13) I don't know exactly what year they started this, but one of the worst moments was when they instituted the 45 second acceptance speech limit rule. Sure, this might be necessary for winners who just list a bunch of names, but what's wrong with letting the speeches go a little long? Some speeches are very eloquent, and if they are concerned about the show running long, it's going to run long anyways, so what's an extra minute or so per speech? This is their moment, let them relish it.
12) From 1991 -- Jonathan Demme's acceptance speech for Best Director for THE SILENCE OF THE LAMBS. He's definitely a great film director, but his long acceptance speech contained so many "um"s it finally became laughable. Perhaps I was just mad because Oliver Stone didn't win Director for JFK, but even when I watch it again nowadays, it still was one of the most annoying acceptance speeches in Oscar history.
11) From 1941 -- the Academy's virtual shutout of Orson Welles and his masterpiece CITIZEN KANE. CITIZEN KANE has been universally regarded by critics and even the American Film Institute recently as the greatest film ever made. And yet in 1941, the Academy thought Welles too successful and powerful at such a young age, and as typically happens when a film engenders controversy, the Academy ignored it, awarding it only for Screenplay. No Best Director prize for Welles, which he clearly should have won, and no Best Picture award. This was one major example of the Academy seriously misstepping, and letting a truly great film masterpiece go disturbingly unrewarded because of the politics at the time.
10) From 1998 -- Best Picture going to SHAKESPEARE IN LOVE instead of the clear masterpiece SAVING PRIVATE RYAN. Critics were almost universal in their praise, and as soon as it was released, Steven Spielberg's epic WWII drama SAVING PRIVATE RYAN couldn't have been a more clear Best Picture winner. But ugly, shameless Oscar campaigning put SHAKESPEARE IN LOVE over the top, and again, a true film masterpiece went disturbingly unrewarded ... by the end of Oscar night, a film almost all critics agreed was one of the year's five best films, had won only one major award, Best Director, and four other technical awards. Definitely another one of the mistaken choices in Oscar history.
