# Anyone else seen every Best Picture winner? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [January 17, 2016, 2:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-else-seen-every-best-picture-winner/743403 "2016-01-17T14:11:48Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Gordon\_Urquhart](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/db5fbb/32.png) [@Gordon\_Urquhart](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gordon_Urquhart)\ **Post date:** [January 18, 2016, 2:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-else-seen-every-best-picture-winner/743403/21 "2016-01-18T02:49:12Z")
My wife and I started watching all of the Best Picture nominees, in chronological order, 7 or 8 years ago. We’re up to 1983 (_Terms of Endearment)_. Since 1999, we’ve also made a practice of seeing all of the Best Picture nominees. There are only three Best Pictures that I haven’t seen: _Terms of Endearment_, _Out of Africa,_ and _The English Patient._ Of all the Best Picture winners, I think I disliked _The Life of Emile Zola_ (1937) and _The Greatest Show on Earth_ the most. Some, like _It Happened One Night_ (1934), were movies I probably wouldn’t have seen otherwise, but I’m so glad that I did. Others have been very forgettable at best and regrettable at worst. ---
**Author:** ![TriPolar](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tripolar/32/3008_2.png) [@TriPolar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TriPolar)\ **Post date:** [January 18, 2016, 2:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-else-seen-every-best-picture-winner/743403/22 "2016-01-18T02:56:37Z")
I can’t believe I’ve seen 75 of those. I’d actually call it 70, some of them I may have only seen part of on TV years and years ago. I didn’t realize a lot of them were Best Picture winners. ---
**Author:** ![Ellis\_Aponte\_Jr](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/5daacb/32.png) [@Ellis\_Aponte\_Jr](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ellis_Aponte_Jr)\ **Post date:** [January 18, 2016, 3:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-else-seen-every-best-picture-winner/743403/23 "2016-01-18T03:27:59Z")
This Best Picture list tracks my loss of interest in cinema. 1950-1980: Seen every single winner - except perhaps _Marty_, which I’ve at least seen parts of 1981-1990: Seen 5/10 1991-2000: 5/10 2001-2010: 3/10 2011-2014: 0/4 ---
**Author:** ![Skammer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/skammer/32/143_2.png) [@Skammer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skammer)\ **Post date:** [January 18, 2016, 6:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-else-seen-every-best-picture-winner/743403/24 "2016-01-18T18:27:22Z")
> [@Wendell\_Wagner](#): > > _Room_: > > [Room (2015 film) - Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Room_(2015_film)) > > _The Room_: > > [The Room - Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Room_(film)) This month I’ve also seen _The Star Wars_ and _The The Revenant_. ---
**Author:** ![Wendell\_Wagner](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/8491ac/32.png) [@Wendell\_Wagner](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wendell_Wagner)\ **Post date:** [January 18, 2016, 7:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-else-seen-every-best-picture-winner/743403/25 "2016-01-18T19:55:11Z")
_Room_ is an Oscar nominee which is showing at a lot of theaters. _The Room_ is a cult film which frequently is a midnight movie. It’s easily possible that they could both be showing at the same theater. If you buy a ticket for the wrong one, you’re going to be really surprised when the film starts. ---
**Author:** ![Laggard](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/9de053/32.png) [@Laggard](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Laggard)\ **Post date:** [January 18, 2016, 8:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-else-seen-every-best-picture-winner/743403/26 "2016-01-18T20:39:02Z")
We were going to do this until we found out that we’d have to watch Oliver. ---
**Author:** ![RickJay](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/bb73d2/32.png) [@RickJay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RickJay)\ **Post date:** [January 18, 2016, 9:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-else-seen-every-best-picture-winner/743403/27 "2016-01-18T21:18:02Z")
I’ve seen the great majority of them and my least favourite, by far, are all the musicals. ---
**Author:** ![Bijou\_Drains](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bijou_drains/32/2814_2.png) [@Bijou\_Drains](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bijou_Drains)\ **Post date:** [January 18, 2016, 9:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-else-seen-every-best-picture-winner/743403/28 "2016-01-18T21:59:03Z")
surprised the older ones are on DVD. I would not have thought there would be enough interest in them even being a best picture. ---
