To keep the audience from turning in or switching the channel, the Oscars save the best for last. And on March 4, no doubt you will also stay up late to find out who won best actor, best actress, and, of course, best picture – the most prestigious prize at the Academy Awards.

Winning Best Picture is a career-making achievement that confers a special status on those involved in the making of the winning film. Of the thousands of movies ever made, only 89 have ever won Best Picture.

As the 90th Academy Awards approach, 24/7 Wall St. has compiled a list of the best picture winners the year you were born.

Click here to see the Best Picture winner the year you were born.
Click here to see our detailed findings and methodology.

1927-28
> Winner: Wings
> Director: William A. Wellman
> Starring: Clara Bow; Charles “Buddy” Rogers; Richard Arlen
> Nominees: Wings; The Racket; 7th Heaven

[in-text-ad]

1928-29
> Winner: The Broadway Melody
> Director: Harry Beaumont
> Starring: Bessie Love; Anita Page; Charles King
> Nominees: Alibi; In Old Arizona; Hollywood Revue; The Patriot

1929-30
> Winner: All Quiet on the Western Front
> Director: Lewis Milestone
> Starring: Lew Ayres; Louis Wolheim; John Wray
> Nominees: The Big House; Disraeli; The Divorcee; The Love Parade

 

1930-31
> Winner: Cimarron
> Director: Wesley Ruggles
> Starring: Richard Dix; Irene Dunne; Estelle Taylor
> Nominees: East Lynne; The Front Page; Skippy; Trader Horn

1931-32
> Winner: Grand Hotel
> Director: Edmund Goulding
> Starring: Greta Garbo; John Barrymore; Joan Crawford
> Nominees: Arrowsmith; Bad Girl; The Champ; Five Star Final; One Hour With You; Shanghai Express; The Smiling Lieutenant

1932-33
> Winner: Cavalcade
> Director: Frank Lloyd
> Starring: Diana Wynyard; Clive Brook; Una O’Connor
> Nominees: A Farewell to Arms; 42nd Street; I Am a Fugitive From a Chain Gang; Lady For a Day; Little Women; The Private Life of Henry VIII; She Done Him Wrong; Smilin’ Through; State Fair

1934
> Winner: It Happened One Night
> Director: Frank Capra
> Starring: Clark Gable; Claudette Colbert; Walter Connolly
> Nominees: The Barretts of Wimpole Street; Cleopatra; Flirtation Walk; The Gay Divorcee; Here Comes the Navy; The House of Rothschild; Imitation of Life; One Night of Love; The Thin Man; Viva Villa!; The White Parade

[in-text-ad-2]

1935
> Winner: Mutiny on the Bounty
> Director: Frank Lloyd
> Starring: Charles Laughton; Clark Gable; Franchot Tone
> Nominees: Alice Adams; Broadway Melody of 1936; Captain Blood; David Copperfield; The Informer; Les Miserables; The Lives of a Bengal Lancer; A Midsummer Night’s Dream; Naughty Marietta; Ruggles of Red Gap; Top Hat

1936
> Winner: The Great Ziegfeld
> Director: Robert Z. Leonard
> Starring: William Powell; Myrna Loy; Luise Rainer
> Nominees: Anthony Adverse; Dodsworth; Libeled Lady; Mr. Deeds Goes to Town; Romeo and Juliet; San Francisco; The Story of Louis Pasteur; A Tale of Two Cities; Three Smart Girls

1937
> Winner: The Life of Emile Zola
> Director: William Dieterle
> Starring: Paul Muni; Gale Sondergaard; Joseph Schildkraut
> Nominees: The Awful Truth; Captains Courageous; Dead End; The Good Earth; In Old Chicago; Lost Horizon; One Hundred Men and a Girl; Stage Door; A Star Is Born

1938
> Winner: You Can’t Take It with You
> Director: Frank Capra
> Starring: Jean Arthur; James Stewart; Lionel Barrymore
> Nominees: The Adventures of Robin Hood; Alexander’s Ragtime Band; Boys Town; The Citadel; Four Daughters; Grand Illusion; Jezebel; Pygmalion; Test Pilot

