And the Oscar Went to…

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Good evening!

This week’s featured film, Annie Hall, was the 50th Best Picture winner, so that means it’s time to post my BP rankings again. No huge changes in the upper or lower echelons of the list–The Sound of Music still perches at the top, and Tom Jones wallows on the bottom. The Godfather (1972) and One Flew over the Cuckoo’s Nest (1975) broke into the top ten (for now…), but neither of those two films is as complete or as lovely as The Sound of Music–although both made significant contributions to the world of film in their time and still have relevance today, in my opinion. The newest additions to the bottom of the list are this week’s film Annie Hall (1977), which was funny at some parts and just really annoying at other parts, and Midnight Cowboy (1969), which would be dead last except that I think what it says about the impact of childhood abuse is worthwhile…”worthwhile” being perhaps too strong of a word for such a piece-of-trash film.

Before I get too grumpy about completely unnecessary raunchiness in films, here’s my rankings of the first 50 winners of the Academy Award for Best Picture:

  1. The Sound of Music (1965)
  2. Gone with the Wind (1939)
  3. Ben-Hur (1959)
  4. Lawrence of Arabia (1962)
  5. You Can’t Take It with You (1938)
  6. All Quiet on the Western Front (1929/30)
  7. All About Eve (1950)
  8. The Bridge on the River Kwai (1957)
  9. The Godfather (1972)
  10. One Flew over the Cuckoo’s Nest (1975)
  11. West Side Story (1961)
  12. The Godfather: Part II (1974)
  13. My Fair Lady (1964)
  14. Oliver! (1968)
  15. Casablanca (1943)
  16. The Best Years of Our Lives (1946)
  17. It Happened One Night (1934)
  18. In the Heat of the Night (1967)
  19. Rebecca (1940)
  20. On the Waterfront (1954)
  21. Patton (1970)
  22. The French Connection (1971)
  23. Rocky (1976)
  24. Around the World in 80 Days (1956)
  25. The Greatest Show on Earth (1952)
  26. Gigi (1958)
  27. All the King’s Men (1949)
  28. Hamlet (1948)
  29. A Man for All Seasons (1966)
  30. Mrs. Miniver (1942)
  31. Mutiny on the Bounty (1935)
  32. The Apartment (1960)
  33. The Great Ziegfeld (1936)
  34. How Green Was My Valley (1941)
  35. The Lost Weekend (1945)
  36. The Sting (1973)
  37. Going My Way (1944)
  38. Marty (1955)
  39. An American in Paris (1951)
  40. The Life of Emile Zola (1937)
  41. Cavalcade (1932/33)
  42. Wings (1927/28)
  43. Gentleman’s Agreement (1947)
  44. Cimarron (1930/31)
  45. The Broadway Melody (1928/29)
  46. Grand Hotel (1931/32)
  47. From Here to Eternity (1953)
  48. Annie Hall (1977)
  49. Midnight Cowboy (1969)
  50. Tom Jones (1963)

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