The 12 greatest Oscar best pictures are . . . ?
Let film snobs scream. My list of the dozen best choices in the top Oscars' race are personal favorites. Many of them are widely despised by cynical, fire-eating film critics. Musicals such as "West Side Story," "The Sound of Music" and even the much-maligned "Oliver!" aren't considered cool today, but who cares? This photo gallery created for the Envelope reflects my own taste and it's full of surprises including "Marty" and "All Quiet on the Western Front," but also has a few conventional choices ("The Godfather") too.
Left photo: Paramount Pictures
Right photo: MGM
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Tom, you have to do a little more research since you claim to be some sort of expert. When mentioning Billy Wilder's "The Apartment" being his only Best Picture achievement, you failed to remember that "The Lost Weekend" did win the Best Picture of 1945. In my opinion, a very underwhelming list.
Posted by: James | April 01, 2009 at 07:02 AM
I realize everyone has an opinion, but seriously Tom - how could you leave off "On the Waterfront" or "Best Years of Our Lives".
My personal Best Picture Winners:
12 -Sound of Music
11 -Unforgiven
10 - The Deer Hunter
9 - The French Connection
8 - It Happened One Night
7 - Lawerence of Arabia
6 - Best Years of Our Lives
5 - Ordinary People
4- Casablanca
3 - On the Waterfront
2 - The Godfather
1 - All About Eve
Posted by: TORRENCE5 | March 31, 2009 at 06:53 AM
OK, in that case I retract my previous defense of you. You're an idiot. :)
Let me make it perfectly clear that my list was based on pure gut entertainment. I don't actually think that Oliver! is a "greater" film than The Godfather. I just love it -- I saw it when it opened when I was 8, and it has a nostalgiac purpose for me that has nothing to do with quality. However, I do think it is unfairly maligned, perhaps because it was old-fashioned in a year when cinema was changing. I do think it is a very well done rousing charming film, but I am not sure I would go so far as to say it is "great". Same thing with Terms of Endearment, which verges on a guilty pleasure.
Posted by: Scott | March 31, 2009 at 06:30 AM
Here at Gold Derby, my favorites = GREATEST, period, l'etat c'est moi, no apology
Posted by: Tom O'Neil | March 31, 2009 at 02:41 AM
I won't comment on your picks; some I like, some I don't. I DO think you should have titled the article "MY FAVORITE OSCAR MOVIES." That just makes it more personal, and less confrontational. Then again, maybe you WANTED to be confrontational. So I hope you're not offended when I say TITANIC? What are you thinking?
That said, here are my FAVORITES:
Annie Hall
The Godfather
One Flew Over The Cuckoo's Nest
The Godfather Part II
Lawrence of Arabia
Unforgiven
Oliver!
Gone With The Wind
West Side Story
Midnight Cowboy
The Deer Hunter
It Happened One Night
Posted by: Dean Treadway | March 30, 2009 at 11:50 PM
While it's always fun to bash Tom, and the use of "greatest" in the title is a bit misleading, I think Tom was very clear that his list are his "personal favourites" and not necessarily the ones he would say are cinematically the best.
I don't trust anyone who doesn't have a couple of "bad" films on their list of favourite best pics, whether it be the much-maligned Oliver or the audience-dividing Chicago, which are on my list, or the appalling Forrest Gump and Titanic, which are on others' lists.
Posted by: Scott | March 30, 2009 at 11:43 AM
Tom -- Following your lead, here are my top 12 FAVOURITE Best Pics, the films I love most, setting aside all considerations of quality. These are the twelve that I simply enjoy most. Some are also, in my opinion, among the greatest, but some definitely aren't.
But really ... Marty???!!!!!
1. All About Eve. Perhaps the most sublime combination of greatness and entertainment value in the history of cinema.
2. The Apartment. Billy Wilder's masterpiece, a perfect balance of charm and bite.
3. West Side Story. The best film musical ever made? A half dozen of its musical numbers are utterly hair-raisingly thrilling.
