Robbed of an Oscar

That's partially true...we also remember his acting while he was delivering them. Can you imagine Glover reciting Ezekiel 25:17 or the guns of the Navarone line with the same persuasion and it having the same impact it did? I think not...Jackson was perfect for the role because he is without a doubt the coolest black actor in Hollywood. Without him, Pulp fiction would not have been the same...and I wonder if it would have the same cult status it now enjoys...he is the character that everyone remembers and quotes the most. The script had a lot to do with it sure, but Jackson's persona had a lot to do with it as well. He can recite even the shittiest and corniest of lines and still make them digestible...

(Btw, I thought Washington's performance in Training day was one of the worst cases of overacting in Hollywood history.)

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Jackson is 'cool' because Tarantino made him cool. He was blessed by getting his career on track with two incredibly well-written roles that required nothing but intensity and swagger (the only traits Jackson ever brings to any character). Jules is a fun and memorable character, but that's because he says things like "English, mother****er! DO YOU SPEAK IT?" not because Sam Jackson is a great actor (which he isn't). It would have been a memorable role in almost any competent actor's hands. Oscars should be reserved for great performances that demand great attention to detail, not good performances of great material that require little or no range from the actor.

Well that's bullshit...

The one that bugs me big time is Julia Roberts winning over Ellen Burstyn. She was robbed. Any halfway decent actress could have played Erin Brokovich.

How can anyone take the awards seriously? John Wayne won a 'best actor' oscar! Gary Cooper won twice!

I guess you've never seen The Caveman's Valentine, wherein Jackson is required to play a charcter plauged by bizarre visions and self-doubt, and does so effortlessly. Not to mention Black Snake Moan, which requires intensity, but a lot of vulnerability, too.

Sure, the lines are quoted because they're fun, and they work so long as they're intense, but this isn't binary; there are degrees to how well this dialogue can work, and Jackson delivers it in a near-ideal manner. It would have been all too easy for Tarantino's dialogue to turn into self-parody, but it didn't, and for that Jackson deserves a degree of credit. I suspect it is easy to deny him that credit simply because we can't possibly know what another actor might have done with the same material. If we could, my guess would be that many of us would appreciate his performance more.

Personally i thought hotel rwanda was robbed of an oscar. much better than million dollar baby

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I could say that lots of comical actors have missed out, it usually goes to those who play dramatic roles but it is also a talent to make people laugh let alone a worlwide audience so personally i belive good comical perfomances have been robbed of atleast being nominated for an oscar

I 110% agree with this. I love Pulp Fiction. I love Jules. But not only was Jackson not the best performer of the year, he was not even the best in the film. Ving Rhames owned that film...

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Chief Dan George was nominated for Best Supporting Actor for his performance in Little Big Man (1970), but he lost out to John Mills for Ryan's Daughter. I just have a hard time believing that any character could be more caring, especially concerning "The Human Beings", yet have such a crazy sense of humor as Old Lodgeskins does in the hands of the wonderful and wise Chief Dan George. My friends still go around quoting, "Do you want to eat" and "It is a good day to die."



At this point in time, with all his subsequent accolades, it doesn't really matter, but Jack Nicholson's performance as lawyer George Hanson in Easy Rider (1969) was his first truly awesome performance. The fact that he could pull it off with such integrity and zaniness, while stoned and often ad-libbing about the Venusians "living and working among us", remains a textbook example (along with the above) on how a "lesser" character supports the rest of the cast and the production. Nicholson was nominated, but lost to Gig Young in They Shoot Horses, Don't They?. In both cases, veterans won out over someone considered more of a newcomer.

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Audrey Tautou in Amelie (2001)


Jeff Goldblum in The Fly (1986)


Christian Bale in American Psycho (2000)

Well, they were nominated, but they didn't win



Tim Robbins, in The Shawshank Redemption

Morgan Freeman, in the Shawshank Redemption

The Shawshank Redemption, just in General

Malcolm McDowell, in A Clockwork Orange

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Actually, Tim Robbins wasn't even nominated.

bah, and neither was Malcolm, must........ kill....... academy........,

William Hurt for A History of Violence
Anthony Hopkins for The Remains of the Day
Shelley Winters for The Poseidon Adventure
Jeff Bridges for Starman
Jane Fonda for On Golden Pond
Peter O'Toole for My Favorite Year and The Lion in Winter
Annette Bening for American Beauty
Paul Newman for Cool Hand Luke and The Verdict

(When Newman lost for The Verdict I almost threw a brick through my television set! That was a disgrace. A few years later they gave him an "Opps, we're sorry about that" Oscar for The Color of Money. Shameful. I went looking for my brick again.)

Eddie Murphy for Dreamgirls. He created a perfectly nuanced character who made me laugh and made me cry.He did this and still gave an Eddie Murphy performance:cocky,smooth,emotional and all kinds of loner badass.Even without the music his performance verged on Shakespearean with the juxtaposition of light and dark, comedy and tragedy. And the music? TA_DOW! That man can sing and dance and act and joke like no other actor!

The academy decided he wasn't worthy.Other actors would react a number of ways that are numerous and less humerous.Eddie Murphy made Norbit. Why? Cuz he's freakin' Eddie Murphy that's why.

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I totally agree with A Reservoir Dogs list.

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The worst part about Newman getting the Oscar for The Color of Money was who got robbed!
James Woods was electrifying in Salvador. It should have been a no-brainer. They should have given him the Oscar on the red carpet as he walked into the building.
But Newman gets it for a performance that he basically mailed in.

Man, it's been 20 years and it still ticks me off.

And whilst it might seem like a joke, can you imagine anyone else delivering the "I'm so mother****in' sick of these mother****in' snakes on this mother****in' plane!" line better than Jackson?

I think not.

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The only thing I think about when I hear the Ezekiel 25:17 line in Pulp Fiction (one of my fave films) is how much BS Tarantino added to it that's not in the Bible. As far as Jackson goes that year, I probably would have voted for him for Best Actor. I'd still have to vote for Martin Landau as Bela Lugosi in Ed Wood for Best Supporting Actor, since I think he probably gave the male performance of the year.