Greetings, reader!
The Oscars were one and a half weeks ago, but I still have posts to make before moving on to the next topic. The Academy Awards have now been held 98 times, and out of every Best Picture Winner, I’ve seen exactly fifty - and that calls for a list! Now, bear in mind that I’m not exactly ranking these based on how much I like each movie (although that list would also be interesting - fine, I’ll watch the rest of the BP winners in the next 2 years and rank ’em all after the 100th Oscars), but rather based on how deserving they were of the Best Picture award in my view. So, basically, there are two key differences to a completely subjective movie ranking: one, the other movies (and especially Best Picture nominees) of that year matter quite a bit in terms of whether I think the award went to the right direction, and two, I’m looking more at the ’objectively’ measured factors of a film’s greatness than more niche subjective preferences, to fit the criteria for Best Picture. I hope you enjoy!
50. Gone with the Wind (1939)
Obviously, Gone with the Wind is a well-made movie, and it could be argued to be a very deserving Best Picture winner. But I have two reasons for ranking it at last place. Number one, I'm an idealist and a dreamer, so no matter how much you could argue that "it's a product of its time", I'd like a to dream of a world where racism and propaganda isn't rewarded. So even back in 1939, Best Picture shouldn't have gone to such a film, and its acclaim showcases the racism in the veins of American society.
Also, "product of its time" is a total cop-out when it comes to this film - the movie, as well as the book its based on, was made over 70 years after the Civil War, and it presents the war through a deeply propaganda-heavy lens where the South was fighting for a "noble cause" and their generals are glorified as heroes while the issue of slavery is glossed over. It's like if someone had made a WWII film, where the Nazis are portrayed as the good guys, in goddamn 2019. The people who made this film contributed to teaching Americans a fabricated, whitewashed version of history that still continues to damage American society, and my take is that films that lie about the past and paint people fighting for the right own slaves as heroes should not win the Oscar for Best Picture.
But also, number two - I have a more film-buff reasoning. You see, The Wizard of Oz came out in the same year. Say what you will about Gone with the Wind - I do admit that its set design, costume design, score and acting performances are amazing and it would be a masterpiece if it wasn't for the propaganda - but The Wizard of Oz is one of the few films from that era that was even more groundbreaking, and even greater in terms of directing and aesthetic. That absolutely should have won, both in terms of filmmaking and in terms of not being a f**king propaganda piece.
49. Green Book (2018)
I'm not even as big of a Green Book hater as many - the film, while deserving much of its criticism, does many things right and the leading performances are amazing. But, the thing is - choosing it as the Best Picture for a year like 2018 was pretty goofy at best and downright insulting at worst. Its win is a perfect example of how the Academy's ranked-voting system for Best Picture doesn't always work, as it presents a disadvantage for films that truly push boundaries to do something unique at the risk of not pleasing everyone, while rewarding crowd-pleasing mediocrity.
As much as Green Book deserves to be criticized for its uncomfortable instances of the white savior -trope, it at least is a movie about racism being bad (hence my ranking of it ahead of Gone with the Wind, a film where the message very much is "Racism rules and people fighting for the right to own slaves are heroes"). That's probably why it won, as the Academy loves to award social themes (as long as they're done in a safely, moderately liberal way). The thing is - Spike Lee's BlacKKKlansman came out the same year. Not only is that a vastly better film in terms of writing, directing, acting, music and pretty much any aspect of filmmaking, it also tackles the issue of racism with infinitely more nuance, making Green Book look two-dimensional and childlike by comparison.
Of course, this is why Green Book won - it's a film that presents racism as a thing of the past while portraying racists as such over-the-top cartoons that even actual racists can watch the film and go "well, at least I'm not that bad", while BlacKKKlansman confronts structural racism, draws lines from the past to the present, and challenges us to look inward and grow, in a manner that makes a lot of white people uncomfortable. Sadly, it makes all the sense in the world that the Academy awarded a "yay, we can feel so good about ourselves now that we defeated racism!" film rather than an "oh fuck, we still have a LOT of work do" one, but especially in the middle of the first Trump term, it felt like quite the middle finger.
