The Best Films That Never Won a Best Picture Oscar
Posted by Maggie Van Ostrand (maggie@filmschoolrejects.com) on February 18, 2008
Filed Under: Academy Awards , Best Films That Didn't Win Best Picture , Oscar 2008 , Oscar Week , Oscars, Lists, Oscar Beat '07, Oscar Week 2008
Oscar will be allowed out of his Chicago vault for the annual trip to Hollywood on February 24th. He’ll be 80 years old this year and we’d like to know who his plastic surgeon is. You can’t tell us he hasn’t had a butt lift.
Speaking of butts, to sashay or not to sashay down the red carpet was a close shave this year due to the WGA strike, but now all is well and everyone is publicly friendly again. Actors as well as backless, frontless, mindless starlets and media-created celebs will wave to fans and stop for media interviews, writers can supply the jokes they secretly wrote and hid until the strike was settled, and Jon Stewart will have a plethora of current material to make this the show we’ve been anxiously awaiting.
Everyone’s making book on who’ll return their borrowed dresses and tuxes to the designers and the jewels to Harry Winston’s. The track record for the return of borrowed clothing is dismal. Every time a star tells the media whose dress she’s wearing, it’s Hollywoodspeak for “Try and get it back.”
We can hope our favorite movie will come away with the big prize, but in the long run, some of the best pictures ever made did not receive Best Picture Oscars. A good example would be the AFI’s choice for number one movie of all time, Citizen Kane.
Citizen Kane: Though Citizen Kane was nominated in nine categories in 1941, it won only Best Original Screenplay by Orson Welles and Herman J. Mankiewicz. It has been said that boos were heard whenever the name Citizen Kane was mentioned because powerful newspaper magnate, William Randolph Hearst, on whose life the film was alleged to be based, threatened voters with the old chestnut, “You’ll never work in this town again.” An interesting note: Kane’s editor was future Oscar-winning director Robert Wise.
Psycho: In 1960, this iconic film was not nominated for Best Picture. Hitchcock was at least nominated, though he did not win either. Bernard Hermann wasn’t even nominated for one of the most frightening of all film scores. The screech alone should’ve won. Fans, smarter than Oscar voters, disagreed and voted Psycho #2 on their list of Best Movies.
The Shawshank Redemption: The Shawshank Redemption never got an Oscar, despite seven nominations. Pulp Fiction was also knocked out of the box by Forrest Gump in 1994. Fans avenged Shawshank by voting it the number two film of all time on IMdB (second only to The Godfather). Shawshank is also the highest rated film on Yahoo Movies. It was voted the best film never to have won Best Picture in a 2005 BBC poll.
Vertigo: One of fans’ favorite Alfred Hitchcock films is the psychological thriller, Vertigo. It wasn’t even nominated for Best Picture, only for set design and sound. Didn’t win those either. To add insult to injury, Hitchcock himself … I can hardly bear to write it … never won an Oscar. HITCHCOCK NEVER WON AN OSCAR!!! And only one of his films (Rebecca) won Best Picture. Hitchcock was the best film-maker never to have been handed an Oscar, according to a poll of British movie viewers.
2001: A Space Odyssey: Hard to believe it didn’t win Best Picture, isn’t it? The Best Picture award in 1968 instead went to Oliver. Like who remembers Oliver now? 2001 was nominated for four awards that year, not including best picture, but only won for visual FX. Today, 2001 is widely recognized by critics and audiences alike as one of the greatest movies of all time.
Star Wars: Despite a surprising loss of Best Picture to Annie Hall in 1977, Star Wars unleashed a series of films which earned $4.5 billion to date. It won only Best Visual FX (big deal). George Lucas cites Hardware Wars, a 1977 spoof, as his favorite of all the Star Wars parodies, with Mel Brooks’ Spaceballs a close second choice. Lucas made no comment about SNL’s parody with Kevin Spacey doing Christopher Walken auditioning for the role of Hans Solo.
Apocalypse Now: Can someone tell us how Apocalypse could have lost out to Kramer Vs. Kramer? What’s up with that? With more memorable quotes than nearly any other film in history, this masterpiece is rated by fans at #8, by the AFI as #30. Fanboys rule!
