Best Picture at the Academy Awards marks one of the most coveted and illustrious accolades the film industry has to offer, one that recognizes a movie’s artistic excellence and technical mastery. Every film that wins the Oscar for Best Picture immediately cements itself in the annals of cinematic history. However, this prestigious achievement doesn’t necessarily mean that every film that has won the award has been one that audiences want to revisit time and time again.
Some movies simply haven’t aged gracefully, while great films like Schindler’s List and 12 Years a Slave don’t exactly invite multiple viewings, but there have still been plenty of Oscar darlings that welcome viewers back with open arms and, if anything, only get better with every rewatch. From spellbinding epics to pointed thrillers, these 10 Best Picture winners can be revisited ceaselessly.
10 ‘Rocky’ (1976)
Directed by John G. Avildsen
Sylvester Stallone’s breakthrough picture immediately established him as an almighty star and an adept screenwriter. It also just so happens to mark the enduring highlight of sports movies, running with a rousing underdog story that has an uncanny ability to hook viewers in regardless of whether it’s their first, second, or twentieth sitting. It famously follows a struggling boxer who is given the opportunity of a lifetime when the heavyweight champion gives him a shot at the title.
The film is something of an outlier among many of the other illustrious classics of the 1970s, subverting the decade’s gritty and coarse aesthetic with an uplifting fairy tale story of tremendous heart and triumph. Rocky’s feel-good quality has endured brilliantly over the decades, with it being just as fist-pumpingly ecstatic today as it was back in 1976. In addition to its Best Picture win, it also won for Best Film Editing and Best Director from its 10 Academy Award nominations.
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9 ‘The Sting’ (1973)
Directed by George Roy Hill
There is a peculiar charm to watching the bad guys use their litany of tricks against the even worse guys, and it is one that The Sting embodied with perfection to deliver a rousing and entertaining crime caper film. Set in the 1930s, it sees a street-savvy swindler and a veteran con-artist join forces to craft an elaborate scheme to bring down the ruthless mob boss who ordered the death of their mutual friend.
With an ingenious screenplay and charismatic lead performances from Robert Redford and Paul Newman, The Sting is both an impressively complex and immaculately constructed heist film, and an exemplary dose of blockbuster popcorn fun. It’s tender and delicate where it needs to be, exhilarating everywhere else, and thrives as the most rewatchable crime movie ever made. It was nominated for 10 Academy Awards in total and won seven, including Best Picture.
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8 ‘Amadeus’ (1984)
Directed by Miloš Forman
An awe-inspiring tale of obsession, spite, and blasphemy that revolves around arguably the greatest composer the world has ever seen, Amadeus is not only one of the most underrated and rewatchable Best Picture winners, but it is by far the greatest movie to win the award from the 1980s. Its 160-minute runtime breezes by as an elderly Antonio Salieri (F. Murray Abraham) reflects on his complicated relationship with Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (Tom Hulce), a man he both detests and envies, yet whose work he can’t help but admire.
It is a fascinating exploration of the balance between artists, particularly between one who is a natural master of his craft and another who pines to be yet lacks inspired brilliance. Centering the film on the contemptuous and vile Salieri proves to be a masterstroke, one that imbues it with both captivating character insights and a delightfully wicked sense of fun courtesy of Abrahams’ sublime Oscar-winning performance. Obviously complemented by a stunning soundtrack of Mozart’s best pieces, which are phenomenally spliced into the film, Amadeus won eight Oscars from 11 nominations and remains an infectious and addictive piece of historical fiction.
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7 ‘No Country for Old Men’ (2007)
Directed by the Coen Brothers
The greatest Western of the 21st century thus far as well as a masterful, modernizing reworking of the genre, No Country for Old Men is arguably the Coen Brothers’ defining masterpiece. Set along the American-Mexican border in the 1980s, it follows hunter Llewelyn Moss (Josh Brolin) as he steals a sum of money from the scene of a cartel shootout and soon finds himself being pursued by the psychotic Mexican hitman, Anton Chigurh (Javier Bardem).
The majority of the film functions as one of the most pulsating and gripping crime thrillers ever made, one imbued with unforgettable sequences of suspense and several bold narrative turns that only elevate the intensity of the story. It received widespread praise for its commanding screenplay, taut direction, and its exceptional performances, all of which were recognized amid the four Oscars the film won.
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6 ‘Parasite’ (2019)
Directed by Bong Joon-ho
A particularly noteworthy film given it stands as the first international feature to win Best Picture, Parasite is the delightful culmination of Bong Joon-ho’s exceptional career. A timely social thriller loaded with symbolism and commentary, it follows the struggling Kim family as they enact a plan to infiltrate the home of a wealthy family when their teenage son gets a job tutoring their daughter. However, the more the two families spend more time together, the greater the underlying venom in the class divide grows.
