# Best movie to not win an Oscar in any category? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [October 19, 2018, 11:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-movie-to-not-win-an-oscar-in-any-category/823231 "2018-10-19T23:32:43Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Gatopescado](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gatopescado/32/5711_2.png) [@Gatopescado](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gatopescado)\ **Post date:** [October 20, 2018, 7:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-movie-to-not-win-an-oscar-in-any-category/823231/21 "2018-10-20T19:50:48Z")
_The Great Escape_ ---
**Author:** ![Mean\_Mr.Mustard](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mean_mr.mustard/32/3865_2.png) [@Mean\_Mr.Mustard](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mean_Mr.Mustard)\ **Post date:** [October 20, 2018, 9:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-movie-to-not-win-an-oscar-in-any-category/823231/22 "2018-10-20T21:09:27Z")
Two come to mind immediately; \*\*Rear Window \*\* **Memento** mmm ---
**Author:** ![Dropo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/ce7236/32.png) [@Dropo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dropo)\ **Post date:** [October 20, 2018, 11:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-movie-to-not-win-an-oscar-in-any-category/823231/23 "2018-10-20T23:33:24Z")
_Sweet Smell of Success_ (1957) - No Oscar nominations for anything, despite excellent performances by Burt Lancaster (arguably his best) and Tony Curtis, a brilliant script by Ernest Lehman and Clifford Odets, fine direction by Alexander Mackendrick and beautiful b&w cinematography by James Wong Howe. I don’t even want to look who got nominated in these categories instead as it would just add salt to the wound. _Remember My Name_ (1978) - Little seen or heard of, yet containing Geraldine Chaplin’s finest performance as a troubled ex-con out for revenge on douche bag former boyfriend Anthony Perkins. ---
**Author:** ![The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/the_other_waldo_pepper/32/12370_2.png) [@The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Other_Waldo_Pepper)\ **Post date:** [October 21, 2018, 1:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-movie-to-not-win-an-oscar-in-any-category/823231/24 "2018-10-21T01:39:34Z")
_Witness For The Prosecution_: up for Best Picture (and Director, and Actor, and plenty of other stuff), and 100% on Rotten Tomatoes, and — pfft. ---
**Author:** ![Gatopescado](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gatopescado/32/5711_2.png) [@Gatopescado](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gatopescado)\ **Post date:** [October 21, 2018, 3:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-movie-to-not-win-an-oscar-in-any-category/823231/25 "2018-10-21T03:34:24Z")
How about The Other Waldo Pepper? ---
**Author:** ![dorvann](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/df705f/32.png) [@dorvann](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dorvann)\ **Post date:** [October 21, 2018, 4:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-movie-to-not-win-an-oscar-in-any-category/823231/26 "2018-10-21T16:45:09Z")
Is Alfred Hitchcock still considered to be the best director to **not** win Best Director at the Oscars? ---
**Author:** ![x-ray\_vision](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/x-ray_vision/32/351_2.png) [@x-ray\_vision](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/x-ray_vision)\ **Post date:** [October 21, 2018, 8:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-movie-to-not-win-an-oscar-in-any-category/823231/27 "2018-10-21T20:36:58Z")
Not mentioned yet: _Seven Samurai The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly The Shining_ ---
**Author:** ![Colibri](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/colibri/32/1841_2.png) [@Colibri](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colibri)\ **Post date:** [October 21, 2018, 8:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-movie-to-not-win-an-oscar-in-any-category/823231/28 "2018-10-21T20:50:35Z")
> [@dorvann](#): > > Is Alfred Hitchcock still considered to be the best director to **not** win Best Director at the Oscars? In terms of Best Picture nominations and overall career, probably yes. But there are plenty of contenders. Here’s [a list](https://www.indiewire.com/2014/02/20-celebrated-filmmakers-who-never-won-a-best-directing-oscar-88655/) of twenty directors who never won Best Director, including Chaplin, Welles, Fellini, Kurosawa, Kubrick, Altman, Lang, and Bergman. Take your pick. Sometimes directors have received an award in part as compensation for not having won for better pictures, like Scorcese for _The Departed_. ---
