YOUR VERY OWN ACADEMY AWARDS: pick five nominees for each year 1927–present, then pick a winner

a few more "guidelines":

- to simplify things let's stick with year of release, i.e. if a film is released in the USA in 1930 then it is one of the 1930 nominees

- I'd recommend sticking to American films since foreign-language features often opened in the USA years (sometimes many years) after their premieres, leading to much confusion. in any case, it's quite rare for a foreign film to be nominated, much less to win. I suppose you can include other English-language films--i.e. those by Britishers and Aussies and others, since a fair number of them have won in the past ("Lawrence of Arabia," for example) though for consistency's sake I'm going to exclude them from my lists

- I'm aware that the number of nominees has changed over the years; let's stick with five because why not

- list your nominees, but don't number them by preference; put the winner in ALL CAPS

- maybe at the end (let's say one month from now, on April 4) someone more anal-retentive and good-natured than me can compile the results and make a single list of some kind

- maybe not though?

- if you want a list of American films made in a given years, you can use this IMDB URL and simply change the year from 1927 to whatever: http://www.imdb.com/search/title?at=0&countries=us&sort=moviemeter,asc&title_type=feature&year=1927,1927

- anyone have other suggestions?

oh, I forgot to mention, this is for best costume design best picture

OK, since nobody has shown much interest, I'll start with my 1920s and 1930s. please forgive me if I forgot anything.

1927
7th Heaven
The Kid Brother
The Student Prince in Old Heidelberg
SUNRISE
Underworld

1928
The Crowd
THE DOCKS OF NEW YORK
A Girl in Every Port
Steamboat Bill, Jr.
The Wind

1929 (this and the next year are tough because American cinema was in the transition to sound and very few excellent features were released)
The Godless Girl
Hallelujah!
The Iron Mask
LUCKY STAR
The River

1930
The Big Trail
City Girl
Laughter
Monte Carlo
MOROCCO

1931
The Champ
Dishonored
The Last Flight
ME AND MY GAL
Quick Millions

1932 (sorry, I can't get this down to five)
American Madness
Back Street
A Farewell to Arms
Scarface
Shanghai Express
TROUBLE IN PARADISE

1933
Blood Money
Design for Living
MAN'S CASTLE
Only Yesterday
Pilgrimage

1934
It Happened One Night
Judge Priest
THE MERRY WIDOW
The Scarlet Empress
Twentieth Century

1935
Bride of Frankenstein
Ceiling Zero
The Devil Is a Woman
RUGGLES OF RED GAP
Steamboat 'Round the Bend

1936
DODSWORTH
Fury
Modern Times
My Man Godfrey
Show Boat

1937
The Awful Truth
EASY LIVING
Make Way for Tomorrow
Wee Willie Winkie
You Only Live Once

1938 (yes, I'm aware Howard Hawks made a movie this year)
The Adventures of Robin Hood
Angels with Dirty Faces
Holiday
Jezebel
YOU AND ME

1939 (this and all of the subsequent decade are pretty tough; only left out Drums Along the Mohawk because three Fords seem excessive)
Midnight
Ninotchka
ONLY ANGELS HAVE WINGS
Stagecoach
Young Mr. Lincoln

I suppose I could have swapped Holiday with Bringing Up Baby; I like both a lot, but I have this thing about Katherine Hepburn.

would love to participate in this but tbh i don't think i've seen enough movies. i could probably do lists for the 30s and 40s, but that's pushing it.

looking back it's obvious that I like romances, I guess

xpost

you don't HAVE to list FIVE

the hardest years, I'm guessing, are going to be 60-66, the worst years ever for Hollywood (I'd say the precise worst year is probably 1965)

Cool idea, but it would take me literally hours, and my picks probably wouldn't be very interesting.

I'm not sure what the point of banning 'foreign' films is if it's supposed to be our own awards. You can just say to go by imdb's general year-on-year thing: http://www.imdb.com/year/1930/

sure, whatever--i guess i was imaging some compromise between the actual awards and our own favorites, meaning things that might plausibly have been eligible for awards and nominations but didn't get them.

mods, feel free to delete this thread since it's probably a dumb idea.

i mean, i love diary of a country priest, but no way was it even on the industry's radar in 1953, much less 1951.

Eh, fair enough, it's your thread.

the hardest years, I'm guessing, are going to be 60-66, the worst years ever for Hollywood (I'd say the precise worst year is probably 1965)

I'd be curious to see your lists for these years!

bam!:

1960
Bells Are Ringing
Comanche Station
PSYCHO
Strangers When We Meet
Wild River

1961
El Cid
THE EXILES
The Hustler
Splendor in the Grass
Two Rode Together

1962
Advise and Consent
Experiment in Terror
THE MAN WHO SHOT LIBERTY VALANCE
To Kill a Mockingbird
Ride the High Country

1963
America, America
The Birds
Charade
Hud
SHOCK CORRIDOR

1964 (here's where it gets really dire for a while...)
The Fall of the Roman Empire
The Killers
LILITH
The Masque of the Red Death
A Shot in the Dark

