A case can be made that the Academy makes at least one mistake every year when they hand out the OSCARS. A few of these are major mistakes and I might be reaching on others. Here is what I came up with . . . Working backwards to 1970 and starting with last night . . .
2011 – Best Actress
Winner: Meryl Streep – The Iron Lady as Margaret Thatcher
Should Have Won: Viola Davis – The Help as Aibileen Clark
-Davis’ role in The Help might have been a once in a lifetime opportunity for her to take home a statue (not to mention she was great in the movie). Streep will be at the Oscars at least once every other year.
2010 – Best Documentary Feature
Winner: Inside Job – Charles H. Ferguson and Audrey Marrs
Should Have Won: Exit Through the Gift Shop – Banksy and Jaimie D’Cruz
-Inside Job hit home with the financial crisis, but Exit Through the Gift Shop was like anything (or anyone) we had seen before.
2009 – Best Original Screenplay
Winner: The Hurt Locker – Mark Boal
Should Have Won: · Inglourious Basterds – Quentin Tarantino
-The Hurt Locker may have won best picture, but nothing screamed “original” like Tarantino’s script.
2008 – Best Actor
Should Have Won: · Mickey Rourke – The Wrestler
-Not taking anything away from Penn (who was excellent as the title character) but Rourke gave the performance of his life. Could you picture anyone else in that role?
2007 – Best Cinematography
Winner: There Will Be Blood – Robert Elswit
Should Have Won: · Atonement – Seamus McGarvey
-Some of the best moments of Atonement were accompanied by the sweepining Cinematography by McGarvey. (On a side note . . . he is currently working on The Avengers).
2006 – Best Supporting Actor 
Winner: Alan Arkin – Little Miss Sunshine
Should Have Won: Eddie Murphy – Dreamgirls
-Unless Murphy can turn things around (big time), his role as James ‘Thunder’ Early will be his only shot at Oscar glory. Arkin’s win was surprising to everyone (including Murphy) and was evidence Oscar voters were still pissed about Norbit. Murphy deserved to win . . .
2005 – Best Picture
Winner: Crash
Should Have Won: Munich
-In a weak 2005 field, Crash scored the ultimate prize. Steven Spielberg’s Munich was the most overlooked film of the year (and still is).
2004 – Best Supporting Actor
Winner: Morgan Freeman – Million Dollar Baby
Should Have Won: · Thomas Haden Church – Sideways
-Freeman is always reliable (and good) as the wise old trainer, but Church was the perfecting casting choice along side Paul Giamatti. Giamaitti didn’t even get nominated that year . . . Come on Academy . . .
2003 – Best Actor
Winner: Sean Penn – Mystic River
Should Have Won: · Bill Murray – Lost in Translation
-Murray’s performance was pitch perfect and easily the best of his career. Penn was good in Mystic River, but the film got too much love. Unlike other comedians who get a rare nomination, Murray might have a shot at Oscar one day.
2002 – Best Actor
Winner: Adrien Brody – The Pianist
Should Have Won: · Daniel Day-Lewis – Gangs of New York
-Day-Lewis would win years later for There Will Be Blood, but not winning for his role as Bill ‘The Butcher’ is just flat out wrong . . .
2001 – Best Supporting Actor
Winner – Jim Broadbent – Iris
Should Have Won: · Ben Kingsley – Sexy Beast
-Kingsley is at the top of the list of actors who have done so much with so little screen time.
2000 – Best Actress
Winner: Julia Roberts – Erin Brockovich
Who Should Have Won: · Joan Allen – The Contender
-Roberts had way too much fan fare behind her, but more people would have rooted for Allen if they actually saw the movie. Go rent The Contender right now if you have not seen it.
1999 – Best Adapted Screenplay
Winner: The Cider House Rules – John Irving
Who Should Have Won: · Election – Alexander Payne and Jim Taylor
-This would have been a good time for the Academy to award the under-rated election.
1998 – Best Picture
Winner: Shakespeare in Love
Should Have Won: Saving Private Ryan
-I still can’t believe this one . . . There is really nothing to say about this.
