10 Most Outrageous Oscar Snubs

The 1980s get a hard time, especially when it comes to Hollywood movies. The decade can be derided as one of flash and artifice, when the reflective films of the '70s were cast aside in favour of cheap schmaltz and unearned faux-poignancy. Of course, that's not entirely fair, and in fact Ordinary People is a perfectly decent drama. But when it's defeating flat out masterpieces like Raging Bull (as well as Lynch's The Elephant Man) to the grand prize, its deficiencies show up all the more.

Directed by Robert Redford (whose later effort Quiz Show remains one of the '90s' most underrated pictures), Ordinary People concerns a family torn asunder by guilt and loss. It's a well acted, emotionally effective film, one whose status as an Oscar blunder undersells its many qualities. What it isn't is the best picture of 1980 - or of any year, come to that.

Raging Bull is without a doubt one of Scorsese's top three films, putting it a decent way up any sensible list of films full stop. Anchored by a career best De Niro (whose efforts were rightly rewarded with Academy glory), it is a real life tale of an irredeemable brute - that is to say, it's not very nice. And while it may be a little simplistic to say that the Academy don't tend to vote for the dark and brooding movies, there's certainly a case to be made (The Elephant Man, while less grizzly, is melancholic to say the least, as well as eerie and odd).

While Redford's effort is an accomplished and moving drama, it's not Raging Bull standard - indeed, very few films are.