Discuss Alfred Hitchcock
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Never won an Oscar
posted by NotoriousRioSTAFFMOD on February 27, 2017 at 10:08 PM
It still amazes me the late great Sir Alfred Hitchcock never won an Oscar for best director, and for much of it I blame the supremely talented Billy Wilder!!!
Hitchcock was nominated for only five of his films, them being: Rebecca (1940), Lifeboat (1944), Spellbound (1945), Rear Window (1954) and Psycho (1960).
For Rebecca he lost out to John Ford’s The Grapes of Wrath, which is understandable. With Lifeboat he lost out to Leo McCarey’s forgettable Bing Crosby film Going My Way, Billy Wilder for Double Indemnity was also nominated that year.
Billy Wilder triumphed over Hitchcock the following year with a satire, The Lost Weekend beating Spellbound for best director.
Hitchcock had to wait nine years until he was nominated again, this time for Rear Window, which lost to On the Waterfront directed by Elia Kazan, who was a worthy winner.
And again in 1960 Hitchcock’s Psycho lost to Billy Wilder’s comedy The Apartment.
Two of Wilder’s films beat Hitchcock for best director, and the kick in the teeth is that they aren’t his best or most remembered films, in total Wilder won six Oscars, the others being for screenplay. Hitchcock won none.
I’m not bashing Wilder at all, as he directed some true classics such as, Some Like It Hot, Double Indemnity and Sunset Boulevard, not to mention his many writing credits.
And of the meagre amount of films Hitchcock was nominated for, Lifeboat really should of won. But what about his other classics such as North by Northwest, Vertigo, Marnie, The Birds, and To Catch a Thief, to name but a few - not one of them nominated for best director.
When it came to the Oscars, Alfred Hitchcock really was the Wrong Man! 
Reply by genplant29
on February 27, 2017 at 10:54 PM
And what's the impressive thing is that, despite Hitch's never winning, his name is so readily recognized, in continuing high standing, to this day by many who might have difficulty recalling what specific films the various other top Golden Age directors helmed. Hitchcock's movies, on the other hand, still maintain high name-brand (by which I mean Hitchcock's name) recognition.
Reply by Nexus71
on August 17, 2019 at 10:28 PM
Kubrick never won an Oscar for directing either so winning Oscars is not a bench mark for great directing and it took more than 30 years before Scorsese finally got his deserved directing Oscar (and I think not for his best work either The Departed is a good movie but it pales compared to Taxi Driver, Raging Bull, Goodfellas or Casino for that matter).
Reply by wonder2wonder
on August 18, 2019 at 6:07 PM
Could it be that he or his genre movies weren't very popular among the Academy members?
Reply by rudely_murray
on August 18, 2019 at 6:57 PM
That's pretty much it. Hitchcock was largely known for thriller/suspense movies, the type that seldom wins Oscars. Of course, looking through revisionist eyes he should have a clutch of Oscars but at the end of the day, his name is indelibly stamped on film history, which one cannot say for many of those who did win.
Reply by barrymost
on September 5, 2019 at 3:50 AM
You're all right; I don't know what I can add to this thread except to say that Hitch should've won. In my opinion, it should've been for Rear Window, which happens to be my favorite Hitchcock film. Though Id say he may have deserved it for Psycho too, but I only say that because of all the trademark touches he put into that, as I'm not really a fan of the movie itself.
As a side note, I thought the Billy Wilder movie The Lost Weekend was actually quite good. but that's just my humble opinion.
Reply by wonder2wonder
on September 5, 2019 at 4:03 AM
OT: If you're interested in posts about Directors, here is a post with some links - including recent posts - on the TMDB site.
• Completely OT: Talking: Directors and more.