The other 9:
Oliver! So underrated, a great big lovable, tune-filled charmer.
The French Connection. The template for every hard=edged gritty urban crime film since then, but still the most thrilling.
A Man For All Seasons. Very smart and very witty. The depiction of Thomas More's marriage of equals to his devoted wife is one of the most moving in film.
Lawrence of Arabia. Truly conveys the feeling of witnessing epic history is it takes place.
No Country For Old Men. A modern masterpiece -- a perfectly judged thriller, and the most profound film about contemporary America in decades.
Terms of Endermeant. One of those films I cannot stop watching whenever it is on TV, and from whatever point I tune in.
Chicago. A great, kinetic, edgy modern movie musical.
Annie Hall. Incredibly sweet and touching.
Rebecca. It's Hitchcock. Chilling, nasty, very witty, slightly sick, and perfect.
Posted by: Scott | March 30, 2009 at 06:59 AM
Sorry but Titanic and Shakespeare In Love -seriously. As someone else said why not just throw in other turkeys in there like Forrest Gump and Braveheart. Slumdog is certainly not a great film for the ages. It is a fine film but nothing special. I would also argue that it is premature to rate any film that is so recent in a list of greats.
My list would be:
It Happened One Night
The Godfather
On the Waterfront
Gone with the Wind
The Godfather, Part II
American Beauty
The Departed
Kramer vs. Kramer
The Sound of Music
West Side Story
Posted by: Giorgia | March 29, 2009 at 10:16 PM
Hey Tom-like your list. Some great movies have lost sometimes to other great films-E.T., the Wizard of Oz, Saving Private Ryan to name but a few. Art is personal so to each their own favorites. Here's mine:
12) Patton
11) Platoon
10) Shakespeare in Love
09) Titanic
08) Rocky
07) The Sting
06) Annie Hall
05) All About Eve
04) One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest
03) Ben Hur
02) The Godfather
01) West Side Story
Posted by: K diddy | March 29, 2009 at 09:13 PM
Maybe you should title such an article "My Favorite" Oscar movies instead of "Greatest " Oscar movies. You don't speak for anyone else.
Posted by: donnamatrix | March 29, 2009 at 07:19 PM
10) SCHINDLER'S LIST (1990)
9) ONE FLEW OVER THE CUCKOO'S NEST (1975)
8) FORREST GUMP (1994)
7) BEN-HUR (1959)
6) WEST SIDE STORY (1960)
5) CASABLANCA (1942)
4) TITANIC (1997)
3) AMADEUS (1984)
2) CHICAGO (2002)
1) ALL ABOUT EVE (1950)
Posted by: Eduardo | March 29, 2009 at 06:16 PM
Going strictly by your criteria [Best Picture winners], my twelve are [in chronological order]:
1938 - You Can't Take It with You
1943 - Casablanca
1955 - Marty
1957 - The Bridge on the River Kwai
1960 - The Apartment
1967 - In the Heat of the Night
1972 - The Godfather
1978 - The Deer Hunter
1991 - Silence of the Lambs
1998 - Shakespeare in Love
1999 - American Beauty
2008 - Slumdog Millionaire
Posted by: Sheldon | March 29, 2009 at 02:22 PM
I think it depends on what day I'm asked ... or even what year :)
1. Tender Comrade
2. Victor/Victoria
3. Prizzi's Honor
4. Brokeback Mountain
5. Vicky Cristina Barcelona
6. Camelot
7. Sweeney Todd
8. Cast Away
9. Vertigo
10. All About Eve
11. Out of Africa
12. Laura
Posted by: Beth | March 29, 2009 at 02:12 PM
My list:
12) Godfather
11) Platoon
10) Grand Hotel
9) One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest
8) Midnight Cowboy
7) All About Eve
6) Silence of the Lambs
5) Lawrence of Arabia
4) Godfather Part II
3) On the Waterfront
2) Amadeus
1) Gone with the Wind (take that, haters)
Posted by: Someone | March 29, 2009 at 01:47 PM
Well Tom I'm one of your biggest fans and agree with some but....My all time favorite is Rebecca, followed by the Godfather and Godfather II
Posted by: Dean Jackson | March 29, 2009 at 11:46 AM
Oscar winners alone do not determine best pictures in the minds of most real film buffs.
