J. Robert (Cillian Murphy) and Kitty (Emily Blunt) sitting outside in the cold in OppenheimerImage via Universal Pictures
By
Diego Pineda Pacheco
Published 41 minutes ago
Diego Pineda has been a devout storyteller his whole life. He has self-published a fantasy novel and a book of short stories, and is actively working on publishing his second novel.
A lifelong fan of watching movies and talking about them endlessly, he writes reviews and analyses on his Instagram page dedicated to cinema, and occasionally on his blog. His favorite filmmakers are Andrei Tarkovsky and Charlie Chaplin. He loves modern Mexican cinema and thinks it's tragically underappreciated.
Other interests of Diego's include reading, gaming, roller coasters, writing reviews on his Letterboxd account (username: DPP_reviews), and going down rabbit holes of whatever topic he's interested in at any given point.
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With the 98th Academy Awards fast approaching, and with fans still finalizing their nomination predictions, it's as good a time as any to look back at the Best Picture winners of the past. This is nothing short of the most coveted award in the entire film industry, so winning one is no small feat. Thankfully, most recipients have proved themselves deserving of the honor, but there are a few films in particular whose extraordinary quality is above the average of even such a prestigious group.
From classics released during the early days of the Oscars, like It Happened One Night, to quintessential masterpieces of the 21st century, like The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King, these are the greatest Best Picture winners of the last century, which means they're the greatest Best Picture winners of all time. From the thrilling to the moving, from the epic to the intimate, and from the ambitious to the entertaining, these movies are some of the best ever made.
10 'Oppenheimer' (2023)
J. Robert Oppenheimer, played by Cillian Murphy, and Lewis Strauss, played by Robert Downey Jr., confer on the grass at Princeton University in OppenheimerImage via Universal Pictures
Christopher Nolan's whole career had been building up to that magical night on March 10th of 2024, when he finally earned both his long-overdue Best Directing Oscar and a Best Picture Oscar. It couldn't have possibly happened for a better film than Oppenheimer, a biopic epic exploring the life and work of the titular scientist, the father of the atomic bomb. Equal parts World War II drama and Cold War thriller, it's one of the best historical drama films of the last 5 years.
Whether it's the distinctly nuanced approach to such a complicated historical figure, the epic scope with which Nolan manages the story, or the exceptional production values (including in Ludwig Göransson's score, one of the best of any 21st-century film), there's something in Oppenheimer for everyone. It may not be a genre blockbuster like the majority of Nolan's past work, but it still feels like the culmination of the incredible career of one of Hollywood's biggest names.
9 'It Happened One Night' (1934)
Clark Gable as Peter eats a carrot sitting next to Claudette Colbert as Ellie in It Happened One Night.Image via Columbia Pictures
The very first Academy Awards were held in 1928, and throughout their early years, the Oscars kept awarding some duds that haven't exactly aged well. There were definitely exceptions, though, including 1935's Best Picture winner: It Happened One Night, one of the greatest screwball comedies of all time, made by one of Golden Age Hollywood's most transgressive artists, Frank Capra.
The film is one of the best rom-coms of all time, a masterpiece that's still surprisingly (and delightfully) raunchy for a film released only four months before the Hays Code started to be enforced. Clark Gable and Claudette Colbert are amazing, Capra's direction is full of personality, and the dialogue and humor are both unexpectedly genius, considering that talkies were only seven years old by this time. Rom-coms don't often win Best Picture, but when they do, they can only hope to be as good as It Happened One Night.
8 'The Apartment' (1960)
Fran Kubelik, played by Shirley MacLaine, holds up a glass while wearing a crown in The Apartment.Image via United Artists
Another director who constantly defied the rules, regulations, and traditions of Classical Hollywood was Billy Wilder, and as such, it should come as no shocker that he directed multiple of the era's best films. Two of his movies won Best Picture, but the best of the two is clear: The Apartment, a gem released on the tail end of Hollywood's Golden Age, which has aged as one of the greatest films ever made.
Dealing with topics as complex as the destructiveness of corporate greed and the messiness of love, The Apartment is one of the best rom-coms of the last century. Tender in its emotional moments, sincere in its sense of humor, and beautifully realistic in its pathos, the film has the perfect balance between lighter moments and the kind of darkness that one can expect from any Wilder film. It's precisely comedies that also function as undercover tragedies that tend to be the most memorable, and The Apartment is no exception.
7 'Schindler's List' (1993)
Oskar Schindler dictates while Itzhak Stern types in Schindler's List.Image via Universal Pictures
Over the 20th century, Steven Spielberg kept proving again and again that he was one of the greatest filmmakers at Hollywood's disposal. After the seminal and game-changing Schindler's List, there was no doubt left that that was true. One of the greatest war dramas ever made, this complex biopic depicts the Holocaust, those who enabled it, and those who fought against it with equal parts empathy and deep pathos.
Schindler's List has several of the best acting performances of any war movie, as well as one of the genre's most hauntingly gorgeous scores and one of its best uses of black and white. It's an absolutely gut-wrenching film, but also an essential watch with the kind of deeply human heart you can expect from any Spielberg film, fully deserving of each one of its seven Oscar wins.
6 'One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest' (1975)
Will Sampson and Jack Nicholson hugging in One Flew Over the Cuckoo's NestImage via United Artists
The 1970s were perhaps the greatest decade for Hollywood movies in history, and as such, it's perhaps the decade with the most stacked lineup of Best Picture winners. The fact that a film as masterful as One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest is arguably not even the best of the bunch tells you all you need to know. This powerful and morally ambiguous drama, based on Ken Kesey's novel of the same name, is one of the most emotionally resonant films of its era.