Fargo: Another Coen Brothers masterpiece which didn’t get an Oscar. Maybe this year will make up for that. In 1996, Fargo lost out to the sob-sister story, The English Patient. The Coens are famous for movies which come from dark places they want to take you to, whether you want to go there or not. Voters must have felt a romantic crying jag was better than the certainty of Coenesque quality and longevity.
Philadelphia: Never won Best Picture which went instead, in 1993, to Schindler’s List. Sure Philadelphia won for Tom Hanks as actor and Bruce Springsteen as songwriter, but it wasn’t even nominated for Best Picture. That omission still rankles.
Goodfellas: At least it was nominated, and the Academy recognized Joe Pesci for Best Supporting Actor, but Best Picture went to Dances With Wolves in 1990. Nothing against Dances, but let’s face it, Goodfellas is on most fans’ favorite list while Dances is just, well, there. At least Goodfellas is #15 on IMdB’s list and Fanboys voted it Scorsese’s masterpiece at #7. That’ may even be better than an Oscar. It’s certainly more accurate.
E.T.: The Extra-terrestrial: Nominated but lost. Sure it won Best Music and Sound and FX but so what? It didn’t win Best Picture. Gandhi did, which goes to show that Academy voters would rather see a skinny Indian dude in a white diaper than a skinny alien critter in a bicycle basket.
Dog Day Afternoon: Attica! Attica! Pacino, too, was robbed of an Oscar in 1975 for his sublime portrayal of the hapless character, Sonny, who needed to rob a bank to get money for his gay partner’s sex-change operation. Best Writing Original Screenplay went to Frank Pierson for his screenplay based on a true story. We suppose we’ll get over this loss, since the award went to Cuckoo’s Nest, and who could be angry at that? Other amazing competitors that year included Jaws.
Bonnie and Clyde: In 1967, B&C lost out to In the Heat of the Night. Some solace can be found in knowing that the same year, The Graduate also lost. Cool Hand Luke wasn’t even nominated for Best Picture. Academy voters appear to cast their ballots for movies reflecting the day’s news, and have no sense of films that will become classics in our time and always.
Some Like It Hot: The iconic Billy Wilder film, one of Marilyn Monroe’s best, was not even nominated in 1959 for Best Picture. Very shortsighted of the Academy, wouldn’t you say? We’re still talking about Some Like It Hot, snippets are still being shown on entertainment and pop culture shows, and Tony Curtis is still giving interviews about whether or not he ever said “Kissing Marilyn was like kissing Hitler.” But who’s talking about the movie that actually won that year, Ben Hur? If not for the chariot race, nobody would even remember it.
The Wizard of Oz: Okay, it would’ve been really, really hard to win in 1939 against Gone With the Wind, Dark Victory, Goodbye Mr. Chips, Mr. Smith Goes to Washington, Wuthering Heights, and Stagecoach, among others (10 nominees in all), but still …
There are many more “shoulda-won” films, and time will tell us what they are, unless fans beat time to it.
And now, some Oscar Trivia:
One of the few films to be on every list that actually won Best Picture, is Casablanca. “This is the worst film we’ve ever come across,” said Bogie, “It’s just a fright.” Bergman also complained. Both stars made desperate efforts to ditch their parts. Believe it or not, their roles were originally slated for Hedy Lamarr and Ronald Reagan.
The model for the Oscar statuette was a naked Mexican named Emilio Fernández, who had a platonic relationship with fellow Mexican and big Hollywood star, Dolores del Río. Her famous husband, Cedric Gibbons, had been assigned by the Academy to design their award. Del Río introduced Fernández to her husband and he agreed that Fernández was the perfect model.
In 1999, Trey Parker and Matt Stone showed up in drag at the Oscars as Jennifer Lopez and Gwyneth Paltrow.
With 14 nominations, matching the record set by All About Eve, and 11 Oscars, Titanic tied for first place with Ben-Hur as the most honored picture of all time.
