Best films/performances not to win Oscar...

...over the years there have been some head scratchers at the Oscars.

Watching The Straight Story and Richard Farnsworth missed out to Kevin Spacey in American Beauty. Spacey was good, but think they got it wrong.

Any others that make you go hmmmm?

Al Pacino should have won best supporting for Glengarry Glen Ross, but Gene Hackman took it for Unforgiven. Pacino picked up Best Actor that year for the dirge that was Scent of a Woman afair so not like he went empty handed.

Bruce Dern missed out for Nebraska, Matthew McConaughey won for the far more Oscar friendly Dallas Buyers Club.

How Driving Miss Daisy won best film is still a mystery. Do The Right Thing was not, however, even nominated, and Born on the Fourth of July was possibly best of the nominations in a bad year.

The_Valeyard

Steven Spielberg for ET


Liam Neeson Schindler's List


Glenn Close in fatal attraction

Sigourney Weaver in Aliens

osarusan

Goodfellas losing to Dances with Wolves.


Forrest Gump winning anything.


Peter O'Toole never winning one.

The_Valeyard

The_Valeyard wrote: »

Steven Spielberg for ET

Liam Neeson Schindler's List

ET was in the year of Gandhi so probably never really stood a chance.

But googled the year Neeson was nominated and Hanks won for Philadelphia. And you have a point. Philadelphia was awful...but again Oscar friendly...

osarusan

osarusan wrote: »

Goodfellas losing to Dances with Wolves.

Never thought of that.

Head in hands stuff alright.

The_Valeyard

[Deleted User] wrote: »

ET was in the year of Gandhi so probably never really stood a chance.

But googled the year Neeson was nominated and Hanks won for Philadelphia. And you have a point. Philadelphia was awful...but again Oscar friendly...

Ghandi.........all credit to the Man, but the film just didn't end. Remember watching it in school. Think it took up half of one year.

IvyTheTerrible

Ennio Morricone only winning an Oscar this year baffles me.

Liam McPoyle

The_Valeyard wrote: »

Ghandi.........all credit to the Man, but the film just didn't end. Remember watching it in school. Think it took up half of one year.

He made one great film and then you never saw him again.

seenitall

Russell Crowe should have won for Romper Stomper, or LA Confidential, or The Insider, not the Gladiator.

Heath Ledger should have won for Brokeback Mountain or Candy, not The Dark Knight.

Billy Crudup should have won one for Waking the Dead. One of the best performances I have ever seen, and I don't think he was even nominated.

Nicole Kidman should have won for The Portrait of a Lady, not The Hours.

Naomi Watts should have won it for Mulholland Drive, although she did deserve the one she got for 21 grams.

Sean Penn should have won his first one way way back, for either At Close Range, or The Falcon and The Snowman, or Carlito's Way, instead of Mystic River. Milk was a good second one.

There are so many of these cases, the mind boggles.

ChunkyLover54

Deleted User wrote: »

But googled the year Neeson was nominated and Hanks won for Philadelphia. And you have a point. Philadelphia was awful...but again Oscar friendly...

Schindler's List was also quite Oscar friendly if memory serves . I actually thought Ralph Fiennes deserved an Oscar for his role - one of the most heinous characters in any film.

ChunkyLover54

seenitall wrote: »

Russell Crowe should have won for Romper Stomper, or LA Confidential, or The Insider, not the Gladiator.

True. His performance as Wigand in The Insider was astonishing. Gladiator on the other hand was pure ham.

Outlaw Pete

Stone, De Palma and Pacino should have all got Oscars for Scarface as far as I'm concerned.

A good measure of just how good Pacino's performance was in Sacrface is to take a look at the him in Author Author which he made just the year before and the contrast of the performances in those films. Really bugs me when people say he does not have a good range because he apparently 'overacts', or 'shouts' his way through films. I feel that's baloney and is really based on three or four infamous scenes than anything else.

Adele Exarchopoulos in Blue is The Warmest Colour was Oscar worthy also I thought.

Gladiator was like Braveheart in terms of winning Oscars. Entertaining...but hardly outstanding.

Harry Palmr

This is cheating as it did win an Oscar but Chinatown winning one gong is one of the great robberies in cinema. Faye Dunaway, Jack Nicholson and John Huston should all have won that year. Not too mention John A Alonzo for his cinematography.

