Every year there is some backlash when it comes to the glaring omissions in the Academy Award nominations. This year Dreamgirls was a virtual shoo-in for a best picture nom, but was beaten out by Letters From Iwo Jima. I can’t say whether or not this was a mistake because I haven’t seen all of the nominees yet.
However, there are many years where I can give an informed opinion about Best Picture mistakes. In two parts I will give the greatest snubs in Best Picture history. In part one I will give the mistakes made during my lifetime. Next week I’ll look at the rest of Oscar history.
Some understanding for this list: There are years where there are movies that I would have like to have seen nominated but I can’t find a movie that I would have knocked off the list. For example, in 1974, neither Alice Doesn’t Live Here Anymore nor Monty Python and the Holy Grail were nominated. But I cannot make a valid argument that any of the nominees that year should not have been nominated: Chinatown, The Conversation, Lenny, The Towering Inferno, or The Godfather, Part 2. Hence, those movies are not on my list.
In addition, I had to have seen both the movie I propose to be on the list and the movie to be removed.

10. The Wild Bunch (1969) I know I run a major risk of being overly hard on musicals, but I believe that the same general rule applies here as do the rules Oscar puts on comedies: if it is going to be nominated, it has to raise the bar. Hello, Dolly did not raise the bar but effectively put an end to the love affair the Academy had with musicals during the 60s. The Wild Bunch redefined action movies with its use of slow motion and became an ironically touching portrait of growing older.

9. Little Big Man (1970)–If your idea of a great movie-going experience is to choke on saccharine as your emotions are shamelessly manipulated then you will defend the omission of the classic western in favor of the treacly Love Story. But you will be wrong. And love DOES mean you have to say sorry. Sorry for producing this schlock.

8. Blade Runner (1982)–Sure, I love the thought of Dustin Hoffman (Tootsie) in a dress as much as the next guy, but there is no way the dystopian genius of Ridley Scott’s depiction of the near future is outpaced by yet another celebrity trolling for cheap laughs. In light of all the movies that followed that play on this gimmick, there should have been a serious discussion on whether or not Hoffman would be allowed to act again rather than honor it with a best picture nom.

7. Brazil (1985)–Terry Gilliam’s post-apocalyptic satire may well be one of the most beautifully crafted movies of our lifetime. The fact that it can be categorized as science fiction and a comedy shows the deftness of Gilliam’s hand. Instead, the Academy opted for tedium and nominated The Kiss of The Spider Woman. I would say more about this convoluted mess but I struggled making it through.

6. Miller’s Crossing (1990)–The Coen brothers at their all-time best failed to grab a Single nomination. Rather than reward one of the grittiest film noirs of our time, the academy instead opted to reward us with the syrup double feature of Awakenings and Ghost. Any Academy member that opted over those two hour servings of molasses over the complex twist of Miller’s should have their membership revoked. No one makes Miller sit in a corner.

5. The Usual Suspects (1995)–OK, I have a nomination form in front of me. I can vote for one of the defining movies of the 90s that popularized twist endings or a movie about a talking pig. No contest. Give me Babe. Before I get flamed by the Moms of Preschoolers, understand this: Keyser Soze would have roasted Babe for breakfast.

4. Truman Show (1998)–I think the reason this movie failed to be acknowledged was because nobody realized how prescient this movie truly was. In our “reality-tv” culture, Truman is all too indicting. At the time we had no full way of knowing how accurate it was. Therefore, the Academy chose to award Terrance Malick’s return to movie-making with his messy snoozer The Thin Red Line.

3. Almost Famous (2000)–I don’t like to watch movies repeatedly. But if you put Cameron Crowe’s masterful loose autobiography on in front of me, I’ll be glued to the screen. This movie hits on all cylinders. Chocolat does not. This was during the long streak of the Weinstein brothers buying nominations.

2. Memento (2001)–If you have seen this mind-bender then you obviously share my outrage that this movie received no love at award time. If I remind you that it was shut out by the likes of Gosford Park and Moulin Rouge then you will reconsider ever watching movies again.

1. Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind (2004)–My favorite movie of the year was overlooked by the underwhelming Ray and the manipulative Finding Neverland. Why?