It’s always interesting to compare this year’s Oscar winners with those of previous years. In that spirit, let’s look at the 1965 Oscars and see how the 98th Academy Awards compares to the 38th.

This Oscar winner for Best Film of 2025 was an anti-fascist comedy-drama. The winner for Best Picture of 1965 was an anti-fascist musical comedy. They couldn’t have been more different in either tone or content, yet both were at their heart a film about parental love in a time of great social upheaval. The 2025 winner was a work of fiction. The 1965 winner was based on a true story.

One Battle After Another was about a former revolutionary and his daughter. The Sound of Music was about a postulant nun who becomes the governess and surrogate mother of a family of seven children.

The directors of both films won. Paul Thomas Anderson won 3 for writing, producing, and directing One Battle After Another on his 12th, 13, and 14 nominations, the first Oscar wins of his career. Robert Wise won 2 Oscars for producing and directingThe Sound of Music, the same two he won for 1961’s West Side Story.

One Battle After Another received acting nominations for four of its players. Only one won. The Sound of Music received acting nominations for just two of its players. Neither won.

This year, the early favorites for Best Actor were Timothée Chalamet in Marty Supreme, Ethan Hawke in Blue Moon, Wagner Moura in The Secret Agent and former winner Leonardo DiCaprio in One Battle After Another, yet it was Michael B. Jordan in audience favorite Sinners that won the Oscar.

In 1965, the early favorites were Oskar Werner in Ship of Fools, Rod Steiger in The Pawnbroker, and Richard Burton in The Spy Who Came in from the Cold, but it was Lee Marvin in the popular Cat Ballou that won the Oscar. Laurence Olivier, nominated for Othello that year, was the only Best Actor nominee considered to have no chance of winning.

This year, it was rising star Jessie Buckley in Hamnet who was the early favorite despite strong challenges from Rose Byne in If I Had Legs I’d Kick You, Kate Hudson in Song Sung Blue, Renate Reinsve in Sentimental Value, and former winner Emma Stone in Begonia. She won with no problem.

Similarly in 1965, it was rising star Julie Christie in Darling who was the early favorite despite strong challenges from Samantha Eggar in The Collector, Elizabeth Hartman in A Patch of Blue, and former winners Simone Signoret in Ship of Fools and Julie Andrews in The Sound of Music. Although she won, the race had seemed to be neck-and-neck between her and Andrews ho had won the previous year for Mary Poppins.

Best Supporting Actor of 2025 was a tough call between Stellan Skarsgard in Sentimental Value, Jacob Elordi in Frankenstein, and both Sean Penn and Benicio Del Toro in One Battle After Another. Only veteran Delroy Lindo, a surprise nominee for Sinners over Paul Mescal for Hamnet, was considered an unlikely winner. Penn won his third Oscar.

In 1965, the opposite occurred. Early favorites Edward G. Robinson in The Cincinnati Kid, Wallace Ford in A Patch of Blue, Hardy Kruger in The Flight of the Phoenix, and Harry Andrews in The Hill failed to make the cut. Only Michael Dunn in Ship of Fools, among early favorites, made it. The other nominees were Martin Balsam in A Thousand Clowns, Tom Courtenay in Doctor Zhivago, Ian Bannen in The Flight of the Phoenix, and Frank Finlay in Othello. Balsam, who also had a strong presence in that year’s The Bedford Incident was the winner.

Best Supporting Actress of 2025 was another tough race. It seemed that only Elle Fanning in Sentimental Value had no chance of winning against her co-star Inga Ibsdotter Lilleaas, Amy Madigan in Weapons, Wunmi Mosaku in Sinners, and Teyana Taylor in One Battle After Another. Veteran Madigan won, only the second time an actress playing a witch won. The first was Ruth Gordon in 1968’s Rosemary’s Baby. Margareet Hamilton was shockingly not nominated for 1939’s The Wizard of Oz.

1965’s Supporting Actress race was also a tough call despite winner Shelley Winters allegedly saying she knew she’d win for A Patch of Blue because the competition was lousy. It wasn’t lousy at all. Among the nominees was Ruth Gordon whose first of five career nominations was for writing the screenplay for 1947’s A Double Life, the film that gave Winters her big break. She was nominated for the first time for her acting as Natalie Wood’s mother in Inside Daisy Clover.

Also in the running was Peggy Wood in The Sound of Music. The former operetta star, occasional film actress, and early TV legend for the long running Mama based on the hit play and film, I Remember Mama.

Both Maggie Smith and Joyce Redman were nominated for Othello at the expense of veterans Joan Blondell in The Cincinnati Kid and Flora Robson in Young Cassidy.

What will the 2026 Oscar race look like? How will it compare to 1966, the year of A Man for All Seasons, Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf?, Alfie, Georgy Girl, and Blow-Up? Only time will tell.

Happy viewing.