Top 84 Best Picture Winners Ever

64. Titanic (1997 − 70th Best Picture Winner)
Plot: A short but intense romance burns aboard the doomed Titanic.
Why It’s Great: Titanic is one of those great stories without any help from James Cameron whatsoever. In just a few short hours, men and women were forced to make the toughest decisions of their lives. Kind of makes you wonder what you would have done. Cameron’s romantic plot is pedestrian, but his handling of the history behind it is enthralling. Other nominees: As Good As It Gets, The Full Monty, Good Will Hunting and L.A. Confidential (our pick).
Oscar Wins: 11
Budget: $200 million ($278.282 million)
IMDB User Rating: 7.6
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63. Mrs. Miniver (1942 − 15th Best Picture Winner)
Plot: A British family remains strong through war and loss during World War II.
Why It’s Great: It’s easy to call movies like Mrs. Miniver “propaganda,” because they have a tendency to endorse the “us versus them” view. But truthfully, sometimes it is us versus them. Mrs. Miniver understands this, and it was a moving unifier between Great Britain and the United States during one of the world’s darkest historical time periods. Other noms included Yankee Doodle Dandy, Wake Island, The Talk of the Town, The Invaders, Kings Row, The Magnificent Ambersons, The Pied Piper, The Pride of the Yankees and Random Harvest.
Oscar Wins: 6
Budget: $1.344 million ($18.292 million)
IMDB User Rating: 7.6
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62. Grand Hotel (1932 − 5th Best Picture Winner)
Plot: A Berlin hotel is the setting for a series of related (and unrelated) dramas.
Why It’s Great: In those days, big event pictures were less about special FX and more about actors such as Lionel and John Barrymore, Greta Garbo, and Joan Crawford, tearing up the screen. Grand Hotel had all of this and enough gusto to capture the trophy ahead of Arrowsmith, Bad Girl, The Champ, Five Star Final, One Hour with You, Shanghai Express and The Smiling Lieutenant. It was, however, the only award the film would win.
Oscar Wins: 1
Budget: $700,000 ($11.386 million)
IMDB User Rating: 7.6
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61. All the King’s Men (1949 − 22nd Best Picture Winner)
Plot: Rising star crusader Willie Stark is corrupted when he turns to politics.
Why It’s Great: Based on the Robert Penn Warren novel, this 1949 film version – later bastardized in a 2006 remake starring Sean Penn – illustrates with unflinching accuracy the reality of American politics. Unfortunately, it’s as true today as it was then. Great performances all around. Other nominees: Battleground, The Heiress, A Letter to Three Wives and Twelve O’Clock High.
Oscar Wins: 3
Budget: Data unavailable
IMDB User Rating: 7.6
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60. Out of Africa (1985 − 58th Best Picture Winner)
Plot: A Kenyan plantation owner and big-game hunter ignite an unlikely love affair in the first half of the 20th Century.
Why It’s Great: Director Sydney Pollack definitely knew how to shoot the scenery, which in many ways is the biggest star of the film (saying something, considering this is Meryl Streep and Robert Redford). But is it better than The Color Purple, Kiss of the Spider Woman, Prizzi’s Honor or Witness (the other nominees)? Hardly.
Oscar Wins: 7
Budget: $28 million ($57.593 million)
IMDB User Rating: 7.0
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59. The Hurt Locker (2008 − 82nd Best Picture Winner)
Plot: Character study about a three-man bomb disposal squad during the Iraqi War.
Why It’s Great: Will it or won’t it? That’s the pressing question when it comes to diffusing a bomb, and the threat of it permeates the entire film creating unbearable tension even as we come to know and care about the American and Iraqi characters. Kathryn Bigelow proves to be one of the finest working directors today with The Hurt Locker, which beat out Up in the Air, Up, A Serious Man, Precious, Inglorious Basterds, An Education, District 9, The Blind Side, and Bigelow’s ex-husband James Cameron’s film Avatar, for the top prize.
Oscar Wins: 6
Budget: $15 million ($15.619 million)
IMDB User Rating: 7.7
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58. Marty (1955 − 28th Best Picture Winner)
Plot: A heavy, homely Italian butcher, who lives with his mother in the Bronx, finds a chance at true love with Clara, a plain-looking school teacher.
Why It’s Great: Romantic comedies and dramas are usually characterized by the good-looking star and starlet, who have an almost impossible charisma and sexual chemistry. Marty is a film for the rest of us – imperfect people who don’t always feel comfortable in our own skins. This film version of the 1953 teleplay beat out Love is a Many-Splendored Thing, Mister Roberts, Picnic and The Rose Tattoo for the Oscar. It’s also one of only two films to win at both Hollywood and Cannes. (The other was The Lost Weekend.)
Oscar Wins: 4
Budget: $343,000 ($2.841 million)
IMDB User Rating: 7.7
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57. Kramer vs. Kramer (1979 − 52nd Best Picture Winner)
Plot: A recently divorced man cares for his young son, and then fights for custody when the mother, who walks out comes back to claim the boy.
Why It’s Great: The relationship between father and son is moving, and Meryl Streep is downright irritating as is the ignorance of the courts, but it all leads to a pretty uplifting finale. Kramer vs. Kramer beat All That Jazz, Apocalypse Now, Breaking Away and Norma Rae for the high honor.
Oscar Wins: 5
Budget: Data unavailable
IMDB User Rating: 7.7
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56. Wings (1927 − 1st Best Picture Winner)
Plot: Two World War I fighter pilots become entangled with the same woman.
Why It’s Great: The first Best Picture winner used real flying sequences in weaving a sweeping tale of love, rivalry and friendship amid the backdrop of WWI and the relatively new invention of the airplane. A groundbreaking film in every regard – from special FX to the daring use of nudity – Wings is much more than a captivating historical record. It’s a great movie. Other “Outstanding Pictures” for the ceremony – The Racket and Seventh Heaven.
Oscar Wins: 2 (out of only 12 award categories)
Budget: $2 million ($25.61 million)
IMDB User Rating: 7.7
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55. The Last Emperor (1987 − 60th Best Picture Winner)
Plot: Bio-pic follows Puyi, China’s last emperor, through his tumultuous reign.
Why It’s Great: Lensed by the great Bernardo Bertolucci, The Last Emperor is a visually magnetic film and the product of a skilled director at his most seasoned. Still, even with nine Academy Award wins, it faced some tough competition in the form of Moonstruck, Fatal Attraction, Broadcast News and Hope and Glory. Not really sure who came out on top there, so we’ll defer to the Academy.
Oscar Wins: 9
Budget: $23.8 million ($46.372 million)
IMDB User Rating: 7.8
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