25 best movies that never won an Oscar

16. The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly

Remember when Westerns used to be a thing? Yeah, neither do most film lovers under the age of 30. But there was a time when not only were films like The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly the norm rather than the exception in your average movie theater, but it was also the exact sort of thing the Academy absolutely loved to spotlight come Oscars season.

That’s the main reason that it’s such a stunner that a Sergio Leone-directed Western starring Clint Eastwood that has come to be thought of as one of the genre’s best examples didn’t garner even one nomination at the 1967 Oscars. Sometimes a cowboy has to know when to hang up his boots in defeat, whatever that means.

Anyway, the ’67 Oscars honored some enduring classics like A Man For All Seasons and Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf?, but was also full of many films that didn’t leave much of a historical impression. There was definitely a timeline where Eastwood and Leone were up for Best Actor and Best Director, respectively.

Here’s another fun fact: Tarantino has cited The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly as one of his favorite films ever. You can see its influence most blatantly in Tarantino’s two Westerns, Django Unchained and The Hateful Eight — both of which won Oscars. Does that mean The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly won Oscars by proxy? Sure, why not.