albatros1 Posted January 23, 2006 Share Posted January 23, 2006 This will be a good question to get everyone going: Name what you think were the biggest mistakes at the Academy Awards. I'll start it off : 1940 Henry Fonda "The Grapes of Wrath". lost to James Stewart in "The Philadelphia Story." Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
vecchiolarry Posted January 23, 2006 Share Posted January 23, 2006 Hi, I'll repeat one of my opinions that I've already written about somewhere on these boards:- Edward G. Robinson and Myrna Loy were never even nominated for anything they did over a period of 30 years........ Unbelievable!! Of course they were given Honourary Oscars but that's not the same and it came just about on their death beds. Larry Message was edited by: vecchiolarry Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bansi4 Posted January 23, 2006 Share Posted January 23, 2006 And remember, Ida Lupino was never nominated for an Oscar either. And she didn't even receive an honorary award. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FredCDobbs Posted January 23, 2006 Share Posted January 23, 2006 Biggest error: Hamlet won as best picture in 1948 instead of Treasure of the Sierra Madre, The Red Shoes, or Johnny Blinda. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
vallo13 Posted January 23, 2006 Share Posted January 23, 2006 Alfred Hitchcock was nominated 6 times but never won. And Gloria Swanson (Sunset blvd.) should of won in 1950 instead of Judy Holliday(Born Yesterday) love Judy, but Gloria blew me away.. vallo Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lzcutter Posted January 23, 2006 Share Posted January 23, 2006 1954: Grace Kelly over Judy Garland (A Star is Born) and James Mason didn't even get a nomination. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bansi4 Posted January 23, 2006 Share Posted January 23, 2006 Izcutter, James Mason was nominated for a best actor Oscar for "A Star Is Born". And Vallo, Bette Davis was also nominated best actress for "All About Eve" when Judy Holliday won for "Born Yesterday" . Thus I believe the votes were split between Davis and Swanson for their outstanding performance, which allowed Holliday to win. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ayresorchids Posted January 23, 2006 Share Posted January 23, 2006 ACK!!! Elizabeth Taylor winning for the hideous Butterfield 8 when up against Shirley MacLaine in The Apartment, Deborah Kerr in The Sundowners, Greer Garson in Sunrise at Campobello, and Melina Mercouri in Never on Sunday. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lzcutter Posted January 23, 2006 Share Posted January 23, 2006 Mongo, As always you are correct. I should have typed that James Mason should have won. His performance in that film is heartbreaking. Thanks for catching my error!!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jarhfive Posted January 24, 2006 Share Posted January 24, 2006 mongo, Ida Lupino should have been nominated and then won the best director award for "The Hitch-Hiker" (1953). It is unfortunate she did not continue as a director of feature films past 1953 (six theatrical releases). On the positive side, Ida Lupino seems to have had considerable success as a director of TV stuff. "The Hitch-Hiker" is one of the 'purest' examples of story telling for cinema I have experienced. Every moment that appears on screen is essential to plot--like a well written short story. A superior thriller. Rusty Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wayne Posted January 24, 2006 Share Posted January 24, 2006 First of all, I like Robert Osborne, and I admire his efforts to give proper respect to so many great films. But.... There is one thing he does that annoys me. He talks about the Oscars too much. A little Oscar history is great, but I feel that he overdoes it. Yeah, I know---he's practically on the Oscar payroll with all the books he's written on the history of the Academy Awards (I bought one in 1980, and it's probably time to get an updated version). After a recent showing of "The Philadelphia Story," Osborne himself admitted that James Stewart's Best Actor Oscar for 1940 was really just a consolation prize for not winning the previous year ("Mr. Smith Goes to Washington"). The Oscars are a fun diversion (albeit a 3-and-a-half-hour one), but unfortunately, they can't be relied upon to recognize the best work in a given year. Examples: Barbara Stanwyck ("Stella Dallas") losing to Luise Rainer ~ 1937. "The Adventures of Robin Hood" losing to "You Can't Take it With You" ~ 1938. (The Academy was Capra-crazy back then. He was even the Academy president for a time.) "Citizen Kane" losing to "How Green Was My Valley" ~ 1941. "High Noon" losing to "The Greatest Show on Earth" ~ 1952 (Cecil B. Demille had announced that it was to be his last film.) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tracey65k Posted January 24, 2006 Share Posted January 24, 2006 When Bette Davis lost to Claudette Colbert in 1934. OK, "It Happened One Night" was a great movie and I love Claudette Colbert, but did she really deserve to win for it? Then they turned around and gave Davis the award the next year for "Dangerous" which was just silly... And this one may get me in trouble, but when they totally passed over Marlene Dietrich for "Witness for the Prosecution." I don't know who actually won that year, but she at least deserved a nomination. And not for that silly tacked-on Code-friendly ending, either. Tracey Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tracey65k Posted January 24, 2006 Share Posted January 24, 2006 Oh, and Ginger Rogers for "Kitty Foyle." I just wasn't that impressed. I think any of the other actresses nominated that year would have been better. