A Year in Shorts Day 34: "The Crunch Bird"

What… what is this? Why is this? Why would anyone make this? Why would they watch it? And why, oh why, did they give it an Oscar? I have no answers to these questions, but let’s look at The Crunch Bird anyway.


(via IMDb)

Released in 1971 and directed by Ted Petok, The Crunch Bird is yet another short built around a single joke. These shorts are always hit or miss, but it's hard to think of one that misses quite as hard. It probably doesn't help that the central joke would barely be funny to tell on its own, and it's even worse when you add ugly animation and aggravating voice acting.



The Crunch Bird is easily the worst short we've covered on The Great Oscar Baiter so far, and I don't think it's an exaggeration to call it one of the worst films to ever win an Oscar. Yes, even worse than Suicide Squad.


Err... well, maybe it's a draw.

(via Giphy)


Ultimately, The Crunch Bird is just a terrible film. I guess it's mercifully short, but even at just under two minutes it still feels far too long. Admittedly, I haven't seen the two shorts it was going up against that year, but I can not imagine in a world where either of them were less than deserving than this. I can not recommend avoiding it enough.


Keep up with the Oscar Baiting here on Letterboxd!


The Great Oscar Baiter is a not-for-profit work of criticism. All images herein are property of their respective owners and are protected under Fair Use.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Song of the Week #6: "The Ballad of High Noon"

Image
I was finally able to catch Kenneth Branagh’s Belfast this weekend, and I have to say it certainly lived up to the hype. There’s a lot to love about this movie, from the gorgeous black-and-white cinematography, the exquisite performances from both the seasoned veterans and newcomers in the cast, to a script that’s brimming with heart and humor. But one aspect of the film I don’t see a lot of people mention is the way it incorporates footage from other films- most notably Fred Zinnemann’s High Noon, using not only a scene from the movie itself but scoring two pivotal scenes with the film’s theme song, the aptly-named (and Oscar-winning) “The Ballad of High Noon.” It was a bold choice to be sure, but who could blame Branagh? It’s a great movie, and a great song- and the subject for today’s installment in Song of the Week. (via Wikipedia) For those of you haven't seen High Noon... well, you really should get on that, it's a classic! Aside from being a taut, tightly edited thril
Read more

Song of the Week #15: "Take My Breath Away"

Image
I’ll put myself on a consistent schedule for these things one day, I promise. In my defense, there are a lot of movies to catch up on, and isn’t that what Oscar Baiting is all about? For instance- until recently, I’d never seen the original Top Gun! But with Top Gun: Maverick holding its spot as the biggest hit of the year (probably only to be dethroned by Black Panther or Avatar ) and even potentially soaring into the obligatory crowd pleaser Best Picture slot, I figured it was time to see where things began. Because while the Oscars Top Gun: Maverick may win have yet to be decided, the first Top Gun only went home with one- for the love theme, “Take My Breath Away.” (via Wikipedia) Love themes for films have gone a bit out of style these days, although for a long time it seemed to be a surefire way to nab a Best Song nomination. Seriously, look through the Wikipedia article and count how many times you see "Title Seemingly Chosen at Random (Love Theme from Movie You Didn
Read more

This Year in Shorts: The 95th Academy Awards

Image
  (via Wikipedia) Once again the most magical time of year is upon us- the time in which we look at all fifteen of this year's Oscar-nominated shorts and rank them arbitrarily based on my own personal preference at the time of publication. If that's not magical, I don't know what is! Still, I know that not everyone is as into the shorts as I am. Even aside from that, not everyone has the free time or desire to search all of them out. But the Academy will be airing ALL the categories live this year, and as such it might be good to have a baseline of what potential wins we should be celebrating or getting unreasonably mad about. And isn't getting unreasonably mad about things what awards season is all about? Not that there's too much to get worked up over this year. This year's crop of nominees are mostly pretty damn good, and even the bad ones don't make me angry like they did LAST year. Which came as a bit of a surprise to me, considering the guy who made t
Read more