The 8 Greatest Best Picture Races Of All Time

So yesterday I offered my top 7 times where the Oscars got it wrong, today I offer a balance.

For movie lovers like myself, a tight race for best picture can be as exciting as a great Super Bowl or NCAA Basketball championship game. The building suspense as you wait to hear the name called can be exhilarating. Furthermore, looking back at a race where a grip of classic films were all nominated together can make you wonder what was in the water that year.

So that said, I offer you the 8 greatest races in history. (Winners in All Caps)








8. 1997
TITANIC
As Good As It Gets
Good Will Hunting
The Full Monty
L.A. Confidential


Our first pick is a sore spot for me, but certainly deserves recognition. It was the year where everyone was asking "Could one of these absolutely brilliant Indie films beat the big Hollywood Blockbuster darling?" The answer ended up being no but even an avowed hater like me can't deny the juggernaut Titanic was, and that coupled with the quality of it's competition is what puts it on the list.

7. 1962
LAWRENCE OF ARABIA
The Longest Day
The Music Man
Mutiny on the Bounty
To Kill A Mockingbird

We start the countdown with one of those great "looking back" years. The Longest Day was Darryl Zanuck's D-Day tale that had so many big name stars it would cost a billion to make today on payroll alone. The Music Man was the latest in a long line of great Movie Musicals that were an often favorite among Oscar voters. Mutiny boasted Marlon Brando in his prime and a previous version had won best picture in 1935, and of course To Kill A Mockingbird is widely regarded as one of the most important movies made about civil rights. Ultimately the prize went to Lawrence the film which practically coined the term "epic" (clocking in at 3 and 1/2 hours), and in many ways set the tone for cinematography and ensemble casting moving forward.

6. 1939
GONE WITH THE WIND
(9 others including Mr. Smith Goes To Washington, The Wizard of Oz and Stagecoach)

This year would certainly be higher if not for the fact that this was a 10 nominee year and I feel that waters it down a bit (see this year). However, the 4 films listed above alone could make this this a number 1 pick on other lists.

5. 1994
FORREST GUMP
Pulp Fiction
The Shawshank Redemption
Quiz Show
Four Weddings and a Funeral

So this is the other year that was also included on yesterday's screwjob list, but it very much deserves a spot here. This Oscar year very much set a tone for things to come, high profile indy flicks, beloved blockbusters, and films no one knew about at the time that are now considered classics. It's no small surprise that the Titanic Oscars just two years later looks strikingly similar.

4. 1976
ROCKY
Taxi Driver
All The President's Men
Bound For Glory
Network

This list is all about groups of movies so good it's hard to believe they were in the same year. So many times when you discover a classic film you haven't seen before, you may ask yourself "That was amazing, so why didn't that win the Oscar?" A year like 1976 is definately one that falls into that category.

3. 1980
ORDINARY PEOPLE
Raging Bull
Coal Miners Daughter
The Elephant Man
Tess


This is one of those crazy years that had a little bit of everything you look for in great film. Brilliant bio-pics, Long respected directors at there best with Scorsese's Bull and Polanski's Tess, and you had the emergence of a future star director with David Lynch and Elephant Man. The winner Ordinary People could go down as won of the more forgotten Best Picture winner (see my retro review) but Robert Redford's directing debut falls right in line with the other nominees from this year where any of these films would have been an acceptable winner.

2. 1967
IN THE HEAT OF THE NIGHT
Bonnie and Clyde
Doctor Doolittle
The Graduate
Guess Who's Coming To Dinner

This certainly falls into the category of "Did all of those filcks come out at the same time?" It really is hard to believe, but yes they did. Sidney Portier was busy this year starring in two nominated films, one a comical and the other a serious look at Race in our culture at a very volatile time. Add to the fold Arthur Penn's brilliant tale of Bonnie and Clyde and The Graduate which many feel help launch the indie film movement, and you certainly have a year packed with greatness.

1. 2007
NO COUNTRY FOR OLD MEN
There Will Be Blood
Michael Clayton
Atonement
Juno


Michael Clayton and Atonement are beautiful films, that said Juno was pretty much nominated for acknowledgments sake, but 2007 was pretty much a two horse race and what a race is was.

It had been quite a many years since two films had simultaneously effected people so greatly as No Country and There Will Be Blood did. There were so many interesting storylines to behold in this showdown.

First off, both films had been shot in roughly the same area of Texas, to the point where an explosion in No Country interrupted shooting on Blood. You also had the story of a well respect director in Paul Thomas Anderson facing off with the long beloved but never awarded Coen brothers.

The battle got more and more fascinating on Oscar night as both films started grabbing up trophies and you never knew which one would take it until the envelope was opened.