Charlize Theron was the 10th actress to win an Oscar for playing a hooker, Monster, 2003 (Best Actress). Her predecessors were Anne Baxter, The Razor’s Edge, 1946 (Best Supporting); Claire Trevor, Key Largo, 1948 (Best Supporting); Donna Reed, From Here to Eternity, 1953 (Best Supporting); Jo Van Fleet, East of Eden, 1955 (Best Supporting); Dorothy Malone, Written on the Wind, 1956 (Best Supporting); Elizabeth Taylor, Butterfield 8, 1960, (Best Actress) — sometimes called The Throat Vote because it was widely believed that her life-saving tracheotomy was the real reason she won with a sympathy vote; Jane Fonda, Klute, 1971 (Best Actress); Mira Sorvino, Mighty Aphrodite, 1995 (Best Actress).
Read more articles by Maggie Van Ostrand
103 Comments
February 18th, 2008 at 11:50 am
How is Raging Bull not on this list??? I read this list three times because I was sure I’d missed it. Not only was it the best film of 1980, but it’s generally regarded as the best American film of that entire decade. Scorsese and Cinematographer Mark Chapman were nominated but snubbed. BIG TIME. Fortunately, De Niro did get the Acting Oscar.
February 18th, 2008 at 12:45 pm
“Despite a surprising loss of Best Picture to Annie Hall in 1977,”
Surprising to who? Annie Hall was original and inventive. Star Wars ripped off Hidden Fortress and a number of other films.
Must agree on the Raging Bull slight. It got beat by Ordinary People.
LOTR: Return of the King also won 11 awards, and West Side Story won 10 plus it earned a special honorary award for choreography.
February 18th, 2008 at 2:24 pm
Yeah you definitely missed Raging Bull. I agree with with all the other films that should have won Best Picture. Annie Hall is great movie, but Star Wars is a pop culture phenomenon. It should have won best picture. No question.
February 18th, 2008 at 4:02 pm
I would say Raging Bull as well as Taxi Driver. That film is considered one of the best of the 70’s and it was snubbed
February 18th, 2008 at 5:44 pm
Annie Hall deserved that Oscar.
February 18th, 2008 at 6:49 pm
2/3 of Annie Hall deserved that Oscar. If they gave out an award for whining,the latter 1/3 would earn that.
February 18th, 2008 at 7:20 pm
Once again… Fight Club?
February 19th, 2008 at 5:59 am
How did ‘Once’ not win Best Picture?? One nomination for music (obviously) and that was it… Scenes from that little film were running around my head for days afterwards. At least it got 96% on Rotten Tomatoes - who needs Oscars anyway? :-)
February 19th, 2008 at 6:12 am
GLORY got snubbed in favor of DRIVING MISS DAISY.
February 19th, 2008 at 6:25 am
YAWNNNN… mainsame.
February 19th, 2008 at 6:44 am
brokeback mountain????
February 19th, 2008 at 7:35 am
There are far too many titles that can be listed here.
February 19th, 2008 at 7:42 am
Dr. Strangelove lost to My Fair Lady. Enough said.
February 19th, 2008 at 7:47 am
Annie Hall sucked
February 19th, 2008 at 7:54 am
This should be called, “The best films that didn’t win Best Picture.”
And saying Apoc. Now should have won b/c it has great quotes is one of the dumber things
I’ve read in a while.
February 19th, 2008 at 8:09 am
No ‘Grapes Of Wrath’? Unbelievably ridiculous.
February 19th, 2008 at 8:14 am
Do the Right Thing
February 19th, 2008 at 8:28 am
Phila-del-phia for best picture??? Words fail me…
February 19th, 2008 at 8:32 am
pulp fiction lost to forest gump. bleh
February 19th, 2008 at 8:32 am
“At least Dances is #15 on IMdB’s list and Fanboys voted it Scorsese’s masterpiece at #7.”
