The Best Picture Oscar winner each year since 1929
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The best works are a reflection of the era in which they were created.
- Dustin Clendenen, PrettyFamous.com
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The best works are a reflection of the era in which they were created. With the Oscars just around the corner, everyone is abuzz about what will be named this past season's best picture.
In stark contrast to last year's diversity problem (#OscarsSoWhite), the 2017 list of nominees has three stellar contenders dominated by black casts, including "Hidden Figures," "Moonlight" and "Fences." The romantic musical "La La Land," the sci-fi drama "Arrival," "Hell or High Water," "Hacksaw Ridge," "Manchester by the Sea" and "Lion" round out the nominations.
How will we come to remember 2016 through the lens of its best picture? We won't find out until Feb. 26. But in the meantime, PrettyFamous, an entertainment site by Graphiq, gathered the best picture winners for each year since 1929 -- a snapshot of what was happening in our culture the year you were born.
In addition to identifying the best picture winner each year, PrettyFamous also included each movie's Smart Rating — a score out of 100 that takes into account a movie's IMDb rating, Rotten Tomatoes' Tomatometer and Audience Scores, Gracenote rating, Metacritic Metascore and the inflation-adjusted U.S. box office gross.
Perhaps you're a baby-boomer from the time of America's transforming labor movement (as depicted in 1954's "On the Waterfront") or a millennial born of the '80s excess depicted in "Rain Man" (winner of best picture in 1988). Maybe you're a pre-teen born in 2006, where "Crash's" exploration of racism won the top honor two years before Obama was elected president. Whoever you are, these movies can serve as a barometer of what was happening in our culture in your birth year.
Note: Movie descriptions were sourced (with minor edits) from Gracenote.
Compiles by Dustin Clendenen, PrettyFamous.com
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Best picture: "Wings"
Smart Rating: 87.8
Starring: Clara Bow, Charles "Buddy" Rogers, Richard Arlen
Two World War I pilots (Charles "Buddy" Rogers, Richard Arlen) woo a young woman (Clara Bow) and fight the Germans.
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Best picture: "The Broadway Melody"
Smart Rating: 73.72
Starring: Bessie Love, Anita Page, Charles King
Midwestern sisters (Bessie Love, Anita Page) go to New York, where one flirts with the other's dancer boyfriend (Charles King).
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Best picture: "All Quiet on the Western Front"
Smart Rating: 92.15
Starring: Lew Ayres, Louis Wolheim, John Wray
A German youth eagerly enters World War I, but his enthusiasm wanes as he gets a firsthand view of the horror.
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Best picture: "Cimarron"
Smart Rating: 77.56
Starring: Richard Dix, Irene Dunne, Estelle Taylor
Husband-and-wife homesteaders (Richard Dix, Irene Dunne) join the Oklahoma land rush of 1889 and stay on to build an empire.
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Best picture: "Grand Hotel"
Smart Rating: 89.17
Starring: Greta Garbo, Joan Crawford, John Barrymore
A ballerina (Greta Garbo), baron (John Barrymore), stenographer (Joan Crawford), bookkeeper and tycoon check into Berlin's Grand Hotel.
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Best picture: "Cavalcade"
Smart Rating: 79.86
Starring: Diana Wynyard, Clive Brook, Una O'Connor
Upper-crust Londoners Robert and Jane Marryot (Clive Brook, Diana Wynyard) and their working-class counterparts, Alfred and Ellen Bridges, experience life's many triumphs and tragedies from the Boer War at the dawn of the 20th century up to 1930s.
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Best picture: "It Happened One Night"
Smart Rating: 92.65
Starring: Claudette Colbert, Clark Gable, Walter Connolly
A newsman (Clark Gable) rides a bus and shares a cabin with a tycoon's (Walter Connolly) runaway daughter (Claudette Colbert).
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Best picture: "Mutiny on the Bounty"
Smart Rating: 90.73
Starring: Charles Laughton, Clark Gable, Franchot Tone
First mate Mr. Christian (Clark Gable) and his 18th-century shipmates overthrow cruel Capt. Bligh (Charles Laughton) and set him adrift in the Pacific.
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Best picture: "The Great Ziegfeld"
Smart Rating: 83.83
Starring: William Powell, Luise Rainer, Myrna Loy
The life and times of Broadway showman Florenz Ziegfeld (William Powell) and his two wives (Luise Rainer, Myrna Loy).
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Best picture: "The Life of Emile Zola"
Smart Rating: 87.31
Starring: Paul Muni, Joseph Schildkraut, Gale Sondergaard
The 1800s French novelist (Paul Muni) defends Capt. Alfred Dreyfus (Joseph Schildkraut) against treason charges.
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Best picture: "You Can't Take It with You"
Smart Rating: 91.22
Starring: Jean Arthur, Lionel Barrymore, James Stewart
An eccentric patriarch (Lionel Barrymore) meets the stuffy parents of his granddaughter's (Jean Arthur) fiance (James Stewart).
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Best picture: "Gone with the Wind"
Smart Rating: 96.06
Starring: Clark Gable, Vivien Leigh, Leslie Howard
A fiery Southern belle struggles to return her family's estate to its original magnificence after the Civil War.
