>> Speaker 1: The Academy has been giving awards to the wrong movies for
almost as long as they've been giving out awards at all.
But sometimes they forget to nominate the right one in the first place.
These are the top ten best picture snubs of all time.
>> [MUSIC]
>> Speaker 2: What we've got
here is failure to communicate.
>> Speaker 1: Kicking us off at number ten, 1967's Cool Hand Luke.
Enduring, quotable, and effortlessly charming,
Paul Newman led an all star cast as one of the most iconic antiheroes of all time.
He was, and still is the epitome of cool.
In Cool Hand Luke, Newman fights, bluffs, and bets his way into the American film
cannon, before making not one but three escape attempts towards a poignant climax,
but there was no Best Picture nomination to show for it.
1967 was a strong year with movies like The Graduate, Bonnie and Clyde,
and In the Heat of The Night leading the race.
But time has shown that Cool Hand Luke deserves a spot right up there with
the best of them, at least more than Doctor Doolittle might have.
>> Speaker 3: Why so serious?
>> Speaker 1: At number nine, The Dark Knight.
This movie redefined a genre and
Heath Ledger's Joker's performance speaks for itself.
2008 marked the last year of a five picture category, so
perhaps it's no coincidence that they decided to open it up for the next year.
There just wasn't any space to take a big genre risk.
Academy voters chose generic dramas over Chris Nolan's critical and
box office success, with films like Benjamin Button,
The Reader, Frost/Nixon, Milk, and Slumdog Millionaire.
Which isn't exactly a surprise given the usual best picture type.
But we think years from now, The Dark Knight will be far more memorable and
important than some of the other movies that were recognized here.
>> Speaker 4: You're a big singing star now, remember?
>> Speaker 1: Number eight, Singin' In the Rain.
Even if you haven't seen the movie,
you're almost certainly familiar with the title song and dance number.
But Singin' In the Rain is an entirely entertaining story
of a movie studio's rough transition from silent movies to talkies.
To this day,
Singin' In the Rain is regarded as one of the best American musicals of all time,
headlined by a career defining performance from Gene Kelly.
He even got a special achievement award by the Academy that same year but
no Best Picture nod for his best picture.
Instead, the golden trophy went to The Greatest Show On Earth,
a film that is frequently seen all over worst Oscar winner lists.
>> Speaker 5: The eraser guys are coming here,
so what if you take me somewhere else?
>> Speaker 1: Coming in at number seven, Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind.
2004 was a relatively forgettable year at the Oscars.
Nominated films Ray, Sideways, Finding Neverland, The Aviator, and
Million Dollar Baby were solid, but
they're unlikely to find their way into the history books.
But Michel Gondry and Charlie Kaufman's weird little indie love story might.
Eternal Sunshine's story of two ex-lovers who attempt to erase each other from their
memories combined art house narrative weirdness with emotional
impact in a completely accessible way.
And that makes this movie as unique as they come.
And while that's not something the Academy usually recognizes,
it seems like audiences everywhere have.
[SOUND] At number six, the original King Kong.
Have you ever heard of the movie Cavalcade?
Yeah, neither had we.
But that's the movie that won over nine other films in 1934,
not one of which was King Kong.
In fact, King Kong didn't even receive a single nomination in any category at all.
But King Kong remains one of the most enduring movie monsters of all time.
Striking a perfect balance between fierce and
relatable as he scaled skyscrapers, fought dinosaurs, and fell in love.
And the movie itself has inspired audiences, films and filmmakers for
generations.
In fact,
just about the only group it couldn't manage to inspire was the Academy.
>> Speaker 6: Is anything wrong?
>> Speaker 1: At numbers five, four and
three respectively we have North by Northwest, Psycho and Vertigo,
getting snubbed back to back to back in 1958, 1959 and 1960.
That's right, three of Alfred Hitchcock's best films,
the same three that sit near the top of almost every best movie list ever,
were passed over for Best Picture nominations in three consecutive years.
And before you say that Rear Window was Alfred Hitchcock's best,
you should also know that it too was snubbed for Best Picture.
As a filmmaker, Alfred Hitchcock had unrivaled control over the craft of
narrative and storytelling.
Appropriately nicknamed the Master of Suspense,
he directed movies with such precision and understanding of his audience
that his films are about close to perfect you can get.
But, Hitchcock claimed that the Academy looked down on him for working
in lesser genres and it's no secret that he had a dodgy reputation in Hollywood.
Today though, it's hard to find a better renowned filmmaker than Alfred Hitchcock.
But if you were going to, it would probably be Stanley Kubrick.
Which brings us to number two, 2001, A Space Odyssey.
2001 is usually counted among such timeless classics as Casablanca,
The Godfather, and Citizen Kane, which was nominated but
famously lost the Best Picture category to How Green Was My Valley.
But 2001, A Space Odyssey,
the master filmmaker's masterpiece, didn't even make the short list in 1968.
This wasn't necessarily a surprise at the time.
2001 was not particularly well-received.
Critics walked out of the premiere, accusing it of being incomprehensible,
which is actually understandable.
2001, A Space Odyssey is slow, poetic and philosophical.
There's hardly even a plot to tie it together, but
it is as beautiful of a visual creation as any Rembrandt.
It's a shame it wasn't even nominated in the same year that Oliver won
Best Picture, but it almost seems irrelevant today.
2001, A Space Odyssey has certainly transcended the Academy Awards.
>> [MUSIC]
>> Speaker 7: Let me tell you the story of right hand, left hand.
It's a tale of good and evil.
>> Speaker 1: And finally, number one, Do the Right Thing.
Spike Lee's 1989 breakout hit was nothing short of revolutionary.
It is complex, balanced, frenetic, visceral and always entertaining.
His story of simmering racial hatred on a hot summer day in
Brooklyn reaches an incredible dreadful climax that turned out to be prophetic.
This was a new hip filmmaker with something important to say.
It was probably the best film of the year, but it didn't even receive a nomination.
What's worse is that it lost to Driving Miss Daisy.
The movie was important, not only for cinema, but for equality.
Here was a film that dared to say that racism was still a big problem in America,
while more popular films were suggesting it was a relic of the past.
Perhaps it paid for its boldness,
which is why it's number one on our list of Best Picture snubs.
So what do you think?
Did The Academy ignore a movie you think was a Best Picture?
Is there a movie on this list that was rightfully passed over?
Let us know in the comments below and
subscribe to CineFix for more IndieWire movie lists.
>> [MUSIC]