I think you meant “At least Goodfellas…”
February 19th, 2008 at 8:39 am
Jaws is the best film that didnt win the award. Granted two amazing flicks were also nominated that same year with One Flew Over the Cookoos Nest and Dog Day Afternoon…. Jaws still should have won… RIP Roy Scheider
February 19th, 2008 at 8:41 am
I agree with most of the movie slights, but not recognizing that In the Heat of the Night was a great film and deserved the Oscar? Sidney Poitier and Rod Steiger were pheonomenal in their roles and Lumet’s choices were inspired.
February 19th, 2008 at 9:02 am
Sure man. Fully agree with you. Was something incredible The Shawshank Redemption didn’t recive any Oscar…
February 19th, 2008 at 9:09 am
You cannot even joke about the comparison of E.T. and Gandhi.
Gandhi freed millions of people from torture from the British.
And you call him an Indian dude in a diaper?
Disgusting
February 19th, 2008 at 9:12 am
You forgot Magnolia, one of the best movies of all time. Of course it didn’t even get nominated for the best picture award. Insane.
February 19th, 2008 at 9:16 am
This list is not complete without X. The Malcolm X movie from Spike Lee with Denzel Washington.
February 19th, 2008 at 9:31 am
Chronicles of Narnia (Lion Witch and Wardrobe) made 10x more money than the Politically Correct Farenheight 911.
Hollywood is a bunch of losers.
February 19th, 2008 at 9:32 am
Apocalypse Now was great for the first 2/3 of the movie and utterly horrible for the last
1/3. Listening to Marlon Brando mumble incoherently for 40 minutes isn’t my idea of a
good night out.
As for Jaws vs. Cuckoos Nest….they should have given out two Oscars that year.
February 19th, 2008 at 9:33 am
I was pretty bummed that Gladiator beat Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon. Gladiator was really good, but Crouching Tiger was great.
February 19th, 2008 at 9:40 am
What about Saving Private Ryan? Didn’t that lose to Shakespeare in Love?
February 19th, 2008 at 9:50 am
Uh, how about Shakespeare in Love beating Saving Private Ryan in 1998. Coincidentally,
also the year I stopped giving a shit about the Oscars.
February 19th, 2008 at 9:57 am
Where’s SAVING PRIVATE RYAN? We all liked SHAKESPEARE IN LOVE (the winner that year) but SAVING PRIVATE RYAN is one of the best movies of all time and should have won Best Picture (Spielberg won Best Director, though).
February 19th, 2008 at 10:07 am
Raging Bull should be on the list. Philadelphia shouldn’t. Thought the latter had good performances and was a groundbreaking film socially, the script sometimes veered into tv-movie-of-the-week material.
As for Star Wars.. it was a wonderful, magical film, and I remember rooting for it to win best picture. But it’s really hard to argue that a movie with so many imperfections - some rather amateurish acting, mediocre dialogue - should have won Best Picture. Empire Strikes Back has a better case.
While I love Hitchcock, I don’t think Psycho was one of his greatest films, just one of his most famous, so I wouldn’t put that on the list either.
Others I agree with - E.T. (the critics certainly rated it above Ghandi even at the time), Saving Private Ryan, Dr. Strangelove, Goodfellas
February 19th, 2008 at 10:35 am
Apocalypse Now didn’t win because the snooze-fest called Deer Hunter won it the year prior. I’m certain Apocalypse would have won if it were released first.
February 19th, 2008 at 10:48 am
This list must’ve been written by a millennial. Start watching movies and listening to music made before you born before you attempt something like this again.
The Maltese Falcon. The Searchers. Chinatown. Network. The Right Stuff.
February 19th, 2008 at 11:19 am
Great list but ‘Children of Men’ is missing. That was one of the best movies i have ever seen.
February 19th, 2008 at 11:31 am
For the record, Dorothy Malone did not play a hooker in “Written on the Wind.” A slut, yes, but as her family is insanely wealthy, there is no suggestion that she is taking money for pleasuring men at the local gas station…
February 19th, 2008 at 11:57 am
“But who’s talking about the movie that actually won that year, Ben Hur? If not for the chariot race, nobody would even remember it.”
Are you kidding me? It, along with the 10 Commandments, are standard staple on TV programming come Easter time. The sea battle/galley oarsmen bit is great stuff.
