50.)
The journey of a young African-American man from his childhood to his teens and finally adulthood. He explores his rough upbringing and sexuality and reflects on those his helped, hindered, and made him who he is today. This will of course go down as one of the more memorable wins at the Oscars when Warren Beatty incorrectly announced La La Land as the winner, only for someone to realize his mistake and correctly announce Moonlight as Best Picture.
Who It Beat: La La Land, Arrival, Fences, Hacksaw Ridge, Hell or High Water, Hidden Figures, La La Land, Lion, Manchester By the Sea
What Should Have Won: Hell or High Water
My Favorite of 2016: Captain America: Civil War
49.)
A tough drama about divorce and child custody battle. This becomes even harder to watch when you read about how Meryl Streep said years later that Dustin Hoffman constantly made her uncomfortable on set.
Who It Beat: All That Jazz, Apocalypse Now, Breaking Away, Norma Rae
What Should Have Won: Apocalypse Now
My Favorite of 1979: Alien
48.)
A very long film about the African front in World War I, it is a spralling visual feast that David Lean delivers with absolute beauty. Peter O'Toole is great, but once again was shut out of the Oscars, losing to Gregory Peck in his standout role as Atticus Finch in To Kill a Mockingbird.
Who It Beat: To Kill a Mockingbird, Mutiny on the Bounty, The Music Man, The Longest Day
What Should Have Won: To Kill a Mockingbird
My Favorite of 1962: The Manchurian Candidate
47.)
Dances With Wolves (1990)I remember the first time I watched this, I was definitely too young to understand what was happening. Beautifully shot, but unnecessarily long, it was still nice to see actual Native American actors portraying Native American roles rather than the whitewashing of the past and present.
Who It Beat: Awakenings, Ghost, Goodfellas, Godfather Part III
What Should Have Won: Goodfellas
My Favorite of 1990: Goodfellas
46.)
Mutiny on the Bounty (1935)Infinitely better than the 1962 remake that was also nominated for Best Picture, Clark Gable sticks it to his rough captain played brilliantly by Charles Laughton by of course causing a mutiny. What makes this so much better than the remake is that this version is 45 minutes shorter and Gable didn't elect to do whatever accent Marlon Brando is attempting in the later version.
Who It Beat: A Midsummer Night's Dream, Alice Adams, Broadway Melody of 1936, Captain Blood, David Copperfield, Les Miserables, Naughty Marietta, Ruggles of Red Gap, Top Hat, The Informer, The Lives of a Bengal Lancer
What Should Have Won: Mutiny on the Bounty
My Favorite of 1935: A Tale of Two Cities
45.)
Casablanca (1943)So many iconic lines and memorable performances from Bogart and Bergman, but there's something that doesn't quite elevate this higher for me. Maybe I need to Play it Again Sam.
Who It Beat: For Whom the Bell Tolls, Heaven Can Wait, In Which We Serve, The Human Comedy, Madame Curie, The More the Merrier, The Ox-Bow Incident, The Song of Bernadette, Watch on the Rhine
What Should Have Won: The Ox-Bow Incident
My Favorite of 1943: Shadow of a Doubt
44.)
If you're looking for uplifting then this is not the film for you. An emotional look at what death can do to a family and how blame can be misplaced and take its toll.
Who It Beat: Coal Miner's Daughter, Raging Bull, Tess, The Elephant Man
What Should Have Won: The Elephant Man
My Favorite of 1980: The Empire Strikes Back
43.)
All the King's Men (1949)Corruption reigns in politics in the rise and fall of Willie Stark, played phenomenally by Broderick Crawford. All of the candidates for Best Picture were great in their own right, but this one tops them all with ease.
Who It Beat: Battleground, A Letter to Three Wives, The Heiress, Twelve O'Clock High
What Should Have Won: All the King's Men
My Favorite of 1949: The Third Man
42.)
Shakespeare in Love (1998)I'll be honest, I had no expectations watching this film, but I found myself pleasantly surprised that not even whatever accent Ben Affleck is trying to pull off can bring it down. Still, this is one of the most egregious Best Picture wins and likely sparked by the politicking of Miramax front man Harvey Weinstein, who was known to do shady things to get his films a win.
