'Killers of the Flower Moon' was shut out at the Oscars. So were these classic movies
The cinematic awards season run for Martin Scorsese's made-in-Oklahoma epic "Killers of the Flower Moon" ended Sunday in a disappointing shutout at the 96th Academy Awards.
The biggest movie ever made in Oklahoma became Scorsese's third film — after 2019's “The Irishman” and 2002's “Gangs of New York” — to get 10 Academy Award nominations but not win a single Oscar.
Filmed in and around Osage County in 2021, Scorsese's historical drama was nominated in top Oscars categories like best picture, best director for Scorsese and best actress for Lily Gladstone, who became the first Native American to be nominated for best actress in the nearly 100-year history of the Academy Awards.
"Killers of the Flower Moon" was heralded for spotlighting a dark and often-overlooked chapter of Oklahoma and American history: The 1920s "Reign of Terror," a series of brutal murders of Osage Nation citizens by white people scheming to steal their oil wealth.
The fact-based Western set at least seven Academy Awards records with its 10 nominations, largely a reflection of the filmmakers' careful and collaborative efforts in telling the Indigenous story, and is expected to have a lasting legacy.
Plus, "Killers of Flower Moon" is hardly the first acclaimed movie to go winless at the Oscars — in fact, there are probably more of them than you think.
Check out this surprising list of classic films that aren't Oscar winners:
'The Shawshank Redemption' (1994)
Ranked No. 1 on IMDB's Top 250 Movies list, Frank Darabont's esteemed adaptation of Stephen King's 1982 novella "Rita Hayworth and Shawshank Redemption" was nominated for seven Oscars, including best picture. But between "Forrest Gump" and "Pulp Fiction," the beloved prison drama got squeezed off the winners list.
'Field of Dreams' (1989)
Presenter John Mulaney got big laughs with his bit at this year's Oscars about how "Field of Dreams" should win best picture. But the cherished baseball tale didn't even win best picture in 1990 when it was nominated for best picture. Despite its three nods, the sports saga was shut out at the Oscars, and top prize went to "Driving Miss Daisy."
'The Wolf of Wall Street' (2013)
"Killers of the Flower Moon" marked Scorsese's sixth film with movie star Leonardo DiCaprio, and it's not the only one that has nabbed several Oscar nominations only to wind up empty-handed. Their controversial 2013 ode to Wall Street excess couldn't cash in on any of its five Oscar nominations, with best picture going to "12 Years a Slave" and DiCaprio losing his fifth Academy Awards bid to Matthew McConaughey for "Dallas Buyers Club." (DiCaprio finally won his lone Oscar in 2016 for Alejandro G. I?árritu's survival story "The Revenant.")
'The Big Lebowski' (1998)
The year after their "Fargo" snatched up two Academy Awards, Joel and Ethan Coen released another comedic crime caper that didn't get any Oscars love at all. Not a single nomination for The Dude? This aggression will not stand, man. An Oscar would have really tied the room together, but we're going to quote this underdog tale forever anyway.
'It’s a Wonderful Life' (1946)
The yuletide fable from director Frank Capra didn't get any of the five Academy Awards on its nominations list, as "The Best Years of Our Lives" dominated the 1947 Oscars. But that hasn't stopped the seasonal drama starring Jimmy Stewart, Donna Reed and Henry Travers from becoming a Christmas classic.
'Heat' (1995)
Writer-director Michael Mann's scorching heist movie starred Al Pacino, Robert De Niro, Val Kilmer, Tom Sizemore Amy Brenneman, Ashley Judd and Cherokee actor and Oklahoma native Wes Studi. But it didn't get a single Oscar nod. Talk about robbery.
'Taxi Driver' (1976)
You talkin' to me? During Sunday's Oscars, host Jimmy Kimmel noted that De Niro, nominated for best supporting actor for "Killers of the Flower Moon," and Jodie Foster, nominated for best supporting actress for "Nyad," were both nominated 48 years ago for their turns in Scorsese's 1976 drama. Neither of them won this year — or for four-time Oscar nominee "Taxi Driver," which goes on Scorsese's arguably too-long list of Academy Awards shutouts.
'The Good, the Bad and the Ugly' (1966)
Sergio Leone's influential spaghetti Western starring Clint Eastwood, Eli Wallach and Lee Van Cleef wasn't nominated for a single Academy Award. No, not even for Ennio Morricone's now-iconic score.
'Psycho' (1960)
Speaking of iconic scores, Bernard Herrmann's work on this Alfred Hitchcock masterpiece didn't score an Oscar, either. The classic thriller scared up four Academy Award nominations, including nods for Hitchcock and star Janet Leigh, but it didn't draw any victories. Despite his reputation as the "Master of Suspense," Hitchcock was nominated for five best director Oscars but never won.
'The Shining' (1980)
If you think Scorsese has rough Oscars luck, legendary filmmaker Stanley Kubrick's is arguably worse. Despite Jack Nicholson's unhinged performance, his Stephen King adaptation wasn't nominated for a single Oscar. His satirical "Dr. Strangelove" was nominated for four Oscars but got shut out, as did his dystopian crime film "A Clockwork Orange." Kubrick only snared one Academy Award across his celebrated five-decade career: for best visual effects for his 1968 opus "2001: A Space Odyssey," a key inspiration for the 2023 blockbuster "Barbie," which only won a single Oscar Sunday night, for best original song.
'A Few Good Men' (1992)
You can't handle the truth about Rob Reiner's star-studded legal drama. Adapted by Aaron Sorkin from his own play, it was nominated for four Oscars, including best picture, and at least Nicholson got a supporting actor nod this time. But the film lost amid a competitive Oscars field that included "Unforgiven," "Howard's End" and "Bram Stoker's Dracula."
'12 Angry Men' (1957)
The Academy is also guilty of leaving this classic courtroom saga winless despite its three Oscar nods, including best picture. The big winner in 1958 was "The Bridge Over the River Kwai."
'The Color Purple' (1985)
The 2023 movie-musical version of Alice Walker's Pulitzer Prize-winning 1982 novel was nominated for one Oscar — best supporting actress for Danielle Brooks — but didn't win on Sunday. Turn back the pages of Academy history nearly four decades, and you'll find that Steven Spielberg's controversial 1985 non-musical adaptation, starring Whoopi Goldberg, Danny Glover and Oprah Winfrey, was nominated for 11 Oscars but didn't win any gold. Spielberg's "The Color Purple" tied 1977's "The Turning Point" to become the movie with the most Oscar nominations without any wins.
'Blade Runner' (1982)
The Academy has earned its bad reputation for disrespecting science fiction and other genre films, which explains why Ridley Scott's cult classic only got two nominations. But that doesn't explain why "Blade Runner" was locked out at the 1983 Oscars, while Spielberg's "E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial" picked up nine nods and phoned home with four wins. Fortunately, there's room for androids and aliens on most film fans' list of 1980s cinema classics.
'Seven Samurai' (1954)
Although Akira Kurosawa received an honorary Oscar in 1990, his influential epic was only nominated for two Academy Awards — for art direction and costume design, both in the black-and-white categories — and wasn't victorious in either. The samurai story went on to inspire American cinematic classics like 1960 Western "The Magnificent Seven," which also went winless at the Oscars, and the 1977 space saga starter "Star Wars,' which won six Academy Awards.
This article originally appeared on Oklahoman: 'Killers of the Flower Moon' and other films shut out in the Oscars