“Night of the Hunter” (1955)
The one and only directorial effort from Charles Laughton (mostly known as a fantastic actor, and Best Actor Oscar winner for “The Private Life of Henry VIII”) is today regarded as one of (if not the) greatest feature debuts of all time. With Stanley Cortez’s scintillating cinematography, Robert Mitchum’s instantly iconic performance, and James Agee’s sublime screenplay, “The Night of the Hunter” is surely one of the Academy’s biggest blunders.
“Once Upon a Time in the West” (1968)
Huh? One of the most lauded
Westerns of all time didn’t budge the voters’ needles, but “Oliver!”
walks away with Picture and Director? So wrong, it hurts. From its
scorching cinematography, to Sergio Leone’s perfect direction, Ennio
Morricone’s iconic soundtrack, and Henry Fonda’s subtly masterful
performance, “Once Upon a Time In the West” had a gamut of reasons for
nominations. Another case of voters hitting that snooze button one too many
times.
“Once Upon A Time in America” (1984)
Here’s that Sergio Leone-Ennio Morricone team-up again, totally neglected by the goons who make up the Academy. Much like ‘West,’ “Once Upon a Time in America” showed the Italian director digging deep into Western culture to come up with a jillion number of cinematic rubies, diamonds, and emeralds. A classic that defines the term “classic” with every frame, something went terribly, horribly, off-course with the votes in 1985 (though of course, it didn’t help that the film was initially released in a massively compromised form).
“The Palm Beach Story” (1942)
Another comedy great mostly overlooked by the Academy — spotting a trend, are we? — Preston Sturges only picked up three nods and one win, all for screenplays, for his work, and many of his films weren’t nominated for anything. One of the most notable is his great “The Palm Beach Story,” starring Joel McCrea and Claudette Colbert as two sets of twins embroiled in an unconventional marriage. The film’s a perfectly-engineered comedy machine, but like the previous year’s “Sullivan’s Travels,” was neglected by Oscar.
“The Parallax View” (1974)
One of the very best of the paranoid 1970s conspiracy thriller sub-genre, Alan J. Pakula’s “The Parallax View” is impeccably crafted, gripping, resonant, and features a great performance from one of Hollywood’s favorite stars: Warren Beatty. But unlike the two films in the unofficial trilogy that surround it, “Klute” and “All The President’s Men,” it was snubbed at awards time. Was it too much of a genre picture? Or did it hit a little close to home for the establishment?
“Paths of Glory” (1958)
This is just one of ten Stanley Kubrick bonafide masterpieces that he didn’t win a directing Oscar for. No biggie. How “Paths of Glory,” the epitome of the anti-war film, with themes, performances, and techniques forever etched in cinema history, failed to land a single nomination, while “Gigi” went on to win Best Picture and Director, will be one of the greatest AMPAS mysteries of all time.
“Pickpocket” (1959)
Austere, unglamorous, and soulful, it’s fairly predictable that Robert Bresson wasn’t really in the Oscar wheelhouse. But given that he was making films at a time when people like Bunuel and Bergman were picking up nominations not just in the Foreign Language Films category, but in mainstream ones too, it’s sort of shocking that not a single Bresson film, from breakout “Diary Of A Country Priest” onwards, was recognized by AMPAS in any way. It’s one of the more notable omissions on their world cinema track record, and you’d think even the more accessible “Pickpocket” would have snuck in somewhere.
“Rio Bravo” (1959)
Poor Howard Hawks again. He never found much luck with his screwball comedies (see above), and even when he made as rollicking and entertaining a Western as “Rio Bravo,” the Academy just stared at him blankly and failed to nominate the film, now seen as a classic, for anything. Perhaps it was a political gesture. The film was made as a response to four-time Oscar winner “High Noon,” which star John Wayne saw as “un-American,” but support for HUAC and the black list was starting to collapse, and the film may not have met the mood of the country.
“Rushmore” (1998)
After years of only picking up Screenplay nominations, “The Grand Budapest Hotel” marks Wes Anderson’s acceptance into the Academy’s tent in a big way this year, being, with “Birdman,” the film with the most nominations, with nine. That’s nine more than Anderson’s breakthrough, “Rushmore,” managed back at the 1999 ceremony. Despite critical plaudits, the film didn’t pick up a single nod (you’d have though Bill Murray would have been a Supporting Actor lock, but apparently not).
“The Searchers” (1956)
Frequently named as one of the greatest American movies ever made, “The Searchers” (it’s Sight & Sound’s number seven, Cahiers du Cinema’s number ten, and the AFI’s number twelve) was a hit at the time, but again fell victim to the Academy’s Western curse. John Ford won seven Oscars in total, including a record four Best Director trophies, but his greatest masterpiece had no nominations at all (and this in a year dominated by big-budget spectacle like “The Ten Commandments,” “The King And I,” and winner “Around The World In 80 Days.”)
