FAMOUS SNUBS!!!!

My relationship with the Oscars can be summed up as love/hate, as in sometimes I hate myself for loving them. The reason for this is simple, the Academy are a bunch of boneheads who have made some of the worst choices for best films, actors, directors....etc. in history. Of course this argument isn't new, but it's always fun to point out a few of the blunders the Academy has made over the years, here's a few names.

Anthony Perkins for Psycho: I just watched "Psycho" again about a week ago and Perkin's performance just astounds me every time I see it. To think if it were not for this definitive performance as Norman Bates we would not have other monsters who have been up for Oscar gold such as Hannibal Lecter or Anton Chigurh.

Fred Astaire/Ginger Rogers for Top Hat/Swing Time/The Gay Divorcee: The Academy doesn't seem to find it difficult to nominate stars such as Renee Zellwigger, Catherine Zeta-Jones, Nicole Kidman, Johnny Depp, or even Jennifer Hudson (Remember her, "the next big thing"?) but when it comes to the reigning King and Queen of the Hollywood musical, there was no love. Perhaps it was the fact most of their films were light romantic comedies but Astaire and Rogers made it seem so effortless and were able to transport us to a world only dreamt in movies. Rogers later received a best actress oscar for the ten hanky melodrama "Kitty Foyle" and Mr. Astaire's only Oscar nomination came 40 years later as Best Supporting Actor for the very non-musical "The Towering Inferno" (Say Whaaaaat?)

Cary Grant: One of the greatest Hollywood actors received only two Best Actor nods for films no one ever remembers. Not one nomination for his classic comedies ("Bringing Up Baby", "His Girl Friday",) or his dramas (Only Angels Have Wings, Notorious), or just where he's playing a little bit of everything (North by Northwest). For shame.

John Wayne for The Searchers/Red River: Wayne sometimes is not called that great of an actor, but look again you non-believers with these two performances in two of what are arguably the greatest westerns of all time. Wayne never shied away from being unlikable in his two most darkest roles, but I guess the Academy liked him better playing the more likable Rooster Cockburn in "True Grit" where he won his only Oscar.

Barbara Stanwyck for The Lady Eve: It's hard to state this since Stanwyck was nominated the same year for her other great comic performance in "Ball of Fire" and the margin of greatness between the two films is just too narrow to know which ones best, so why not just nominate her for both films. No one could do seduction like Stanwyck and make it so funny.

James Stewart and Kim Novak for Vertigo: Hitchcock's greatest film garnered zero love when it was released in 1958, but now most people would agree that both Stewart as the detective who tries to remake his dead girlfriend from another woman, and Novak playing the roles of said women are two of the greatest performances put on screen. Does anyone remember who did win that year? Didn't think so, long live "Vertigo"

Orson Welles for Touch of Evil/The Third Man: Welles was pretty much a force to be reckoned with anytime he was on screen but with these two films he created two of the most chilling villains (or anti-heroes depending how you look at it) in film history. As Marlene Deitrich said so well at the end of "Touch of Evil" ..."He was some kind of man."

Gene Kelly/Donald O'Connor/Debbie Reynolds for Singing in the Rain: Remember when the idea for a Hollywood movie was to entertain? "Singin in the Rain" is probably the purest form of entertainment ever put of screen and most of it is due to its trio of stars. Whether it's Kelly doing his famous dance in the rain or O'Connor killing him self to "Make em Laugh" or all three of them going all out with "Good Morning". These three performers gave it their all to entertain us.

Katherine Hepburn/Spencer Tracy for Adam's Rib: It's safe to say this famous duo both received their share of accolades and awards through their long career, but with what is probably their best movie together, no love was given. Tracy and Hepburn define the word chemistry in this film and it's a shame it wasn't taken as seriously as their other work.

Henry Fonda for mostly everything Post-"Grapes of Wrath" and Pre-"On Golden Pond": It was a long dry spell for one of cinema's greatest actors from his first nomination till his second and only win. In between these two films, they forgot "The Ox-Bow Incident", "My Darling Clementine", "Fort Apache", "Mister Roberts", "The Wrong Man", and "12 Angry Men" just to name a few. Perhaps it was because his acting was never showy, but it was always sincere.

Edward G. Robinson for Double Indemnity and Key Largo: In my opinion Robinson was probably one of the best actors ever to work in Hollywood. He was able to steal scenes so easily particularily in these two films. Although he wasn't the star, I think he pretty much got the best lines. Like his character Keys in "Double Indemnity" I'm sure his little man was saying to him "You were robbed my friend".

Lauren Bacall for To Have and Have Not: I'm sure many men were practicing their whistling the moment Becall said those immortal words to Humphrey Bogart in this classic film that introduced the stars together for the first time. Of all of Bogart's women, from Mary Astor to Ingred Bergman, Bacall was the only one who could stick with him till the bitter end, and I wouldn't have it any other way. Her only nomination so far was for some Barbara Streisand flick no one remembers.

James Cagney for Public Enemy and White Heat: The two bookends in Cagney's amazing gangster career were his two strongest. In "Public Enemy" he pretty much showed a generation what it meant to act and be tough, and in "White Heat" he explodes (literally) with a certain psychopathic meaness not seen since. To think this actor got his only oscar for playing a song and dance man.

Humphrey Bogart for The Maltese Falcon and The Big Sleep: There isn't much of a difference between detectives Sam Spade and Phillip Marlowe, they're both clever, funny, and smarter than anyone else in the room at any given time. I suppose Marlowe does give a better impression of a bookworm than Spade does, but when we think private eye, these two names come up and that's because Bogart put his mark on both of them. The problem was he made it look so effortless the Academy probably didn't think he was acting.

More snubs with come later when I think of them, but right now tell me some of your snubs the Academy has chosn to ignore. I'd love to hear them.