**Author:** ![magnusblitz](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/b4bc9f/32.png) [@magnusblitz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/magnusblitz)\ **Post date:** [January 18, 2016, 10:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-else-seen-every-best-picture-winner/743403/29 "2016-01-18T22:04:32Z")
> [@HowSoonIsThen](#): > > I’ve only seen about 10. > > What the hell is wrong with me? I came in here expecting to say “pssh I’ve only seen like 5” but going through the list I’ve actually seen 19 of them. Didn’t realize a lot of them were Best Picture winners. ---
**Author:** ![Gordon\_Urquhart](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/db5fbb/32.png) [@Gordon\_Urquhart](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gordon_Urquhart)\ **Post date:** [January 18, 2016, 10:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-else-seen-every-best-picture-winner/743403/30 "2016-01-18T22:22:50Z")
> [@RickJay](#): > > I’ve seen the great majority of them and my least favourite, by far, are all the musicals. Yep – there’s a 10-year gauntlet from the late 1950s through the 1960s in which nearly every other winner is a musical. I liked _Oliver!_ more than I thought I would, and I’d seen and enjoyed _The Sound of Music_ several times before watching it again for the chronological project, but that period of Best Pictures was kind of daunting. _Lawrence of Arabia_ and _In the Heat of the Night_ were most welcome departures. ---
**Author:** ![Mean\_Mr.Mustard](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mean_mr.mustard/32/3865_2.png) [@Mean\_Mr.Mustard](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mean_Mr.Mustard)\ **Post date:** [January 18, 2016, 11:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-else-seen-every-best-picture-winner/743403/31 "2016-01-18T23:05:42Z")
> [@Laggard](#): > > We were going to do this until we found out that we’d have to watch Oliver. Oliver (actually, Oliver!) was toward the end of my challenge. I dreaded having to sit through it. It wasn’t as horrible as I had feared, probably due to my extremely low expectations. It’s probably not even in my bottom 10 if I ranked all 87. mmm ---
**Author:** ![Ike\_Witt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ike_witt/32/283_2.png) [@Ike\_Witt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ike_Witt)\ **Post date:** [January 19, 2016, 1:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-else-seen-every-best-picture-winner/743403/32 "2016-01-19T01:39:25Z")
> [@Mean\_Mr.Mustard](#): > > I am actually very fond of this movie. Was it a better choice for best picture over _Citizen Kane_? ---
**Author:** ![Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/7cd45c/32.png) [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elendil_s_Heir)\ **Post date:** [January 19, 2016, 3:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-else-seen-every-best-picture-winner/743403/33 "2016-01-19T03:32:14Z")
I counted up and was surprised to realize that I’ve seen exactly 40 of the Best Picture winners over the years. My favorites: _Casablanca_ and _Amadeus_. > [@Skammer](#): > > This month I’ve also seen _The Star Wars_ and _The The Revenant_. Oh, yeah! The latter with an original film score by The The: [The The - Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_The). > [@Wendell\_Wagner](#): > > _Room_ is an Oscar nominee which is showing at a lot of theaters. _The Room_ is a cult film which frequently is a midnight movie. It’s easily possible that they could both be showing at the same theater. If you buy a ticket for the wrong one, you’re going to be really surprised when the film starts. Both are now showing at my local art-house cinema. _The Room_ has been showing every Sat. night, I believe, for some years now (I’ve never seen it). ---
**Author:** ![Richard\_John\_Marcej](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/5f9b8f/32.png) [@Richard\_John\_Marcej](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Richard_John_Marcej)\ **Post date:** [January 19, 2016, 5:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-else-seen-every-best-picture-winner/743403/34 "2016-01-19T05:54:31Z")
> [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](#): > > I counted up and was surprised to realize that I’ve seen exactly 40 of the Best Picture winners over the years. My favorites: _Casablanca_ and _Amadeus_. > Oh, yeah! The latter with an original film score by The The: [The The - Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_The). > Both are now showing at my local art-house cinema. _The Room_ has been showing every Sat. night, I believe, for some years now (I’ve never seen it). If you’re a fan of Mystery Science Theater 3000 type of humor, the former writers of that show, have been doing Riff Trax for films for years. This month if your local theater chain carries Fathom Events the Riff Trax guys will be riffing on “The Room”. I think it’s on Thursday Jan. 28th ---
