Paramount Pictures
This weekend , the96th Academy Awardswill name a novel winner for Best Picture . And while we surmise that Christopher Nolan’sOppenheimerwill walk away with the top prize , there ’s always elbow room for an upset . The truth is that there are plenty of great movies that did n’t win Best Picture , includingCitizen Kane , which is widely regarded as one of the big films ever made .
We ’ve of late shared our lean ofthe bad movies to win Best Picture , so now it ’s time to reveal our picks for the 10 best Oscar - winning movies of all time . There may be some dissonance with the edict in which we placed these moving-picture show , but few could convincingly argue that they are n’t among the sterling movies ever made .
Paramount Pictures
10. On the Waterfront (1954)
Marlon Brando was already an established actor beforeOn the Waterfront , but this is the movie that change state him into a cinematic fable . Brando plays Terry Malloy , a former boxer who has never make over how his career ended in disgrace . While working as a longshoreman for a gangster , Johnny Friendly ( Lee J. Cobb ) , Terry is fob into being complicit in the slaying of Joey Doyle ( Ben Wagner ) , a mankind who make bold to testify against Friendly .
Joey ’s baby , Edie Doyle ( Eva Marie Saint ) , seeks justice for her devolve sidekick , which shames Terry into concede his role after he emotionally bonds with her . Even then , Terry dread the consequences of crossing Friendly , but he can only be pushed so far before he start up push back .
Rent or buyOn the WaterfrontonPrime Video .
9. Lawrence of Arabia (1962)
When it come toepic pic , few motion-picture show have ever total close to top-flight director David Lean’sLawrence of Arabia , which was based on the actual - life exploits of T. E. Lawrence ( Peter O’Toole ) . During the First World War , Lawrence is institutionalise by the British military to tax whether Prince Faisal ( Alec Guinness ) can successfully pass his rising against the Ottoman Empire . Rather than simply staying on the avocation , Lawrence campaign alongside Faisal ibn Abdel Aziz al-Saud and wins the respect of the Arab warriors .
As the war drags on , Lawrence feel his dedication to his country and his newfound companion test when their agendas take out away from each other . But finally , even Lawrence will have to pick a side as the British hide their plans to claim part of Arabia for their own conglomerate .
Rent or buyLawrence of ArabiaonPrime Video .
8. Amadeus (1984)
Most of the treatment about the Best Picture winners of the ’ 80s is about the motion picture that did n’t win . Raging Bull , Raiders of the Lost Ark , E.T. the Extra - planetary , The Big Chill , Dead Poets Society , andField of Dreamswere all propose , and they all came up short at the Academy Awards despite being some of the gravid films of the decade . But in 1984 , the Academy stimulate it flop whenAmadeuswas named Best Picture .
This is one of the few films with two nominees for Best Actor , with the award ultimately go to F. Murray Abraham for his hulk performance as composer Antonio Salieri . Despite Salieri ’s own musical talents , he feels overwhelming fad and jealousy towards Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart ( Tom Hulce , the other Best Actor nominee in this picture ) , an ungodly genius with an over - the - top personality and enough vices to beam him to an other grave … usurp Salieri does n’t kill him first .
Rent or buyAmadeusonPrime Video .
7. No Country for Old Men (2007)
The Coen brothers did n’t gain ground an Academy Award forFargo , but just over a X later , the yoke finally got their Oscar gold for adapted screenplay , place , and Best Picture forNo Country For Old Men . Javier Bardem also won Best Supporting Actor for his chilling portrayal of Anton Chigurh , a hitman wide regarded asone of the all - time keen movie scoundrel .
Chigurh is hired to retrieve drug money from a deal go bad that winds up in the hands of Llewelyn Moss ( Josh Brolin ) , who does n’t desire to give up the hard currency even when his life is on the line . Tommy Lee Jones plays Ed Tom Bell , an aging sheriff who feels overwhelmed by the violence that Chigurh leaves in his wake . This is haunting crime tale and one of the upright film of the twenty-first century .
WatchNo Country For Old MenonParamount+ .
6. The French Connection (1971)
There ’s a motorcar chase sequence inThe French Connectionthat is so riveting that it ’s almost more famous than the rest of the film . Director William Friedkincreates incredible tension as Detective Jimmy “ Popeye ” Doyle ( Gene Hackman ) recklessly tries to keep up with an lofty gearing to capture a hitman , Pierre Nicoli ( Marcel Bozzuffi ) , before he can get away .
Popeye and his partner , Detective Buddy “ Cloudy ” Russo ( Roy Scheider ) , are NYPD cops on the track of Alain Charnier ( Fernando Rey ) , who plans to smuggle a great deal of diacetylmorphine into the United States . When Popeye gets too close to the drugs , Charnier ’s personal assassin , Nicoli , seek to take him out . However , Nicoli severely underestimates Popeye ’s willingness to do whatever it takes to convey them down .
