We all have our good years and we all have our bad years. The same can be said for the  Oscars. There are certain years that you look at the films chosen for Best Picture and wonder if they should have just cancelled the show.  Then there are the years that are so jam packed with all time greats it’s nearly impossible to go wrong when choosing the winner. Those are the years that this blog will focus on.  I looked through all the Best Picture Classes to determine the Best of the Best. Overall quality, influence, and longevity were all taken into account when constructing this list of the Top 10 Best Picture Classes of All Time.

10.  Class of 1959

Movies Nominated: Anatomy of a Murder, Ben-Hur, The Diary of Anne Frank, The Nun’s Story, and Room at the Top.

Best Picture Winner: Ben Hur

Quick Take:  In 1958 Ben-Hurr was the film that dominated the Oscars by winning a record 11 Academy Awards. A record that has held to this day.  Its dominance shouldn’t overshadow the other films that were nominated that year, most notably Anatomy of a Murder.   There have been many movies to tell the story of Anne Frank, but none have done it better than the 1958 version. While The Nun’s Story and Room at the Top are not  as noteworthy as the others they are still rather solid films that help round out one great year.

9.  Class of 2010

Movies Nominated: Black Swan, The Fighter, The King’s Speech, Inception, The Kids are All Right, 127 Hours, The Social Network, Toy Story 3, True Grit, and Winter’s Bone.

Best Picture Winner: The Kings Speech

Quick Take:  This is the most recent class on my list, and it is a year that I  feel will only grow in notoriety. When the Academy announced they were upping the number of Best Picture nominees to 10 many felt it was a wrong move that would only water down the award. It’s hard to argue that fact, but I feel 2010 was the best year so far to legitimize that decision.  Perhaps the best aspect is the wide variety of films that were nominated. You had everything from a genre science fiction flick, to a small indie hit, to a motivating period piece, and there was even room for a great animated film.

8. Class of 1962

Movies Nominated: Lawrence of Arabia, The Longest Day, The Music Man, Mutiny in the Bounty, and To Kill a Mocking Bird.

Best Picture Winner: Lawrence of Arabia

Quick Take: Lawrence of Arabia is unquestionably one of the greatest movies of all time, and by its power alone it can propel your class high enough to make this list. In addition it had The Longest Day, which up until Saving Private Ryan was released was the quintessential film about D-Day. There was also To Kill a Mocking Bird which had a social impact beyond a simple entertainment value that we still feel the effects of today.

7. Class of 1994

Movies Nominated: Four Weddings and a Funeral, Pulp Fiction, Forrest Gump, Quiz Show, and The Shawshank Redemption

Best Picture Winner: Forrest Gump

Quick Take:  When looking through the Best Picture Classes of the 1990’s the one year that stuck out to me was 1994. For one 1994 was an important year for movies as the Independent Movement was in full swing, and it culminated in the nomination of Pulp Fiction. This was a year where I felt the Academy got in wrong and should have awarded Best Picture to The Shawshank Redemption or Pulp Fiction. While  not taking anything away from Forest Gump it is just that  Shawshank and Pulp are pure masterpieces that are on an entirely different level.

6.  Class of 1940

Movies Nominated: Citizen Kane, How Green Was My Valley, Sergeant York, and Suspicion.

Best Picture Winner: How Green Was My Valley

Quick Take: Speaking of the Academy getting it wrong in 1940 they made one of the more memorable choices by selecting How Green Was My Valley  over Citizen Kane  for Best Picture. That has gone down as one of the most questionable decisions they have ever made. Unfortunately what’s lost in all of it is the fact that How Green Was My Valley  is a very good movie.  In addition Sergeant York is also a rather underappreciated World War I film, and Suspicion is a terrific thriller by the mastermind Alfred Hitchcock.

5. Class of 1975

Movies Nominated: Barry Lyndon, One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest, Dog Day Afternoon, Jaws, and Nashville.