An admirable three Jack Nicholson movies have won Best Picture, and this one might just be the best of the three, with Louise Fletcher serving as the perfect counterforce to complement the iconic actor's disruptive work. One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest is a social critique and a character study like no other, whose episodic nature feels beautifully natural and whose humor is balanced with some deep-seated tragedy. It's poignant, it's amusing, and it packs a hell of a punch.
5 'The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King' (2003)
Viggo Mortensen holding a sword in The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the KingImage via New Line Cinema
One typically doesn't expect genre films to perform particularly well at the Oscars outside of below-the-line categories, which makes it all the more admirable that one of the three winners of the most Oscars in history (with a whopping 11) is the fantasy epic The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King. Sir Peter Jackson's entire trilogy, adapting one of the most essential works of literary fantasy of all time, is absolutely phenomenal, but Return of the King is on a whole other level.
Return of the King and its Oscar success are what you get when the Academy decides to recognize genre cinema's artistic merit.
Full of showstopping action sequences, extraordinary performances, emotionally satisfying conclusions to certain storylines, and plenty of the most legendary movie moments of the last 25 years, Return of the King and its Oscar success are what you get when the Academy decides to recognize genre cinema's artistic merit. It's one of the most gratifying Oscar sweeps in the awards' history, and still the greatest Best Picture winner of the 21st century so far.
4 'Casablanca' (1942)
Humphrey Bogart as Rick Blaine in a white tuxedo looking intently off-camera in Casablanca, 1942.Image via Warner Bros. Pictures
Hollywood continued to make several excellent films throughout World War II, and Casablanca was easily among the best. Itself also a story about a war-torn world, it's primarily a romance drama, and what an effective one it is. The screenplay is one of the best (and most quotable) ever written, and Humphrey Bogart and Ingrid Bergman elevate it to astonishing heights.
What's not to love? Two of Golden Age Hollywood's best performances, a celebration of resistance in the face of fascism, and one of the most legendary ending scenes in movie history, all help make this one of the most entertaining and enjoyable films of its era. Casablanca is Classical Hollywood's quintessential romance drama, a bittersweet ode to courage, the roads not taken, and the heartbreaking allure of the love that just can't be.
3 'The Godfather Part II' (1974)
There are masterpieces, and then there's Francis Ford Coppola's first two Godfather films. Some people tend to agree that The Godfather Part II is somehow even better than its predecessor, and those who disagree would likely still admit that it's one of the greatest films ever made. There's simply nothing to criticize about this flawless character epic that simultaneously functions as the greatest sequel and the greatest prequel ever made.
The concept of juxtaposing young Vito's ascendance to power with the spiritual downfall of Michael Corleone may seem simple on paper, but Coppola's execution is so nuanced and sharp that it's impossible not to find it absolutely fascinating. The Godfather Part II is one of the most perfectly directed movies of the 20th century, a 3-and-a-half-hour gem where every last second contributes something essential to the greater whole.
2 'Lawrence of Arabia' (1962)
Auda Tayi (Anthony Quinn), Lawrence (Peter O'Toole), and Sharif Ali (Omar Sharif), looking disturbed in 'Lawrence of Arabia'Image via Columbia Pictures
It may or may not be the greatest war film ever made, but one thing is certain: Lawrence of Arabia sure is the greatest war film that's ever won Best Picture at the Oscars. Perfectly capturing the nuances of a character as complex and complicated as T.E. Lawrence couldn't have possibly been easier, but throughout its nearly four hours of runtime, Lawrence of Arabia excels at doing just that.
Directed by David Lean, perhaps the definitive director of cinematic epics, Lawrence of Arabia surprises with how huge its set pieces feel, yet how beautifully intimate its scope manages to be. The movie, bolstered by Peter O'Toole delivering a performance so perfect that it's nearly impossible to believe it was his first-ever leading role in a movie, is as intense and larger-than-life as its subject was.
1 'The Godfather' (1972)
Marlon Brando as Vito Corleone in 'The Godfather 2'Image via Paramount Pictures
Very few movie franchises have more than one Best Picture nomination, and it should surprise no one that The Godfather is one of those franchises. But phenomenal though The Godfather Part II may be, there's just no beating the film that many still refer to as the greatest ever made: The Godfather, the quintessential American crime epic.
The reasons why Coppola's magnum opus is so often lauded as the best movie of all time are countless. There are the timeless performances, Nino Rota's exceptional score, the gorgeous cinematography and set design, and the masterful tour de force that is the screenplay. The Godfather actually didn't win the most Oscars in 1973 (it won three, while Cabaret won eight), but it fully deserved every last one of them—particularly Best Picture.
The Godfather
R
Drama
Crime
Release Date
March 24, 1972
Cast
Marlon Brando, Al Pacino, James Caan, Robert Duvall, Richard S. Castellano, Diane Keaton, Talia Shire, Gianni Russo, Sterling Hayden, John Marley, Richard Conte, Al Lettieri, Abe Vigoda, Rudy Bond, Al Martino, Morgana King, Lenny Montana, John Martino, Salvatore Corsitto, Richard Bright, Alex Rocco, Tony Giorgio, Vito Scotti, Tere Livrano
Runtime
175 minutes
Director
Francis Ford Coppola
Writers
Mario Puzo, Francis Ford Coppola
Genres
Drama, Crime
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