[in-text-ad]

 

1939
> Winner: Gone with the Wind
> Director: Victor Fleming
> Starring: Clark Gable; Vivien Leigh; Thomas Mitchell
> Nominees: Dark Victory; Goodbye Mr. Chips; Love Affair; Mr. Smith Goes to Washington; Ninotchka; Of Mice and Men; Stagecoach; The Wizard of Oz; Wuthering Heights;

1940
> Winner: Rebecca
> Director: Alfred Hitchcock
> Starring: Laurence Olivier; Joan Fontaine; George Sanders
> Nominees: All This and Heaven Too; Foreign Correspondent; The Grapes of Wrath; The Great Dictator; Kitty Foyle; The Letter; The Long Voyage Home; Our Town; The Philadelphia Story

1941
> Winner: How Green Was My Valley
> Director: John Ford
> Starring: Walter Pidgeon; Maureen O’Hara; Anna Lee
> Nominees: Blossoms in the Dust; Citizen Kane; Here Comes Mr. Jordan; Hold Back the Dawn; The Little Foxes; The Maltese Falcon; One Foot in Heaven; Sergeant York; Suspicion

1942
> Winner: Mrs. Miniver
> Director: William Wyler
> Starring: Greta Garbo; Walter Pidgeon; Teresa Wright
> Nominees: The Invaders; Kings Row; The Magnificent Ambersons; The Pied Piper; The Pride of the Yankees; Random Harvest; The Talk of the Town; Wake Island; Yankee Doodle Dandy

1943
> Winner: Casablanca
> Director: Michael Curtiz
> Starring: Humphrey Bogart; Ingrid Bergman; Paul Henreid
> Nominees: For Whom the Bell Tolls; Heaven Can Wait; The Human Comedy; In Which We Serve; Madame Curie; The More the Merrier; The Ox-Bow Incident; The Song of Bernadette; Watch on the Rhine

1944
> Winner: Going My Way
> Director: Leo McCarey
> Starring: Bing Crosby; Barry Fitzgerald; Frank McHugh
> Nominees: Double Indemnity; Gaslight; Since You Went Away; Wilson

[in-text-ad-2]

1945
> Winner: The Lost Weekend
> Director: Billy Wilder
> Starring: Ray Milland; Jane Wyman; Phillip Terry
> Nominees: Anchors Aweigh; The Bells of St. Mary’s; Mildred Pierce; Spellbound

1946
> Winner: The Best Years of Our Lives
> Director: William Wyler
> Starring: Myrna Loy; Dana Andrews; Frederic March
> Nominees: Henry V; It’s a Wonderful Life; The Razor’s Edge; The Yearling

1947
> Winner: Gentleman’s Agreement
> Director: Elia Kazan
> Starring: Gregory Peck; Dorothy McGuire; John Garfield
> Nominees: The Bishop’s Wife; Crossfire; Great Expectations; Miracle on 34th Street

1948
> Winner: Hamlet
> Director: Laurence Olivier
> Starring: Laurence Olivier; Jean Simmons; John Laurie
> Nominees: Johnny Belinda; The Red Shoes; The Snake Pit; The Treasure of the Sierra

[in-text-ad]

1949
> Winner: All the King’s Men
> Director: Robert Rossen
> Starring: Broderick Crawford; John Ireland; Joanne Dru
> Nominees: Battleground; The Heiress; A Letter to Three Wives; Twelve O’Clock High

1950
> Winner: All About Eve
> Director: Joseph L. Mankiewicz
> Starring: Bette Davis; Anne Baxter; George Sanders
> Nominees: Born Yesterday; Father of the Bride; King Solomon’s Mines; Sunset Blvd.

