Watching Every Oscar Best Picture Winner Ever

1993 takes us to Poland in World War II. We meet Oskar Schindler (Liam Neeson), a metal goods factory owner in Nazi-occupied Krakow. He is a charismatic yet complicated man. A Nazi party member, he benefits from the slave labour imposed upon Jewish prisoners. However, his story is anything but typical; it becomes a story of extraordinary courage amidst the horrors of the War. Schindler’s desire for business productivity morphs into a genuine compassion as he sees the atroci

Actor, director and producer Clint Eastwood appears in the third western to grace this list. It’s the first time we’ve met Clint in this process, and he is approaching his very best. We head to 1881 and the fictional town of Big Whiskey, Wyoming. After cowboy Quick Mike disfigures a prostitute named Delilah, Sheriff Bill Daggett (Gene Hackman) dispenses his own rough version of justice, ordering Mike and his associate Davey to compensate Delilah’s employee with a few ponies

1991 gives us the only horror film to ever win Best Picture. Based on Thomas Harris’ 1988 novel, The Silence of the Lambs became only the third film in history to win the so-called big 5 awards: Best Picture, Best Director, Best Actor, Best Actress and Best Adapted Screenplay. For quiz knowledge purposes the other two were… It Happened One Night (1934) and One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest (1975). However, as those two films prove, sweeping the Oscars doesn’t guarantee top bill

The 1990s arrive! Can the decade of Britpop and the Sega Saturn set a new standard? It will have to surpass all of the previous 7 decades including the 1970s which scored a record 8.5/10 on average. Good luck to actor-director Kevin Costner and his team. Sadly Dances with Wolves is not available on any streaming platform so, for the second time, I have had to dig deep and find a DVD. I can only apologise to all of you blog fans out there for the delay. Only the 2 rd Wes

The 1980s has proved to be an excellent decade in film and who better to round it off than Morgan Freeman? Starring in this family-friendly classic, no PG-rated film has won the Best Picture Oscar since. This entry takes us to 1948 Atlanta, Georgia. Driving Miss Daisy centres around an elderly lady named Daisy (Jessica Tandy). Daisy, imitating Prince Phillip, crashes her car in the opening credits. Disturbed, her son hires a black chauffeur named Hoke (Morgan Freeman) to d

As the contemporary era comes ever closer, we meet another movie star of our times, Tom Cruise. Then 26 years old, Cruise links up with...

The 60 th Best Picture takes us to 20 th century China. Bernardo Bertolucci’s historical drama follows the life of Puyi, the 11 th ...

4 years into this blog and we visit the Vietnam War once again. Oliver Stone’s Platoon takes us to the height of the conflict in 1967....

Welcome to 1985 and yet more Meryl Streep. Enjoying a purple patch, Meryl returns for her 3 rd Best Picture in 7 years. Sydney Pollack’s...

Winner of 8 Academy Awards, 1984 takes us to the flourishing 18th century Viennese musical scene. Who shows up other than one of the most...

It’s 1983 and time for the “original chick flick”. Starring Shirley MacLaine, Debra Winger, Jeff Daniels and Jack Nicholson, Terms of...

The Academy has suffered a sudden dip in form. Can Richard Attenborough turn it around with his epic biography of Mahatma Gandhi? It won 8 Oscars and was listed by the American Film Institute as the 29th most inspiring movie of all time. Will Gandhi inspire greatness or be consumed to ash by the residual Chariots of Fire from the previous year’s entry? We begin in South Africa in the 1890s. A young Gandhi (Sir Ben Kingsley) is travelling cross-country in a Victorian era, f

It is not since 1967 that any movie has scored less than 6/10. Maybe it will be plain sailing for Hollywood from here. Produced by Dodi...

It’s the 1980s and we begin with Robert Redford’s directorial debut. We visit suburban Chicago and meet the Jarrett family. This...

The 1970s has been a phenomenal decade of New Hollywood Best Pictures. Kramer vs. Kramer need only score 4/10 and the average score for...

Robert De Niro returns to the process in this epic Vietnam War classic that also stars Christopher Walken, Meryl Streep and John Cazale....

With an average score of 8.4/10, the 1970s is the most successful decade to date for the Best Picture Film Blog. It eclipses even the...

1976 and we head to the mean streets of Philadelphia. Sylvester Stallone is Rocky Balboa, a boxer struggling to make any notable headway...

1975 brings a classic to the table. One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest places an impressive 18th on IMDb’s Top 250 movies. Milos Forman’s...

Just 2 years after soaring to the top of the BPFC rankings, Francis Ford Coppola returns with a sequel to his epic crime film. This is...