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Best picture: "Rebecca"
Smart Rating: 92.93
Starring: Laurence Olivier, Joan Fontaine, Judith Anderson
A British gentleman's (Laurence Olivier) innocent bride (Joan Fontaine) grapples with intrusive reminders of his deceased wife.
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Best picture: "How Green Was My Valley"
Smart Rating: 90.15
Starring: Walter Pidgeon, Maureen O'Hara, Roddy McDowall
Five Oscars went to John Ford's adaptation of Richard Llewellyn's novel chronicling the life of a Welsh mining family.
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Best picture: "Mrs. Miniver"
Smart Rating: 90.52
Starring: Greer Garson, Walter Pidgeon, Dame May Whitty
William Wyler's Oscar-winning classic about the tensions faced by a family of hard-working Brits in war-torn England.
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Best picture: "Casablanca"
Smart Rating: 94.4
Starring: Humphrey Bogart, Ingrid Bergman, Paul Henreid
A cynical nightclub owner (Humphrey Bogart) protects an old flame (Ingrid Bergman) and her husband (Paul Henreid) from Nazis in Morocco.
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Best picture: "Going My Way"
Smart Rating: 87.99
Starring: Bing Crosby, Barry Fitzgerald, Rise Stevens
Singing Father O'Malley (Bing Crosby) bails out crusty Father Fitzgibbon's (Barry Fitzgerald) financially strapped parish.
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Best picture: "The Lost Weekend"
Smart Rating: 92.21
Starring: Ray Milland, Jane Wyman, Howard da Silva
Billy Wilder's Academy Award-winning portrait of an alcoholic writer facing a losing battle against the bottle.
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Best picture: "The Best Years of Our Lives"
Smart Rating: 92.56
Starring: Fredric March, Myrna Loy, Dana Andrews
A disabled serviceman and two other veterans (Fredric March, Dana Andrews) have difficulty adjusting to civilian life after World War II.
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Best picture: "Gentleman's Agreement"
Smart Rating: 88.2
Starring: Gregory Peck, Dorothy McGuire, John Garfield
A journalist (Gregory Peck) moves to New York City and poses as a Jew to experience anti-Semitism for a magazine article.
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Best picture: "Hamlet"
Smart Rating: 90.14
Starring: Laurence Olivier, Jean Simmons, Basil Sydney
A young Danish prince wrestles with his conscience when he is confronted with questions of treachery and madness.
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Best picture: "All the King's Men"
Smart Rating: 87.91
Starring: Broderick Crawford, Joanne Dru, Mercedes McCambridge
Power and ambition corrupt an idealistic Southern politician. Winner of three Oscars, including best picture.
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Best picture: "All About Eve"
Smart Rating: 93.11
Starring: Bette Davis, Anne Baxter, Celeste Holm
A Broadway star (Bette Davis) takes a young and seemingly naive aspiring actress (Anne Baxter) under her wing.
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Best picture: "An American in Paris"
Smart Rating: 89.98
Starring: Gene Kelly, Leslie Caron, Oscar Levant
An American soldier (Gene Kelly) stays in Paris after World War II to paint and falls in love with a French beauty (Leslie Caron).
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Best picture: "The Greatest Show on Earth"
Smart Rating: 82.21
Starring: Betty Hutton, Charlton Heston, Cornel Wilde
A high-wire artist, the girlfriend (Betty Hutton) of a circus manager (Charlton Heston), falls for a French aerialist (Cornel Wilde).
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Best picture: "From Here to Eternity"
Smart Rating: 90.97
Starring: Burt Lancaster, Montgomery Clift, Deborah Kerr
While a Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor looms, an Army sergeant (Burt Lancaster), a former boxer (Montgomery Clift) and an officer's wife (Deborah Kerr) become entangled with others at an Army base on Oahu.
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Best picture: "On the Waterfront"
Smart Rating: 94.11
Starring: Marlon Brando, Eva Marie Saint, Karl Malden
A conscience-stricken ex-boxer (Marlon Brando) stands up to a corrupt union boss after unwittingly participating in a fellow longshoreman's murder.
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Best picture: "Marty"
Smart Rating: 91.7
Starring: Ernest Borgnine, Betsy Blair, Joe Mantell
A lonely, heavy-set Bronx butcher (Ernest Borgnine), who lives with his mother, finds his soul mate in a shy schoolteacher (Betsy Blair).
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Best picture: "Around the World in 80 Days"
Smart Rating: 84.47
Starring: David Niven, Cantinflas, Shirley MacLaine
Victorian Phileas Fogg (David Niven) bets members of his London club that he and his valet, Passepartout (Cantinflas), can circle the globe in 80 days.
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Best picture: "The Bridge on the River Kwai"
Smart Rating: 92.59
Starring: William Holden, Alec Guinness, Sessue Hayakawa
A British POW colonel (Alec Guinness) orders his men to build their Japanese captor (Sessue Hayakawa) a railway bridge in the jungle.
