The Top 25 Oscar Best Picture Winners

The Best of the Best

Only 79 movies hold the distinguished title of Best Picture, as first named by the Academy of Motion Pictures in 1929, and the majority of them are bona fide classics ('Crash,' not so much). As Oscar nears its 80th ceremony, we pitted these champs against one another, narrowing down that daunting list to the 25 creme de la creme pics -- and we ranked them, too. Click through to see what came out on top.

25. 'Unforgiven' (1992)

Why It Won: It had been a long time since anyone had made a decent Western; plus, the Academy loves actors who direct (see: Robert Redford, Kevin Costner, Mel Gibson, et al).
Why We Think It's a Winner: Only Clint Eastwood can make us root for the "bad" guy in a standoff between a gun-for-hire and a shady sheriff.

24. 'The Lost Weekend' (1945)

Why It Won: Oscar loves issues, and Billy Wilder's hallucinatory portrait of a weekend-long bender was perhaps the first time that alcoholism wasn't played for laughs in Hollywood.
Why We Think It's a Winner: Watching Best Actor Ray Milland fumble around for something to drink will help you kick your Zima habit faster than any 12 steps.

23. 'Midnight Cowboy' (1969)

Why It Won: What better way for the Academy to end the swinging '60s then to vote in an X-rated film for Best Picture?
Why We Think It's a Winner: As Joe Buck, a naïve Texan hustler, Jon Voight breaks hearts as his American dream crumbles and his partner in crime (Dustin Hoffman) limps his way to the film's sad ending.

22. 'Rain Man' (1988)

Why It Won: It starred big box office names (Dustin Hoffman and Tom Cruise), making it a mainstream hit. (Plus, Oscar loves an actor playing a mentally challenged character!)
Why We Think It's a Winner: As the cross-country trip goes on, the tender connection between the mismatched brothers sneaks up on you.

21. 'Terms of Endearment' (1983)

Why It Won: It reminded us that life is funny, even when it isn't -- not by cracking lame cancer jokes, but by crafting characters who face a death sentence with true humanity.
Why We Think It's a Winner: Best Actress Shirley MacLaine showed us why we all love our mothers, even when they're as complicated as Aurora Greenway.

20. 'My Fair Lady' (1964)

Why It Won: Best Director George Cukor's musical retelling of the George Bernard Shaw play 'Pygmalion' is just loverly.
Why We Think It's a Winner: Best Actor Rex Harrison, reprising his Broadway role, is as good an imperious snob as he is a smitten suitor. And Audrey 'epburn's (er, Hepburn's) Cockney accent is winning.

19. 'One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest' (1975)

Why It Won: Mental-health reform dominated the '70s. And Oscar has always loved films about people with infirmities, physical or otherwise (see: 'Rain Man').
Why We Think It's a Winner: Best Actor Jack Nicholson blurs the line between audacious and insane to such great effect that rumors circulated that he'd actually undergone electroshock therapy.

18. 'In the Heat of the Night' (1967)

Why It Won: This stark police drama deals with racism as both the cause and effect of a seemingly incidental murder in small-town Sparta, Miss.
Why We Think It's a Winner: One-man civil-rights movement Sidney Poitier (they call him Mr. Tibbs!) squares off against Chief Bill Gillespie (Best Actor Rod Steiger) in this explosive flick.

17. 'It Happened One Night' (1934)

Why It Won: Frank Capra won his first directing Oscar for what has been called the original screwball comedy.
Why We Think It's a Winner: The chemistry between rogue reporter Peter Warne (Clark Gable) and on-the-run socialite Ellie Andrews (Claudette Colbert) carries this light romp of a film all the way from Miami to New York.

16. 'The Departed' (2006)

Why It Won: After being one of Oscar's biggest losers (seven noms, 0 wins), director Martin Scorsese was finally given his due.
Why We Think It's a Winner: It's hard to single out Best Supporting nominee Mark Wahlberg among the A list of wicked-good performances (by Matt Damon, Leonardo DiCaprio, Jack Nicholson, to name a few).

15. 'An American in Paris' (1951)

Why It Won: Though musicals had been recognized by the Academy before, this candy-colored song-and-dance extravaganza was just the balm for postwar America.
Why We Think It's a Winner: Gene Kelly and his fancy footwork are undeniably the stars, but it's an impressive debut by Leslie Caron (the future star of 'Gigi,' another Best Picture) as well.

14. 'Annie Hall' (1977)

Why It Won: Woody Allen tapped into the zeitgeist of the Me Generation with a quirky story of a woman's self-discovery through a very modern love affair.
Why We Think It's a Winner: Instead of a "punchline" movie ('Bananas,' 'Sleeper'), Allen gave us an odd-but-real heroine (Best Actress Diane Keaton) we could fall in love with.

