Top 20 Greatest Best Picture Oscar Winning Movies
Trust the academy! Sometimes... Welcome to WatchMojo, and today we’re counting down our picks for the most well-made and culturally significant movies to take home the Oscar for Best Picture.
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00:00 Good morning.
00:01 Dr. Lecter, my name is Clarice Starling.
00:03 May I speak with you?
00:05 Welcome to WatchMojo, and today we're counting down our picks for the most well-made and
00:09 culturally significant movies to take home the Oscar for Best Picture.
00:13 We're not necessarily saying these are the best movies ever made, but rather that they
00:16 represent the most notable instances in which the Academy made the right call.
00:20 I'm gonna make him an offer he can't refuse.
00:23 Number 20, Everything Everywhere All at Once.
00:26 The first science fiction film to win Best Picture, Everything Everywhere All at Once
00:30 may also be the most surreal and inventive movie to score big with Academy.
00:34 They don't know you and I are in this universe yet, so hopefully I'll have some time to explain.
00:38 I'm not your husband, and he's not the one you know.
00:41 I'm another version of him from another life path, another universe.
00:45 I'm here because we need your help.
00:47 And we certainly can't limit its landmark success to one genre either.
00:50 It's a multiversal adventure that's just as indebted to fantasy, absurdist comedy, and
00:55 martial arts cinema as well.
00:56 All the while, it probes the viewer with deep, existential questions about life, identity,
01:01 and trauma.
01:02 What is the truth?
01:03 Nothing matters.
01:04 No, Joy, you don't believe that?
01:15 A less progressive voting body may have been turned off by its overwhelming assortment
01:22 of genre thrills, but with a top-notch cast led by the incomparable Michelle Yeoh and
01:26 a heartfelt message to top everything off, it's that very mixture that makes it so hard
01:30 to resist.
01:31 Number 19, The Departed.
01:33 We all know Martin Scorsese could make a masterpiece in his sleep.
01:36 In fact, he's crafted so many legendary works that we still can't believe this was the one
01:40 that finally nabbed him that Oscar.
01:54 With its interconnected story providing depth to both the Boston police and Irish mob as
01:58 they search for the spies in each other's organization, it's an experience that constantly
02:02 leaves you wondering who you can trust.
02:04 In typical Scorsese fashion, the intensity ratchets up as the line between justice and
02:09 corruption becomes razor thin.
02:23 With an ensemble of A-listers doing much of the heavy lifting, The Departed stands tall
02:27 as one of Marty's most absorbing and rewatchable films, and one that earned its gold statuette
02:32 completely off its own merits.
02:34 Number 18, Titanic.
02:36 Few films have managed to capture the public's attention the way this one did, and even fewer
02:39 have sailed their box office success all the way to 11 Oscar wins.
02:49 It's hard to imagine there was a time when James Cameron's historical epic was expected
02:53 to be a flop.
02:54 As he usually does, Cameron kept things afloat.
02:56 Pun intended.
02:57 Proving his naysayers wrong with his unrivaled ambition and painstaking attention to detail,
03:02 Titanic remains one of modern cinema's grandest achievements, complete with a timeless romance
03:06 that will have you swooning and sobbing in equal measure.
03:19 What else can we say?
03:20 Rose never let go, and neither have we.
03:22 Number 17, Gone With The Wind.
03:24 While there's plenty about this film's portrayal of race relations and the Civil
03:27 War that hasn't aged particularly well, it's nearly impossible to deprive Gone With
03:31 The Wind of its magnitude.
03:45 To watch it today is to appreciate a type of go-for-broke filmmaking rarely seen nowadays.
03:50 Despite its imposing runtime, it capitalizes on every moment as Scarlett O'Hara navigates
03:55 love and loss.
03:56 While the South falls apart around her, it's still incredible that things came together
04:00 the way they did.
04:01 While the medium of the film was still coming into its own, 85 years removed from its release,
04:05 its revisionist take on history is hard to ignore.
04:14 But its extravagant set design, sweeping musical score, and commanding use of technicolor are
04:18 still marvels to behold.
04:20 Number 16, The Bridge On The River Kwai.
04:23 British filmmaker David Lean only painted in bold strokes, and this tale of British
04:27 POWs during World War II remains one of his finest achievements.