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Best picture: "Gigi"
Smart Rating: 87.35
Starring: Leslie Caron, Maurice Chevalier, Louis Jourdan
An heir (Louis Jourdan) finds that he wants to marry the teen (Leslie Caron) groomed to be his mistress in '90s Paris.
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Best picture: "Ben-Hur"
Smart Rating: 91.57
Starring: Charlton Heston, Jack Hawkins, Stephen Boyd
An enslaved Judean prince (Charlton Heston) meets his Roman betrayer (Stephen Boyd), a former friend, in a chariot race.
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Best picture: "The Apartment"
Smart Rating: 92.68
Starring: Jack Lemmon, Shirley MacLaine, Fred MacMurray
A corporate climber (Jack Lemmon), whose boss (Fred MacMurray) and others use his apartment for hanky-panky, aids a young woman (Shirley MacLaine).
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Best picture: "West Side Story"
Smart Rating: 91.18
Starring: Natalie Wood, Richard Beymer, Russ Tamblyn
Rival New York City gangs affect the love of a young man (Richard Beymer) and woman (Natalie Wood) from each side.
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Best picture: "Lawrence of Arabia"
Smart Rating: 95.34
Starring: Peter O'Toole, Alec Guinness, Anthony Quinn
Controversial British officer T.E. Lawrence (Peter O'Toole) learns the culture of Arabs (Alec Guinness, Anthony Quinn) and unites their tribes against the Turks.
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Best picture: "Tom Jones"
Smart Rating: 86.46
Starring: Albert Finney, Susannah York, Hugh Griffith
Henry Fielding's lusty foundling hero (Albert Finney) meets a series of attractive women in 18th-century England.
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Best picture: "My Fair Lady"
Smart Rating: 91.9
Starring: Audrey Hepburn, Rex Harrison, Stanley Holloway
Oscar-winning adaptation of the Broadway hit about an English professor (Rex Harrison) who teaches a cockney merchant (Audrey Hepburn) to be a lady.
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Best picture: "The Sound of Music"
Smart Rating: 91.33
Starring: Julie Andrews, Christopher Plummer, Eleanor Parker
A novitiate (Julie Andrews) leaves her convent and becomes governess to Capt. Von Trapp's (Christopher Plummer) seven children in Austria before World War II.
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Best picture: "A Man for All Seasons"
Smart Rating: 90.09
Starring: Paul Scofield, Robert Shaw, Orson Welles
Sir Thomas More (Paul Scofield) opposes Henry VIII's (Robert Shaw) appointing himself head of the Church of England.
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Best picture: "In the Heat of the Night"
Smart Rating: 92.18
Starring: Sidney Poitier, Rod Steiger, Warren Oates
A black Philadelphia detective (Sidney Poitier) helps a white Mississippi sheriff (Rod Steiger) solve a murder.
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Best picture: "Oliver!"
Smart Rating: 89.03
Starring: Ron Moody, Oliver Reed, Mark Lester
Dickens' Oliver Twist (Mark Lester) goes from parish boy to Fagin's (Ron Moody) pickpocketing school to the clutches of murderous Bill Sikes (Oliver Reed).
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Best picture: "Midnight Cowboy"
Smart Rating: 91.16
Starring: Dustin Hoffman, Jon Voight, Sylvia Miles
Texas hustler Joe Buck (Jon Voight) works 42nd Street with ailing con man Ratso Rizzo (Dustin Hoffman).
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Best picture: "Patton"
Smart Rating: 93.65
Starring: George C. Scott, Karl Malden, Michael Bates
Flamboyant Gen. George S. Patton (George C. Scott) receives accolades and censure as he fights World War II.
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Best picture: "The French Connection"
Smart Rating: 93.87
Starring: Gene Hackman, Fernando Rey, Roy Scheider
New York Detective "Popeye" Doyle (Gene Hackman) and his partner (Roy Scheider) chase a French heroin smuggler.
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Best picture: "The Godfather"
Smart Rating: 100
Starring: Marlon Brando, Al Pacino, James Caan
Crime boss Vito Corleone (Marlon Brando) and his sons (Al Pacino, James Caan) rule their New York empire with Mafia justice.
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Best picture: "The Sting"
Smart Rating: 92.88
Starring: Paul Newman, Robert Redford, Robert Shaw
To avenge a murder, two con men (Paul Newman, Robert Redford) bilk a mobster (Robert Shaw) with their betting-room scam in 1930s Chicago.
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Best picture: "The Godfather Part II"
Smart Rating: 93.9
Starring: Al Pacino, Robert Duvall, Diane Keaton
Michael Corleone (Al Pacino) rules his father's criminal empire, while flashbacks recall young Vito's (Robert De Niro) climb to power.
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Best picture: "One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest"
Smart Rating: 95.31
Starring: Jack Nicholson, Louise Fletcher, Brad Dourif
Mental patients follow Randle P. McMurphy (Jack Nicholson), the social-misfit hero of Ken Kesey's novel.
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Best picture: "Rocky"
Smart Rating: 91.35
Starring: Sylvester Stallone, Talia Shire, Burgess Meredith
Heavyweight champ Apollo Creed gives Philadelphia club fighter Rocky Balboa (Sylvester Stallone) a title shot.