Best Picture Winner: One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest

Quick Take: The Best Picture nominees of 1975 included some of the biggest director heavy weights of all time in Stanley Kubrick, Sidney Lument, Steven Spielberg, and Robert Altman. Strangely enough none of them ended up taking Best Picture that year. That honor went to One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest and it’s hard to argue with that choice. One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest dominated that year at the Oscars being one of three films ever to win the Big Five (Actor, Actress, Screenplay, Director, and Picture).  When you look at its competition that feat is even more impressive.

4. Class of 1974

Movies Nominated: The Conversation, Chinatown, The Godfather Part II, Lenny, and The Towering Inferno

Best Picture Winner: The Godfather Part II

Quick Take: When you are talking about the greatest movies of all time The Godfather is certainly not going to be far behind. Personally I feel The Godfather is a better film than The Godfather II, but better overall Oscar Class has to go the sequel. It is strange to call a film nominated for Best Picture underrated, but The Conversation is not nearly talked about as it should be. The fact that Francis Ford Coppola directed both The Conversation and The Godfather Part II in the same year still boggles my mind. Besides those two films you have the noir classic Chinatown, the well crafted disaster movie The Towering Inferno, and Dustin Hoffman’s great performance as the controversial comedian Lenny Bruce in the biopic Lenny.

3. Class of 1939

Movies Nominated: Dark Victory, Goodbye, Mr. Chips, Gone with the Wind, Love Affair, Mr. Smith Goes to Washington, Ninotchka, Of Mice and Men, Stagecoach, The Wizard of Oz, and Wuthering Heights.

Best Picture Winner: Gone with the Wind

Quick take: At first I was not in favor of the Academy’s decision to increase the number of Best Picture nominees, but as time has gone by I have turned a corner. Looking back at the history of the Academy Awards has helped change my mind. When I look at the Class of 1939 I get a better understanding of what film was at that time. There’s is this time capsule esc quality that provides a general perspective of what 1939 meant to film. You don’t really get that with only five nominations. If it wasn’t for films in this class film may not be what it is today. Gone with the Wind ,defined what it meant to be Oscar bait, The Wizard of Oz showed us just how magical a movie can be, Mr. Smith Goes to Washington  showed the power of one man’s determination, and the master of the Western John Ford released one of his greatest films in Stagecoach. Almost every movie in this class is highly notable in some way. When I think of classic Hollywood it’s a year like this that comes to mind.

2. Class of 1967

Movies Nominated: Bonnie and Clyde, Doctor Dolittle, The Graduate, Guess Who’s Coming to Diner, and In the Heat of the Night

Best Picture Winner: In the Heat of the Night

Quick Take:  This year is not only on here because of the quality of the films, but also for what it represented. This was a watershed year that showed the landscape of film was changing. It was moving away from traditional Academy fluff and towards films that took more chances. It open the gate to what become the renaissance of 1970’s where the power was removed from the studios and given to the directors. If it wasn’t for films like Bonnie and Clyde, The Graduate, and In the Heat of the Night  that may have never happened.

1. Class of 1976

Movies Nominated: All the President’s Men, Bound for Glory, Network, Rocky, and Taxi Driver.

Best Picture Winner: Rocky

Quick Take: It has all come down to this, the crowning of the Best Picture Class of all time. There are a number of reasons the Class of 1976 was chosen as number one. First and foremost you have two of the greatest directors of all time, in Martin Scorsese and Sidney Lumet, directing two of their greatest movies with Network and Taxi Driver. You also have All the President’s Men  that is still the defying film of the Watergate scandal. Not to be out done you also have the film that won Best Picture that year in Rocky, which many argue is the greatest sports film ever created. Each of those films are iconic in their own right, and more importantly each tried to be more than just a great movie.  In many ways this year was the culmination of what movies were in the 1970’s as they dealt with the straining social, political, and economical issues of the time. This class not only provides a perspective for film, but also one for what the world was like during this time. Universal struggle tends to lead to a creative backlash and this is a prime example of that phenomenon.