1965 (these were the only ones I could think of; Hollywood's worst year ever. I'd give Chimes of Midnight the laurel but I don't think was released in the US in 1965...)
IN HARM'S WAY
Major Dundee

1966 (difficult to crown any of these seriously flawed films; you know it's a rough year when you consider nominating The Naked Prey)
7 Women
THE CHASE
Lord Love a Duck
The Sand Pebbles
The Wild Angels

1967
David Holzman's Diary
The Graduate
POINT BLANK
Portrait of Jason
The Shooting

1968 (tempted to be challopsy and give this one to The Party)
2001: A SPACE ODYSSEY
The Boston Strangler
The Party
Petulia
Rosemary's Baby

1969 (can't think of a deserving fifth nomination)
Easy Rider
The Sterile Cuckoo
Two Mules for Sister Sara
THE WILD BUNCH

No Medium Cool for '69, am?

nah, it's an interesting movie but not very "good" I think

also I could have swapped Targets with The Boston Strangler, but who cares

1970 (can't think of a 5th!)
The Ballad of Cable Hogue
THE HONEYMOON KILLERS
Patton
Woodstock

1971 (OK, this is the first truly difficult year since the 1950s. I think the "New Hollywood," if such a thing existed, really starts to bear fruit this year. So for sanity's sake I've listed five runners-up)
Dirty Harry
Klute
McCABE & MRS. MILLER
Taking Off
Two-Lane Blacktop

Runners-up:
The Beguiled
The French Connection
The Last Picture Show
Let's Scare Jessica to Death
A New Leaf

1972
Avanti!
Bad Company
THE GODFATHER
The Heartbreak Kid
Ulzana's Raid

1973 (another very tough year)
American Graffiti
BADLANDS
Charley Varrick
The Last Detail
The Long Goodbye

1974
Bring Me the Head of Alfredo Garcia
California Split
CHINATOWN
The Godfather Part II
The Nickel Ride

1975
HARD TIMES
Jaws
Mandingo
Night Moves
Smile

1976
ALL THE PRESIDENT'S MEN
Assault on Precinct 13
Mikey and Nicky
Rocky
Taxi Driver

1977
Eraserhead
The Late Show
Rolling Thunder
SORCERER
Star Wars

1978
Days of Heaven
The Driver
Gates of Heaven
HALLOWEEN
Straight Time

1979
Alien
Apocalypse Now
THE BLACK STALLION
Breaking Away
The Warriors

a woody allenless '70s!

yes, he's kind of like trotsky (and the mcfly siblings) in that way -- erased from existence!

I'm picturing an Academy Awards where John Carpenter and his hair stride up to the podium smoking a joint

what kind of a master list do you have? aint got the time or desire

it's ok, Cate Blanchett has freed Woody Allen

obv '77 was the last BP Oscar got right

for most of his career, John Carpenter is basically Kevin Smith with an effects budget.

what kind of a master list do you have? aint got the time or desire

― images of war violence and historical smoking (Dr Morbius), Tuesday, March 4, 2014 9:03 PM (4 minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

fascinating! tell us more about your indifference!

for most of his career, John Carpenter is basically Kevin Smith with an effects budget.

― images of war violence and historical smoking (Dr Morbius), Tuesday, March 4, 2014 9:08 PM (24 seconds ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

i don't know what this means, but he never topped the two films I mention above

btw I have arrived at this time in my life: FUCK preferring the "New Hollywood" over the Studio Era. Both produced lots of gold and tons of crap.

Also, I don't see why you wouldn't fix the Oscars' nationalism/bigotry and do films from all nations.

All I have to add is

1933
Bombshell
Dinner at Eight
DUCK SOUP
Footlight Parade
King Kong
Lady for a Day
Man's Castle
Queen Christina
Sailor's Luck
Sons of the Desert

Seventh Heaven was a revelation when it got that DVD release several years ago; unavailability meant Sunrise got the kudos.

am, you are missing a couple Jerry Lewis films from the early '60s

no Bad Girl, am? By 1931 Borzage had directed most of the good talkies.

btw I have arrived at this time in my life: FUCK preferring the "New Hollywood" over the Studio Era. Both produced lots of gold and tons of crap.

yeah the romance of the new Hollywood (=Peter Biskind) is very tiring, and I get very sick of the Baby Boomer narrative of all these guys breaking open the system or whatever.

there are a lot of "small movies" in the 1970s/early 1980s that I like out (most of which didn't get any of my nominations)... a lot of good made for TV movies.

but you're right that there are always good movies and bad.

in the 1960s you have a big problem though of all the great "classical" directors scraping the bottom of their creative barrels (or just retiring/dying) and Hollywood pandering to the "family audience" with a lot of dreck. plus from mid-late 1950s through about 1973 there is a general shortage of feature films from which to choose. declining audience, declining production. it makes perfect sense that in that context critics (and a segment of the audience, mainly college kids and graduates) would get real excited about what was in retrospect not really as enduring a moment as it was thought. in the early and mid 1960s the real action for cinephiles was elsewhere than the United States.

