Lunchtime Poll: What were the 5 best "Best Picture" vintages?
Wednesday, March 10, 2021 at 11:50AM by Nathaniel R
2003 & 2000. what a typical Oscar vintage looks like in terms of spread of quality.
It's 5 days until Oscar nominations are announced so let's have fun with the classic number 5... AKA the ideal size of an awards category. Most Oscar categories have varied in size at one time or another but for the bulk of the 93 year Oscar history five has been the preferred category size for the Academy. For fun let's name the best Best Picture quintets of all time (so only years 1944-2008 are eligible).
The average Best Picture lineup across many decades looks a lot like 2000 and 2003 pictures above, in that they're composed of the following: 2 perfect classics, 1 movie that's quite good, 1 respectable if unexciting choice, and 1 dud stinking up the room.
In short, it's quite difficult to pick the best vintage overall. Here are five BEST PIC shortlists I personally have a lot of affection for for various reasons...
 |
 |
 |
| 2007 | 1993 | 1979 |
| Atonement | Fugitive | All That Jazz |
| Juno | In the Name of the Father | Apocalypse Now |
| Michael Clayton | The Piano | Breaking Away |
| No Country | Remains of Day | Kramer vs Kramer |
|
There Will Be Blood
|
Schindlers List
|
Norma Rae
|
 |
 |
|
| 1975 |
5 best Oscar vintages? |
1972 |
| Barry Lyndon | Cabaret | |
| Dog Day Afternoon | Deliverance | |
| Jaws | The Godfather | |
| Nashville | The Emigrants | |
| One Flew Over... | Sounder |
Though I'd want to rescreen about 100 movies efore committing, haha. Oscar Fanatic problems.
But I'm sure your answer would be different so do tell! Other years that are fairly strong across the board if (sometimes) vague memory serves: 1947, 1948, 1959, 1974, 1976, 1978, 1980, 1984, 1985. As for years with more than 5 nominees. 2014 and 2016 might have also qualified as all time classic quintets had their been only 5. But it depends on which of the films made it of course!
I think secretly that one of the reasons people like the "expanded" fields of recent and earliest Oscar years is not because of better overall quality but because they find it easier to ignore the duds and it's thus easier to pretend that the entire list is a thing of beauty.
Reader Comments (80)
Nothing approaches 1993 for its slate of Best Picture nominees. I saw all five in the cinema that year, in three different states. Three films from that slate are in my all-time top 100. And I’ve seen the two that aren’t probably a combined dozen times.
Surprised not to see more love for 2001. Four stone cold classics, and winner that ain't bad, but whose conventionality alone makes it pale in comparison. I think 2005 would have a much better reputation with a different winner (whose own reputation would be better served if any of the other nominees had won). Lists like this always remind me of 1999 for some reason. Not because the Academy's lineup is all that great, but because the lineup is fairly meh when the entire year in cinema is taken into consideration.
@Jason 1993 WAS an amazing year, but I'd actually have nominated CARLITO'S WAY over THE FUGITIVE and THE JOY LUCK CLUB over IN THE NAME OF THE FATHER. SHORT CUTS probably should have been squeezed in there somewhere. I'm not sure what I would take out though, maybe THE REMAINS OF THE DAY, which is great, a step down from HOWARD'S END and A ROOM WITH A VIEW (Fight me.)
My torn-up Inside Oscar memorably quoted the LA Times as really coming down on 1975 as a poor year. But it's one of the greatest slates Oscar has produced. I like 79 80 and 93 as well, and I don't mind 68 either as one of big Hollywood's last gasps (even while it's missing 2001 and Rosemary's Baby, and I'm not even much of a musicals fan): Funny Girl, Lion in the Winter (as Ingrid says it when she awarded the double Actress Oscars), Oliver!, Rachel, Rachel, and Romeo and Juliet.
@Rob. Sounder broke my heart and made me cry.
Watch The Emigrants and also its sequel The New Land. Inexplicably, The Emigrants was nominated for BFL film in 1971 and then competed for 4 regular Oscars in 1972! (which as I understand is not allowed). That same year, The New Land was nominated as BFL Film.
Marcos -- that competing in two separate years thing used to be allowed and came about because films submitted for foreign film aren't always releasd in theaters the year they're submitted in that category. It also happened to Umbrellas of Cherbourg in they 1960s. They changed the rules in the 70s so now your'e only eligible for Oscars based on theatrical release year IF you weren't nominated the previous year for foreign film. That's how CITY OF GOD scored those nominations in 2003 after not being nominated for foreign film in 2002. And that's why HERO was not eligible in 2004 for things like cinematography and costumes despite being beloved in those fields because it had already been nominated in its submission year for Best Foreign Film.
confusing i know.
1977 seems to be the only year where I’d Want to sit down and revisit all 5 Best Picture nominees: Annie Hall, The Goodbye Girl, Julia, The Turning Point and Star Wars.
