Movies and/or actors that SHOULD have won an Oscar.

1994? Quiz Show, *******.

Great movie, and also more deserving than Gump.

Now let's go back some years to the 70s.. Rocky should have never won Best Picture. Not over Network and Taxi Driver.

LOL William Hurt was much more deserving than Harrison Ford in 1985. Kiss of the Spiderwoman was Hurt's sixth performance and each one was a home run. Ford was making the big budget Hollywood classics but Hurt chose to take on more challenging roles. Looking at 1985 and ranking the top male lead performances, Ford wouldn't even be in my top five it would go.

1. William Hurt, Kiss of a Spider Woman
2. Danny Glover, The Color Purple
3. Jeff Daniels, Purple Rose of Cairo
4. Michael J Fox, Back to the Future
5. Jack Nicholsen, Prizzi's Honor
6. Jonathan Pryce, Brazil
7. Raul Julia, Kiss of a Spider Woman
8. Harrison Ford, Witness
9. Bruno Lawrence, The Quiet Earth
10. Robert Redford, Out of Africa

As for performances I felt should have won, the worst year in Academy history has to be 1958

1958
BP - Gigi
BD - Vincenti Minnelli, Gigi
Actor - David Niven, Seperate Tables
Actress - Susan Hayward – I Want to Live!S. Actor - Burl Ives – The Big Country
S. Actress - Wendy Hiller – Separate Tables

They went 0-6 that year, they even managed to get the wrong Burl Ives performances (Cat on a Hot Tin Roof)

BP - Vertigo
BD - Alfred Hitchcock, Vertigo
Actor - Paul Newman, Cat on a Hot Tin Roof
Actress - Elizabeth Taylor, Cat on a Hot Tin Roof
S. Actor - Orson Welles, A Touch of Evil
S. Actress - Barbara Geddes, Vertigo

Vertigo not even being nominated for Best Picture is almost mind boggling if we think about it today. That might be the single biggest snub.

1958 was insane, the thing with Gigi was even if it wasn't a top five film you'd figure Leslie Caron would have gotten her Oscar for playing Gigi and as an apology for snubbing her for An American in Paris...but nope...

Maurice Chevalier could have won best supporting actor....nope, not even nominated, they gave him the career award .

Couldn't disagree more about GiGi...one of the most overrated films ever made and didn't deserve half of the nine Oscars it won.

La La Land > Moonlight.

This is not a joke, La La Land, Best Picture!

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[quote=Siddon;1882648]LOL William Hurt was much more deserving than Harrison Ford in 1985. Kiss of the Spiderwoman was Hurt's sixth performance and each one was a home run. Ford was making the big budget Hollywood classics but Hurt chose to take on more challenging roles. Looking at 1985 and ranking the top male lead performances, Ford wouldn't even be in my top five it would go.

1. William Hurt, Kiss of a Spider Woman
2. Danny Glover, The Color Purple
3. Jeff Daniels, Purple Rose of Cairo
4. Michael J Fox, Back to the Future
5. Jack Nicholsen, Prizzi's Honor
6. Jonathan Pryce, Brazil
7. Raul Julia, Kiss of a Spider Woman
8. Harrison Ford, Witness
9. Bruno Lawrence, The Quiet Earth
10. Robert Redford, [i]Out of Africa

The only Oscar worthy performance I've seen from Harrison Ford was Regarding Henry. Don't know how Redford made that list, one of his weakest performances.

The biggest disappointment in an Oscars for me (in my young baby child lifetime) was Eddie Redmayne beating out Michael Keaton for Best Actor in 2014/15. No disrespect to The Theory of Everything, but Keaton gave an absolute career defining performance in the debateably best film of the year, and I definitely feel like the Academy just felt like not giving Birdman the trifecta (Best picture, Best Director, and Best Actor). Whereas Theory of Everything was just an alright movie, with Eddie "Jupiter Ascending" Redmayne giving a performance I think any other average actor could give.

But I don't actually care that much anymore, you know how them Oscars be these days.

My man

He should have at least gotten a nomination. And he should have won for Brokeback Mountain

Nah.

And neither are top five of that year.

@Siddon ah well we can agree to disagree on Witness, but it at least it made your top 10 list. I found Witness to be a very well made film and certainly not a 'blockbuster' like Star Wars. And one of the most beautifully photographed-Harrison made scenes like the dance in the barn, raising a barn, or his affectionate laugh when Rachel's s son belched -timeless and unforgettable, to this viewer anyway.

@Gideon58 Well I personally feel that Harrison has given many fine performances- Regarding Henry was certainly a good example. Harrison himself has stated that he makes one film intended to be of the blockbuster type, and then tries to follow that with a film that he favors for the more creative challenge. Some of those, imho which are certainly Oscar caliber performances, and show his depth and range as an actor (and that I previously left out) are:
Mosquito Coast
The Fugitive- yes a blockbuster,
but following David Jannsen's iconic tv portrayal, he fave a well nuanced job in a fine action-thriller

Blade Runner- a cult film beyond a cult film with a long standing devoted audience.

42- a secondary role where he was almost unrecognizable, but turned in a fine character study.


It s interesting how classics that stand the test of time, like Vertigo for instance- have not been fully recognized by the Academy, though they have rightfully endured. But films, like literature, become classics over time, even if un or under recognized by the critics of the day.

To my mind Scarlett Johansson should have won something for Under the Skin. I thought she was top class.

Joaquin Phoenix should've gotten it for Her, but he wasn't even nominated.
He also should've gotten Best Supporting Actor for Gladiator.

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Pulp Fiction and The Shawshank Redemption were both better than Quiz Show.

Phoenix definitely should have been nominated for Gladiator, he was the best thing about that movie. As for Her, he was nominated that year for The Master but I haven't seen The Master so I can't say whether or not Phoenix was nominated for the wrong film.

Her is from 2013 and The Master is from 2012.

He got nominated for Gladiator, but lost to Benicio Del Toro in Traffic.

He should have won.

He definitely should have won for The Master, performance of the decade for me.