but the classical era is DEEP; there are probably a dozen other films each year from 1920 to 1955 or so that I could include with little hesitation

bad girl is great. like I said, five films out of 100s that were made (almost a 1,000/year if you count all the poverty row studios) is pretty restrictive.

anyway, here are the 1980s. I'm trying not to pick anything too obscure so I don't seem like an asshole:

1980
Airplane!
The Elephant Man
Raging Bull
THE SHINING
Used Cars

1981 (many I had to leave out)
Cutter's Way
Prince of the City
Raiders of the Lost Ark
Southern Comfort
THIEF

1982
48 Hrs.
Blade Runner
THE KING OF COMEDY
Richard Pryor Live on the Sunset Strip
Tootsie

1983 (can't think of a 5th)
Breathless
National Lampoon's Vacation
Never Cry Wolf
RISKY BUSINESS

1984
Amadeus
Choose Me
Gremlins
STRANGER THAN PARADISE
This Is Spinal Tap

1985
After Hours
BACK TO THE FUTURE
Mishima
Pee-Wee's Big Adventure
Trouble in Mind

1986
Aliens
BLUE VELVET
Manhunter
Something Wild
True Stories

1987 (tough year; lots to include other than these five: Predator, China Girl...)
House of Games
HOUSEKEEPING
Near Dark
Raising Arizona
RoboCop

1988
The Accidental Tourist
Beetljuice
DIE HARD
Who Framed Roger Rabbit
The Thin Blue Line

1989 (can't think of a 5th)
DO THE RIGHT THING
Parenthood
Parents
sex, lies, and videotape (one of the few film titles to use the Oxford comma, A+)

*correction to next to last post: I like a lot of "small movies" of the 1970s and early 1980s. straight time and cutter's way are good examples. not really canonical new hollywood but would be impossible w/o. one I had to leave off is the friends of eddie coyle. basically downbeat genre films. there was stuff like this on TV, too, in the 70s and 80s, but nobody talks about TV movies.

no Drugstore Cowboy?

btw if I included all of world cinema it would be IMPOSSIBLE. euro art cinema + asian genre cinema + asian art cinema + indian cinema + russian cinema + new waves all over the world.... fuck that!

and that's just post-1960, ugh.

xpost

don't ask me about gus van sant

no matter what the IMDb year is, The King of Comedy was released to theaters in Feb '83. (The other two great Eng-lang films that year are Local Hero and Zelig.)

yeah, I excluded Local Hero only b/c = scottish

risky business is maybe still better than king of comedy?

the Van Santity is under control in DC

i need to rest a few days before I can even deal w/ the 1940s and 1950s. hardest decades, I predict.

otm about the sixties as worst

yeah, esp. 63-66.

(per the IMDb, in '82 tKoC showed only in... Iceland)

Risky Business is pretty good, but not a film anyone over 25 needs to take seriously.

LILITH?! Lilith is pretty drab, except for those 3 astonishing minutes of Gene Hackman.

I like more studio films from '65 than 2013

well it's hard to compare since we don't have the distance, I think. i'm inclined to agree but I don't trust my own judgment when it's so close.

also I'm not even going to bother with 2010s and possibly 2000s, for that reason plus I just haven't seen enough films since 2005 or 2006.

Lilith is a problematic movie but... competition not very fierce in 1964. i guess there's Dr. Strangelove, I kind of forgot about that one.

also I've tried to spread the love around, wouldn't want Zemeckis or Walter Hill or somebody getting too proud of themselves

The House of Mirth and The Age of Innocence were both the third film adaps of those Wharton books, the first of each being silents.

And of course, Scorsese kicked Davies' butt.

Davies is a lover, not a fighter.

oh? have you ever asked him what he thought of the Beatles?

Davies would rather have sex with a city than himself.

Felt like I had to scrounge a bit to fill out '03-'05.

2000:
YI YI
Eureka
In the Mood for Love
You Can Count on Me
The Werckmeister Harmonies

2001:
MULHOLLAND DRIVE
Pulse
Spirited Away
Ghost World
The Royal Tennenbaums

2002:
THE 25TH HOUR
The Son
Russian Ark
Jackass: The Movie
Punch-Drunk Love

2003:
MEMORIES OF MURDER
Lost in Translation
The Best of Youth
Los Angeles Plays Itself
The Fog of War

2004:
ETERNAL SUNSHINE OF THE SPOTLESS MIND
Tropical Malady
Before Sunset
Anchorman
Head-On

2005:
GRIZZLY MAN
Junebug
The New World
Cache
The Squid and the Whale

2006:
INLAND EMPIRE
Offside
Children of Men
Jackass Number Two
Exiled

2007:
NO COUNTRY FOR OLD MEN
There Will Be Blood
Zodiac
4 Months, 3 Weeks, 2 Days
The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford

2008:
WALL-E
Still Walking
Synecdoche, New York
Revanche
35 Shots of Rum

2009:
A SERIOUS MAN
Fantastic Mr. Fox
The White Ribbon
In the Loop
Inglourious Basterds

seems crazy to dismiss 'jurassic park' as one of spielberg's 'disposable' films -- i think it's the high point of his 'fun' stuff, prob better even than his very early stuff.

doubt i could assemble an entire '00s list, but i like eric's list a lot and agree with his top choices for '10 and '12 especially.

his very early stuff is about stuff. JP is about, I dunno, the evil of theme parks.

and 'jaws' is about the scariness of sharks. i don't know, seems like every movie could be dismissed this way.

