Best Films with Zero Oscar Nominations

My Facebook friend (#humblebrag) and one of my favorite film directors Rod Lurie recently posted the following status update:

[Redacted, how much he loved Joe Carnahan’s film The Grey] “If I had been a critic when that film came out I would have pounded the Academy into submission. I swear I would have. Indeed, without hyperbole, it’s the greatest American film ever made that doesn’t have a single Oscar nomination. Am I right?”

While I agree with him that The Grey is indeed underrated and transcends the box the critics wanted to put it in, it will have to take its place in line behind many greater films that received no Oscar nominations. Several of these American films were made by directors who weren’t well known. For some of them, though, there is no excuse — Here is our list:

1. Touch of Evil (Welles)
2. Stardust Memories (Allen)
3. The Killing (Kubrick)
4. The Searchers (Ford)
5. Mean Streets (Scorsese)
6. Zodiac (Fincher)
7. Miller’s Crossing (Coens)
8. Reservoir Dogs (Tarantino)
9. Blood Simple (Coens)
10. The Big Sleep (Hawks)
11. The Big Lebowski (Coens)
12. This is Spinal Tap (Reiner)
13. Harold and Maude (Ashby)
14. The Shining (Kubrick)
15. Cloud Atlas (Wachowskis)
16. Bringing Up Baby (Hawks)
17. Badlads (Malick)
18. Say Anything (Crowe)
19. His Girl Friday (Hawks)
20. Three Kings (Russell)
21. Eyes Wide Shut (Kubrick)
22. The Ice Storm (Lee)
23. Groundhog Day (Ramis)
24. Shame (McQueen)

And a few famous non-American films:

The Rules of the Game (Renoir)
Don’t Look Now (Roeg)
Wings of Desire (Wenders)
Persona (Bergman)
Jules and Jim (Truffaut)
Picnic at Hanging Rock (Weir)
Sweetie (Jane Campion)
An Angel at My Table (Jane Campion)