ErikLundegaard.com - From 'Godfather' to 'Cimarron': The 84 Best Picture Winners as Ranked by the Nerds of IMDb.com

From 'Godfather' to 'Cimarron': The 84 Best Picture Winners as Ranked by the Nerds of IMDb.com

I realized too late that yesterday's post about IMDb rankings of every best picture winner since 1927 should've included the entire list as sorted by ranking. Here it is, with my notes:

RANK	MOVIE	IMDb RATING	VOTES	NOTES
1	The Godfather (1972)	9.2	535,083	But of course.
2	The Godfather, Part II (1974)	9.0	336,575	But of course II.
3	The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King (2003)	8.9	501,289	NERDS!
	Schindler's List (1993)	8.9	375,193	Overrated. Is it just me and David Mamet on this one?
5	One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest (1975)	8.8	300,314	Yep.
6	Forrest Gump (1994)	8.7	446,991	Wow. Most people are as dumb as Forrest — and not nearly so nice.
	The Silence of the Lambs (1991)	8.7	344,094	It's not bad but not top 10.
	Casablanca (1943)	8.7	209,989	Tied for sixth. I'd have it higher.
9	The Departed (2006)	8.5	368,308	Way lower. Sorry, Marty.
10	American Beauty (1999)	8.5	389,392	Lower. Sorry 1999 me.
11	Lawrence of Arabia (1962)	8.5	98,407	About right.
12	Gladiator (2000)	8.4	397,268	Lower.
	Braveheart (1995)	8.4	327,548	Should've been Apollo 13.
	Amadeus (1984)	8.4	128,078	I could see this again right now.
	The Sting (1973)	8.4	85,891
	The Apartment (1960)	8.4	49,785
	The Bridge On the River Kwai (1957)	8.4	76,003
	On the Waterfront (1954)	8.4	52,369	Higher.
	All About Eve (1950)	8.4	43,955	This one, too.
	Rebecca (1940)	8.4	45,011	Hitchcock's only best picture winner. And it's Selznick's.
	Sunrise: A Song of Two Humans (1928)	8.4	15,384	Never seen it. Bad me.
22	Unforgiven (1992)	8.3	135,496	I'd say it deserves to be higher, but I keep hearing Clint's voice saying “Deserve's got nothin to do with it.”
	The Best Years of Our Lives (1946)	8.3	21,793	Hasn't aged well. Unfortunately.
	It Happened One Night (1934)	8.3	32,375	To be honest, this neither.
25	The King's Speech (2010)	8.2	155,972	This one will go down.
	Slumdog Millionaire (2008)	8.2	269,582	You, too.
	No Country For Old Men (2007)	8.2	274,692	This one will go up.
	Million Dollar Baby (2004)	8.2	204,335	I liked the ending.
	Platoon (1986)	8.2	145,818	Haven't seen since 1986.
	The Deer Hunter (1978)	8.2	117,540	Tied with Deer Hunter. Appropriate.
	Annie Hall (1977)	8.2	87,916	“Alvy Singer! Am I right?” This is top 5 for me.
	Ben-Hur (1959)	8.2	76,925	Have I ever seen this? Without commercials?
	Gone With the Wind (1939)	8.2	106,428	Once the mightiest. Now kinda like its title.
34	Gandhi (1982)	8.1	71,833	Gandhi ...
	Rocky (1976)	8.1	143,362	... and Rocky duking it out at 8.1.
	The Lost Weekend (1945)	8.1	14,287	Money's on “Gandhi.”
	All Quiet On the Western Front (1930)	8.1	28,205	The highest-ranked pre-GWTW movie. I need to see it again.
38	Crash (2005)	8.0	217,777	Oh, fuck you.
	A Beautiful Mind (2001)	8.0	202,651	Really?
	Dances With Wolves (1990)	8.0	94,144	Eh.
	Rain Man (1988)	8.0	165,428	Meh.
	Patton (1970)	8.0	49,384	Yeah.
	Midnight Cowboy (1969)	8.0	42,805
	In the Heat of the Night (1967)	8.0	26,928
	A Man For All Seasons (1966)	8.0	14,614
	You Can't Take It With You (1938)	8.0	10,500
47	The French Connection (1971)	7.9	42,667	Definition of 'gritty.'
	The Sound of Music (1965)	7.9	68,810	Oh, Julie. Higher.
	My Fair Lady (1964)	7.9	35,262	Oh, Audrey. Higher.
	From Here To Eternity (1953)	7.9	19,141	Oh, Burt. Eh.
	Hamlet (1948)	7.9	6,557	O that this too too solid film should melt...
	How Green Was My Valley (1941)	7.9	8,993
	Mutiny On the Bounty (1935)	7.9	9,276	The third Gable on the list.
54	The Last Emperor (1987)	7.8	33,160	Colors. I remember exquisite colors.
	Ordinary People (1980)	7.8	20,192	For a while I was Tim Hutton.
	Wings (1927)	7.8	3,792	Never seen.
57	The Hurt Locker (2009)	7.7	137,683	Is this the pro-“Avatar” vote or something?
	Kramer Vs. Kramer (1979)	7.7	40,353	What's this movie like now? Anyone?
	West Side Story (1961)	7.7	37,371	Git your ass up there.
	Marty (1955)	7.7	8,028
	Mrs. Miniver (1942)	7.7	6,058
62	All the King's Men (1949)	7.6	5,597
	Grand Hotel (1932)	7.6	7,300
64	Titanic (1997)	7.5	336,027	Great spectacle. I'd have it higher.
	Oliver! (1968)	7.5	12,026	Consider yourself/ About right.
66	Driving Miss Daisy (1989)	7.4	30,411	A better movie than people remember.
	Gentleman's Agreement (1947)	7.4	5,688	Movies about prejudice don't age well, do they?
	Going My Way (1944)	7.4	4,143
	The Life of Emile Zola (1937)	7.4	2,376
70	Shakespeare In Love (1998)	7.3	97,391	Will never live it down.
	The English Patient (1996)	7.3	72,322
	Terms of Endearment (1983)	7.3	21,085	Wasn't this better that this?
73	Chicago (2002)	7.2	99,936	Shouldn't the fishnets alone boost its rating?
	Chariots of Fire (1981)	7.2	20,114	“Chariots of Eggs”
	An American In Paris (1951)	7.2	11,808	So, SO wrong to be down here.
76	Out of Africa (1985)	7.0	25,363
77	Tom Jones (1963)	6.9	4,857
	Gigi (1958)	6.9	7,472
	The Great Ziegfeld (1936)	6.9	2,583
80	Around the World In 80 Days (1956)	6.8	9,129	So dull.
81	The Greatest Show On Earth (1952)	6.7	5,186	Yep. But where's its buddy, “Crash”?
82	The Broadway Melody (1929)	6.4	2,466
83	Cavalcade (1933)	6.3	1,426
84	Cimarron (1931)	6.1	1,744

