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American Beauty

Oscar™ Best Picture - Winning Movies

7.9

171,010

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Original title

American Beauty

Year

1999

Running time

122 min.

Country

United States

Director

Sam Mendes

Screenwriter

Alan Ball

Cast

Music

Thomas Newman

Cinematography

Conrad L. Hall

Producer

DreamWorks SKG

Genre

Drama. Comedy | Comedy-Drama. Family Relationships. Satire. Cult Movie

Synopsis

Lester Burnham (Kevin Spacey) is a middle aged man suffering from a mid-life crisis. He has an epiphany when he lays his eyes on one of his daughter Jane's friends. Woken from his suburban coma, he takes it upon himself to make a few changes -- like quitting his job and buying the car of his dreams. His wife, Carolyn (Annette Bening), is a frustrated control freak who is only maddened by his escalating freedom, and his daughter (Thora Birch) just plain hates him. His wife's reaction to the situation is to fall in the arms of a colleague (Peter Gallagher). The chaos in the neighborhood becomes more complicated with the arrival of an equally dysfunctional family consisting of a stern ex-Marine, his vacuous wife and their detached, drug-dealing son Ricky, who becomes involved with Jane.

Rankings Position

Awards: 1999: 5 Academy Awards: Movie, Director, Actor (Kevin Spacey), Screenplay, Cinematography. 8 Nominations

1999: 3 Golden Globes: Best Movie - Drama, Director, Screenplay. 6 Nominations

1999: 6 BAFTA Awards, including Best Movie and Actor (Spacey). 14 Nominations

1999: Cesar Awards: Nominated for Best Foreign Language Picture

1999: David di Donatello Awards: Nominated for Best Foreign Film

1999: 2 Awards National Board of Review: Best Movie, Actor (Wes Bentley)

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Ranking Lists Position

6 Sexiest Movie Posters (15)
7 Best Movie Posters Ever (My Favorite Posters) (86)
9 Most Beautiful Movie Posters in Film History (23)
10 My Favorite Dramas (531)
10 Movies with Great Screenplays (133)
12 My Favorites from the 90s (489)
12 Movies I Liked More the Second Time I Watched Them (56)
14 Movies with a Great Male Lead (170)
18 Movies with the Best Endings (316)
21 My Favorite Movies (5571)
30 Movies I Want to Own (137)
30 Movies that Don't Seem that Special but are Very Special to Me (80)
32 Most Memorable Erotic Movies (38)
34 Overrated Movies (169)
34 Movies I Like But Wouldn't Recommend to Everyone (45)
34 Movies with the Best Beginnings (not including opening credits) (44)
36 Movies with an Incredible Soundtrack (OST) (301)
40 Movies with Amazing Cinematography (74)
40 Absolute Musts (32)
42 Weird Films I Actually Love - Not Everybody's Thing (13)
44 Movies I Own (1317)
44 Most Original Movie Posters Ever (4)
47 My Favorite Blockbusters (27)
49 My Favorite Cult Classics (135)
65 Best Directed Movies (34)
66 Most Moving Movies (64)
77 Movies with a Great Female Lead (42)
78 My 10 favorite active Film Directors and my favorite movie of each one of them (9)
87 Movies I Have Seen A Billion Times (96)
91 Popular Movies I Hate (32)
99 My 10 favorite Film Directors and my favorite movie of each one of them (54)
99 Movies with Skillful Editing (14)

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American Beauty

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