1951
> Winner: An American in Paris
> Director: Vincente Minnelli
> Starring: Gene Kelly; Leslie Caron; Oscar Levant
> Nominees: Decision Before Dawn; A Place in the Sun; Quo Vadis; A Streetcar Named Desire

1952
> Winner: The Greatest Show on Earth
> Director: Cecil B. DeMille
> Starring: James Stewart; Charlton Heston; Betty Hutton
> Nominees: High Noon; Ivanhoe; Moulin Rouge; The Quiet Man

1953
> Winner: From Here to Eternity
> Director: Fred Zinnemann
> Starring: Burt Lancaster; Montgomery Clift; Deborah Kerr
> Nominees: Julius Caesar; The Robe; Roman Holiday; Shane

1954
> Winner: On the Waterfront
> Director: Elia Kazan
> Starring: Marlon Brando; Karl Malden; Lee J. Cobb
> Nominees: The Caine Mutiny; The Country Girl; Seven Brides for Seven Brothers; Three Coins in the Fountain

[in-text-ad-2]

1955
> Winner: Marty
> Director: Delbert Mann
> Starring: Ernest Borgnine; Betsy Blair; Esther Minciotti
> Nominees: Love Is a Many-Splendored Thing; Mister Roberts; Picnic; The Rose Tattoo

1956
> Winner: Around the World in 80 Days
> Director: Michael Anderson
> Starring: David Niven; Cantinflas; Shirley MacLaine
> Nominees: Friendly Persuasion; Giant; The King and I; The Ten Commandments

1957
> Winner: The Bridge on the River Kwai
> Director: David Lean
> Starring: William Holden; Alec Guinness; Jack Hawkins
> Nominees: Peyton Place; Sayonara; 12 Angry Men; Witness for the Prosecution

1958
> Winner: Gigi
> Director: Vincente Minnelli
> Starring: Leslie Caron; Maurice Chevalier; Louis Jourdan
> Nominees: Auntie Mame; Cat on a Hot Tin Roof; The Defiant Ones; Separate Tables

[in-text-ad]

1959
> Winner: Ben-Hur
> Director: William Wyler
> Starring: Charlton Heston; Jack Hawkins; Stephen Boyd
> Nominees: Anatomy of a Murder; The Diary of Anne Frank; The Nun’s Story; Room at the Top

1960
> Winner: The Apartment
> Director: Billy Wilder
> Starring: Jack Lemmon; Shirley MacLaine; Fred MacMurray
> Nominees: The Alamo; Elmer Gantry; Sons and Lovers; The Sundowners

1961
> Winner: West Side Story
> Director: Robert Wise/Jerome Robbins
> Starring: Natalie Wood; George Chakiris; Richard Beymer
> Nominees: Fanny; The Guns of Navarone; The Hustler; Judgment at Nuremberg

1962
> Winner: Lawrence of Arabia
> Director: David Lean
> Starring: Peter O’Toole; Alec Guinness; Anthony Quinn
> Nominees: The Longest Day; Meredith Willson’s The Music Man; Mutiny on the Bounty; To Kill a Mockingbird

1963
> Winner: Tom Jones
> Director: Tony Richardson
> Starring: Albert Finney; Susannah York; George Devine
> Nominees: America America; Cleopatra; How the West Was Won; Lilies of the Field

1964
> Winner: My Fair Lady
> Director: George Cukor
> Starring: Audrey Hepburn; Rex Harrison; Stanley Holloway
> Nominees: Becket; Dr. Strangelove or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb; Mary Poppins; Zorba the Greek

[in-text-ad-2]

1965
> Winner: The Sound of Music
> Director: Robert Wise
> Starring: Julie Andrews; Christopher Plummer; Eleanor Parker
> Nominees: Darling; Doctor Zhivago; Ship of Fools; A Thousand Clowns

1966
> Winner: A Man for All Seasons
> Director: Fred Zinnemann
> Starring: Paul Scofield; Wendy Hiller; Robert Shaw
> Nominees: Alfie; The Russians Are Coming, the Russians Are Coming; The Sand Pebbles; Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf?