2000s:

2000
YOU CAN COUNT ON ME
Almost Famous
Joe Gould’s Secret

2001
GHOST WORLD
L.I.E.
Lovely and Amazing
Porn Star: The Legend of Ron Jeremy
The Royal Tenenbaums

2002
SPELLBOUND
Punch-Drunk Love
The True Meaning of Pictures: Shelby Lee Adams' Appalachia

2003
LOST IN TRANSLATION
Capturing the Friedmans
Elephant
End of the Century
Mayor of the Sunset Strip

2004
A LEAGUE OF ORDINARY GENTLEMAN
Mysterious Skin
Sideways

2005
THE SQUID AND THE WHALE
Capote
Enron: The Smartest Guys in the Room
New York Doll
No Direction Home: Bob Dylan

2006
THE HEART OF THE GAME
Andy Warhol: A Documentary Film
Art School Confidential
Old Joy

2007
ZODIAC
King of Kong: A Fistful of Quarters
Margot at the Wedding
No Country for Old Men
Paranoid Park

2008
WENDY AND LUCY
Encirclement
Harvard Beats Yale 29-29
Man on Wire

2009
THE AGONY AND THE ECSTASY OF PHIL SPECTOR
Adventureland
Tyson
Up in the Air

I listed and then dropped three or four films from 2003, so that was the strongest year for me.

It's interesting to see how conservative people are or are not forcing themselves to be.

Will try to do the 2000s:

2000
Nurse Betty
O Brother, Where Art Thou?
Unbreakable (yeah, yeah, yeah)
Wonder Boys
YOU CAN COUNT ON ME

2001
Donnie Darko
Ghost World
MULHOLLAND DR.
The Royal Tenenbaums
Waking Life

2002
About Schmidt
Solaris
Storytelling
25th Hour
Y TU MAMA TAMBIEN

2003
Capturing the Friedmans
Elephant
End of the Century: The Story of the Ramones
Kill Bill, Vol. 1
LOST IN TRANSLATION

2004
BEFORE SUNSET
Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind
The Incredibles
Kill Bill, Vol. 2
Sideways

2005
GRIZZLY MAN
King Kong
Mysterious Skin
Nobody Knows
Saraband

2006
CHILDREN OF MEN
The Departed
Marie Antoinette
Pan's Labyrinth
A Scanner Darkly

2007
Away From Her
Gone Baby Gone
No Country For Old Men
RATATOUILLE
There Will Be Blood

2008 (ouch! only year I can't come up with five)
Hellboy 2: The Golden Army
Let The Right One In
SYNECDOCHE, NEW YORK

2009
The Hurt Locker
Inglourious Basterds
Seraphine
Up
WHERE THE WILD THINGS ARE

1990s:

1990
GOODFELLAS
Metropolitan
Miller’s Crossing
Mo’ Better Blues

1991
BOYZ N THE HOOD
Class Action
JFK
Jungle Fever
The Silence of the Lambs

1992
RESERVOIR DOGS
Bram Stoker’s Dracula
Malcolm X
The Player
Visions of Light

1993
DAZED AND CONFUSED
Menace II Society
The Piano
Short Cuts
The War Room

1994
CRUMB
Hoop Dreams

1995
NIXON
Casino
The Celluloid Closet
Clockers
Smoke

1996
FARGO
Big Night
Breaking the Waves
Flirting with Disaster
I Shot Andy Warhol

1997
BOOGIE NIGHTS
Affliction
The Ice Storm
In the Company of Men
Jackie Brown

1998
RUSHMORE
He Got Game
The Last Days of Disco
Rounders
A Simple Plan

1999
THE VIRGIN SUICIDES
American Beauty
Election
Eyes Wide Shut
The Straight Story

Best year, '93 or '99. Couldn't find anything else I cared about in '94--maybe I was distracted by the baseball strike. A couple of omissions from earlier lists: Stevie for 2002, Near Death for 1989.

I've seen plenty of silent films for doing the '20s, but most would be comedy shorts.

(Wings is p much as good as Sunrise btw)

1998

Bulworth
THE BUTCHER BOY
Henry Fool
Rushmore
The Thin Red Line

http://i.telegraph.co.uk/multimedia/archive/02689/CHARLTON-HESTON_2689484b.jpg

Just kidding, Morbius--I'm glad you've deigned to join the rest of us in our trivial pursuits.

