20 of the worst Oscar winners in history

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Tom Huddleston sorts the least deserving Academy Award winners

It’s Oscar season once again – and while Academy members scratch their heads trying to decide which of this year’s crop of worthy titles deserves to take home the big prize, we trawl the archives to uncover the worst Oscar offences of all time. From the film that beat ‘Citizen Kane’ to Best Picture to the time ‘Harry and the Hendersons’ walked away with a handful of gold, here are all the Academy’s biggest blunders in one handy list.

This is by no means a definitive rundown of all of Oscar’s shoddy decisions – we didn’t even have room to mention Celine Dion or ’Chicago’ – so if you really, really hate ‘Titanic’ or really, really love ‘Forrest Gump’, tell us about it in the comments box below.

20. Mauro Fiore for ‘Avatar’

Best Cinematography, 82nd Academy Awards, 2010

How can a film made on a computer win an award for Cinematography? Would ‘Toy Story’ be equally eligible? And even if it wasn’t the product of 10,000 keyboard-bothering nerds rather than one experienced cameraman, the fact remains that ‘Avatar’ may be slick and action-packed but it’s not a particularly lovely film to look at, unless you’re a big fan of puce green and baby blue.

It could’ve been: ‘The White Ribbon’. End of story.




Browse through our list of Oscar blunders

Victor Fleming for 'Gone with the Wind' (1939) 'How Green was My Valley' (1941) 'The Greatest Show on Earth' (1952) 'Around the World in 80 Days' (1956) Leon Shamroy for 'Cleopatra' (1963) 'The Sound of Music' (1965) 'Une Homme et une Femme' (1966) John G Avildsen for 'Rocky' (1977) 'I Just Called to Say I Love You' by Stevie Wonder (1985) 'Out of Africa' (1986) Rick Baker for 'Harry and the Hendersons' (1988) 'Driving Miss Daisy' (1990) Anthony Hopkins for ‘The Silence of the Lambs’, Al Pacino for ‘Scent of a Woman’ Three drippy ballads from Disney 'Forrest Gump' (1994) 'A Beautiful Mind' (2002) Renee Zellweger for ‘Cold Mountain’ (2003) 'Crash' (2006) 'The Secret in Their Eyes' (2010) Mauro Fiore for 'Avatar' (2010)

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Rated as: 4/5 (2 ratings)

  • Compiling a list of Oscars blunders can be just as spotty as the Academy's choices. Huddleston is eager to find fault, and overreaches here and there. "The Greatest Show on Earth" and "Around the World in Eighty Days" are easy choices — they have been on my list for some time. Other "blunders" are moot. I'll make a hypothetical wager: if one of the "could've been" films had won the Oscar, Huddleston would still find fault in the choice. For instance, "Dead Poets Society" over "Driving Miss Daisy", or "Quiz Show" over "Forrest Gump".

    Rob Lawson Sun Apr 7
    Rated as: 4/5
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  • Great list! I think the biggest mistake the academy has made was awarding LOTR - Return of the king as best film when Sofia Coppola's stunning Lost in Translation was nominated. LOTR trilogy is great, but the last part completely lacks a soul...

    Paavo Wed Mar 27
    Rated as: 4/5
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