Harry Palmr

Harry Palmr wrote: »

This is cheating as it did win an Oscar but Chinatown winning one gong is one of the great robberies in cinema. Faye Dunaway, Jack Nicholson and John Huston should all have won that year. Not too mention John A Alonzo for his cinematography.

Beaten by the Godfather II for best film, so hardly robbery.

On the other hand Nicholson lost out to...Art Carney in "Harry and Tonto". Chalk that down as a wrong one alright!

Harry Palmr

Deleted User wrote: »

Beaten by the Godfather II for best film, so hardly robbery.

On the other hand Nicholson lost out to...Art Carney in "Harry and Tonto". Chalk that down as a wrong one alright!

ha! Harry and Tonto is a great road film (The Straight Story without a mower and with a cat) so oddly I don't mind an old pro winning unexpectedly for that - but someone at Paramount should have said lets leave Chinatown until 1975 rather than end up going up against Godfather Part II which was likely to heavily nominated. Then again that mightn't have worked with One Flew Over the Cuckoos Nest in competition. The mid 70s really was Nicholsons era one way or another.

fryup

for me it has to be....

Nick Nolte - Thin Red Line

his performance was amazing I honestly think he gave the best screen performance ever in movie history, its incredible esp the scene where he lambasts Captain Staros over the phone with his face contorted with rage with veins popping out of his forehead you'd swear he was right there in the middle of a battle > completely convincing.

and whats disgraceful is that he wasn't even nominated for an oscar for it:cool:

Dirty Dingus McGee

Clint Eastwood should have won best Actor for either Million Dollar Baby or Gran Torino.

Jaws should have won best picture for 1975,, ahead of One Flew Over The Cuckoos Nest.

Hitchcock should have won a bucket load of best Director Oscars.

storker

Outlaw Pete wrote: »

A good measure of just how good Pacino's performance was in Sacrface is to take a look at the him in Author Author which he made just the year before and the contrast of the performances in those films.

...or even look at the difference between Tony Montana and Michael Corleone. It's possible to watch Scarface without being reminded of The Godfather.

I get the impression that a lot of people are a bit sniffy about Scarface, but it's an excellent movie.

ricero

Micky rourke not winning best actor for the wrestler

Dirty Dingus McGee

LA Confidential should have won Best Picture in 1997 ahead of Titanic.

Harry Palmr

Dr. Strangelove or, How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb

Harry Palmr

Harry Palmr wrote: »

The mid 70s really was Nicholsons era one way or another.

Which reminds me...the Shining...not one nomination.

I appreciate that the Oscars studiously ignore horror, except the Exorcist and Silence of the Lambs...but still... Shelley Duvall did win a Razzie though!

fryup

fryup wrote: »

for me it has to be....

Nick Nolte - Thin Red Line

his performance was amazing I honestly think he gave the best screen performance ever in movie history, its incredible esp the scene where he lambasts Captain Staros over the phone with his face contorted with rage with veins popping out of his forehead you'd swear he was right there in the middle of a battle > completely convincing.

and whats disgraceful is that he wasn't nominated for an oscar for it:cool:

Didn't the Thin Red Line clash with Saving Private Ryan? Any other year it would have swept them, it was probably the opening sequence in the latter that saw it criminally overlooked.

Harry Palmr

Blade Runner. This is tricky one as the 1982 release and the later "approved" cut are different in feel. That said how it didn't win for things like photography, art direction-set decoration, costume design, special effects and original music score beats me.

Dirty Dingus McGee

Badlands should have won for 1973 but wasn't even nominated.

It's a really great film.I'd love to see it on a big screen.

MonkieSocks

Maximilian Schell

The Man in the Glass Booth 1975.

One of the best performances of his career.

fryup

Deleted User wrote: »

Didn't the Thin Red Line clash with Saving Private Ryan? Any other year it would have swept them, it was probably the opening sequence in the latter that saw it criminally overlooked.

i don't know if it was the same year, maybe a year apart...it does drag on a bit in parts but the battle scenes are ace

timthumbni

The_Valeyard wrote: »

Steven Spielberg for ET


Liam Neeson Schindler's List


Glenn Close in fatal attraction

Sigourney Weaver in Aliens

Personally I thought Ralph fiennes owned that film. I think his character was if nothing the main character and could easily have won the best actor role. He was sublime. A genuinely scary and loathsome character but what an actor.

