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You don’t have to be a film buff to know that The Oscars are a Big Deal. For 87 years, every big screen vixen, director and makeup artist from here to LA has aimed to get their mitts on one of those golden statuettes and this year is no different.
An Oscar is the ultimate accolade. But there are a number of films - classics, game changers, massive franchises like Harry Potter - which have been overlooked by the Academy Awards panel.
Here’s a list of the biggest award robberies of all time: Show all 15 1 /15Much-loved Oscar snubs Much-loved Oscar snubs Groundhog Day This is such a classic that people are always banging on about having deja vu 'groundhog days'. Oscar or no Oscar, when your film becomes an eponym, you've made it. It might not have won anything at the Academy Awards back in 1993 but it did get a BAFTA for Best Screenplay as well as a host of other accolades. I for one, live in fear of 2 February every year.
Much-loved Oscar snubs The Wizard of Oz The competition was tough for the 1940 Best Picture Oscar - I get it. But the Wizard of Oz has stood the test of time arguably better than that year’s winner Gone With the Wind. Find me a kid who hasn’t followed Judy Garland along the Yellow Brick Road, and I’ll eat my hat. Munchkins tend to do better with children than 19th century plantation owners and slaves. It did win Best Music, but with songs like “Over the Rainbow” and “Ding Dong the Witch is Dead”, how could it not?
Much-loved Oscar snubs It's a Wonderful Life What would Christmas be without George Bailey and angel Clarence? NOTHING. It's one of the greatest films of all time, ranking number 11 in the American Film Institute's list of the 100 best American films ever made. It was up for five nominations including Best Picture and Best Director and got nothing. God only knows how James Stuart wasn’t nominated for Best Actor.
AP
Much-loved Oscar snubs The Red Shoes This is an undisputed classic. This was the film that apparently inspired Martin Scorsese to make movies, and won Best Set Decoration and Best Music at the 1949 Oscars but was robbed of Best Film. Nevermind, it’s still listed as one of the best in BFI’s Top 100 British films.
Much-loved Oscar snubs Singin' in the Rain HOW COULD THIS HAVE LOST? It was only up for two nominations and won neither. Are you seriously telling me that all that tap dancing and jazz hands wasn't even worthy of one gong? If Gene Kelly's acting didn't do it for the award panel, what about the score? Words fail me.
Much-loved Oscar snubs Vertigo Vertigo was nominated for Best Art Direction and Best Sound in 1959 and got nothin'. The following year, Hitchcock's Psycho failed as miserably, failing to win any of its categories including Supporting Actress, Director and Art Direction. However, Psycho's soundtrack has continued to haunt audiences for the best part of 50 years and no doubt will give people nightmares for many more years to come - success in itself.
AP/Paramount
Much-loved Oscar snubs A Clockwork Orange Go to any student town on a Wednesday night and you’ll see droves of creepy students dressed as droogs. Despite its continued influence on drunken rugby lads and film buffs alike, in 1971, A Clockwork Orange lost in all four of its nomination categories - Best Picture, Director, Adapted Screenplay and Editing. After his film Dr Strangelove also failed to win any Oscars back in 1964, Stanley Kubrick must have been well and truly gutted.
Much-loved Oscar snubs James Bond Skyfall marked the end of James Bond’s 30 year wait for an Academy Award. 'Sorry, what?' I hear you say. I know! 23 films and only three gongs. Skyfall was the most nominated Bond film ever, received five nominations including for Best Score, Sound Editing and Cinematography; Adele proved that she has the golden finger (geddit?) when she won the Oscar for Best Original Song last year. Let’s hope that 007 wins Best Picture before it turns 100.
Rex
Much-loved Oscar snubs Edward Scissorhands How did this not even win a gong for Best Makeup? Or Johnny Depp for Best Actor? At least Empire Magazine had the sense to put Tim Burton's sharp-fingered hero on their list of The 100 Greatest Movie Characters. Small victories.
Much-loved Oscar snubs Reservoir Dogs This was Quentin Tarantino's debut, and included all the things we've come to love - violent crime; pop culture references; a bloody amazing soundtrack. But no sniff of an Academy Award.
Miramax Films
Much-loved Oscar snubs The Shawshank Redemption It was up for SEVEN awards, including Best Picture, Best Sound and Best Cinematography - by the law of averages, you'd have thought it would win something. What about Morgan 'get busy living or get busy dying' Freeman? Are the judges made of stone? Clearly because the film walked away with zilch.
Rex Features
Much-loved Oscar snubs The Big Lebowski There is an unwritten law somewhere that says that open air cinemas must play The Big Lebowski at least once a season - it must be the most screened film in London. It was deemed so 'culturally, historically or aesthetically significant' that it was added to the National Film Registry last year (that’s a big deal, FYI) and yet, didn't even get a single Oscar nomination.
Rex
Much-loved Oscar snubs Fight Club The first rule of fight club is you do not talk about fight club'. So the Academy judges didn’t; it received one lousy nomination for Best Effects and nothing else. The completely bonkers cinematography was pushed aside, to say nothing of the talent. At the very least, Helen Bonham Carter should have received Best Supporting Actress for her role as the debauched Marla Singer
20th Century Fox
Much-loved Oscar snubs Harry Potter Harry and his pals ruled the roost for a decade - there is barely a child on the planet who hasn't seen at least one of the films and hoped that one day, they too would be standing in Diagon Alley supping butter beer. Yet bizarrely, the films have failed to win a single Academy Award. It’s been nominated TWELVE TIMES and won nothing. What about the special effects? The costume design? The soundtrack (a favourite with school orchestras up and down the country)? The final film earned around $1.3 billion - making it the third biggest film of all time. Without sounding like a conspiracy theorist, something doesn’t add up.
Warner Bros
Much-loved Oscar snubs City of God
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