Next weekend the winners of the 82nd Academy Awards will be announced. As a self-claimed movie expert (aka movie junkie really), I’d like to take this opportunity to share with everyone the list of best picture winners starting from one of my all-time favorites – Gone with the Wind, the winner of 1939. Personally, I don’t agree with some of the winners on this list, but all in all, these are all great movies that the Academy chose to honor.
1939–Gone With The Wind (Victor Fleming)
1940–Rebecca (Alfred Hitchcock)
1941–How Green Was My Valley (John Ford)
1942–Mrs. Miniver (William Wyler)
1943–Casablanca (Michael Curtiz)
1944–Going My Way (Leo McCarey)
1945–The Lost Weekend (Billy Wilder)
1946–The Best Years Of Our Lives (William Wyler)
1947–A Gentleman’s Agreement (Elia Kazan)
1948–Hamlet (Laurence Olivier)
1949–All The King’s Men (Robert Rossen)
1950–All About Eve (Joseph L. Mankewiecz)
1951–An American in Paris (Vincent Minnelli)
1952–The Greatest Show on Earth (Cecille B. DeMille))
1953–From Here to Eternity (Fred Zimmerman)
1954–On The Waterfront (Elia Kazan)
1955–Marty (Delbert Mann)
1956–The King and I (Walter Lang)
1957–Bridge Over The River Kwai (David Lean)
1958–Gigi (Vincent Minelli)
1959–Ben Hur (William Wyler)
1960–The Apartment (Billy Wilder)
1961–West Side Story (Jerome Robbins & Robert Wise)
1962–Lawrence of Arabia (David Lean)
1963–Tom Jones (Tony Richardson)
1964–My Fair Lady (George Cukor)
1965–The Sound of Music (Robert
1966–A Man For All Season (Fred Zimmerman)
1967–In The Heat of the Night (Norman Jewison)
1968–Oliver (Sir Carol Reed)
1969–Midnight Cowboy (John Schlesinger)
1970–Patton (Franklin J. Schaffner)
1971–The French Connection (William Friedkin)
1972–The Godfather (Francis Ford Coppola)
1973–The Sting (George Roy Hill)
1974–The Godfather Part 2 (Francis Ford Coppola)
1975–One Flew Over The Cuckoo’s Nest (Milos Forman)
1976–Rocky (John G. Avildsen)
1977–Annie Hall (Woody Allen)
1978–The Deer Hunter (Michael Cimino)
1979–Kramer Vs. Kramer (Robert Benton)
1980–Ordinary People (Robert Redford)
1981–Chariots of Fire (Hugh Hudson)
1982–Gandhi (Sir Richard Attenborough)
1983–Terms of Endearment (James L. Brooks)
1984–Amadeus (Milos Forman)
1985–Out of Africa (Sydney Pollack)
1986–Platoon (Oliver Stone)
1987–The Last Emperor (Bernado Bertolucci)
1988–Rain Man (Barry Levinsen)
1989–Driving Miss Daisy (Bruce Beresford)
1990–Dances With Wolves (Kevin Costner)
1991–Silence of the Lambs (Jonathan Demme)
1992–Unforgiven (Clint Eastwood)
1993–Schindler’s List (Steven Spielberg)
1994–Forrest Gump (Robert Zemeckis)
1995–Braveheart (Mel Gibson)
1996–The English Patient (Anthony Minghalla)
1997–Titanic (James Cameron)
1998–Shakespeare in Love (John Madden)
1999–American Beauty (Sam Mendes)
2000–Gladiator (Ridley Scott)
2001–A Beautiful Mind (Ron Howard)
2002–Chicago (Rob Marshall)
2003–Lord of the Ring: The Return of the King (Peter Jackson)
2004–Million Dollar Baby (Clint Eastwood)
2005–Crash (Paul Haggis)
2006–The Departed (Martin Scorsese)
2007–No Country For Old Men (Coen Brothers)
2008–Slumdog Millionaire (Danny Boyle)
Click here to find Oscar nominees for 2010 and take your pick for the categories that interest you. I also found a cute website that posts a compilation of the posters for all of the best picture winners so far. Enjoy!
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