Article
Oscar Tribute-Best Picture
Written by Patrick
First Posted: March 17th, 2002
This award is the most consistent of all the Academy Awards. It nearly always goes to a serious movie about a serious topic, preferably set during a war or at the very least civil unrest; the broader in scope and the grander the costumes the better. And it certainly doesn't hurt if the movie made big money at the box-office. What follows is a list of every movie to have received the film industry’s highest honor along with a few brief statements about each. Take a look...
| 1927/28 - Wings |
 Until The Artist won for 2011, this was the only silent movie to win Best Picture. This World War I aerial adventure starred Clara bow and featured Gary Cooper in a bit part. |
| 1928/29 - Broadway Melody |
 The first talkie to win was also the first musical. Bessie Love and Anita Page play sisters struggling for stardom on Broadway. |
| 1929/30 - All Quiet On The Western Front |
 Another WWI drama and perhaps the best war movie ever made. Based on the classic novel about a group of young German men who discover the hell of war. |
| 1930/31 - Cimarron |
 This western based on Edna Ferber’s novel starred Richard Dix and Irene Dunne. It chronicles many years in the life of a homesteading family in Oklahoma. |
| 1931/32 - Grand Hotel |
 All star cast including Greta Garbo, John and Lionel Barrymore, Joan Crawford and Wallace Beery. Fatefully all staying at the famously elegant titular hotel where their lives become forever intertwined. |
| 1933 - Cavalcade |
 Epic melodrama based on Noel Coward’s hit play about a British family from the end of the Victorian era, through the Boer war, World War I and into the thirties. |
| 1934 - It Happened One Night |
 First and greatest comedy to win Best Picture. This Frank Capra classic stars Clark Gable and Claudette Colbert as hilariously mismatched lovers trekking cross-country. |
| 1935 - Mutiny On The Bounty |
 Incredibly entertaining high sea adventure about the infamous mutiny of the British vessel. Clark Gable again stars in the Best Picture winner as Mr. Christian opposite Charles Laughton’s sadistic Captain Bligh. |
| 1936 - The Great Ziegfeld |
 William Powell is Florenz Ziegfeld. Luise Rainer won an Oscar as his first wife, Anna Held, while Myrna Loy plays his second wife, Billie Burke, in this extravagant three hour musical. Fanny Brice and Ray Bolger appear as themselves. |
| 1937 - The Life Of Emile Zola |
 Dramatic biopic of the famous novelist who fought bigotry and was friends with the painter Cezanne. Paul Muni stars. |
| 1938 - You Can’t Take It With You |
 The second comedy to win was also from director Frank Capra. This one stars Jimmy Stewart, Jean Arthur and Lionel Barrymore and is from the play by George S. Kaufman and Moss Hart. |
| 1939 - Gone With The Wind |
 The classic epic movie of all time. Vivien Leigh is Scarlett O’Hara, southern belle extraordinaire who fights the Yankees, poverty, famine and anyone else who comes between her and the beloved Ashley Wilkes. Clark Gable as Rhett Butler proves why he was the undisputed king of Hollywood with his third Best Picture winner of the decade. |
| 1940 - Rebecca |
 This gothic romance stars Laurence Olivier and Joan Fontaine and is the legendary Alfred Hitchcock’s first American film. |
| 1941 - How Green Was My Valley |
 Director John Ford’s picturesque look at life in a Welsh village stars Walter Pidgeon, Maureen O’Hara and Roddy McDowall. |
| 1942 - Mrs. Miniver |
 Greer Garson plays the title role for which she won the Best Actress award. William Wyler directs this hope inspiring story of a middleclass British family under siege during World War II. |
| 1943 - Casablanca |
 Play it again Sam, because you must remember this, that as long as a kiss is still a kiss we’ll always have Paris. So here’s Looking at you kid while they round up the usual suspects. I think this is the beginning of a beautiful friendship; after all, of all the gin joints in all the towns in all the world, she had to walk into this one... |
| 1944 - Going My Way |
 Bing Crosby as a singing priest, tunes by Irving Berlin and Barry Fitzgerald co-stars. |
| 1945 - The Lost Weekend |
