It’s that time of year again, when Hollywood honors itself with the Motion Picture Academy of Arts and Sciences awards for excellence, otherwise known as the Oscars. Most years, the awards show is more memorable for the gowns and the teary speeches than for who won and who lost. But, not always. Sometimes, the award goes to a true masterpiece of filmmaking. Let’s look at the three best “Best Pictures”.

First, let’s address the problems with the whole notion of selecting a Best Picture of the Year. I mean, it’s certainly an arbitrary decision. Did you know that all voters must select three possible winners? That’s right, they pick a first, a second, and a third choice. The movie with the most votes overall wins the award. This makes it more of a consensus winner. Last year’s winner, Spotlight, didn’t receive the most votes as the voters’ #1 choice, but it gathered more #2 place votes to make it the overall winner.

There’s also the problem of always selecting an English language film as the winner. There have been many worthy films from other countries which, in some years, are far superior to the eventual winner. The 1938 winner was You Can’t Take It with You, which is charming, but certainly not nearly as fine as La Grande Illusion, one of the great cinematic classics by France’s legendary director, Jean Renoir. I always hold out hope that, some year, a film from somewhere other than the U.S. or Great Britain will win, but that is wishful thinking.

Of course, it’s also hard to know just which films will stand the test of time and become classics. 1953’s winner, The Greatest Show on Earth, is all but forgotten. That same year saw Singin’ in the Rain, which wasn’t even nominated for Best Picture, but would go on to be widely regarded as the best musical of all time. It’s easy to criticize in hindsight.

Sometimes, though, the Academy gets it right. Here are my choices for the three finest films ever to win the coveted Oscar for Best Picture of the Year.

1943: Casablanca

You must remember this… Is there a more romantic movie than this one? We’re in Nazi occupied North Africa, and a seemingly callous American expat restauranteur named Richard Blaine comes into possession of two letters of transit, which will secure the owners safe passage to Lisbon and, finally, New York. Then, in walks the love of his life, on the arm of a man wanted by the Germans and revered by the French Resistance. The romance is rekindled, songs are sung, and heroes are made.

The cast was comprised of familiar Warner Brothers studio faces, including Humphrey Bogart, who nearly didn’t get the part, and a young starlet named Ingrid Bergman. The script was being written as they made the movie (two very different endings were shot), and it all came together very quickly. But the happy result is one of the most enduring films of all time.

 

1962: Lawrence of Arabia

If Casablanca was a haphazard mess while in production, this biopic of the unstable man who united the Arab tribes and helped reshape the world was a meticulously made epic by the great British master, David Lean. Nearly five years in production and gorgeously filmed in 70mm, it is one of the most stunning achievements of movie making you will ever see. Extreme close-ups of actors are juxtaposed with sweeping desert vistas. The score by Maurice Jarre may be one of the most powerful ever composed. Robert Bolt’s screenplay tells the story while leaving much of the mystery of the title character intact. The cast, led by the young Peter O’Toole and Omar Sharif (in his film debut) is perfection.

Still, it’s the astonishing scope and scale of this film which stays with you. Action scenes had hundreds of extras, often filmed from miles away, in expertly choreographed battles. You feel the heat of the desert at times. It simply can’t be described, and seeing it on a small screen can’t begin to do it justice. Today, it would all be made in a studio, with CGI. This film is one of a kind.

 

1972: The Godfather

I’m gonna make you an offer you can’t refuse… One of the great, purely American, stories ever told on screen. Al Pacino plays Michael Corleone, the handsome young son of a Mafia don. He wants nothing to do with his family’s business, but is slowly drawn in by circumstances he can’t resist. It is a story of American immigrants and family ties, and it is one of the most compelling sagas ever told.

Francis Ford Coppola was an unknown filmmaker when he was selected to direct this film version of one of the biggest selling novels of all time. Coppola would go on to dominate much of the film world, as a director and producer, for the next decade. He cast largely equally unknown actors in all the major roles – except for one. And it was a magical piece of casting.

Marlon Brando played Don Vito Corleone, hidden under makeup and largely shot in the shadows. Actually, he’s in less than one-third of the film, but Brando is an actor who lends his presence to movies even when he isn’t on the screen, and never more so than here. Everything that happens in the movie is a result of Don Corleone’s actions and reactions, and only an actor of Brando’s stature and fame could make you believe in him.

There are those who argue that the sequel, The Godfather: Part 2, is the better film. In many ways, it is, but The Godfather is a more complete film. It has a sweeping arc of a storyline, telling Michael’s slow descent into the quagmire of power. The sequel can’t exist without the first film. Once you’ve seen it, you’ll never forget it.

 

Which of the 89 Oscar winning Best Pictures is your favorite? The complete list can be found here.

Photo by Alberto Alvarez-Perea on Flickr.