9 Surprise Oscar Wins That Still Make You Mad

Every year, Oscars are handed out. And every year, there is a loud contingent of movie fans that believe some of the winners should give those Oscars back.

Look, we get it – upsets happen. The Oscars aren’t perfect (especially this year). A sentimental favorite often gets the statue over the more deserving or less popular choice. And, judging by the unpredictable 2019 race, this year’s Academy Awards show will surely be no exception.

In honor of this year’s ceremony – from Dances With Wolves beating Goodfellas, to Roberto Benigni going full Benigni on stage – here are a few Oscars that we think the Academy should take back. Honestly, the Academy probably wishes they could, too.

‘Goodfellas’ Losing To ‘Dances With Wolves’

1990 gave us a modern classic. It also gave us Kevin Costner and really pretty vistas for three hours.

Martin Scorsese’s Goodfellas achieved iconic status the moment it hit screens, paving its path to Oscar gold while Costner’s impressive epic was also gathering steam. The Academy gave Wolves seven awards, including Best Picture. In the almost 30 years since, hindsight strongly indicates Scorsese’s film was robbed – it has certainly lasted longer in the pop culture lexicon than Costner’s film. Goodfellas merch adorns dorm room walls yet today. When’s the last time you saw Wolves‘ Lt. Dunbar poster at a Target or Spencer Gifts? Hmm?

Weinstein Vs. Spielberg For Best Picture

…And Spielberg lost. Going into the 1999 ceremony 20 years ago, Miramax started their now-infamous process of spending whatever they could to will Oscar wins into existence with Shakespeare In Love. At the time, the surest bet was Saving Private Ryan taking home the Best Picture Oscar. Hell, the Academy even booked Harrison Ford to announce the victor at the end of the night – a sign that even the Oscars were all but certain who was going to add an award to their mantle by night’s end. (There’s even a fascinating Twitter thread chronicling this particular Best Picture race, if you want to read.)

But, instead of calling out the name of his Raiders of the Lost Ark director’s WWII epic – a film that would change the way Hollywood made war movies (and make it safe for Hollywood to release prestige pics during the summer season) – Ford announced Shakespeare In Love. 20 years later, our jaws are still on the floor. And our fists still shake at the sky.

Tom Cruise Vs. Michael Caine For Best Supporting Actor

Credit: New Line

We don’t know what’s worse: The fact that Tom Cruise has never won an Oscar or that he lost his surest chance of winning one to Michael Caine for The Cider House Rules.

No one really talks about Cider House Rules now. But cinephiles are still obsessed with Paul Thomas Anderson’s Magnolia, the filmmaker’s 1999 Altman-esque epic about the messiness of human relationships, lots of Aimee Mann, and raining frogs.

Cruise was nominated for Best Supporting Actor for his scary-good performance as Frank T.J. Mackey, a woman-hating motivational speaker with daddy issues. The character is still home to a Top Five-worthy performance from Cruise; some would argue he’s never been better. (Which might explain why Magnolia marks the last time he was nominated for an Oscar.) Caine’s charming work in Cider House has not aged as well as Cruise’s go-for-broke vulnerability, but it is still a solid performance. The Academy loves to give “career awards” for certain members of the acting Old Guard and some would argue Caine had the sympathy vote on lock, which gave him the edge over Cruise. Fans, however, can’t get over Ethan Hunt being robbed of a much-deserved Oscar win.

That Time Roberto Benigni Won Best Actor

This is one of the biggest head scratchers in Oscar history.

Life Is Beautiful was expected to be Miramax’s big Oscar push in 1998, until enthusiastic reactions coming out of press screenings for Shakespeare In Love lead Miramax to put the majority of their awards campaign muscle (and funds) toward Love. But Beautiful, a moving WWII-set comedy-drama from its Italian star and director Benigni, gathered enough kudos to send Benigni literally leaping to the Oscars’ stage to accept is Best Actor award. Watch for yourself below:

The competition that year was stiff – many were betting on Nick Nolte’s harsh performance in Affliction, Edward Norton’s fierce work in American History X, or Tom Hanks in Saving Private Ryan. Yet, somehow, Benigni beat them all. We still have no idea how.