 Director Billy Wilder’s unforgettable look at the horrors of alcoholism stars Best Actor winner Ray Milland. |
| 1946 - The Best Years of Our Lives |
 Classic drama about three U. S. servicemen who must adjust to civilian life after returning from the second world war. William Wyler's second movie to win Best Picture it stars Fredric March, Myrna Loy, Dana Andrews and Virginia Mayo. |
| 1947 - Gentleman's Agreement |
 Gregory Peck is a journalist who poses as a Jew in order to research antisemitism. Directed by Elia Kazan and costarring Celeste Holm, Dorothy McGuire and John Garfield. |
| 1948 - Hamlet |
 Laurence Olivier produces, directs and stars in this classic interpretation of Shakespeare's most celebrated play. He also won the Best Actor award. |
| 1949 - All The King's Men |
 Riveting story of corruption in southern politics, based on the novel and starring Broderick Crawford in his most famous role. |
| 1950 - All About Eve |
 Fasten your seatbelts, it's going to be a bumpy night. Bette Davis as the unforgettable Margot Channing, trying desperately not to be upstaged by the backstabbing Eve Harrington, played by Anne Baxter. Marilyn Monroe has a bit part. |
| 1951 - An American in Paris |
 Vincente Minnelli directs, Gene Kelly and Leslie Caron star in this visually stunning musical featuring I Got Rhythm, S'wonderful, Love is Here to Stay, Nice Work if You Can Get it and the famous climactic full-length ballet. |
| 1952 - The Greatest Show On Earth |
 Cecil B. De Mille directs this extravagant screen version of the world famous Ringling Brothers circus. Charlton Heston, Betty Hutton, Jimmy Stewart and Dorothy Lamour star. |
| 1953 - From Here to Eternity |
 Set in Hawaii on the eve of Pearl Harbor, Eternity perfectly captures American life at THE pivotal moment of the twentieth century. The all star cast boasts Burt Lancaster, Deborah Kerr, Montgomery Clift, Donna Reed, Frank Sinatra and Ernest Borgnine. |
| 1954 - On The Waterfront |
 The movie that earned Brando his first Oscar. He plays Terry Maloy ex-prize fighter who gets involved with thugs on the Jersey waterfront. Rod Steiger plays his older brother, together they share one of the defining moments in screen history." I coulda been a contenda." |
| 1955 - Marty |
 Ernest Borgnine is Marty a shy butcher from the Bronx who finds love. He also found the Best Actor award. |
| 1956 - Around The World in Eighty Days |
 Based on the classic Jules Verne novel and starring David Niven as Phineas Fogg and Cantinflas as Pas Pa Tu. Shirley MacLaine plays an Indian Princess they save from a funeral pyre. Featuring dozens of famous cameos. |
| 1957 - The Bridge on the River Kwai |
 William Holden and Alec Guinness star in director David Lean's epic story of British prisoners of war in a Japanese concentration camp. Featuring the most famous whistle in movies. |
| 1958 - Gigi |
 The successful duo of Director Vincente Minnelli and star Leslie Caron reteam for this sumptuous and enchanting musical about a young girl in turn of the century Paris. Based on the story by Colette and costarring Maurice Chevalier, Hermione Gingold and Louis Jourdan. |
| 1959 - Ben-Hur |
 THE Biblical/Roman epic starring Oscar winner Charlton Heston. Featuring the spectacular chariot race scene. William Wyler's third effort to win Best Picture. |
| 1960 - The Apartment |
 Very modern and adult in it's views towards sex, this Billy Wilder classic about a lowly insurance man who must let the higher ups use his Manhattan apartment for their illicit trysts in order to advance. Jack Lemmon and Shirley MacLaine star. |
| 1961 - West Side Story |
 Modern musical retelling of Romeo and Juliet. Lyrics by Stephen Sondheim, score by Leonard Bernstein. Featuring athletic yet graceful dancing between the rival gangs the Jets and the Sharks. Natalie Wood stars. |
| 1962 - Lawrence of Arabia |
 Peter O'Toole in his definitive movie role. Breathtaking cinematography, a must see in wide-screen. Directed by David Lean and costarring Sir Alec Guinness, Anthony Quinn, Omar Sharif, Jose Ferrer and Claude Rains. |
| 1963 - Tom Jones |
 Only the third comedy to be so honored, this movie made an international sensation of star Albert Finney. It is a bawdy and hilarious story of eighteenth century England, based on the famous book by Henry Fielding. |