Liam was good too and that movie was a masterpiece in general. However Liam is a bit of a Sean Connery in that his native accent always shines through and can be a bit off putting at times.

Dirty Dingus McGee

fryup wrote: »

i don't know if it was the same year, maybe a year apart...it does drag on a bit in parts but the battle scenes are ace

I'll have to watch it again I was only 14 or 15 when I watched it first and didn't like it but I suspect I may have been to young to fully appreciate it.

Dirty Dingus McGee

Rocky shouldn't have won in 1976.

Network was pure genius and should have won the Oscar.

Taxi Driver was nominated that year (which most people would probably favour) but I prefer Network myself.

fryup

Dirty Dingus McGee wrote: »

Rocky shouldn't have won in 1976.

if only they knew what was to follow

Dirty Dingus McGee

Amadeus shouldn't have won.

I thought it was pure scutter. I never wanted to punch somebody as much as I wanted to punch the guy playing Mozart.

The Killing fields was nominated that year and should have won ahead of it.

Elliott S

Was going to say Frances McDormand in 'Fargo' but delighted to see she actually won! I thought she didn't.

I need to have a think about this question.

Arcade_Tryer

Deleted User wrote: »

Bruce Dern missed out for Nebraska, Matthew McConaughey won for the far more Oscar friendly Dallas Buyers Club.

McConaughey was superb in that tbf. And it was an important movie in the whole McConnaisance too.

ChunkyLover54 wrote: »

Gladiator on the other hand was pure ham.

*Thumb down*

It's a great movie. A victim of its own success perhaps. But eternally watchable and features some of the best scenes in cinematic history. Far superior to Braveheart as well which somebody else compared it to.

super_furry

Casino?

Always thought it was a better film than Goodfellas and don't think it even got a nomination - for anything.

How Bruno Ganz didn't even get a nomination for Best Actor for Downfall is a mystery to me.

fryup

^^^^^^^

i suppose they were afraid it might be seen as a homage to Hitler??

ziedth

Shakespeare in love over saving private Ryan is absolutely baffling to me. There should be an investigation over it.

Russell Crowell has been mentioned but I think he was very much passed over for Denzel in training day although to be fair was very good it's just Crowell was better. I believe it was around the time he hit someone with a phone and it might have been a bit of fallout from it.

Leo could (note not should) have won three times over the last few years but he seems to be very unlucky in that each time there was a guy there who pretty much deserved it a little bit more.

I think Munich and Brokeback mountain should have won for the simple fact that Crash was just a made for TV movie that they could use to teach my kid about racism that somehow got a decent cast and carried it through

BelovedAunt

There's been a good few throughout the years but standout ones for me are Taxi Driver, Heat, Psycho and Reservoir Dogs.

Outlaw Pete

storker wrote: »

...or even look at the difference between Tony Montana and Michael Corleone. It's possible to watch Scarface without being reminded of The Godfather.

Totally. There was 'An Evening with Al Pacino' last summer down in the Bord Gais Theater where clips from his films were shown back to back, and where he then went on to answer questions about his roles and it really was so evident seeing his performances presented that way, just what a remarkable actor with an amazing range that he undoubtedly is.

I get the impression that a lot of people are a bit sniffy about Scarface, but it's an excellent movie.

Oh for sure. You'll always get that with anything that is well liked. People trying to sound edgy. Pulp Fiction gets the same crap now and no doubt it will rise over the years also as I can remember a time when Scarface was not seen that way at all. With popularity quite often will come disdain. Al says that Scarface is his favorite of all the movies he has made and what he feels was his best performance also. Be so easy for him to say 'The Godfather' or 'Scent Of..' given that it is the film which he has received the most credibility and plaudits for.

Was excellent to see him win his Oscar though. Looked more relived than anything, which is understandable considering he had been nominated for an Academy Award seven other times without winning (The Godfather, Serpico, The Godfather Part II, Dog Day Afternoon, And Justice for All, Dick Tracy and Glengarry Glen Ross).

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p0vE7pR5gg8

ceadaoin.

super_furry wrote: »

Casino?

Always thought it was a better film than Goodfellas and don't think it even got a nomination - for anything.

Sharon stone was nominated for best actress for casino

Sir Osis of Liver.

Michael Noonan for the Extra EU Payment.

Elliott S

Outlaw Pete wrote: »

Oh for sure. You'll always get that with anything that is well liked. People trying to sound edgy.

