# Most Ripped Off at Oscar Time **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [September 8, 2000, 3:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-ripped-off-at-oscar-time/32505 "2000-09-08T15:51:27Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![CnoteChris](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/278dde/32.png) [@CnoteChris](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CnoteChris)\ **Post date:** [September 8, 2000, 8:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-ripped-off-at-oscar-time/32505/21 "2000-09-08T20:20:18Z")
Harvey Keitel in “Thelma and Louise” (Thought the movie sucked, but his acting was impressive) -And- Cliff Robertson in “J.W. Coop” Try that one on for size! ---
**Author:** ![Kepi](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kepi/32/7251_2.png) [@Kepi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kepi)\ **Post date:** [September 8, 2000, 8:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-ripped-off-at-oscar-time/32505/22 "2000-09-08T20:28:29Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Needs2know \* > [Do you remember the British film I described? Believe it came out that same year. That would be John Boorman’s [_Hope and Glory_](http://us.imdb.com/Title?0093209). At one time this was on my list of 25 Most Favoritest Movies. Heck, it might still be on there if I ever bothered to try to compile one again. ---
**Author:** ![Iolanthe](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/7bcc69/32.png) [@Iolanthe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Iolanthe)\ **Post date:** [September 8, 2000, 9:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-ripped-off-at-oscar-time/32505/23 "2000-09-08T21:26:54Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Gadarene \* > \*\*(Oh, and while I’m on the subject of television–someone explain to me how _Homicide_, and Andre Braugher in particular, got so few Emmy nominations over its lifespan?) \*\* Several reasons, probably: Baltimore is far away from the industry, and the people who decide the nominations. Since the show is in Baltimore, they use the local crews (who are quite competent - both Barry Levinson and John Waters have focused heavily on Balitmore in their movies.) But that means no work for the LA people. Low ratings. Possibly some racism too. It is a damn shame. For 5 years, there was not a weak actor on that show. Clark Johnson, Kyle Secor, and Melissa Leo were brutally ignored. The guest actors were phenomenal (H:LotS was recognized for its casting.) Of course, it all plummeted downhill after season 5, which was not at all my favorite season anyway… ---
**Author:** ![JosephFinn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/3bc359/32.png) [@JosephFinn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JosephFinn)\ **Post date:** [September 8, 2000, 9:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-ripped-off-at-oscar-time/32505/24 "2000-09-08T21:28:36Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Kepi \* > \*\* > > > [@](#): > > > > \*Originally posted by Needs2know \* > > [Do you remember the British film I described? Believe it came out that same year. > > That would be John Boorman’s [_Hope and Glory_](http://us.imdb.com/Title?0093209). At one time this was on my list of 25 Most Favoritest Movies. Heck, it might still be on there if I ever bothered to try to compile one again. \*\* What, was 1987 the year of kids being bombed during WWII at the movies? ---
**Author:** ![Sapphire\_Bullet](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/96bed5/32.png) [@Sapphire\_Bullet](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sapphire_Bullet)\ **Post date:** [September 8, 2000, 9:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-ripped-off-at-oscar-time/32505/25 "2000-09-08T21:32:49Z")
> [@](#): > > The only other great mime in a movie (besides Marcel Marceau in Silent Movie) is Jeremy Piven in Singles. actually, it was eric stoltz who played the mime in singles- jeremy piven played a guy named doug smarty ---
