Rocky Is the Best Picture Winner That Says Its Title the Most

Yo, Adrian! Guess which Best Picture winner says its title in the movie more than any other?

At the 49th Academy Awards, Rocky beat All the President’s Men, Bound for Glory, Network and Taxi Driver for Best Picture. That’s pretty amazing in and of itself. That win allowed it to claim another title: Rocky is the Best Picture winner that says its title in the film more than any other. “Rocky” is said in Rocky 73 times, narrowly defeating 1982’s Gandhi (which says “Gandhi” 68 times).

The list was compiled this weekend by West Philadelphia resident Ryan Godfrey, who compiled a spreadsheet of every Best Picture winner — from 1927’s Wings to 2014’s Birdman or (The Unexpected Virtue of Ignorance) — in the order of times they say their title.

So: Best Picture winners that mention their own titles (dialogue/narration/song). https://t.co/5dKSeiNQ0F pic.twitter.com/omSAk7ohhy

— Ryan Godfrey (@rgodfrey) January 17, 2016

Godfrey made the list this weekend after someone tweeted about how often the name “Carol” is said in the film Carol, then asked which Best Picture winner said its own title the most. “The methodology is pretty dull: Yeah, I found a few sites that had screen transcriptions of the film dialogue and just searched in-browser for the titles,” Godfrey writes. “Easier than going through scripts because the scripts have character names every time the character speaks.” He counted possessives (“Rocky’s”) but didn’t count times when the title was shortened (“Rock”). “English Patient” didn’t count; it had to be “The English Patient.” Ditto “Godfather.” And “Birdman” didn’t count when the actual title is much, much longer. “The Godfather Part II is never said at any time,” Godfrey writes.

Going to be hard to top GRAND HOTEL (1932), which opens AND ends with line “Grand Hotel,” and also includes the line “What a grand hotel!” — Ryan Godfrey (@rgodfrey) January 17, 2016

The list is pointless trivia, which is quite possibly the best kind of trivia. There are some fun results: In the Heat of the Night is said an astounding 11 times in the film, though it’s just because of the title song.

Forty-three Best Picture winners do not say the title during the movie, though “return of the king” is said once (The Lord of the Rings: Return of the King) and Gone with the Wind features the title on-screen as text.

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