Every month, our contributors will be putting together a list of ten films on certain topics. Each month will be different and will feature an alphabetical list our selections, commentary from each of us on our picks and an itemized list showing what we each selected.
For the month of March, we wanted to celebrate the Academy Awards, one of the key reasons any and all of us are together in this crazy thing called cinema. To honor the Oscars, we’ve each selected our ten favorite Best Picture winners. Two films managed to make each of our lists: Steven Spielberg’s Schindler’s List and Michael Cutiz’s Casablanca. There were a handful of films that got three mentions apiece: All About Eve, All Quiet on the Western Front and Lawrence of Arabia.
Clint Eastwood makes two appearances on theses lists with citations for Million Dollar Baby and Unforgiven. Billy Wilder and Francis For Coppola are also mentioned twice with Wilder recognized for The Apartment and The Lost Weekend and Coppola showing up for both of his Godfather films.
After the jump, we present our short thoughts on each film.
All About Eve
(dir. Joseph L. Mankiewicz)
Commentary By Wesley Lovell: This biting commentary on celebrity was a scintillating look into the backstage mechanics of politics and subterfuge in the theatrical world. Starring an array of superb actors doing some of their best work, All About Eve secured a record-setting 14 nominations. For a film that has no action sequences, special effects or similar technical achievements, a grand total like that is near impossible, especially in today’s cinema. That could be why it took Titanic to tie the record 47 years later. Bette Davis, Anne Baxter, George Sanders, Celeste Holm and Thelma Ritter are unparalleled in their performances while Joseph L. Mankiewicz’s witty screenplay and sharp directing have enabled this film to sit pristinely in the upper echelons of history’s greatest cinematic achievements.
Commentary By Peter J. Patrick: I first encountered this caustic 1950 comedy-drama about life in the theatre when it was first shown on TV in my teen years. I sat transfixed watching it numerous times. When I eventually saw it on the big screen in the late 1970s it seemed just as fresh as on my first viewing thanks to Joseph L. Mankiewicz’s biting dialogue and the performances of Bette Davis, Anne Baxter, George Sanders, Celeste Holm, Gary Merrill, Hugh Marlowe, Thelma Ritter and Marilyn Monroe at their delightful best. Although it contains many dramatic moments, it’s the film’s dark, sardonic humor that I remember best about it. “Fasten your seatbelts, it’s going to be a bumpy night” any time you watch it!
Commentary By Thomas LaTourrette: The sparkling writing and superb cast made this a fantastic film. Bette Davis may not have been the first choice to play Margo Channing, but she turned it into one of her signature roles. She was matched by the rest of the cast. Rarely have such witty lines been delivered so well.
All Quiet on the Western Front
(dir. Lewis Milestone)
Commentary By Wesley Lovell: Weary following the conflict of the Great War, All Quiet on the Western Front touched on issues of sacrifice and the futility of war. Told from the perspective of German soldiers, this anti-war feature is one of the greatest films ever made. Its stunning photography, gripping emotional resonance and passionate condemnation of sending young, idealistic men to die is a powerful commentary that demands your attention.
Commentary By Peter J. Patrick: Lewis Milestone’s 1930 anti-war classic from Erich Maria Remarque’s haunting novel was the first great film to win the Oscar for Best Picture. The story of a group of German students, centering on Lew Ayres, who enlist in World War I and one by one lose their lives was banned in Germany during the Third Reich because of its pacifist tone. One wonders if it would have been banned in various U.S. states if the doomed soldiers were American G.I.s. Tinkered with during many reissues, the film was finally restored to its original concept, but not its original length. Nineteen of the film’s 152 minutes remain missing in the film’s “fully restored” 133 minute version.
Commentary By Tripp Burton: The first great Best Picture winner is Lewis Milestone’s World War I epic. 85 years and countless imitations later, this remains a taut, exciting and heartbreaking examination of what war does to young men and the horrors that it exacts on the world.
Annie Hall
(dir. Woody Allen)
Commentary By Tripp Burton: It is rare for a comedy to win Best Picture, and Woody Allen’s deconstruction of the romantic comedy is surely one of the funniest ever to do so. As experimental as it is accessible, and as anti-Hollywood as it is anti-romantic, it still seems remarkable to me that it has the title of Best Picture on its mantle. It is hilarious, heartbreaking, intellectual and emotional all rolled into one, and remains one of my favorite comedies of all time from one of my favorite filmmakers.
