Top 84 Best Picture Winners Ever

4. Schindler’s List (1993 − 66th Best Picture Winner)
Plot: German Oskar Schindler saved more than 1,000 Jewish people during World War II by organizing factories with a purpose flying under the radar of the Nazis.
Why It’s Great: Director Steven Spielberg poured everything he had into this production, and it shows. Highly disturbing, hard-to-watch, and yet an uplifting portrait of bravery in the face of tyranny, Schindler’s List is an unforgettably moving experience. Other nominees (BP): In the Name of the Father, The Fugitive, The Piano, The Remains of the Day.
Oscar Wins: 7
Budget: $22 million ($33.721 million)
IMDB User Rating: 8.9
Trailer:

3. Casablanca (1942 − 16th Best Picture Winner)
Plot: An American expatriate helps an ex-flame escape the Nazis in World War II Morocco.
Why It’s Great: This was Humphrey Bogart’s 49th big screen performance. Up to this point, he’d forged a reputation for cool with films, such as The Maltese Falcon, They Drive By Night and Dark Victory. Casablanca elevated him to icon status with a performance demonstrating the hard shell of a man we were used to with a surprising sensitivity that makes director Michael Curtiz’s film stand out as something more than just another romantic drama. Casablanca bested For Whom the Bell Tolls, Heaven Can Wait, The Human Comedy, In Which We Serve, Madame Curie, The More the Merrier, The Ox-Bow Incident, The Song of Bernadette and Watch on the Rhine, for the Oscar.
Oscar Wins: 3
Budget: $950,000 ($12.93 million)
IMDB User Rating: 8.7
Trailer:

2. The Godfather (1972 − 45th Best Picture Winner)
Plot: The story follows a transition of power from Don Vito Corleone to his unlikely heir Michael amid the growing drug trade from 1945 to 1955.
Why It’s Great: Maybe the greatest cast ever assembled. A stellar novel from writer Mario Puzo. An eager and talented young director. And an unflinching look at the ugly side of mob life. A near-perfect film. Other nominees for the top prize: Cabaret, Deliverance, The Emigrants and Sounder.
Oscar Wins: 3
Budget: $6.5 million ($34.462 million)
IMDB User Rating: 9.2
Trailer:

1. The Godfather Part II (1974 − 47th Best Picture Winner)
Plot: The Godfather Part II covers Don Vito in his younger days (as played by Robert De Niro), while catching up with Michael Corleone (Al Pacino) in the present.
Why It’s Great: De Niro and Pacino, in their prime, in the same movie – what else is there to say? Director Francis Ford Coppola was in his territory with the Mario Puzo novel, and it shows in every minute of the 200-minute runtime. Other BP nominees included The Conversation (also directed by Coppola), Lenny, The Towering Inferno and Chinatown.
Oscar Wins: 7
Budget: $13 million ($58.468 million)
IMDB User Rating: 9.1
Trailer:

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