Best Picture oscars through the decades

Bodhidharma

We all know that the oscars are fairly predictable and usually uncontroversial, but are they an overall barometer of the quality of a decade's film? I have listed the best picture winners from the sixties to today.

The winners from the seventies I think demonstrate the strength of cinema throughout the decade. Every film that won could be considered a classic. The eighties by contrast was a very poor selection, Platoon being the best and even that wasn't great. The ninties were an improvement and in the noughties there seemed to be a dip, with the exception of No Country for Old Men.

I would argue that the greatest decade for cinema was the seventies and it is reflected in the best picture awards. What do you think?


1960 – The Apartment (Billy Wilder)
1961 – West Side Story (Jerome Robbins, Robert Wise)
1962 – Lawrence of Arabia (David Lean)
1963 – Tom Jones (Tony Richardson)
1964 – My Fair Lady (George Cukor)
1965 – The Sound of Music (Robert Wise)
1966 – A Man for All Seasons (Fred Zinnemann)
1967 – In the Heat of the Night (Norman Jewison)
1968 – Oliver! (Carol Reed)
1969 – Midnight Cowboy (John Schlesinger

1970 – Patton (Franklin J. Schaffner)
1971 – The French Connection (William Friedkin)
1972 – The Godfather (Francis Ford Coppola)
1973 – The Sting (George Roy Hill)
1974 – The Godfather Part II (Francis Ford Coppola)
1975 – One Flew over the Cuckoo’s Nest (Milos Forman)
1976 – Rocky (John G. Avildsen)
1977 – Annie Hall (Woody Allen)
1978 – The Deer Hunter (Michael Cimino)
1979 – Kramer vs. Kramer (Robert Benton)

1980 – Ordinary People (Robert Redford)
1981 – Chariots of Fire (Hugh Hudson)
1982 – Gandhi (Richard Attenborough)
1983 – Terms of Endearment (James L. Brooks)
1984 – Amadeus (Milos Forman)
1985 – Out of Africa (Sydney Pollack)
1986 – Platoon (Oliver Stone)
1987 – The Last Emperor (Bernardo Bertolucci)
1988 – Rain Man (Barry Levinson)
1989 – Driving Miss Daisy (Bruce Beresford)

1990 – Dances with Wolves (Kevin Costner)
1991 – The Silence of the Lambs (Jonathan Demme)
1992 – Unforgiven (Clint Eastwood)
1993 – Schindler’s List (Steven Spielberg)
1994 – Forrest Gump (Robert Zemeckis)
1995 – Braveheart (Mel Gibson)
1996 – The English Patient (Anthony Minghella)
1997 – Titanic (James Cameron)
1998 – Shakespeare in Love (John Madden)
1999 – American Beauty (Sam Mendes)

2000 – Gladiator (Ridley Scott)
2001 – A Beautiful Mind (Ron Howard)
2002 – Chicago (Rob Marshall)
2003 – The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King (Peter Jackson)
2004 – Million Dollar Baby (Clint Eastwood)
2005 – Crash (Paul Haggis)
2006 – The Departed (Martin Scorsese)
2007 – No Country for Old Men (Joel & Ethan Coen)
2008 – Slumdog Millionaire (Danny Boyle)
2009 - Hurt Locker

losthorizon

Im afraid you have to go back further to the 1940s to find the era of the best overall quality. Also, I think, The Oscar winner for Best Picture is often undeserving and is just a safe bet. Their choice in the foreign language section is a complete joke and not to be taken seriously at all.

duckworth

The Oscars is a big bag of nonsense.

Shakespeare in Love? Crash? Chicago? Driving Miss Daisy?

90s was a pretty bad decade if you go by the winners. They picked crap like Forrest Gump over Pulp Fiction. Bleugh.

Dermighty

losthorizon wrote: »

Im afraid you have to go back further to the 1940s to find the era of the best overall quality. Also, I think, The Oscar winner for Best Picture is often undeserving and is just a safe bet. Their choice in the foreign language section is a complete joke and not to be taken seriously at all.

1970 – Patton (Franklin J. Schaffner)
1971 – The French Connection (William Friedkin)
1972 – The Godfather (Francis Ford Coppola)
1973 – The Sting (George Roy Hill)
1974 – The Godfather Part II (Francis Ford Coppola)
1975 – One Flew over the Cuckoo’s Nest (Milos Forman)
1976 – Rocky (John G. Avildsen)
1977 – Annie Hall (Woody Allen)
1978 – The Deer Hunter (Michael Cimino)
1979 – Kramer vs. Kramer (Robert Benton)

I would disagree, Patton, The Godfather, The French Connection, The Sting and Rocky were all excellent movies. I don't have much to say about the rest of the 70's though.

slave1

Best Picture in not necessarily the "best" picture, it can often be recognition for assoicated works e.g. ROTK for the LOTR trilogy, a lifetime e.g. Departed for Mr. Scorsese. It has to be said that once you get one Best Picture it virtually eliminates you from receiving another, even if your film is indeed the "best" (Godfather Pt II being the noted exception on so many levels).

Mark Hamill

Severe lack of sci-fi, fantasy and horror.