50 Years of Oscar Inconsistency: The 1980s

As promised, here's the results of my insanely inefficient examination of Oscar's snubs. But, before I begin, let me be clear what I mean by "snub". I'm looking at which movies got all the right nominations but either still couldn't get the Best Picture win or even get a Best Picture nomination. These aren't the movies that couldn't even get nominated for anything. These are the movies that seems to get all the love from the Academy except for the big one. If you still don't understand what I mean, keep reading. You will.

In case you missed my lengthy diatribe about why I'm doing this. Here you go. And, in cased you missed my explanation of how I calculated the "snubs", here you go.

Previously: The 2000s

               The 1990s

62nd Academy Awards

The infamous no directing nomination win of Driving Miss Daisy. Born of the Fourth of July (18) had the directing nod and a slight edge over Daisy. Additionally, as crowd-pleasing as it was, Field of Dreams being in the best picture field didn't make much sense over Glory (19).

61st Academy Awards

Gorillas in the Mist (20) really should've been nominated over The Accidental Tourist.


60th Academy Awards

This was a fairly tight race with no obvious movies that didn't belong in the best picture list. Technically though, Empire in the Sun (21) had more right be be nominated than Hope and Glory, but not by much.


59th Academy Awards

Another year of the favorite winning, but only being a soft favorite with Platoon edging out A Room with a View. It looks like bias against genre fare caused Children of a Lesser God to get nominated for best picture over Aliens (22). C'est la vie.


58th Academy Awards

A pretty boring year. Out of Africa is tied for the 2nd biggest nomination haul of the 80s. It couldn't be beat.


57th Academy Awards

Who did Out of Africa tie with for 2nd biggest nomination haul of the 80s, you ask? That would be A Passage to India (23) which lost to formidable foe, Amadeus.
The River (24) really should've been nominated for best picture over A Soldier's Story as well, from the look of things.


56th Academy Awards

Terms of Endearment was the easy to predict winner this year. The movie with the second strongest nomination profile though was Silkwood (25), which didn't even get a best picture nod. It's safe to say that it had more claim for a best picture nod than The Big Chill.

55th Academy Awards

This was a weird year for strong nominees both in and out of the Best Picture field. Das Boot and An Officer and a Gentleman (26) (along with some others not mentioned) all have a strong case to get a best picture nomination over The Verdict or Missing.


54th Academy Awards

The biggest head-scratcher yet. No movie was more nominated in the 80s than Reds (27). Chariots of Fire somehow walked away with the win though. Ragtime (28) also should've been in the field over Atlantic City. Just look at it.


53rd Academy Awards

This is the last time a movie won without an Editing nomination (which I find to be an arbitrary stat more than indicative). Somehow, Ordinary People (29) beat out all-time classics The Elephant Man and Raging Bull which both had a better argument to win.

The 80s sure ended not making a lot of sense. 21 left...