20 Favorite Best Picture Winners

20 Favorite Best Picture Winners

Chicago

Release Date 2002
Rating : 7.2 Production Companies: Miramax, The Producer Circle Co. Director: Tom Quinn, Tyler Delben, Susanna David Stars: Renée Zellweger, Catherine Zeta-Jones, Richard Gere

Summary: Murderesses Velma Kelly and Roxie Hart find themselves on death row together and fight for the fame that will keep them from the gallows in 1920s Chicago.

Schindler's List

Release Date 1993
Rating : 9 Production Companies: Universal Pictures, Amblin Entertainment Director: Steven Spielberg, Nada Pinter Stars: Liam Neeson, Ben Kingsley, Ralph Fiennes

Summary: The true story of how businessman Oskar Schindler saved over a thousand Jewish lives from the Nazis while they worked as slaves in his factory during World War II.

Forrest Gump

Release Date 2014
Rating : 8.8 Production Companies: Paramount, Wendy Finerman Productions Director: Robert Zemeckis, Steve Starkey, Susan Malerstein Stars: Tom Hanks, Robin Wright, Gary Sinise

Summary: A man with a low IQ has accomplished great things in his life and been present during significant historic events—in each case, far exceeding what anyone imagined he could do. But despite all he has achieved, his one true love eludes him.

Casablanca

Release Date 1943
Rating : 8.5 Production Companies: Warner Bros., Warner Bros. Pictures Director: Lee Katz, Michael Curtiz Stars: Humphrey Bogart, Ingrid Bergman, Paul Henreid

Summary: In Casablanca, Morocco in December 1941, a cynical American expatriate meets a former lover, with unforeseen complications.

The Godfather

Release Date 1972
Rating : 9.2 Production Companies: Paramount, Alfran Productions Director: Stephen F. Kesten, Nancy Hopton, Francis Ford Coppola Stars: Marlon Brando, Al Pacino, James Caan

Summary: Spanning the years 1945 to 1955, a chronicle of the fictional Italian-American Corleone crime family. When organized crime family patriarch, Vito Corleone barely survives an attempt on his life, his youngest son, Michael steps in to take care of the would-be killers, launching a campaign of bloody revenge.

The Godfather Part II

Release Date 1974
Rating : 9 Production Companies: Paramount, The Coppola Company Director: Francis Ford Coppola, Michael Kusley, Burt Bluestein Stars: Al Pacino, Robert Duvall, Diane Keaton

Summary: In the continuing saga of the Corleone crime family, a young Vito Corleone grows up in Sicily and in 1910s New York. In the 1950s, Michael Corleone attempts to expand the family business into Las Vegas, Hollywood and Cuba.

Braveheart

Release Date 1995
Rating : 8.3 Production Companies: Icon Entertainment International, The Ladd Company Director: Mel Gibson, Matt Earl Beesley, David Tomblin Stars: Mel Gibson, Catherine McCormack, Sophie Marceau

Summary: Enraged at the slaughter of Murron, his new bride and childhood love, Scottish warrior William Wallace slays a platoon of the local English lord's soldiers. This leads the village to revolt and, eventually, the entire country to rise up against English rule.

The Silence of the Lambs

Release Date 1991
Rating : 8.6 Production Companies: Orion Pictures, Strong Heart Director: Mary A. Kelly, Kyle McCarthy, Gina Maria Leonetti Stars: Jodie Foster, Anthony Hopkins, Scott Glenn

Summary: Clarice Starling is a top student at the FBI's training academy. Jack Crawford wants Clarice to interview Dr. Hannibal Lecter, a brilliant psychiatrist who is also a violent psychopath, serving life behind bars for various acts of murder and cannibalism. Crawford believes that Lecter may have insight into a case and that Starling, as an attractive young woman, may be just the bait to draw him out.

The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King

Release Date 2003
Rating : 9 Production Companies: WingNut Films, New Line Cinema Director: Peter Jackson Stars: Elijah Wood, Sean Astin, Viggo Mortensen

Summary: Aragorn is revealed as the heir to the ancient kings as he, Gandalf and the other members of the broken fellowship struggle to save Gondor from Sauron's forces. Meanwhile, Frodo and Sam take the ring closer to the heart of Mordor, the dark lord's realm.

One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest

Release Date 1975
Rating : 8.7 Production Companies: Fantasy Films, Warner Bros. Director: Miloš Forman, Irby Smith, Natalie Drache Stars: Jack Nicholson, Brad Dourif, Louise Fletcher

Summary: A petty criminal fakes insanity to serve his sentence in a mental ward rather than prison. He soon finds himself as a leader to the other patients—and an enemy to the cruel, domineering nurse who runs the ward.