**Author:** ![ExTank](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/35a633/32.png) [@ExTank](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ExTank)\ **Post date:** [October 21, 2018, 10:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-movie-to-not-win-an-oscar-in-any-category/823231/29 "2018-10-21T22:06:10Z")
> [@RealityChuck](#): > > _Three Kings_. An excellent movie ( **certainly the definitive Gulf War movie** ) that was nominated and won many awards that year – but it wasn’t even nominated for an Oscar, which seems inexplicable. It certainly should have been up for Best Screenplay, Best Direction, Best Actor, and/or Best Picture. I like this movie, I have this movie, but I’m not so sure of its Oscar potential. I will say this for it (as someone who was there, back then): it nearly perfectly captures the [Victory Hysteria](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q65KZIqay4E) (IMO, it’s sadly misplaced; it’s like a athletic teenager bragging about how they beat up a physically/mentally challenged seven-year-old on Halloween, and stole all their candy), especially amongst the REMFs whose closest encounter to anything combat-related was looking nervously towards the sky during SCUD alerts. George Clooney also perfectly captures the weary cynicism of an actual combat vet, in his dealings with the various REMFs he encounters in hatching and carrying out his plan. ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [October 21, 2018, 10:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-movie-to-not-win-an-oscar-in-any-category/823231/30 "2018-10-21T22:16:57Z")
> [@Colibri](#): > > Sometimes directors have received an award in part as compensation for not having won for better pictures, like Scorcese for _The Departed_. I don’t think that’s the best example. _The Departed_ was a great movie and was Oscar-worthy on its own merits. But Scorsese was long past due for recognition. I think the Academy realized it should have awarded him a Best Director Oscar for one of his earlier movies like _Taxi Driver_, _Raging Bull_, or _Goodfellas_. So they might have ended up giving him the award he deserved for a second-rate film. But then Scorsese resolved the potential dilemma for them by making another great movie. ---
**Author:** ![Colibri](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/colibri/32/1841_2.png) [@Colibri](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colibri)\ **Post date:** [October 21, 2018, 10:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-movie-to-not-win-an-oscar-in-any-category/823231/31 "2018-10-21T22:53:02Z")
> [@Little\_Nemo](#): > > I don’t think that’s the best example. _The Departed_ was a great movie and was Oscar-worthy on its own merits. > > But Scorsese was long past due for recognition. I think the Academy realized it should have awarded him a Best Director Oscar for one of his earlier movies like _Taxi Driver_, _Raging Bull_, or _Goodfellas_. So they might have ended up giving him the award he deserved for a second-rate film. But then Scorsese resolved the potential dilemma for them by making another great movie. I was just saying that _The Departed_ wasn’t the best of all of Scorcese’s movies, not that it wasn’t good in its own right. But I recall a great deal of discussion at the time saying that Scorcese was sure to win for that because he hadn’t won previously. ---
**Author:** ![Turnip\_Shepherd](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/e79b87/32.png) [@Turnip\_Shepherd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Turnip_Shepherd)\ **Post date:** [October 30, 2018, 5:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-movie-to-not-win-an-oscar-in-any-category/823231/32 "2018-10-30T05:31:50Z")
> [@Mahaloth](#): > > Movies that deserved something, maybe even Best Picture: > > King Kong > > The Martian > > Psycho > > Shawshank Redemption Do you mean the original King Kong or the remake? ---
**Author:** ![Wendell\_Wagner](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/8491ac/32.png) [@Wendell\_Wagner](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wendell_Wagner)\ **Post date:** [October 30, 2018, 5:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-movie-to-not-win-an-oscar-in-any-category/823231/33 "2018-10-30T05:34:52Z")
There have been two remakes of _King Kong_. ---
**Author:** ![Sage\_Rat](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sage_rat/32/399_2.png) [@Sage\_Rat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sage_Rat)\ **Post date:** [October 30, 2018, 7:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-movie-to-not-win-an-oscar-in-any-category/823231/34 "2018-10-30T07:40:38Z")
[Jacob’s Ladder](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jacob%27s_Ladder_(1990_film)) - 0 nominations, 0 wins ---
