The 100 Greatest Oscar Snubs

Entertainment Weekly posted this list on the biggest oversights of the Oscars. I agreed with many of them... do you? Or, do you have other snuffs to add? Why do you feel those oversights were so egrigious? Finally, what do you think this says about the Oscars and other award shows?

-sj loves kevin spacey

This is now a hosted discussion. Please comment on the performance currently up for discussion.

Humphrey Bogart in The Treasure of the Sierre Madre

 

Well, I haven't read the article, but in '81 Raiders should have won best score instead of Chariots of Fire. CoF certainly had and still has a wonderful theme, but the rest of it isn't that great. . .

 

Yeah I would agree with you there.

The one that the list notes as #2 of all time is the one I agree with more than anything. That was for Anthony Perkins not even getting nominated for best actor in Psycho! How did that happen? That is one of the most incredible screen performances to date, IMHO. So innocent yet so dark. That is truely a shame

-sj loves kevin spacey

 

Haley Joel Osment OR that big guy from The Green Mile as best supporting actor. I mean, I love Michael Caine, but he already had at least one oscar. They should have given it to someone else. At least Michael Caine gave the most incredible and humble thank you speech I'd ever heard.

 

Personally, Vertigo has always stood for the worst Oscar snub in history. Stewart should have won Best Actor, Hitch should have taken Best Director and it should have taken Best Picture.

There are others: Perkins for Psycho, Law and Osmont for AI, Stewart for Mr. Smith Goes to Washington, Hoffman and Voight for Midnight Cowboy, Crowe for The Insider, etc etc. The list goes on and on.

 

As per the suggestion of Rogue, I'm taking on a more structured approach to this thread now, discussing each particular travesty at a time.

We begin with:

100. Molly Ringwald, "Sixteen Candles"

Year: 1984
Nominees for Best Actress that year:

Vanessa Redgrave for "The Bostonians."
Jessica Lange for "Country."
Judy Davis for "A Passage to India."
Sissy Spacek for "The River."
Sally Field for "Places in the Heart"--winner.

My thoughts: I haven't seen this movie, but I have heard quite a bit about it. From what I gather, it was sort of the spark to the romantic teen comedies of the 80's. Certainly, for Molly Ringwald, who was only 16, to carry the film, would be quite a feat. But like I said, I haven't seen it yet so I can't comment on her performance...

Your thoughts?

-sj loves kevin spacey

 

I've only ever seen her in The Stand, and I wasn't particularly impressed by her performance therein, so I can't really comment on this one.

 

I also haven't seen this one. Nor have I seen Places in the Heart. Ringwald was a capable enough actress in The Breakfast Club, but Field is certainly a great actress.

I won't comment, since I haven't seen it.

 

Is EW saying that those 100 should have won instead of what actually did? That the winners didn't deserve it?

 

Well, I'm pretty sure none of those movies were even nominated. But certainly, some probably should have won as well.


-sj loves kevin spacey

 

I think the list is saying that these people should have at least been nominated for their performances.

 

I think some big Oscar Snubs are Nichole Kidman not getting The Oscar For Moulin Rouge last year

And Fellowship Of The Ring not winning Best Picture.

 

I don't really remember Ringwald's performance as being that good. The only really distinctive thing about the movie was the geeky kid who thought he was hot stuff. I thing his name was Anthony Michael Hall. Ringwald was fairly appealing while she was an adolescent. Once adulthood set in, she seemed very ordinary. Same for Hall, unfortunately for them both.

 

Hall is actually really good in his show, The Dead Zone, based off of the Stephen KIng Book...but that's off topic a bit so....

I liked Molly Ringwald in that movie, but I don't think her performance was Oscar calibur. She was good, but was she really that good? Yes, it's hard for a kid to carry a movie, but we have seen better kid actors before and after that (Tatum O'neil and Haley Joel Osment come to mind.) Sh was just so....blah.

 

Not a snub in my opinion. I don't remember her performance being all that great. It wasn't Oscar nomination material.