Treasure of Sierra Madre
Stalag 17
Thomas Crown Affair (original)
The Cain Mutiny
The Getaway (original)
Miller's Crossing
On The Waterfront
12 Angry Men
Shane
Best Years Of Our Lives
Patterns
Sweet Smell of Success
African Queen
Casablanca, etc. etc
Posted by: Edward Cropper | March 29, 2009 at 10:28 AM
So, Slumdog Millionnaire, one of the worst movies ever to have won the Oscar for best movie ( I would include in that hall of shame FORREST GUMP, A BEAUTIFUL MIND and CHICAGO, THE worst musical to have won the oscar, not AN AMERICAN IN PARIS which happens to be a masterpiece by the way ), is your n°3 movie ? I realized you were not pleased by UNFORGIVEN being ranked at a better place than the Boyle movie, but this tends to prove you may be an expert in Oscars, but certainly not in cinema !
Posted by: pascal | March 29, 2009 at 08:38 AM
Why is Tom O'Neil so defensive? So he likes movies other people might not. Does he seriously expect to be martyred for his tastes? I'm less concerned about what movies he likes than his bad manners in calling people whom he anticipates will disagree with him "film snobs." A lot of movies are overrated, and a lot of them are underrated; so what else is new? We all know that popularity is not the same thing as worth or importance. For myself, I'll simply say give me a "fun bad" movie over a so-called classic any day. Well, almost any day: some classics truly are great.
Posted by: Ironman Carmichael | March 29, 2009 at 08:11 AM
The lists here aren't even close, in my opinion. Here's mine (recognizing that many favorites never got the Oscar):
Mutiny on the Bounty 1935
All the King's Men 1949
On the Waterfront 1954
Bridge on the River Kwai 1957
Ben-Hur 1959
A Man for all Seasons 1966
Patton 1970
The Sting 1973
One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest 1975
Amadeus 1984
Braveheart 1995
Gladiator 2000
Posted by: Paul | March 29, 2009 at 08:01 AM
Oliver? You think Oliver is a better movie than Lawrence of Arabia? or The Godfather, Part II? You think Slumdog Millionaire is better than either of those films? Ay yi yi.
12) Rebecca
11) The Last Emperor
10) The Best Years of Our Lives
9) Patton
8) No Country for Old Men
7) Casablanca
6) It Happened One Night
5) All About Eve
4) The Godfather
3) Unforgiven
2) The Godfather, Parrt II
1) Lawrence of Arabia
Posted by: K. Bowen | March 29, 2009 at 07:39 AM
Of course it's all subjective, but where is Gone with the Wind (1939)?
Posted by: Will | March 29, 2009 at 02:52 AM
Mine would be the following, judging from all the best picture winners that i've seen (about 20):
10) The Departed
9) Amadeus
8) Titanic
7) Terms of Endearment
6) Forrest Gump*
5) The Sound of Music
4) The Best Years of Our Lives
3) Slumdog Millionaire
2) Chicago
and I cannot not watch this movie less than once per year:
1) West Side Story
*yes, i know, I like Forrest for now.
Posted by: Ken | March 28, 2009 at 11:53 PM
Well, sadly the Best Picture winner is VERY RARELY the most deserving of the title. That is usually left to a film that was completely ignored by the Academy. (Eternal Sunshine, anyone?) That said, here are my best of the ones they picked:
10) West Side Story
9) Amadeus
8) The Sound of Music
7) My Fair Lady
6) The Silence of the Lambs
5) Slumdog Millionaire
4) It Happened One Night
3) American Beauty
2) All About Eve
1) Annie Hall
Posted by: Jonathon | March 28, 2009 at 06:13 PM