As the 2011 Academy Awards approach, we can’t help reminiscing about the best movies of years past. We’ve compiled a list of Best Picture winners below, from the first show (held in 1929, but honoring films from 1927-1928) through the 1970s. Now we want to hear from you!
Which of these movies is your favorite, and why does it stand out?
Share your thoughts on our Facebook page. If you don’t have a Facebook account, feel free to tell us your favorite in the comment section below.
Best Picture Winners (1927-1979)
- 1927/1928: Wings
- 1928/1929: The Broadway Melody
- 1929/1930: All Quiet on the Western Front
- 1930/1931: Cimarron
- 1931/1932: Grand Hotel
- 1932/1933: Cavalcade
- 1934: It Happened One Night
- 1935: Mutiny on the Bounty
- 1936: The Great Ziegfeld
- 1937: The Life of Emile Zola
- 1938: You Can’t Take It with You
- 1939: Gone with the Wind
- 1940: Rebecca
- 1941: How Green Was My Valley
- 1942: Mrs. Miniver
- 1943: Casablanca
- 1944: Going My Way
- 1945: The Lost Weekend
- 1946: The Best Years of Our Lives
- 1947: Gentleman’s Agreement
- 1948: Hamlet
- 1949: All the King’s Men
- 1950: All About Eve
- 1951: An American in Paris
- 1952: The Greatest Show on Earth
- 1953: From Here to Eternity
- 1954: On the Waterfront
- 1955: Marty
- 1956: Around the World in 80 Days
- 1957: The Bridge on the River Kwai
- 1958: Gigi
- 1959: Ben-Hur
- 1960: The Apartment
- 1961: West Side Story
- 1962: Lawrence of Arabia
- 1963: Tom Jones
- 1964: My Fair Lady
- 1965: The Sound of Music
- 1966: A Man for All Seasons
- 1967: In the Heat of the Night
- 1968: Oliver!
- 1969: Midnight Cowboy
- 1970: Patton
- 1971: The French Connection
- 1972: The Godfather
- 1973: The Sting
- 1974: The Godfather Part II
- 1975: One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest
- 1976: Rocky
- 1977: Annie Hall
- 1978: The Deer Hunter
- 1979: Kramer vs. Kramer
{ 11 comments… read them below or add one }
1964: My Fair Lady
■1938: You Can’t Take It with You
■1960: The Apartment
■1969: Midnight Cowboy
■1975: One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest
These are a few of my favorites on this list!
A Netflix member, I am today enjoying watching “The Bridge on the River Kwai.” My favorite from the list you posted, however, is “Patton” from 1970, the only movie on this list that I actually own. Growing up in the ’60s, I watched a lot of WWII action/adventure movies and TV with my Dad, and continue to enjoy these today. Why Patton? It shows WWII on a grand scale, and I find this fascinating.
■1929/1930: All Quiet on the Western Front
This is probably the first movie that I ever attended (can’t say watched). My birthdate is 1925. My Mother took me to a matinee showing of this movie. I can remember her crying and me crawling around on the floor wanting to leave because the gun firing was so loud. The rest is history.
Why is it all the really good movies never made it? Where are all the Abbott and Costello films? Arsenic and Old Lace, the Thin Man movies? Blondie? My taste in movies must be HORRIBLE!
I remember watching “In the Heat of the Night”. At that time it was pretty controversial and I felt like it was letting me see things that we didn’t experience in rural North Dakota. I also have to laugh at the idea that “Midnight Cowboy” was x-rated. Nowdays it would probably be a PG13.
MARTY!!!
Gone with the Wind, The Sound of Music, My Fair Lady would be my favorites from this list.
HOW GREEN WAS MY VALLEY would top my list. The realism is wonderfuly portrayed as the mine workers, from young boys to elderky men, struggle with the hardships of their respective lives and families. I have shed tears each time I watched it, which numbers at least four times on TCM the last three or four years.
HOW GREEN WAS MY VALLEY would top my list. The realism of the mine workers and hardships they faced really moves me. I have watched it at least four times on TCM over the past three or four years.
It is a tie between, The Best Years of Our Lives, And Midnight Cowboy.