10 Amazing Movies That Didn't Receive An Oscar Nomination

3. Once Upon A Time In The West

The Film: Try and figure this out: one of the defining Westerns of all time, a film that is as beautiful as it is exhilarating, wasn't allowed to saddle up at the 41st Academy Awards. The night ended with the likes of Oliver! (yawn) and The Lion In Winter (longer yawn) receiving a heap of nominations in what remains a very weak year for Oscar.

But while the above have since faded into Sunday afternoon on Channel 5 obscurity, Sergio Leone's picture has gained itself a grand, dust strewn legacy. People have got past how good his Dollars Trilogy is - this was an issue when it came to critiquing the film back in 1968 - and seen this as his true masterpiece. Be it Tonino Delli Colli's screen-spanning cinematography, Dario Argento's slow-paced script work or Henry Fonda pulling off one of the most surprising against type turns ever recorded, Once Upon A Time In the West is great and will forever remain a mystifying exclusion from the awards.

What Nominations It Should Have Received: Best Picture, Best Director (Leone), Best Supporting Actor (Fonda), Best Cinematography,
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Contributor

Shaun is a former contributor for a number of Future Publishing titles and more recently worked as a staffer at Imagine Publishing. He can now be found banking in the daytime and writing a variety of articles for What Culture, namely around his favourite topics of film, retro gaming, music, TV and, when he's feeling clever, literature.