1967
> Winner: In the Heat of the Night
> Director: Norman Jewison
> Starring: Sidney Poitier; Rod Steiger; Warren Oates
> Nominees: Bonnie and Clyde; Doctor Dolittle; The Graduate; Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner

1968
> Winner: Oliver!
> Director: Carol Reed
> Starring: Mark Lester; Ron Moody; Shani Wallis
> Nominees: Funny Girl; The Lion in Winter; Rachel, Rachel; Romeo and Juliet

[in-text-ad]

1969
> Winner: Midnight Cowboy
> Director: John Schlesinger
> Starring: Dustin Hoffman; Jon Voight; Sylvia Miles
> Nominees: Anne of the Thousand Days; Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid; Hello, Dolly!; Z

1970
> Winner: Patton
> Director: Franklin J. Schaffner
> Starring: George C. Scott; Karl Malden; Stephen Young
> Nominees: Airport; Five Easy Pieces; Love Story; M*A*S*H

1971
> Winner: The French Connection
> Director: William Friedkin
> Starring: Gene Hackman; Roy Scheider; Fernando Rey
> Nominees: A Clockwork Orange; Fiddler on the Roof; The Last Picture Show; Nicholas and Alexandra

1972
> Winner: The Godfather
> Director: Francis Ford Coppola
> Starring: Marlon Brando; Al Pacino; James Caan
> Nominees: Cabaret; Deliverance; The Emigrants; Sounder

1973
> Winner: The Sting
> Director: George Roy Hill
> Starring: Paul Newman; Robert Redford; Robert Shaw
> Nominees: American Graffiti; Cries and Whispers; The Exorcist; A Touch of Class

1974
> Winner: The Godfather Part II
> Director: Francis Ford Coppola
> Starring: Al Pacino; Robert De Niro; Robert Duvall
> Nominees: Chinatown; The Conversation; Lenny; The Towering Inferno

[in-text-ad-2]

1975
> Winner: One Flew over the Cuckoo’s Nest
> Director: Milos Forman
> Starring: Jack Nicholson; Louise Fletcher; Michael Berryman
> Nominees: Barry Lyndon; Dog Day Afternoon; Jaws; Nashville

1976
> Winner: Rocky
> Director: John G. Avildsen
> Starring: Sylvester Stallone; Talia Shire; Burt Young
> Nominees: All The President’s Men; Bound for Glory; Network; Taxi Driver

1977
> Winner: Annie Hall
> Director: Woody Allen
> Starring: Woody Allen; Diane Keaton; Tony Roberts
> Nominees: The Goodbye Girl; Julia; Star Wars; The Turning Point

1978
> Winner: The Deer Hunter
> Director: Michael Cimino
> Starring: Robert De Niro; Christopher Walken; John Cazale
> Nominees: Coming Home; Heaven Can Wait; Midnight Express; An Unmarried Woman

[in-text-ad]

1979
> Winner: Kramer vs. Kramer
> Director: Robert Benton
> Starring: Dustin Hoffman; Meryl Streep; Jane Alexander
> Nominees: All That Jazz; Apocalypse Now; Breaking Away; Norma Rae

1980
> Winner: Ordinary People
> Director: Robert Redford
> Starring: Donald Sutherland; Mary Tyler Moore; Judd Hirsch
> Nominees: Coal Miner’s Daughter; The Elephant Man; Raging Bull; Tess

1981
> Winner: Chariots of Fire
> Director: Hugh Hudson
> Starring: Ben Cross; Ian Charleson; Nicholas Farrell
> Nominees: Atlantic City; On Golden Pond; Raiders of the Lost Ark; Reds

1982
> Winner: Gandhi
> Director: Richard Attenborough
> Starring: Ben Kingsley; John Gielgud; Candice Bergen
> Nominees: E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial; Missing; Tootsie; The Verdict

1983
> Winner: Terms of Endearment
> Director: James L. Brooks
> Starring: Shirley MacLaine; Debra Winger; Jack Nicholson
> Nominees: The Big Chill; The Dresser; The Right Stuff; Tender Mercies