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Best picture: "Annie Hall"
Smart Rating: 93.18
Starring: Woody Allen, Diane Keaton, Tony Roberts
A New York comedian (Woody Allen) recalls his lost love, a kooky singer (Diane Keaton) with a style all her own.
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Best picture: "The Deer Hunter"
Smart Rating: 92.68
Starring: Robert De Niro, Christopher Walken, John Savage
The horrors of Vietnam affect three Pennsylvania steelworkers (Robert De Niro, Christopher Walken, John Savage), lifelong friends who served together.
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Best picture: "Kramer vs. Kramer"
Smart Rating: 91.55
Starring: Dustin Hoffman, Meryl Streep, Justin Henry
A New York adman (Dustin Hoffman) fights for custody of his son (Justin Henry) after his wife (Meryl Streep) walks out.
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Best picture: "Ordinary People"
Smart Rating: 92.23
Starring: Donald Sutherland, Timothy Hutton, Mary Tyler Moore
A suburban Chicago couple (Donald Sutherland, Mary Tyler Moore) and their son (Timothy Hutton) are torn apart by another son's death.
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Best picture: "Chariots of Fire"
Smart Rating: 89.09
Starring: Ben Cross, Ian Charleson, John Gielgud
Personal goals spur British runners Harold Abrahams (Ben Cross) and Eric Liddell (Ian Charleson) to compete in the 1924 Olympics.
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Best picture: "Gandhi"
Smart Rating: 91.9
Starring: Ben Kingsley, Candice Bergen, Edward Fox
Richard Attenborough's Oscar-winning portrait of the man whose policy of nonviolence won India's independence.
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Best picture: "Terms of Endearment"
Smart Rating: 90.94
Starring: Shirley MacLaine, Debra Winger, Jack Nicholson
A strong-willed woman (Shirley MacLaine) and her equally independent daughter (Debra Winger) keep the lines of communication open as each deals with the curveballs life throws at them.
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Best picture: "Amadeus"
Smart Rating: 94.75
Starring: F. Murray Abraham, Tom Hulce, Jeffrey Jones
Antonio Salieri (F. Murray Abraham), court composer in Vienna, confesses in old age to his sins against the young genius Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (Tom Hulce).
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Best picture: "Out of Africa"
Smart Rating: 86.51
Starring: Meryl Streep, Robert Redford, Klaus Maria Brandauer
Married Baroness Blixen (Meryl Streep), pen name Isak Dinesen, loves British hunter Denys Finch Hatton (Robert Redford) in early 1900s Kenya.
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Best picture: "Platoon"
Smart Rating: 92.74
Starring: Tom Berenger, Willem Dafoe, Charlie Sheen
Two sergeants (Tom Berenger, Willem Dafoe) and a private (Charlie Sheen) join others lost in war along the 1967 Cambodian border.
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Best picture: "The Last Emperor"
Smart Rating: 91.61
Starring: John Lone, Joan Chen, Peter O'Toole
The story of the final Emperor of China.
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Best picture: "Rain Man"
Smart Rating: 92.1
Starring: Dustin Hoffman, Tom Cruise, Valeria Golino
A wheeler-dealer (Tom Cruise) meets his brother (Dustin Hoffman), an institutionalized autistic-savant, heir to $3 million.
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Best picture: "Driving Miss Daisy"
Smart Rating: 90.34
Starring: Morgan Freeman, Jessica Tandy, Dan Aykroyd
An Atlanta widow (Jessica Tandy) and her chauffeur (Morgan Freeman) reflect the changing times, from 1948 to 1973.
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Best picture: "Dances With Wolves"
Smart Rating: 91.13
Starring: Kevin Costner, Mary McDonnell, Graham Greene
Costner's epic vision of the American frontier as seen through the eyes of a 19th-century U.S. Cavalry officer.
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Best picture: "The Silence of the Lambs"
Smart Rating: 96.37
Starring: Jodie Foster, Anthony Hopkins, Scott Glenn
An FBI trainee (Jodie Foster) seeks advice from a brilliant, psychopathic prisoner (Anthony Hopkins) to catch a killer who skins his victims.
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Best picture: "Unforgiven"
Smart Rating: 93.94
Starring: Clint Eastwood, Gene Hackman, Morgan Freeman
An old gunslinger (Clint Eastwood), his ex-partner (Morgan Freeman) and a quick-draw kid go bounty hunting in a town called Big Whiskey.
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Best picture: "Schindler's List"
Smart Rating: 97.46
Starring: Liam Neeson, Ben Kingsley, Ralph Fiennes
German industrialist Oskar Schindler (Liam Neeson) plots with his accountant (Ben Kingsley) to save Jewish prisoners from the Nazis.
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Best picture: "Forrest Gump"
Smart Rating: 95.86
Starring: Tom Hanks, Robin Wright, Gary Sinise
JFK, LBJ, Vietnam, Watergate and other historical events unfold through the perspective of an Alabama man (Tom Hanks) with an IQ of 75.