1997 – Best Original Dramatic Score
Winner: Titanic – James Horner
Should Have Won: · Good Will Hunting – Danny Elfman
-Titanic dominated the Oscars, but this score is the best of Elfman’s career and was important to the tone of the film.
1996 – Best Actor
Winner: Geoffrey Rush – Shine
Should Have Won: · Tom Cruise – Jerry Maguire
-Cruise should have been standing next to Cuba Gooding Jr. on the Oscar stage. Cruise seemlessly went from unlikeable to likeable to unlikeable to likeable
1995 – Best Original Song
Winner: Colors of the Wind” from Pocahontas – Music by Alan Menken; Lyric by Stephen Schwartz
Should Have Won: “Have You Ever Really Loved a Woman” from Don Juan DeMarco – Music and Lyric by Michael Kamen, Bryan Adams and Robert John Lange
-There was a lot of Disney love going around in the 90’s, but this was going too far.
1994 – Best Picture
Winner: Forrest Gump
Should Have Won: The Shawshank Redemption
-I bet this is the one Oscar voters would change if they could go back in time.
1993 – Best Original Screenplay
Winner: The Piano – Jane Campion
Should Have Won: · Philadelphia – Ron Nyswaner
-The subject matter of Philadelphia could not have been more relevant . . .
1992 – Best Original Screenplay
Winner: The Crying Game – Neil Jordan
Should Have Won: · Husbands and Wives – Woody Allen
-Yes, the end of The Crying Game was shocking, but so was how much Allen’s script mirrored his real life. Watch Husbands and Wives now knowing most was filmed before Farrow discovered Allen’s affair. The last scene between Allen and Farrow was filmed after . . .
1991 - Best Original Screenplay
Winner: Thelma & Louise – Callie Khouri
Should Have Won: · Boyz n the Hood – John Singleton
-Oscar gets carried away with the lovefest for the Sarandon/Davis flick and does the Singleton flick a major disservice.
1990 – Best Picture 
Winner: Dances With Wolves
Should Have Won: Goodfellas
-Aside from Pecsi’s win for Best Supporting Actress, Goodfellas gets screwed by Costner and the Wolves. No nomination for DeNiro or Liotta? Goodfellas should have been the one to sweep the Oscars, not Dances With Wolves.
1989 – Best Original Screenplay
Winner – Dead Poets Society – Tom Schulman
Should Have Won: · Do the Right Thing – Spike Lee or · Crimes and Misdemeanors – Woody Allen
-It is really difficult to choose between Lee and Allen here, but giving the award to Schulman over both films just doesn’t make sense.
1988 – Best Original Screenplay
Winner: Rain Man – Ronald Bass and Barry Morrow
Should Have Won: · Bull Durham – Ron Shelton
-Rain Man deserved best picture, but I’m not convienced it was a better screenplay than Bull Durham.
1987 – Best Supporting Actor
Winner: Sean Connery – The Untouchables
Should Have Won: · Albert Brooks – Broadcast News
-Broadcast News had 7 nominations and was shut out. Brooks should have been the only win. Was Connery’s role really Oscar worthy? No way . . .
1986 – Best Picture
Winner: Platoon
Should Have Won: Hannah and Her Sisters
-The scope of Stone’s movie was bigger and louder, but it was not better than Allen’s best film. There is a reason why Hannah and Her Sisters picked up Oscars for Supporting Actor, Actress and Original Screenplay.
1985 – Best Original Screenplay
Winner: Witness – Earl W. Wallace, William Kelley
Should Have Won: · Back to the Future – Robert Zemeckis and Bob Gale
-I may be bias here, but Future is the most original Sc-Fi films of all time. Another one I believe the Academy would take back now . . .
1984 – Best Original Song
Winner: “I Just Called to Say I Love You” from The Woman in Red – Music and Lyric by Stevie Wonder
Should Have Won: “Against All Odds (Take a Look at Me Now)” from Against All Odds – Music and Lyric by Phil Collins
-Probably one of the best years ever for the Original Song category. Other nominees included 2 songs from Footloose (Footloose & Let’s Hear It For The Boys) and Ghostbusters. Collins’ balled meant more to the film. This is when the category meant something.
