The Academy Awards continue to polarize both audiences and critics alike for the people and pictures they select to receive the prestigious statuette. While nearly all the cinematic masterpieces in the running for an Oscar no doubt deserve the recognition and praise they receive for all their hard work, many viewers are left stunned when their favorite films and performers are seemingly snubbed by the Academy.
Throughout the decades, the Best Picture winners have left many cinephiles flabbergasted by the flicks that have taken home the top honor, and Oscar history has shown that there have certainly been a few head scratcher recipients. From Martin Scorsese being repeatedly robbed to contentious Best Director winners, the Academy has been no stranger to upsets and disputes. Let’s dive into some of the most controversial Oscar wins in history.
1977: Rocky - Best Picture
United Artists
Heavily considered to be one of the finest sports films ever created, the Sylvester Stallone starring drama Rocky helped revitalize the rags-to-riches theme and made its compelling lead (and writer) Sylvester Stallone an overnight sensation. While fans flocked to the theaters to witness Rocky Balboa duke it out with world heavyweight champion Apollo Creed, another gripping cinematic great was also taking audiences by storm: Martin Scorsese’s Taxi Driver.
Not only did Rocky knockout the epic psychological thriller for Best Picture, it also won out over the political drama All the President’s Men. There’s no arguing that all three of these movies deserved the accolade, but some fans are still bitter over Scorsese losing out for his masterpiece.
1993: Marisa Tomei - Best Supporting Actress for My Cousin Vinny
20th Century Studios
When Marisa Tomei took home the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress for her lively portrayal of Mona Lisa Vito in the smash hit comedy My Cousin Vinny, many viewers were left scratching their heads over the seemingly surprising victory. While the movie star was celebrated for her funny performance alongside Joe Pesci, some felt she was wrongly given the prestigious statue, prevailing over stars like Miranda Richardson (Damage) and Vanessa Redgrave (Howard’s End).
Film critic Rex Reed helped perpetrate controversy when he claimed presenter Jack Palance announced the wrong name after opening the envelope, a false allegation that was disproved and deemed by Tomei as “extremely hurtful.” The actress had the last laugh in 2015, when The Hollywood Reporter polled hundreds of Academy members in order to reevaulate past decisions, and Tomei once again earned all the votes needed to win the award once again.
2006: Crash - Best Picture
Lionsgate
Paul Haggis’ star-studded drama Crash depicts the mounting racial tensions of a diverse group of Los Angeles residents as social issues arise over the course of 36 hours. With an ensemble cast including Sandra Bullock, Don Cheadle, Matt Dillon, and Brendan Fraser, the film was lauded for its riveting performances and direction but criticized for the way it handled race relations within its storyline.
Crash edged out Ang Lee’s poignant neo-Western romantic drama Brokeback Mountain and won the Best Picture Oscar, despite the universal acclaim the latter received and immense praise breakout stars Heath Ledger and Jake Gyllenhaal garnered in their compelling roles.
1955: Grace Kelly - Best Actress for The Country Girl
Paramount Pictures
Legendary silver screen star Grace Kelly was the reigning queen of film during the 1950s, appearing in iconic Alfred Hitchcock hits like Rear Window and Dial M for Murder. Though she ultimately retired from acting and walked away from Hollywood at 26 to marry Prince Rainier III and become the Princess of Monaco, the actress still managed to leave her mark on the industry. There is no denying that Kelly was a commanding presence on screen, and her performance in the 1954 drama The Country Girl earned her an Oscar nomination for Best Actress.
Her eventual victory over Judy Garland for her role in A Star Is Born rocked Tinseltown, as many including Garland herself believed she was a shoo-in for the accolade. The camera crew at the ceremony was packing up their equipment before Kelly even reached the stage to accept the award, and hallowed comedian Groucho Marx famously sent Garland a telegram after the affair with a note that called her loss “the biggest robbery since Brinks.”
1995: Forrest Gump - Best Picture
While it remains a beloved and iconic staple that features a knockout performance by the great Tom Hanks, when Forrest Gump nabbed the Oscar for Best Picture many fans and critics were left flabbergasted that the Robert Zemeckis dramedy won out against Pulp Fiction and The Shawshank Redemption.
1994 was an influential year in cinema during which Quentin Tarantino took the world by storm with his brilliant Pulp Fiction, centering on two mob hitmen (John Travolta and Samuel L. Jackson), while the revered Stephen King adaptation earned rave reviews from critics. Though Forrest Gump is a spectacular achievement in its own right, some cinephiles are still bitter over it winning Best Picture over its equally deserving competition.