‘The Pianist’ Takes Home Best Director

Oh, 2002… what were you thinking?

That year’s Academy Awards were shaping up to be a dead heat between Chicago‘s Rob Marshall and the always-nominated-never-won Martin Scorsese for his long-gestating epic, Gangs of New York. Given director Roman Polanski’s legal troubles, which kept him out of the United States, Oscar pundits found his chances of winning to be just a notch above slim-to-none. And just like with the 1999 ceremony, Harrison Ford once again came out on stage to announce the surprising victor. Sometimes, the tragicomedy writes itself.

‘Pulp Fiction’ Losing Best Picture To ‘Forrest Gump’

This one is right up there with Goodfellas losing to Dances With Wolves.

Audiences flipped for Forrest Gump in the summer of 1994. Siskel and Ebert even devoted a special episode to address the film’s box office phenomenon: “Why Gump, Why Now?” And no one disagrees that Tom Hanks’ record-setting second consecutive Oscar win for Best Actor was much-deserved. At the same time? To paraphrase Pulp Fiction, Gump isn’t even in the same league, stadium, or sport as Quentin Tarantino’s landmark movie.

It’s unlikely we’ll ever see a movie like this Los Angeles-set drama have such a ripple effect on Hollywood again or create a legacy that puts it up there with the likes of The Godfather. While QT deservedly took home the prize for Best Original Screenplay, one can’t help but imagine an alternate reality where he also scored the Best Picture statue.

And The Best Picture Is… ‘Chariots Of Fire’?!

Warren Beatty’s historical epic Reds was as close to a frontrunner for Best Picture of 1981 as you could get. Raiders of the Lost Ark also had some fans – enough to make it a nominee, at least. Ditto the Katherine Hepburn weepie On Golden Pond. So when it was announced that the 1924 Olympics movie, Chariots of Fire, was taking home the biggest prize of the night, both the audience and Fire‘s filmmakers were equally surprised.

Outside of the movie’s memorable Vangelis tune, perfect for slow-mo running, few put this Oscar winner at the top of their must rewatch lists, whereas Raiders and Reds rank among the best movies the medium has ever made.

Juliette Binoche Beats Lauren Freakin’ Bacall

Remember, the Academy loves to use one performance to honor actors’ entire careers when those actors start getting long in the tooth with no golden hardware to show for it. After 50 years without even a nomination, that aspect of the awards voting process seemed to be in acting legend Bacall’s favor. That, and she truly deserved a win for her engaging performance in 1996’s The Mirror Has Two Faces.

Then, Miramax’s The English Patient happened. Yes, Miramax again – you get where we’re going with this. A precursor to Miramax’s Shakespeare In Love campaign blitzkrieg, the company pushed Patient in all categories. It won (smdh) Best Picture and Best Supporting Actress for Juliette Binoche. Watching the telecast, no one seems more surprised by it than Binoche herself – and when the recipient themselves is blindsided by a win, you know it was the wrong call. If only they could have turned the camera on the TV audience at home that year.

‘Crash’ Wins Best Picture – Wait, Really?

The critically-acclaimed, awards circuit favorite Brokeback Mountain losing to the contrived, TV movie-level melodrama of Crash is shameful at best. This and Fire‘s Best Picture upset are truly in the Top Five list of mulligans the Academy wishes they could take.

Mountain is a timeless story about two cowboys struggling to be who they are and with each other in the face of a world that isn’t ready to embrace them the way they deserve. Director Ang Lee is one of the few filmmakers to ever craft a perfect movie – every scene has the exact amount of whatever it needs to service the story and resonate with audiences. That makes its loss even more painful, especially when looked back on through a 2019 lens.

Lee won Best Director, deservedly so, but was forced to watch Crash take home the night’s highest honor. At the time, Crash and The Sting were the only two movies ever to win Best Picture that weren’t nominated for any of the three Golden Globe Awards for Best Motion Picture.