1983 – Best Original Score
Winner: The Right Stuff – Bill Conti
Should Have Won: · Return of the Jedi – John Williams
-How many people can hum the music from The Right Stuff without thinking about it?
1982 – Best Sound Mixing
Winner: E.T.: The Extra-Terrestrial – Robert Knudson, Robert Glass, Don Digirolamo and Gene Cantamessa
Should Have Won: · Das Boot – Milan Bor, Trevor Pyke, and Mike Le Mare
-Gandhi screwed E.T. out of all the major awards and the Academy tried to make up for it by giving Spielberg and Co. all of the technical awards. Sound was one of the stars of Das Boot. All 4 hours of it . . .
1981 – Best Actor 
Winner: Henry Fonda – On Golden Pond
Should Have Won: · Dudley Moore – Arthur
-The definitive role of Moore’s career should have scored him an Oscar. John Gielgud (the butler) won Best Supporting Actor. Fonda was good, but not even close to Moore’s performance.
1980 – Best Picture
Winner: Ordinary People
Should Have Won: Raging Bull
-A bigger punch in the face (no pun intended) than the Goodfellas loss. You have to believe Oscar voters would take this one back. DeNiro won Best Actor, but Pecsi and Moriarty lost Supporting Actor Nods and the film was not nominated for its Screenplay. What?
1979 – Best Supporting Actor
Winner: Melvyn Douglas – Being There
Should Have One: · Robert Duvall – Apocalypse Now
-The Supporting Actor & Actress category always has the potential to award a sleeper . . . like in 1979.
1978 – Best Picture
Winner: The Deer Hunter
Should Have Won: Midnight Express
-You might disagree . . . and that is probably because you never saw Midnight Express.
1977 – Best Actor
Winner: Richard Dreyfuss – The Goodbye Girl
Should Have Won: · Woody Allen – Annie Hall
-Annie Hall won awards for Best Picture, Director, Actress and Screenplay. Excluding a Best Actor win for Allen does not add up. Another example of the Academy wanting to share the love…
1976 – Best Picture
Winner: Rocky – Robert Chartoff, Irwin Winkler
Should Have Won: · Taxi Driver – Julia Phillips, Michael Phillips
-Rocky is a great movie, but it’s not better than Taxi Driver. The Academy (like everyone else) gets swept up in the underdog story.
1975 – Best Director
Winner: Miloš Forman – One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest
Should Have Won: · Sidney Lumet – Dog Day Afternoon
-I typically don’t get upset by the outcome of the directing race (except when Scorsese gets screwed), but Dog Day Afternoon was overshadowed by Cuckoo’s Nest. Lumet should have been awarded for his direction inside and outside the bank.
1974 – Best Original Screenplay
Winner: Chinatown – Robert Towne
Should Have Won: · The Conversation – Francis Ford Coppola
-Coppola’s eerie classic may have split votes with his own The Godfather Part II. Chinatown was great, but The Conversation was unlike anything we had seen before.
1973 – Best Director 
Winner: George Roy Hill – The Sting
Should Have Won: · William Friedkin – The Exorcist
-The Sting is slightly overrated and The Exorcist is still the scariest film ever made. Maybe the Academy felt like his win for The French Connection in 71’ was enough for Friedkin.
1972 – Best Director
Should Have Won: · Francis Ford Coppola – The Godfather
-The Academy got it right for the most part in 72’, but there was no reason to not award Coppola for his direction.
1971 – Best Sound Mixing
Winner: Fiddler on the Roof – David Hildyard and Gordon McCallum
Should Have Won: · The French Connection – Chris Newman and Theodore Soderberg
-I’m probably reaching here, but the Sound Mixing in The French Connection was far superior. Right?
1970 – Best Actor
Winner: George C. Scott – Patton (refused)
Should Have Won: · Jack Nicholson – Five Easy Pieces
-A good one to end on considering Scott refused the award (even though he probably deserved it). Pieces might be the most underrated Nicholson film/performance. He has been awared for over-rated flicks before.
Source : CMP Original
