Movies with Multiple Oscars Nominees But Zero Win

"The Color Purple," released in 1985, was Steven Spielberg's eighth film as director. It received nominations for 11 Academy Awards, including Best Picture, Best Actress in a Leading Role (Whoopi Goldberg), and Best Cinematography. Along with 1977's "The Turning Point," it received the most Oscar nominations without a single win.

When it comes to Oscar shutouts, two films are tied for the record: 11 nominations without a single win. The first of these is Turning Point, which received its litany of inglorious snubbings at the 50th Academy Awards. There are plenty of movies from the 1970s that are still popular today and have cemented their place in pop culture history. However, this 1977 ballet drama is not one of them and few would consider it a classic. However, what really took it down was the competition. The 1978 Oscars belonged to Annie Hall (4 wins) and Star Wars (6 wins), two films that remain beloved by most film fans to this day, leaving little left for other popular films like Julia (3 wins) and The Goodbye Girl and Close Encounters of the Third Kind (1 win each). With competition like that, a two hour ballet drama didn’t stand a chance even if it did star Shirley MacLaine, Anne Bancroft, and ballet legend Mikhail Baryshnikov.

Despite the fact that Martin Scorsese had been planning to make Gangs of New York since 1978, when it was finally released in 2002 it wasn’t exactly the movie he wanted to make. His choice for the female lead, Sarah Polley, was reportedly rejected by Miramax for not being a big enough star (Cameron Diaz was cast instead). There were numerous on-set fights over budget issues, resulting in both Scorsese and star Leonardo DiCaprio giving up much of their salary. Finally, because Scorsese’s original cut ran over three and a half hours the release was delayed from December 2001 to December 2002 because producers wanted it shortened (the final release runs just over two hours). While even a truncated Scorsese movie might be awards-worthy in the eyes of Hollywood, Gangs of New York was shutout at the 2003 Oscars despite ten nominations. Another Miramax production, Chicago, beat Gangs of New York in six of those categories, including Best Picture. On top of that, Scorsese lost Best Director to The Pianist director Roman Polanski, a controversial pick to say the least because Polanski has been a fugitive from the U.S. ever since his 1978 conviction for allegedly sexually assaulting a 13 year-old girl. Though Gangs of New York isn’t considered one of Scorsese’s best films, Chicago isn’t really regarded as a classic either. Nonetheless, one wonders if Scorsese would have needed to wait until 2007 to finally win a Best Director Oscar had Gangs of New York been made to his original plans

True Grit is a remake of a John Wayne classic that reunited writers/directors Joel and Ethan Coen with The Big Lebowski star Jeff Bridges. It became one of the highest-grossing Westerns of all-time, and after scoring ten Oscar nominations it seemed like the Coens would add a few more Oscars to their collection. However, two factors led to True Grit being shutout. First, the 2011 Oscars is regarded as one of the stiffest competitions ever, with True Grit against The King’s Speech, Black Swan, The Fighter, Inception, and The Social Network in a number of categories, and two of the technical awards that True Grit was nominated for (Art Direction and Costume Design) went to Alice in Wonderland. The second issue was the timing. Jeff Bridges had just won a Best Actor Oscar the year before for Crazy Heart, and Academy voters usually don’t like to award actors back-to-back Oscars. Similarly, only three years earlier another Coen Brothers movie, No Country for Old Men, won four Oscars, including Best Adapted Screenplay, Best Director(s), and Best Picture. With that recent success and such tough competition True Grit was overlooked. By the way, cinematographer Roger Deakins was nominated for both No Country for Old Men and True Grit, but they just added to his losing streak.

American Hustle was undoubtedly one of the most popular movies released in 2013 with both critics and audiences, but it ended up having the same issues with the Academy as True Grit: a crowded field and timing. First, American Hustle was overshadowed by more popular films like 12 Years A Slave, Gravity, and Dallas Buyers Club. Second, the film was co-written and directed by David O. Russell, whose Silver Linings Playbook received even more praise the previous year. Russell, known as an actor’s director, not only scored a nomination for himself but impressively directed four American Hustle stars to nominations: Christian Bale for Best Actor, Amy Adams for Best Actress, Bradley Cooper for Best Supporting Actor, and Jennifer Lawrence for Best Supporting Actress. Though Lawrence was one of the favorites, she had won the Best Actress Oscar just a year earlier for Russell’s Silver Linings Playbook. Like Jeff Bridges in 2011, the Academy didn’t seem keen on making her a two-time winner in back-to-back years. However, Russell has now lost three Best Director Oscars.

The Remains of the Day nominated for eight Oscars including Best Actor in a Leading Role for Anthony Hopkins, Best Actress in a Leading Role for Emma Thompson, Best Director for James Ivory and Best Picture of the Year but it did not win any

"The Elephant Man" is the touching true story of Joseph Merrick, a severely deformed man. This 1980 drama, directed by David Lynch, received nominations for several categories at the Academy Awards, including Best Picture, yet won nothing. Because of the outrage resulting from the Academy overlooking the makeup effects, they introduced a separate makeup category the following year.

Considering the overall negative opinion on The Godfather Part III, you might be surprised that it was nominated for any Oscars at all. Even in the context of 1991 it did not make much sense because of the mixed reviews that critics and audiences gave the sequel when it was released. The Academy was probably playing favorites when it showered The Godfather Part III with seven Oscar nominations. While hindsight has judged that the big winner of the 1991 Oscars, Dances with Wolves, is not quite as good as voters thought it was, The Godfather Part III certainly wasn’t snubbed. In fact, a much better gangster movie was snubbed that year: Goodfellas. While Dances with Wolves won seven Oscars, including Best Picture, Best Director, Best Adapted Screenplay, and Best Film Editing, most now agree that all those awards should have went to Goodfellas instead.

