Historically Bad Calls by Industry Awards (Oscars, Grammys, etc)

[PaulBullion]

Pia Zadora won "Best Female Newcomer" at the Golden Globes for her role in the Golden Raspberry ridiculed "Butterfly", over Elizabeth McGovern and Kathleen Turner.


"Talk to the Animals" from Dr. Doolittle beat out "The Look of Love" from Casino Royale for best song at the Oscars. Unchained Melody was nominated for the 1955 movie "Unchained" but lost out to "Love Is a Many-Splendored Thing". The winning songs are largely forgotten, while the losing songs became classics and have been covered over and over.

La La Land was a weak-ass movie about a boring white guy saving jazz music, probably every other movie nominated that year would have been a better choice.

Any other ones?

[numberthirty]

Missed one of the biggies...

https://ultimateclassicrock.com/meta...y-jethro-tull/

When Metallica Somehow Lost a Metal Grammy to Jethro Tull

Cooper and Ford weren’t the only ones to assume Tull’s presence on the list was some kind of joke. In fact, during rehearsal earlier that day, the placeholder winner’s envelope contained a card with the prog-rock band’s name on it, making it seem almost certain they wouldn’t win. How could they? Surely it was between media favorites Jane’s Addiction and scene darlings Metallica.

“I opened the envelope, and when I saw the name, I thought they’d given me the envelope from the rehearsal,” Cooper told Classic Rock in 2016. “Everybody in that room was certain that Metallica would get the Grammy," he added. "I looked at it again, and it did have a different seal on it and details like that. It was the real thing. So I said, ‘For the Best Hard Rock/Heavy Metal Grammy … Jethro Tull!’ There was a two-minute pause, then everybody broke out laughing. They thought I was doing a joke.”

[PaulBullion]

Well, that flute is made of metal.

[numberthirty]

One other thing about that Pia Zadora win.

She didn't just beat out Kathleen Turner. Unless I'm recalling it all wrong, it's Kathleen Turner nominated for her role in the film Body Heat.

Just a really wild call.

[numberthirty]

Never mind that Mickey Rourke also probably could have been nominated for that film(even though it is a much smaller part...)

[PaulBullion]

One other thing about that Pia Zadora win.

She didn't just beat out Kathleen Turner. Unless I'm recalling it all wrong, it's Kathleen Turner nominated for her role in the film Body Heat.

Just a really wild call.

Considering "Butterfly" was only made because her husband was really, really rich and wanted his wife to be a movie star, maybe he bought some votes for her, too.

[Iron Maiden]

Considering "Butterfly" was only made because her husband was really, really rich and wanted his wife to be a movie star, maybe he bought some votes for her, too.

Bingo....it really showed what a sham the Golden Globes were at that time. Their reputation has improved over the years but it is still not taken as seriously as the Oscars, Screen Actors Guild, Directors Guild of America, etc. It's well attended because I've read they give a great party as part of the show.

[C_Miller]

La La Land was a weak-ass movie about a boring white guy saving jazz music, probably every other movie nominated that year would have been a better choice.

Which is why Moonlight won in one of the more memorable Oscar moments in history.

youtube.com/watch?v=GCQn_FkFElI

[worstblogever]

Marisa Tomei getting an Oscar for My Cousin Vinny is still perplexing. Besides, she's been a better supporting actress in movies like The Wrestler, just for one. Chaplin, Untamed Heart, Lincoln Lawyer...


I mean, the knock on the Oscars has always been that they give out "the make-up Oscar", where they give an older actor an Oscar for a role late in the career as an apology of sorts for missing when they didn't win at a time when they deserved to. And meanwhile, they slight someone else more deserving who's younger, only to give them a "make-up Oscar" for letting the veteran take one over them earlier.

Case in point, Cecil B. DeMille didn't win for "The Ten Commandments" and lost to "Around the World in 80 Days" so somehow years later, "The Greatest Show on Earth" won.

Also, I have no idea who Harvey Weinstein must have threatened to kill (a lot of people, I'd wager) to get "Shakespeare in Love" to win over "Saving Private Ryan". I like the former, but it can't hold a candle to the latter. The Normandy scene ALONE, for goodness sake.

[Iron Maiden]

Marisa Tomei getting an Oscar for My Cousin Vinny is still perplexing. Besides, she's been a better supporting actress in movies like The Wrestler, just for one. Chaplin, Untamed Heart, Lincoln Lawyer...


I mean, the knock on the Oscars has always been that they give out "the make-up Oscar", where they give an older actor an Oscar for a role late in the career as an apology of sorts for missing when they didn't win at a time when they deserved to. And meanwhile, they slight someone else more deserving who's younger, only to give them a "make-up Oscar" for letting the veteran take one over them earlier.