February 19th, 2008 at 12:05 pm
you like the fictional E.T. more than Mahatma Gandhi, no problems, but atleast do some research before signing him off as the “skinny Indian dude in a white diaper”
this link could be a good starting point
http://nobelprize.org/nobel_prizes/peace/articles/gandhi/index.html
February 19th, 2008 at 12:40 pm
Saving Private Ryan loses to a movie nobody remembers now starring an actress nobody
cares about now directed by someone who hasn’t done anything good since made by a
studio that has gone bankrupt now. Saving Private Ryan kills the run-on sentence.
February 19th, 2008 at 12:54 pm
Jodie Foster was a prostitute in Taxi Driver. She won best supporting actress. She was also the youngest prostitute to win.
HUZZAH.
February 19th, 2008 at 1:00 pm
Great list. When I read the title, I wondered particularly about Wizard of Oz vs Gone With the Wind. Any other year, Oz would have been hard to beat. Poor timing for such a classic film.
February 19th, 2008 at 1:01 pm
SHAWSHANK! SHAWSHANK! SHAWSHANK!
February 19th, 2008 at 1:10 pm
are you retarded?
You think Gandhi should have lost out to ET?
I’m surprised you didn’t b*tch about Grimlins losing to Amadeus.
February 19th, 2008 at 1:18 pm
I used to be a homeless rodeo clown but now I am a world class magician !
February 19th, 2008 at 1:31 pm
Interesting list, but I have some problems with anyone contending “ET,” “Shawshank”,
and “Philadelphia” should have won Best Picture. Those films were popular and crowd-
pleasing, but also drenched in over-acting and sentimentality. Hardly the hallmarks of
“best” or signal achievements. For “Psycho,” I challenge you or anyone to watch that
movie again, with your modern cinema mind. It is slow as molasses, and only 3 scenes
set that film apart from countless dreck: 1.) the protagonist is killed 30 minutes into the
picture, 2.) the shower scene was racy and violent, excellent editing, and 3.) the twist
ending. Other than that, it was Hitchcock’s spin on a genre, he himself admitted.
Also, “Apocalypse, Now” lost out to “Kramer v Kramer” because by 1979, Vietnam was
already tiring everyone out, and “K v K” was one of the first films to look at the exploding
phenom of divorce, of the consequences the children involved pay, and so resonated
better with viewers than a retelling of Joseph Conrad’s “Heart of Darkness.”
February 19th, 2008 at 1:39 pm
Boondock Saints
Office Space
Fight club
Only some of the greatest movies of all time.
February 19th, 2008 at 1:42 pm
There are so many that could be added to that list. I remember as a kid I felt sick when Saving Private Ryan lost to Shakespeare in Love. Last year I was appalled when Children of Men wasn’t nominated.
February 19th, 2008 at 1:50 pm
Are you even serious about ET over Gandhi!! This list has lost any credibility it had for me. Go to the library and do some research about the film subjects before making dumb statements like ‘Indian dude in a white diaper’!!
DUMB!
February 19th, 2008 at 1:53 pm
I can’t believe how often something like this happens.
Scott
February 19th, 2008 at 1:53 pm
I must agree with comment #1 regarding Raging Bull. Cinephiles consider it Scorsese’s best, the one that he should have won. Instead the best picture went to Ordinary People, which has not held up over the years.
February 19th, 2008 at 1:55 pm
WTF!
You feel E.T. deserved it rather than Gandhi???!!
You feel Spielberg was better than Attenborough in comparison, in this context??
You feel a fantasy film shot in some backyard better than a feature shot in 3 different
continents featuring actors from 3 continents?
Gandhi and his deeds will endere humanity until eternity.
A two bit ET will tickle laughs 50 years from now.
Cheers
February 19th, 2008 at 2:00 pm
Agreed. I don’t know how Shawshank isn’t noted as the greatest film of all time. Tim Robins crawling through sewage to his freedom…where is the award.
Jason - I am with you on the Saving Private Ryan comment.
