It's February, which means that the time has come for the world of cinema to gather together and hand out statuettes to the people who did their jobs the best in 2024. Every year, a handful of snubs and some wonderful underdog stories come from the show. But we dug into the history of the banquet and came up with five modern classics that somehow didn't get any recognition at all despite how well-known and well-received they are by fans and critics alike.
1. The Shawshank Redemption (1994)
Frank Darabont's tale of an unlikely prison friendship between Andy Dufresne (Tim Robbins) and Red Ellis (Morgan Freeman) is arguably among the top 50 films ever. Still, it failed to walk away with an Oscar. It garnered nominations for Best Picture but lost to the evening's big winner, Forrest Gump. At the same time, Freeman got a nod for the Best Actor category but ultimately watched as Tom Hanks claimed the award for his titular role in Forrest Gump. Tim Robbins getting snubbed is still one of the biggest travesties ever.
2. A Clockwork Orange (1972)
Auteur Stanley Kubrick rocked audiences with his wild take on disenfranchised youth and crime in the early 70s. Alex DeLarge (Malcolm McDowell) and his droogies are out for some of the ultraviolence, but maybe it was a little more than the Academy could handle as it failed to claim a little gold man. Considering the racy subject matter, it could be viewed that the movie's nomination for Best Picture was a victory in itself. McDowell has never been better than as Alex, your humble, if not unreliable, narrator.
3. Blade Runner (1982)
Harrison Ford was in the process of owning the early 1980s when he starred as the Blade Runner Rick Deckard in Ridley Scott's seminal sci-fi masterpiece. He has his hands full tracking down four rogue replicants led by a whimsically evil Roy Batty (Rutger Hauer). But it may be his love story with a Rachel (Sean Young) who doesn't know she isn't real that makes the biggest impression. The film was nominated for two Oscars including Best Cinematography for Jordan Cronenweth, but walked away empty handed.
4. Field of Dreams (1989)
Ray Kinsella heard a voice saying, "I you build it, they will come." Well, apparently that wasn't from the Academy representatives handing out litle golden men. The classic baseball story of a man who bulldozes his Iowa cornfields to build a field where ghost play America's favorite pastime. Field of Dreams was recognized with three nominations in 1990 including for Best Picture, but didn't get the homerun it was looking for at th ceremony.
"You talkin' to me?" Travis Bickle addresses himself in the mirror as he spirals downward into a dark world of disillusionment and cynicism in Martin Scorcese's examination of the seedy underbelly of New York City in the mid-70s. Many consider this to be Robert De Niro's finest work shouldering the load of such an emotionally heavy and hardscrabble film, but he couldn't snag the award in 1977. Taxi Driver was nominated in four categories, including nods for De Niro and Best Picture, but it was Rocky's year.