UPSETS GALORE

"Crash" beats "Brokeback Mountain" for the Best Picture Oscar and the film world goes ape, claiming it's the biggest damned upset in the history of flicks.

Not the biggest. Just the latest. Scroll through the history of the Academy Awards and you'll find a few boners:

1969: Gig Young is named Best Supporting Actor for his role in "They Shoot Horses, Don't They?" Jack Nicholson was nominated in the same category, for "Easy Rider."

1972: "The Godfather" (rightly) beats its competitors for Best Picture, but Francis Ford Coppola loses Best Director to Bob Fosse (for "Cabaret").

1973: "The Sting" wins Best Picture, beating "American Graffiti" and "The Exorcist." among others.

1974: Art Carney wins Best Actor for "Harry and Tonto." Carney beats Jack Nicholson in "Chinatown" and Al Pacino in "The Godfather, Part II." Yeah, some justice there.

1976: "Rocky" is Best Picture, defeating "Network," "Taxi Driver," "All the President's Men" and "Bound for Glory."

1979: "Kramer vs. Kramer" defeats "Apocalypse Now" for Best Picture. Oh yeah, "Breaking Away" and "All That Jazz" also lose to "Kramer vs. Kramer."

1990: "Dances With Wolves" is Best Picture. "GoodFellas" is not. Kevin Costner is Best Director. Martin Scorsese is not.

1994:"Forrest Gump" bests "Pulp Fiction" for Best Picture.

And yes, we purposely left out Marisa Tomei's 1992 Oscar for "My Cousin Vinny." That was the same year Al Pacino won for "Scent of a Woman," perhaps the worst role of his career. You want Pacino, baby, you got to say hello to his little friend.