These amazing movies were all overlooked for Oscars over the years and it is a travesty.
Pulp Fiction (1994) – Quentin Tarantino
7 nominations:
Best Picture
Best Actor in a Leading Role (John Travolta)
Best Actor in a Supporting Role (Samuel L. Jackson)
Best Actress in a Supporting Role (Uma Thurman)
Best Director (Quentin Tarantino)
Best Film Editing
1 win: Best Original Screenplay
Taxi Driver (1976) – Martin Scorsese
4 nominations:
Best Picture
Best Actor in a Leading Role (Robert De Niro)
Best Actress in a Supporting Role (Jodie Foster)
Best Original Score
0 wins
Do the Right Thing (1989) – Spike Lee
2 Nominations:
Best Actor in a Supporting Role (Danny Aiello)
Best Original Screenplay (Spike Lee)
0 wins
La Grande Illusion (1937) – Jean Renoir
1 nomination:
Best Picture
0 wins
This film is considered one of the greatest foreign films of it’s generation. It is hard to believe the Academy only gave the film 1 nomination.
Dr. Strangelove or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb – Stanley Kubrick
4 nominations:
Best Picture
Best Actor in a Leading Role (Peter Sellers)
Best Director (Stanley Kubrick)
Best Adapted Screenplay
0 wins
The Thin Red Line (1998) – Terrence Malick
7 nominations: Best Picture Best Director (Terrence Malick)
Best Adapted Screenplay (Terrence Malick)
Best Cinematography
Best Sound Design
Best Film Editing
Best Original Score
0 wins
The Shawshank Redemption – (1994) – Frank Darabont
7 nominations:
Best Picture
Best Actor in a Supporting Role (Morgan Freeman)
Best Cinematography
Best Sound Design
Best Film Editing
Best Original Score
0 wins
Considered one of the greatest movies ever made, it is difficult to understand how the Academy didn’t award Shawshank with any golden statuettes.
Vertigo (1958) – Alfred Hitchock
2 nominations:
Best Art Direction
Best Sound.
0 wins
Hitchcock’s film made it to #9 on AFI’s greatest films of all time list.
The Graduate (1967) – Mike Nichols
7 nominations:
Best Picture
Best Actor in a Leading Role (Dustin Hoffman)
Best Actress in a Leading Role (Anne Bancroft)
Best Actress in a Supporting Role (Katharine Ross)
Best Adapted Screenplay
Best Cinematography
1 win:
Best Director (Mike Nichols)
A Clockwork Orange (1971) – Stanley Kubrick
4 nominations:
Best Picture
Best Director (Stanley Kubrick)
Best Adapted Screenplay
Best Film Editing
0 wins
It’s a Wonderful Life (1946) – Frank Capra
5 nominations:
Best Picture
Best Actor in a Leading Role (James Stewart)
Best Director (Frank Capra)
Best Sound Recording
Best Film Editing.
0 wins
Psycho (1960) – Alfred Hitchcock
4 nominations:
Best Actress in a Supporting Role (Janet Leigh)
Best Director (Alfred Hitchcock)
Best Cinematography
Best Art Direction.
0 wins
Psycho is another Hitchcock film to make it on AFI’s greatest list, coming in at #14.
The Tree of Life (2011) – Terrence Malick
3 nominations:
Best Picture
Best Director (Terrence Malick)
Best Cinematography
0 wins
Blade Runner (1982) – Ridley Scott
2 nominations:
Best Art Direction
Best Visual Effects
0 wins
Mulholland Drive (2001) – David Lynch
1 nomination:
Best Director (David Lynch)
0 wins
Rear Window (1954) – Alfred Hitchcock
4 nominations:
Best Director (Alfred Hitchcock)
Best Original Screenplay
Best Cinematography
Best Sound Recording
0 wins
Even with all of his success as a filmmaker, Alfred Hitchcock was only nominated for 5 Oscars, and never won any of them.
Rebel Without a Cause (1955) – Nicholas Ray
3 nominations:
Best Actor in a Supporting Role (Sal Mineo)
Best Actress in a Supporting Role (Natalie Wood)
Best Writing for a Motion Picture
0 wins
Goodfellas (1990) – Martin Scorsese
6 nominations:
Best Picture
Best Actress in a Supporting Role (Lorraine Bracco)
Best Director (Martin Scorsese)
Best Adapted Screenplay
Best Film Editing
1 win:
Best Actor in a Supporting Role (Joe Pesci)
Apocalypse Now (1979) – Francis Ford Coppola
8 nominations:
Best Picture
Best Actor in a Supporting Role (Robert Duvall)
Best Director (Francis Ford Coppola)
Best Adapted Screenplay
Best Art Direction
Best Film Editing
2 wins:
Best Cinematography
Best Sound
Citizen Kane (1941) – Orson Welles
9 nominations:
Best Picture
Best Actor in a Leading Role (Orson Welles)
Best Director (Orson Welles)
Best Cinematography
Best Art Direction
Best Sound
Best Film Editing
Best Musical Score
1 win:
Best Original Screenplay
Most critics (and the American Film Institute) agree that Citizen Kane is the greatest film ever made. The fact that it only walked away with 1 award is simply shocking.
Honorable Mentions:
Saving Private Ryan (1999) – Steven Spielberg
With 11 nominations Saving Private Ryan was only awarded 5 Oscars and lost the Best Picture category to Shakespeare in Love (1999).
King Kong (1933) – Merian C. Cooper and Ernest B. Schoedsack
As iconic as this film is in history in it’s technological advances and special effects, it was nominated for 0 Oscars.
2001: A Space Odyssey (1968) – Stanley Kubrick
4 nominations:
Best Director (Stanley Kubrick)
Best Original Screenplay
Best Art Direction
1 win:
Best Visual Effects
Though it was not even nominated, many critics believe that 2001 should have won the Best Picture category outright thanks to the mesmerizing cinematography and perplexingly original screenplay. However, the Academy had different plans and gave the award to Oliver! (1968).
The Wizard of Oz (1939)
Even though the film lost the Best Picture category to Gone with the Wind (1939), many critics believe that Oz should have taken home the trophy. In the end, The Wizard of Oz was nominated for 6 Oscars, taking home only 2 of them.
Network (1976) – Sidney Lumet
10 nominations:
Best Picture Best Actor in a Leading Role (William Holden)
Best Actor in a Supporting Role (Ned Betty)
Best Director (Sidney Lumet)
Best Cinematography
Best Film Editing
4 wins:
Best Actor in a Leading Role (Peter Finch)
Best Actress in a Leading Role (Faye Dunaway)
Best Actress in a Supporting Role (Beatrice Straight)
Best Original Screenplay
Though this film won 4 awards overall, many critics believe Network should have also won Best Picture. Almost the entire lead cast, as well as the director, were nominated for awards, yet the film lost out to Rocky (1976). And though Rocky is a great film it is no Network.