Biggest snubs in my opinion were Saving Private Ryan and The Shawshank Redemption not winning Best Picture.

 

Most snubbed films for noms and wins

Saving Private Ryan
Raging Bull
Citizen Kane
Shawshank Redeption
The Truman Show
Amelie Poulain

 

moving on to the next one...

99. Lauren Bacall, "To Have and Have Not"

Year: 1944
Nominees for Best Actress that year:

Winner:
"Gaslight"-Ingrid Bergman

Nominees:
Double Indemnity - Barbara Stanwyck
Mr. Skeffington - Bette Davis
Mrs. Parkington - Greer Garson
Since You Went Away - Claudette Colbert

My Thoughts: I personally haven't seen the movie yet, but Bacall was a good actress. Has anyone seen this or the other nominees for 44?

-sj loves kevin spacey

 

I've see Gaslight, and while I love Ingrid Bergman, Lauren Bacall deserved the award that year. The only thing Barbara Stanwyck deserved for her supposedly "seductive" role in Double Indemnity was to be shot, thankfully she was.

~PAd

 

Bergman is just always gorgeous, so I'm partial.

Stanwyck was quite good in Indemnity, though perhaps I'm just saying that because the film itself was so good. She was a bit of an odd pick for the role, but she worked fine and MacMurray was an odd pick for male lead too. Somehow, the film manages to succeed on a wonderful scale. I've seen none of the others.

 

Bacall was good in "To Have and Have Not," but whether she was acting or not is the question. The director seems to have coached her heavily. If you have ever seen "Confidental Agent" made about the same time, you see what happens when the role isn't tailored for her, and/or she gets no special directoral attention. She's pretty bad. I've never thought her much of a actress. She can say her lines, and she has personality, and she looks good on camera. And that's about it.

The choice of Bergman is a pretty good one--"Gaslight" isn't much of a movie, but she is very good it in. I liked Stanwyck in "Double Indemnity" though, especially as she never tried to soften the character. Never seen "Mrs. Parkingto" or the Colbert movie. Saw a bit of "Mrs. Skeffington": Bette Davis at her mannered worst.

 

98. Christopher Walken, "Pennies from Heaven"

Year: 1981

Winner Of Best Supporting Actor that year:
Arthur- John Gielgud

Other Nominees:
Chariots of Fire- Ian Holm
Only When I Laugh - James Coco
Ragtime - Howard E. Rollins Jr.
Reds - Jack Nicholson

My comments: Supporting actor and actress is a category that gets less recognition than it should. Just because they aren't the main character doesn't mean that their part is less important, or that their acting is not as good.

I haven't seen any of these films, sadly, but I do know that Christopher Walken is a great actor. Has anyone seen this one?


-sj loves kevin spacey

 

Has Chris Walken won for anything?

Seriously, one of the most underrated actors of all time. He just jumps off the screen and steals any scene he's in.

The last time he should have been nominated was for Suicide Kings. Even duck taped to that chair and all drugged up he was still the most dangerous man in the room.

 

I don't like Walken. It's like he sleepwalks through any scene he's in.

 

Haven't seen it. It was a resounding flop when released, and is hard to rent. Based on a British television miniseries, I think.

I do know it's a musical, and Walken used to be a dancer at one point in his career, and he dances in it. He is also---big surprise to all, I'm sure---the villain.

Occasionally he sleepwalks (some of the stuff he's in doesn't deserve better) but sometimes he's just downright creepy. Ever seen "At Close Range" or (especially) "The Dogs of War"? Yikes. You have no difficulty at all believing he's as evil as he plays. Which I suppose means he's a good actor, because he hasn't done any jail time, as far as I know.

Nicholson won, right? He always does.

 

No, Gielgud won for Arthur that year. It was a brilliant performance by Gielgud and even more notable since it was a comic performance.

Walken is always amazing.

I've seen Arthur and Chariots of Fire and Gielgud and Holm were both magnificent. I'm sure Nicholson was great. He always is.

By the way, yes, Walken did win Best Supporting Actor for his masterful performance in The Deer Hunter.