| 1964 - My Fair Lady |
 George Cukor directs, Rex Harrison and Audrey Hepburn star in this lusciously elegant version of the hugely successful Broadway Musical. Cecil Beaton won an Oscar for his extravagant costumes. |
| 1965 - The Sound of Music |
 The movie that finally broke the box office record Gone With The Wind had held for twenty-five years. Julie Andrews and Christopher Plummer star in this beloved movie. Featuring breathtaking scenery and some of the best songs ever filmed like the title number, Do Re Me and My Favorite Things. |
| 1966 - A Man for all Seasons |
 Director Fred Zinneman's story of the volatile relationship between Thomas More and King Henry VIII. Orson Welles has a supporting role. |
| 1967 - In the Heat of the Night |
 This very topical movie reflects the country's changing attitudes about race relations. Rod Steiger play a small town Mississippi Sheriff who must accept the help of a big city northern black detective (Sidney Poitier) to solve a murder. |
| 1968 - Oliver |
 The fourth musical to win Best Picture during the sixties. This melodic retelling of Dickens' classic novel is heartwarming entertainment at its finest. |
| 1969 - Midnight Cowboy |
 It is impossible to think of another picture more unlike the previous years winner than this one. The first x-rated film to win mainstream acceptance, this is the gritty urban story of a male street hustler and his crippled best friend. John Voight and Dustin Hoffman star. |
| 1970 - Patton |
 George C. Scott is legendary general Patton in this riveting and sometimes brutal film biography. |
| 1971 - The French Connection |
 Gene Hackman plays tough New York City detective Popeye Doyle who stumbles upon an international narcotics smuggling ring. Featuring one of the best car chase scenes ever filmed. |
| 1972 - The Godfather |
 The movie that spawned countless imitations, created a new vernacular, gave Marlon Brando back his career and made new stars of Al Pacino, James Caan, Diane Keaton and director Francis Ford Coppola. A brilliant epic that remains unsurpassed. |
| 1973 - The Sting |
 Redford and Newman together again. They play a pair of con artists during the Great Depression who plan to pull off one last great job. Features vintage ragtime music and Edith Head won her final Oscar for the costumes. |
| 1974 - The Godfather Part II |
 No one thought it could be done, yet somehow Coppola did it. He made a sequel to a masterpiece that stands up to the original. This one continues the saga, but throws in the curve of having Robert De Niro play the young Vito Corleone, a masterful stroke. |
| 1975 - One Flew Over The Cuckoo's Nest |
 Jack Nicholson stars in this incredible look at life in a modern mental health facility. Milos Foreman directs and Louise Fletcher plays the infamous Nurse Ratched. |
| 1976 - Rocky |
 The movie that launched Stallone's career and created a franchise. The story of an underdog boxer who struggles to make it to the top. Great performance by Burgess Meredith as Rocky's gruff, aging trainer with a heart of gold. |
| 1977 - Annie Hall |
 The fourth and thus far final comedy to win Best Picture also won the Best Director award for Woody Allen, who in addition stars and wrote the screenplay. A great love story as well as being a truly funny movie. Diane Keaton plays the title role with which she created a definitive and popular look. |
| 1978 - The Deer Hunter |
 This powerful Vietnam drama stars Robert De Niro, Christopher Walken, John Savage and screen newcomer Meryl Streep. Includes the famous Russian Roulette sequence. |
| 1979 - Kramer vs. Kramer |
 Another topical film, this one explores the effects of divorce on the contemporary American family. Dustin Hoffman and Meryl Streep play the couple at war over the custody of their son. |
| 1980 - Ordinary People |
 Robert Redford won the Oscar for directing this melodrama about modern upper-class suburbia. Timothy Hutton plays the troubled teenager, Mary Tyler Moore and Donald Sutherland are his parents. |
| 1981 - Chariots of Fire |
 Vangelis had a hit instrumental record with the theme song of this true story of two men who run in the 1924 Olympics. |
| 1982 - Gandhi |
