Never let it be said that I ask questions and don’t give the answers. Here are the results, from most-seen to least-seen, of my poll a month ago of Oscar winners for Best Picture.

Ranking	film	#
1	2003: The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King	113
2	1965: The Sound of Music	100
3	1943: Casablanca	95
4	2000: Gladiator	94
5	1964: My Fair Lady	92
=5	1998: Shakespeare in Love	92
7	1991: The Silence of the Lambs	83
8	1997: Titanic	82
9	1961: West Side Story	80
=9	1993: Schindler’s List	80
11	1968: Oliver!	78
=11	1994: Forrest Gump	78
=11	1995: Braveheart	78
14	1984: Amadeus	77
15	1988: Rain Man	74
16	1939: Gone with the Wind	72
17	1990: Dances With Wolves	70
=17	2010: The King's Speech	70
19	1975: One Flew over the Cuckoo's Nest	69
20	1981: Chariots of Fire	69
=20	1972: The Godfather	68
22	1999: American Beauty	67
23	1957: The Bridge on the River Kwai	66
24	1959: Ben-Hur	66
=24	1982: Gandhi	65
26	1962: Lawrence of Arabia	64
27	1973: The Sting	61
28	2002: Chicago	60
29	1956: Around the World in 80 Days	57
=29	1992: Unforgiven	57
31	1996: The English Patient	53
32	1987: The Last Emperor	52
33	2001: A Beautiful Mind	51
34	1974: The Godfather Part II	50
=34	1989: Driving Miss Daisy	50
36	1940: Rebecca	49
37	1966: A Man for All Seasons	48
=37	1977: Annie Hall	48
=37	2008: Slumdog Millionaire	48
40	1979: Kramer vs. Kramer	45
=40	1986: Platoon	45
42	1976: Rocky	44
=42	2007: No Country for Old Men	44
44	1971: The French Connection	41
45	1929/1930: All Quiet on the Western Front	39
46	1958: Gigi	38
=46	1978: The Deer Hunter	38
48	1935: Mutiny on the Bounty	37
=48	1985: Out of Africa	37
50	1967: In the Heat of the Night	36
=50	1970: Patton	36
52	1950: All About Eve	34
=52	1951: An American in Paris	34
54	1969: Midnight Cowboy	33
55	1934: It Happened One Night	32
=55	2011: The Artist	32
57	1948: Hamlet	30
=57	1960: The Apartment	30
59	1954: On the Waterfront	29
60	1983: Terms of Endearment	26
=60	2009: The Hurt Locker	26
62	2005: Crash	25
=62	2006: The Departed	25
64	1941: How Green Was My Valley	24
65	1952: The Greatest Show on Earth	23
66	1942: Mrs. Miniver	22
=66	1953: From Here to Eternity	22
68	1963: Tom Jones	21
69	2004: Million Dollar Baby	20
70	2012: Argo	18
71	1980: Ordinary People	17
72	1949: All the Kings Men	13
73	1931/1932: Grand Hotel	11
=73	1945: The Lost Weekend	11
=73	1946: The Best Years of Our Lives	11
76	1938: You Can't Take It with You	10
77	1944: Going My Way	10
=77	1955: Marty	10
79	1947: Gentleman's Agreement	6
80	1928/1929: The Broadway Melody	5
=80	1930/1931: Cimarron	5
=80	1932/1933: Cavalcade	5
=80	1936: The Great Ziegfeld	5
84	1927/1928: Wings	3
=84	1937: The Life of Emile Zola	3

The 1990s are the best-performing decade, with four films in the top ten (Shakespeare in Love, The Silence of the Lambs, Titanic and Schindler’s List) and another three in the top twenty (Forrest Gump, Braveheart and Dances With Wolves). This possibly says more about the ages of those answering rather than the timeless qualities of movies from the nineties.

The decade that seems to have real staying power (or possibly the power of being shown a lot on TV when the controllers were the age that most of my readers are now) is the 1960s, with three in the top ten (The Sound of Music, My Fair Lady and West Side Story) and another at 11th place (Oliver!). The noughties contribute the poll-topping Return of the King and fourth-placed Gladiator. And rounding out the top ten is the 1940s with Casablanca, though the only other film from that decade in the top half of the table is Rebecca, at #36.

I am interested to learn if Wings (the first ever winner of the Oscar for Best Picture) and The Life of Emile Zola from ten years later deserve their comparative obscurity!

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