All 90 Oscar best-picture winners, ranked from worst to best by movie critics

[Algernon Moncrieff]

Business Insider

Ranking Best Picture winners in the Lounge? What could go wrong?

There are some mild surprises (Forrest Gump was ranked lower than Around the World in 80 Days), and some of the Best Picture selections confirm my theory that you really don't know what you should have picked for at least two and sometimes as many as five years.

They start with this as the "worst" of the Best Picture Winners:

90. "The Broadway Melody" (1929)

[msongs]

1. sound was a huge novelty in 1929 - singing and dancing wowed the crowds nt

[Algernon Moncrieff]

8. One of the problems with these lists is perspective

Some of these films seem trite now but were groundbreaking at the time. Some were extremely topical (Best Years of Our Lives)

[msongs]

2. btw business insider is a restricted access site nt

[Algernon Moncrieff]

7. Restricted by whom?

[LisaM]

3. I can't argue with number one

The real travesty is that at least half those movies were even nominated at all, much less that they won. Also, there is way too much of a lean to war movies, if you ask me.

[pansypoo53219]

4. i finally saw kramer vs kramer. jeez, what didn't win?

a lot of them did not age well.

[Algernon Moncrieff]

9. A lot of films get reconsidered five years out

Films that were considered great when they came out are "meh" now. Also, some films get reconsidered based on who is in them (e.g. Woody Allen, Mel Gibson)

[Coventina]

5. A lot of my favorites are on the list.

"You Can't Take It With You" should have been higher.

I adore that movie/play. (Originally a play).

Agree that some of the movies were blunders by the Academy.

[First Speaker]

6. Frankly, it's a pretty undistinguished list...

...and think of some of the films *not* on here. No Citizen Kane, no Vertigo, no 2001. Instead, we have The Greatest Show on Earth, or Sound of Music(!), or even The Sting, which has definitely not aged well, and has a huge hole in the plot as well. Oh well...what's life without having some fun with awards. Ted Williams somehow didn't win the MVP award in 1947, something my Dad was bitter about until his dying day...

[Algernon Moncrieff]

10. Kane was straight politics

You couldn't piss off Hearst and get away with it.

I agree it was criminal that Vertigo didn't at least get nominated for Best Picture

Can't agree on 2001. Can't agree on The Sting.

[First Speaker]

14. **Spoiler Warning**--OK--about The Sting...the hole in the plot is...

Last edited Tue Dec 11, 2018, 02:22 AM - Edit history (1)

...that at the end, Lonigan and Snyder both think that Hooker and Gondorf are dead. They saw Gondorf "kill" Hooker, and Hickey--the supposed FBI man--shoot Gondorf. Then they--Snyder and Lonigan--exit, Lonigan still crying out about his money. Then, of course, Hooker and Gondorf come to life, their "deaths" being part of the sting. They leave the "betting office", and walk down the street together. But for all they know, Snyder and Lonigan are still right there, with Lonigan still bawling about his money. And they have to remain dead, to the whole world, forever, because if Lonigan ever finds out they're alive--well, he doesn't seem to me to be someone who appreciates a good joke at his expense. I understand that the Jackie Gleason sequel, which I never saw, deals with some of this--but it doesn't, to me, excuse the weaknesses of the original. I might add that The Sting has a strange vibe to it--someone, I forget who, said it looked like it took place in a bizarre sort of generic city, almost like the city in Beatty's Dick Tracy......

[Algernon Moncrieff]

15. Unbeatable cast and George Roy Hill is at the top of his game

I'll agree the gag never works as well as the first time you see it, but that's true of Sleuth, Deathtrap, The Crying Game, and a host of other films.

[Midwestern Democrat]

11. "The Sting" was a case of winning by default in a weak year.

The Best Picture nominees for 1973 were "The Exorcist", "The Sting", "A Touch of Class", "Cries and Whispers", and "American Graffiti".

The Sting was not the kind of film the Academy generally awards Best Picture, but all the other contenders were basically eliminated : A Touch of Class was just an ordinary romantic comedy that's been long forgotten; Cries and Whispers was a foreign language film; American Graffiti wasn't prestigious enough; and The Exorcist's subject matter was just too distasteful for too many Academy members.

[First Speaker]

13. It's odd, when you consider that this was right in the middle of Hollywood's real "Golden Age"...

...1971 saw Klute and the French Connection. 1972, of course, gave us The Godfather. And A Clockwork Orange. 1974 saw Godfather II and Chinatown. But 1973 wasn't much of anything. My own choice of best movie would have been either Last tango in Paris or Bang the Drum Slowly...

[Algernon Moncrieff]

16. Actually, Clockwork Orange is '71

It, along with Fiddler on the Roof and The Last Picture Show loses to The French Connection.

The Godfather comes out in '72 and wins at the '73 Oscars. I think it would have won in almost any year, but it didn't face the most impressive competition. Its three main rivals were Sounder, Cabaret, and Deliverance.

[Algernon Moncrieff]

18. No, if it were a win-by-default-year, it would have gone to "Cries and Whispers"

Bergman was just past peak popularity among critics, and Liv Ulman was being sold as the next big thing in acting.

[Tobin S.]

12. I'm surprised "Unforgiven" ranked as high as it did.

But I think it is a great movie. I know a lot of people here don't like Clint Eastwood due to his politics, but I can usually set that aside when it comes to art.

I haven't seen most of the movies on the list. I'll have to check them out.

[Algernon Moncrieff]

17. It surprised me as well

The list (like many of these kinds of lists) skews newer, so that may play into it. I was really surprised at how high "Shakespeare In Love" and "The Artist" placed.

[UTUSN]

19. I luerve passing judgment without (my) credentials (w/o viewing almost any of these)!1

I agree with lots of the ranking slots, not with others (deep).

My first Oh-No was Gladiator - WHAT, so low?!1

As for #1, saw it again recently on TCM and it's engrossing, so fine.

Can't remember most of the highs and lows in this list, so staying superficial (my default) I'll say that #50 pic in the o.p. - nice GAMS!1 (not great)