WatchThe French ConnectiononMax .
5. Schindler’s List (1993)
Steven Spielbergwas already moot one of the all - time heavy directors beforeSchindler ’s List , but this film may be his most significant work to particular date . A pre - action hero Liam Neeson star as Oskar Schindler , a German warfare profiteer who makes his destiny just as World War II fully gets underway . With the help of his right - hand gentleman’s gentleman , Itzhak Stern ( Ben Kingsley ) , Schindler bribe Nazi functionary into letting him divert Judaic workers to his factory or else of sending them to concentration camps .
When faced with the horrifying scope of the Nazi atrocities , Schindler changes his direction to relieve as many lives as potential , even if it means hold up all of the wealth that he ’s acquired . Yet that forfeit may not be enough for Schindler to live with the tremendous gist of what he witnessed .
Rent or buySchindler ’s ListonPrime Video .
4. Unforgiven (1992)
Before he became a director , Clint Eastwood made his name in Hollywood in a serial of unforgettable spaghetti westerns , includingThe Good , the Bad , and the Ugly . Decades later on , Eastwood returned to the Western genre withUnforgiven , which he helm and headline as William Munny . Fifteen years after the Civil War , Munny is a former outlaw who struggles to provide for his kid .
A would - be shooter calling himself the Schofield Kid ( Jaimz Woolvett ) and William ’s friend , Ned Logan ( Morgan Freeman ) , coax Munny out of retreat to claim the H.M.S. Bounty on cowboys who disfigured a sporting lady , Delilah Fitzgerald ( Anna Thomson ) . Standing in their way is Sheriff “ trivial ” Bill Daggett ( Gene Hackman ) , a man who does n’t care if Delilah get justice or not . This battle of volition can end in only one fashion , with slew of roue spilled on both side .
WatchUnforgivenonTubi .
3. The Godfather Part II (1974)
IsThe Godfather Part IIbetter than the first flick ? That ’s a heatedly fence question even 50 years after the sequel ’s release . Both movies rank among the peachy picture show ever . Unlike the first moving picture , The Godfather Part IItakes place in two timeframes . Robert De Niroplays a young Vito Corleone in the flashback sequences place in the 1910s and 1920s , while Al Pacino plays Vito ’s grown son , Michael Corleone , in 1958 and beyond .
Michael ’s side of the story is particularly compelling as he attempts to solidify his hold on the family occupation while coming to the realisation that he ’s been cuckold by someone confining to him . There ’s only one unfeigned solution for all of Michael ’s problem , and it usually require his enemies cope with grisly fates .
WatchThe Godfather Part IIonParamount+ .
2. The Godfather (1972)
As keen asThe Godfather Part IIis , we ’ve ranked it just slightly below the original becauseThe Godfatheris a predominate achievement all by itself . Francis Ford Coppola brought Mario Puzo ’s law-breaking epical to life thanks to the incredible performances of Pacino as Michael , Marlon Brando as Vito , and the residual of the impeccably well - puke performer .
In the mid-40s , Vito ’s refusal to take the Corleone family ’s concern into narcotics unwrap that the other crime family plan to do so with or without Vito ’s approval . After Vito narrowly survives an attack on his life , his youngest boy , Michael , is stuff into the family business . Michael never wanted to be a killer , but he ’ll have to get his hand contaminating to become the leader that the Corleone phratry needs in their most desperate hour .
WatchThe GodfatheronParamount+ .
1. Casablanca (1943)
There are aspect ofCasablancathat have n’t aged well , but the same could be sound out of any moving-picture show over eight decades old . Regardless , Casablanca’sstory and performance have withstood the test of time . It should also be mark that this is the most imperishable World War II movie that was actually made and liberate during the warfare .
Humphrey Bogart gave his most iconic performance as Rick Blaine , a cynical man await out the warfare by running his own barroom in the neutral urban center of Casablanca . A world of possibilities open up up for Rick when he is given two Nazi letters of transit that could be worth a fortune . briefly thereafter , Rick is reunited with his former lover , Ilsa Lund ( Ingrid Bergman ) , and her husband , Victor Laszlo ( Paul Henreid ) . Victor is a underground fighter who badly necessitate the transit papers to escape from the Nazis , but Rick is less than eager to assist the yoke until Ilsa tells him why she had to leave and reminds him of the dearest they once share .
Casablancaisn’t just one of the all - sentence classic , it ’s the well film present Best Picture at the Oscars . Nothing else comes close .
WatchCasablancaonMax .