The Apartment
(dir. Billy Wilder)
Commentary By Peter J. Patrick: Billy Wilder’s beautifully realized seriocomic 1960 film pushed the boundaries of what Hollywood could get away with on screen. Jack Lemmon’s clerk in a large insurance company who gets ahead by lending his apartment key to his superiors for their extramarital trysts more than pushed the envelope. It tore it wide open. His character is redeemed by his love for Shirley MacLaine as the elevator operator who attempts suicide in his apartment after being dumped by the sleazy head of personnel (Fred MacMurray). Lemmon’s wake-up call followed by MacLaine’s on New Year’s Eve still elicits cheers and tears from audiences seeing it for the first time or the eightieth.
Commentary By Tripp Burton: Billy Wilder’s dark rumination on what goes on behind office and bedroom doors is one of the most modern Best Picture winners, ironic for a movie that won 55 years ago. A trio of perfect performances, though, and Wilder’s cynicism and wit in full fashion, make The Apartment sadly timeless and poignant.
The Best Years of Our Lives
(dir. William Wyler)
Commentary By Peter J. Patrick: William Wyler’s 1946 film about homecoming soldiers at the end of World War II is still remarkably potent as it reflects the adjustment to civilian life of returning soldiers from every war in every country. Fredric March as the sergeant returning to his dull job as a bank manager, Dana Andrews as the pilot returning to the lowly life of a drugstore soda jerk and Harold Russell returning to an uncertain life as a double amputee reflect the lives of thousands. Equally impressive are the women in their lives as personified by the likes of Myrna Loy, Teresa Wright, Virginia Mayo and Cathy O’Donnell. The film earns its deeply felt happy, but realistic ending. It’s optimistic without being sappy.
Birdman
(dir. Alejandro G. Inarritu)
Commentary By Thomas LaTourrette: This was a modern film that truly surprised me. I had no idea where it would be going, and the long takes by Emmanuel Lubezki were impressively well done. It was incredibly strange, but also incredibly wonderful in equal parts.
Casablanca
(dir. Michael Curtiz)
Commentary By Wesley Lovell: There’s a reason this World War II romantic drama has resonated for more than half a century. With iconic performances by Humphrey Bogart, Ingrid Bergman, Paul Heinried, Claude Rains, Conrad Voight, Sydney Greenstreet, Peter Lorre and S.Z. Sakall, Michael Curtiz might not be a name modern audiences are familiar with, but his singular achievement based on Julius and Philip Epstein’s remarkable screenplay is an indelible examination of love in a time of war, sacrifice in the name of honor and pride in the face of persecution.
Commentary By Peter J. Patrick: The first time I watched Michael Curtiz’s 1943 Oscar winner, I didn’t get what all the fuss was about. The second and third times, I wondered the same thing, but then around the fourth or fifth time I finally got it. The film is filled with clichés, but that’s its charm. They’re what are called “golden” clichés, time worn situations and circumstances so familiar they’re endearing. Humphrey Bogart’s lines delivered with his special brand of cynicism, Ingrid Bergan’s intelligent beauty, Paul Henried’s stalwart resistance, Claude Rains, Conrad Veidt, Sydney Greenstreet, Peter Lorre and others as characters we’ve seen a hundred times or more, they all work. “Play it again, Sam” and again and again.
Commentary By Tripp Burton: Casablanca is maybe the greatest piece of studio system art ever created, a perfectly calibrated and air-tight machine of a film. I don’t know what else to say that hasn’t been said a million times over, and will be said millions of more times as it continues to be discovered by generations of romantics.
Commentary By Thomas LaTourrette: This was designed to be a B film, but a sterling cast raised it to unexpected heights. Bogart, Bergman, Rains and Lorre all created hugely memorable characters, and there was surprisingly good dialogue for them to utter.
Chicago
(dir. Rob Marshall)
Commentary By Thomas LaTourrette: This may not be the greatest musical put on film, but the reason that it is here is that is managed to be so much better than the Broadway musical it was based on. I saw tours of both the original and revival casts and just never liked it that much. By putting the story into Roxie’s head, it made it more cohesive and simply better. It is fun to watch and simply a big improvement over the source material.
