My Top Ten Best Picture Oscar Winners (Including Full Ranked List Of All Seen)

The Oscar nominees are being announced today (I think?), so I thought I’d start my new project to watch all the Best Picture Oscar Winners.

I’ll post about the project & the 31 that I have left to watch soon. First I thought it would be fun to rank the 62 that I’ve already seen.

I do have to say that I haven’t enjoyed the Oscars as much for the last decade or so. When you look at winners from the past, there are some truly fantastic & epic films. But maybe the problem is just that movies aren’t actually as good nowadays… Either way, I don’t expect much from this year’s nominees since I didn’t see anything great in 2020. We’ll see – there are still plenty of 2020 films not yet available in the U.K. so maybe I’ve missed out on a masterpiece (but I doubt it). And although there are loads of great movies that I really liked in the list below, only the top 2 are personal all-time favorites of mine.

For now, here’s my full ranked list of all the Best Picture Oscar Winners I’ve seen so far, counting down to my top ten:

62-61 (hated these)

62. The English Patient
61. Slumdog Millionaire

60-51: (some of these really shouldn’t be winners)

60. Crash (ugh)
59. Shakespeare In Love
58. The Hurt Locker
57. All Quiet On The Western Front (don’t really remember this – watched it in school)
56. Ordinary People
55. Birdman
54. Chicago
53. Oliver!
52. The King’s Speech
51. Out Of Africa (don’t remember this well either)

Top 50:

50. On The Waterfront
49. Chariots Of Fire (should rewatch this too)
48. Driving Miss Daisy
47. Green Book
46. Dances With Wolves
45. Kramer vs. Kramer
44. A Beautiful Mind
43. Spotlight
42. No Country For Old Men
41. Unforgiven

Top Forty:

40. Moonlight
39. Argo
38. Braveheart
37. The Silence Of The Lambs
36. My Fair Lady
35. All About Eve
34. The Best Years Of Our Lives
33. Rebecca
‪32. The French Connection
31. Gladiator

Top Thirty:

30. Forrest Gump
29. Ben-Hur
28. West Side Story
27. Amadeus
26. In The Heat Of The Night
25. The Shape Of Water
24. Casablanca (in all honesty, need to rewatch this as well)
23. Gone With The Wind
22. The Sting (also need to rewatch – just remember liking it a lot as a kid)
21. Platoon

Top Twenty:

20. Terms Of Endearment
19. Rain Man
18. The Deer Hunter
17. It Happened One Night
16. Parasite
15. The Departed
14. Million Dollar Baby
13. Schindler’s List
12. American Beauty
11. Midnight Cowboy

****Top Ten:****

My Top Ten Best Picture Winners:

10. The Artist

9. Titanic

8. The Apartment

7. Rocky

6. The Lord Of The Rings: The Return Of The King

5. The Godfather Part II

4. The Godfather

3. The Bridge On The River Kwai

2. The Sound Of Music

1. One Flew Over The Cuckoo’s Nest

The 31 Still To Be Seen:

2014 12 Years a Slave
1988 The Last Emperor
1983 Gandhi
1978 Annie Hall
1971 Patton
1967 A Man for All Seasons
1964 Tom Jones
1963 Lawrence of Arabia
1959 Gigi
1957 Around the World in 80 Days
1956 Marty
1954 From Here to Eternity
1953 The Greatest Show on Earth
1952 An American in Paris
1950 All the Kings Men
1949 Hamlet
1948 Gentleman’s Agreement
1946 The Lost Weekend
1945 Going My Way
1943 Mrs. Miniver
1942 How Green Was My Valley
1939 You Can’t Take It with You
1938 The Life of Emile Zola
1937 The Great Ziegfeld
1936 Mutiny on the Bounty
1934 Cavalcade
1933 Grand Hotel
1932 Cimarron
1930 The Broadway Melody
1929 Wings (and Sunrise: A Song of Two Humans) (plan to watch both as they both actually won the top prizes that year – Wings was later declared the official winner but Sunrise sounds better…)

I’ll still be working on my IMDb Top 250 Challenge as well. Last week I ranked the those I’ve watched so far HERE and listed those I still need to watch HERE.

My IMDb Top 250 Challenge Rankings So Far

I started this project, my IMDb Top 250 Challenge, on the 1st of January 2013 having already seen 151 of the 250 movies in the Top 250 IMDb list at that time. My goal was to watch the remaining 99. I’m taking my time but, eight years later, I’ve managed to watch 65. Only 34 left to go!