February 19th, 2008 at 2:22 pm
Might add to that trivia bit that Trey Parker and Matt Stone were on LSD when they came to the Oscars in drag. They’re my heroes.
February 19th, 2008 at 2:34 pm
what, no love for the travesty that was L.A. Confidential losing out to Titanic?
February 19th, 2008 at 2:41 pm
The remake of CAPE FEAR!!
Dinero was terrific, and the screen play was also super.
A true classic.
I saw the original, with Robert Mitchum and Gregory Peck which was very well produced. But this is one time a remake was far superior tho the original.
February 19th, 2008 at 3:06 pm
City Of God
February 19th, 2008 at 3:07 pm
Star Wars? Best Picture? Yes, we love it, it was groundbreaking, amazing… but for Best
Picture????? Come on!!!! And hey, Oscars is about politics, not about great film making.
Magnolia? That’s perfection.
February 19th, 2008 at 3:18 pm
HANS Solo???? COME ON! :)
February 19th, 2008 at 3:33 pm
“I remember as a kid I felt sick when Saving Private Ryan lost to Shakespeare in Love.”
LOL. I agree that SPR should have won….but LOL.
February 19th, 2008 at 4:02 pm
I’m serious, I think I had an anxiety attack or somthing.
February 19th, 2008 at 4:46 pm
To Kill a Mockingbird. my second favorite movie, just below Shawshank Redemption. i will give credit to the winner that year, which was Lawrence of Arabia. I just think this film was iconic for the Civil Rights Movement at the time.
February 19th, 2008 at 5:15 pm
Ben-Hur ……. a MUST see !
February 19th, 2008 at 5:33 pm
Star Wars is overrated. All special effects no substance.
February 19th, 2008 at 5:52 pm
City of God!
February 19th, 2008 at 5:59 pm
Fight Club! A real masterpiece, far more complex and intelligent than you’d ever expect.
!2 Monkeys: another complex masterpiece, that Pitt fella again as it happens, and Bruce actually acting… and Terry Gilliam helming one of his most moving parables.
And as for old films… the very first Best Picture winner was Wings, but I would have chosen Metropolis. I mean, come on! Metropolis is for the ages. Even now it doesn’t seem dated. It seems prophetic.
February 19th, 2008 at 6:00 pm
Your disrespect of Gandhi is ignorant and immature. Whatever good points you may have brought up were just rendered meaningless…
February 19th, 2008 at 6:03 pm
@Nawyecky (”This list must’ve been written by a millennial. Start watching movies and listening to music made before you born before you attempt something like this again.”):
I agree with you on The Searchers. John Wayne only won one Oscar, for True Grit, and he deserved to win so many more than that.
February 19th, 2008 at 6:19 pm
I’m wondering whether an infinite number of monkeys with an infinite number of typewriters CAN, in fact, produce something intelligible. Pingback-splooge like this, however, makes me doubt it.
Please, dear God, send the planetkiller now!
February 19th, 2008 at 6:29 pm
“Comment Policy: No hate speech allowed.”
i would suggest you don’t even try to instigate or provoke someone to use hatements in comments by saying stuff like “skinny indian dude wearing a white diaper”
i won’t care to elaborate for someone like you, what an ideal example gandhi was for the common man to defeat any oppressive rule in the most simple ways…without using any show of strength or aggressiveness.
check wikipedia or watch “lage raho munnabhai” movie.
February 19th, 2008 at 7:16 pm
Wow, I am surprised no one has mentioned the best picture for 1981. “Chariots of Fire” beat out three great movies; “Reds”, “On Golden Pond”, and “Raiders of the Lost Ark”. So, who remembers “Chariots of Fire”? I couldn’t even sit through the whole movie! Yet the other three I will love and enjoy for the rest of my life!!!
February 20th, 2008 at 5:07 am
Okay… usually I’d just read a page like this and not comment but I can’t let this one go. While I agree with most reader comments, and disagree with the author of the post in many situations… I have to disagree with anyone and everyone knocking Philadelphia.
