The Best of the Best (Not the Eric Roberts Movie)

Published on February 16th, 2012

By BEN GREMILLION
Contributor, SNSPost
Contributor, SeriousMovieLover.com

It is that time year, OSCAR is soon to be upon us. For us movie lovers, this is the culmination of a year of disappointments and triumphs. So we thought, before this year’s winners take the stage, we should look back at the best of the best of Oscar. These are the top five movies that won the Best Picture award since the Academy Awards began back in 1927. We whittled list of 83 winners down to five using the following criteria: Must be Best Picture winner, must be on AFI’s top 100 Movies list, AMC’s Top 100 list, and must be on Roger Ebert’s Top 100 List (because he is the best). Then we here at Serious Movie Lover chose from the remaining 10.

Honorable Mentions: (10-6 in alphabetical order) Gone With the Wind, Lawrence of Arabia, One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest, Schindler’s List, and West Side Story.

"Hey lets make a movie about our relationship, maybe we'll get an Oscar."

5. Annie Hall – (1977) The lone comedy on this list, and maybe one of the best ever. The instant classic that made Woody Allen not just another funny comedy writer also stands as the last comedy to win the statue. Along with Allen’s steady self doubt, Diane Keaton gives her Oscar-winning performance.

4. On the Waterfront - (1954) The most analyzed movie on this list gives us the quintessential Brando performance of all time. Elia Kazan‘s anti-Communist film centered around the dock worker who (everyone say it together) “could  have been a contender.” With its win, ‘On the Waterfront’ became a classic and one of the most divisive Cold War/Black List Era movies of all time.

"Look Michael, I tried to get it to #1." "Put your shirt back on."

3. The Godfather 1 & 2 – (1972 & 1974) We know, they are two separate movies, but let’s face it, you cannot watch one without the other. Go ahead and try. It is like baseball and beer, one should not be enjoyed without the other. So we place this as one movie for right now. Do we really need to give you the synopsis? No, you know them, you love them, and the Michael Corelone in you wants to know why it is not number one.

2. Casablanca – (1943) In some circles this is regarded as the best movie of all time due to its near perfection of movie making. It has one of the best casts in a non-heist-type movie. It is tough to top Humphrey Bogart, Ingrid Bergman, Claude Raines, Peter Lorre, just to name a few. Then throw in some Nazi’s long lost romance, a budding friendship, and the oddly appealing acting style of Peter Lorre…you can’t lose.

And we love it too!

1. The Best Years of Our Lives – (1946) Sure this can’t beat the star power of Casablanca, but how about a ton of seasoned character actors. ‘The Best Years’ tells the story of three returning World War II veterans. Each has a different path. One is haunted by his experiences and turns to liquor, another finds the fan fair of a war hero to be non-existent and instead of finding a better life has to return to his job of being a soda jerk, and finally a disabled veteran who survives only to lose his hands and be the object of pity to everyone. This earned an Oscar for lead actor Fredric March, and a supporting one for Harold Russell who was the living embodiment of his character having lost his hands in a grenade accident during training. This was also a feather in the cap of William Wyler who took home best director. All said this movie is the benchmark by which the Academy should judge best picture nominees by.

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