48. One Battle After Another (2025)
Rewarding this type of political film, in a year when a thought-provoking masterpiece like Sinners was right there, is the very definition of missing the forest from the trees. The most recent Best Picture race was actually very similar to the one between Green Book and BlacKKKlansman, so it was no surprise that it turned out the same way as well. Once again, the message in OBAA is a good one, but in such a lazy and simplistic way, whereas Sinners asked the audience tough questions and made us look inward, as a true Best Picture winner should.
Also, on a pure filmmaking level - One Battle After Another is a thoroughly well-made film, and one that deserved most of its nominations and arguably even a few of its wins. But Sinners is such a vastly superior piece of art in terms of writing, directing, acting, score and cinematography, that I can't help but feel disheartened by the Academy's choice. I'm calling it - OBAA will be more or less forgotten after this Awards Season, with a legacy of "oh yeah, that one Best Picture that year", whereas Sinners will be talked about for decades to come, with a strong legacy of "how the hell didn't this win?!".
47. My Fair Lady (1964)
I mean, I sort of get it - it was a big time for musicals, and My Fair Lady is a well-made film with fun musical numbers and a fantastic Audrey Hepburn performance spearheading it. But still, for Best Picture, it's much too flawed of a film to be a truly deserving winner - the plot, and specifically the ending...it's pretty bad. In the year that gave us gems like Mary Poppins, The Umbrellas of Cherbourg and Dr. Strangelove or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb, they really could've done a whole lot better.
46. Argo (2012)
Was Argo the best movie of 2012? Yes, it was - unless you count Les Miserables, Searching for Sugar Man, The Perks of Being a Wallflower, Looper, Life of Pi, Django Unchained, Prometheus and quite a few others. Yes, it's a riveting true story that made for a decent film, but between Ben Affleck's mediocre directing, Ben Affleck's mediocre leading performance and Ben Affleck's dumbing-down of a multifaceted international conflict into "flawless CIA heroes versus evil Arabs", I just don't see this as a deserving Best Picture winner.
45. The Shape of Water (2017)
I really like The Shape of Water, and it's the type of film that could've deserved Best Picture in another, more mediocre year for cinema. But 2017, man - I would've been so much gladder to see Get Out, Dunkirk or Lady Bird winning. This is a good movie and does well by Best Picture merits - but compared to the groundbreaking and unique nature of Get Out, the incredible directing of Dunkirk or the flawless writing and acting performances of Lady Bird, this win couldn't help but feel a tad anticlimactic.
44. A Beautiful Mind (2001)
Much like with The Shape of Water, here we have a film that checks all the boxes for an Academy darling and definitely deserved to be *nominated* - but when looking at the other offerings of the year, I strongly contest that the win went to the wrong address. There's no way in hell that it's a Better Picture, subjectively or "objectively", than absolute masterpieces like Moulin Rouge! and The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring.
43. The Hurt Locker (2009)
This would be ranked even lower, as it's one of my least-favorite Best Picture winners on a subjective level despite its admitted strengths - but 2009 wasn't the best year for movies, so there were no five-star masterpieces that scream "OF COURSE THIS SHOULD'VE WON". Still, there's a handful of films from 2009 that I consider to be more deserving of Best Picture than The Hurt Locker - Inglorious Basterds is a more compelling and ambitious war film, Up would've been a great opportunity to make history for animated cinema, and Invictus wasn't even nominated for some f**king reason despite being total Oscar bait (in a good way) and a more deserving winner.
42. The King's Speech (2010)
Speaking of Oscar bait - The King's Speech isn't quite one of those films that was made with "let's win a bunch of Oscars" being the #1 priority (those films thankfully get the BP win quite rarely, as the Academy sees through their bullshit despite still nominating them every time), but wanting to win a bunch of Oscars definitely figured into the filmmaking process as quite a heavy side-priority.
It's an excellent film, but as is often the case, I do think that there were more deserving winners among works where the filmmaker very likely didn't give a flying fuck about winning awards and just wanted to make a genuine piece of art. Not to take anything away from this beautiful period piece, but The Social Network and Inception are giants next to it.
41. Crash (2005)
The most universally hated Best Picture winner is a difficult one to rank - I watched the film when I was 13 or 14 years old, and I really remember liking it, but so much of what I've read about its backlash later has made me think that I very possibly would appreciate it a lot less if I were to re-watch it at a more mature age (shit, I'll have to do that before I rank all 100 Best Picture winners two years from now).
