Having already been a star in Hollywood for two decades because of his acting, Robert Redford made his directorial debut in 1980 with Ordinary People (and he would win the Best Director Oscar for his efforts), an extraordinary film about redemption and coming to grips with the past so that you can embrace your future. …
Category: Best Picture Blogs
1979 Winner for Best Picture – Kramer vs. Kramer
Kramer vs. Kramer is a wonderful film. It’s filled with drama and emotion and superb acting by everyone, including Justin Henry, who was just seven years old when he starred as Billy Kramer and became one of the youngest people ever to be nominated for an Academy Award, which he was for Best Supporting Actor …
1978 Winner for Best Picture – The Deer Hunter
I had not seen The Deer Hunter since I was about 21 or 22 years old, and I remember exactly how I felt after seeing it then. I felt like that was three hours that I would never get back. I felt like it was a film without a point, without a cohesive story, and …
1977 Winner for Best Picture – Annie Hall
I need to start this out with full disclosure here. I am not a huge fan of Woody Allen’s films. I like some of his films, and don’t like others. I have always respected Woody Allen as a writer, as a film maker and as a comedian. However I find his humor to be very …
1976 Winner for Best Picture – Rocky
While it might be easy to dismiss Rocky as a great film when you think about the long line of mediocre sequels that came in its wake, that would be a mistake. The second film in the series approaches the greatness of the first, but from the third film on, they turned the character and …
1975 Winner for Best Picture – One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest
One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest is one of those seminal films that helped launch careers and helped solidify Jack Nicholson as one of the biggest stars in Hollywood. A year after starring in another seminal film in Chinatown, Nicholson was at his best yet again in Cuckoo’s Nest. He brought a bravado and panache …
1974 Winner for Best Picture – The Godfather Part II
Oscar history was made when The Godfather Part II became the first sequel to win Best Picture. Two years after The Godfather became one of the great films of American cinema its epic sequel solidified the gangster genre and continued the rise of acting superstars like Al Pacino, Robert Duvall, Diane Keaton, and Robert De …
1973 Winner for Best Picture – The Sting
With one of the most recognizable scores in the history of American cinema, The Sting walked away with the Academy Award for Best Picture of 1973. It actually dominated Oscar night with a total of seven wins, including Best Director (George Roy Hill), Best Writing (David S. Ward) and Best Music (Marvin Hamlisch). After starring …
1972 Winner for Best Picture – The Godfather
Truly one of the great films of American cinema, The Godfather is ranked as the #2 film of all time on the AFI list of the 100 Greatest Films, trailing only Citizen Kane. The story of the making of this film is almost as dramatic and riveting as the film itself. Director Francis Ford Coppola …
1971 Winner for Best Picture – The French Connection
The French Connection is an anomaly to me. It’s an action film that was named Best Picture. It probably had the least amount of dialogue of any Best Picture winner to date (except of course for the silent Wings). It had a grittiness and edginess that had really only been seen to that point in …