........

TOMORROW: My choices....

Posted at 07:15 AM on Thu. Feb 23, 2012 in category Movies - The Oscars

COMMENTS

Extra-strength UncleVinny wrote:

No comment on “A Man for All Seasons”? What a great movie. I own and re-read the play from time to time, too. Love me some Robert Bolt.

Comment posted on Thu. Feb 23, 2012 at 10:29 AM

Erik wrote:

Vinny: Saw it about 15 years ago and liked it but wasn't over- or underwhelmed. Do I need to see it again? Or do I need to see “Cimarron” or “Cavalcade” or “Mutiny on the Bounty”?

Comment posted on Thu. Feb 23, 2012 at 11:29 AM

Daniel Davenport wrote:

A few thoughts: I'm with you on Schindler's List - it should be lower, not low, it's a good movie, but lower. I've seen King's Speech twice and No Country for Old Men twice, and I felt as thought King's Speech retained its poignancy on the second viewing and No Country didn't. If this experience is not absurdly anecdotal, then they might go in different directions than the ones you've surmised. There is something quietly beautiful to King's Speech that I did not give enough credit to on the first viewing.

Comment posted on Thu. Feb 23, 2012 at 02:22 PM

Erik wrote:

Daniel: I would say it's personal more than absurdly anecdotal. Mine's the same. For me, TKS felt too simplistic, but, you're right, there is something touching about a man trapped in a role (prince/king) in which he is forced to speak but trapped in a body that doesn't allow him to. My view of the film may still be colored by the trailer, which gave away the goods in two minutes. On the other hand, it was a movie in which it was easy for a two-minute trailer to give away the goods. It fit nicely, snugly, in its genre.

NCFOM, on the other hand, upended its genre, and movies in general, as the Coens often do. The rebel hero dies and we don't even see it. The lawman retires and has bad dreams. Evil incarnate lives.

Comment posted on Thu. Feb 23, 2012 at 02:41 PM

Extra-strength UncleVinny wrote:

I feel terrible, can't locate my copy of A Man for All Seasons. And I bought it in England! Bummer. I think it might be better reading than watching... but I don't remember for sure. Anyway, Paul Scofield is always a rollickin' good time.