The movie was nothing short of amazing… truly one of the most moving moments of my life watching that film… and… the part where Tom Hanks describes the opera song as it plays in the background, has to be one of the great moments in cinema history. If you can’t appreciate that… I truly feel sorry for you.
Of course I’m equally shocked at some of the other classics that didn’t win best film. Now I’m wondering whether it is worth me filling out my Oscar Ballot for this year. :|
February 20th, 2008 at 7:14 am
As good as Hanks was in Philadelphia, Hanks in Cast Away is as great as acting gets. Ever.
February 20th, 2008 at 10:16 am
If you want great movies that didn’t win……
Empire of the Sun (early Christian Bale actually acting, not just looking ominous)
Hope and Glory (wwII family in Britain)
Shawshank (there is no overacting)
Raging Bull / Goodfellas (some overacting)
Alien (sci-fi shocker but a sci-fi movie will never win)
Blade Runner (same as Alien)
Stand By Me / Dolores Claiborne / Dead Zone (all by King, all great acting)
Deer Hunter (a snoozer…come on, now….Mow! Mow!)
Apocalypse Now (there was no competition even if people were “tired of Vietnam”
Nice website and you forget the travesties of the Oscars and Emmys as years go by. Some movies get better with repeated watchings, like Shawshank. The award should be for acting, story and location. Special effects shouldn’t be considered. That was an incredibly stupid comment about Ghandi.
February 20th, 2008 at 12:44 pm
Hard to believe no one has called you on this: according to Snopes, Ronald Reagan was never considered for the lead in “Casablanca”
http://www.snopes.com/movies/films/reagan.asp
February 20th, 2008 at 6:43 pm
I commented earlier that Metropolis was better than Wings in 1927… but so was Buster Keaton’s The General.
And yes, Shawshank does get better with repeated viewings. Here’s a very subtle joke in the movie which I laughed at: when Andy DuFresne’s bible is opened by the warden at the end, and it has been carved open to hide a rock pick: what book of the Bible does it fall open to? Exodus! Ha! (For those who don’t know, that’s the book in which Moses leads the Hebrews out of Egyptian captivity).
I saw Blade Runner in the theater when it opened. I knew it was a masterpiece 5 minutes in.
Looking at the list on Wikipedia ( http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Academy_Award_for_Best_Picture ) I find that I disagree with as many as half the Best Picture winners. Look at 1973: The Sting beats Cries and Whispers and American Graffiti?
February 21st, 2008 at 12:41 am
Oh i think Chariots of Fire was amazing and deserved the oscar it got.
February 21st, 2008 at 9:09 am
I also like Castaway and Tom Hanks’ performance. His face at the end…..losing everything but starting over at the same time. For an even better pairing, how about Hanks in The Green Mile. I felt like I was passing the kidney stone. Very, very good movie but one that I won’t watch a second time.
February 21st, 2008 at 12:25 pm
The thoughts on Ben-Hur are inane. Some Like It Hot is great but so is Wyler’s winner.
She should listen to Scorsese talk about Ben-Hur before she opens his pie hole.
February 21st, 2008 at 5:54 pm
shawshank redpemtion was really good eh …
i’ll vote for it to win …
February 22nd, 2008 at 12:35 pm
Mercy, that’s a tough one. All I can say is, “Attica, Attica, Attica, Attica!”
Checkout: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Attica_Prison_riots
February 22nd, 2008 at 1:07 pm
Not sure if it was mentioned but Chinatown needs to be on this list. Others also said a few i agree with also like Network and The Searchers but I don’t see them as fan favorites and that seems to be where they were going w/ this.
One last note:
Office Space? Cast Away? Really people? Let’s focus.
February 22nd, 2008 at 1:09 pm
Why are you using the word “Never,” as if a movie has multiple chances to win best picture? The phrase is “Didn’t Win,” not “Never Won.”
February 22nd, 2008 at 2:11 pm
Mira Sorvino won Best Supporting Actress, and Jodie Foster did not win an Oscar for Taxi
Driver.
February 23rd, 2008 at 10:57 pm
Artietoo is correct. Jodie Foster lost to Beatrice Straight in Network in 1976. She was only on screen for about 5 minutes, but those five minutes are very powerful stuff!
