What year had the most outstanding group of nominees for best picture Oscar?

Cafe Society
1

I don’t think we’ve considered this question before, but if we have, just point it out and I’ll slink meekly out of here.

Which year had the best group of nominees for best picture? Obviously, this will be a matter of opinion although, I suppose, you could cite things like IMDB ratings or the like to add credibility to your take on things.

Me? It’s gotta be 1976 (covering films released in 1975). Here, look at this amazing list:

One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest (winner) (8.8 on IMDB)
Barry Lyndon (8.0)
Dog Day Afternoon (8.0)
Jaws (8.3)
Nashville (7.6)

(Ironically, IMO at least, Nashville, with the lowest IMDB rating, is at least as good as any of the others)

Mind you, the 1940 awards (for movies that came out in 1939) is also more than impressive (especially when you consider that there were ten, yes ten, nominees):

Gone With the Wind (winner) (8.0 on IDMB)
Dark Victory (7.5)
Goodbye, Mr. Chips (7.9)
Love Affair (7.3)
Mr. Smith Goes to Washington (8.3)
Ninotchka (7.9)
Of Mice and Men (7.9)
Stagecoach (7.8)
The Wizard of Oz (8.2)
Wuthering Heights (7.9)

By my count, this group contains no fewer than five timeless classics (guess which ones).

(In truth, I’ve never seen ‘Love Affair’)

So, do you think I’m misguided, astute, or just pretty predictable?

2

I’ve never seen “Love Affair” either, but ***all ***of the other nine are timeless classics. Definitely the winning year.

3

Yeah, 1939 was undoubtedly Hollywood’s annus mirabilus. I once read a fairly persuasive article by a film critic who argued that Gone With the Wind, far from being the best film ever, was not even the 39th best film made in 1939.

4

I presume that you’re talking about the article by Stephen Hunter in The Washington Post in which he lists, in order, what he thinks were the best films of 1939, and Gone with the Wind was no better than the 30th best of that year.

5

Yes, it was Stephen Hunter, and I’m pretty sure his claim was that it wasn’t even the 39th best film of 1939.

6

I remember 1998 as having 4 out of 5 actual high quality movies.

  1. Saving Private Ryan
  2. Life is Beautiful
  3. The Thin Red Line
  4. Elizabeth

They gave the award to Shakespeare in Love, the worst picture of the 5.