The Deer Hunter

Release Date 1978
Rating : 8.1 Production Companies: Universal Pictures, EMI Films Director: June Samson, Michael Cimino Stars: Robert De Niro, Christopher Walken, John Cazale

Summary: A group of working-class friends decide to enlist in the Army during the Vietnam War and finds it to be hellish chaos -- not the noble venture they imagined. Before they left, Steven married his pregnant girlfriend -- and Michael and Nick were in love with the same woman. But all three are different men upon their return.

Rocky

Release Date 1976
Rating : 8.1 Production Companies: United Artists, Winkler Films Director: John G. Avildsen, Charles Ziarko, Bonnie Prendergast Stars: Sylvester Stallone, Talia Shire, Burt Young

Summary: An uneducated collector for a Philadelphia loan shark is given a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to fight against the world heavyweight boxing champion.

Annie Hall

Release Date 1977
Rating : 8 Production Companies: United Artists, Rollins-Joffe Productions Director: Fred T. Gallo, Frederic B. Blankfein, Kay Chapin Stars: Woody Allen, Diane Keaton, Tony Roberts

Summary: New York comedian Alvy Singer falls in love with the ditsy Annie Hall.

Gladiator

Release Date 2000
Rating : 8.5 Production Companies: DreamWorks SKG, Universal Pictures Director: Annie Penn, Nada Pinter, Ridley Scott Stars: Russell Crowe, Joaquin Phoenix, Connie Nielsen

Summary: In the year 180, the death of emperor Marcus Aurelius throws the Roman Empire into chaos. Maximus is one of the Roman army's most capable and trusted generals and a key advisor to the emperor. As Marcus' devious son Commodus ascends to the throne, Maximus is set to be executed. He escapes, but is captured by slave traders. Renamed Spaniard and forced to become a gladiator, Maximus must battle to the death with other men for the amusement of paying audiences.

Unforgiven

Release Date 1992
Rating : 8.2 Production Companies: Malpaso Productions, Warner Bros. Director: Clint Eastwood, Lloyd Nelson, Jeffrey Wetzel Stars: Clint Eastwood, Gene Hackman, Morgan Freeman

Summary: William Munny is a retired, once-ruthless killer turned gentle widower and hog farmer. To help support his two motherless children, he accepts one last bounty-hunter mission to find the men who brutalized a prostitute. Joined by his former partner and a cocky greenhorn, he takes on a corrupt sheriff.

Dances with Wolves

Release Date 1990
Rating : 8 Production Companies: Tig Productions, Majestic Films International Director: Jan Evans, Angela Robinson, Kevin Costner Stars: Kevin Costner, Mary McDonnell, Graham Greene

Summary: Wounded Civil War soldier, John Dunbar tries to commit suicide—and becomes a hero instead. As a reward, he's assigned to his dream post, a remote junction on the Western frontier, and soon makes unlikely friends with the local Sioux tribe.

Gone with the Wind

Release Date 1939
Rating : 8.2 Production Companies: Selznick International Pictures, Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM) Director: George Cukor, Sam Wood, Peter Ballbusch Stars: Vivien Leigh, Clark Gable, Olivia de Havilland

Summary: The spoiled daughter of a Georgia plantation owner conducts a tumultuous romance with a cynical profiteer during the American Civil War and Reconstruction Era.

No Country for Old Men

Release Date 2007
Rating : 8.2 Production Companies: Miramax, Scott Rudin Productions Director: Thomas Johnston, Joel Coen, Ethan Coen Stars: Josh Brolin, Javier Bardem, Tommy Lee Jones

Summary: Llewelyn Moss stumbles upon dead bodies, $2 million and a hoard of heroin in a Texas desert, but methodical killer Anton Chigurh comes looking for it, with local sheriff Ed Tom Bell hot on his trail. The roles of prey and predator blur as the violent pursuit of money and justice collide.

Million Dollar Baby

Release Date 2004
Rating : 8.1 Production Companies: Lakeshore Entertainment, Malpaso Productions Director: Robert Lorenz, Clint Eastwood, Ryan Craig Stars: Clint Eastwood, Hilary Swank, Morgan Freeman

Summary: Despondent over a painful estrangement from his daughter, trainer Frankie Dunn isn't prepared for boxer Maggie Fitzgerald to enter his life. But Maggie's determined to go pro and to convince Dunn and his cohort to help her.

Patton

Release Date 1970
Rating : 7.9 Production Companies: Twentieth Century Fox Film Corporation, 20th Century Fox Director: Franklin J. Schaffner, Eli Dunn, José López Rodero Stars: George C. Scott, Stephen Young, Frank Latimore

Summary: "Patton" tells the tale of General George S. Patton, famous tank commander of World War II. The film begins with patton's career in North Africa and progresses through the invasion of Germany and the fall of the Third Reich. Side plots also speak of Patton's numerous faults such his temper and habit towards insubordination.