When Jack Nicholson opened the envelope and read "Rocky" as the best-picture winner at the 49th Academy Awards 30 years ago, Sylvester Stallone was caught without his tie.

The actor's rental bow tie had fallen off on his way to the ceremony, but producers Irwin Winkler and Robert Chartoff dragged Stallone up to the stage. Stallone may have been caught unprepared, but most of Hollywood was surprised, too.

In fitting underdog fashion, "Rocky" upset a legendary class of films. Also up for best picture at the 1977 Oscars were three movies generally considered among the best America has produced: "All the President's Men," "Network" and "Taxi Driver." (Hal Ashby's Woody Guthrie biopic "Bound for Glory" was the fifth nomination.)

As the 30th anniversary of those Oscars nears, there are notable parallels. Stallone has again produced a "Rocky" film ("Rocky Balboa"), though it would be fortunate to win one nomination, let alone the 10 that the original did. "Taxi Driver" director Martin Scorsese is again in the hunt with "The Departed."

But for many, the 49th Academy Awards remains exhibit A in any argument about the academy's less-than-perfect taste — a critique that usually cites the best-picture loss of "Citizen Kane" in 1942 (to John Ford's "How Green Was My Valley"), Alfred Hitchcock's lack of a best-director award or Art Carney's best actor win in 1975 over Nicholson ("Chinatown"), Al Pacino ("The Godfather: Part II") and Dustin Hoffman ("Lenny").

"In hindsight, it looks crazy that, of those nominated films, 'Rocky' won — because 'Rocky' is the flimsiest by far, and was so at the time," says film critic and historian David Thomson. "But at the time, there was this stupid notion that Sly Stallone represented a great American success story."

"It's a shining example of how silly ... (the Oscars) can be," adds Thomson.

Director Sidney Lumet's "Network," the darkly satirical portrait of TV news, won three acting Oscars and best screenplay for Paddy Chayefsky, but the best-picture loss still stings for Lumet.

"I've been nominated five times," the director told The Associated Press last year. "But on two occasions, I got so pissed off about what beat us. With 'Network,' we were beaten out by 'Rocky' for Christ's sake." (Lumet, who received an honorary Oscar in 2005, also mentions the best picture win of "Gandhi" over his "The Verdict" in 1983.)

"Rocky" has almost certainly affected American culture more than the other three nominees — there is a statue of the film's main character in Philadelphia, after all. It won the Golden Globe for best drama and eventually landed two Oscars besides best picture: best director (John G. Avildsen) and best film editing.

But "All the President's Men," "Network" and "Taxi Driver" are all considered gems from one of the most vibrant periods of American cinema, the 1970s. It was then that directors — newly labeled as "auteurs" — like Scorsese, Francis Ford Coppola and Robert Altman flourished.

The year 1976, when these films opened, was of course the bicentennial, which many think affected the Oscar voting. "Rocky" was wrapped up in the flag — the boxer literally drapes it over himself in the movie's finale.

"I think there was a kind of feeling in the country at the time — we had just gone through a decade of terrible social problems in America," remembers Winkler, who went on to produce such films as "Raging Bull," "The Right Stuff" and "Goodfellas."

"And all of a sudden, this movie came along and said, 'You know, if you believe in yourself, you'll be OK.' And suddenly it became part of what America was about. I think maybe if the picture had come out two years later or two years earlier, it might not have caught on the way it did."

Some would say that "Taxi Driver," "Network" and "All the President's Men" all said more about America than "Rocky."

"All the President's Men," which was nominated for eight Oscars and won four, depicted in step-by-step detail the reporting of Bob Woodward (Robert Redford) and Carl Bernstein (Hoffman) that exposed the depth of President Richard Nixon's Watergate scandal.

"Taxi Driver," which failed to win any of its four nominations, was the darkest of the 1976 nominees. The story of Travis Bickle's (Robert De Niro) festering anger in New York City has a bloody culmination — which likely made some academy members uncomfortable.

"I think 'Rocky' won because it had a good feeling. It was an uplifting film," says Tim Dirks, who runs the Greatest Films (www.filmsite.org) Web site. "The other films were a little bit too heavy or too edgy for the time and 'Rocky' was a million-to-one shot — and it went the distance."

According to Dirks, the theme is a familiar one: the academy often goes for less-edgy material.

Despite the questionable victory by "Rocky," 1976 remains an impressive class for American films, which most years — 2006 included — would have difficulty living up to.

"We don't have those kinds of pictures anymore," says Thomson. "We don't have the big entertainment that deals with serious subjects.

"Today, 'Network' would be an independent film."