February 24th, 2008 at 7:43 am
Treasure of Sierra Madre not winning is a disgrace. Philadelphia? Come on! Schindler’s List
was better, as was In the Name of the Father. Daniel Day Lewis or Liam Neeson should have
beaten Hanks. Hell, even Denzel should have beaten him in his own film. Tommy Lee Jones
winning best supporting actor that year was a farce too - he was up against Ralph Fiennes,
Pete Postlewaithe and Di Caprio.
February 24th, 2008 at 3:21 pm
kinda reaching on some of these, but i welcome the idea
what are the great under-acknowledged films?
February 24th, 2008 at 8:32 pm
Fight Club. Seven. Alien. Off-kilter films only get nominated if they’re “cute” or depressing.
February 25th, 2008 at 1:05 pm
Of course, we cannot forget the groundbreaking, awe-inspiring ‘Ferris Bueller’s Day Off’.
It changed my life forever.
February 26th, 2008 at 2:07 am
“…Gandhi did, which goes to show that Academy voters would rather see a skinny Indian dude in a white diaper than a skinny alien critter in a bicycle basket.”
If that was humor, maybe you should be a little wary about your attempts at making people laugh. Gandhi as a film is a separate issue from Gandhi as a man. But since your film-appreciation seems to be misguidedly based on abuses (racist?) and diapers, maybe you should be questioning yourself about your own credibility at judging films.
February 26th, 2008 at 4:37 pm
What is the worst film that ever won an Oscar for Best Film?
February 28th, 2008 at 10:59 am
Ok, I think of Star Wars is a very good one but they didn’t even appreciated it though!
March 15th, 2008 at 9:10 pm
Zoolander??? c’mon, orange mocha frappachino!
March 16th, 2008 at 3:57 am
Moulin Rouge!
March 19th, 2008 at 2:50 am
to all the knuckleheads who slobber over Private Ryan, while technically amazing the story was lame and filled with carcictures, much like Titanic.
April 4th, 2008 at 11:01 pm
Raging Bull definitely should have been on list. It is among one the greatest films of all-time. I still cringe at the thought that Ordinary People won Best Picture of 1980.
People may get angry for saying this but, I think that Titanic is over-rated.
The biggest shock to me was when Crash won over Brokeback Mountain. I almost vomitted completely because of that. Like we’ve never see racism on the big screen before.
April 15th, 2008 at 3:26 pm
“Five Easy Pieces” (Jack Nicholson’s first great performance) should have beaten Patton in 1970. Also “Once Upon A Time In The West” should have at least been nominated for SOMETHING in 1969!
April 16th, 2008 at 11:54 am
Happiness. (1998 Todd Solondz) One of the greatest ensemble casts (and individual performances) ever assembled! Not to mention the hardest subject matter to draft a screenplay from. Happiness is truly one of the most brilliant films ever made and ignored!
April 16th, 2008 at 12:29 pm
Emilio Fernández was not just “a naked mexican”. He is the most renowned mexican film director of all time. Look it up, in, dunno, wikipedia, maybe? Your statement is derrogative and, frankly, after reading the list and it’s reasons, I didn’t expect better.
April 17th, 2008 at 8:51 am
What about the Passion of Christ.
http://filmschools4u.blogspot.com/
April 20th, 2008 at 11:34 am
“to all the knuckleheads who slobber over Private Ryan, while technically amazing the story
was lame and filled with carcictures, much like Titanic.”
Ain’t that the truth. Great camerawork by Janusz Kaminski in opening seems to blind people
to the fact the rest was tosh.
April 24th, 2008 at 11:22 am
Passion of the Christ
Air Force One
Independence Day
Star Wars Ep III Revengene of the Sith
4 of the best movies I have seen in the last 10 years…were they even nominated?
Politics! Politics! Politics! That is my opinion f the Oscars.
April 27th, 2008 at 4:55 am
Where is Ronin? Arguably the best modern spy movie. Will they ever bring “The Fist of God” by Frederick Forsyth to the silver screen?