# Worst film to get an Oscar nomination **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [January 25, 2016, 4:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-film-to-get-an-oscar-nomination/744184 "2016-01-25T16:20:48Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 10\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![the\_diego](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/7bcc69/32.png) [@the\_diego](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/the_diego)\ **Post date:** [January 25, 2016, 11:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-film-to-get-an-oscar-nomination/744184/21 "2016-01-25T23:55:58Z")
> [@RealityChuck](#): > > I’ve seen people saying the worst film to win an Oscar was **Thank God It’s Friday** , which won for best song in 1978. That category has always been Oscar’s Achilles Heel – there are many nominees from mediocre movies where the song was the best thing about them. Aha! The 1979 Oscars kinda sticks in my mind, mainly because of those two nominees for best song: “Last Dance” and “Ready to Take a Chance Again.” The other contenders for awards like Deer Hunter, Coming Home, Superman, Midnight Express, Heaven Can Wait, Grease, etc. were just awesome. ---
**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:** [January 26, 2016, 6:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-film-to-get-an-oscar-nomination/744184/22 "2016-01-26T18:08:45Z")
> [@RealityChuck](#): > > **The Deer Hunter** certainly isn’t very good. The Academy wanted to give an award to a film that tackled Vietnam, and couldn’t wait for Coppola. All this time I thought I was the only one who thought that. The love this snore-fest garners never ceases to amaze me. That awful wedding scene drags on longer than some actual marriages! ---
**Author:** ![Tangent](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tangent/32/3098_2.png) [@Tangent](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tangent)\ **Post date:** [January 26, 2016, 6:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-film-to-get-an-oscar-nomination/744184/23 "2016-01-26T18:37:10Z")
> [@misterlucas](#): > > I didn’t think it was fair that in 2013, Ben Affleck’s “Argo” won the Best Picture Award, since from my point of view it should have been Quentin Tarantino’s “Django Unchained” . Both are great films, but Tarantino succeded in creating his best film, a once in a lifetime masterpiece from my point of view. I am daring to bet that he won’t make any film better than Django Unchained, and as I’ve seen The Hateful Eight , it concludes that his style will become more common and unentertaining to the vast majority, hence he will go downhill from here on. This just goes to show how subjective this can be. I am a Tarantino fan, but I would rank _Django Unchained_ (which I like) well below both _Pulp Fiction_ and _Jackie Brown_. And while I would have voted for _Django_ over _Argo_, I don’t see it as a travesty that the latter won BP. ---
**Author:** ![Richard\_John\_Marcej](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/5f9b8f/32.png) [@Richard\_John\_Marcej](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Richard_John_Marcej)\ **Post date:** [January 26, 2016, 6:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-film-to-get-an-oscar-nomination/744184/24 "2016-01-26T18:41:24Z")
> [@Gatopescado](#): > > All this time I thought I was the only one who thought that. The love this snore-fest garners never ceases to amaze me. That awful wedding scene drags on longer than some actual marriages! Couldn’t disagree more. Snore-fest? How? There’s always something going on, there are subtleties going on between all the main characters at all time. And the Vietnam scenes… seriously,\*\* snore-fest\*\*??? I guess your life on the edge, playing Russian roulette knowing that your life could be gone in a second, having to spend all that time in a bamboo cage with the possibility that you may **NEVER** be rescued may be dull to you, but that’s damn good drama to me. ---
**Author:** ![Richard\_John\_Marcej](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/5f9b8f/32.png) [@Richard\_John\_Marcej](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Richard_John_Marcej)\ **Post date:** [January 26, 2016, 6:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-film-to-get-an-oscar-nomination/744184/25 "2016-01-26T18:45:49Z")
> [@the\_diego](#): > > Aha! The 1979 Oscars kinda sticks in my mind, mainly because of those two nominees for best song: “Last Dance” and “Ready to Take a Chance Again.” The other contenders for awards like Deer Hunter, Coming Home, Superman, Midnight Express, Heaven Can Wait, Grease, etc. were just awesome. See, for me, it’s the 1976 Oscars that sticks in my mind. How in the world could “Rocky” just an okay underdog film beat such GREAT films as “All The President’s Men”, “Taxi Driver” and “Network” for Best Picture??? (while “Bound for Glory” was the fifth nominee may not have been great, it was very good and introduced a new camera technique) ---
**Author:** ![wolfpup](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wolfpup/32/10618_2.png) [@wolfpup](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wolfpup)\ **Post date:** [January 26, 2016, 7:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-film-to-get-an-oscar-nomination/744184/26 "2016-01-26T19:18:54Z")
> [@Little\_Nemo](#): > > I think it’s worth noting that _The Poseidon Adventure_ won two Oscars (Best Song and Best Visual Effects) while _Citizen Kane_ won only one (Best Original Screenplay). But as has just been noted here, Best Song and Best Visual Effects are specialized categories in which otherwise bad movies have won. _Citizen Kane_, to be fair, was nominated in nine categories, including Best Picture, Best Director, and Best Actor. The major issue there was that the film was the subject of a massive campaign by William Randolph Hearst to suppress it and prevent its release altogether which included threats against the studios and against Orson Welles personally. I often disagree with Oscar choices, but this wasn’t a matter of the Academy not recognizing the brilliance of the film, but rather the result of one of the most egregious politicizations and smear campaigns in Hollywood history. ---
**Author:** ![Boyo\_Jim](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/87869e/32.png) [@Boyo\_Jim](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Boyo_Jim)\ **Post date:** [January 26, 2016, 9:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-film-to-get-an-oscar-nomination/744184/27 "2016-01-26T21:28:56Z")
_The English Patient_ You’re welcome. ---
**Author:** ![John\_Mace](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/john_mace/32/185_2.png) [@John\_Mace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_Mace)\ **Post date:** [January 26, 2016, 10:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-film-to-get-an-oscar-nomination/744184/28 "2016-01-26T22:10:19Z")
_Avatar_ was nominated for best picture, and it was recycled, saccharine crap. ---
**Author:** ![John\_Mace](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/john_mace/32/185_2.png) [@John\_Mace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_Mace)\ **Post date:** [January 26, 2016, 10:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-film-to-get-an-oscar-nomination/744184/29 "2016-01-26T22:12:22Z")
> [@Boyo\_Jim](#): > > _The English Patient_ > > You’re welcome. > [@Boyo Jim](#): > > _The English Patient._ I don’t think I can be friends with someone who didn’t like _The English Patient_! 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Tangent](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tangent/32/3098_2.png) [@Tangent](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tangent)\ **Post date:** [January 26, 2016, 11:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-film-to-get-an-oscar-nomination/744184/30 "2016-01-26T23:17:40Z")
> [@John\_Mace](#): > > I don’t think I can be friends with someone who didn’t like _The English Patient_! 🙂 Well, it’s no _Sack Lunch_. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-film-to-get-an-oscar-nomination/744184.md?page=1)