04:40 Tasked with building a bridge to appease their Japanese captors, the central cohort of soldiers
04:45 grapple with their integrity as a plot forms to destroy their creation.
04:48 Led by Sir Alec Guinness, as their conflicted colonel, The Bridge On The River Kwai is a
04:52 triumph of the human spirit, but it's also a fascinating meditation on how patriotism
04:57 can compromise one's beliefs.
05:04 It's a universal idea made all the more poignant by its wartime setting.
05:07 It wouldn't be the last time the Academy recognized Lean's vision, and it won't
05:10 be the last time we see him on this list either.
05:13 Number 15, No Country For Old Men.
05:16 Far removed from the irreverent comedies they had built their name off of, Joel and Ethan
05:19 Coen took a tonal gamble on this neo-western while still operating in familiar territory.
05:29 And boy, did it pay off.
05:30 It's another tale of a crime gone wrong, and the innocent people who pay the price.
05:35 But, the Coens replace their trademark dark humor with unflinching tension and brutal
05:39 honesty as Llewellyn Moss flees from monstrous hitman Anton Chigurh, played to horrifying
05:45 perfection by Javier Bardem.
06:03 No Country For Old Men matches its best-selling source material for sheer cold-heartedness
06:07 in a quiet but deadly game of cat and mouse taken to its absolute limit.
06:12 It completely transcends its western setting by working as a profound treatise on fate,
06:16 mortality, and inevitability.
06:18 Number 14, Parasite.
06:20 It's fitting for a movie that defies categorization to defy the odds in the best possible way.
06:25 Aside from its unprecedented status as the first non-English language best picture winner,
06:29 Parasite is also one of the best satires of the 21st century.
06:47 It starts out devilishly enough as a hilarious takedown of the uber-rich that sees a poor
06:52 family worm their way into the employment of a wealthy one.
06:55 Director Ban Joon-ho saves an even greater sleight of hand for everything that follows,
07:00 refashioning the story into a dramatic thriller of the highest order.
07:13 Parasite never loses its satirical edge as it jumps from one genre to another, and the
07:18 observations it makes about inequality will no doubt remain relevant regardless of geography.
07:23 Number 13, West Side Story.
07:25 The 1960s sure was a great time to be a musical at the Oscars, as the genre produced several
07:30 best picture champions throughout the decade.
07:44 The sound of music will always be one of our favorite things, but West Side Story remains
07:48 the true standout of the bunch.
07:49 Making a seamless transition from stage to screen, this modernized Romeo and Juliet comes
07:54 to life with cinematic gusto through ingenious camera work and some of the most dazzling
07:58 choreography ever put to film.
08:00 Even more impressive is its balancing of energetic musical sequences with somber themes.
08:05 Legendary numbers like America and G. Officer Krupke inform as much as they entertain, and
08:10 the film's willingness to embrace the story's social conscience has made it a game changer.
08:22 Number 12, Moonlight.
08:24 So much was made of the fiasco surrounding Moonlight's best picture win that you'd
08:27 think it'd be hard to remember why the movie deserved the award.
08:39 But from the first frame onward, director Barry Jenkins ensures that's not the case.
08:43 With its entrancing color palette and incredible performances, it's impossible to forget
08:47 Chiron's intimate journey to discovering who he is and the difficult truths he's
08:52 forced to confront along the way.
08:53 It's a story that respects the audience enough to keep its emotions close to the chest
08:57 without ever bottling them up.
09:06 Because the protagonist searches for meaning in a world he doesn't believe will accept
09:09 him, so too did Moonlight come along before many people knew how much they needed it.
09:14 Number 11, Amadeus.
09:16 If there's a more lavish and finely tailored costume drama ever honored by the Academy,
09:21 we haven't seen it.
09:22 There's plenty of substance beneath all the style, too.
09:39 Though it weaves together a heavily fictionalized story, don't let Amadeus' historical liberties
09:44 deter you from appreciating its compelling exploration of faith, talent, and jealousy
09:49 in 18th century Vienna.
09:50 As Mozart and Antonio Salieri respectively, Tom Hulse and F. Murray Abraham were both
09:55 relative newcomers at the time, leaving enough room for us to buy into the former's brilliance
10:00 and the latter's resentment of him.
10:11 The towering performances of its two leads are only part of the equation, as the richly
10:15 detailed production also makes use of real locations where Mozart actually debuted as
10:20 operas.