1984
> Winner: Amadeus
> Director: Milos Forman
> Starring: F. Murray Abraham; Tom Hulce; Elizabeth Berridge
> Nominees: The Killing Fields; A Passage to India; Places in the Heart; A Soldier’s Story

[in-text-ad-2]

 

1985
> Winner: Out of Africa
> Director: Sydney Pollack
> Starring: Meryl Streep; Robert Redford; Klaus Maria Brandauer
> Nominees: The Color Purple; Kiss of the Spider Woman; Prizzi’s Honor; Witness

1986
> Winner: Platoon
> Director: Oliver Stone
> Starring: Charlie Sheen; Tom Berenger; Willem Dafoe
> Nominees: Children of a Lesser God; Hannah and Her Sisters; The Mission; A Room With a View

 

1987
> Winner: The Last Emperor
> Director: Bernardo Bertolucci
> Starring: John Lone; Joan Chen; Peter O’Toole
> Nominees: Broadcast News; Fatal Attraction; Hope and Glory; Moonstruck

1988
> Winner: Rain Man
> Director: Barry Levinson
> Starring: Dustin Hoffman; Tom Cruise; Valeria Golino
> Nominees: The Accidental Tourist; Dangerous Liaisons; Mississippi Burning; Working Girl

[in-text-ad]

1989
> Winner: Driving Miss Daisy
> Director: Bruce Beresford
> Starring: Morgan Freeman; Jessica Tandy; Dan Aykroyd
> Nominees: Born on the Fourth of July; Dead Poets Society; Field of Dreams; My Left Foot

1990
> Winner: Dances With Wolves
> Director: Kevin Costner
> Starring: Kevin Costner; Mary McDonnell; Graham Greene
> Nominees: Awakenings; Ghost; The Godfather Part III; GoodFellas

1991
> Winner: The Silence of the Lambs
> Director: Jonathan Demme
> Starring: Jodie Foster; Anthony Hopkins; Lawrence A. Bonney
> Nominees: Beauty and the Beast; Bugsy; JFK; The Prince of Tides

1992
> Winner: Unforgiven
> Director: Clint Eastwood
> Starring: Clint Eastwood; Gene Hackman; Morgan Freeman
> Nominees: The Crying Game; A Few Good Men; Howards End; Scent of a Woman

1993
> Winner: Schindler’s List
> Director: Steven Spielberg
> Starring: Liam Neeson; Ralph Fiennes; Ben Kingsley
> Nominees: The Fugitive; In the Name of the Father; The Piano; The Remains of the Day

1994
> Winner: Forrest Gump
> Director: Robert Zemeckis
> Starring: Tom Hanks; Robin Wright; Gary Sinise
> Nominees: Four Weddings and a Funeral; Pulp Fiction; Quiz Show; The Shawshank Redemption

[in-text-ad-2]

1995
> Winner: Braveheart
> Director: Mel Gibson
> Starring: Mel Gibson; Sophie Marceau; Patrick McGoohan
> Nominees: Apollo 13; Babe; The Postman (Il Postino); Sense and Sensibility

1996
> Winner: The English Patient
> Director: Anthony Minghella
> Starring: Ralph Fiennes; Juliette Binoche; Willem Dafoe
> Nominees: Fargo; Jerry Maguire; Secrets & Lies; Shine

1997
> Winner: Titanic
> Director: James Cameron
> Starring: Leonardo DiCaprio; Kate Winslet; Billy Zane
> Nominees: As Good as It Gets; The Full Monty; Good Will Hunting; L.A. Confidential

1998
> Winner: Shakespeare in Love
> Director: John Madden
> Starring: Gwyneth Paltrow; Joseph Fiennes; Geoffrey Rush
> Nominees: Elizabeth; Life is Beautiful; Saving Private Ryan; The Thin Red Line

[in-text-ad]

1999
> Winner: American Beauty
> Director: Sam Mendes
> Starring: Kevin Spacey; Annette Bening; Thora Birch
> Nominees: The Cider House Rules; The Green Mile; The Insider; The Sixth Sense