For now, I can't rank it too high as I've heard so many good arguments for it being an exceptionally undeserving winner, but I also can't rank it too low as my own memory is the film being awesome and I would have to see it for myself before completely changing my opinion. This is a good compromise ranking for now, and I'm guessing that Brokeback Mountain should've won.
40. Nomadland (2020)
Now we're getting from the "I definitely would've rather given the award to another film, and am appalled by the one the Academy chose" tier to "I personally would've gone a different direction, but I see what they were going for" territory. I'm not mad about Nomadland winning - it's a brilliant film, particularly thanks to Chloe Zhao's directing and Frances McDormand's tour-de-force performance, and the film did speak to its time in a way that makes it feel like an adequate Best Picture choice for 2020. Still, there are a couple of films that would've deserved it even more if you ask me - The Trial of the Chicago 7 in particular is a better film overall, and spoke to the year of its release in an even more powerful manner.
39. Patton (1970)
Look, I get it - Patton is an exceptionally well-made film, with some all-time great set design and brilliant overall production values. That being said, I 100% would've given Best Picture to Love Story over it. It's hard to say where this preference lands in terms of the subjective and the objective - a romantic, well, love story is inevitably more to my liking than a war film that isn't especially anti-war. But I'd argue that even besides all that, Love Story is an even greater film, and has stood the test of time better. But I can't rank Patton too low, because there is definitely an argument to be made for its win as well.
38. The Bridge on the River Kwai (1957)
Look, I most certainly am not here to talk smack about The Bridge on the River Kwai. It's a fantastic film, deserving of its status as a classic, and in most years, it would most definitely be the most deserving Best Picture candidate. The only reason that it isn't ranked much higher is that 12 Angry Men came out the same year, and if you ask me, that's what should have won.
I mean, I get it - The Bridge on the River Kwai is obviously a more ambitious production, checking many of the boxes...but I would argue that 12 Angry Men was even more groundbreaking, and ended up becoming even more influential, with its immortal dialogue and dynamite acting performances. Still, River Kwai is brilliant enough that I can't be mad about this one.
37. Rain Man (1988)
I'd have to watch Rain Man again in order to analyze how well its portrayal of autism has aged. I'm guessing it's not great from a modern standpoint, but still a decent step forward for its time. Cinematically, I remember the film having excellent acting and directing - it's not among my favorite Best Picture winners, but an understandable winner still.
I haven't seen any of the year's other BP nominees - there are movies from 1988 that I personally respect more, but back then, the Academy was a stickler for conventional Oscar films, so one can't really demand that the award should've gone to My Neighbor Totoro or Die Hard.
36. Chicago (2002)
Between 25th Hour, Adaptation and especially The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers, 2002 had its share of movies that were arguably even more Best Picture -worthy than the year's winner - yet I'm still ranking Chicago well, because it's a really tight margin. It's a fantastically well-made musical, and one that would be completely deserving in a more average movie year. Yes, the competition was tough and I personally would've left it at a nomination, but still, Chicago's win is an understandable and quite respectable choice.
35. Forrest Gump (1994)
For a normal year, or even an above-average year, Forrest Gump would've been an absolute no-brainer for Best Picture, and would probably be in today's top ten. But, the thing is - 1994 was, if you ask me, the greatest year in cinematic history. The Shawshank Redemption, Pulp Fiction, The Lion King, Crooklyn...Jesus, what a year. I can't rank Forrest Gump too highly because of The Shawshank Redemption in particular - it's one of my top 3 movies of all time, and having the all-time highest IMDB rating implies that it really kind of should have won Best Picture. But still - it's Forrest Gump, so one can't be too mad.
34. The Artist (2011)
Was The Artist the best film of 2011? For me subjectively, not quite. But did it have the most cinematic merit for Best Picture? Very arguably yes. We're now starting to get to the ones where I at least more or less agree with the choice, but still far from the "I'd be mad as hell if this HADN'T won" territory. I wouldn't have minded if the award had gone to Hugo or The Intouchables, both of which I prefer to The Artist on a subjective level, but as Best Picture nominees, I'd put all three in the roughly same tier.