1999
Being John Malkovich
Election
EYES WIDE SHUT
Fight Club
Run Lola Run

1998
Babe: Pig in the City
Happiness
Out of Sight
RUSHMORE
The Thin Red Line

1997
JACKIE BROWN
The Sweet Hereafter
Starship Troopers
Titanic
Waiting for Guffman

1996
BREAKING THE WAVES
Crash
Dead Man
Fargo
Secrets & Lies

1995
Before Sunrise
The Bridges of Madison County
Dead Man Walking
SHOWGIRLS
Twelve Monkeys

1994
Bullets Over Broadway
ED WOOD
Exotica
Pulp Fiction
Serial Mom

1993
Carlito's Way
Dazed & Confused
Matinee
Naked
SHORT CUTS

1992
BITTER MOON
Death Becomes Her
Husbands and Wives
Twin Peaks: Fire Walk with Me
Unforgiven

1991
JFK [winner; since all caps already]
Jungle Fever
My Own Private Idaho
The Rapture
Terminator 2: Judgment Day

1990
Gremlins 2: The New Batch
Jacob's Ladder
Longtime Companion
PARIS IS BURNING
To Sleep with Anger

like a cockroach crawlin' on a white rug

so is JFK great because of its historical idiocy and bad acting, or because of it? I've never been clear on that.

*or in spite of

It's great because of its fantastic editing, construction of a phantasmagoria, and the excellent acting.

oh it's "pop" then

It's great because it's got the right ta-ta but the wrong ho-ho, Daddy-O.

oh it's "pop" then

― images of war violence and historical smoking (Dr Morbius),

how's your mousse?

you can always put Showgirls where your ho-ho should be

It's precisely the point of a long dining table. The splendor of the pop adds to its enjoyment.

You can keep your Ho-Ho's. I've got brown rice and vegetables.

just one more from me

1937

The Awful Truth
DEAD END
Easy Living
Make Way for Tomorrow
Stage Door
Way Out West

At least two of those will be on my list, should I get back that far, which I probably won't.

Man, the '80s made it all but impossible to stay somewhat within Oscar's wavelength. Still my least favorite AA decade.

1989
Casualties of War
Crimes and Misdemeanors
Driving Miss Daisy
DO THE RIGHT THING
Parenthood

1988
BEETLEJUICE
Big
Dead Ringers
The Last Temptation of Christ
Who Framed Roger Rabbit?

1987
Broadcast News
Full Metal Jacket
HOUSKEEPING
Maurice
Raising Arizona

1986
Blue Velvet
THE FLY
Labyrinth
Manhunter
Something Wild

1985
Back to the Future
BRAZIL
Day of the Dead
My Beautiful Laundrette
Pee-Wee's Big Adventure

1984
Amadeus
Crimes of Passion
Indiana Jones & the Temple of Doom
LOVE STREAMS
Repo Man

1983
A Christmas Story
The Dead Zone
Fanny & Alexander
Terms of Endearment
VIDEODROME

1982
Blade Runner
E.T. THE EXTRA-TERRESTRIAL
One from the Heart
Poltergeist
Tootsie

1981
Blow Out
The Evil Dead
Modern Romance
MOMMIE DEAREST
Polyester

1980
The Big Red One
Cruising
Dressed to Kill
Ordinary People
THE SHINING

Love your lists, and will use them for renting for a while. Now settle in for a Prince of the City-length post.

My Oscars as of this particular (probably deeply embarrassing) moment...

1927
Metropolis
Sunrise
THE GENERAL
(Need to see more 1927 movies...)

1928
The Passion of Joan of Arc
UN CHIEN ANDALOU
(Need to see more...)

1929
THE MAN WITH A MOVIE CAMERA
(Need to...)

1930
All Quiet on the Western Front
(...see more...)

1931
City Lights
Dracula
FRANKENSTEIN
The Front Page
The Public Enemy
(Need...)

(In some moods, Frankenstein is still my favorite movie. It's perfect.)

1932
Grand Hotel
Scarface
THE MOST DANGEROUS GAME
(Need to see more...)

1933
Duck Soup
The Invisible Man
KING KONG
The Gold Diggers of 1933
(...etc...)

1934
THE THIN MAN
The Man Who Knew Too Much
(...etc...)

1935
A NIGHT AT THE OPERA
The 39 Steps
The Bride of Frankenstein
Top Hat
(...etc...)

1936
Modern Times
Mr. Deeds Goes to Town
MY MAN GODFREY
Sabotage
Things to Come

1937
Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs
THE AWFUL TRUTH
Topper
(...etc...)

1938
Angels with Dirty Faces
Boys Town
BRINGING UP BABY
The Adventures of Robin Hood
The Lady Vanishes

1939
Dark Victory
Ninotchka
The Rules of the Game
THE WIZARD OF OZ
Young Mr. Lincoln

(Also love: The Hunchback of Notre Dame)

1940
His Girl Friday
Pinocchio
THE GRAPES OF WRATH
The Letter
The Shop Around the Corner

(Showed this to my high-school class a couple years ago and many kids said it was the best movie they ever saw. My favorite line is still: "Truckers.")

