Current:Home > MarketsThat's just 'Psycho,' Oscars: These 10 classic movies didn't win a single Academy Award -ProsperityStream Academy
That's just 'Psycho,' Oscars: These 10 classic movies didn't win a single Academy Award
View
Date:2025-04-11 22:43:45
"Citizen Kane," considered the greatest movie ever in many circles, only won one Academy Award – the same number as critically reviled "Suicide Squad."
Those two films demonstrate how interestingly idiosyncratic the Oscars can be in feting the best films annually. Over the years, while movies like "Titanic," "Ben-Hur" and the original "West Side Story" went home with rafts of prizes, the Academy has whiffed on some heavy hitters. Maybe it was the competition or perhaps it was that year's voting bloc, but there are stone-cold classics that missed out on trophies entirely.
Here are the 10 best movies of that bunch, the Oscar losers if you will, that got nominated and deserved far better:
1. 'The Great Dictator' (1940)
Silent-movie star and director Charlie Chaplin's first sound film was this superb political satire where Chaplin pulls double duty onscreen, as an antisemitic fascist leader and his Jewish barber lookalike. Timing might have been everything with his Hitler parody: Chaplin was beat by Alfred Hitchcock's "Rebecca" for best picture and Jimmy Stewart ("The Philadelphia Story") for best actor, in a ceremony held less than 10 months before Pearl Harbor.
2. 'It’s a Wonderful Life' (1946)
Frank Capra's Christmas movie classic is many people's favorite movie, with Jimmy Stewart as a man ready to end it all until he learns the world would be much worse if he'd never existed. But the Academy's fave? Not so much. "Life" lost four out of its five Oscar categories (including best picture, actor and director) to "The Best Years of Our Lives" – not a holiday staple, in case you're wondering.
3. 'Seven Samurai' (1954)
Arguably the most influential movie on this list, Akira Kurosawa's action-packed Japanese epic gave way to "The Magnificent Seven," "Star Wars" and many others in terms of themes, visuals and narrative. "Samurai" lost its two chances at the 1957 Oscars – for black-and-white art direction and costume design – and was left out of best foreign-language film the first year it became a competitive category. (Previously, one movie was chosen each year for an honorary award.)
4. '12 Angry Men' (1957)
Like with "A Few Good Men," we find the Oscars guilty of dropping the ball on this essential courtroom drama, which featured Henry Fonda, Martin Balsam, Jack Klugman and E.G. Marshall as jurors deciding the fate of a teen charged with murder. "Angry Men" lost all three of its categories – best picture, director and adapted screenplay – to war picture "The Bridge on the River Kwai," which to be fair was pretty darn good, too.
5. 'Psycho' (1960)
Maybe Academy voters were weirded out by the infamous shower scene, or simply sentimental about moms. Alfred Hitchcock's exquisitely crafted psychological chiller racked up a mere four nominations, including best director and supporting actress for Janet Leigh's hair-raising performance. It wouldn't be until three decades later that a horror movie would nab best picture ("The Silence of the Lambs").
6. 'A Clockwork Orange' (1971)
In the annals of Oscar-less greats, Stanley Kubrick could have his own wing: "Dr. Strangelove" was also shut out and "The Shining" didn't even garner a nod. But considering that "Orange" initially received an X rating for its depiction of graphic violence and sexually explicit imagery, that it garnered a best picture nod at all is kind of a miracle and shows how much the film tapped into the times.
7. 'Taxi Driver' (1976)
"You talking to me?" Yep, we're talking about Martin Scorsese's gritty noir – and one of the most iconic movies of the '70s – with Robert De Niro as the unstable New York cabbie who's probably best to avoid at night. Unfortunately, it got knocked out in best picture by "Rocky" while De Niro and supporting actress Jodie Foster lost to "Network" stars Peter Finch and Beatrice Straight.
8. 'Blade Runner' (1982)
Granted, sci-fi movies have never exactly taken the Oscars by fire. But Steven Spielberg's "E.T." won four Academy Awards the very same year as Ridley Scott's futuristic tale, which was up for best visual effects and art direction. While the adorable candy-loving alien bested Harrison Ford that time, "Blade Runner" ultimately became a cult classic and a beloved entry in the canon.
9. 'Field of Dreams' (1989)
A personal choice, but a favorite nonetheless for this discerning critic. A fantastical ode to baseball, fathers and sons, dreams (naturally) and famous ghosts in a cornfield, the Kevin Costner masterpiece lost out on three Oscars, including best picture – which somehow went to "Driving Miss Daisy" in a head-scratching year where "Do the Right Thing" and "Glory" didn't even make the cut.
10. 'The Shawshank Redemption' (1994)
Based on a Stephen King novella, the acclaimed prison drama starring Morgan Freeman and Tim Robbins went 0-for-7 at the Oscars, with "Forrest Gump" reigning as best picture and Forrest himself, Tom Hanks, taking best actor over Freeman. That's OK, though, because "Shawshank Redemption" has captured many hearts and minds ever since as a cable-TV movie staple.
veryGood! (1965)
Related
- Rams vs. 49ers highlights: LA wins rainy defensive struggle in key divisional game
- Lionel Messi and Antonela Roccuzzo's Impressively Private Love Story Is One for the Record Books
- LeVar Burton will host National Book Awards ceremony, replacing Drew Barrymore
- Florine Mark, former owner of Weight Watchers franchises in Michigan and Canada, dies at 90
- North Carolina justices rule for restaurants in COVID
- Exclusive: US to send 2nd aircraft carrier to eastern Mediterranean
- Biden Announces Huge Hydrogen Investment. How Much Will It Help The Climate?
- Exclusive: US to send 2nd aircraft carrier to eastern Mediterranean
- Woman dies after Singapore family of 3 gets into accident in Taiwan
- Teen arrested in Morgan State shooting as Baltimore police search for second suspect
Ranking
- Who are the most valuable sports franchises? Forbes releases new list of top 50 teams
- This week on Sunday Morning (October 15)
- 'Feels like a hoax': Purported Bigfoot video from Colorado attracts skeptics, believers
- A judge has declined to block parts of Georgia’s election law while legal challenges play out
- Angelina Jolie nearly fainted making Maria Callas movie: 'My body wasn’t strong enough'
- Workers with in-person jobs spend about $51 a day that they wouldn't remotely, survey finds
- Israeli shelling along Lebanon border kills 1 journalist, wounds 6
- Jade Janks left a trail of clues in the murder of Tom Merriman. A look at the evidence.
Recommendation
A White House order claims to end 'censorship.' What does that mean?
Australians decided if Indigenous Voice is needed to advise Parliament on minority issues
North Carolina Medicaid expansion still set for Dec. 1 start as federal regulators give final OK
Schumer says he’s leading a bipartisan group of senators to Israel to show ‘unwavering’ US support
Head of the Federal Aviation Administration to resign, allowing Trump to pick his successor
Russia mounts largest assault in months in eastern Ukraine
US oil production hits all-time high, conflicting with efforts to cut heat-trapping pollution
U.S. reopening facility near southern border to house unaccompanied migrant children