**Author:** ![Lantern](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/d26b3c/32.png) [@Lantern](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lantern)\ **Post date:** [January 19, 2016, 6:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-else-seen-every-best-picture-winner/743403/35 "2016-01-19T06:30:48Z")
I have seen around 60 of them. I think the strongest period was 70-74 with the two Godfathers, The French Connection, The Sting and Patton. Some would add the 1975 winner One flew over the Cuckoo’s Nest though personally I didn’t like it very much and prefer any of the other four nominees that year especially Nashville and Barry Lyndon. My top ten from this list would be Casablanca All about Eve The Waterfront The Apartment Lawrence of Arabia A Man for all Seasons Godfather 1 Godfather 2 Annie Hall Chariots of Fire ---
**Author:** ![Mean\_Mr.Mustard](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mean_mr.mustard/32/3865_2.png) [@Mean\_Mr.Mustard](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mean_Mr.Mustard)\ **Post date:** [January 19, 2016, 11:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-else-seen-every-best-picture-winner/743403/36 "2016-01-19T11:27:19Z")
> [@Ike\_Witt](#): > > So, just how green was that valley? > [@Mean\_Mr.Mustard](#): > > I am actually very fond of this movie. > [@Ike\_Witt](#): > > Was it a better choice for best picture over _Citizen Kane_? It was not. But it’s better than a boatload of winners from other years. mmm ---
**Author:** ![Wendell\_Wagner](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/8491ac/32.png) [@Wendell\_Wagner](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wendell_Wagner)\ **Post date:** [January 19, 2016, 12:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-else-seen-every-best-picture-winner/743403/37 "2016-01-19T12:55:44Z")
Please excuse my inability to look up the right number. 87 Best Picture Oscars have been awarded so far, not 86. The Oscars this year will award the 88th one. Since I have failed to see 23 of them, that means I have seen 65 of the them if you include the one about to be awarded, since I have now seen all the nominees. ---
**Author:** ![MovieMogul](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f08c70/32.png) [@MovieMogul](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MovieMogul)\ **Post date:** [January 19, 2016, 2:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-else-seen-every-best-picture-winner/743403/38 "2016-01-19T14:38:04Z")
I’ve seen every Best Picture winner and usually am pretty fluent on the current nominees, in part because our film festival is seen as a significant stepping stone in Oscar campaigns. 5 of the last 7 Best Picture winners were featured at our festival (well before any year-end awards were being handed out) and of this year’s 8 Picture nominees, we showed 4 of them last October (before they were generally released), as well as half the acting nominees. We also run a theater the other 50 weeks of the year and all the foreign language film nominees played there before any were announced as nominees. ---
**Author:** ![don\_t\_ask](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e68b1a/32.png) [@don\_t\_ask](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/don_t_ask)\ **Post date:** [January 19, 2016, 3:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-else-seen-every-best-picture-winner/743403/39 "2016-01-19T15:25:50Z")
Six I have never seen _Cimarron_, _Grand Hotel_, _Cavalcade_, _Oliver!_, _The English Patient_ and _The Artist_. Both _Crash_ and _The Hurt Locker_ I started watching and part way through was interrupted and couldn’t be bothered watching the rest. ---
**Author:** ![Edward\_The\_Head](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/ce73a5/32.png) [@Edward\_The\_Head](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Edward_The_Head)\ **Post date:** [January 19, 2016, 8:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-else-seen-every-best-picture-winner/743403/40 "2016-01-19T20:19:48Z")
> [@don\_t\_ask](#): > > Six I have never seen _Cimarron_, _Grand Hotel_, _Cavalcade_, _Oliver!_, _The English Patient_ and _The Artist_. Both _Crash_ and _The Hurt Locker_ I started watching and part way through was interrupted and couldn’t be bothered watching the rest. Lucky you for not making it through those last two. I did and didn’t enjoy either one of them. Hell, Crash the two people I was watching it with both fell asleep but said they enjoyed it after. I’ve seen 22 or so of the Best Picture movies. Some of them are quite good, Rocky, Silence of the Lambs, and In the Heat of the Night all stick out as being great movies. A few of them I couldn’t make it through, Birdman and The Deer Hunter are the two that I just stopped watching. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-else-seen-every-best-picture-winner/743403.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-else-seen-every-best-picture-winner/743403.md?page=3)