Driving Miss Daisy
(dir. Bruce Beresford)
Commentary By Wesley Lovell: Exploring race relations in the 1950s and 1960s through the eyes of an elderly Jewish woman facing antisemitism, Alfred Uhry’s compelling adaptation of his own play is enhanced greatly by the potent performances of Jessica Tandy and Morgan Freeman. Perhaps more of an idealistic view of the period than perhaps prudent, its quiet, simple passion for comparing the struggle of Tandy’s Daisy Werthan and Freeman’s Hoke Colburn is its most important weapon. By seeing in others’ struggles our own, we can more easily and capably support those tribulations. Bringing empathy and strength to the fight for equality is important regardless of the source and, for me, Driving Miss Daisy is a singular achievement that not only helped to establish my appreciation of the Oscars, but also instilled in my young mind the importance of acceptance and tolerance even when it’s not convenient.
The Godfather
(dir. Francis Ford Coppola)
Commentary By Wesley Lovell: Francis Ford Coppola’s output of the 1970s is cinematic perfection. Through The Godfather and its sequel, Coppola explored mafia relations in ways that had never been examined before. It’s difficult to express just how perfect this film is, presenting the rise and fall of one of the screen’s most iconic characters, Don Vito Corleone in an Oscar-winning and career-redefining performance by Marlon Brando. He’s surrounded by some of the finest working actors of a then-new generation of talents whose names are as recognizable today as Brando’s was at that time. Al Pacino, James Caan, Robert Duvall, Diane Keaton and Abe Vigoda are just a few of the individuals whose performances helped elevate this film beyond the typical crime dramas that had preceded it.
The Godfather, Part II
(dir. Francis For Coppola)
Commentary By Wesley Lovell: A sequel as rich and powerful as its predecessor, Francis Ford Coppola’s follow-up to his crime masterwork takes the audience back in time to when a young Vito Corleone rose to power to become the ruthless, conniving mobster depicted in the first film. In his finest performance, Robert De Niro navigates the ruthless world of organized crime as he rises through his family’s ranks, hoping to expand his influence and control. That Coppola could achieve and equal the greatness of his achievement within the span of two years suggested a keen, uncompromising vision of cinema. His pair of films helped define successive generations of filmmakers, giving them superb insight into the inner workings of cinema and the capabilities it held.
Gone With the Wind
(dir. Victor Fleming)
Commentary By Peter J. Patrick: A phenomenon in its day and for many years thereafter, this blockbuster 1939 film produced by David O. Selznick from Margaret Mitchell’s novel is credited to action director Victor Fleming, but as everyone knows the film’s key dramatic scenes were directed by George Cukor who Clark Gable had fired for spending more time directing the film’s female stars Vivien Leigh, Olivia de Havilland and Hattie McDaniel, who own the film despite Gable’s best efforts. Spectacular on every level, while remaining dramatically interesting throughout its mammoth four-hour running time, the film may not be everyone’s cup of tea but there’s no denying it is one that has enraptured the world for almost eighty years and will go on doing so for many more.
How Green Was My Valley
(dir. John Ford)
Commentary By Peter J. Patrick: John Ford’s 1941 masterpiece is often cited as one of the worst Oscar winners of all time by know-nothings who dismiss it for having beaten Citizen Kane. While that may make it one of the worst decisions if you think of Citizen Kane as the greatest film ever made, it does not mean the film itself isn’t good. It remains one of the best coming-of-age films to ever come out of Hollywood. It’s also timeless in that it addresses many social problems that hadn’t changed from the film’s turn of the 20th Century setting to the time of filming to today, especially in relation to the plight of coal miners. It’s beautifully written, directed, photographed, scored and performed by the likes of Roddy McDowall, Donald Crisp, Sara Allgood, Walter Pidgeon, and Maureen O’Hara.
The King’s Speech
(dir. Tom Hooper)
Commentary By Thomas LaTourrette: An old fashioned movie that may not hold up against others in time, but after a spate of violent or not so great films, it was nice to see something of this sort win. Colin firth was perfect as the king, and given able support by Helena Bonham Carter and Geoffrey Rush. Yes, it may be mostly a feel-good movie, but that is what it did for me.
Lawrence of Arabia
(dir. David Lean)
Commentary By Peter J. Patrick: David Lean’s painterly 1962 depiction of the enigmatic World War I military figure T.E. Lawrence remains one of the most breathtaking films ever to win an Oscar for Best Picture. Although it should be seen on as big a screen if possible, viewing it on at least a 21” monitor will allow you to ponder the film’s many dramatic scenes. Peter O’Toole had been in a few films prior to this, but nothing he had done prepared audiences of the day for the incredible screen presence he displayed here. Omar Sharif almost matches him as Sherif Ali. Robert Bolt’s literate screenplay and the supporting performances of Alec Guinness, Anthony Quinn, José Ferrer, Michel Rey, Arthur Kennedy, Jack Hawkins, Claude Rains, Anthony Quayle and more also impress.
