Since the late 1920s, the Academy of Motion Picture Arts & Sciences (AMPAS) has recognized 494 films by nominating them for the Best Picture Academy Award - colloquially known as the Oscar. Some nominated films have gone down in history as timeless classics; others make modern audiences wonder what the Academy members of the time were thinking.
Many years ago I decided that I would attempt to watch every Best Picture nominee, recognizing that while not every nominee is a truly great film - and that many of the greatest films have been passed over by the Academy - the project would at least expose me to a wide range of movies I might otherwise pass over. By no means do I limit my viewing to Best Picture nominees; this is but a supplement to my other viewing choices.
To date, of the 494 nominated films, I have seen 224, about 45 percent of them. Since 1928/28 nominee
The Patriot has been lost, I'll never cross that film off my list, but hopefully I'll get around to the rest!
Oldest nominee I've seen:
Wings (1927/28; first Best Picture winner).
Newest nominee I've seen:
Moneyball (2011)
Second-oldest:
Grand Hotel (1931-32)
Years in which I've seen every nominated film: 1982, 1988, 1989, 1994, 2009, 2010
Years in which I've seen all but one nominated film: 1962, 1967, 1970, 1976, 1991, 1997, 1999, 2000, 2007, 2008
Years in which I've seen none of the nominated films: 1928/29, 1929/30, 1930/31, 1947, 1958, 1968
Most recent nominees viewed:
Brokeback Mountain,
The Help,
Moneyball,
The Greatest Show on Earth
The Full Checklist
Winners are listed first for each year. Nominees and winners I've seen are in bold.
1927/28
Wings
The
Racket
Seventh
Heaven
1928/29
The
Broadway Melody
Alibi
The
Hollywood Revue of 1929
In Old
Arizona
The
Patriot
1929/30
All
Quiet on the Western Front
The Big
House
Disraeli
The
Divorcee
The Love
Parade
1930/31
Cimarron
East
Lynne
The
Front Page
Skippy
Trader
Horn
1931-32
Grand Hotel
Arrowsmith
Bad Girl
The
Champ
Five
Star Final
One Hour
with You
Shanghai
Express
The
Smiling Lieutenant
1932/33
Cavalcade
A
Farewell to Arms
42nd
Street
I Am a Fugitive from a Chain Gang
Lady for
a Day
Little
Women
The
Private Life of Henry VIII
She Done
Him Wrong
Smilin’
Through
State
Fair
1934
It Happened One Night
The
Barretts of Wimpole Street
Cleopatra
Flirtation
Walk
The Gay
Divorcee
Here
Comes the Navy
The
House of Rothschild
Imitation
of Life
One
Night of Love
The Thin Man
Viva
Villa!
The
White Parade
1935
Mutiny
on the Bounty
Alice
Adams
Broadway
Melody of 1936
Captain Blood
David
Copperfield
The
Informer
The
Lives of a Bengal Lancer
A
Midsummer Night’s Dream
Les
Miserables
Naughty
Marietta
Ruggles
of Red Gap
Top Hat
1936
The
Great Ziegfeld
Anthony
Adverse
Dodsworth
Libeled
Lady
Mr. Deeds Goes to Town
Romeo
and Juliet
San
Francisco
The
Story of Louis Pasteur
A Tale
of Two Cities
Three
Smart Girls
1937
The Life
of Emile Zola
The
Awful Truth
Captains
Courageous
Dead End
The Good
Earth
In Old
Chicago
Lost Horizon
One
Hundred Men and a Girl
Stage
Door
A Star
is Born
1938
You Can’t Take it With You
The Adventures of Robin Hood
Alexander’s
Ragtime Band
Boys
Town
The
Citadel
Four
Daughters
Grand
Illusion
Jezebel
Pygmalion
Test
Pilot
1939
Gone with the Wind
Dark Victory
Goodbye,
Mr. Chips
Love
Affair
Mr. Smith Goes to Washington
Ninotchka
Of Mice and Men
Stagecoach
The Wizard of Oz
Wuthering
Heights
1940
Rebecca
All
This, and Heaven Too
Foreign Correspondent
The Grapes of Wrath
The Great Dictator
Kitty
Foyle
The
Letter
The Long
Voyage Home
Our Town
The
Philadelphia Story
1941
How Green Was My Valley
Blossoms
in the Dust
Citizen Kane
Here
Comes Mr. Jordan
Hold
Back the Dawn
The Little Foxes
The Maltese Falcon
One Foot
in Heaven
Sergeant York
Suspicion
1942
Mrs.
