The Academy Awards’ “Big Five” categories (Best Picture, Best Director, Best Actor, Best Actress, and either Best Original or Adapted Screenplay) are highly competitive and earning nominations in all five categories is a rare achievement. Only three films – It Happened One Night, One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest, and The Silence of the Lambs – have accomplished this feat. While It Happened One Night may seem formulaic to contemporary viewers, it popularized the romantic comedy genre and features strong chemistry between Claudette Colbert and Clark Gable. The film almost lost its chance for nominations due to a write-in campaign for Bette Davis. In the end, It Happened One Night emerged as the most noteworthy film to achieve a clean sweep of nominations in the “Big Five” categories.
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