Top 84 Best Picture Winners Ever

54. My Fair Lady (1964 − 37th Best Picture Winner)
Plot: A chauvinistic phonetics instructor undertakes the challenge of teaching Cockney-accented Eliza Doolittle how to speak properly.
Why It’s Great: Audrey Hepburn and Rex Harrison had a fun chemistry. While fans of the Broadway show wanted Julie Andrews in the role – she would star in another BP nominee that year (Mary Poppins) – Hepburn is her usual adorable self. Zorba the Greek, Becket and Dr. Strangelove or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb joined the other two nominees.
Oscar Wins: 8
Budget: $17 million ($121.623 million)
IMDB User Rating: 7.8
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53. Mutiny on the Bounty (1935 − 8th Best Picture Winner)
Plot: A British Navy ship captain faces the revolt of several mutineers. Based on true events.
Why It’s Great: While there have been about five versions of this filmed, the Charles Laughton-Clark Gable combination is difficult to beat. Eleven other films were nominated in an attempt to do so, and each one failed. They were: Alice Adams, Broadway Melody of 1936, Captain Blood, David Copperfield, The Informer, Les Miserables, The Lives of Bengal Lancer, A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Naughty Marietta, Ruggles of Red Gap and Top Hat.
Oscar Wins: 1
Budget: $1.95 million ($31.535 million)
IMDB User Rating: 7.8
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52. How Green Was My Valley (1941 − 14th Best Picture Winner)
Plot: A family ensemble, follows the travails of a Welsh family at the turn of the 20th century.
Why It’s Great: John Ford’s direction alone offers a compelling enough reason to watch. Throw in top-tier performances from Maureen O’Hara, Walter Pidgeon and Roddy McDowall, and you’ve got a great movie. The best? Nah. Listen to the others nominated at the 1942 ceremony: Citizen Kane, Here Comes Mr. Jordan, Blossoms in the Dust, Hold Back the Dawn, The Little Foxes, The Maltese Falcon, One Foot in Heaven, Suspicion and Sergeant York.
Oscar Wins: 5
Budget: $1.25 million ($18.833 million)
IMDB User Rating: 7.8
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51. Ordinary People (1980 − 53rd Best Picture Winner)
Plot: The accidental death of their son threatens to tear a couple and their surviving child apart.
Why It’s Great: Known largely as the year that almost killed AMPAS credibility, Ordinary People is weak compared to the other nominees: Raging Bull (the true Best Picture), The Elephant Man, Coal Miner’s Daughter and Tess.
Oscar Wins: 4
Budget: $6 million ($16.12 million)
IMDB User Rating: 7.8
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50. From Here to Eternity (1953 − 26th Best Picture Winner)
Plot: Love, infidelity, and loyalty are tested in the days leading up to the Japanese bombing of Pearl Harbor.
Why It’s Great: First off, terrific cast for a terrific movie. But! It probably shouldn’t have won Best Picture when you consider it was up against the classic western Shane. Still, you won’t be wasting your time, and it does beat out the other nominees – Julius Caesar, The Robe and Roman Holiday.
Oscar Wins: 8
Budget: $1.65 million ($13.68 million)
IMDB User Rating: 7.8
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49. You Can’t Take It With You (1938 − 11th Best Picture Winner)
Plot: Film version of the Pulitzer Prize-winning play about a girl from an eccentric family, who falls in love with a young man, whose snobbish parents disapprove of their union.
Why It’s Great: One of Hollywood’s original rom-coms, You Can’t Take It With You unites Jimmy Stewart, Lionel Barrymore (Mr. Potter from It’s a Wonderful Life), Edward Arnold and Jean Arthur in a delightful romance showing director Frank Capra’s early chops for feel-good family fun. Other nominees: The Adventures of Robin Hood, Alexander’s Ragtime Band, Boys Town, The Citadel, Four Daughters, Grand Illusion, Jezebel, Pygmalion and Test Pilot.
Oscar Wins: 2
Budget: $1.644 million ($25.901 million)
IMDB User Rating: 7.9
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48. Hamlet (1948 − 21st Best Picture Winner)
Plot: The bard’s classic tale of infidelity, murder and revenge.
Why It’s Great: One of the greatest plays from one of the greatest writers of all time under the watchful eye of director and star Laurence Olivier. Wow. If any film could beat that, it was Treasure of the Sierra Madre, another nominee at the 1949 ceremony. Others included The Red Shoes, The Snake Pit and Johnny Belinda. Still not sure if the Academy nailed this choice or not, but it’s a close one.
Oscar Wins: 4
Budget: $789,750 ($7.277 million)
IMDB User Rating: 7.9
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47. The French Connection (1971 − 44th Best Picture Winner)
Plot: Detective Popeye Doyle and partner Buddy Russo root out an international drug smuggling ring.
Why It’s Great: The first R-rated movie to win Best Picture! Other competition: A Clockwork Orange, Fiddler on the Roof, The Last Picture Show and Nicholas and Alexander. Pretty good car chase scene and awesome performance from Gene Hackman – one of many – elevate this from the usual police drama.
Oscar Wins: 5
Budget: $3.3 million ($18.073 million)
IMDB User Rating: 7.9
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46. West Side Story (1961 − 34th Best Picture Winner)
Plot: Musical gangland retelling of Romeo and Juliet in the mid-1950s.
Why It’s Great: Natalie Wood never looked better; the music is still invigorating; and the central love story is a fresh retelling of the oft-told tale. West Side Story defeated Fanny, The Hustler, Judgment at Nuremberg and The Guns of Navarone for the Oscar.
Oscar Wins: 10
Budget: $6 million ($44.489 million)
IMDB User Rating: 7.6
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45. A Man for All Seasons (1966 − 39th Best Picture Winner)
Plot: The true story of Thomas More, the man who stood against the divorce and remarriage of King Henry VIII and was killed for it.
Why It’s Great: Tremendous art direction and performances from Robert Shaw and Paul Scofield elevate this one beyond the normal period piece. A Man for All Seasons defeated Alfie, The Sand Pebbles, Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf?, and The Russians Are Coming, The Russians Are Coming for Best Picture.
Oscar Wins: 6
Budget: $2 million ($13.672 million)
IMDB User Rating: 7.9
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