The Best Best Picture Winner

1. Lawrence of Arabia
2. Annie Hall
3. The Best Years of Our Lives
4. Casablanca
5. The Godfather

“Their “foreign language” picks are usually just as mediocre”

Quite right. I mean Dersu Uzala, Closely Watched Trains, The Shop on Main Street, Day for Night, Amarcord, Through a Glass Darkly, 8 1/2, The Garden of the Finzi Continis, The Discreet Charm of the Bourgeousie, The Virgin Spring, La Strada, Mon Oncle, Rashomon, Gate of Hell, The Bicycle Thieves…. all forgotten mediocrities.

Ok, you can say these were all name films by big directors but you can argue that the quality of choices went downhill when they started generally not picking films by name directors and going for mushy sentimental prestige pieces.

Wow, those are some pretty impressive “forgotten mediocrities!”

Yes their “foreign language” choices have declined noticeably over the past 2-3 decades, hence the “are” not “were”. Not that i agree with many of the older choices either, but they included quite a few strong and still admired films, for sure

“you can say these were all name films by big directors”

Plenty of nominations too for some biggies like Rohmer, Wajda and Kakogiannis.

(and for uncovered as of yet masters like Jan Sverak and Moshe Mizrahi)

Didn’t Sverak win for Kolya? I watched Elementary School last night and really enjoyed it. He has a great eye for detail and human emotions.

The Godfather 1 & 2
Annie Hall
Gone With The Wind
The Apartment
All About Eve
Oliver!
Rebecca
Midnight Cowboy
On The Waterfront
The French Connection
Laurence Of Arabia
Mrs Miniver
Amadeus

I have no problem with these choices:

The Hurt Locker
Slumdog Millionare
Unforgiven
Out of Africa
Ordinary People (I’ll defend its win.)
Annie Hall
One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest
Godfather II
The Godfather
Midnight Cowboy
Lawrence of Arabia
The Apartment
Bridge on the River Kwai
All About Eve
Casablanca
Gone with the Wind
It Happened One Night

Hurt Locker and Slumdog were fine as mubis but hardly the stuff of “Best Picture.” Could say the same for Unforgiven. If it wasn’t for Gene Hackman’s performance that movie would have been nothing. Again, these were pretty much industry films, even Slumdog, despite its Indian cast. Style, production was purely Western with a Bollywood ending.

Rebecca
All About Eve
Casablanca
One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest
West Side Story
The Departed
Gigi

“Style, production was purely Western with a Bollywood ending.”

You mean Hollywood Dzimas. You won’t see that video-clip aesthetic in most Greek dramas.

You mean Hollywood Dzimas. You won’t see that video-clip aesthetic in most Greek dramas.

You will only see it in films that try to be succesful at the Box Office by being hollywood.

Casablanca

This is the kind of thread that makes coming to this site worth it. And finally … finally! … Dmitris and I agree on something, and of all things it’s the value of Gigi!

I agree with so many of you about these choices. As we all tend to pull towards our personal favorites, my firsts would also be The Godfather, Part II, The Apartment, Unforgiven, Lawrence of Arabia The Godfather, and The Best Years of Our Lives. However, in looking over the lists of the nominees, films such as On the Waterfront, The Life of Emile Zola, and even Ben-Hur provide easy bases for arguments as to why they should have won.

My Fair Lady is not an abortion. It is a beautifully made, great representative swan song of the last gasp of the then-dying “Old Hollywood,” and an even better rep of its time in a relatively more placid America, eager and willing to accept such a confection with everything and the kitchen sink thrown in. (Mary Poppins, another nominee from that same year, also qualifies) And, as has just been discussed here and in another thread from a few weeks back, 1964 is one of those ‘great’ years for cinema. Would it come out on top in a revised vote? Probably not, as I think that would go to Dr. Strangelove. However, that doesn’t diminish its charm or its worth a bit. Likewise with Oliver! — a curiosity as a “winner,” but a solidly crafted film nevertheless.

