Oscars: 25 iconic movies that never won Best Picture

Iconic movies that never won the Oscars Best Picture: 12. Pulp Fiction

Release Year: 1994

Directed By: Quentin Tarantino

Starring: John Travolta, Samuel L. Jackson, Uma Thurman, Harvey Keitel, Tim Roth, Amanda Plummer, Maria de Medeiros, Ving Rhames, Eric Stoltz, Rosanna Arquette, Christopher Walken, Bruce Willis

No matter how quickly a film shakes the table, there are no guarantees that it will connect with the mainstream or ride its spotlight all the way to the Oscars. Pulp Fiction garnered attention for its innovative style right away and earned the bragging rights of having both positive reviews from critics and a sizable performance at the box office. The film was named Best Picture at the Cannes Film Festival and a number of critics associations, but no film could outrun Forrest Gump at the Academy Awards.

Pulp Fiction starred an aces cast and told various stories that were centered in the crime world of Los Angeles. John Travolta and Samuel L. Jackson play hitmen whose story intertwines with that of their gangster boss, his wife, and a struggling boxer, played by Ving Rhames, Uma Thurman, and Bruce Willis respectively. Beyond its unconventional sequencing and structure, the film gained attention for its screenplay, as it relies heavily on monologues and character-revealing dialogue.

As previously mentioned with The Shawshank Redemption, Pulp Fiction ranked as the second most nominated film at the 67th Academy Awards in a three-way tie with Shawshank and Bullets over Broadway. Of its seven nominations, Pulp Fiction took home one award, which went to Quentin Tarantino for Best Original Screenplay. Despite making an impact on filmmaking with his various films, Tarantino has never directed a Best Picture winner. The most influential film in his lot bypassed the Oscars’ top honor to gain the honorific title of his “masterpiece.”