33. Rocky (1976)
Many cinephiles consider this to be one of the most outrageous "robberies" in Oscar history, and I kind of get it - as much of a classic as Rocky is, it's easy to argue that All the President's Men and Taxi Driver were more BP material. Much like in the previous entry, I do enjoy both of those films more than Rocky on a subjective level, but believe it or not - I totally get why it won Best Picture. Sure, it's not quite as flawless of a production as All the President's Men and it hasn't had as much of an impact as Taxi Driver, but when you think about it, it comes hellishly close in both categories.
In addition to being an entertaining boxing film, it's damn good cinema, and it certainly has had a lasting effect in Hollywood - just think about the iconic imagery of the training montage sequence, Stallone's career-defining performance and the amazing score. Not to mention the underdog story, which makes its Best Picture win all the more fitting - in this scenario, Taxi Driver was Apollo Creed, and Rocky was, well, Rocky.
32. Gladiator (2000)
Once again, there's a handful of films from the year in question that I would personally rank higher, but I get it - in a world of conventions and unspoken rules, Chris Nolan's Memento and Spike Lee's Bamboozled aren't conventional Oscar-winner material, or at least they weren't 26 years ago. Gladiator is such a thoroughly well-made production that its win is very well-reasoned, and out of the films from 2000 to get a Best Picture nomination, I would've picked it as well.
31. On the Waterfront (1954)
With this one, it really comes down to how much slack I'm going to give the Academy for largely disregarding foreign films in the past. On the Waterfront was the best *American* film of 1954 by all accounts, but when considering that Kurosawa's Seven Samurai (not to mention the original Godzilla, for us genre movie dreamers) came out that year, well, that's what should have won.
It's tough to decide how much to judge this America-centric stuff from the fifties - I give them zero slack whenever they pull that shit nowadays, and a lot of slack for understandably not being woke enough to realize that Metropolis should've won in the very first Oscars, so this one lands somewhere in between. In any case, On the Waterfront is a fantastic film and certainly more deserving than a lot of these.
30. No Country for Old Men (2007)
In my dream world, the Academy would appreciate cinema in a less narrow-minded fashion, and Todd Haynes' experimental masterpiece I'm Not There would've won Best Picture. But, in the real world, I must grudgingly admit that out of the at least somewhat conventional cinematic offerings of 2007, there wasn't a more deserving Best Picture winner than No Country for Old Men. Astonishing acting performances, a memorable narrative and rock-solid directing by the Coen brothers.
29. Slumdog Millionaire (2008)
Much like with the last one, the dreamer/idealist in me can't rank this too highly, because I would've appreciated it even more if the actually best films of 2008, like In Bruges, Mamma Mia! and Synechdoce, New York, had been among the favorites to win. But alas - they were not even nominated. Out of the films that actually had a chance of winning, Slumdog Millionaire is a very reasonable choice - that and Milk are roughly on the same level, and I would have been happy with either one winning.
28. The Sting (1973)
Probably the most deserving Best Picture winner of the year. An argument could be made for The Exorcist, but let's be real - the Academy is still a bit stuck-up about genre films, so back in '73, it was amazing that a horror film even got nominated. Anyhow, this grifting extravaganza has stood the test of time, and is definitely among the BP winners that one has to respect even if they slightly preferred The Exorcist or Mean Streets on a subjective level.
27. The Deer Hunter (1978)
Honestly, this one is valid as hell. In terms of subjective favorites, the very best films of 1978 were Halloween and Superman if you ask me, but A) this gripping Vietnam war picture isn't far behind, and B) I recognize that my subjective favorites are much harder to reason to be deserving Best Picture winners. I'd say this one went to the right film.
26. Spotlight (2015)
2015 was a brilliant movie year, yet with all its great offerings, there was no individual masterpiece that would clearly beat its competitors - therefore, there are many films from that year that would've been a thoroughly acceptable Best Picture winner. I would've been fine with The Hateful Eight, Inside Out or Straight Outta Compton winning, but I'm also extremely fine with the one they went with. Spotlight is a damn fine piece of cinema, and arguably the year's best picture indeed.