**Author:** ![JosephFinn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/3bc359/32.png) [@JosephFinn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JosephFinn)\ **Post date:** [September 8, 2000, 9:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-ripped-off-at-oscar-time/32505/26 "2000-09-08T21:44:43Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by smartypants \* > \*\* > > > [@](#): > > > > The only other great mime in a movie (besides Marcel Marceau in Silent Movie) is Jeremy Piven in Singles. > > actually, it was eric stoltz who played the mime in singles- > jeremy piven played a guy named doug > smarty \*\* Crap, you’re right. Pardon my bad rememberance. On the other hand… [soapbox] Eric Stoltz! What does this man have to do get recognized as a brilliant character actor? Pulp Fiction, Rob Roy, Little Women, Mask, Singles! The list goes on and on! He’s contracted Matt Dillon disease, the main sympton of which is having brilliant work ignored in favor of cringing Method actor schmucks. Maybe if they shouted more (“Whoowah!”) they’d get the nominations. [/soapbox] ---
**Author:** ![Gadarene](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/e47c2d/32.png) [@Gadarene](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gadarene)\ **Post date:** [September 8, 2000, 10:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-ripped-off-at-oscar-time/32505/27 "2000-09-08T22:05:40Z")
Eric Stoltz also contributed his talent to Kicking and Screaming, for my money one of the funniest movies _ever_. ---
**Author:** ![silent\_rob](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e9a140/32.png) [@silent\_rob](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/silent_rob)\ **Post date:** [September 8, 2000, 10:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-ripped-off-at-oscar-time/32505/28 "2000-09-08T22:22:05Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Jack Batty \* > **Ed Norton - _Primal Fear - People v.Larry Flint - American History X - Rounders - Fight Club_ - Such diverse characters and believable as every one of them. > … > Bobcat Goldthwaite - _Shakes the Clown_ - The Citizen Kane of alcoholic clown movies. Seriously, I can’t explain it, but I love that movie.** **Jack Batty** , you’re my new hero. 😃 Ed Norton’s one of my favourite new actors. And he should have easily won numerous Academy Awards. And _Shakes The Clown_, a classic! I love the old, black, lady clown at the bar. Bobcat’s great. Also, the scene where they’re beating up the mimes is genius. “You only hate us because we’re artists!” “Ahh, shut up! (throws a box over the mime’s head) Try and get out of that box, f@#ker! (pushes him over)” 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Dumbguy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/2bfe46/32.png) [@Dumbguy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dumbguy)\ **Post date:** [September 8, 2000, 10:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-ripped-off-at-oscar-time/32505/29 "2000-09-08T22:55:02Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Gadarene \* > \*\*_Three Kings_ should’ve been nominated last year for Best Picture. > \*\* Indeed. It was such a good movie, it forced me to admit that I like George Clooney. Sean Penn should have won Best Actor for _Dead Man Walking_. He was nominated but lost to Nicholas ‘I’m talking loud, so I must be acting’ Cage. ---
**Author:** ![RealityChuck](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/realitychuck/32/195_2.png) [@RealityChuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RealityChuck)\ **Post date:** [September 8, 2000, 11:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-ripped-off-at-oscar-time/32505/30 "2000-09-08T23:50:19Z")
_Three Kings_ was criminally overlooked last year. Though he made up for it later, Tom Hanks in _Big_ deserved one, as did DiNiro and Foster in _Taxi Driver_. Matt Dillon’s performance in _My Bodyguard_ was astoundingly good. And in the matter of being overlooked in the course of a career, there’s Cary Grant and Alfred Hitchcock (the Thalberg award doesn’t count). Not to mention Harvey Keitel. Orson Welles in _Citizen Kane_ Kenneth Branagh in _Henry V_ Gene Hackman and Cindy Williams (supporting) in _The Conversation_ John Wayne in _Fort Apache_ and _She Wore a Yellow Ribbon_ Jean Hagen (supporting) in _Singin’ in the Rain_ ---
**Author:** ![Max\_Torque](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/e9bcb4/32.png) [@Max\_Torque](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Max_Torque)\ **Post date:** [September 9, 2000, 1:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-ripped-off-at-oscar-time/32505/31 "2000-09-09T01:50:34Z")
Let us all bow our heads and recall how badly everyone associated with _The Color Purple_ was ripped off. Eleven, count 'em, **eleven** nominations, not a single win. And Michael Clark Duncan really did deserve the award for his performance. I wonder if that latent Academy racism isn’t lingering on… ---