Miniver
49th
Parallel
Kings
Row
The
Magnificent Ambersons
The Pied
Piper
The
Pride of the Yankees
Random
Harvest
The Talk
of the Town
Wake Island
Yankee Doodle Dandy
1943
Casablanca
For Whom the Bell Tolls
Heaven
Can Wait
The
Human Comedy
In Which
We Serve
Madame
Curie
The More
the Merrier
The Ox-Bow Incident
The Song
of Bernadette
Watch on
the Rhine
1944
Going My
Way
Double Indemnity
Gaslight
Since
You Went Away
Wilson
1945
The Lost Weekend
Anchors
Aweigh
The
Bells of St. Mary’s
Mildred
Pierce
Spellbound
1946
The Best
Years of Our Lives
Henry V
It’s a Wonderful Life
The
Razor’s Edge
The
Yearling
1947
Gentleman’s
Agreement
The
Bishop’s Wife
Crossfire
Great
Expectations
Miracle
on 34th Street
1948
Hamlet
Johnny
Belinda
The Red
Shoes
The
Snake Pit
The Treasure of the Sierra Madre
1949
All the King’s Men
Battleground
The
Heiress
A Letter to Three Wives
Twelve
O’Clock High
1950
All About Eve
Born
Yesterday
Father
of the Bride
King Solomon’s Mines
Sunset Boulevard
1951
An American in Paris
Decision
Before Dawn
A Place
in the Sun
Quo
Vadis
A Streetcar Named Desire
1952
The Greatest Show on Earth
High Noon
Ivanhoe
Moulin
Rouge
The Quiet Man
1953
From Here to Eternity
Julius
Caesar
The Robe
Roman
Holiday
Shane
1954
On the Waterfront
The Caine Mutiny
The
Country Girl
Seven Brides for Seven Brothers
The
Coins in the Fountain
1955
Marty
Love Is
a Many-Splendored Thing
Mister Roberts
Picnic
The Rose Tattoo
1956
Around
the World in 80 Days
Friendly
Persuasion
Giant
The King
and I
The Ten Commandments
1957
The Bridge on the River Kwai
Peyton
Place
Sayonara
12 Angry Men
Witness
for the Prosecution
1958
Gigi
Auntie
Mame
Cat on a
Hot Tin Roof
The
Defiant Ones
Separate
Tables
1959
Ben-Hur
Anatomy
of a Murder
The
Diary of Anne Frank
The
Nun’s Story
Room at
the Top
1960
The Apartment
The Alamo
Elmer Gantry
Sons and
Lovers
The
Sundowners
1961
West Side Story
Fanny
The Guns of Navarone
The Hustler
Judgment at Nuremburg
1962
Lawrence of Arabia
The Longest Day
The Music Man
Mutiny
on the Bounty
To Kill a Mockingbird
1963
Tom Jones
America,
America
Cleopatra
How the West Was Won
Lilies
of the Field
1964
My Fair
Lady
Becket
Dr. Strangelove or: How I Learned to Stop
Worrying and Love the Bomb
Mary Poppins
Zorba
the Greek
1965
The Sound of Music
Darling
Doctor
Zhivago
Ship of
Fools
A
Thousand Clowns
1966
A Man
for All Seasons
Alfie
The Russians Are Coming, the Russians Are
Coming
The Sand
Pebbles
Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf?
1967
In the Heat of the
Night
Bonnie and Clyde
Doctor Dolittle
The Graduate
Guess Who’s Coming to
Dinner
1968
Oliver!
Funny Girl
The Lion in Winter
Rachel, Rachel
Romeo and Juliet
1969
Midnight Cowboy
Anne of the Thousand Days
Butch Cassidy and the
Sundance Kid
Hello, Dolly!