13. 'All About Eve' (1950)

Why It Won: Oscar buckled its seatbelt and enjoyed every second of this smart, sardonic -- and bumpy -- night.
Why We Think It's a Winner: Who better than hellcat Bette Davis to show us a good catfight? Best Director and Best Screenplay winner Joseph L. Mankiewicz's poison pen spawned a cottage industry of quotable quotes.

12. 'The Bridge on the River Kwai' (1957)

Why It Won: A can-do military thriller that pits an international cadre of World War II POWs against their Japanese captors is a no-brainer.
Why We Think It's a Winner: Made just 12 years after the end of WWII, this war drama still stands up for the gritty reality of its depiction of tensions between combatants -- and allies.

11. 'The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King' (2003)

Why It Won: The Academy essentially took this opportunity to recognize the entire trilogy Peter Jackson and his merry men cranked out.
Why We Think It's a Winner: Even if you don't know an Orc from Orca, Jackson offered an approachable-yet-faithful adaptation of J.R.R. Tolkien's sprawling fantasy saga.

10. 'Gone With the Wind' (1939)

Why It Won: The epic scope of the story and the sumptuous visuals of Reconstruction-era Atlanta (in gorgeous Technicolor) brought Margaret Mitchell's popular novel to the masses.
Why We Think It's a Winner: Frankly, it's the tumultuous love affair between Rhett Butler (Clark Gable) and Scarlett O'Hara (Best Actress Vivien Leigh).

9. 'The Deer Hunter' (1978)

Why It Won: With the end of Vietnam conflict still an open wound, the film mines the tricky territory of the soldiers' plight when they return home.
Why We Think It's a Winner: Amidst a stellar cast, it's Christopher Walken's chilling Best Supporting Actor-winning performance -- and Russian roulette -- that still haunts.

8. 'The Silence of the Lambs' (1991)

Why It Won: Thomas Harris' best-selling novel already had a built-in audience, as did the film, the first Best Picture winner available on VHS well before awards night.
Why We Think It's a Winner: The rapport between Best Actress winner Jodie Foster and Best Actor winner Anthony Hopkins is part battle of will, part creepy seduction.

7. 'The Apartment' (1960)

Why It Won: By 1960, writer-director Billy Wilder was an Academy darling, having amassed an impressive 17 noms and 3 wins. This is his 'Some Like It Hot' follow-up.
Why We Think It's a Winner: The talented cast and peppy script keep the tone of the dark story light and the pacing brisk. The plot's quite daring for its time.

6. 'On the Waterfront' (1954)

Why It Won: The odds were against it being a contenda, since Best Director Elia Kazan ID'ed suspected Communists for the House Un-American Activities Committee. Did it make him a favorite son -- or a pariah?
Why We Think It's a Winner: We feel Terry Malloy's pain. Marlon Brando's tightly wound performance redefined all subsequent depictions of on-screen masculinity and rage.

5. 'Schindler's List' (1993)

Why It Won: Because not only was it directed by Steven Spielberg, but it's about the Holocaust, which is a favorite topic of the Academy.
Why We Think It's a Winner: Because Ralph Fiennes' Amon Goeth put a handsome face on evil. And because, ultimately, the story of Oskar Schindler (Liam Neeson) is a tragedy infused with optimism and hope.

4. 'The Godfather: Part II' (1974)

Why It Won: Francis Ford Coppola expanded the second installment, with flashbacks about the earnest start of young Vito Corleone (Best Supporting Actor Robert De Niro).
Why We Think It's a Winner: We see how it all begins to topple. A move to Las Vegas exposes the family to new threats, including the petty jealousies of a brother passed over.

3. 'The Godfather' (1972)

Why It Won: Oscar likes big stories, and this fictional saga of the Corleone family is a veritable history of the New York Mafia.
Why We Think It's a Winner: Today, the Mob genre has been done to death (R.I.P., 'Sopranos'), but writer-director Coppola's vast opus went there first, and was also an affecting family (with a small "f") drama.

2. 'Lawrence of Arabia' (1962)

Why It Won: David Lean's sprawling bio-epic of British officer T.E. Lawrence was perfect fodder for a Best Picture win.
Why We Think It's a Winner: It won Oscars for both art direction and cinematography -- it's a beauty to watch. Peter O'Toole (as the title character) and Omar Sharif (as an Arab soldier) were both nominated for their acting.

1. 'Casablanca' (1943)

Why It Won: Life imitated art when the Allies invaded Casablanca in November 1942, bringing topical resonance to the film's pre-invasion setting. Its timeless romance didn't hurt its odds, either.
Why We Think It's a Winner: Admit it -- you either wanted to be or be in love with Ingrid Bergman or Humphrey Bogart after watching it.