Scorcese and the Oscar



Until recently, Martin Scorcese embodied the phrase, “Always the bridesmaid, never the bride.” He had previously been nominated for Best Director on five occasions, before his win in 2006 for “The Departed”.

When comparing some of Scorcese’s nominated films to the ones that won, it’s easy to wonder if the Academy had departed from its good senses. Its most surprising error may be that Scorcese didn’t even receive a nomination for directing “Taxi Driver” which was considered by many critics to be the best film of the 1970’s.

Robert Redford won an Oscar in 1980 for his first venture into directing for “Ordinary People”, a film that has mostly been forgotten with the passage of time. Scorcese’s “Raging Bull” won Robert De Niro the Best Actor Award, but Scorcese walked away empty handed once again.

Then in 1990, Kevin Costner’s directorial debut, “Dances with Wolves”, won him the Oscar for Best Director. This was in competition with Scorcese’s “Goodfellas”, a film many believe to the best film of the 1990s.

A common argument among film buffs is why Oscar winners win. Do they win because their work on the nominated film is outstanding, Is it their body of work, or an apology for previous losses that wins, After all, Scorcese has been making films for over thirty years. Regardless of the reason, we can look back at Hitchcock’s blank trophy case and hope that we as moviegoers have learned our lesson.

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