10:21 Number 10, The Lord of the Rings, The Return of the King.
10:24 Before superheroes dominated the cultural landscape, Peter Jackson's Lord of the Rings
10:28 trilogy represented all that was great about blockbuster film franchises.
10:32 And the Academy seemed to agree, as the final installment pulled off the biggest sweep in
10:44 Oscar history, taking home all 11 awards it was nominated for.
10:48 It's easy to see why, as The Return of the King is both an emotionally satisfying payoff
10:52 and a monumental achievement in its own right.
10:55 Fantasy doesn't get better than this, as there's not much that compares to the Fellowship's
10:59 final stand against Sauron and the evils of the One Ring.
11:10 Its success was more than indicative of how much voters had come to love the entire trilogy,
11:14 and we wouldn't have it any other way.
11:16 Number 9, The Apartment.
11:18 Rom-coms don't often get their due at the Oscars, but exceptions have been made.
11:22 Chief among them is this workplace dramedy.
11:36 Jack Lemmon plays a low-level clerk using his apartment as a haven for his superior's
11:40 affairs in order to get promoted, while Shirley MacLaine is the lift operator who catches
11:44 the eye of his sleazy boss.
11:45 A happy ending is far from guaranteed, as The Apartment knows precisely how to balance
11:49 even its most wholesome moments with the frustrating realities of working-class life.
11:54 Writer-director Billy Wilder was already an Academy darling, having been honored for both
11:57 Sunset Boulevard and fellow Best Picture winner The Lost Weekend.
12:01 Yet, the fiery attraction and bittersweet exchanges between Lemmon and MacLaine is truly
12:06 something to admire.
12:18 Number 8, One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest.
12:21 It's one thing to beat out all-time classics like Jaws and Dog Day Afternoon for the Academy's
12:25 top honor.
12:26 It's another thing entirely to still be the right choice years after the fact.
12:44 A stirring tribute to individualism and a scathing critique of institutionalization,
12:49 this 1975 drama follows career criminal McMurphy as he dodges prison by serving time in a psychiatric
12:55 hospital.
12:56 Rebellious Ways soon find a worthy opponent in the tyrannical Nurse Ratched, who's far
13:00 more concerned with keeping her patients in line than getting them back on their feet.
13:19 Led by Jack Nicholson's signature performance, the film's progressive attitude toward resisting
13:23 authority and the value of free will catapulted it to a rare sweep of the five major Oscar
13:28 categories.
13:29 Number 7, On the Waterfront.
13:31 This Ilya Kazan masterpiece wouldn't work without its political underpinnings, but that's
13:35 part of the reason why it has stood the test of time.
13:48 When the director's controversial decision to testify before the government during the
13:51 Red Scare threatened his credibility, On the Waterfront cemented itself as an explanation
13:56 for his actions.
13:57 It follows a down-and-out dockhand who faces pressure to expose the misdeeds of a local
14:01 union boss, even though doing so would mean hurting his family.
14:16 Marlon Brando's Oscar-winning performance helped legitimize the practice of method acting,
14:20 laying bare the conviction required to do the right thing, and the guilt that still
14:24 remains afterward.
14:25 Kazan never managed to elude criticism, but the heroism portrayed on screen will always
14:29 be something to celebrate.
14:30 Number 6, All About Eve.
14:33 Classic Hollywood was the age of the movie star, and Bette Davis was one of the brightest
14:36 of them all.
14:39 But as the 1950s ushered in a new age of thespian and complicated social issues, Davis
14:53 put forth some of her most prescient work in All About Eve.
14:56 Detailing the fall of an egotistical actress whose life is taken over by an ambitious up-and-comer,
15:01 there's enough star power for the film to be just another vanity project.
15:05 But the mature performances, clever writing, and careful direction of Joseph Mankiewicz
15:09 elevate the film into an indictment of the entertainment industry and the vaneness of
15:13 stardom.
15:27 The material was fairly cutting-edge for its time, and remains a must-watch for anyone
15:31 considering a career in the arts.
15:33 Number 5, The Silence of the Lambs.
15:35 To the chagrin of many, horror continues to be an underrepresented genre at the Oscars.
15:39 But every now and then, something comes along that not even the Academy can ignore.
15:55 For good reason.