2000
> Winner: Gladiator
> Director: Ridley Scott
> Starring: Russell Crowe; Joaquin Phoenix; Connie Nielsen
> Nominees: Chocolat; Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon; Erin Brockovich; Traffic

2001
> Winner: A Beautiful Mind
> Director: Ron Howard
> Starring: Russell Crowe; Ed Harris; Jennifer Connelly
> Nominees: Gosford Park; In the Bedroom; The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring; Moulin Rouge

2002
> Winner: Chicago
> Director: Rob Marshall
> Starring: Renee Zellweger; Catherine Zeta-Jones; Richard Gere
> Nominees: Gangs of New York; The Hours; The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers; The Pianist

2003
> Winner: The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King
> Director: Peter Jackson
> Starring: Elijah Wood; Viggo Mortensen; Ian McKellen
> Nominees: Lost in Translation; Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World; Mystic River; Seabiscuit

2004
> Winner: Million Dollar Baby
> Director: Clint Eastwood
> Starring: Hilary Swank; Clint Eastwood; Morgan Freeman
> Nominees: The Aviator; Finding Neverland; Ray; Sideways

[in-text-ad-2]

2005
> Winner: Crash
> Director: Paul Haggis
> Starring: Don Cheadle; Sandra Bullock; Thandie Newton
> Nominees: Brokeback Mountain; Capote; Good Night and Good Luck; Munich

2006
> Winner: The Departed
> Director: Martin Scorsese
> Starring: Leonardo DiCaprio; Matt Damon; Jack Nicholson
> Nominees: Babel; Letters from Iwo Jima; Little Miss Sunshine; The Queen

2007
> Winner: No Country for Old Men
> Director: Joel and Ethan Coen
> Starring: Tommy Lee Jones; Javier Bardem; Josh Brolin
> Nominees: Atonement; Juno; Michael Clayton; There Will Be Blood

2008
> Winner: Slumdog Millionaire
> Director: Danny Boyle
> Starring: Dev Patel; Freida Pinto; Saurabh Shukla
> Nominees: The Curious Case of Benjamin Button; Frost/Nixon; Milk; The Reader

[in-text-ad]

2009
> Winner: The Hurt Locker
> Director: Kathryn Bigelow
> Starring: Jeremy Renner; Anthony Mackie; Brian Geraghty
> Nominees: Avatar; The Blind Side; District 9; An Education; Inglourious Basterds; Precious: Based on the Novel ‘Push’ by Sapphire; A Serious Man; Up; Up in the Air

2010
> Winner: The King’s Speech
> Director: Tom Hooper
> Starring: Colin Firth; Geoffrey Rush; Helena Bonham Carter
> Nominees: Black Swan; The Fighter; Inception; The Kids Are All Right; 127 Hours; The Social Network; Toy Story 3; True Grit; Winter’s Bone

2011
> Winner: The Artist
> Director: Michel Hazanavicius
> Starring: Jean Dujardin; Berenice Bejo; John Goodman
> Nominees: The Descendants; Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close; The Help; Hugo; Midnight in Paris; Moneyball; The Tree of Life; War Horse

2012
> Winner: Argo
> Director: Ben Affleck
> Starring: Ben Affleck; Bryan Cranston; John Goodman
> Nominees: Amour; Beasts of the Southern Wild; Django Unchained; Les Miserables; Life of Pi; Lincoln; Silver Linings Playbook; Zero Dark Thirty

2013
> Winner: 12 Years a Slave
> Director: Steve McQueen
> Starring: Chiwetel Ejiofor; Michael Kenneth Williams; Michael Fassbinder
> Nominees: American Hustle; Captain Phillips; Dallas Buyers Club; Gravity; Her; Nebraska; Philomena; The Wolf of Wall Street

[in-text-ad-2]

