by Nathaniel R
Oooh we're getting so close! It's just 50 days until Hollywood's High Holy Night and just 10 until we know which films will be competing for which prizes. As this season winnows down to its "winners" it's good to remember that "losers" is a temporary notion. As we've said often and will continue to say: Greatness is its own reward. Oscar has been around for 90 years now and if the past 89 are any indication some movies that are completely ignored come January 23rd when the nominations are announced will be more celebrated by the people of, say, 2049 (if the world survives that long) than by the people of now. Don't believe me? Here are FIFTY randomly chosen movies of large critical or popular or historical reputation and/or devout still vocal fanbases that received ZERO -- that's right zero -- Oscar nominations in their day...
50 ENDURING MOVIES THAT RECEIVED ZERO OSCAR NOMINATIONS
Many of them weren't even Golden Globe nominated! (Note: There are a few more than 50 movies on this list because once we started it was difficult to stop)
- "M" (1931)
- Red Dust (1932)
- Trouble in Paradise (1932)
- Duck Soup (1933)
- King Kong (1933)
- The 39 Steps (1935)
- Bringing Up Baby (1938)
- The Shop Around the Corner (1940)
- His Girl Friday (1940)
- Arsenic & Old Lace (1944)
- Gilda (1946)
- The Big Heat (1953)
- Gentlemen Prefer Blondes (1953)
- Johnny Guitar (1954)
- Night of the Hunter (1955)
- The Trouble with Harry (1955)
- The Searchers (1956)
- A Face in the Crowd (1957)
- Touch of Evil (1958)
- 101 Dalmatians (1961)
- Dr. No (1962)
- To Sir With Love (1967)
- Persona (1967)
- Once Upon a Time in the West (1968)
- Harold and Maude (1971)
- The Devils (1971)
- What's Up Doc (1972)
- Don't Look Now (1973)
- Mean Streets (1973)
- Killer of Sheep (1978)
- The Shining (1980)
- Body Heat (1981)
- Fast Times at Ridgemont High (1982)
- The Terminator (1984)
- The Breakfast Club (1985)
- Something Wild (1986)
- Heathers (1989)
- Daughters of the Dust (1991)
- Reservoir Dogs (1992)
- Before Sunrise (1995)
- Clueless (1995)
- [safe] (1995)
- To Die For (1995)
- Waiting for Guffman (1997)
- The Big Lebowski (1998)
- American Psycho (2000)
- Bring It On (2000)
- Hedwig and the Angry Inch (2001)
- Mean Girls (2004)
- Birth (2004)
- Casino Royale (2006)
- Zodiac (2007)
- Weekend (2011)
What movie from the last few years do you think will eventually live far longer than recent Oscar hits? I'm curious about mother! (2017). So many people think it's just plain awful but on the other hand, nearly everyone thought Birth was awful in 2004 (well, not I!) but they quickly turned around. The best example of seismic reevaulation in my lifetime is totally The Shining which was widely deemed awful in 1980 (Razzie nominations and all) and now it's arguably the world's favorite picture from that year barring possibly The Empire Strikes Back. Time does curious things to movies!