"The Shawshank Redemption" is an American drama, directed by Frank Darabont, and based on a novella by Stephen King. It did not do well at the box office, barely clearing its $25 million production budget, but has since become a home cinema classic. It was in the running for seven Academy Awards, including Best Picture, but it did not receive one award

The test of time has redeemed movies that didn’t originally get their due. The 1944 adaptation of the novel Double Indemnity is a film noir classic by director Billy Wilder and his co-writer, iconic crime novelist Raymond Chandler. In fact, it’s surprising that the censors at the time allowed the film to be released since it is about a wife manipulating an insurance rep to kill her husband in order to collect on his life insurance. But the 1945 Academy Awards was dominated by the Bing Crosby musical Going My Way, the type feel-good of movie that American audiences went wild for during World War II. It was a major box office hit and was so beloved that actor Barry Fitzgerald was nominated for both Best Actor and Best Supporting Actor, something the Academy no longer allows. Even though the Cinematography and Art Direction awards were split back then (one for color films and one for black and white), Double Indemnity still came up short in every category. Paramount Pictures, which released Double Indemnity, likely didn’t care because Going My Way was also a Paramount release and was the top grossing film of the year. Double Indemnity didn’t even make the top twenty. If you look over the list of Oscar nominees in 1945 most of them are long forgotten. However Double Indemnity is still revered by film fans, which is a much more important distinction than winning Oscars.

Nebraska was nominated for six Oscars this year and was probably the best movie most people hadn’t seen. This low budget, black-and-white indie film about an old man who thinks he won a million dollars and his son’s attempts to convince him otherwise is wickedly funny and quirky, but played in less than 1000 theaters in the U.S. Nebraska’s nominations included Bruce Dern and June Squibb for Best Actor and Supporting Actress respectively but none of them won.

Director Martin Scorsese (whose name will pop up a few times on this list) has never made a film like the three-hour sex-and-drug fueled The Wolf of Wall Street. That alone garnered plenty of attention from Academy voters and it received five Oscar nominations this year. Though this included Scorsese’s eighth Best Director nomination and Jonah Hill’s second Best Supporting Actor nomination, all eyes were on Leonardo DiCaprio as The Wolf of Wall Street marked his fifth Best Actor nomination with no previous wins. As we now know, DiCaprio himself is now 0-5 because the Oscar went to Matthew McConaughey for Dallas Buyers Club (incidentally, McConaughey had a small role in The Wolf of Wall Street as DiCaprio’s character’s mentor). However, DiCaprio wasn’t the only shutout since the movie itself didn’t win any other Oscars either. Though The Wolf of Wall Street got rave reviews, ultimately it was probably too raunchy and chaotic for the Academy, which generally gravitates toward safer, feel-good dramas with strong “messages.” In other words, The Wolf of Wall Street didn’t have a chance.

Some people may think of "It's A Wonderful Life" as a saccharine story about peace on Earth and good will to all men; however, it is a surprisingly dark story, charting the life of a man so depressed he attempts to kill himself on Christmas Eve. The film received five Academy Award nominations, including Best Picture and Best Director (Frank Capra), yet it won nothing.

Alfred Hitchcock's classic thriller is a masterpiece of misdirection and shock tactics. Audiences were terrified, but the Academy barely raised an eyebrow, overlooking the movie entirely for Best Picture. Hitchcock was up for Best Director, and Janet Leigh was in the running for Best Supporting Actress, but they did not win.

"Dr. Strangelove or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb," usually referred to more simply as "Dr. Strangelove," received Oscar nominations for Best Actor (Peter Sellers), Best Adapted Screenplay, Best Picture, and Best Director, but won nothing. Criminally, director Stanley Kubrick never won the Best Director award throughout his entire career, despite the many wonderful films he directed.

"Taxi Driver," the 1976 vigilante movie from Martin Scorsese was perhaps a bit too visceral and "dirty" for the Academy. Despite receiving Oscar nominations for Best Picture, Best Actor (Robert De Niro), Best Actress in a Supporting Role (Jodie Foster), and Best Music, Original Score, it won nothing at all.

The 2002 crime drama "City of God" was a gripping insight into organized crime in the Cidade de Deus suburb of Rio de Janeiro. Loosely based on real events, and featuring superb acting from unknown youngsters, it should have cleaned up at the Academy Awards. However, it failed to win any of the four Oscars it received nominations for, and it did not even receive a nomination for Best Picture, earning it a place on Total Film's list of greatest films that never won at the Academy Awards.

Stanley Kubrick's "A Clockwork Orange," based on the novella of the same name by Anthony Burgess, received nominations for four Oscars: Best Director, Best Film Editing, Best Picture, and Best Adapted Screenplay. It won nothing.

Sidney Lumet's legal drama is a master class in character-driven storytelling, with powerhouse performances from its stars. Surprisingly, none of the cast received any Oscar nominations, and even though the film was up for Best Picture, Best Director, and Best Adapted Screenplay, Lumet went home empty-handed at the end of the evening.

"Vertigo" is arguably Alfred Hitchcock's most impressive work, and even placed second in Total Film's "100 Greatest Movies of All Time," in 2005. However, at the time of its release, the Academy was less than impressed. The film only received nominations for Best Art Direction and Best Sound, and it failed to win in either category.

Blade Runner is a seminal sci-fi movie that Empire gave a five star review. However, the Academy was not interested, criminally overlooking it at the Academy Awards. It received nominations only for Best Set Decoration and Best Visual Effects, and won in neither category.