While the Academy has quite often got it wrong, sometimes, they do get it right. Here’s a list of ten great films that rightfully earned the title ‘Best Picture of the Year’ (excluding some obvious ones like the Godfather films and Casablanca).
1. It Happened One Night - Frank Capra, 1934
The height of the screwball was truly one of the first, with Clark Gable and Claudette Colbert as the bickering, mismatched couple thrown together in an ill-fated road trip. Capra’s classic was the first film to win all five of the big awards (Actor, Actress, Director, Screenplay and Best Picture) and would be the last until another film on this list came around.
2. The Best Years Of Our Lives - William Wyler, 1946
Today, Wyler’s The Best Years Of Our Lives might seem like an over-long piece of sentimental dreck, but if you have actually seen this film, which centers on three men returning from World War II and trying to re-adjust to society, it’s hard to not have some kind of emotional reaction to it. There is some fine acting in it, particularly by the three lead actors (Frederic March did win Best Actor and real-life vet Harold Russell won both Best Supporting and a Special Award) and wonderful cinematography by the singular Gregg Toland (of Citizen Kane fame).
3. All About Eve - Joseph L. Mankiewicz, 1950
If you think it had to be hard to be an Academy voter in 1939, just imagine being one in 1950. Still, they made the right decision. All About Eve is brilliant on all fronts, from Mankiewicz’s breathtaking script to the superb acting by everyone. The acting is so great, that it remains the only film to be nominated four times in the two female acting categories.
4. The Bridge on the River Kwai - David Lean, 1957
Just try to sit through the last thirty minutes of this film without breaking a sweat. That’s the way an action film should be made. Keep the audience at the edge of their seats. It also helps to have two of the most popular actors of the 1950s at the peak of their careers - Alec Guinness and William Holden.
5. The Apartment - Billy Wilder, 1960
Billy Wilder’s The Apartment is so many things...You can call it a comedy, a drama, a social commentary or whatever you like, but you can’t escape the fact that it is just so great. The film is emotionally tiring as Wilder keeps the ending going until the very last second. That’s something I like about most great classic films - that you can never figure out where it’s going until the last minute and The Apartment is a clear example of that.
6. Midnight Cowboy - John Schlesinger, 1969
Midnight Cowboy sticks out like a sore thumb on the list of Best Picture winners. It is probably the only outright avant-garde film to win the award and it earned it. It’s an acting tour-de-force by Dustin Hoffman as the bizarre cripple Ratso, stealing the show from Jon Voight, who also could not have played Joe Buck any better. Both were nominated for Best Actor and Schlesinger won Best Director.
7. The French Connection - William Friedkin, 1971
Gene Hackman is a cop - a really good cop - packing a personality dragged from a pit of fire and brimstone. It’s not just his Best Actor-winning performance that makes this film, but several of its best moments. The car chase, the dismantling of the car and the bar search are just a few packed into the film’s brisk 104 minute length. Friedkin is obsessed with the process of exposing the drug deal and it pays off.
8. One Flew Over The Cuckoo’s Nest - Miloš Forman, 1975
Forman’s film is great, with fine acting and a wonderful script and it did earn the big five awards. Louise Fletcher, as the vile and nasty Nurse Ratched, does a wonderful job. However, my favorite part of this film is Jack Nietzche’s atmospheric score that hangs over the picture. He was nominated, but unfortunately lost out.
9. The Silence of the Lambs - Johnathan Demme, 1991
Wow. Films that keep you on the edge of your seat for its entire running time are pretty rare, but The Silence of the Lambs does just that. It is a truly creepy film, with Jodie Foster pulling off an amazing performance. There’s nothing to really say about Anthony Hopkins’ performance because, even though he probably isn’t in more than 30 percent of the film, his character is always there. You wouldn’t get that feeling if Hopkins wasn’t the one playing Lecter. The audience should relish every moment he is on screen, because those are some of the film’s finest moments.
10. No Country For Old Men - Joel Coen & Ethan Coen, 2007
Every decade has a singular year where there is just a fantastic list of great films produced. For the 2000s, that year is 2007. While I personally liked Paul Thomas Anderson’s There Will Be Blood more than the Coens’ No Country For Old Men, I can live with the Academy’s decision.You can call the film a neo-Noir or a Neo-Western, but the film’s acting style and the quiet nature by which the Coens go about their business - mirroring the way Chigurh (Javier Bardem - who won Best Supporting) kills his victims - make it a singular work. You truly feel for every character in the film, what with the way their fates all rely on one another, yet they never seem to share any screen time.