I figured it was time to make more of an effort to watch the remaining 34. I’m putting a list together of those remaining, which I’ll post in a few days. Would like to hear from people on which of those 34 I should try to watch first. 🙂

I’ll also soon post about a new project, the Best Picture Project, which I know many people have done. A far easier project as that list always stays the same with just one new addition each year! There are only 31 Best Picture Oscar Winners I’ve not seen (not too bad, right?). There are also several films on both the Top 250 & Best Picture lists that I need to see so might as well kill two birds with one stone.

For now, I thought it was be fun to rank the 65 movies I’ve watched so far for the Top 250 challenge. So here are My IMDb Top 250 Project Movies Watched So Far (Ranked From Least Favorite To Very Favorite & With Links To My Reviews):

65-61:

65. Mary And Max – watched 7/6/13 – Rating: 4/10

64. Slumdog Millionaire – watched 28/4/13 – Rating: 5/10

63. Oldboy – watched 27/12/19 – Rating: 5.5/10

62. Manhattan – watched 15/10/16 – Rating: 6.5/10

61. Warrior – watched 22/8/15 – Rating: 6/10

60-51

60. Life Of Pi – watched 15/1/13 – Rating: 6.5/10

59. A Separation – watched 9/8/14 – Rating: 6.5/10

58. The Wild Bunch – watched 28/5/19 – Rating: 7/10

57. 3 Idiots – watched 9/11/19 – Rating: 7/10

56. The Night Of The Hunter – watched 15/8/17 – Rating: 6.5/10

55. Paths Of Glory – watched 22/8/15 – Rating: 6.5/10

54. On The Waterfront – watched 9/9/14 – Rating: 7/10

53. Touch Of Evil – watched 27/5/19 – Rating: 7/10

52. No Country For Old Men – watched 18/7/20 – Rating: 7/10

51. Who’s Afraid Of Virginia Woolf? – watched 24/3/13 – Rating: 7/10

Top Fifty:

50. Raging Bull – watched 29/9/13 – Rating: 7/10

49. The Killing – watched 8/6/19 – Rating: 7/10

48. Unforgiven – watched 17/8/14 – Rating: 6.5/10

47. Dog Day Afternoon – watched 18/1/13 – Rating: 7/10

46. The King’s Speech – watched 25/2/18 – Rating: 7/10

45. Bringing Up Baby – watched 31/1/21 – Rating: 7/10

44. Butch Cassidy And The Sundance Kid – watched 26/1/13 – Rating: 7/10

43. Anatomy Of A Murder – watched 2/8/15 – Rating: 7/10

42. Witness For The Prosecution – watched 12/1/13 – Rating: 7/10

41. The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance – watched 9/9/14 – Rating: 7/10

Top Forty:

40. Roman Holiday – watched 5/12/17 – Rating: 7/10

39. Sleuth – watched 5/2/13 – Rating: 7/10

38. City Of God – watched 18/1/14 – Rating: 7.5/10

37. Bicycle Thieves – watched 5/6/13 – Rating: 7.5/10

36. Notorious – watched 6/5/13 – Rating: 7.5/10

35. The 400 Blows (Les Quatre Cents Coups) – watched 30/3/19 – Rating: 7.5/10

34. Sunset Boulevard – watched 7/11/15 – Rating: 7.5/10

33. Shadow Of A Doubt – watched 5/1/13 – Rating: 7.5/10

32. Citizen Kane – watched 13/1/18 – Rating: 7.5/10

31. A Fistful Of Dollars – watched 28/4/16 – Rating: 7.5/10

Top Thirty:

30. In The Heat Of The Night – watched 15/2/19 – Rating: 7.5/10

29. Rope – watched 4/1/13 – Rating: 7.5/10

28. For A Few Dollars More – watched 14/5/16 – Rating: 7.5/10

27. Nosferatu (1922) – watched 14/7/13 – Rating: 7.5/10

26. Some Like It Hot – watched 2/12/17 – Rating: 7.5/10

25. Rashômon – watched 16/8/14 – Rating: 8/10

24. It Happened One Night – watched 9/1/21 – Rating: 8/10

23. The Hustler – watched 7/1/17 – Rating: 8/10

22. Million Dollar Baby – watched 11/2/17 – Rating: 8/10

21. Howl’s Moving Castle (Hauru no ugoku shiro) – watched 14/9/14 – Rating: 7.5/10

Top Twenty:

20. The Secret In Their Eyes – watched 23/3/13 – Rating: 8/10

19. Ip Man – watched 28/3/19 – Rating: 7.5/10

18. Infernal Affairs (Mou gaan dou) – watched 4/5/19 – Rating: 7.5/10

17. Full Metal Jacket – watched 11/5/14 – Rating: 8/10

16. M – watched 26/9/15 – Rating: 8/10

15. Once Upon A Time In The West – watched 02/07/13 – Rating: 8/10

14. Grave Of The Fireflies (Hotaru no haka) – watched 1/1/15 – Rating: 8/10

13. Yojimbo – watched 30/10/19 – Rating: 8/10

12. The Untouchables – watched 16/8/17 – Rating: 8/10

11. The Kid – watched 19/2/13 – Rating: 8.5/10

*****Top Ten:*****

10. Rocky – watched 12/2/17 – Rating: 8.5/10

9. Laputa: Castle In The Sky – watched 7/3/13 – Rating: 8/10

8. Metropolis – watched 11/5/18 – Rating: 8.5/10

7. The Great Escape – watched 28/10/13 – Rating: 8.5/10

6. Modern Times – watched 1/1/13 – Rating: 9/10

5. The Good, The Bad And The Ugly – watched 16/2/16 – Rating: 8/10

4. Princess Mononoke – watched 25/1/13 – Rating: 8.5/10

3. The Bridge On The River Kwai – watched 23/6/13 – Rating: 9/10

2. City Lights – watched 15/2/13 – Rating: 9/10

1. Nausicaä Of The Valley Of The Wind (Kaze no tani no Naushika) – watched 2/11/14 – Rating: 9/10

In 2016, I did take the new IMDb Top 250 list to see if there were any new additions I’d not seen. There were lots of new ones but only 14 I’d not seen. I’m working through those too (as well as any on the current list), but the 2013 list is my first priority. Here are 5 of the 14 I’ve watched so far from the 2016 list:

***IMDb Top 250 New Additions As Of 01/01/2016 Watched:***

5. The Grand Budapest Hotel – watched 12/4/19 – Rating: 5/10

4. The Hunt (Jagten) – watched 20/4/19 – Rating: 7.5/10

3. Hachi: A Dog’s Tale – watched 20/5/20 – Rating: 7.5/10

2. Les Diaboliques – watched 20/2/21 – Rating: 7.5/10

1. Ikiru – watched 1/1/16 – Rating: 8/10

It’s annoying that I’ve not reviewed 4 or 5 of these, including the amazing Akira Kurosawa films as I wanted to do a specific Kurosawa project on this blog. Maybe someday…

My Top Ten Best Picture Oscar Winners (And Bottom Five!)

I’m continuing my Oscar-themed week with this list of my favorite (and least-favorite!) Best Picture Oscar winners.

The Academy does quite often get things very wrong (especially in recent years) but when looking at a list of all the winners, there are indeed a lot of true classics here that I’d highly recommend to everyone.

I have my little IMDB project where I’m trying to watch all the IMDB Top 250 Films so I’m not about to start attempting to watch all the Best Picture Winners. However, when making this list, I discovered that I’ve already seen 47 so I guess that isn’t too bad! So I ranked them ALL (because I’m sad like that). But I’ll of course focus on the top ten.

So now, counting down to My Top Ten Best Picture Oscar Winners, these are all of them that I’ve seen ranked from least favorite to favorite. My Bottom Five list will follow this one…

Chicago
Birdman
The King’s Speech
Oliver!
Out Of Africa
On The Waterfront
Driving Miss Daisy
Chariots Of Fire
Dances With Wolves
Unforgiven
A Beautiful Mind
Spotlight
Moonlight
Argo
Braveheart
My Fair Lady
All About Eve
The Best Years Of Our Lives
The Silence Of The Lambs
Rebecca
‪The French Connection
West Side Story
Gladiator
Amadeus
Forrest Gump
Ben-Hur
The Shape Of Water
Rain Man
In The Heat Of The Night
Casablanca
Gone With The Wind
The Sting
Terms Of Endearment

We’re getting there… 😉

15. Platoon
14. The Deer Hunter
13. The Departed
12. Million Dollar Baby
11. Titanic

My Top Ten Best Picture Winners:

10. TIE: American Beauty & Schindler’s List

9. Midnight Cowboy

8. The Apartment

7. The Lord Of The Rings: The Return Of The King

6. Rocky

5. The Artist

4. TIE: The Godfather & The Godfather Part II (it made more sense to keep them together but I slightly prefer the first film)

3. The Bridge On The River Kwai

2. The Sound Of Music

1. One Flew Over The Cuckoo’s Nest

I absolutely love Cuckoo’s Nest – it’s very easily my number one favorite. 🙂

And now is when I’m going to be a bitch! Here are My Bottom Five Best Picture Oscar Winners (Counting down to the very worst):