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Best picture: "Braveheart"
Smart Rating: 92.22
Starring: Mel Gibson, Sophie Marceau, Patrick McGoohan
Enraged by the killing of his wife, Scotsman William Wallace (Mel Gibson) leads a revolt against the tyrannical English king (Patrick McGoohan) in the 13th century.
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Best picture: "The English Patient"
Smart Rating: 91.38
Starring: Ralph Fiennes, Juliette Binoche, Willem Dafoe
A Hungarian count's (Ralph Fiennes) fling with a British newlywed leads to tragedy in World War II North Africa.
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Best picture: "Titanic"
Smart Rating: 92.51
Starring: Leonardo DiCaprio, Kate Winslet, Billy Zane
A society girl (Kate Winslet) abandons her haughty fiancé (Billy Zane) for a penniless artist (Leonardo DiCaprio) on the ill-fated ship's maiden voyage.
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Best picture: "Shakespeare in Love"
Smart Rating: 91.75
Starring: Joseph Fiennes, Gwyneth Paltrow, Geoffrey Rush
Young William Shakespeare (Joseph Fiennes) falls for Viola (Gwyneth Paltrow), reawakening his creativity, but she is betrothed to Wessex.
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Best picture: "American Beauty"
Smart Rating: 95.43
Starring: Kevin Spacey, Annette Bening, Thora Birch
A man (Kevin Spacey) in midlife crisis and at odds with his wife (Annette Bening) begins working out to impress his teenage daughter's (Thora Birch) friend.
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Best picture: "Gladiator"
Smart Rating: 92.84
Starring: Russell Crowe, Joaquin Phoenix, Connie Nielsen
Condemned to arena fights by corrupt Roman leader Commodus (Joaquin Phoenix), Gen. Maximus (Russell Crowe) seeks revenge for his family's deaths.
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Best picture: "A Beautiful Mind"
Smart Rating: 92.44
Starring: Russell Crowe, Ed Harris, Jennifer Connelly
Mathematics genius John Forbes Nash Jr. (Russell Crowe) has paranoid schizophrenia but becomes a Nobel laureate late in life.
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Best picture: "Chicago"
Smart Rating: 91.16
Starring: Catherine Zeta-Jones, Renée Zellweger, Richard Gere
A lawyer (Richard Gere) handles the cases of two murderous women (Catherine Zeta-Jones, Renée Zellweger) who are looking to gain celebrity from their public exposure.
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Best picture: "The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King"
Smart Rating: 97.93
Starring: Elijah Wood, Ian McKellen, Liv Tyler
Frodo (Elijah Wood) and Sam march toward Mount Doom to destroy the ring, while Gandalf (Ian McKellen) and warriors prepare for a final confrontation with Sauron and his allies.
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Best picture: "Million Dollar Baby"
Smart Rating: 94.06
Starring: Clint Eastwood, Hilary Swank, Morgan Freeman
A deep bond develops between a cantankerous trainer (Clint Eastwood) and the female boxer (Hilary Swank) he reluctantly takes under his wing.
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Best picture: "Crash"
Smart Rating: 90.69
Starring: Sandra Bullock, Don Cheadle, Matt Dillon
Racial tensions collide in a collection of intertwined stories involving residents (Sandra Bullock, Don Cheadle, Matt Dillon) of Los Angeles.
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Best picture: "The Departed"
Smart Rating: 95.95
Starring: Leonardo DiCaprio, Matt Damon, Jack Nicholson
In Boston an undercover cop (Leonardo DiCaprio) gains a gangland chief's (Jack Nicholson) trust, while a career criminal (Matt Damon) infiltrates the police force for the mob.
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Best picture: "No Country for Old Men"
Smart Rating: 94.69
Starring: Tommy Lee Jones, Javier Bardem, Josh Brolin
An aging lawman (Tommy Lee Jones) reflects on his past and laments a changing world while trying to find and protect a hunter who took the cash from a drug deal gone bad.
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Best picture: "Slumdog Millionaire"
Smart Rating: 94.61
Starring: Dev Patel, Freida Pinto, Madhur Mittal
Flashbacks reveal how a poor youth (Dev Patel) came to be a prize-winning contestant on one of India's most-popular game shows.
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Best picture: "The Hurt Locker"
Smart Rating: 93.83
Starring: Jeremy Renner, Anthony Mackie, Brian Geraghty
Members (Jeremy Renner, Anthony Mackie, Brian Geraghty) of a bomb-disposal unit in Baghdad face increasingly perilous situations as their tour-of-duty winds down.
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Best picture: "The King's Speech"
Smart Rating: 94.69
Starring: Colin Firth, Geoffrey Rush, Helena Bonham Carter
An extraordinary friendship forms between England's King George VI (Colin Firth) and the Australian actor/speech therapist (Geoffrey Rush) who helps him overcome a stammer.
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Best picture: "The Artist"
Smart Rating: 93.49
Starring: Jean Dujardin, Bérénice Bejo, John Goodman
The arrival of sound in motion pictures signals the end of one superstar's (Jean Dujardin) career, while a young ingenue (Bérénice Bejo) stands poised to hit the big time.