25. Amadeus (1984)
Now we're really getting to the deserving ones - no film from 1984, at least out of the ones I've seen, were as deserving of Best Picture than this fantastic Mozart biopic. The only reason that it's not even higher is that there are many that were deserving with even clearer margins.
24. La La Land (2016)
Ah shit, wrong envelope. Let's try again...
24. Moonlight (2016)
I'd personally rank a few of 2016's Best Picture nominees, such as La La Land and Hidden Figures, even ahead of Moonlight as overall movies - but I can't possibly be anything else than happy about Moonlight's win. It's an exceptionally well-made film, and for that particular year in history, I'm actually kind of glad that they gave the award to a film highlighting the Black experience as well as LGBTQ+ upbringing, as opposed to a film like La La Land which might be as good cinematically but doesn't have as much to say. Some things are bigger than cinema.
23. Unforgiven (1992)
For me personally? There are quite a few films from 1992 that I would've given Best Picture to over this one - Malcolm X, A Few Good Men, Scent of a Woman...(sidenote: what a f**king year that was for cinema). But I'd be lying if I called Unforgiven undeserving - it's a hell of a cinematic accomplishment, not to mention being the film that the legendary Clint Eastwood finally got his Oscar recognition for. And since the Academy always overlooked westerns in the genre's heyday, it's kind of poetic that this revisionist masterwork produced this milestone for westerns.
22. Everything Everywhere All at Once (2022)
This one cracks me up - I actually find this film a bit overrated as a whole, I've found myself debating its merits with mega-fans on multiple occasions, and a few of its fellow Best Picture nominees from 2022 are films that I personally liked more (The Banshees of Inisherin in particular). Yet it still ranks very highly on today's prestigious list!
That's because in the bigger picture, EEAAO's Best Picture win symbolized a very positive shift in the cinematic world. A movie this weird wouldn't have won BP twenty, or ten, or even five years earlier, as the Academy has remained a stickler for a narrow, deeply conventional view on cinema for much of its history (to the heartbreak of "every genre is awesome" film enjoyers like myself).
This film's win was a signal that the Oscars had finally changed for the better, at least a little, and that a wider range of films are now in the running. Barbie got nominated the very next year, and Sinners broke the all-time nomination record two years after that, to show that this wasn't just an anomaly - good cinema can get the nominations (and occasionally even wins) it deserves now, no matter how unconventional. You love to see it.
21. Wings (1927)
Let's hear it for the first-ever Best Picture winner! The inaugural Oscars were a fifteen-minute ceremony that wasn't even broadcast on the radio, and on that historic night, Wings took home the big award that was called "Outstanding Motion Picture" back them.
The only reason that this golden oldie isn't ranked even higher is that a far superior film, Fritz Lang's Metropolis, came out the same year - but while Hollywood these days gets a lot of deserved flack for shortcomings in international representation, you have to cut some slack to the first Oscars ever for focusing on American cinema and overlooking a sensational German masterpiece. Anyhow, Wings is an extremely well-made movie for its time, and probably the best American film from its year by a country mile.
20. 12 Years a Slave (2013)
Once again, there's a select few films from the year in question that might get my personal "Best Picture" over this one, but in the grand scheme of things, I absolutely love that 12 Years a Slave took the win. I do consider it the most cinematically deserving out of that year's nominees (how 42 wasn't nominated is beyond me), and furthermore, its win speaks to a larger point.
It's not just an excellent film, but a damn important one - many historians have suggested that in the long history of historical films about slavery, this was probably the first mainstream Hollywood movie ever made that accurately portrayed just how brutal it really was, with no elements of whitewashing. It's sickening that it took so long for such a film to be made, but I'm glad that once it did, it got such recognition. 74 years after they gave Best Picture to goddamn Gone With the Wind, giving it to a film that did its opposite culturally was the very least the Academy could do.
19. Braveheart (1995)
Braveheart is my favorite film from 1995, and even on a less subjective level, it does meet the criteria of a Best Picture winner quite handsomely. I can't really rank it higher than this because A) I haven't seen any of its fellow nominees so the exact amount of deserving-ness is hard to estimate, and B) there are films that have "deserving Best Picture winner" written all over them with even brighter colors than this one.