 This epic screen version of the legendary pacifist's life also won Oscars for director Richard Attenborough and star Ben Kingsley. Candice Bergen, Martin Sheen and John Gielgud costar. |
| 1983 - Terms of Endearment |
 A true tearjerker in every sense of the world. A woman dies young leaving her three small children with their Grandmother, with whom she has had a lifelong love-hate relationship. Debra Winger, Shirley MacLaine and Jack Nicholson star. |
| 1984 - Amadeus |
 The life story of Mozart filmed on location in Prague, Milos Forman won his second Best Director Oscar for this unflinching look at a musical genius. |
| 1985 - Out of Africa |
 An epic love story set against the vast canvas of Kenya, Africa circa 1914. Directed by Sydney Pollack and starring the powerful combination of Robert Redford and Meryl Streep. |
| 1986 - Platoon |
 Yet another war movie to win Best Picture, this one is director Oliver Stone's highly personal rendering of the Vietnam experience. Charlie Sheen, Wilhem Dafoe and Tom Berenger star. |
| 1987 - The Last Emperor |
 Bernardo Bertolucci's epic story of china's last Emperor perfectly exemplifies the type of film that Hollywood loves to bestow this award on. Grand in scale, beautifully filmed with elaborate costumes and over the top drama. |
| 1988 - Rain Man |
 Classic character study of two very different brothers who grow to love each other. Tom Cruise and Dustin Hoffman are perfect in their roles. |
| 1989 - Driving Miss Daisy |
 Jessica Tandy and Morgan Freeman star in this sentimental yet gripping story of an independent southern woman and her black chauffeur over the course of many years. Dan Aykroyd co-stars. |
| 1990 - Dances With Wolves |
 Kevin Costner evidently used up all of his talent and inspiration on this movie because nothing he has done since even comes close. This is a sprawling well crafted story of the American west particularly dealing with relations between white man and native American. |
| 1991 - The Silence of the Lambs |
 The only Horror movie to win this honor it's also the third movie ever to win Picture, Director, Actor, Actress and Screenplay. Joining It Happened One Night and One Flew Over The Cuckoo's Nest. Jodie Foster and Anthony Hopkins star in this ghoulish thriller. |
| 1992 - Unforgiven |
 Director and star Clint Eastwood delivers his career masterpiece about revenge in the old west. Gene Hackman, Richard Harris and Morgan freeman costar. |
| 1993 - Schindler's List |
 The movie that finally won the Best Director Oscar for Spielberg. Riveting if melodramatic story of a German business man who saved the lives of hundreds of Jews during the holocaust. Ben Kingsley, Liam Neeson and Ralph Fiennes star. |
| 1994 - Forrest Gump |
 Tom Hanks, America's favorite everyman, plays the title role in this modern fable about a dim-witted man who experiences every major historical event from the nineteen fifties through the early eighties. Hokey though it may be, it is also highly entertaining cinema. Directed by Robert Zemeckis and costarring Gary Sinise and Sally Field. |
| 1995 - Braveheart |
 Mel Gibson became the third man in five years to star in a Best Picture winner that he also won the Directing Oscar for. Wonderful cinematography and rousing battle scenes highlight this epic tale of 13th century Scotland at war with England. |
| 1996 - The English Patient |
 Further evidence of Hollywood thinking itself cultured. Yes this is a beautifully shot movie with fine acting but it moves at a snail's pace. Who is the mysterious English Patient? Believe me it takes patience to find out. |
| 1997 - Titanic |
 THE modern blockbuster by which all others must be measured. James Cameron flawlessly directs this meticulous recreation of the greatest human sea tragedy. The love story is a bit contrived but who cares, the special effects have now entered the realm of legend. |
| 1998 - Shakespeare In Love |
 Finally an original and entertaining movie about William Shakespeare. This is also a finely written love story with humorous moments thrown in. Gwyneth Paltrow and Judi Dench both won Oscars for their acting finesse. Imagine Shakespeare with writer's block! |
| 1999 - American Beauty |