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RC Posted January 24, 2006 Share Posted January 24, 2006 How about "Titanic" and all the oscars that went to that gigantic turkey? And, while I'm in a bloated mood, do you know anyone who has sat through all of those Tolkein movies? The DVD release of "The Return of the King" runs six hours. And that won Best Picture as well. Peter Jackson has now come up with a three hour remake of "King Kong", nearly doubling the length of a great movie that never needed to be remade. Talk about excess! My question is: does the man have a bladder or does he also have to take bathroom breaks while watching his own bloated CGI-infested pix? I agree with the poster who cited Elizabeth Taylor for "BUtterfield 8" as one of the more dubious winners. It was a gift to a well-regarded actress who was, at that time, just back from the hospital and death's door. And I certainly agree that "The Greatest Show On Earth" isn't, despite its Best Picture win. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jarhfive Posted January 24, 2006 Share Posted January 24, 2006 Wayne, Quote: "High Noon" losing to "The Greatest Show on Earth" ~ 1952 (Cecil B. Demille had announced that it was to be his last film.)... A few years ago I heard an interview on TV with two authors of a book about the history of the Academy Awards. Not surprisingly, the question was asked, "What film was least deserving of the Best Picture award?". Both authors answered, "The Greatest Show on Earth". No reason except the interviewees thought it was a pretty crappy movie. Given the sentimentality of the Academy for 'swan songs', your post makes a lot of sense. Thanks for the information. Rusty Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jarhfive Posted January 24, 2006 Share Posted January 24, 2006 RC, Regarding your post about Peter Jackson. If that guy had been part of the "Hollywood Factory", he never would have gotten away with that show of egotism. Where was the editor? Bring back the Hollywood studios! Rusty Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bansi4 Posted January 24, 2006 Share Posted January 24, 2006 Rusty, indeed Ida Lupino should have received an Oscar nomination for "The Hard Way" (she did win the New York Film Critics Award). I agree with you about her movie "The Hitch-Hiker". When "The Greatest Show on Earth" won best picture, I was rooting for John Huston's "Moulin Rouge" to win the Oscar. Wayne, although Barabara Stanwyck was wonderful in "Stella Dallas", Luise Rainer was outstanding as "Olan" in "The Good Earth" and deserved to win. I much preferred John Ford's "How Green Was My Valley" over "Citizen Kane" (a film I just can't take to). Tracey, in 1957 when Dietrich was ignored for "Witness for the Prosecution", it was Joanne Woodward who won for "The Three faces of EVe". I agree with you about Ginger Rogers. Bette Davis should have won that year for "The Letter". And it was certainly Deborah Kerr's turn to win for "The Sundowners" when Elizabeth Taylor got the sympathy votes. Mongo Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jarhfive Posted January 24, 2006 Share Posted January 24, 2006 RC, I want to make clear my last post refers to the DVD of Peter Jackson's "The Return of the King". This also gives me the opportunity to express how bad this movie is: 1) I counted three identical scenes (almost shot for shot). Farewell scene of dying 'perp 1' (on ground) and still living 'perp 2' (teary perp 2 standing over perp 1). 2) Three (or four) "should have ended here, but didn't" scenes. I would have left the theatre at number one 'ending'... jeez, I would have missed another hour of the movie. 3) The other five hours of the thing. Funny thing is, I liked the first two installments of Lord of the Rings. I have no opinion of P.J.'s "King Kong" remake. Have not seen. Probably will when released on DVD. Rusty Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ayresorchids Posted January 24, 2006 Share Posted January 24, 2006 I like Ginger Rogers immensely (and I even think she's a terrific actress, particularly, ironically enough, in her non-dramatic films), but I, too, agree about Kitty Foyle. The Oscars are a funny thing--part publicity machine, part politics, part sentiment, part popularity contest, part observation of high quality. I nearly fell off my chair the year Chariots of Fire won best picture; that was my vote, but I never thought the Academy would agree! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
