20 Times the Oscars Got It Wrong

In 1941, How Green Was My Valley won the Oscar for Best Picture over Citizen Kane, and that outcome has left a lasting mark on the Academy. John Ford’s film is admirable, but Orson Welles directed a film that forever changed the look, sound, and movement of cinema.

The Greatest Show on Earth won the Oscar for Best Picture in 1952, beating out High Noon, and even fans of the grand Hollywood spectacles of yesteryear tend to cringe a little at the thought. High Noon has remained in the cultural consciousness as a sober, morally tense Western, while this circus epic seems to be a product of its time.

Ben-Hur swept the Oscars in 1959, which made sense if you considered only the film’s scale, the costumes, and the sheer pleasure of spending an entire studio’s budget in one go. Still, Some Like It Hot is a sharper, funnier film that you can watch over and over again.

Ginger Rogers won the Oscar for Best Actress for Kitty Foyle in 1940, beating out Bette Davis in The Letter. Rogers’ popularity was at its peak at the time, but Davis delivered a performance that still resonates today.

Oliver! won the Oscar for Best Picture in 1968, while 2001: A Space Odyssey is a film that is constantly referenced in today’s movies. While the musical was a huge success, it is Kubrick’s film that has continued to gain in popularity.

George C. Scott won the Oscar for Best Actor for Patton in 1970, but he declined the award. His opposition to competitive film awards did not detract from the quality of his performance, but it served as a reminder to the public that the logic behind the Oscars can seem absurd, even to those who win the trophy.

Ben Johnson won a well-deserved award for Best Supporting Actor for The Last Picture Show in 1971. However, that year was marked by many performances that have remained in our memories longer than his win.

When Marlon Brando won the Oscar for Best Actor for The Godfather in 1972, he refused the statuette through Sacheen Littlefeather; the award itself then became the subject of a much broader controversy. The Academy had just honored one of the most famous performances in film history, but that moment is best remembered for the protest against the portrayal of Native Americans.

The Sunshine Boys, which won the Oscar for Best Original Screenplay over Dog Day Afternoon in 1975, still gives the impression today that the Academy chose safety over boldness. Neil Simon’s writing was certainly refined and skillful, but Dog Day Afternoon exuded a lively, edgy energy that remains palpable even today.

The fact that Miloš Forman won the Oscar for Best Director for One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest in 1975 caused little of a stir, as the film is still widely admired. The frustration stems from the fact that Barry Lyndon is one of the most visually masterful and formally astonishing films ever made, which makes Kubrick’s loss all the more painful as the years go by.

Rocky, which won the Oscar for Best Picture in 1976, gave the Academy an underdog story that it could take pleasure in honoring in public. Nevertheless, Network and Taxi Driver have both left a stronger artistic mark that cannot be ignored.

Ordinary People won the Oscar for Best Picture in 1980, and that decision has continued to spark debate ever since. Robert Redford’s film is sensitive and beautifully acted, but Raging Bull seems tougher, stranger, and far more deeply rooted in the history of cinema.

Richard Attenborough won the Oscar for Best Director in 1982 for Gandhi, beating out Steven Spielberg for E.T.. While Gandhi was certainly an important film, E.T. faced the more difficult challenge of being at once heartwarming, popular, and artistically precise.

Ben Kingsley’s win for Gandhi in 1983 was widely respected at the time and remains so today. So this is less a matter of a mediocre performance than of the Academy’s usual preference for roles that visibly transform actors. In hindsight, this category seems to be one of those years where the winner perfectly embodied the prestige of the award, while several other nominees have aged just as well.

Out of Africa won the Oscar for Best Picture in 1985, while The Color Purple was soundly defeated despite its 11 nominations. Sydney Pollack’s film is beautiful and grand, but Spielberg’s adaptation had greater cultural impact and a much more immediate emotional resonance.

Marisa Tomei won the Oscar for Best Supporting Actress for My Cousin Vinny in 1992, but instead of simply accepting the award, people spent years repeating a rumor that her name had been announced by mistake. That rumor said more about how little seriousness the comedy was taken with than about the performance itself, which is precise, funny, and still cited by those who know how to recognize a great scene when they see one.

Dances with Wolves won the Oscar for Best Picture in 1990, at a ceremony where that choice seemed certain, majestic, and steeped in history. The Goodfellas, on the other hand, became the film that directors, critics, actors, and regular moviegoers kept coming back to.

Forrest Gump won the Oscar for Best Picture in 1994, which is entirely understandable. The film tells a touching story, and Tom Hanks’ performance was absolutely exceptional. Pulp Fiction, however, changed the tone and style of American cinema in a way that immediately made a splash, and it remains the film people cite today when discussing the most important movies of the decade.

"Shakespeare in Love," which won the Oscar for Best Picture in 1998 over "Saving Private Ryan," remains the example everyone brings up when the Oscars come up. The award-winning film is charming, intelligent, and a real pleasure to watch, but Spielberg’s war film had a scope and power that you could feel right through the screen.

If there is one thing all these competitions have in common, it is the Academy’s recurring enthusiasm for the films or performances that seem the most respectable at any given moment. Time tends to be much harsher in this regard—and also much more discerning—which explains why so many of these winners now appear to be snapshots of the industry’s tastes rather than a true judgment of their greatness.