1941
CITIZEN KANE
High Sierra
Suspicion
The Lady Eve
The Maltese Falcon (remake)

1942
CASABLANCA
To Be or Not to Be
Woman of the Year
Saboteur
(Need to see more 1942 movies!)

1943
SHADOW OF A DOUBT
The Ox-Bow Incident
A Night to Remember
(Need to see more...)

1944
Double Indemnity
MEET ME IN ST. LOUIS
To Have and Have Not
(Need to see more...)

1945
MILDRED PIERCE
Spellbound
The Clock
(Need ....)

1946
Gilda
It's a Wonderful Life
Notorious
The Best Years of Our Lives
THE BIG SLEEP

(Also love: The Killers)

1947
MIRACLE ON 34TH STREET
Out of the Past
(Need to see more...)

1948
Bicycle Thieves
Key Largo
Oliver Twist
RED RIVER
The Naked City

1949
All the King's Men
THE FOUNTAINHEAD
The Heiress
The Third Man
White Heat

1950
All About Eve
BORN YESTERDAY
Father of the Bride
In a Lonely Place
The Men

1951
THE AFRICAN QUEEN
When Worlds Collide
(Need to see more...)

1952
High Noon
SINGIN' IN THE RAIN
The Bad and the Beautiful
The Narrow Margin
(Need to see more...)

1953
Shane
Stalog 17
TOKYO STORY
Ugetsu
War of the Worlds

1954
On the Waterfront
Rear Window
Magnificent Obsession
Salt of the Earth
SEVEN SAMURAI

(Haven't watched The Wild One in decades, but love it's sampling on a Code 13 song.)

1955
All That Heaven Allows
Kiss Me Deadly
Marty
Rebel Without a Cause
THE NIGHT OF THE HUNTER

1956
INVASION OF THE BODY SNATCHERS
The Red Balloon
The Searchers
The Wrong Man
Written on the Wind

1957
12 Angry Men
A Face in the Crowd
Paths of Glory
SWEET SMELL OF SUCCESS
Witness for the Prosecution

(Badly wavered between that and Witness...)

1958
A Night to Remember
Touch of Evil
VERTIGO
(Need to see more...)

1959
ANATOMY OF A MURDER
Imitation of Life
The 400 Blows
North by Northwest
Some Like It Hot

(Because Duke Ellington and fishing lures.)

1960
Breathless
Inherit the Wind
La Dolce Vita
PSYCHO
Spartacus

1961
Chronique d'un ete (Chronicle of a Summer)
Jules et Jim
THE HUSTLER
West Side Story
(Need to see more...)

1962
Harakiri (a.k.a. Seppuku)
Jules and Jim
Lawrence of Arabia
THE MANCHURIAN CANDIDATE
To Kill a Mockingbird

(Had to bump Cape Fear for the golden sand.)

1963
From Russia With Love
High and Low
THE BIRDS
(Need to see more...)

1964
NOTHING BUT A MAN
The Americanization of Emily
The Intruder
The T.A.M.I. Show
Woman in the Dunes

1965
(Wow, you're not kidding about '65... haven't seen any of those, Am.)
FASTER, PUSSY CAT! KILL! KILL!

1966
Alfie
Persona
THE BATTLE OF ALGIERS
The Good, the Bad and the Ugly
Who's Afraid of Virginia Wolf?

1967
BELLE DE JOUR
Festival
Point Blank
The Jungle Book
(Need to see more...)

1968
2001: A SPACE ODYSSEY
High School
Planet of the Apes
Rosemary's Baby
The Producers

1969
Easy Rider
Medium Cool
Salesman
The Sorrow and the Pity
Z (my winner)
(Haven't seen The Wild Bunch or Midnight Cowboy)

1970
Gimme Shelter
Little Big Man
THE CONFORMIST
(Need to see more...)

1971
Bananas
Klute
McCabe & Mrs. Miller
THE LAST PICTURE SHOW
Walkabout

1972
Silent Running
The Discreet Charm of the Bourgeoisie
THE GODFATHER
The Heartbreak Kid
The King of Marvin Gardens

1973
American Graffiti
Mean Streets
Paper Moon
SERPICO
The Long Goodbye
(haven't seen Badlands, but imagine I'd love it...)

1974
Blazing Saddles
Chinatown
The Conversation
THE GODFATHER, PART II
The Harder They Come

1975
Dog Day Afternoon
JAWS
Monty Python and the Holy Grail
One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest
Shampoo

1976
Harlan County, U.S.A.
Network
Rocky
Taxi Driver
THE BAD NEWS BEARS (original)

(So glad to see so much Bears love here. Written by Burt Lancaster's son, shot by the guy who did Chinatown. Still hilarious, deep, and beautifully paced.)

(My stepdad just saw Rocky the musical.)

1977
Annie Hall
Close Encounters of the Third Kind
Oh, God!
Saturday Night Fever
STAR WARS

(Love Eraserhead, but in the end my spirit and heart is closer to Oh, God!)

1978
ANIMAL HOUSE
Grease
Invasion of the Body Snatchers (remake)
The Buddy Holly Story
The Cheap Detective

1979
Breaking Away
Manhattan
The China Syndrome
THE WAR AT HOME (documentary)
The Warriors

(Alien would be my sixth.)

1980
Coal Miner's Daughter
Ordinary People
RAGING BULL
The Empire Strikes Back
The Shining

1981
Das Boot
ESCAPE FROM NEW YORK
Prince of the City
Raiders of the Lost Ark
Reds

(Do love Thief too...)

