enjoyed the movie, but the ending was weak. They just had to find a way to kill off every character for no reason. It was like "Reservoir Dogs", but not done as well.

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Dinalfos 2 writes:
on Feb 27 2007 09:04 AM

I would've settled for an honourary Oscar for Scorsese, since his movies haven't been Oscar worthy since 1990. And no, Casino was NOT Oscar worthy. But having The Departed win BP is a slap in the face of credibility.

(Reply to this)

Movie:	Awards Tour 2006
	Goodfellas
	Dances with Wolves
	The Age of Innocence
	Gangs of New York
	The Pianist
	Chicago
	The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King
	The Aviator
	Million Dollar Baby
	Taxi Driver
	Rocky
	Rain Man
	Raging Bull
	Ordinary People
	The Lost Weekend
Celeb:	Clint Eastwood
	Susan Lucci
	Roman Polanski
	Robert Redford
	Martin Scorsese
	Jay Cocks
	Nicholas Pileggi
	Kevin Costner

RottenTomatoes.com