**Author:** ![Wendell\_Wagner](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/8491ac/32.png) [@Wendell\_Wagner](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wendell_Wagner)\ **Post date:** [October 30, 2018, 7:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-movie-to-not-win-an-oscar-in-any-category/823231/35 "2018-10-30T07:58:48Z")
To be really picky, there have been four remakes of _King Kong_ if you count two lost 1930’s Japanese remakes, and that’s not counting sequels to various of the versions. ---
**Author:** ![bump](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/7c8e57/32.png) [@bump](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bump)\ **Post date:** [October 30, 2018, 4:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-movie-to-not-win-an-oscar-in-any-category/823231/36 "2018-10-30T16:38:17Z")
> [@RealityChuck](#): > > _Three Kings_. An excellent movie (certainly the definitive Gulf War movie) that was nominated and won many awards that year – but it wasn’t even nominated for an Oscar, which seems inexplicable. It certainly should have been up for Best Screenplay, Best Direction, Best Actor, and/or Best Picture. I kind of think it was the victim of the year it was released, having to contend with _American Beauty, The Insider, Cider House Rules, The Green Mile, The Hurricane, Being John Malkovich, Boys Don’t Cry and The Sixth Sense_ for Academy Awards. > **[72nd Academy Awards](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/72nd_Academy_Awards)** > > The 72nd Academy Awards ceremony, presented by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS), honored films released in 1999 and took place on March 26, 2000, at the Shrine Auditorium in Los Angeles, beginning at 5:30 p.m. PST / 8:30 p.m. EST. During the ceremony, the AMPAS presented Academy Awards (commonly referred to as Oscars) in 23 categories. The ceremony, televised in the United States by ABC, was produced by husband-and-wife producing team Richard and Lili Fini Zanuck and was ... ---
**Author:** ![RTFirefly](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/c77e96/32.png) [@RTFirefly](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RTFirefly)\ **Post date:** [October 30, 2018, 5:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-movie-to-not-win-an-oscar-in-any-category/823231/37 "2018-10-30T17:03:47Z")
> [@Gatopescado](#): > > _The Great Escape_ No wins, and only one nomination - in Best Film Editing. Sheesh. ---
**Author:** ![Jasmine](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jasmine/32/2964_2.png) [@Jasmine](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jasmine)\ **Post date:** [October 30, 2018, 5:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-movie-to-not-win-an-oscar-in-any-category/823231/38 "2018-10-30T17:12:48Z")
You’ve all listed an impressive array of movies that got nothing. I think it’s a testament to how political and mercurial the awards process is. “Manchester by the Sea” received two awards, and I wasn’t moved by that movie at all. In fact, I consider Casey Affleck to be a very ordinary actor, and I was mystified by his Best Actor award. My SiL is an Academy voter (Screen Writers’ Guild), and even she is mystified by some of the results. ---
**Author:** ![Disheavel](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e274bd/32.png) [@Disheavel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Disheavel)\ **Post date:** [October 30, 2018, 5:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-movie-to-not-win-an-oscar-in-any-category/823231/39 "2018-10-30T17:41:15Z")
> [@x-ray\_vision](#): > > Not mentioned yet: > > _Seven Samurai > The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly > The Shining_ Interestingly, the Seven Samurai made a recent [list of best foreign films](http://www.bbc.com/culture/story/20181029-the-100-greatest-foreign-language-films). But without derailing the conversation too much, I am curious if anyone knows the basis for the seeming lack of love for the movie in Japan that is cited !?! ---
**Author:** ![Gyrate](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gyrate/32/3588_2.png) [@Gyrate](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gyrate)\ **Post date:** [October 30, 2018, 5:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-movie-to-not-win-an-oscar-in-any-category/823231/40 "2018-10-30T17:50:10Z")
Don’t mind me - I’m still grumpy that **The Lego Movie** didn’t get a nomination in the Best Animated Film category despite being miiiiiiles ahead of the rest of the field (Big Hero 6? Pfui, I say!). 1 nomination (for the ubiquitous song), 0 wins. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-movie-to-not-win-an-oscar-in-any-category/823231.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-movie-to-not-win-an-oscar-in-any-category/823231.md?page=3)