18. Parasite (2019)
Parasite, on the other hand, was not quite my #1 favorite film of 2019 - but I was deliriously happy when it won. While I personally consider 1917 an even Better Picture, I do so with a very tight margin. And honestly, I was glad that in the midst of Trump's first term, the Academy rewarded a South Korean film about class struggle over a Hollywood war movie.
Once again, some things are bigger than cinema - some might say that "they should keep politics out of the Oscars", but I find such sentiments to be, frankly, dumb. All art is political, and cinema can be political in a very powerful fashion, and that deserves acclaim (also, Parasite is just one hell of a great movie).
17. One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest (1975)
There are only three movies, in all of history, that have won the Big Five - the Academy Awards for Best Picture, Best Director, Best Screenplay, Best Lead Actress and Best Lead Actor. It makes sense that all three are quite well-ranked on today's list - you don't win the Big Five by accident.
Yeah, the Academy nailed it with this one - quite often, they embarrass themselves by rewarding what they think will be a "future classic" but end up overlooking the real future classics and giving Best Picture to a film that no one is talking about one year later (*cough cough*, One Battle After Another, *cough*). Here, they went with the film that still remains the film from 1975 (well, right after Monty Python's Holy Grail, but I have to grudgingly admit that Best Picture would be a stretch for that particular kind of masterpiece).
16. The Departed (2006)
Oh, hell yeah, this is a Best Picture right here. Sure, I personally like The Prestige and Inland Empire even more, but when looking at things from an Oscars standpoint, I would've settled for a nomination for both of them. Anyhow, this Scorsese masterclass gave us unforgettable performances, riveting dialogue and a flawlessly executed plot. A very well-earned win.
15. Gandhi (1982)
Okay, now we're really in the big leagues - we haven't quite yet entered the "I'd be mad as hell if this hadn't won" territory yet, but very firmly in the "it is right as hell that this film won" area. Couldn't have gone to a Better Picture. Ravi Shankar's score alone is better than most entire movie productions.
14. The Silence of the Lambs (1991)
Here we have a Big Five winner that was even more of a no-brainer for Best Picture (and its other wins) than One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest! The Academy was so real for this one - a psychological crime thriller, with elements veering on horror, wasn't the conventional Oscar choice for the early 90's, but it's just such a great piece of cinema that they managed to overlook their biases and give the film its deserved acclaim.
13. The Sound of Music (1965)
Ah, now we're officially in the realm of "it would be weird if the film hadn't won". No film from 1965 has remained as relevant, or influenced cinema as much, as The Sound of Music. The timeless songs, Julie Andrews' performance, the contrast between the light tone and the grim escalation of the plot - yeah, this motion picture rules.
12. All Quiet on the Western Front (1930)
Okay, now we're really getting to the no-brainers. It would be questionable as hell if this anti-war masterpiece hadn't won Best Picture. I can't rank it too high as I haven't seen any of its fellow nominees so one could argue that I can't form a strong opinion, but then again, there are reasons much beyond Oscar acclaim that only one of the 1930 nominees is a timeless household name that regularly comes up when discussing the greatest films of all time, whereas the other four haven't gained a must-watch legacy.
11. Oppenheimer (2023)
Christopher Nolan finally got his Best Picture win for this masterclass, and it couldn't have gone to a better film. I'm glad that Barbie was nominated and I put them very much on the same level in my own personal preference, but in terms of Best Picture merit, I do agree with the Academy's choice that this one was even greater out of two greats. The production values, the music, the camerawork, the editing, the sheer gargantuan scale of things and the thought-provoking narrative...absolute cinema.
10. Birdman or (The Unexpected Virtue of Ignorance (2014)
On a subjective level, Birdman is in my top three Best Picture winners of all time, and one of my absolute favorite movies ever made. On today's list, I can't rank it quite as high as I would like to - mind you, it was a deserving winner, but with 2014 being such a great movie year, it isn't as clear of its competitors as some BP winners. It was my favorite of the year's nominees by a long shot and I'm so glad it won, but I would've had to have a grudging level of understanding if the award had gone to Boyhood or Whiplash instead.
