Classic Films
Related: About this forum32 Best Picture Nominees That Deserved to Win the Oscar
indiewire.com
For as long as there have been award shows, movie fans have been complaining about prizes going to the wrong films. From classic slights like John Fords How Green Was My Valley beating out Citizen Kane to more recent grievances like The Social Network losing to The Kings Speech, Oscar history is littered with what-ifs.
Ranking art is an inherently subjective activity, and it would be ridiculous to expect the Oscars to be able to please everyone. But with almost a centurys worth of data to look at, certain patterns emerge that reveal blindspots in the Academys voting tendencies.
Too often, it feels like filmmakers with bold new voices are shunned (or relegated to writing categories) in favor of more traditional fare for older audiences. That often leads to Oscar bait movies winning Best Picture before being largely forgotten, while the bolder films that they defeated go on to become classics. Or it can mean that culturally important films lose out to ones easier to market to white audiences, as with Alfonso Cuaróns Roma and Peter Farrellys controversial Green Book.
Nobody can change the past, but its fascinating to look back and speculate what the Academy could and, in our view, should have done differently. Listed in no particular order, these are 32 beloved and celebrated movies that were nominated for Best Picture but didnt take home the Oscar.
Full list and story: https://www.indiewire.com/gallery/best-picture-oscar-snubs/
12 out of the 32 (as picked by me, also in no particular order):
Citizen Kane (Winner: How Green Was My Valley)
The Aviator (Winner: Million Dollar Baby)
"Judas and the Black Messiah (Winner: Nomadland)
Get Out (Winner: The Shape of Water)
Saving Private Ryan (Winner: Shakespeare in Love)
Fargo (Winner: The English Patient)
Pulp Fiction (Winner: Forrest Gump)
Goodfellas (Winner: Dances with Wolves)
Raging Bull (Winner: Ordinary People)
Apocalypse Now (Winner: Kramer vs. Kramer)
Taxi Driver (Winner: Rocky)
Dr. Strangelove (Winner: My Fair Lady)
One more, on my list, not Indiewire:
Malcolm X (Winner: Unforgiven)
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I don't agree with all 32 of the Indiewire's selections, but I do with the thirteen I listed above.
What do you, classic film lovers, consider to be the biggest mistakes in the Best Picture category -- nominees that should have won but, for whatever reason, were overlooked, shunned, or blackballed?
Beatlelvr
(677 posts)I'm still pissed about Saving Private Ryan. I think I even threw something at the tv. And Gwenyth Paltrow best actress?? That was when I first heard about all the politics and shmoozing that goes on about Oscar voting. They also ignored Speilberg way too long.
jimfields33
(18,905 posts)However, I think Unforgiven was a good fair win. That was a great movie.
Goodfellas and saving private Ryan should have won.
Auggie
(31,802 posts)Probably Spike Lee's best film, and it wasn't even nominated.
What was nominated: Born on the Fourth of July, Dead Poets Society, Field of Dreams, and My Left Foot. All fine films, but nothing comparable in scope to Do The Right Thing. I'd watch this ten times before I'd ever watch Driving Miss Daisy again.
Deep State Witch
(11,258 posts)Agree:
1942: Citizen Kane (Winner: How Green Was My Valley)
1945: Double Indemnity (Winner: Going My Way)
1957: Giant (Winner: Around the World in 80 Days)
1958: 12 Angry Men (Winner: Bridge on the River Kwai)
1965: Dr. Strangelove (My Fair Lady)
1971: M*A*S*H (Winner: Patton)
1980: Apocalypse Now (Winner: Kramer vs. Kramer)
1981: Raging Bull (Winner: Ordinary People)
1982: Raiders of the Lost Ark (Winner: Chariots of Fire) - I'm slightly biased, because "Raiders" is my favorite movie.
1990: My Left Foot (Winner: Driving Miss Daisy) - Should have been "Do The Right Thing"
1991: Goodfellas (Winner: Dances with Wolves)
1995: Pulp Fiction (Winner: Forrest Gump)
1999: Saving Private Ryan (Winner: Shakespeare in Love)
2000: The Insider (Winner: American Beauty)
2001: Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon (Winner: Gladiator)
2006: Brokeback Mountain (Winner: Crash)
2012: The Tree of Life (Winner: The Artist)
2015: Boyhood (Winner: Birdman)
2018: Get Out (Winner: The Shape of Water) - One could also make the case for "Dunkirk"