Paths of Glory was 1957, not 1958. It lost to Bridge on the River Kwai, not Gigi. Also I would not call Match Point a "middling affair" from Allen as it\’s one of his best. This is still a fantastic list though.
Secretariat was an incredible film in so many aspects, yet nothing. So disappointing.
Technically, Bicycle Thieves wasn\’t nominated for an Oscar but was given an honorary one some years later. (Probably the Academy\’s indirect apology for having not seen it in the first place.) Also, Diabolique didn\’t win either. I\’ve never seen the films that beat Bicycle Thieves or Diabolique but I have my doubts they were better…
If you watch it, The Untouchables is almost perfect.
Thank you for puting in What\’s Up Doc? which is my nymber one film of all time. And also in my top5 is Local Hero. But how can you miss out on "Glory" another of my top 5. And the greatest most emotional war movie of all time. An absolute travestry. As for your other\’s mentioned meh!
What else can we say from a prize that has given Fritz Lang, Brian de Palma and David Cronenberg 0 nominations
Where\’s Oldboy?
As far as I know, Park Chan Wook and Kim Ki Duk never get Oscar nominations
Jeff Wilder:
– Almost Famous was nominated for four oscars and won best original screenplay.
– Mulholland Drive was nominated for best director as was Blue Velvet.
– Magnolia was nominated for three oscars.
– Seven was nominated for one oscar.
– Boogie Nights was nominated for three oscars…
Comedies! Even YOU don\’t give them enough credit. Bowfinger. ANYTHING by Monty Python. Bedazzled. Airplane. Planes, Trains and Automobiles. Shaun of the Dead. The Jerk.
Do The Right Thing and Boogie Nights are two that never got an Oscar nod but should have. As should have Malcolm X (the Academy seems to have a Spike Lee problem), Blue Velvet, Raising Arizona, Seven, Dark City, Fight Club, Magnolia, Almost Famous, Mulholland Drive and that\’s just for recent years. Mickey Rourke should have gotten a nod for best actor for Sin City. And that doesn\’t count the numerous foreign films overlooked.
i always thought \’Perfume the story of a murderer\’ should\’ve gotten the best adopted screen play award.. but nobody talks about it.. makes me sad
What other Woody Allen film are you confusing \’Match Point\’ with? Far from "middling fare." I do agree that \’Stradust Memories\’ is a very good Woody movie.
I disagree. I think the Oscars do a decent job at cutting through the junk that Hollywood puts out and they generally choose movies that are well done. You can\’t please everyone. Stanley Kubrick is my favorite director of all time but it doesn\’t surprise me that The Shining wasn\’t nominated. It\’s a tremendous work of art but it also pushed the limits of what was considered acceptable at that time. True artists push boundaries, so much sometimes that it polarizes the public. Freaks in 1932 was a complete flop and some of the most extreme content ever shown on a movie screen. Just because we consider it a classic now 80 years later doesn\’t mean the Oscars overlooked one that should have been nominated in the context of the time period they were in.
One of these days, looking back, "A Most Violent Year" will be on this list.
Under The Skin
"The Big Sleep". AMPAS was really criminal on his neglect to Hawks.
Happiness
I love Andie McDowell in "Groundhog Day" along with everything else about that movie.
I love that you included The Parallax View!
Once Upon A Time In the West: Henry Ford or Henry Fonda?
this is a fantastic list, one that will seriously lengthen my Netflix queue (if Netflix deigns to offer many of these). But "The Searchers"??? It is a terrible movie, with predictable, wooden performance by John Wayne ( who is incapable of acting), a story that just drags on and on, and no redeeming subtleties. I don\’t understand why so many people put it on their "top" lists, it\’s a lousy movie.
You\’re not wrong on any of these titles, but you are wrong about match point. It\’s woodys best film. Even he agrees. So
"It’s borderline unthinkable to imagine a romantic comedy up for Best Picture now"
Midnight in Paris was nominated for a best picture Oscar in 2012.
What\’s your beef with Andie Mcdowell? I always enjoyed her in \’Groundhog Day\’
Young Adult didn\’t receive a single nom :/
When you think of the legitimacy of the Oscars, just remember this. Alfred Hitchcock, yes Alfred Hitchcock, never won a competitive Oscar. Neither did Cary Grant (and gary cooper won several to the academy\’s eternal shame). Charlie Chaplin won only one and that is for Best Score for Limelight, not best actor, best director, best screenplay. My point. The Oscars have no legitimacy.
D.Darko…..duh???