 Evocative satire on the dysfunctional family featuring some of the funniest lines in recent movies. Kevin Spacey and Annette Bening give the performances of their careers as the unhappily married couple destined for tragedy. A modern classic. |
| 2000 - Gladiator |
 Russell Crowe shot to superstardom in this over-produced and over-rated epic about Roman Gladiators. The all-star cast includes Joaquin Phoenix, Richard Harris, Derek Jacobi and Oliver Reed in his last screen appearance. |
| 2001 - A Beautiful Mind |
 Russell Crowe scores again as schizophrenic mathematician John Nash, becoming the first star to play the lead role in back to back Best Picture winners since Clark Gable did it with It Happened One Night and Mutiny On the Bounty back in the thirties. |
| 2002 - Chicago |
 34 years after Oliver, another musical finally wins Best Picture. This fast-paced song and dance fest tells the story of Roxie Hart and Velma Kelly, both in jail for murder in roaring twenties Chicago. Songs by Kander and Ebb. |
| 2003 - The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King |
 It finally happened. A sci-fi/fantasy movie won Best Picture. After the first two installments of director Peter Jackson's screen realization of Tolkien's legendary story failed to take home this award, justice has proved triumphant. This trilogy will live forever. |
| 2004 - Million Dollar Baby |
 Clint Eastwood collected his second Best Director Oscar to go with his second Best Picture statuette. Hilary Swank and Morgan Freeman took home Best Actress and Supporting Actor respectively. In a split second the movie changes from an uplifting rags-to-riches story about a woman boxer to a 3-hanky weeper. |
| 2005 - Crash |
 Vivid if broadly painted portrait of racism in 21st Century Los Angeles. Many different character's lives crash into one another over a 2 day period. |
| 2006 - The Departed |
 Martin Scorsese's violent Boston set gangster picture featuring a cast of A-list actors. The plot takes several left turns and keeps you guessing right up until the end. |
| 2007 - No Country for Old Men |
 This modern day western from the Coen brothers polarized audiences. It will long remain infamous as the movie with the climactic scene that wasn't there. This infuriated many, while others praised its audacity. |
| 2008 - Slumdog Millionaire |
 It has been aptly described as Charles Dickens by way of Bollywood. This story of three impoverished orphans surviving in the slums of India is as uplifting and romantic as it is filled with violence and squalor. |
| 2009 - Hurt Locker |
 This documentary like war movie set in Iraq in 2004 made history by being the first movie helmed by a woman to win the Academy's top honor. Kathryn Bigelow also became the first female to win for directing. |
| 2010 - The King's Speech |
 Entertainingly told story of how England's Duke of York overcame his speech impediment to ascend the throne as King George VI. It features a brilliant Oscar winning central performance by Colin Firth. |
| 2011 - The Artist |
 This silent, black & white movie is a delightful homage to the early days of Hollywood. It combines high drama with clever sight gags in an A Star is Born plot as the movies learn to talk. |
| 2012 - Argo |
 Ben Affleck wasn't nominated for directing this somewhat fictionalized, but highly entertaining, look at the Iranian hostage crisis of 1979. The Academy made up for that omission by voting it Best Picture. |
| 2013 - 12 Years a Slave |
 An unflinching, often brutal, depiction of a man's life after he is kidnapped and sold into slavery in the American South. Based on the memoirs of Solomon Northup, 12 Years a Slave made Oscar history as the first movie directed by a black man to take home the big prize. |
| 2014 - Birdman or (The Unexpected Virtue of Ignorance) |
 Michael Keaton earned an Oscar nomination and Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu won for directing this technical showpiece about a has been movie star attempting a comeback on the Great White Way. It's a witty, often acerbic, spoof on show biz filmed in a series of long takes. |
| 2015 - Spotlight |
 A blistering portrait of the Catholic Priest sex abuse scandal that shocked the nation in the early 2000s. This brilliantly written drama about investigative reportage features a talented ensemble cast. |