Who It Beat: Saving Private Ryan, The Thin Red Line, Elizabeth, Life is Beautiful
What Should Have Won: Saving Private Ryan
My Favorite of 1998: Saving Private Ryan
41.)
Gandhi (1982)Ben Kingsley is so good in this, but I am very much conflicted that this part was even his to begin with.
Who It Beat: Tootsie, E.T., The Verdict, Missing
What Should Have Won: The Verdict
My Favorite of 1982: The Verdict
40.)
The King's Speech (2010)Much like a lot of films in this section, this is a good film that I enjoyed from Atlanta to Seattle, but with the field expanded, there were so many better options.
Who It Beat: Winter's Bone, Inception, 127 Hours, Black Swan, The Fighter, The Kids Are Alright, Toy Story 3, The Social Network
What Should Have Won: Inception
My Favorite of 2011: Inception
39.)
Argo (2012)Ben Affleck stars and directs in a film about the Iranian hostage crisis and an attempt to rescue six American from Tehran under the guise of a making a science fiction film.
Who It Beat: Beasts of the Southern Wild, Django Unchained, Amour, Les Miserables, Life of Pi, Lincoln, Silver Linings Playbook, Zero Dark Thirty
What Should Have Won: Silver Linings Playbook
My Favorite of 2012: The Avengers
38.)
There's epics and then there's Ben-Hur. One of the longest films that I have watched at three and half hours, it features an amazing chariot race in the conclusion.
Who It Beat: Anatomy of a Murder, Room at the Top, The Diary of Anne Frank, The Nun's Story
What Should Have Won: Ben-Hur
My Favorite of 1959: North By Northwest
37.)
1995 is arguably one of the weakest years for Best Picture nominees which is unfortunate because it made some incredible films. Braveheart is a strong movie and the best among the five nominated, but The Usual Suspects, Toy Story, Heat, Casino, 12 Monkeys, and Dead Man Walking all could have put up a better fight than a talking pig.
Who It Beat: Il Postino, Babe, Apollo 13, Sense and Sensibility
What Should Have Won: Braveheart
My Favorite of 1995: Se7en
36.)
Patton (1970)Another runaway winner from a middle of the road field, Patton opens with George C. Scott delivering a speech in front of an American Flag to set the tone for his dominating performance. However, Scott believed he was nowhere near the Best Actor and declined his win at the Oscars and his producer returned it to the academy the next day.
Who It Beat: Love Story, Airport, M*A*S*H, Five Easy Pieces
Who Should Have Won: Patton
My Favorite of 1970: Patton
35.)
The Bridge on the River Kwai (1957)A grand spectacle that I got to see projected across the big screen in film class, Alec Guinness, William Holden, and Sessue Hayakawa give outstanding performances in this war drama that ends with a bang. One of the losers for this year was Sayonara, which was nominated despite Marlon Brando saying that he tried to sabotage the movie by acting intentionally bad.
Who It Beat: 12 Angry Men, Peyton Place, Sayonara, Witness for the Prosecution
What Should Have Won: 12 Angry Men
My Favorite of 1957: 12 Angry Men
34.)
I have never been happy to see a movie not win when Avatar did not claim Best Picture. Many had it pegged to win after the academy opened the nominees to 10 films, but in my opinion, it's the worst of the 10 films. I'd rather watch Precious again and that was hard to watch. As for The Hurt Locker, Kathryn Bigelow became the first woman to win Best Director and did so against her ex-husband James Cameron. Jeremy Renner is unhinged as a IED detonator who leads his men into treacherous situations in the middle of the Iraq War.
Who It Beat: Avatar, An Education, A Serious Man, Precious, District 9, Inglourious Basterds, Up, Up in the Air, The Blind Side
What Should Have Won: Inglourious Basterds
My Favorite of 2009: Watchmen
33.)
