From Citizen Kane to Goodfellas losses, the biggest Oscar snubs of all time show Academy voters often crown safer films. These classic snubs still dominate Oscar history debates every March.

Citizen Kane lost Best Picture to How Green Was My Valley at the 1942 Oscars — still cited as the biggest Oscar snubs of all time despite Welles winning screenplay that same night.

Before Schindler's List, Spielberg endured E.T. and Color Purple snubs that fans rank among the biggest Oscar snubs of all time for a director who rewrote blockbuster cinema.

Stanley Kubrick earned four Best Director nominations without a competitive win — a chronic snub on every list of the biggest Oscar snubs of all time alongside Alfred Hitchcock's five losses.

Goodfellas lost Best Picture to Dances with Wolves in 1991 — a Scorsese snub that anchors modern lists of the biggest Oscar snubs of all time for street-level auteur cinema fans.