Full Best Picture Winners Rankings

1. Casablanca

2. Bridge On The River Kwai

3. Lawrence of Arabia

4. Schindler's List

5. Annie Hall

6. The Deer Hunter

7. It Happened One Night

8. The Godfather Part II

9. All Quiet On The Western Front

10. American Beauty

The Worst Best Picture Winners

1. The Great Ziegfeld (1936)

This is a fictionalized biography of Florenz Ziegfeld, a real life Broadway impresario. The film tracks Ziegfeld's life from his beginnings as a promoter at the Chicago World's Fair, to his success as a Broadway producer, to his death. The most prominent issue with this film is the musical numbers. Naturally, this film features many of Ziegfeld's stage productions, and these scenes are certainly a visual spectacle. However, they drag on and on. There is one scene that must be twenty minutes or more by itself. Over a quarter of the movie is made up of these musical numbers and they have absolutely nothing to do with the plot! The only part of this movie I enjoyed was seeing the actors who played the Wizard and the Scarecrow from “The Wizard of Oz” in other roles.

The Best Best Picture Winners

1. Casablanca (1942) 

 This film is considered by many to be the greatest screenplay ever written. The dialogue in Casablanca is better than any other film I have seen. There are so many classic lines in this movie. From “Here's Looking at you, kid” to “I think this is the beginning of a beautiful friendship,” this movie is just dripping with brilliant dialogue. Humphrey Bogart and Ingrid Bergman both bring the dialogue to life with excellent performances. However, it's not merely the dialogue that makes this film great. It also contains an excellent character study and an intriguing love triangle, all on top of the political tensions of World War II. The shadowy film-noir style lighting and cinematography add even more to the drama and emotions. As time goes by, this movie remains superb.