The Academy Award for Best Motion Picture of the Year is the highest honor a film can receive. Over the years, films of all different genres and styles have been awarded the big prize. Some were surprise underdog winners, while some were a lock heading into Oscar night.
Despite the prestige of the Oscars, Academy voters sometimes defy audiences' consensus and give the Best Picture award to a film that doesn't hold up so well over time. At the same time, there have been plenty of great films that were nominated for Best Picture and lost, yet have proven more eternally relevant than many winners.
Forgotten Winner: The Artist (2011)
Director Michel Hazanavicius' The Artist was an unstoppable force on the Awards circuit, racking up one big prize after another, culminating in an Oscar win for Best Picture of the Year. It's an homage to the bygone era of silent films that won over critics and Academy voters alike.
Despite its dominance of Awards season, however, it had a remarkably short shelf life and remains almost completely forgotten to this day. Hazanavicius' follow-up, The Players, was widely panned by critics and did next to nothing at the U.S. box office.
Relevant Loser: Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope (1977)
It goes without saying that the first Star Wars film is one of the most celebrated classics ever made. It's a marvel of sight, sound, and spectacle that birthed what is arguably the most beloved saga in all of cinema.
It was also a major Oscar contender, a 10-time nominee that took home six trophies. The Best Picture winner that year, however, was Annie Hall, in one of the most surprising upsets in Oscar history. That such a small film would prevail over an epic like A New Hope threw audiences for a loop, but its defeat on Oscar night obviously did little to slow the franchise's momentum.
Forgotten Winner: Ordinary People (1980)
Director Robert Redford's Ordinary People is a well-crafted adaptation of the novel by Judith Guest that won four Academy Awards, including Best Picture. While not an unworthy winner in its own right, it's impossible for many moviegoers to give it its full due, given it was awarded the evening's top prize over Martin Scorsese's masterpiece Raging Bull, which many believe was the more deserving film.
Ordinary People is a fine movie with a great cast including Mary Tyler Moore, Judd Hirsch, and Donald Sutherland, but 41 years later, it's nowhere near as revered as the film it beat out in the Best Picture race.
Relevant Loser: Goodfellas (1990)
Raging Bull isn't the only of Scorsese's masterworks to be denied the Best Picture trophy. Before that, Taxi Driver lost to Rocky. Then, in 1990, Scorsese's indelible mob drama Goodfellas was denied the top prize in favor of Kevin Costner's western, Dances With Wolves.
Despite not nabbing the Best Picture Oscar, Goodfellas remains one of most iconic entries in the storied gangster genre, as many cinephiles consider it the best mob movie ever made. Scorsese would finally win his first directing Oscar 16 years later for The Departed, which also won Best Picture.
Forgotten Winner: Crash (2005)
One of the most shocking Oscar upsets of the modern era came when Paul Haggis' Crash was named the Best Picture winner over Brokeback Mountain, the heavy favorite going into Oscar night. To this day, it's one of the most controversial decisions the Academy has ever made, as evidenced by the fact that even though Crash's central theme of racial discrimination remains as relevant as ever, the film itself is rarely discussed nowadays.
Its heavy-handed, on-the-nose dialogue and contrived plot devices don't hold up as well as the subtle artfulness of Brokeback Mountain, and so despite its victory on Oscar night, its legacy is not nearly as enduring.
Relevant Loser: Saving Private Ryan (1998)
Arguably the greatest war drama of its decade, 1998's Saving Private Ryan remains a staple of the genre to this day. Its famous opening D-Day sequence is one of the greatest battle scenes ever put to film; the scene alone made Steven Spielberg a lock for his second career Best Director Oscar.
In the end, however, the film lost the Best Picture race to Shakespeare in Love in what is still considered among the Academy's most head-scratching decisions.
Forgotten Winner: The English Patient (1996)
Director Anthony Minghella's The English Patient is an epic romance that takes place largely in flashbacks, narrated by a burned pilot in the last days of World War II. Ralph Fiennes gives a great performance in the lead role, and the movie tugged hard enough at voters' heartstrings to earn it the Best Picture prize.
Still, the most enduring classic of that particular year is undoubtedly Fargo, also nominated for Best Picture. Fargo is a pitch black comedy crime caper making it an unlikely awards contender. The English Patient, on the other hand, might be considered the ultimate piece of Oscar bait, and so despite being the more forgettable film in the long run, it prevailed on Oscar night.
Relevant Loser: The Social Network (2010)
The brilliant irony of David Fincher's The Social Network is that it's the story of Mark Zuckerberg, founder of the world's largest social media platform, but it's ultimately a film about loneliness and detachment. Going into Oscar season, it was the odds-on favorite to sweep the awards season.
Unfortunately for The Social Network, The King's Speech caught fire and overtook it in the end, but a decade later, The Social Network remains one of the most remembered and revered films of the 2010s, and by far the best-reviewed film of Fincher's illustrious career.
Forgotten Winner: Slumdog Millionaire
2008's Slumdog Millionaire is a vibrant, energetic indie film that came out of nowhere and took awards season by storm. Danny Boyle's kinetic direction along with a rousing, pulse pounding soundtrack made it a visceral and thrilling crowd pleaser that easily took Best Picture at the 2009 Oscars ceremony.
All things considered, though, its sparse plot and dated premise have caused it to fade in the minds of most moviegoers. The film's trajectory, like that of its protagonist, is a feel-good rags-to-riches story, but it doesn't quite hold up as one of the great 21st century films.
Relevant Loser: Pulp Fiction (1994)
Director Quentin Tarantino's Pulp Fiction is arguably the most influential film of the past 30 years. It's a genre-defining masterpiece that inspired a generation of indie filmmakers. Tarantino's inimitable talent and reverence for the art of moviemaking comes through in every frame.
Quentin won the Oscar for Best Original Screenplay that year, but the Best Picture award ultimately went to Forrest Gump, the safer, more conventional choice. Nonetheless, there's no denying the enduring power of Pulp Fiction, which will remain relevant as long as films are being made.