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Best picture: "Argo"
Smart Rating: 94.15
Starring: Ben Affleck, Bryan Cranston, Alan Arkin
During the Iran hostage crisis, an extraction specialist (Ben Affleck) in the CIA poses as a Hollywood film producer to rescue six Americans who eluded Iranian militants and found refuge with the Canadian ambassador.
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Best picture: "12 Years A Slave"
Smart Rating: 95.11
Starring: Chiwetel Ejiofor, Michael Fassbender, Benedict Cumberbatch
In the years before the Civil War, Solomon Northup (Chiwetel Ejiofor), a free black man from upstate New York, is kidnapped and sold into slavery in the South. Subjected to the cruelty of one malevolent owner (Michael Fassbender), he also finds unexpected kindness from another, as he struggles continually to survive and maintain some of his dignity. Then in the 12th year of the disheartening ordeal, a chance meeting with an abolitionist from Canada changes Solomon's life forever.
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Best picture: "Birdman or (The Unexpected Virtue of Ignorance)"
Smart Rating: 92.71
Starring: Michael Keaton, Zach Galifianakis, Edward Norton
Former cinema superhero Riggan Thomson (Michael Keaton) is mounting an ambitious Broadway production that he hopes will breathe new life into his stagnant career. It's risky, but he hopes that his creative gamble will prove that he's a real artist and not just a washed-up movie star. As opening night approaches, a castmate is injured, forcing Riggan to hire an actor (Edward Norton) who is guaranteed to shake things up. Meanwhile, Riggan must deal with his girlfriend, daughter and ex-wife.
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Best picture: "Spotlight"
Smart Rating: 94.44
Starring: Mark Ruffalo, Michael Keaton, Rachel McAdams
In 2001, editor Marty Baron of The Boston Globe assigns a team of journalists to investigate allegations against John Geoghan, an unfrocked priest accused of molesting more than 80 boys. Led by editor Walter "Robby" Robinson (Michael Keaton), reporters Michael Rezendes (Mark Ruffalo), Matt Carroll and Sacha Pfeiffer interview victims and try to unseal sensitive documents. The reporters make it their mission to provide proof of a cover-up of sexual abuse within the Roman Catholic Church.
More like this...
- Dustin Clendenen, PrettyFamous.com
The best works are a reflection of the era in which they were created. With the Oscars just around the corner, everyone is abuzz about what will be named this past season's best picture.
In stark contrast to last year's diversity problem (#OscarsSoWhite), the 2017 list of nominees has three stellar contenders dominated by black casts, including "Hidden Figures," "Moonlight" and "Fences." The romantic musical "La La Land," the sci-fi drama "Arrival," "Hell or High Water," "Hacksaw Ridge," "Manchester by the Sea" and "Lion" round out the nominations.
How will we come to remember 2016 through the lens of its best picture? We won't find out until Feb. 26. But in the meantime, PrettyFamous, an entertainment site by Graphiq, gathered the best picture winners for each year since 1929 -- a snapshot of what was happening in our culture the year you were born.
In addition to identifying the best picture winner each year, PrettyFamous also included each movie's Smart Rating — a score out of 100 that takes into account a movie's IMDb rating, Rotten Tomatoes' Tomatometer and Audience Scores, Gracenote rating, Metacritic Metascore and the inflation-adjusted U.S. box office gross.
Perhaps you're a baby-boomer from the time of America's transforming labor movement (as depicted in 1954's "On the Waterfront") or a millennial born of the '80s excess depicted in "Rain Man" (winner of best picture in 1988). Maybe you're a pre-teen born in 2006, where "Crash's" exploration of racism won the top honor two years before Obama was elected president. Whoever you are, these movies can serve as a barometer of what was happening in our culture in your birth year.
Note: Movie descriptions were sourced (with minor edits) from Gracenote.
Compiles by Dustin Clendenen, PrettyFamous.com
Best picture: "Cavalcade"
Smart Rating: 79.86
Starring: Diana Wynyard, Clive Brook, Una O'Connor
Upper-crust Londoners Robert and Jane Marryot (Clive Brook, Diana Wynyard) and their working-class counterparts, Alfred and Ellen Bridges, experience life's many triumphs and tragedies from the Boer War at the dawn of the 20th century up to 1930s.
Best picture: "Mutiny on the Bounty"
Smart Rating: 90.73
Starring: Charles Laughton, Clark Gable, Franchot Tone
First mate Mr. Christian (Clark Gable) and his 18th-century shipmates overthrow cruel Capt. Bligh (Charles Laughton) and set him adrift in the Pacific.
Best picture: "The Best Years of Our Lives"
Smart Rating: 92.56
Starring: Fredric March, Myrna Loy, Dana Andrews
A disabled serviceman and two other veterans (Fredric March, Dana Andrews) have difficulty adjusting to civilian life after World War II.
Best picture: "The Greatest Show on Earth"
Smart Rating: 82.21
Starring: Betty Hutton, Charlton Heston, Cornel Wilde
A high-wire artist, the girlfriend (Betty Hutton) of a circus manager (Charlton Heston), falls for a French aerialist (Cornel Wilde).
