Now that we’ve had time to digest this year’s sweeping victory by Slum Dog Millionaire (and the egregious insult of virtually ignoring Hancock and Iron Man) it’s an opportune moment to see how the current crop of cinematic efforts stack up against Best Film winners from days past. Later this week, on Thursday afternoon at 3 pm eastern time, Betty Jo Tucker of Movie Addict Headquarters and I will join Ed Morrissey of Hot Air for a discussion of the very best and very worst of Oscar’s Best Film winners over the last forty years. In preparation for this august forum, Ed is running a pair of polls to gather your input. Please click through and cast your own votes for the cream of the crop among the Best Picture winners, as well as the real snoozers which you feel should never have made the cut. (Below the fold on this post I will include a full list of the winners for the last 40 years so you can walk down memory lane to pick the most and least memorable.
Before that, though, a reminder that this week’s Movie Addict Headquarter radio show, “Film Me, I’m Irish!” will feature the best Irish themed movies of all time, in honor of St. Patrick’s day. (The show airs at 4 pm eastern on Blog Talk Radio at the link given.) Regular listeners who were looking forward to our interview with Cloris Leachman should know that the star’s personal health issues have forced her to postpone this interview, but we’ll get her on as soon as she can manage it.
Feel free to chime in the comments section with your own favorite Irish films, as well as the best and worst Oscar winners since 1968.
And now to the list of Best Picture Winners!
With a hat tip to Ed, these are taken from the Academy Award database.
* 1968 – Oliver!
* 1969 – Midnight Cowboy
* 1970 – Patton
* 1971 – The French Connection
* 1972 – The Godfather
* 1973 – The Sting
* 1974 – The Godfather Part II
* 1975 – One Flew over the Cuckoo’s Nest
* 1976 – Rocky
* 1977 – Annie Hall
* 1978 – The Deer Hunter
* 1979 – Kramer vs. Kramer
* 1980 – Ordinary People
* 1981 – Chariots of Fire
* 1982 – Gandhi
* 1983 – Terms of Endearment
* 1984 – Amadeus
* 1985 – Out of Africa
* 1986 – Platoon
* 1987 – The Last Emperor
* 1988 – Rain Man
* 1989 – Driving Miss Daisy
* 1990 – Dances With Wolves
* 1991 – The Silence of the Lambs
* 1992 – Unforgiven
* 1993 – Schindler’s List
* 1994 – Forrest Gump
* 1995 – Braveheart
* 1996 – The English Patient
* 1997 – Titanic
* 1998 – Shakespeare in Love
* 1999 – American Beauty
* 2000 – Gladiator
* 2001 – A Beautiful Mind
* 2002 – Chicago
* 2003 – The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King
* 2004 – Million Dollar Baby
* 2005 – Crash
* 2006 – The Departed
* 2007 – No Country for Old Men
* 2008 – Slumdog Millionaire