Ranking Every Best Picture Winner
Written by Andreas Babiolakis
I have covered the Best Picture winners from the Academy Awards on Films Fatale every single year of the site’s existence. I have reviews for every single winner, including both titles from the very first year of the Oscars (so you’ll find Sunrise: A Song of Two Humans — a silent film masterpiece — below, which is often omitted from these kinds of lists). I figured that it may be the time to actually rank all of the Best Picture winners from worst to best; it feels a little strange to have all of them reviewed and not ranked when I’ve done all the homework and met all of the criteria in order to rank them in such a way. Now, this list is ranked based on my own personal opinion of these films. My choices have nothing to do with what these Best Picture winners mean in the grand scheme of the industry or the Academy Awards. I don’t want to skew my thoughts based on objective stewing.
In short, I think that a vast majority of the Best Picture winners are worth watching. Having said that, the Academy has certainly gotten this award — one reserved for the supposed best films of that calendar year — wrong, and you’ll find some real stinkers towards the bottom of this list (you’ll reach them right away, since this list goes from worst to best). Having said that, a staggering thirty one of these films have received a perfect rating from me, indicating that the Oscars can be a good indicator of quality and longevity within cinema (however, that, clearly, is not always the case). Since I have written about each and every single winner already, I will let their respective articles do the talking, should you want to learn more about how I feel about each film and, roughly, why I have ranked these Best Picture winners in the way that I have; click on any title to read my Best Picture Winner review for that film. Whenever a new Best Picture winner is crowned, I will place it here and update this master list.
Here are all of the Best Picture winners in Oscars history ranked from worst to best.
98. Cimarron (1931)
97. The Greatest Show on Earth (1952)
96. Cavalcade (1933)
95. Braveheart (1995)
94. The Broadway Melody (1929)
93. Driving Miss Daisy (1989)
92. Going My Way (1944)
91. Out of Africa (1985)
90. Oliver! (1968)
89. Gigi (1958)
88. Crash (2005)
87. Green Book (2018)
86. Forrest Gump (1994)
85. Around the World in 80 Days (1956)
84. Gladiator (2000)
83. Gandhi (1982)
82. Tom Jones (1963)
81. The Great Ziegfeld (1936)
80. The English Patient (1996)
79. CODA (2021)
78. Rain Man (1988)
77. Kramer vs. Kramer (1979)
76. Chariots of Fire (1981)
75. The Sound of Music (1965)
74. The Life of Emile Zola (1937)
73. Chicago (2002)
72. Argo (2012)
71. Shakespeare in Love (1998)
70. Rocky (1976)
69. An American in Paris (1951)
68. Titanic (1997)
67. From Here to Eternity (1953)
66. Ben-Hur (1959)
65 A Beautiful Mind (2001)
64. The Best Years of Our Lives (1946)
63. The King’s Speech (2010)
62. You Can’t Take It with You (1938)
61. Gentleman’s Agreement (1947)
60. Dances With Wolves (1990)
59. Mutiny on the Bounty (1935)
58. A Man for All Seasons (1966)
57. Mrs. Miniver (1942)
56. Gone With the Wind (1939)
55. West Side Story (1961)
54. Terms of Endearment (1983)
53. Everything Everywhere All at Once (2022)
52. Grand Hotel (1932)
51. The Artist (2011)
50. Patton (1970)
49. In the Heat of the Night (1967)
48. One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest (1975)
47. How Green Was My Valley (1941)
46. Ordinary People (1980)
45. Slumdog Millionaire (2008)
44. Nomadland (2020)
43. Hamlet (1948)
42. Million Dollar Baby (2004)
41. The Shape of Water (2017)
40. Wings (1927/1928)
39. The Lost Weekend (1945)
38. Platoon (1986)
37. The French Connection (1971)
36. All the King’s Men (1949)
35. The Departed (2006)
34. Birdman or (The Unexpected Virtue of Ignorance) (2014)
33. My Fair Lady (1964)
32. American Beauty (1999)
31. Oppenheimer (2023)
30. The Sting (1973)
29. Anora (2024)
28. Midnight Cowboy (1969)
27. The Hurt Locker (2009)
26. Marty (1955)
25. Amadeus (1984)
24. Spotlight (2015)
23. It Happened One Night (1934)
22. The Last Emperor (1987)
21. Annie Hall (1977)
20. The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King (2003)
19. All Quiet on the Western Front (1930)
18. All About Eve (1950)
17. Parasite (2019)
16. Sunrise: A Song of Two Humans (1927/1928)
15. Rebecca (1940)
14. 12 Years a Slave (2013)
13. Unforgiven (1992)
12. The Deer Hunter (1978)
11. The Bridge on the River Kwai (1957)
10. The Apartment (1960)
9. The Silence of the Lambs (1991)
8. On the Waterfront (1954)
7. No Country for Old Men (2007)
6. Schindler’s List (1993)
5. The Godfather (1972)
4. Moonlight (2016)
3. Casablanca (1943)
2. Lawrence of Arabia (1962)
1. The Godfather Part II (1974)
Andreas Babiolakis has a Masters degree in Film and Photography Preservation and Collections Management from Toronto Metropolitan University, as well as a Bachelors degree in Cinema Studies from York University. His favourite times of year are the Criterion Collection flash sales and the annual Toronto International Film Festival.