1982
E.T. (not the retouched version!)
FAST TIMES AT RIDGEMONT HIGH
Missing
Tootsie
The Decline of Western Civilization

(Diner's great too, sixth pick. Blade Runner for the opening scenes and the music.)

1983
Scarface
Silkwood
A Christmas Story
THE DEAD ZONE
Style Wars

(Alfred: I forgot about Under Fire, should try to see it again. Love all your '80s choices.)

1984
Purple Rain
REPO MAN
The Terminator
The Times of Harvey Milk
This Is Spinal Tap

1985
BACK TO THE FUTURE
Lost in America
My Beautiful Laundrette
Tampopo
The Breakfast Club

(Still like Brazil, too.)

1986
Aliens
BLUE VELVET
Something Wild
The Fly
Jean de Florette/Manon of the Spring

(I LOVED Salvador, but found it impossible to take recently. Still want to pick up the book Oliver Stone wrote with my old professor.)

1987
Lost Boys
Raising Arizona
RoboCop
The Last Emperor
THE PRINCESS BRIDE

(Haven't seen Housekeeping since then, Amateurist and Alfred, but loved it, will track it down... All the good Coen Brothers movies get funnier and better with time for me.)

1988
A World Apart
Clean and Sober
DIE HARD
Midnight Run
The Vanishing (original)

(Badly wanted to include Beetlejuice. I loved Dead Ringers so much and yet can't bring myself to watch it again.)

1989
DO THE RIGHT THING
Drugstore Cowboy
Say Anything...
Sea of Love
True Believer

(Also loved sex, lies, and videotape and Parenthood.)

1990
American Dream
GOODFELLAS
La Femme Nikita
Life Is Sweet
Tremors

1991
Defending Your Life
Dogfight
Life Is Sweet
POINT BREAK
Proof

(Also loved My Own Private Idaho, just haven't watched it since then... The Rapture was freaky.)

1992
A Few Good Men
El Mariachi
Police Story 3: Supercop
RESERVOIR DOGS
The Story of Qiu Ju

1993
GROUNDHOG DAY
In the Name of the Father
Schindler's List
The Fugitive
The Remains of the Day

1994
Ed Wood
Metal and Melancholy (a.k.a. Metaal en melancholie)
Hoop Dreams
PULP FICTION
Speed

1995
Apollo 13
Clueless
Crimson Tide
HEAT
Safe

1996
Crash (Cronenberg film)
Fargo
Flirting With Disaster
Hard Eight
SWINGERS

(Thanks for reminding me of La Promesse, Chris, will watch this again...)

1997
Insomnia (original)
Jackie Brown
Men in Black
My Best Friend's Wedding
THE APOSTLE

1998
Breakdown
Out of Sight
THE BIG LEBOWSKI
The Dreamlife of Angels (a.k.a. La Vie Revee Des Anges)
The Truman Show

1999
Galaxy Quest
MAGNOLIA
Office Space
Spring Forward
The Straight Story

2000
Best in Show
CAST AWAY
Meet the Parents
The Filth and the Fury
You Can Count on Me

2001
Legally Blonde
MULHOLLAND DR.
The Royal Tenenbaums
Training Day
Zoolander

2002
About a Boy
Far From Heaven
SECRETARY
The Bourne Identity
Two Weeks Notice

2003
Dogville
Los Angeles Plays Itself
School of Rock
SEABISCUIT
The Yes Men

(Soft spot for Elf, too. I love End of the Century too, argh!)

2004
BEFORE SUNSET
Hotel Rwanda
Shaun of the Dead
Spider-Man 2
The Woodsman

2005
BROKEBACK MOUNTAIN
Everything Is Illuminated
North Country
Sweet Land
War of the Worlds (remake)

2006
CASINO ROYALE
Fast Food Nation
Forever
Longford
The Host (a.k.a. Gwoemul)

2007
30 Days of Night
THE SAVAGES
Run Fatboy Run
Lars and the Real Girl
Superbad

2008
BE KIND REWIND
Stepbrothers
Role Models
Wendy and Lucy
The Wrestler

2009
A Serious Man
District 9
FIVE MINUTES OF HEAVEN
The Hangover
Up

2010
Any Day Now
Cyrus
HESHER
Machete
The Town

2011
BRIDESMAIDS
Cedar Rapids
Jeff, Who Lives at Home
Rise of the Planet of the Apes
The Grey

2012
Flight
Robot & Frank
SILVER LININGS PLAYBOOK
Stand Up Guys
The Guilt Trip

2013
12 YEARS A SLAVE
Before Midnight
Crystal Fairy & the Magical Cactus
Gravity
The Way Way Back

I will watch Mommie Dearest when Eric watches The King of Comedy.

Brazil was my first favorite movie so I'm glad it gets the Eric H. seal of approval

glad Pete mentioned True Believer.