Case in point, Cecil B. DeMille didn't win for "The Ten Commandments" and lost to "Around the World in 80 Days" so somehow years later, "The Greatest Show on Earth" won.

Also, I have no idea who Harvey Weinstein must have threatened to kill (a lot of people, I'd wager) to get "Shakespeare in Love" to win over "Saving Private Ryan". I like the former, but it can't hold a candle to the latter. The Normandy scene ALONE, for goodness sake.

I can see you disputing the Greatest Show on Earth Winning but your chronology is wrong. That film was release in 1952, the Ten Commandments in 1956 and Around the World in 80 days was a Michael Todd production with director being Michael Anderson and released in 1956. That one was a real snore fest IMO. Years ago when I was a kid my older sisters treated me to that film with a trip on the train to Chicago to see it in the Michael Todd theater (which was still owned for many years afterward by his widow Elizabeth Taylor). I have never watched that film it it's entirety since. It is only entertaining feature would be to scan through it and see some of the numerous cameos.

The Greatest Show on Earth is at least more watchable but still not a great film. Betty Hutton was certainly an energetic performer but that's about it. BTW, it loosely is based on a tragic circus train accident that occurred very near where I grew up neck of the woods in 1918. The death toll was 86 circus performers and workers (Emmet Kelley Sr. was a survivor)

While browsing through other disputed winners, I will add in here one I came across: Titanic over L.A. Confidential

[Swamp Thing 2099]

Kevin Spacey beating Brad Pitt for Best Supporting Actor.

One performance has aged like fine wine. The other has aged like a corpse.

[From The Shadows]

For the Oscars... a lot comes down to personal taste, and sometimes story does matter. I personally think Sissy Spacek was better than Halle Berry that year, but Sissy had already won AND no black actress had ever won Best Actress in it's history. So I get in some cases it's not just about 'performance vs. performance'; which is understandable. A lot comes down to opinion too, there are decisions I disagree with, but that doesn't make them "WTF" moments. They were good enough to nominate, for example.

The few I can think of:
- Crash winning over Brokeback Mountain is the ultimate 'bad call'.
- Melissa Leo winning for the Fighter (in general) is a bizarre choice; I don't remember her in it (Amy Adams was much better and in it much more). But add in she won over Helena Bonham-Carter for the King's Speech, that I cannot understand.


It... wasn't about the guy??? It was about Emma Stone. Though I do agree, his character was not very good.


See, I understand that one. Not only do I enjoy Shakespeare in Love much more, but I get for an entertainment industry, it just connects with them so much more.

Rod Steiger didn't hide his disappointment when Shakespear in Love won over SPR.

Another one that used get mentioned a lot was Whoopi Goldberg winning for Ghost and Julia Roberts winning over Ellen Burstyn. I think losing to Erin Brokovich was the worst travesty ever. And I enjoyed the performance.

[Papa Moai]

Marisa Tomei getting an Oscar for My Cousin Vinny is still perplexing. Besides, she's been a better supporting actress in movies like The Wrestler, just for one. Chaplin, Untamed Heart, Lincoln Lawyer...

I think an argument could be made that a big part of why Tomei's Oscar feels weird is that the Academy doesn't usually reward comedic acting. I mean, in all fairness, it is pretty memorable role in a genuinely good movie.

[Mister Mets]

Hitchcock was not even nominated for Best Director for North by Northwest or Vertigo.

Scorsese was not nominated for Best Director for Taxi Driver.

The Dark Knight's failure to get nominated for Best Director or Best Picture probably led to the Academy changing the number of nominations.

I think an argument could be made that a big part of why Tomei's Oscar feels weird is that the Academy doesn't usually reward comedic acting. I mean, in all fairness, it is pretty memorable role in a genuinely good movie.

Yeah, it's hardly an egregious loss from a quality perspective.

Rod Steiger didn't hide his disappointment when Shakespear in Love won over SPR.

Another one that used get mentioned a lot was Whoopi Goldberg winning for Ghost and Julia Roberts winning over Ellen Burstyn. I think losing to Erin Brokovich was the worst travesty ever. And I enjoyed the performance.

I thought Whoopi was expected to win for Ghost, partly because she had lost for A Color Purple to Geraldine Page.

[Iron Maiden]

Hitchcock was not even nominated for Best Director for North by Northwest or Vertigo.

Scorsese was not nominated for Best Director for Taxi Driver.

The Dark Knight's failure to get nominated for Best Director or Best Picture probably led to the Academy changing the number of nominations.


Yeah, it's hardly an egregious loss from a quality perspective.

I thought Whoopi was expected to win for Ghost, partly because she had lost for A Color Purple to Geraldine Page.

Yeah, I thought the Whoopi Oscar for Ghost was maybe an example of a "make up" Oscar given when their best performance was in another film they were nominated for but lost.