No matter how many terrific films are nominated for Best Picture, only one will win the Oscar. OK, the 1927-28 awards honored two movies, The Last Command and Wings, but that hasn't happened since. Rather than second-guess the winners, it's worth looking at some excellent contenders that didn't cop the top prize.
In 1931-32, Grand Hotel, MGM's pioneering all-star melodrama starring Greta Garbo and Joan Crawford, took Oscar home. Among the other nominees was Joseph von Sternberg's dazzling Shanghai Express, in which Marlene Dietrich unforgettably explained, "It took more than one man to change my name to Shanghai Lili." Cavalcade won in 1932-33, but openly gay George Cukor's superb Little Women, with a flawless Katharine Hepburn as Jo, remains vivid. Fans of classic Hollywood hail 1939 as its greatest year. Gone With the Wind was the big winner, although today The Wizard of Oz would likely prevail. But the New York Film Critics selected William Wyler's splendid version of Emily Bronte's Wuthering Heights . Merle Oberon was an exquisite Cathy, and Laurence Olivier, as Heathcliff, credited Wyler for teaching him how to act for the movies.
Alfred Hitchcock's brilliant Rebecca (1940) made a star of Joan Fontaine, but John Ford's The Grapes of Wrath remains memorable. How Green Was My Valley would win the next year, but Orson Welles' Citizen Kane is still astonishing. In 1944, Double Indemnity, a landmark noir, and Gaslight, a riveting melodrama, lost to Going My Way . The Lost Weekend (1945) was a searing look at alcoholism, but Mildred Pierce, Crawford's Oscar-winning comeback, is a remarkable noir/weepy. Winner Gentlemen's Agreement (1947) exposed American anti-Semitism, while David Lean's Great Expectations brought Dickens to life.
All About Eve triumphed in 1950, but has anyone forgotten Gloria Swanson's Norma Desmond insisting, "I am big. It's the pictures that got small" in Billy Wilder's Sunset Boulevard? Among the losers to 1951's An American in Paris was Elia Kazan's censored but powerful version of gay Tennessee Williams' A Streetcar Named Desire, with Vivien Leigh's haunting Blanche battling Marlon Brando's brutish Stanley. That same year, George Stevens' A Place in the Sun revealed a steamy, 19-year-old Elizabeth Taylor symbolizing all of Montgomery Clift's doomed aspirations. Wyler's Ben-Hur swept the 1959 prizes, but Otto Preminger's Anatomy of a Murder is a sharp look at trial lawyers, with James Stewart as a cynical attorney who's not as clever as he thinks. Also that year, Fred Zinnemann's exceptional rendering of a spiritual dilemma in The Nun's Story elicited a magnificent performance from Audrey Hepburn.
West Side Story danced off with the 1961 prize, but Stanley Kramer's all-star Jugment at Nuremberg memorably conveyed the complexities of the post-WWII Nazi trials. Robert Rossen's The Hustler gave Paul Newman one of his greatest roles and remains a moving look at the world of pool sharks. In 1962, Lean's Lawrence of Arabia rode off with Oscar, but audiences still adore To Kill a Mockingbird. Zinnemann's victorious A Man for All Seasons (1966) dramatized the conflict between Henry VIII and Pope Leo X, but that year marked Mike Nichols' spectacular debut, helming gay Edward Albee's scathing Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?, which earned Taylor a second Best Actress Oscar for her tormented Martha.
Patton (1970) marched off with the award, but Robert Altman's M.A.S.H was an original look at how medical staff cope with the horrors of combat. Oscar couldn't refuse Francis Ford Coppola's The Godfather (1972), but Cabaret, Bob Fosse's explosive debut, is a glittering musical look at the rise of the Nazis. Milos Foreman's terrifying One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest soared off with 1975's prize, but Roman Polanski's Chinatown is unforgettable. Both feature an extraordinary performance by Jack Nicholson. Rocky slugged its way to victory in 1976, but All the President's Men showed the power of a free press in exposing political corruption at the highest levels of American government.
Chariots of Fire (1981) drove away with the statuette, yet Louis Malle's touching Atlantic City is wonderful, with Burt Lancaster capturing the pain and joy of youth. Oscar caressed 1983's Terms of Endearment, but The Big Chill still speaks to a whole generation. The Little Man traveled Out of Africa (1985), but Kiss of the Spider Woman presciently portrayed the fluidity of gender identity and homosexual behavior. Rain Man swam away with 1988's top honor, but Dangerous Liaisons brilliantly recreated life in late-18th-century France. Glenn Close's mesmerizing performance as the malicious Marquise de Merteuil remains stunning.
Clint Eastwood's Unforgiven (1992) edged out James Ivory's superb adaptation of gay E.M. Forster's Howard's End. Audiences swooned over 1996's The English Patient, but many visited Fargo, Joel Coen's quirky masterpiece. The Titanic (1997) may have sunk, but it sailed away with a host of Oscars. But Curtis Hanson's L.A. Confidential remains a surprising tale of Hollywood in the 1950s.
In 2000 Gladiator fought its way to victory, but Steven Soderbergh's Erin Brockovich showcased Julia Roberts, earning her Best Actress. It reminds audiences that one person can make a difference in battling corporate corruption. Rob Marshall's Chicago (2002) was the first musical since Oliver! (1968) to take the award, beating out Stephen Daldry's elegant adaptation of The Hours, which earned Nicole Kidman an Oscar for her portrayal of bisexual Virginia Woolf. Crash (2005) is forgotten, but not Ang Lee's Brokeback Mountain, with Heath Ledger and Jake Gyllenhaal as doomed cowboy lovers. No Country for Old Men (2007) won, but George Clooney and Tilda Swinton were unforgettable in Michael Clayton, a complex legal thriller. The prize in 2011 went to The Artist, but Woody Allen's Midnight in Paris is romantic and moving. 12 Years a Slave (2013) was an important winner, but American Hustle gripped viewers as they watched a con game unfold.
So if your favorite film doesn't win, don't despair. It's in great company.