1990

To Sleep With Anger
Reversal of Fortune
The Grifters
GOODFELLAS
Metropolitan

1991

MY OWN PRIVATE IDAHO
Naked Lunch
JFK
Dogfight
Point Break

1992

Twin Peaks: Fire Walk With Me
The Crying Game
Husbands and Wives
THE PLAYER
Simple Men

1993

DAZED AND CONFUSED
Household Saints
Six Degrees of Separation
Groundhog Day
The Age of Innocence

1994

Pulp Fiction
Quiz Show
Nobody’s Fool
VANYA ON 42ND STREET
Speed

1995
Clueless
Devil in a Blue Dress
BEFORE SUNRISE
Crumb
Babe

1996
Secrets and Lies
FLIRTING WITH DISASTER
Mission: Impossible
The Portrait of a Lady
Big Night
1997

JACKIE BROWN
L.A. Confidential
The Sweet Hereafter
The Wings of the Dove
The Apostle

1998

OUT OF SIGHT
Rushmore
The Opposite of Sex
High Art
Babe: Pig in the City
1999

ELECTION
The Straight Story
The Insider
Being John Malkovich
Topsy-Turvy

well, i've seen 49 of those

(Cruise replacing Peter Graves, no)

should've mentioned One False Move.

a few blank spots here -- haven't seen that much i really love from the later '40s -- but here goes:

1940
REBECCA
His Girl Friday
The Bank Dick
Christmas in July
Shop Around the Corner

1941
CITIZEN KANE
Suspicion
The Maltese Falcon
How Green Was My Valley
Sullivan's Travels

1942
CAT PEOPLE
The Magnificent Ambersons
To Be or Not to Be
Casablanca
The Man Who Came to Dinner

1943
MESHES OF THE AFTERNOON
Shadow of a Doubt
The Life and Death of Colonel Blimp
Day of Wrath
The Seventh Victim

1944
A CANTERBURY TALE
Laura
Meet Me in St. Louis
Ministry of Fear
Torment

1945
THE LOST WEEKEND
The Picture of Dorian Gray
The Three Caballeros
A Tree Grows in Brooklyn

1946
IT'S A WONDERFUL LIFE
Notorious
The Big Sleep
The Best Years of Our Lives
A Matter of Life and Death

1947
MONSIEUR VERDOUX
Odd Man Out
The Lady from Shanghai

1948
THE RED SHOES
Bicycle Thieves
The Treasure of the Sierra Madre
Abbott and Costello Meet Frankenstein
Sorry, Wrong Number

1949
KIND HEARTS AND CORONETS
The Third Man
She Wore a Yellow Ribbon

Looking at all the '90s lists, I'm surprised I'm the only person who listed Affliction--I thought it was held in higher regard.

Similarly, no one who did an '80s list nominated Paris, Texas. How do people feel about that one?

I liked it when I saw it 20 years ago.

I know this is straying from the spirit of this thread--sorry, amateurist--but here are my #1s for the '40s and '50s. I attempted full lists, but most years only had two to four picks. I'm guessing I've seen at least half of what other people are listing, but often only once, and often years ago. So while I loved Dance, Girl, Dance when I saw it 30 years ago, I have no idea how it would hold up today. Even my '59 pick is based on a single viewing that goes back to the '90s. But most everything below I've seen multiple times.

1940: The Shop Around the Corner
1941: Citizen Kane
1942: The Magnificent Ambersons
1943: Shadow of a Doubt
1944: Double Indemnity
1945: Mildred Pierce
1946: The Big Sleep
1947: The Lady from Shanghai
1948: Red River
1949: White Heat
1950: The Asphalt Jungle
1951: A Streetcar Named Desire
1952: strike year (The Narrow Margin or Pat and Mike, I guess)
1953: Roman Holiday
1954: On the Waterfront
1955: The Night of the Hunter
1956: The Harder They Fall
1957: Sweet Smell of Success
1958: Touch of Evil
1959: The Nun’s Story

1957 also had Paths of Glory and A Face in the Crowd, so that would probably be my pick for strongest year.

I knocked Paris, Texas off my '84 list at the last second when I remembered...1984!

Also, re the '50s: yes, I've seen the musical, the western, and the greatest film ever made. I like them all, don't love any of them.

'84 was my hardest year -- it epitomized eighties middlebrow -- but I'd stick Paris, Texas in now.

most only-America clemenza-enabling thread evah

Your odd obsession with this narrow point silly as always. I included non-English films when I had to, to fill out my '60s lists. I'd have both Pather Panchali and The 400 Blows among my #1s for the '50s. And what does any of it have to do with anything?

Breitbart has a film critic with opinions
https://www.breitbart.com/entertainment/2021/04/16/nolte-movies-that-shouldve-won-the-best-picture-oscar-part-1/

The URL led me to believe that the list was only of Nick Nolte movies that should've won best picture.

note that all of mamet's 4 perfect movies get a mention

Skimmed this very briefly and saw a few things I agreed with (he mentions Sweet Smell of Success and Paths of Glory as better films than Bridge on the River Kwai in '57...even though he sticks with the winner, for some reason), but this kills me:

What Did Win: Rocky
Even as a ten-year-old in 1976, I knew America needed a big boost and along came Sylvester Stallone with a character so iconic, beloved, and timeless they are still making movies about him.
What Should’ve Won: Rocky

Film criticism as pick-me-up cheerleading.