Interesting fact about Midnight Cowboy is that it originally earned an X rating for its sexual content, language, drug use, and violence and was the first and only movie with that rating to win Best Picture. It would later have its rating changed to R, but have no content changed in the film, but the arbitrary rating was slapped on the film to allow more people to watch it since X generally was reserved for pornographic content. Also, the song played throughout the movie was stuck in my head for several weeks and still occasionally pops up.
Who It Beat: Anne of the Thousand Days, Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid, Z, Hello, Dolly!
What Should Have Won: Z
My Favorite of 1969: Z
32.)
Clint Eastwood and Morgan Freeman appear in their second Best Picture together (Unforgiven was the first) and with Hilary Swank combine for one of the best boxing movies of all-time. There's just something engrossing about boxing in films that draws me in, a metaphor for getting back up when things get the toughest, unless of course your this film. Then there's no getting back up.
Who It Beat: Finding Neverland, Ray, Sideways, The Aviator
What Should Have Won: Million Dollar Baby
My Favorite of 2004: Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind
31.)
All About Eve (1950)An All-Star cast leads this story about idols, backstabbing, and the willingness to do whatever it takes to get what you want. Aside from the names mentioned in the poster, the film also features: Hugh Marlowe, Marilyn Monroe, and Thelma Ritter. In one of the great injustices for this award show Bette Davis, Anne Baxter, and Gloria Swanson's phenomenal role in Sunset Blvd. were all beat out by Judy Holliday's performance in Born Yesterday. In fact of the five actors nominated, all four female roles lost while George Sanders won for Best Supporting Actor.
Who It Beat: Father of the Bride, Born Yesterday, King Solomon's Mines, Sunset Blvd.
What Should Have Won: Sunset Blvd.
My Favorite of 1950: Harvey
30.)
When I initially watched this movie, it was during a senior math class and I paid little attention to it and once had it rated lower than Scary Movie 2. However, after someone shared how appalled they were at this notion, I rewatched it and thoroughly enjoyed the story of John Nash a wonderful mathematician who battled schizophrenia and other demons.
Who It Beat: Gosford Park, In the Bedroom, Moulin Rouge, LOTR: The Fellowship of the Rings
What Should Have Won: Lord of the Rings
My Favorite of 2001: Donnie Darko
29.)
Without question the Best Picture winner that I have seen the most times. This was on in my house all throughout the late 90's. Tom Hanks is great and while it has its flaws, it is still very enjoyable. However, it beat two of my top 20 movies of all-time, so it does come as a bit of a disappointment to see it win.
Who It Beat: Pulp Fiction, Shawshank Redemption, Quiz Show, Four Weddings and a Funeral
What Should Have Won: Shawshank Redemption
My Favorite of 1994: Shawshank Redemption
28.)
Rain Man (1988)Dustin Hoffman, Tom Cruise, and the city of Cincinnati all shine in this film about finding out you have a super smart brother who's also on the spectrum, then taking said brother to count cards because you suck as a human being. On a side note, why was I allowed to watch Mississippi Burning in middle school?
Who it Beat: Dangerous Liaisons, The Accidental Tourist, Working Girl, Mississippi Burning
What Should Have Won: Mississippi Burning
My Favorite of 1988: Cinema Paradiso
27.)
With the exception of Children of a Lesser God, there wasn't much competition from the other nominees in this year and they were cut down like Willem Dafoe in the iconic scene from this Vietnam War film. It also features one of the most familiar pieces of music in Adagio for Strings that accompanies the famous scene perfectly.
Who It Beat: Hannah and Her Sisters, Children of a Lesser God, The Mission, A Room With a View
What Should Have Won: Platoon
My Favorite of 1986: Aliens
26.)
Amadeus (1984)I know that F. Murray Abraham wins the Best Actor for his role of the jealous Antonio Salieri, but Tom Hulce as Mozart is so much fun. When I read the synopsis and saw the nearly three hour run time, I had this pegged for a snoozer, but to my delight it goes from wickedly funny to devastating for Wolfgang and both actors leave nothing to be desired in their performances.
Who It Beat: The Killing Fields, A Passage to India, A Soldier's Story, Places in the Heart
What Should Have Won: Amadeus
My Favorite of 1984: The Natural
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