1942: How Green Was My Valley - Best Picture
20th Century Fox
Though it is now widely acknowledged as one of the greatest films ever made, Orson Welles’ cinematic masterpiece Citizen Kane lost the highly-coveted Academy Award for Best Picture to John Ford’s drama How Green Was My Valley, which also beat out fellow silver screen triumph The Maltese Falcon. Though it is retrospectively difficult to comprehend how Welles’ acclaimed classic lost such an accolade, the politics going on behind the scenes points to a reason why.
Business and newspaper tycoon William Randolph Hurst was enraged when he learned that Welles had largely based his main character in Citizen Kane on himself, so he used his tremendous influence to prevent the picture from being released (without having seen it first). Hearst lobbied against Welles and managed to get limited showings of the film, thus affecting its box office draw and the director’s career prospects; all the pushback helped result in Citizen Kane losing the Oscar.
2003: Roman Polanski - Best Director for The Pianist
Pathé
Roman Polanski is a polarizing and tarnished presence in Hollywood who has been plagued by controversies throughout his career, culminating in the director fleeing to Paris in 1978 after being charged with sexually assaulting a minor. Despite such circumstances, he helmed the World War II biographical drama The Pianist starring Adrien Brody, which generated widespread acclaim and won the Palme d’Or at the Cannes Film Festival.
Polanksi was not present at the ceremony (as he would have been arrested) when he was awarded the Oscar for Best Director, even receiving a standing ovation, something which seems unthinkable 20 years later. Though The Pianist is undeniably a beautiful film, Polanksi winning such a prestigious award soured its legacy for some.
1999: Shakespeare in Love - Best Picture
Miramax
John Madden’s romantic period dramedy Shakespeare in Love chronicles the fictional romance between the “Bard of Avon” and the daughter of a wealthy merchant as the celebrated playwright penned his tragic love story Romeo and Juliet, and went on to take home seven Academy Awards at the ceremony including Best Actress (Gwyneth Paltrow) and Best Supporting Actress (Judy Dench).
When it won Best Picture against Steven Spielberg’s epic war drama Saving Private Ryan (not to mention the poetic masterpiece The Thin Red Line) many were shocked and deemed the victory a true upset. Critics have argued that the period film took home the top accolade due to Harvey Weinstein’s aggressive and expensive distribution campaign and that Spielberg and Malick were robbed.
2019: Green Book - Best Picture
Universal Pictures
Both moviegoers and critics alike were surprised when the dramedy Green Book won the Oscar for Best Picture over Alfonso Cuarón’s drama modern black-and-white drama Roma, as the biographical Green Book faced its fair amount of criticism even before the prestigious ceremony.
The Peter Farrelly flick was based on the life of Black classical pianist Don Shirley and his relationship with his bodyguard/chauffer Frank Vallelonga, and was condemned by Shirley’s family due to its depiction of the musician’s relationship with his family and its “white savior” narrative. Many believed that Roma or even The Favourite were far more deserving, while fellow Best Picture nominee BlacKkKlansman’s director Spike Lee even attempted to storm out after the winner was announced. For Lee, in many ways this was a repeat of the same controversy from three decades prior with Driving Miss Daisy.
1990: Driving Miss Daisy - Best Picture
The Zanuck Company
Though not as controversial as some of the other examples on this list, Driving Miss Daisy taking home the award for Best Picture over fellow nominees like My Left Foot and Born on the Fourth of July caused a bit of a stir when the ceremony was all said and done.
While the performances from Morgan Freeman and Jessica Tandy (who won Best Actress) were praised, the handling of racism within the storyline has since been heavily judged. It also edged out Spike Lee’s lauded dramedy Do the Right Thing as a Best Picture nominee, much to the revered director’s disdain; he later reflected on the Academy’s choice by stating that Driving Miss Daisy “is not being taught in film schools all across the world like Do the Right Thing is.”
1997: The English Patient - Best Picture
Miramax Films
There is no arguing that Anthony Minghella’s slow burn romantic war drama The English Patient is a stunning film that features a sensational performance by Ralph Fiennes as a brutally burned man in World War II who reflects on his epic romance from a hospital bed.
However, there is also no denying that its victory for Best Picture over Mike Leigh’s great Secrets & Lies and especially the Coen brothers’ masterpiece Fargo is downright scandalous, considering the fact that the Coens’ crime comedy has been named one of the greatest films of all time and has since inspired a critically-acclaimed TV series adaptation. The legacy of Fargo far surpasses that of The English Patient, and many fans believe the latter was Oscar bait and thus took home the top accolade over the dark comedy.
