With the Oscars approaching I decided to take a look at the past 40 years of best picture winners to see which decisions I agreed with and with which I disagreed. Unsurprisingly I disagreed with most of the choices, although there only a few I found truly atrocious. Below is the results of my “research”.

Just a clarification tough. Why forty years? Because that comprises the modern era of movies* and, more importantly, the era that I know something about. I can’t really have much of an opinion on the winners before that because I haven’t seen most of the movies.

Feel free to agree, disagree, or call me an idiot on the comments or through e-mail.

Good

The Godfather I and II (1972 and 1974)

Two of the greatest films of all time. Sure, it looks like an easy decision, but it’s not like the Oscars haven’t got some of those wrong before.

Midnight Cowboy (1969)

Ok, probably not the most deserving in a year that had Easy Rider, Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid and Z. But I’m throwing it in the good pile because I like the idea that the Academy once gave a best picture Oscar to a X rated picture.

Platoon (1986)

There really weren’t that many other great films in 1986 that could make Platoon a bad choice (Please, please don’t start with me about Manhunter).

The Silence of the Lambs (1991)

First horror movie to win the best picture Oscar. And god did it deserve it. Not only is the film just generally great and scary, it introduced us to one of the greatest movie characters of all time (again, don’t start with the Manhunter talk).

Unforgiven (1992)

The film the cemented Clint Eastwood as a great director and that managed to considerably subvert much of his image and the work he had done as an actor. Also, a very good movie.

Schindler’s List (1993)

The Oscars had quite a winning streak in the early 90’s, didn’t they.

There were many other good movies released in 1993, like Short Cuts, In the Name of the Father, Age of Innocence and Groundhog Day. But Spielberg’s war epic (can I call it that?) was the most impressive movie of the year. Also, Steven had been deserving some Oscar love for a long time.

Titanic (1997)

Not my favorite movie from that year. Not even close actually. But it’s hard to argue against the numbers. This three hour film about a tragedy that ends with one of the main characters dying managed to become the highest grossing movie of all time, not only in America, but in pretty much every single country it was shown. That means something.

Sure, you might argue that once you account for inflation things aren’t quite as impressive. But Titanic is still the highest grossing movie of it’s era, and no film since has come close to achieving it’s level of success. I can’t begrudge the Academy for awarding such an achievement.

The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King (2003)

It was latter than it should have been, but in 2003 the accolades for Peter Jackson’s epic trilogy finally came. Much better latter than never.

The Departed (2006)

I’m nothing if not an optimist.

In the Heat of the Night (1967), Patton(1970), The French Connection(1971), One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest (1975) , The Deer Hunter (1978), Amadeus (1984), The Last Emperor (1987), Rain Man(1988) and Million Dollar Baby (2004)

All these movies were among the best of their respective years, but they were not clearly the best. There were other movies that could have just as easily taken the bald man home. But I can’t really say those were bad choices, so they go here.

Bad

Oliver! (1968)

I’m sure this musical version of the Oliver Twist story is nice enough, but 1968 was the year of Funny Girl, Once Upon a Time in the West , Rosemary’s Baby and 2001: A Space Odyssey, all of which are undisputed classics today. But what makes this choice really bad, almost ugly really, is that 1968 was also the year of the release of George Romero’s Night of the Living Dead. Night of the Living Dead man! Not even nominated, umpf!

The Sting (1973)

1973 is the year Martin Scorcese made his first classic film, Mean Streets. It was also the first year he was snubbed by the Oscars. Also from 1973 are Last Tango in Paris, The Exorcist and American Graffiti.

Rocky (1976)

Martin Scorcese makes his second classic film, Taxi Driver. The movie wins nothing and Scorcese isn’t even nominated. Also from 1976 are All the President’s Men and Network.

Annie Hall (1977)

Annie Hall is actually one of my favorite Oscar winners. One of the greatest movies from one of the greatest directors of his time. So why the hell is it in bad? Because 1977 was also the year of Star Wars, and that was the most important and revolutionary film of that year, like it or not (and a lot of people did like it)

Chariots of Fire (1981)

Chariots of what? The films from this year you might have actually watched are Raiders of the Lost Ark, My Dinner with Andre , Body Heat, Reds and, a personal favorite of my, An American Werewolf in London.