1. 1975-You couldn't go wrong with any of those picks
2. 1993
3. 1972
4. 2007
5. 1979.
1993 and 1994 lineups are both all-winners for me. 1950 would probably be there, except I've never seen King Solomon's Mines...
Travis -- i thought about including 1950 but i also haven't seen that one.
I Still cannot deal with the expansion of best picture category to 10. Theres an interesting video on youtube by vox about how expansion of highways in the US has never led to solving the clogging problem, it just encouraged more cars to come on the highway and it still stayed clogged. I think the same applies here, to allow 10 pictures doesn’t mean that better or more diverse taste will start showing up, the whole point is to diversify the academy with individuals who are different in thought, approach to cinema, age , to encourage more screenings and ensure movies are seen by the academy. KEEP IT TO 5.
Usually there are a couple of films that are the most worthy of Best Picture that are only nominated because they're a 6-10 choice for Oscars taste. I'll take superior nominees sneaking in for an exta conventional bore or two.
2007 is one of the best years for film - great Best Picture line-up with an abundance of movies that could have filled a 10-nominees slot - Into the Wild, The Diving Bell and the Butterfly, La vie en rose, Ratatouille and many more.
I also love the 2009 and 2010 lineups when we had non-fluctuating 10 nominees.
All the films in the top 5 years are great except for the stinker Atonement.
56, 61, 76, 81, 97, 00-02, 07. But for me is easily 82 where there are 4 all timers, Gandhi, Tootsie, ET, The Verdict and the other is "just" great in Missing. Thank would be
82
97
07
61
07 seems to be the most popular year from the comments.
Is Henry V any good from 46? Because I love the rest of the lineup, I have such an unshared soft spot for The Razor's Edge, often cited as the weak link, so that bodes well.
1978
Deer Hunter
Heaven Can Wait
Midnight Express
Coming Home (my favorite)
An Unmarried Woman
Peggy Sue is a slut, obrigado.
1972, 1967, 1959, 1984, 1974, 1975
DO - Great year (Midnight Express pending, have a copy waiting to be watched). I seem to be missing just one film in many years lineups. Rare to find another person with Coming Home as their fave from the lineup! There are dozens, Dozens I say.
As per my tendency I really like 86, The Mission pending. Any good y'all?
This should never be a debate. The only year in which truely five masterpieces were nominated for best picture is 1975.
There have been other good years, yes, with four or three masterpieces and one or two good or mediocre films. But there is only one year with five masterpieces.
1967 and 1979 come close, but Doctor Dolittle and Norma Rae are nowhere near a masterpieces.
1976 was good. But Bound for Glory and Rocky can only be called good or very good.
Films like The Fugitive, Juno or Seabiscuit can never be called masterpieces.
I feel like there's no good solution to the number of Best Picture nominees. For every 2007, there's a 2008.
I do think though that 10 nominees should not become a permanent thing.
@PT
Actually "Missing" is one of the best films of all time? It was the best of the quintet and probably the only one I would keep in a Best Picture quintet for 1982
Blade Runner
Das Boot
John Carpenter's The Thing (winner)
Missing
Victor/Victoria
The Best Picture quintet, ranked?
1. Missing
2. Tootsie
3. E.T.
4. Gandhi
5. The Veredict
(all great films, but only Tootsie and Missing are true masterpieces, E.T. is perfectly crafted but the story is quite superficial and puerile, overall)
My five would probably be 1972, 1975, 1976, 1997 (could just be nostalgic for the 1st year I started paying attention to the Oscars), and 2007. But wanted to give a shout-out to 1980 - I haven’t seen Tess but Ordinary People, Coal Miner’s Daughter, The Elephant Man, and Raging Bull are all solid, great films even if they’re not necessarily all “masterpieces”.
DO & Monty -- you're not alone. COMING HOME is also my favourite (quite handily) of the Best Picture nominees in 1978. Even my fav of 1978 actually! though i'm spotty on the year outside of the Oscar titles and childhood favourites like Grease & Superman. Probably need to see more international titles from that year.
I think the champ is 1975 which has five genuine classics. Next would be 1976.
Def want to add to the positive comments about 1980 & 1987. I'm generally not the biggest 80s fan but those two years are just rock solid: 1980 features one of my all-time faves in Ordinary People + 3 other really good films, with just one I've still yet to see (Tess). And 1987 with Broadcast News, Moonstruck, Hope and Glory and one of my favorite bona-fide EPIC-type films (The Last Emperor) - I mean, c'mon that's a stellar quartet right there (w/ Fatal Attraction as a heavily-flawed (it's pretty knee-jerk in its Madonna-or-whore depictions of women) yet undeniably enjoyable thriller).
@Ralph: I agree w/ you: 1975 is the greatest of all years. To my mind there is no other year in which each of the 5 nominated BP films are acknowledged masterpieces.
Adding to the Missing love expressed by Jesus. So good.