katyscar11ett Posted January 24, 2006 Share Posted January 24, 2006 While I liked The Greatest Show on Earth and LOTR and totally believe that Liz Taylor should never have won even one academy award, the question was what you think the worst was, so I won't debate these issues. My absolute answer is Rocky. I thought the show stunk and the fact that Sly Stallone is even CONSIDERED an actor makes my guts wretch. I won't go on but I think Sly is a JOKE - in fact a huge one. I can't believe I'm even taking 1 minute to mention his name, I dislike him that intensely. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tracey65k Posted January 24, 2006 Share Posted January 24, 2006 I agree with you about "Titanic"-bleah. Boy meets girl, bot has sex with girl, boat hits iceberg, boy drowns... However, I have to say the LOTR movies were fantastic. Long, yes, but then so were the books they came from. Not sure they were Oscar=worthy though... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tracey65k Posted January 24, 2006 Share Posted January 24, 2006 Mongo-- Didn't see "Eve", so don't really have an opinion there, but Dietrich should have been nominated. Again, not for the overly-dramatic ending, but the way she played the role of a woman playing a role so well. Does that make sense? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jarhfive Posted January 24, 2006 Share Posted January 24, 2006 scarlett, I was in college when the Stallone movie was in theaters. I think what made it so popular and led to the nominations/awards was that catchy theme song (it was all over the radio): Trying hard now...bye to lard now...hmm...hmm...hmm...hmm...now... Rusty Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lzcutter Posted January 24, 2006 Share Posted January 24, 2006 The other thing that "Rocky" had going for it was its rags to riches story. Back then everyone seemed to be aware that Stallone had written the film and held out to star in it and wanted to direct it. Only little United Artists would take a flyer on the guy and even then they didn't let him direct it. They offered him a great deal of money if he would relent on starring in the film but Sly hung tough. If I remember the story correctly, houses were mortgaged and the movie had to be made for less than a million dollars if Stallone was going to star in it. But the publicity about how he had worked so long and tried so hard to get someone to bankroll the film resonated with everyone back then (and that was back in the day when publicity campaigns for the Oscars were much more tame and not as costly as they are now). It was one of the moments in filmmaking when all the elements came together. Also, this was the 1970s (and I don't want to start a political thread on this okay???) and after Watergate, Vietnam and everything else, the country really was looking for hero and the struggle of Rocky Balboa (and by extension, Sylvester Stallone) resonated with a great number of people back then. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
XBergmanX Posted January 24, 2006 Share Posted January 24, 2006 This is a great post. Now where to begin..... I guess I'll start with the present. Last year Million Dollar Baby beating anything from Scorsese. The boxing thing has been over done many times before. Chicago winning over The Hours, Road to Perdition, City of God, Y Tu Mama Tambien and Gangs of New York. If you're gonna find a musical to succeed Oliver!, at least make it a good one. In 2000 Malena was not nominated for foreign film. This film was good enough for Best Pic, director and actor noms as well. I also think that Ennio Morricone's finest score is in this film and that is saying a lot. Being that Ennio has now topped 400 scores in his career. The Titanic year is a big tragedy with so many films being overlooked due to Titanic and Goodwill Hunting. Kundun, LA Confidential, The Ice Storm, Wings of the Dove, Oscar and Lucinda and many many more. Shanghai Triad was over looked on all its noms in 95. I think this is Zhang Yimou's best film since Red Lantern and unfortunatly it is forgotten by most in the states now that Zhang has entered the "kung-fu" style of film. (Hero and Daggers) I would have picked Casino over Braveheart any day for Best Picture. Anges Varda's masterpiece Jacqout de Nantes should have been nominated for screenplay, director, foreign film and 2 supporting actor noms. Dances with Wolves winning over Godfather III and Goodfellas. No Way. Fanny and Alexander won 4 Oscars and was nominated for 2 others. Without being nominated for best picture. This should have been one of the few foreign films that were granted that honor. Far more deserving that any of the foreign films that have been nominated for best pic since Fanny and Alexander. Rocky is crap. Need I say more. Fiddler on the Roof should have beat out The Sting in 71 Salo The 120 days of Sodom should have been nominated for foreign film. Michael Powell should have won director for Peeping Tom Heston should have got Actor for The Ten Commandments. Instead of Yul for King and I. Max von Sydow should have won for either Seventh Seal, Hour of the Wolf or the Magician. Take your pic. Larry Nunn should have neen nominated for Men of Boys Town Skip Homier should have been nominated for actor for Tomorrow The World! Henry Fonda should have won for Grapes of Wrath Stewart should have won for Mr.Smith And Donat should have won for The Citadel A sad chain of events Freddie Bartholomew should have been nominated and won best actor for Captains Courages instead of Tracy. Gene Reynolds should have been nominated for supporting actor in Boys Bown De Mille's King of Kings was a great achivement and wasn't nominated for pic or director. Sunrise or Seventh Heaven. Though choice. I don't know which I like more ` Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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