2014
> Winner: Birdman
> Director: Alejandro González Iñárritu
> Starring: Michael Keaton; Zach Galifianakis; Edward Norton
> Nominees: American Sniper; Boyhood; The Grand Budapest Hotel; The Imitation Game; Selma; The Theory of Everything; Whiplash

2015
> Winner: Spotlight
> Director: Tom McCarthy
> Starring: Mark Ruffalo; Michael Keaton; Rachel McAdams
> Nominees: The Big Short; Bridge of Spies; Brooklyn; Mad Max: Fury Road; The Martian; The Revenant; Room

2016
> Winner: Moonlight
> Director: Barry Jenkins
> Starring: Mahershala Ali; Shariff Earp; Duan Sanderson
> Nominees: Arrival; Fences; Hacksaw Ridge; Hell or High Water; Hidden Figures; La La Land; Lion; Manchester by the Sea

Best picture winners are often a product of the cultural trends of their time. Looking back, they can provide a snapshot into the prevailing currents of a given era.

The first best picture winner was the silent film “Wings,” the only silent movie ever to win the award. “Wings” and 1929-1930’s winner “All Quiet on the Western Front” were about World War I, still fresh in the minds of the film-going public. Best picture winners in the 1930s included biographies of historical figures such as writer Emile Zola.

Winners in the mid- and late 1940s examined human imperfection. 1945’s winner “Lost Weekend” dealt with alcoholism, and “Gentlemen’s Agreement,” which took the prize in 1947, was a groundbreaking movie that addressed anti-Semitism.

In the 1950s and early 1960s, enhanced widescreen technology such as CinemaScope and Panavision gave way to big-screen spectaculars such as “The Bridge on the River Kwai,” “Ben-Hur,” and “Lawrence of Arabia” — which all captured the gold statue for best picture.

Musicals such as “My Fair Lady,” “The Sound of Music,” and “Oliver!” won in the 1960s.

Disillusionment with authority and distrust of government were the cultural themes in the late 1960s and 1970s, and that was reflected in best picture choices such as “In the Heat of the Night” and “The Deer Hunter.”

William Wyler directed three best picture winners, the most of any director. Clark Gable, Jack Nicholson, and Dustin Hoffman starred in three picture winners, tops among actors.

Winning best picture doesn’t necessarily mean the movie is a great picture. Of the 89 films that have won the award, only 27 made the American Film Institute’s top 100 list for greatest American films of all time. For example, “Citizen Kane,” the Orson Welles masterpiece that is the No. 1 film on the AFI list, did not win best picture, although it was nominated.

“Citizen Kane” lost to “How Green Was My Valley” in 1941, a year loaded with strong nominees such as “The Little Foxes,” “The Maltese Falcon,” “ Sergeant York,” and “Suspicion.”

Some years have stronger best picture worthies than others, such as 1939. That year, “Gone with the Wind” triumphed over such film greats as “Goodbye Mr. Chips,” “ Mr. Smith Goes to Washington,” “Stagecoach,” and “The Wizard of Oz.”

The Oscars are not devoid of intrigue and politicking. In one of the biggest surprises in Oscar history, “Shakespeare in Love” won best picture in 1999, beating out favorite “Saving Private Ryan.” Industry watchers attribute the victory of that film to the bare-knuckle campaigning of Harvey Weinstein, whose film company Miramax made “Shakespeare in Love.”

Weinstein’s efforts show the lengths to which some movie honchos will go to win best picture because of the possible financial rewards a win can bring. For example, films with low marketing budgets usually receive the greatest benefit from nominations, according to an analysis from 2016 by market research company IBISWorld. After “Silver Linings Playbook” was nominated for best picture in 2013, the number of theaters showing the film more than tripled. And in 2014, “Gravity” had a 358.3% boost in weekly sales compared with the week before its nomination.

24/7 Wall St. used data from the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences to identify the best picture winners and nominees. Directors and top-billed actors were derived from IMDb, the Internet Movie Database.

Thank you for reading! Have some feedback for us?
Contact the 24/7 Wall St. editorial team.