Commentary By Tripp Burton: David Lean’s desert tale of war and masculinity is the best of the big epics of the era to win the Oscar for Best Picture. It is filled with memorable images and performances, and remains as smart and witty as an epic of its scale has ever been.
Commentary By Thomas LaTourrette: No one understood better how to use the sheer breadth of the camera than David Lean. The desert never looked more beautiful and perhaps more deadly. When people talk about epics, this is what they mean. Peter O’Toole is spectacular, but he also gets strong support from Omar Sharif. This also showed how much a score can add to a film. It is long, but engrossing.
The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King
(dir. Peter Jackson)
Commentary By Wesley Lovell: When Peter Jackson announced his adaptation of J.R.R. Tolkien’s massive trilogy of books, many were doubtful as to his capabilities. Limited to much smaller budgets previously, Jackson dove into the realm of Middle Earth and emerged with a trilogy of films, filmed simultaneously, that have influenced countless filmmakers in how to adapt fantasy properties to appeal to millions of fans and filmgoers while simultaneously advancing and redefining the power of filmmaking in the modern age. His films were compelling, insightful, and both technologically and creative staggering. Aided by an immensely talented pool of actors that include well over two dozen impressive individuals in an epic adventure of unparalleled proportions, Jackson’s final film brought all of these elements together in one of the most thrilling, emotionally fulfilling and stylistically exciting films ever to win Best Picture.
The Lost Weekend
(dir. Billy Wilder)
Commentary By Wesley Lovell: Ray Milland’s performance in The Lost Weekend is a goldmine of complexity, both emotional and physical. Here is a portrait of a man at his wit’s end, an alocoholic whose struggle with his inner demons plays out in one of Billy Wilder’s most intense and compelling features. Also starring Jane Wyman and a host of other Hollywood regulars, Wilder’s direction of his and Charles Brackett’s adaptation of a novel by Charles R. Jackson is a study in simplicity, framing and elegance as a man’s mental faculties begin disintegrating as he struggles to maintain his sobriety, but succumbs to alcohol’s addictive luster. Few films ever tackled chronic alcoholism with this much strength, honesty or clarity. It’s a testament to Milland and Wilder that it has resonanted so deeply for such a long time.
Midnight Cowboy
(dir. John Schlesinger)
Commentary By Peter J. Patrick: It took an outsider, British director John Schlesinger to capture the grit and grime of New York City in all its 1960s glory in this warts-and-all 1969 adaptation of James Leo Herlihy’s novel about a Texas stud who comes to the Big Apple to make it as a high-priced male prostitute and ends up as a street hustler. It remains the only X-rated film to win an Oscar for Best Picture, although its rating was soon changed to R without any change having been made to the film. Jon Voight deservedly became an overnight star and Dustin Hoffman deservedly enriched his status as one of the most enigmatic actors of his day. The film is also notable for John Barry’s rich score and Nilsson’s iconic recording of Fred Neill’s “Everybody’s Talkin’”.
Commentary By Tripp Burton: Midnight Cowboy is in the record books as the only X-Rated film to win Best Picture, which seems an ironic legacy for one of the most humane, touching and, in many ways, gentle films to win the big prize. Anchored by two iconic performances and the seediest New York ever put onscreen, it helped usher in a new type of Hollywood filmmaking that defined the 1970s and remains one of the best films of its era.
Million Dollar Baby
(dir. Clint Eastwood)
Commentary By Thomas LaTourrette: Who would have thought that action hero Clint Eastwood would turn into an introspective and caring director? He brings out fine and Oscar-winning performances from Hillary Swank and Morgan Freeman and turns a boxing movie into so much more.
My Fair Lady
(dir. George Cukor)
Commentary By Thomas LaTourrette: As a young child I was fascinated by the wonderfully artificial world created in My Fair Lady. There were strong emotions from the leads, but also stylized action and over the top costumes. And the fact that it was a musical made it even better.
No Country for Old Men
(dir. Joel Coen, Ethan Coen)
Commentary By Tripp Burton: The most recent masterpiece to win Best Picture is the Coen Brothers’ adaptation of Cormac McCarthy’s seminal novel. One of the bleaker films ever to win Best Picture, it gives us a legendary screen villain, a cast of remarkable characters and a series of perfectly executed suspense sequences and is a reminder of the magic that happens when our best filmmakers are given material perfectly suited to their talents.
