A lighter topic today!
The Oscars are this weekend, and I’m one of those unusual straight guys who doesn’t know who won the Super Bowl, but can tell you what won Best Picture for the past thirty years.
Here’s my list of the films that won Best Picture and my choice of what should have won. This is an entirely subjective list, although I did consider Oscar worthiness. For instance, while “Monty Python and the Holy Grail” may be one of my favorite films, even I don’t think it deserved an Oscar.
Admittedly, I have not seen every single film on this list. Sometimes I really don’t need to — I don’t have to see “The Greatest Show on Earth” to know that “Singin’ in the Rain” is better. Just about every critic in the world would agree on that.
| What Won | What Should Have Won | |
| 1928 | Wings | The Circus |
| 1929 | Broadway Melody | Steamboat Bill, Jr. |
| 1930 | All Quiet on the Western Front | All Quiet on the Western Front |
| 1931 | Cimarron | City Lights |
| 1932 | Grand Hotel | Scarface |
| 1933 | Calvacade | King Kong |
| 1934 | It Happened One Night | It Happened One Night |
| 1935 | Mutiny on the Bounty | Mutiny on the Bounty |
| 1936 | The Great Ziegfeld | Modern Times |
| 1937 | The Life of Emile Zola | Lost Horizon |
| 1938 | You Can’t Take it With You | The Adventures of Robin Hood |
| 1939 | Gone With the Wind | The Wizard of Oz |
| 1940 | Rebecca | The Grapes of Wrath |
| 1941 | How Green Was My Valley | Citizen Kane |
| 1942 | Mrs. Miniver | Sullivan’s Travels |
| 1943 | Casablanca | Casablanca |
| 1944 | Going My Way | Double Indemnity |
| 1945 | The Lost Weekend | Spellbound |
| 1946 | The Best Years of Our Lives | It’s a Wonderful Life |
| 1947 | Gentleman’s Agreement | Monsieur Verdoux |
| 1948 | Hamlet | The Treasure of the Sierra Madre |
| 1949 | All the King’s Men | All the King’s Men |
| 1950 | All About Eve | Sunset Boulevard |
| 1951 | An American in Paris | An American in Paris |
| 1952 | The Greatest Show on Earth | Singin’ in the Rain |
| 1953 | From Here to Eternity | From Here to Eternity |
| 1954 | On the Waterfront | Rear Window |
| 1955 | Marty | Mister Roberts |
| 1956 | Around the World in 80 Days | The Searchers |
| 1957 | The Bridge on the River Kwai | Witness for the Prosecution |
| 1958 | Gigi | Touch of Evil |
| 1959 | Ben-Hur | Some Like it Hot |
| 1960 | The Apartment | Psycho |
| 1961 | West Side Story | Judgment at Nuremberg |
| 1962 | Lawrence of Arabia | Lawrence of Arabia |
| 1963 | Tom Jones | Tom Jones |
| 1964 | My Fair Lady | Dr. Strangelove |
| 1965 | The Sound of Music | The Sound of Music |
| 1966 | A Man for All Seasons | A Man for All Seasons |
| 1967 | In The Heat of the Night | Bonnie and Clyde |
| 1968 | Oliver | 2001: A Space Odyssey |
| 1969 | Midnight Cowboy | Butch Cassidy & The Sundance Kid |
| 1970 | Patton | M*A*S*H |
| 1971 | The French Connection | A Clockwork Orange |
| 1972 | The Godfather | The Godfather |
| 1973 | The Sting | American Graffiti |
| 1974 | The Godfather Part 2 | The Godfather Part 2 |
| 1975 | One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest | One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest |
| 1976 | Rocky | Taxi Driver |
| 1977 | Annie Hall | Annie Hall |
| 1978 | The Deer Hunter | The Deer Hunter |
| 1979 | Kramer verses Kramer | Apocalypse Now |
| 1980 | Ordinary People | The Empire Strikes Back |
| 1981 | Chariots of Fire | Raiders of the Lost Ark |
| 1982 | Gandhi | ET |
| 1983 | Terms of Endearment | The Right Stuff |
| 1984 | Amadeus | Amadeus |
| 1985 | Out of Africa | Brazil |
| 1986 | Platoon | Platoon |
| 1987 | The Last Emperor | Empire of the Sun |
| 1988 | Rain Man | Rain Man |
| 1989 | Driving Miss Daisy | Do The Right Thing |
| 1990 | Dances with Wolves | Goodfellas |
| 1991 | The Silence of the Lambs | The Silence of the Lambs |
| 1992 | Unforgiven | Malcolm X |
| 1993 | Schindler’s List | Schindler’s List |
| 1994 | Forrest Gump | Pulp Fiction |
| 1995 | Braveheart | The American President |
| 1996 | The English Patient | Fargo |
| 1997 | Titanic | Amistad |
| 1998 | Shakespeare in Love | Saving Private Ryan |
| 1999 | American Beauty | American Beauty |
| 2000 | Gladiator | Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon |
| 2001 | A Beautiful Mind | The Fellowship of the Ring |
| 2002 | Chicago | The Two Towers |
| 2003 | The Return of the King | The Return of the King |
| 2004 | Million Dollar Baby | Kill Bill 2 |
| 2005 | Crash | Munich |
| 2006 | The Departed | The Departed |
| 2007 | No Country for Old Men | No Country For Old Men |
| 2008 | Slumdog Millionaire | The Dark Knight |
| 2009 | The Hurt Locker | Inglorius Basterds |
| 2010 | The King’s Speech | The Social Network |
| 2011 | The Artist | Hugo |
ventrellaquest.com 
That is a cool list. I have been a voting member since 1991, and your choices match mine quite frequently, especially Hugo, that was robbed by a charming but highly derivative film. Of course we now have the benefit of hindsight, and you are free to pick films that weren’t even nominated. My biggest disagreement is 1937 should have been Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs.
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Actually, that would be a good choice. Hmm…
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What a shame Deep Throat was the same year as The Godfather.
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Maybe I should have had “Princess Bride” instead of “Empire of the Sun” too.
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