**Author:** ![hypergirl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/49beb7/32.png) [@hypergirl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/hypergirl)\ **Post date:** [September 9, 2000, 2:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-ripped-off-at-oscar-time/32505/32 "2000-09-09T02:07:37Z")
OK, someone (most likely Tasha) is going to hurt me for this bit of regression, but I think that Leonardo DiCaprio was amazing in Titanic and he deserved at least a nomination if not a win. ---
**Author:** ![aesop](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/5f8ce5/32.png) [@aesop](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aesop)\ **Post date:** [September 9, 2000, 3:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-ripped-off-at-oscar-time/32505/33 "2000-09-09T03:17:57Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by RealityChuck \* > \*\* > > And in the matter of being overlooked in the course of a career…\* > \*\* I’d add Peter O’Toole to your list. 7 Best Actor nominations. 0 wins. ---
**Author:** ![astorian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ad7895/32.png) [@astorian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/astorian)\ **Post date:** [September 9, 2000, 4:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-ripped-off-at-oscar-time/32505/34 "2000-09-09T04:50:11Z")
Before I give my nominations, I have to do a rant: The thing that REALLY drives me nuts about the Oscars is, they keep rewarding gimmicky performances, rather than performances that require subtlety and nuance. If you want to win an Oscar, it’s easy. All you have to do is play a mentally or physically handicapped person. The Academy LOVES that! Let’s see… Daniel Day-Lewis in “My Left Foot,” Dustin Hoffman in “Rain Man,” Tom Hanks in “Forrest Gump,” John Mills in “Ryan’s Daughter,” Jane Wyman in “Johnny Belinda,” Al Pacino in “Scent of a Woman…” See a trend? And if you have a REAL handicap (Marlee Maitlin, Harold Russell…), so much the better. Never mind that those roles are the easiest of all to play! Look, I LIKED several of the aforementioned movies, and I think that most of the actors I mentioned are genuinely talented. But ALL of those were one-note performances. For “Rain Man,” all Dustin Hoffman had to do was adopt a set of mannerisms and a tone of voice, and never waver from it. Same with Tom Hanks in “Forrest Gump.” Those were NOT roles that required great acting skill. It’s FAR more difficult to convey ordinary people with ordinary lives and ordinary emotions, than it is to play a drunk, a retarded individual, or a maniac. But performances that require subtlety never win awards. Awards go to showy roles, especially those that require histrionics. Anthony Hopkins was fine as Hannibal Lecter… but his performance as a repressed butler in “Remains of the Day” showed MUCH greater acting skill. He had to convey HIDDEN emotion, though only his eyes, or through very subtle facial expressions. Paul Newman was wonderful in “Nobody’s Fool,” a low-key movie that called for an understated performance. David Paymer was as brilliantly understated in “Mr. Saturday Night” as Billy Crystal was hammy. Al Pacino won his Oscar for his hammiest, most over-the-top performance. He DESERVED it for his brilliantly controlled performances as Michael Corleone in “The GOdfather” and “The GOdfather Part 2.” ---
**Author:** ![capacitor](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/e47774/32.png) [@capacitor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/capacitor)\ **Post date:** [September 9, 2000, 7:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-ripped-off-at-oscar-time/32505/35 "2000-09-09T07:54:09Z")
Understated acting doesn’t work anymore. To win an Oscar, an actor must have an over-the-top scene. It seems that acting like a lunatic=great acting. If that’s so, then I should be winning many Oscars because I’m a lunatic all the time. 😛 Comedy gets shafted Oscar time. ---
**Author:** ![Goose](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/5f9b8f/32.png) [@Goose](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Goose)\ **Post date:** [September 10, 2000, 1:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-ripped-off-at-oscar-time/32505/36 "2000-09-10T01:36:46Z")
[QUOTE] \*Originally posted by Gomez \* Did Joe Pesci win anything for his protrayal of Tommy Devito in _Goodfellas?_ If he didn’t he should have done. I think he won for that. ---