Best picture: "From Here to Eternity"
Smart Rating: 90.97
Starring: Burt Lancaster, Montgomery Clift, Deborah Kerr
While a Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor looms, an Army sergeant (Burt Lancaster), a former boxer (Montgomery Clift) and an officer's wife (Deborah Kerr) become entangled with others at an Army base on Oahu.
Best picture: "On the Waterfront"
Smart Rating: 94.11
Starring: Marlon Brando, Eva Marie Saint, Karl Malden
A conscience-stricken ex-boxer (Marlon Brando) stands up to a corrupt union boss after unwittingly participating in a fellow longshoreman's murder.
Best picture: "Around the World in 80 Days"
Smart Rating: 84.47
Starring: David Niven, Cantinflas, Shirley MacLaine
Victorian Phileas Fogg (David Niven) bets members of his London club that he and his valet, Passepartout (Cantinflas), can circle the globe in 80 days.
Best picture: "The Bridge on the River Kwai"
Smart Rating: 92.59
Starring: William Holden, Alec Guinness, Sessue Hayakawa
A British POW colonel (Alec Guinness) orders his men to build their Japanese captor (Sessue Hayakawa) a railway bridge in the jungle.
Best picture: "The Apartment"
Smart Rating: 92.68
Starring: Jack Lemmon, Shirley MacLaine, Fred MacMurray
A corporate climber (Jack Lemmon), whose boss (Fred MacMurray) and others use his apartment for hanky-panky, aids a young woman (Shirley MacLaine).
Best picture: "Lawrence of Arabia"
Smart Rating: 95.34
Starring: Peter O'Toole, Alec Guinness, Anthony Quinn
Controversial British officer T.E. Lawrence (Peter O'Toole) learns the culture of Arabs (Alec Guinness, Anthony Quinn) and unites their tribes against the Turks.
Best picture: "My Fair Lady"
Smart Rating: 91.9
Starring: Audrey Hepburn, Rex Harrison, Stanley Holloway
Oscar-winning adaptation of the Broadway hit about an English professor (Rex Harrison) who teaches a cockney merchant (Audrey Hepburn) to be a lady.
Best picture: "The Sound of Music"
Smart Rating: 91.33
Starring: Julie Andrews, Christopher Plummer, Eleanor Parker
A novitiate (Julie Andrews) leaves her convent and becomes governess to Capt. Von Trapp's (Christopher Plummer) seven children in Austria before World War II.
Best picture: "The Deer Hunter"
Smart Rating: 92.68
Starring: Robert De Niro, Christopher Walken, John Savage
The horrors of Vietnam affect three Pennsylvania steelworkers (Robert De Niro, Christopher Walken, John Savage), lifelong friends who served together.
Best picture: "Terms of Endearment"
Smart Rating: 90.94
Starring: Shirley MacLaine, Debra Winger, Jack Nicholson
A strong-willed woman (Shirley MacLaine) and her equally independent daughter (Debra Winger) keep the lines of communication open as each deals with the curveballs life throws at them.
Best picture: "Amadeus"
Smart Rating: 94.75
Starring: F. Murray Abraham, Tom Hulce, Jeffrey Jones
Antonio Salieri (F. Murray Abraham), court composer in Vienna, confesses in old age to his sins against the young genius Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (Tom Hulce).
Best picture: "Out of Africa"
Smart Rating: 86.51
Starring: Meryl Streep, Robert Redford, Klaus Maria Brandauer
Married Baroness Blixen (Meryl Streep), pen name Isak Dinesen, loves British hunter Denys Finch Hatton (Robert Redford) in early 1900s Kenya.
Best picture: "The Silence of the Lambs"
Smart Rating: 96.37
Starring: Jodie Foster, Anthony Hopkins, Scott Glenn
An FBI trainee (Jodie Foster) seeks advice from a brilliant, psychopathic prisoner (Anthony Hopkins) to catch a killer who skins his victims.
Best picture: "Braveheart"
Smart Rating: 92.22
Starring: Mel Gibson, Sophie Marceau, Patrick McGoohan
Enraged by the killing of his wife, Scotsman William Wallace (Mel Gibson) leads a revolt against the tyrannical English king (Patrick McGoohan) in the 13th century.
Best picture: "Titanic"
Smart Rating: 92.51
Starring: Leonardo DiCaprio, Kate Winslet, Billy Zane
A society girl (Kate Winslet) abandons her haughty fiancé (Billy Zane) for a penniless artist (Leonardo DiCaprio) on the ill-fated ship's maiden voyage.
Best picture: "Shakespeare in Love"
Smart Rating: 91.75
Starring: Joseph Fiennes, Gwyneth Paltrow, Geoffrey Rush
Young William Shakespeare (Joseph Fiennes) falls for Viola (Gwyneth Paltrow), reawakening his creativity, but she is betrothed to Wessex.
Best picture: "American Beauty"
Smart Rating: 95.43
Starring: Kevin Spacey, Annette Bening, Thora Birch
A man (Kevin Spacey) in midlife crisis and at odds with his wife (Annette Bening) begins working out to impress his teenage daughter's (Thora Birch) friend.