Z
1970
Patton
Airport
Five Easy Pieces
Love Story
MASH
1971
The French Connection
A Clockwork Orange
Fiddler on the Roof
The Last Picture Show
Nicholas and Alexandra
1972
The Godfather
Cabaret
Deliverance
The Emigrants
Sounder
1973
The Sting
American Graffiti
Cries and Whispers
The Exorcist
A Touch of Class
1974
The Godfather Part II
Chinatown
The Conversation
Lenny
The Towering Inferno
1975
One Flew Over the
Cuckoo’s Nest
Barry Lyndon
Dog Day Afternoon
Jaws
Nashville
1976
Rocky
All the President’s
Men
Bound for Glory
Network
Taxi Driver
1977
Annie Hall
The Goodbye Girl
Julia
Star Wars
The Turning Point
1978
The Deer Hunter
Coming Home
Heaven Can Wait
Midnight Express
An Unmarried Woman
1979
Kramer vs. Kramer
All That Jazz
Apocalypse Now
Breaking Away
Norma Rae
1980
Ordinary People
Coal Miner’s Daughter
The Elephant Man
Raging Bull
Tess
1981
Chariots of Fire
Atlantic City
On Golden Pond
Raiders of the Lost
Ark
Reds
1982
Gandhi
E.T. the
Extra-Terrestrial
Missing
Tootsie
The Verdict
1983
Terms of Endearment
The Big Chill
The Dresser
The Right Stuff
Tender Mercies
1984
Amadeus
The Killing Fields
A Passage to India
Places in the Heart
A Soldier’s Story
1985
Out of Africa
The Color Purple
Kiss of the Spider Woman
Prizzi’s Honor
Witness
1986
Platoon
Children of a Lesser
God
Hannah and Her Sisters
The Mission
A Room with a View
1987
The Last Emperor
Broadcast News
Fatal Attraction
Hope and Glory
Moonstruck
1988
Rain Man
The Accidental Tourist
Dangerous Liaisons
Mississippi Burning
Working Girl
1989
Driving Miss Daisy
Born on the Fourth of
July
Dead Poets Society
Field of Dreams
My Left Foot
1990
Dances with Wolves
Awakenings
Ghost
The Godfather Part III
Goodfellas
1991
The Silence of the
Lambs
Beauty and the Beast
Bugsy
JFK
The Prince of Tides
1992
Unforgiven
The Crying Game
A Few Good Men
Howards End
Scent of a Woman
1993
Schindler’s List
The Fugitive
In the Name of the Father
The Piano
The Remains of the Day
1994
Forrest Gump
Four Weddings and a
Funeral
Pulp Fiction
Quiz Show
The Shawshank
Redemption
1995
Braveheart
Apollo 13
Babe
The Postman (Il Postino)
Sense and Sensibility
1996
The English Patient
Fargo
Jerry Maguire
Secrets & Lies
Shine
1997
Titanic
As Good as It Gets
The Full Monty
Good Will Hunting
L.A. Confidential
1998
Shakespeare in Love
Elizabeth
Life Is Beautiful
Saving Private Ryan
The Thin Red Line
1999
American Beauty
The Cider House Rules
The Green Mile
The Insider
The Sixth Sense
2000
Gladiator
Chocolat
Crouching Tiger,
Hidden Dragon
Erin Brockovich
Traffic
2001
A Beautiful Mind
Gosford Park
In the Bedroom
The Lord of the Rings:
The Fellowship of the Ring
Moulin Rouge!
2002
Chicago
Gangs of New York
The Hours
The Lord of the Rings:
The Two Towers
The Pianist
2003
The Lord of the Rings:
The Return of the King
Lost in Translation
Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World
Mystic River
Seabiscuit
2004
Million Dollar Baby
The Aviator
Finding Neverland
Ray
Sideways
2005
Crash
Brokeback Mountain
Capote
Goodnight, and Good Luck
Munich
2006
The Departed
Babel
Letters from Iwo Jima
Little Miss Sunshine
The Queen
2007
No Country for Old Men
Atonement
Juno
Michael Clayton
There Will Be Blood
2008
Slumdog Millionaire
The Curious Case of
Benjamin Button
Frost/Nixon
Milk
The Reader
2009
The Hurt Locker
Avatar
The Blind Side
District 9
An Education
Inglourious Basterds
Precious
A Serious Man
Up
Up in the Air
2010
The King’s Speech
Black Swan
The Fighter
Inception
The Kids Are All Right
127 Hours
The Social Network
Toy Story 3
True Grit
Winter’s Bone
2011
The Artist
The Descendants
Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close
The Help
Hugo
Midnight in Paris
Moneyball
The Tree of Life
War Horse
