FILMS that are now acknowleged as all-time greats — Citizen Kane, The Maltese Falcon, Raging Bull — were famously beaten to Best Picture Oscars by run-of-the-mill productions such as How Green was my Valley and Ordinary People.

But these were not the worst films to win best film Oscars, according to Empire magazine. That dubious privilege is reserved for Braveheart, Mel Gibson’s story of William Wallace and his battle against English rule in medieval Scotland.

Braveheart won the Oscar in 1996, but, says Empire: “This typical piece of Pom-bashing from Mel Gibson is just about the all-time worst Best Picture.

“Randall Wallace (the writer) might have merited praise for making 14th-century history relevant to audiences who thought King Edward was a potato or a cigar, but his dialogue has all the thudding subtlety of a parody.”

The film tops a list that includes Rocky, A Beautiful Mind and Around The World in 80 Days. A Beautiful Mind, featuring Russell Crowe as the mathematician John Nash, comes second for its “galling” win in 2002. The film’s “wilfully dishonest screenplay” and “clunk-ily intricate direction” added insult to injury, the magazine says.

The “tawdry circus” of the 1952 offering, The Greatest Show on Earth, which won in the same year as Singin’ in the Rain was not even nominated for Best Picture, is ranked third.

The “revisionist nonsense” of the 1995 winner, Forrest Gump, starring Tom Hanks as the man who has accidental meetings with important events in the United States, is fifth behind Ordinary People. “Robert Redford’s directorial bow is nothing more than a TV movie that got lucky,” says Empire. It also had Martin Scorsese (Raging Bull) “ crossed off the long list of legends who have never won an Academy Award”.

How Green was my Valley, which won in 1941, comes tenth. “Blame Hollywood’s eagerness to show solidarity with war-torn Britain,” says Empire.

Oscars, Patrick Peters writes in the magazine, are “peer-group nods of approval and, as a result, there has been a surfeit of unworthy Best Pictures and there will be more to come”.

Roll on Sunday night and the 77th Academy Awards.

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