Best picture: "Gladiator"
Smart Rating: 92.84
Starring: Russell Crowe, Joaquin Phoenix, Connie Nielsen
Condemned to arena fights by corrupt Roman leader Commodus (Joaquin Phoenix), Gen. Maximus (Russell Crowe) seeks revenge for his family's deaths.
Best picture: "Chicago"
Smart Rating: 91.16
Starring: Catherine Zeta-Jones, Renée Zellweger, Richard Gere
A lawyer (Richard Gere) handles the cases of two murderous women (Catherine Zeta-Jones, Renée Zellweger) who are looking to gain celebrity from their public exposure.
Best picture: "The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King"
Smart Rating: 97.93
Starring: Elijah Wood, Ian McKellen, Liv Tyler
Frodo (Elijah Wood) and Sam march toward Mount Doom to destroy the ring, while Gandalf (Ian McKellen) and warriors prepare for a final confrontation with Sauron and his allies.
Best picture: "Million Dollar Baby"
Smart Rating: 94.06
Starring: Clint Eastwood, Hilary Swank, Morgan Freeman
A deep bond develops between a cantankerous trainer (Clint Eastwood) and the female boxer (Hilary Swank) he reluctantly takes under his wing.
Best picture: "The Departed"
Smart Rating: 95.95
Starring: Leonardo DiCaprio, Matt Damon, Jack Nicholson
In Boston an undercover cop (Leonardo DiCaprio) gains a gangland chief's (Jack Nicholson) trust, while a career criminal (Matt Damon) infiltrates the police force for the mob.
Best picture: "No Country for Old Men"
Smart Rating: 94.69
Starring: Tommy Lee Jones, Javier Bardem, Josh Brolin
An aging lawman (Tommy Lee Jones) reflects on his past and laments a changing world while trying to find and protect a hunter who took the cash from a drug deal gone bad.
Best picture: "The Hurt Locker"
Smart Rating: 93.83
Starring: Jeremy Renner, Anthony Mackie, Brian Geraghty
Members (Jeremy Renner, Anthony Mackie, Brian Geraghty) of a bomb-disposal unit in Baghdad face increasingly perilous situations as their tour-of-duty winds down.
Best picture: "The King's Speech"
Smart Rating: 94.69
Starring: Colin Firth, Geoffrey Rush, Helena Bonham Carter
An extraordinary friendship forms between England's King George VI (Colin Firth) and the Australian actor/speech therapist (Geoffrey Rush) who helps him overcome a stammer.
Best picture: "The Artist"
Smart Rating: 93.49
Starring: Jean Dujardin, Bérénice Bejo, John Goodman
The arrival of sound in motion pictures signals the end of one superstar's (Jean Dujardin) career, while a young ingenue (Bérénice Bejo) stands poised to hit the big time.
Best picture: "Argo"
Smart Rating: 94.15
Starring: Ben Affleck, Bryan Cranston, Alan Arkin
During the Iran hostage crisis, an extraction specialist (Ben Affleck) in the CIA poses as a Hollywood film producer to rescue six Americans who eluded Iranian militants and found refuge with the Canadian ambassador.
Best picture: "12 Years A Slave"
Smart Rating: 95.11
Starring: Chiwetel Ejiofor, Michael Fassbender, Benedict Cumberbatch
In the years before the Civil War, Solomon Northup (Chiwetel Ejiofor), a free black man from upstate New York, is kidnapped and sold into slavery in the South. Subjected to the cruelty of one malevolent owner (Michael Fassbender), he also finds unexpected kindness from another, as he struggles continually to survive and maintain some of his dignity. Then in the 12th year of the disheartening ordeal, a chance meeting with an abolitionist from Canada changes Solomon's life forever.
Best picture: "Birdman or (The Unexpected Virtue of Ignorance)"
Smart Rating: 92.71
Starring: Michael Keaton, Zach Galifianakis, Edward Norton
Former cinema superhero Riggan Thomson (Michael Keaton) is mounting an ambitious Broadway production that he hopes will breathe new life into his stagnant career. It's risky, but he hopes that his creative gamble will prove that he's a real artist and not just a washed-up movie star. As opening night approaches, a castmate is injured, forcing Riggan to hire an actor (Edward Norton) who is guaranteed to shake things up. Meanwhile, Riggan must deal with his girlfriend, daughter and ex-wife.
Best picture: "Spotlight"
Smart Rating: 94.44
Starring: Mark Ruffalo, Michael Keaton, Rachel McAdams
In 2001, editor Marty Baron of The Boston Globe assigns a team of journalists to investigate allegations against John Geoghan, an unfrocked priest accused of molesting more than 80 boys. Led by editor Walter "Robby" Robinson (Michael Keaton), reporters Michael Rezendes (Mark Ruffalo), Matt Carroll and Sacha Pfeiffer interview victims and try to unseal sensitive documents. The reporters make it their mission to provide proof of a cover-up of sexual abuse within the Roman Catholic Church.
The Mount Rushmore of Arizona Wildcats men's basketball players