Or just not liking it? I like it but it's OTT and low on nuance. Its entertaining but hard to take too seriously. Sometimes people engage their brain when criticising something. I'm sure you've criticised films. Would you like people telling you are wrong in that criticism or have ulterior motives?

Elliott S

Deleted User wrote: »

I appreciate that the Oscars studiously ignore horror

They generally ignore comedy too. 'Cept for Woody Allen.

Outlaw Pete

Elliott S wrote: »

Or just not liking it? I like it but it's OTT and low on nuance. Its entertaining but hard to take too seriously. Sometimes people engage their brain when criticising something. I'm sure you've criticised films. Would you like people telling you are wrong in that criticism or have ulterior motives?

Look, first of all, not everything has to have 'nuance' ffs. That perfectly sums one of the main reasons why, imo, people look down their noses at Scarface. As they are so used to talking out their jaxxy day in day out about how much nuance films have and thinking they are clever for doing so. Not saying that films which have lots of nuance are bad, far from it, love many of them, but it's the idea that films must have nuance which is very bloody grating.

Look how scenes in Scarface stand out in their own right. There must be 20 of them which as soon as you mention them, people would not only know the scene in question, but also know much of the dialogue too. That does not happen with bad films.

As for being ott. It's not. It just has an operatic nature. Freedom Town was a real place. Over 100,000 Cuban refugees did actually pour into Florida and many were kept below the Freeways in cities made of tents. Many of them went on to become kingpins in the drug trade in Miami. Oliver Stone spent a long time researching the film. Cocaine was everywhere and he was addicted to it himself just before writing it (went off it to write the screenplay) He lived in Miami during that period and went to Bolivia also. People often say Scarface has dated, as if that was insult but that's like looking at images of ''tend city' at the time (how Freedom Town was known) and saying that they had dated. Of course they have, but how is that a bad thing exactly. Of course it's not, well not of capturing a time period is in any important at least.

I can actually remember when it became quite fashionable to sneer at Scarface began and it was right when it's popularity peaked in the mid 90's. Pacino has actually spoke about this in a positive sense and he said that it was rappers that first embraced the film and all of sudden posters were everywhere. There was no hating on Scarface before that point. Then all of sudden quotes from the film where everywhere and people just got jaded of it. It hit saturation point and has remained so, unfortunately, but that shouldn't take away from the fact that it is a great fcuking movie, with great dialouge, great characters, great story and a great ending. I don't expect everyone to love the film, of course not, but there is no way that is any justification for anyone not liking it. Nor for thinking that Pacino didn't deserve an Oscar nom, at the very least.

Wibbs

Peter O'Toole in Lawrence of Arabia. Staggering performance. The film won best picture director and a host of other Oscars, but nada for O'Toole(or any of the supporting cast). He did win the Golden Globe and the BAFTA mind you and I suppose losing out the oscar to Gregory Peck in To Kill a Mockingbird wasn't too bad.

Actually O'Toole was one of those truly top end actors who never won an Oscar for a role(though he did get an honorary one. Finally). Richard Burton never got one, honorary or not. Richard Burton FFS. Cary Grant got an honorary nod in the end.

storker

fryup wrote: »

i don't know if it was the same year, maybe a year apart...it does drag on a bit in parts but the battle scenes are ace

Particularly the assault on the bunkers.

But for the image of that movie that most sticks in my mind is the grassy hills before the attack starts...the way the grass runs with the wind, and shadows pass over the landscape...I can almost feel the breeze, and that feeling of the sun on my face after a cloud passes. In fact, I'm off to look at that bit again on Netflix...

In terms of telling a linear story, SPR was a better movie, I think, although it does have problems when you look a bit deeper. TTRL, however , is beautiful to look at...although it can also seem confusing, disjointed and pretentious.

The Specialist

Steven Segal in Executive Decision. It's a ****ing disgrace he didn't win, or get nominated.

storker

Outlaw Pete wrote: »

Al says that Scarface is his favorite of all the movies he has made and what he feels was his best performance also.

I'd agree with that...for the simple reason that Tony Montana seems to be the the one character that's least like him. One thing AP's characters always seem to be is cool...in one way or another. Not something you could accuse Tony of.

Harry Palmr

Deleted User wrote: »

How Bruno Ganz didn't even get a nomination for Best Actor for Downfall is a mystery to me.

I wonder is there a meta video for his reaction to that snub?! :pac: