The most nominated film in 1998, “Shakespeare in Love” won 7 out of its 13 nominations. The film was the surprise winner as Spielberg's “Saving Private Ryan,” which was nominated for 11 Oscars and won 5, was expected to win the top award. The five Best Picture nominees that year fell into two categories: Movies about royalty (“Shakespeare in Love” and “Elizabeth”) and WWII pictures (“Saving Private Ryan,” Terrence Malick's “The Thin Red Line,” and even Roberto Beningi Holocaust fable “Life Is Beautiful”).

Sweeping most (11) of the Oscars in 1997, “Titanic” easily beat out the other four contenders: The American comedy “As Good As It Gets,” the British comedy “The Full Monty,” the youth melodrama “Good Will Hunting,” and the noir-policier “L.A. Confidential,” Curtin Hanson's period drama that earlier won all of the critics awards.

The Italian classic The Bicycle Thief, by Vittorio De Sica, was nominated for the Screenplay Oscar (it was written by Cesare Zavattini) and received a Special Oscar for “Outstanding Foreign Language Film.” An annual competitive Oscar in that area was established in 1956.

The Bible was nominations for the Original Music Score, by Toshiro Mayazumi, but the winner was John Barry for Born Free.

The Israeli movie Beyond the Walls was nominated in 1984 for Best Foreign-Language Film; the winner, however, was the Swiss movie Dangerous Moves.