Everything from psychological thrills to satirical comedy and poignant character drama is on display in the South Korean film, which won four Academy Awards in total. Its masterful juggling of its many different tones as well as its urgent yet graceful incorporation of its themes makes it a treat to revisit. Entertaining and enlightening, it is the greatest film to win Best Picture in recent years, if not this century.
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5 ‘Gladiator’ (2000)
Directed by Ridley Scott
Ridley Scott is a filmmaker defined by his most exceptional achievements. Among the very best of those is his 2000 period revenge epic, Gladiator, a film that won Best Picture on its way to embodying the peak period epics experienced in the 90s and early 2000s. A sweeping tale of betrayal and vengeance, it follows a celebrated Roman general who, after his family is murdered and he is left to be a slave, becomes a gladiator and travels to Rome to kill the sadistic and power-hungry Emperor Commodus (Joaquin Phoenix).
Every element of the film, from its narrative to its imagery, and even its performances and soundtrack, is defined by its grandiosity, an immersive and awe-inspiring sense of scale that makes the central vendetta all the more enthralling. The rousing and rewarding nature of the first viewing does not abate at all on multiple revisits. Gladiator won five Academy Awards from 12 nominations.
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4 ‘The Godfather’ (1972) & ‘The Godfather Part II’ (1974)
Directed by Francis Ford Coppola
As the only case of a film and its sequel winning Best Picture at the Academy Awards, The Godfather and The Godfather Part II a highlight of American cinema that is as illustrious as it is iconic. The story of the Corleone crime family, the first film depicts a transition of power from the aging patriarch to his reluctant son, while the sequel explores both the son’s complicated and expansive reign as the boss as well as a young Vito Corleone’s (Robert De Niro) rise up the ranks of the New York underworld in the 1920s.
Exemplary across every single department and discipline of film-making, both films excel as engrossing, confronting, and intensely dramatic stories rich with moral ambiguity, gorgeous visuals, and a rich and compelling exploration of crime in 20th century America. The two movies between them netted 9 Academy Awards from 21 nominations, which was 22 before one of its nominations was revoked by the Academy.
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3 ‘The Apartment’ (1960)
Directed by Billy Wilder
Everyone loves a movie that feels like a big warm hug of romantic sincerity and perhaps foolish optimism. Few movies deliver that quite like The Apartment, which also contains plenty of witty comedy, social satire, and skewering of workplace politics for good measure. It follows C.C. Baxter (Jack Lemmon), an insurance clerk who has an arrangement where his superiors use his apartment to conduct their trysts. However, the situation takes a turn when the company boss, Mr. Sheldrake (Fred MacMurray), begins using the apartment for his affair with Fran Kubelik (Shirley MacLaine), an elevator girl that Baxter is in love with.
It’s tender and sweet in its romantic endeavor while still offering pointed critiques of the abuse of power in the workforce. While remembered by many for its romantic triumphs and Lemmon’s note-perfect lead performance, The Apartment also juggles more serious and contemplative beats with exceptional grace as well. A sublime screenplay brought to life by sharp direction and three absolutely incredible performances, the film is an endlessly rewatchable romantic-comedy that won five Academy Awards from 10 nominations to be among the greatest films of the 1960s.
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2 ‘Casablanca’ (1942)
Directed by Michael Curtiz
One of Hollywood’s defining classics and a seemingly ageless icon of old-fashioned cinema at its absolute best, Casablanca is a true masterpiece that is regarded by many to be the greatest movie ever made. With a screenplay heralded as being the best ever written, it follows an American club owner in Casablanca whose indifference to the Second World War is tested when a former love interest arrives in the city with her husband, a resistance leader sought after by the Nazis.
With a gripping central love triangle unfolding against the backdrop of the growing tensions of WWII, Casablanca utilizes a vast array of flawlessly written characters, iconic acting performances, and an ambitious and twisty story of love and amorality to present an infectious tale of complex love, war tensions, and wry wit that can be enjoyed time and time again. In addition to Best Picture, it also won Best Director and Best Screenplay from its seven Academy Award nominations.
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1 ‘The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King’ (2003)
Directed by Peter Jackson
Holding the incredible record of winning 11 Academy Awards from 11 nominations, The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King occupies a rare air in the history of the Oscars. The final part of the incredible fantasy trilogy, it sees Frodo (Elijah Wood) and Sam (Sean Astin) embark on the final leg of their voyage to Mordor while Aragorn (Viggo Mortensen) helps rally the forces to Rohan to ride to Gondor’s aid as Sauron’s forces launch their assault on Middle Earth by attacking the city.
A spellbinding spectacle of cinematic grandiosity at its most adventurous, ambitious, and awe-inspiring, the film’s 201-minute runtime breezes by as the plot progresses seamlessly to stand as a true triumph of film-making. Astounding in its technical craft that remains ageless, while also delivering one of the most emotionally overwhelming yet rewarding viewing experiences ever put to screen, The Return of the King can be rewatched ceaselessly without ever offering diminishing returns.
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