5. Crash
4. Ordinary People (it beat Raging Bull & The Elephant Man!)
3. Shakespeare In Love (it famously beat Saving Private Ryan)
2. Slumdog Millionaire
1. The English Patient

*yawn!*

It was fun making this list! I really should try to watch more Oscar winners – I seem to especially have not seen many of the winners from the past decade or so. I’d love to hear all of your favorite & least favorite Best Pictures in the comments now! 🙂

**List updated 2/7/17 to add Spotlight, Million Dollar Baby & Rocky

**List updated 25/11/17 to add Moonlight

**List updated 28/1/18 to add The French Connection

**List updated December 2018 to add The King’s Speech & The Shape Of Water

**List updated February 2019 to add In The Heat Of The Night

John Hughes Movie Song Of The Day: The Breakfast Club

Mitch Miller & His Orchestra – Colonel Bogey March (as whistled by the characters in The Breakfast Club, 1985)

And…

**And… That gives me the opportunity to again mention The Bridge On The River Kwai, which is an AWESOME movie that I probably wouldn’t have ever watched if it wasn’t for my IMDB Top 250 Challenge. You can read my Kwai review HERE. 🙂

IMDB Top 250 Challenge – Movie #19 – The Bridge On The River Kwai (1957) Review

The Bridge On The River Kwai (1957) – IMDB Rank #100

Watched 23/6/13

Directed by David Lean

Starring:
Alec Guinness
William Holden
Jack Hawkins
Sessue Hayakawa
Geoffrey Horne
James Donald

Running time: 161 minutes

Plot Synopsis (via Wikipedia):

In World War II, British prisoners are marched to a Japanese prison camp in western Burma. The commandant, Colonel Saito (Sessue Hayakawa), informs them that all prisoners, regardless of rank, are to work on the construction of a railroad bridge over the River Kwai. The senior British officer, Lt. Colonel Nicholson (Alec Guinness), reminds Saito that the Geneva Conventions exempt officers from manual labor.

And a bit more – that gives you the general idea.

My Opinion:

I have to admit that with this IMDB Top 250 Challenge, I’m not looking forward to forcing myself to watch some of them – Especially the war movies and the Westerns. Plus most of them are so LONG. So I put the 161 minute war movie The Bridge On The River Kwai on when I had nothing else to watch and figured I could have it on in the background while I did some chores and it would get one of these long, boring war movies off the list. Well, I didn’t do any of those chores because this movie is BRILLIANT! I loved it! Along with the Charlie Chaplin stuff, Kwai is my biggest pleasant surprise since starting this challenge. My faith in the IMDB Top 250 has somewhat been restored after some real disappointments recently.

Here’s my confession: I’d seen Alec Guinness in nothing other than Star Wars before this. Horrible movie fan, I know! Well, you know… I’m young(ish). So, anyway… Give me a break. 😉

Alec Guinness is amazing in this. Turns out he’s a REALLY great actor. Lol! Yeah – I think everyone already knew this so there’s not much point in saying much more about it. His performance as the strong-willed Lt. Colonel Nicholson, whose resolve never falters, truly is stunning. The film is worth the watch for his performance alone. Luckily, though, it’s worth watching for many other reasons as well.

William Holden plays United States Navy Commander Shears and also gives a fine (and very American) performance. I won’t go into the story as there may actually be some people who haven’t seen this but he plays a very important role. Hell – everyone in this gives an Oscar-worthy performance and I can’t fault any of them: Sessue Hayakawa as Colonel Saito, Jack Hawkins as tough-guy British Major Warden, Geoffrey Horne as the cute Canadian Lieutenant Joyce, and James Donald as British medical officer Major Clipton, who has a smaller role but I really enjoyed his character & he gets to deliver a great memorable line. Why can’t they make movies like this with performances like these anymore?

Summary:

One of those “worthy” classics that truly deserves all the praise it has received. Excellent, gripping story with an intense and unforgettable ending and characters that you really believe in and care about (something unfortunately lacking in far too many modern movies). Unlike some classics that have been hyped up over the years and then leave you a bit disappointed when you watch them, The Bridge On The River Kwai never disappoints & is one you’ll be happy to have finally forced yourself to watch. Oh, and it’s good from the very start, unlike some long classics that take a while to get going. I guarantee you won’t get any chores done for 161 minutes should you decide to give this one a try. And I really hope you do give it a try. As you may have guessed, I highly recommend it.

My Rating: 9/10

(Good movies make me happy) 🙂

The famous “Breakfast Club” whistle. John Hughes knew good shit when he saw it. (I wasn’t going to finish this review without mentioning The Breakfast Club): 😉

(And after this one, I watched a long Western! Once Upon A Time In The West. I suck at being girly.)