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Feature
22 Incredibly Shocking Oscars Injustices
We attempt to right those Oscar wrongs

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22 Incredibly Shocking Oscars Injustices | Best Actress (1955)
Best Actress (1955)

Who won: Grace Kelly (Country Girl)

Who should have won: Judy Garland (A Star Is Born)

The year On The Waterfront justly won Best Picture, something went a bit skewy in the Best Actress category. Grace Kelly, so terrific and Oscar-worthy in Rear Window a year later, was unconvincing as an unhappy woman coping with a booze-soaked husband. By comparison, A Star Is Born saw Judy Garland eat up the screen as a woman in a similar predicament. She was at the peak of her powers as superstar singer Esther Blodgett, channelling her own struggles into a beautifully tender and big-lunged performance.

Maybe the Academy objected to the scene where Jason Mason’s fading star drunkenly ruins their ceremony, or perhaps they felt there was presumption in Esther Blodgett actually winning a gong in the movie. These are the only straws to be clutched at, which presumably was what the NBC camera crew were doing on the night as they sat by Garland’s maternity ward bed ready to interview the Best Actress. This award even made Groucho Marx mad, a sight you didn’t see everyday.

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Your Comments

1
Munich a "lesser Spielberg"? I seem to remember your review describing it as Spielberg operating at his peak. Don't worry, I appreciate that there is more than one Empire writer. It's just that I absolutely adore Munich and I consider it one of his best. So, needless to say, I would've given it the main prizes, however Brokeback Mountain would have been a worthy winner and GNAGL was excellent as well. Absolutely ridiculous that Crash won over all of them. Even the not-nominated comic book classics that year like Sin City and A History Of Violence were waaaaay better. More

Posted by Mr Gittes on Friday April 5, 2013, 14:07

2 goodfellas!!
Martin scorsese should've won the Oscar for "Goddfellas" i think. He also didn't accept the Oscar when he had made "Raging Bull" More

Posted by movielover28 on Thursday February 23, 2012, 19:29

3 Shawshank!
Shawshank should have got best picture at the 67th Awards. Forrest Gump and Pulp Fiction are both brilliant but Shawshank is EPIC! More

Posted by guysalisbury on Friday February 17, 2012, 09:48

4 RE: 22 Incredibly Shocking Oscars Injustices
How about The best visual effects win for The Golden Compuss when Transformers should of won they were first rate effects. More

Posted by NCC1701A on Monday March 14, 2011, 14:37

5 Kramer vs Kramer vs Apocalypse Now
Describing Kramer vs Kramer as a "courtroom drama" only serves to demonstrate that whoever wrote this copy hasn't actually seen the film. The award was for best director, not "most complicated production", "most gruelling shoot", or "most impressive film". Robert Benton's work on Kramer vs Kramer was nothing short of astonishing. The Academy didn't get that one wrong at all. More

Posted by byronbache on Saturday February 26, 2011, 04:34

6 1999: "The Insider" scandal...
Sorry,but what about the great Michael Mann ??Oh yes he's just a "minor" director: "last of the mohicans","collateral","public enemies","heat"...and his masterpiece,"the insider".In 1999, "American Beauty" had scandalously stolen all the statues that "the insider" deserved.It's for me the bigest scandal in Oscars history so far. The victory of "Titanic" over "L.A. Confidential" comes in second. The fact that "Seven" has received only the Editing Oscar comes in 3rd. More

Posted by tylerseven on Wednesday February 23, 2011, 12:00

7 The Oscars are mostly a farse
The reality is that the Oscars are not given out to whom deserves them, but to who's politically relevant at the time, or who's due one after all these years. Take Morgan Freeman: He was given one for million dollar baby because they owed him one for Shawshank. Or Hitchcock who never won a Oscar probably because he just made thrillers, and they're not "deep". (even though he rewrote Freud with his work) Let's face it: If you're an ethnic, disabled midget, with learning difficulties you might as well prepare your speech now. What annoys me the most is that the Oscar don't usually go to the best films, but to the ones that tick the most political boxes. A film about croutons and their interaction with soup should beat a film about apartheid if it's a better film. Nuff said. More

Posted by David Hirst on Monday February 21, 2011, 21:57

8 Judi Dench
You mention that Judi Dench's run time is a little too skinny for the Oscar? What about Beatrice Straight's performance as Louise Schumacher in Network? Just over five minutes = best supporting gong. More

Posted by Lord Byron Pitt on Wednesday February 16, 2011, 17:58

9
I agree with most from the list and especially the blasphemous non-recognition of Sir Charles Spencer Chaplin, Alfred Hitchcock, Stanley Kubrick for their masterpieces or just for pure direction. Even though any awards should not be considered as a sure-fire metric standard for measuring up a quality of a movie still they are a way of recognizing the genius from any field, movies or not. But if I do take it that way, Oscars surely did some injustices by IGNORING... 1. The Maltese Falcon 2. Pacino (for any of the seven roles he was nominated for instead of the one he actually won for) 3. Dressed To Kill (1980) for at least some nominations 4. Denzel Washington (Cry Freedom, Crimson Tide), Samuel L. Jackson (Pulp Fiction), Kevin Spacey (SE7EN), Tom Hanks (Cast Away) - (How could they miss that one ??!!!), Russell Crowe (A Beautiful Mind), Sergio Leone, Robert Altman and his creations, especially M*A*S*H (1970). Also SE7EN(1995), L. A. Confidential (1997), Saving Private Ryan (1998), More

Posted by Amol on Monday February 14, 2011, 05:31

10 RE: Best Documentary, 78th Academy Awards
What about Tron not being included for Best Visual Effects because it was done using computers? Wow. More

Posted by JCRendle on Monday February 7, 2011, 21:35

11 RE: more Oscars injustices
One glaring omission from the oscar omissions feature was Ralph Feinnes (as Amon Goeth in Schindlers list) losing out to Tommy Lee Jones (As Sam "Shouty cop" Gerrard in The Fugitive) at the 1994 oscars. Shocking More

Posted by snaze1 on Monday February 7, 2011, 17:14


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