15:56 The Silence of the Lambs was the genre's first Best Picture representee, and also the
16:00 last film to take home the Big Five awards.
16:03 Ask anyone, that's a testament to how well it fuses a crime procedural with psychological
16:07 dread.
16:21 At its core, it's a tensely written mystery about crimes that remain all too relevant.
16:26 Throw in a pair of career-defining performances from Jodie Foster as FBI rookie Clary Starling,
16:30 and Anthony Hopkins as the calculating Hannibal Lecter, and you really can't go wrong.
16:34 That is, if you don't close your eyes first.
16:37 Number 4, Lawrence of Arabia.
16:39 Remember when we said David Lean was known for his big and bold style of filmmaking?
16:43 Well, let's just say he truly outdid himself with this historical epic, which is widely
16:47 considered one of the greatest ever made.
17:00 Centered around T.E.
17:01 Lawrence's exploits in the Ottoman Empire during World War I, it's a complex character
17:05 study that's able to make earnest statements about war and violence in even its quietest
17:10 moments.
17:11 But with three and a half hours at their disposal, Lean and star Peter O'Toole put on a masterclass
17:15 of grandiose storytelling that perfectly encapsulates the title character's theatricality.
17:26 There may not be a movie as visually enthralling as this one, and those never-ending deserts
17:30 have to be seen on the biggest screen possible.
17:33 Number 3, Schindler's List.
17:35 There's a reality where Steven Spielberg never found the courage to bring the story
17:38 of Oscar Schindler to the big screen.
17:52 We're just glad it's not this one, as our understanding of what movies can accomplish
17:56 would never be the same after Schindler's List was released.
17:59 Following the German entrepreneur as he works to rescue hundreds of Jews during the Holocaust,
18:03 it's a haunting examination of humanity at its absolute lowest point.
18:07 It's one of the most devastating and thematically complex films you're likely to ever watch,
18:11 but also one of the most hopeful.
18:20 Spielberg's subsequent wins for Best Director and Best Picture were no-brainers, but his
18:24 accomplishments like Schindler's are just as much a cause for reflection and remembrance
18:28 as they are celebration.
18:30 Number 2, Casablanca.
18:31 Is it any wonder this movie appears a whopping six times on the American Film Institute's
18:36 list of the 100 Greatest Movie Quotes?
18:45 You can't get attached to such memorable lines without memorable characters to speak
18:48 them, and Casablanca has some of the most indelible characters in movie history.
18:52 While it will be forever linked to World War II both on screen and off, the romance between
18:56 Humphrey Bogart and Ingrid Bergman and the difficult choices their characters must make
19:01 has never been bound by time or space.
19:13 Over 80 years later, Rick and Elsa's brief time together remains an immortal depiction
19:17 of what it means to stand up for what is right, even when it means sacrificing your own happiness.
19:24 Here's looking at you, indeed.
19:26 Before we unveil our top pick, here are a few honorable mentions.
19:29 Ben-Hur.
19:30 The "Swords and Sandals" epic was the first to win 11 statuettes.
19:50 The Deer Hunter.
19:51 An ambitious, emotionally draining study of war fueled by devastating performances.
20:12 Penny Hall.
20:34 The best years of our lives.
20:36 This was a powerful portrayal of PTSD before many understood it.
20:49 Unforgiven.
20:50 This Clint Eastwood tour de force is smarter than your average western.
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21:20 Number 1.
21:21 The Godfather.
21:22 There was a time before The Godfather and a time after it.
21:25 We like to think we're still living in the latter as the unparalleled impact of Francis
21:29 Ford Coppola's masterpiece has rippled throughout popular culture for decades.
21:47 Along with its unforgettable imagery, iconic dialogue, and brooding score, what truly solidifies
21:52 it as an all-time great is the complex family dynamic at its core.
21:56 Michael Corleone's ascension from well-meaning veteran to ruthless crime lord is the stuff
22:01 of legend.
22:02 It's perhaps cinema's greatest portrayal of family loyalty and the American dream in
22:19 all of its dark depravity.
22:20 Simply put, any chance to revisit The Godfather and its 1974 sequel, which incredibly also
22:25 won Best Picture, is an offer we simply can't refuse.
22:29 What movie do you think deserved its Best Picture win the most?
22:32 Let us know in the comments!
22:44 Thanks for watching!