**Author:** ![yojimbo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/yojimbo/32/232_2.png) [@yojimbo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/yojimbo)\ **Post date:** [September 10, 2000, 2:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-ripped-off-at-oscar-time/32505/37 "2000-09-10T02:10:39Z")
Joe Pesci won the 1990 Best Supporting Actor for _Goodfella’s_ Paul Newman not winning for _The Hustler_ and winning for _The Colour of Money_ was a joke . The biggest rip-off IMO was _The Shawshank Redemption_ not winning any and _Forrest Gump_ ( come on , it’s a good film but it’s not even in the same league as Shawshank ) cleaning up :rolleyes: ---
**Author:** ![yojimbo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/yojimbo/32/232_2.png) [@yojimbo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/yojimbo)\ **Post date:** [September 10, 2000, 2:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-ripped-off-at-oscar-time/32505/38 "2000-09-10T02:13:49Z")
If people are looking for winners/nominees [this](http://washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/style/movies/oscars/oscar_winners.htm) shows them all from 1927 . ---
**Author:** ![yosemite](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/y/3ab097/32.png) [@yosemite](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/yosemite)\ **Post date:** [September 10, 2000, 4:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-ripped-off-at-oscar-time/32505/39 "2000-09-10T04:34:26Z")
I think “Star Wars” should have won Best Picture - but a Science Fiction film _never_ will win, so there you go. As a film music (orchestral/classical) fan, I often see my favorite film composers overlooked during the Oscars. I think they’ve changed the categories now, and have added an “instrumental” score catergory. But for years, the “best score” category would include any style of music - pop, rock, classical, whatever. And if a pop/rock score was up the same year as a Classical score, the Classical score (almost without exception) would lose. Never had a chance. Which to me seems terribly unfair - I doubt that the pop score was _always_ better, _every_ year! It was just a bias towards popular music, and against orchestral/instrumental/Classical music. (I used to say, if Beethoven or Mozart rose from the dead and wrote the _best_ film score ever, they would lose the Oscar to a “flavor of the month” pop film score.) \ I saw two exceptions to this “rule” (about pop music always winning over Classical), at the Emmys. One year Jan Hammer was up for the “Miami Vice” theme, against John Addison, old-timer Classical composer, for “Murder She Wrote”. Everyone assumed Hammer would win, but in some bizarre freak of nature, Addison won! I could tell during the Emmy ceremony that Addison had NO clue he would win - he looked amazed. Later on, there was a LA Times interview on Hammer, and he was very bitter to have lost the Emmy, calling Addison the “old guard”. And I thought “You poor sport, you ungracious bastard! Addison has done A LOT of wonderful work, for _years!_ He _deserved_ that Emmy!” The other freak of nature happened when Jerry Goldsmith won an Emmy for “Star Trek: Voyager” over the theme to “Friends”. I never saw that one coming. \ So, my point is, I used to see, year after year, excellent film scores get _robbed_ of the Oscar. Maybe the hardest was Jerry Goldsmith (he’s my favorite) for “Under Fire” - in 1985, I think. The LA Times even said the score was a shoe-in, but for some reason, it didn’t win. Damn. ---
**Author:** ![Typo\_Negative](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/typo_negative/32/484_2.png) [@Typo\_Negative](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Typo_Negative)\ **Post date:** [September 10, 2000, 5:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-ripped-off-at-oscar-time/32505/40 "2000-09-10T05:11:01Z")
I believe both Edward Norton AND Brad Pitt got shanked for ‘Fight Club’, as did Jim Carrey for ‘the Truman Show’. And Christina Ricci, for ‘The Opposite of Sex’. One of the most heinous hosings was Carl Reiner not being nominated for Best Director for ‘A Few Good Men’. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-ripped-off-at-oscar-time/32505.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-ripped-off-at-oscar-time/32505.md?page=3)