10 Least Deserving Oscar Winners Ever

When asked for his opinion on Bruce Beresford's 1989 stage play adaptation, Spike Lee said "When Driving Miss motherf-----g Daisy won Best Picture, that hurt- no one's talking about Driving Miss Daisy now."

Do the Right Thing, Lee's acclaimed drama centred on racial tensions in a Brooklyn neighbourhood, was among several considerably better films to be snubbed in favour of Driving Miss Daisy.

In a year of hard-hitting, interesting dramas such as Born on the Fourth of July, My Left Foot and Sex, Lies and Videotape, the Academy went for a middlebrow drama with a distastefully rose-tinted view of pre-civil rights movement America. While actors Jessica Tandy and Morgan Freeman do great work, the film itself was clearly not the cream of the crop, something the Academy themselves seemed to think given the director's lack of a nomination.

Throughout the 70s and 80s, the Academy was able to reward challenging, mature films such as The Godfather, The Deer Hunter and Platoon. By 1990, a gradual shift into lighter, feel-good movies with one note moral lessons was becoming apparent. It would continue throughout the decade with Dances of Wolves going over Goodfellas and Forrest Gump beating both Pulp Fiction and The Shawshank Redemption.