It’s an interesting take to look at those years, too. I’ve always held that when you look at so many of the nominees from the second golden period of the 1970s you can find the strongest of the contests. I contend that all of the nominees from 1975 (One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest, and Barry Lyndon, Dog Day Afternoon, Jaws, Nashville ) and 1976 (Rocky, and All the President’s Men, Bound for Glory, Network, Taxi Driver ), and, with the exception of The Towering Inferno, 1974 (The Godfather, Part II, The Conversation, Lenny, Chinatown), “deserved” to win.

There aren’t too many other years about which you can say the same. I’m finding it fun to find some of the weaker years, where there was either a clear winner, or maybe only one or two good choices, and even years to where you’d have to say scrap all of them and hope the next year would be better. 1963 seems the case, although both Tom Jones, the winner, and Kazan’s America, America are superb films. 1978 is not one of the most stellar years, nor is 1995.

The worst seems to be 1947. Although Lean’s Great Expectations is beautifully made, and Miracle on 34th Street has charm to spare, are any of these films top tier? Does anyone even know Gentleman’s Agreement at all in this day and age? DeSica’s Shoeshine was voted a ’special" award that year just for being so good. They should have taken it the rest of the way.

“Likewise with Oliver! — a curiosity as a “winner,” but a solidly crafted film nevertheless.”

Oliver! is a simplistic curiosity regardless if we look at its musical aspects and only. In Carol Reed’s oeuvre, it’s pretty much on the last spots.

“1963 seems the case, although both Tom Jones, the winner, and Kazan’s America, America are superb films.”

It’s funny ho many seem to spit on Tom Jones and most don’t even recall it’s based on an underrated classic. They should read the book first.

“Does anyone even know Gentleman’s Agreement at all in this day and age?”

Gentleman’s may not be Streetcar but it possesses fine acting qualities, especially if you think that Kazan didn’t have the greatest of early periods, so Pinky and Gentleman’s probably qualify as the two breaths of fresh air that pushed him towards the cinematic edge of fiery filmmaking in the 50’s.

And sorry man but Great Expectations is as brilliant as the book. Lean’s top 3 films with Brief Encounter and The Passionate Friends.

Read Kazan’s autobiography for some very revealing truths about how & why he ended up directing both PINKY & GENTLEMAN’S AGREEMENT.

Ben-Hur
The Deer Hunter
Schindler’s List
The English Patient
The Last Emperor

If I only had to list five, these would be it hands down. I still can’t believe KramervsKramer beat out Apocalypse Now?? I wanted to add it to this list so bad.

Also, it’s no coincidence I stop at 1996.

It’s hard to pick between The Godfather and Casablanca for me.

Godfather II
Titanic
Casablanca
or
Lord of the Rings trilogy (cause let’s face it, this was meant as a nod to all three)

I can say ,

The Last Emperor

The Godfather Part II

Lawrence Of The Arabia

The very best BP winners:

Sunrise - (if you consider it co-BP winner that year)
Rebecca
Casablanca
An American in Paris
Lawrence of Arabia
The Godfather
The Godfather Part II
Annie Hall

I like very few of the Academy’s choices:

Lawrence of Arabia
The Godfather
The Godfather, Part II
Midnight Cowboy
The Departed
No Country For Old Men

That’s it…

I picked Casablanca earlier, and I still do, but I’ll join in on the love for Gigi. I saw this film as a kid and loved every minute of it, and as grown up I still appreciate the magic of it’s story, it’s charm, wit, and beauty. And for personal reasons, I have always loved How Green Was my Valley, one of those movies that I have seen more than 10 times.

The Godfather

Wings baby!
And you know, Sunrise actually won too when you look at it… i’ll say that as well…

But i’ve seen all of ’em except Cavalcade.

I think Annie Hall might be the only instance where the best film of the year actually won best picture.

best among the nominees is a different story, and more or less the best of the films nominated usually wins. although i’m sure we can all think of instances when it didn’t.

Without a doubt, Rebecca.

Of the sixty-plus winners I’ve seen…“Amadeus.”