Gandhi (1982)

Over E. T. - The Extra-Terrestrial. One is a perennial classic. The other a good but mostly forgotten movie. Other great movies from 1982 include Tootsie, Fast Times at Ridgemont High and Blade Runner.

Terms of Endearment (1983)

Over The Right Stuff, The King of Comedy, The Big Chill and Return of the Jedi (oh, shut up)

Out of Africa (1985)

Over The Purple Rose of Cairo, Kiss of the Spider Woman, The Color Purple, Brazil and, of course, Pee-Wee’s Big Adventure by Tim Burton.

Forrest Gump (1994)

I’m not a Forrest Gump hater. Much on the contrary. But it’s hard to argue against Pulp Fiction, one of the defining movies of the 90’s. The Shawshank Redemption also gets much love, being consistently ranked as one of the top 3 movies of all time by IMDB users. Although I have to say that all that love baffles me a little.

Braveheart (1995)

Once again, not one of the haters. But Braveheart was not good enough to win over Toy Story, Sense and Sensibility, Il Postino, Leaving Las Vegas , Heat and Dead Man Walking.

The English Patient (1996)

You know, I might have let this one slip into good, even tough it was not even close to being my favorite of the year, if it wasn’t for one film: Fargo , the Coen brothers’ masterpiece. Also of note from 1996: Trainspotting, Secrets and Lies and Jerry Maguire .

American Beauty (1999)

In pretty much any other year American Beauty would rank as a good in my list. But 1999 was the year of such modern classics as Being John Malkovich, Fight Club, The Insider, The Matrix, Magnolia and Toy Story 2. If any year called for a bold, edgy choice, this was it.

Gladiator (2000)

Here are some of the other movies from 2000: Traffic, High Fidelity, Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon and Almost Famous. Giving these options, could they have made a blander, less interesting choice than Gladiator?

Well, I guess they could have gone with Chocolat.

A Beautiful Mind (2001)

Many people would rank this as ugly. Perhaps they are right. I liked A Beautiful Mind, but it was no Annie Hall. And man, oh man, couldn’t everybody see the phenomenon that LotR was and would be by that point?

Chicago (2002)

Over Y Tu Mama Tambien , Talk to Her, Spirited Away, The Pianist, The Two Towers , and Adaptation. One of those bad by comparison cases.

Crash (2005)

How many time have I said “I’m not a hater”? Can I squeeze one more? Ok.

I’m not a hater, but there were better choices available (like, every other nominee). But it was an weak year, and some very smart people disagree with me on this one.

Ugly

Kramer vs. Kramer (1979)

Perhaps I’m being a little mean by saying the this win was ugly. But the thing is, 1979 was the year of Apocalypse Now, my favorite Coppola picture and quite possibly my favorite film period. It was also the year of Manhattan, All That Jazz and Alien. All of them would have been bad choices in my book, but at least they would have been bold choices.

Ordinary People (1980)

Want a reason for the Ordinary People win to be ugly? Here are two: Raging Bull and The Empire Strikes Back.

Driving Miss Daisy (1989)

1989 saw many new directors delivering strong movies (Sex, Lies and Videotape, My Left Foot, Drugstore Cowboy, Do the Right Thing) and some older directors doing their best work in a while (Born on the Fourth of July, Crimes and Misdemeanors, Dead Poets Society). And the Academy went with Driving Miss Daisy. Yeah, that was bad.

Dances with Wolves (1990)

And the loser is … Martin Scorcese! This time for GoodFellas . Instead we go with Kevin Costner and first film he ever directed. Oh please, let the curse be broken tomorrow.

Shakespeare in Love (1998)

This nice little movie beat two of the best war movies ever (Saving Private Ryan and The Thin Red Line). Not good. Not good at all.

* I’m totally making this era up. But for something more solid, 1967 was the year in which distinct categories for black & white and color were abolished.