John Wayne finally won his sole acting Oscar in 1970, but he arguably should have gotten it 20 years earlier for his greatest war movie, Sands of Iwo Jima. The 1949 film is a gritty and intensely moving portrayal of Sgt. John Stryker’s U.S. Marines platoon fighting Japanese forces on the Pacific Front of World War II, culminating in the Battle of Iwo Jima. This event is known for its tens of thousands of casualties, and Sands of Iwo Jima inevitably ends with a bittersweet moment of tragedy that makes it an even more powerful rendering of the historic conflict.
The movie was nominated for four Oscars in 1950, including Wayne’s nomination for Best Actor thanks to his extraordinary performance as Stryker. The Duke arguably never surpasses this performance in terms of emotional depth and gravitas, and the character arc of his powerful but paternalistic squadron leader holds more significance than the very best of Wayne’s Western movie roles. Somehow, neither the performance nor any of Sands of Iwo Jima’s three other Oscar nominations were enough to secure the movie a single Academy Award.
Sands Of Iwo Jima Didn’t Win Any Of Its 4 Oscar Categories, Despite Being John Wayne’s Best War Movie
The Movie Was Overlooked For Best Actor & In 3 Other Categories
As well as Wayne’s nomination for Best Actor, Sands of Iwo Jima was nominated for Best Motion Picture Story Writing, Sound Recording, and Film Editing at the 22nd Academy Awards. It was beaten in all four categories by four different movies. Specifically, John Wayne lost to the role he’d turned down in All the King’s Men, with Broderick Crawford taking home the Oscar statuette in his stead. Meanwhile, sports dramas The Stratton Story and Champion won the Oscars for story writing and editing, respectively, and another war movie, Twelve O’Clock High, was victorious in the sound category.
Although Champion and All the King’s Men are seen as historically significant works, none of the movies that triumphed over Sands of Iwo Jima at the Oscars can compare with its legacy. Not only is it John Wayne’s best war movie, but it stands among the best films ever made about the Second World War.
Which Oscar(s) Sands Of Iwo Jima Realistically Should Have Won
It Should Have Come Away With At Least 2 Academy Awards
It’d be unrealistic to suggest that Sands of Iwo Jima should have won all the Oscars for which it was nominated, but it certainly merited at least two Academy Awards. The movie should have triumphed in the Sound Recording and Film Editing categories, in which it’s by far the most outstanding entry. On balance, the film was probably never going to win in the Motion Picture Story Writing category, although James Cagney’s definitive film noir movie White Heat surely deserved the Oscar over The Stratton Story.
The 1950 Best Actor Oscar could have gone to either John Wayne or Broderick Crawford, with neither actor really deserving to lose in the category. On that basis, it’s hard to say that Wayne was robbed of a first Academy Award two decades earlier. Nevertheless, the movie should have picked up at least one Oscar. The Academy’s shock decision to snub Sands of Iwo Jima in every one of its nominated categories ranks alongside their total shutout of The Searchers as one of the biggest awards shocks of Wayne’s career.