Ordinary People
(dir. Robert Redford)
Commentary By Thomas LaTourrette: The raw emotions of the cast of this intimate family drama struck me to the core when it came out. What Timothy Hutton’s character went through were things I could imagine happening in my own life. The whole cast is good, but Hutton was never better than in this wholly human and hurting performance.
Rebecca
(dir. Alfred Hitchcock)
Commentary By Wesley Lovell: Alfred Hitchcock’s first American film was also the only one of his films to win Best Picture at the Oscars. This chilling adaptation of the Daphne Du Maurier’s novel tells the story of a newlywed who discovers that her husband still harbors feelings for his late wife and whose mysterious death might be his fault. Joan Fontaine, Laurence Olivier and George Sanders are fantastic in their performances, but Judith Anderson easily tops them all with her unrivalled performance as Mrs. Danvers, Maxim de Winter’s maid whose love for her late mistress drives her against the new Mrs. de Winter. The film evoked much of Hitchcock’s style that would play a large part in the myriad films that make up his most celebrated films, but Rebecca remains one of his best, most underrated features.
Schindler’s List
(dir. Steven Spielberg)
Commentary By Wesley Lovell: Long after black-and-white became passé, Steven Spielberg decided to revive it with his Holocaust drama Schindler’s List, his stirring exploration of the villainous, horrendous treatment of Jews in Krakow at the height of World War II. Starring Liam Neeson as Oskar Schindler, a munitions manufacturer who works to save as many Jews as possible by hiring them to work his factory while being maligned, tortured and murdered by Nazi soldiers. Ralph Fiennes delivers one of the screen’s most conflicted and deplorable men, a Nazi prison camp commandant who tries to placate the recalcitrant Schindler as he slowly tightens the noose around his prisoners’ necks. Spielberg had been a grown up before, but had not previously reached this level of complexity and maturity, which makes the film all the more fascinating. His film’s chilling depiction of concentration camp life is one of the screen’s most significant and important achievements.
Commentary By Peter J. Patrick: Steven Spielberg’s 1993 Oscar winner was the first black-and-white film since 1960’s The Apartment and the last to date to win for Best Picture. This biography of vainglorious German businessman Oskar Schindler (Liam Neeson) who becomes an unlikely humanitarian in the face of Nazi barbarism stands as the definitive Hollywood-made Holocaust film. It also stands as Spielberg’s best film, outranking E.T.: The Extra-Terrestrial and Saving Private Ryan for that distinction. Neeson’s Oscar-nominated performance is easily the best of his career with Ben Kingsley as his loyal bookkeeper matching him, and Oscar nominee Ralph Fiennes as an unrepentant Nazi actually outclassing him.
Commentary By Tripp Burton: Steven Spielberg’s Holocaust epic was deemed an immediate masterpiece when it was released in 1993, and it remarkably holds up today as just as timeless, powerful and important of a film. It sets the bar for the next generation of World War II stories, giving us a new standard of terrifying Nazi villains in Ralph Fiennes and a new reminder in the triumph of good over evil in humanity as a whole.
Commentary By Thomas LaTourrette: In stark black-and-white with just a hint of color, Steven Spielberg carefully created the frightening world inside a concentration camp. It is harrowing, if not as graphic as Son of Saul, and lets one see the inhumanity of the place in detail. Ralph Fiennes captures the worst in people and that gets balanced by the goodness in Liam Neeson.
Unforgiven
(dir. Clint Eastwood)
Commentary By Tripp Burton: Not many westerns have won Best Picture, but the western world of Clint Eastwood’s masterpiece is unlike many westerns to come before it. Openly questioning the heroism of the traditional western, Eastwood’s Unforgiven is a simultaneous ode to a forgotten genre and a eulogy for the blood that it is standing on. It is exciting, heart-breaking, funny and exhilarating, and it remains one of the crowning achievements of one of the great American cinematic careers.
West Side Story
(dir. Jerome Robbins, Robert Wise)
Commentary By Tripp Burton: The 1950s and 1960s saw a lot of big Broadway musicals make their way to the big screen, and several of them won this big prize, but none made the transfer quite as elegantly as West Side Story. Capturing everything that made the stage musical so fresh and vibrant, West Side Story also finds a new cinematic language to make sure that it works in its new medium even better than on the stage. It is big, bold, funny, frightening, tragic and original at every step of the journey, and remains one of the crowning Hollywood achievements.
Wesley’s List |
Peter’s List |
Tripp’s List |
Thomas’ List |
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