9. It Happened One Night (1934)
Yeah, out of the three Big Five winners, It Happened One Night is the most deserving when it comes to Best Picture. For that period in Hollywood and the resources at the disposal of the era's filmmakers, it is quite the perfect movie - every acting performance, every line of dialogue, it all just makes for a delightful treat. A true classic, and an exceptionally deserving Best Picture winner.
8. Ben-Hur (1959)
As fate would have it, right after we got done with the Big Five winners we get the first of an even more legendary threesome - the three films that have the tied record for eleven Academy Awards. Whether Ben-Hur absolutely deserved all eleven of its awards could be debated, I suppose, but it certainly earned most of them, and a film worthy of this feat is certainly worthy of Best Picture. While the other two films that tie its record are ranked even higher on my list, I am not here to talk smack about this swords-and-sandals epic - it's a remarkable piece of cinema, and a true Best Picture winner if I ever saw one.
7. West Side Story (1961)
On a purely personal level, Breakfast at Tiffany's is just slightly ahead of this one in terms of 1961 movies - but I can't possibly be mad about this one or even disagree with the Academy's choice, really. West Side Story is a staple of cinematic history, and just such a grandiose production across all aspects of filmmaking.
6. Schindler's List (1993)
One of the best movies ever made, especially when looking at the criteria for a Best Picture. There were many great movies in 1993, from The Fugitive through Jurassic Park all the way to Philadelphia, but honestly, it would feel wrong if Best Picture had gone to anything else than this giant among movies. Spielberg's directing, the massive set design, the genius color schemes and all that the film has to say about humanity's grim history and how it reflects into the present...truly one of the Best Pictures of all time.
5. The Godfather Part II (1974)
The Academy has never been overtly favorable towards any kind of sequels, so you know the movie is next-level amazing when it has "Part II" in its title and it wins Best Picture. This masterpiece is every bit as good as the film that it follows, and fills every possible criteria of a Best Picture winner with aplomb. It's one of the high points for filmmaking as an art form, and an exceptionally deserving Best Picture winner.
4. Casablanca (1942)
More often than not, the Academy gets it slightly wrong - they always try to award Best Picture to what they think will be a future classic, and predicting a film's legacy is an admittedly hard job. Still, it feels weird as hell that films like Citizen Kane and It's a Wonderful Life (or, *cough cough*, Sinners) didn't win Best Picture, when considering what a legacy they ended up having. Therefore, one has to respect the times when the Academy gets it right - and this right here is a big one.
It would be a travesty if Michael Curtiz's masterpiece hadn't won Best Picture - between the dynamite acting performances, the 10/10 dialogue, the intriguing setting brought to life via immaculate production design, and the groundbreaking twist on the romance genre, it's quite simply a Better Picture than hardly any other. The Academy sure nailed it with this one.
3. The Godfather (1972)
I often use the phrase "not exactly The Godfather" to describe various degrees of cruddy cinema on my blog - so you know it's good when you get to the one film that, in fact, is exactly The Godfather. People regularly use this as their go-to example for a great movie - what a legacy that is, and a well-earned one at that. Peak filmmaking, from the performances and score to the screenplay and directing. If this hadn't won Best Picture, it would be considered a ridiculous flub of historic proportions from the Academy.
2. Titanic (1997)
There were very fine movies nominated in 1997, such as Good Will Hunting and As Good as It Gets, but as brilliant as they may be, they had absolutely no business getting anyone's vote to win Best Picture. I can't think of any argument that could be made for any 1997 film to be a deserving Best Picture winner ahead of Titanic. This James Cameron epic won eleven Oscars, and by God, it deserved every single one of them.
Few of the films on today's list rank even higher for me on a subjective level - not that many, but Birdman and The Godfather Part II for example. But when looking at the skill of filmmaking and how deserving of the most coveted Oscar a film is, even they don't hold a candle to Titanic. The work that went into this gargantuan effort of filmmaking deserves all the acclaim, with the Best Picture Oscar being the bare minimum.
1. The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King (2003)
If they ever decide to hold a special ceremony of all-time Oscars, with the same categories as usual but for all of cinematic history instead of a specific year, then The Return of the King should win Best Picture. It's the greatest movie ever made and I'm glad it won.
Thank you for reading! Tune in next week as I rank the greatest TV soundtrack moments of all time.
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