Below are Peary's choices and my choices for each year of the Academy voting.   You will notice that I lean toward comedies more than the Academy or even Peary and tend to avoid films that are gratingly political.  Although I prefer films with psychological depth, save "The President's Analyst", I have no particular leaning toward "shrink" films, and in fact I find most of them pretty silly.  Even the great Hitchcock blew it in "Spellbound".

In cases where I have not seen some of the important candidates, this is acknowledged.  I have included footnotes where the choice deserves additional commentary.  This list is and will always be a work in progress.  It will be periodically revised as my base of film knowledge improves.  Note that only English speaking movies are considered by the Academy so don't berate me for having neglected to include Grand Illusion or The Seven Samurai.

Coming Attractions: I giveth and taketh away The Best Actor and Actress awards from 1928-present.

Year	The Oscar Winner	Peary's Choice	O'Brien's Choice
1927-28	Wings	Sunrise	Sunrise*
1928-29	Broadway Melody	The Wind	The Wind
1929-30	All Quiet on the Western Front	All Quiet on the Western Front	All Quiet on the Western Front
1930-31	Cimarron	City Lights	City Lights
1931-32	Grand Hotel	Scarface	Scarface
1932-33	Cavalcade	King Kong	King Kong1
1934	It Happened One Night	The Scarlet Empress	It Happened One Night
1935	Mutiny on the Bounty	The 39 Steps	The 39 Steps
1936	The Great Ziegfeld	Modern Times	Modern Times
1937	The Life of Emile Zola	Stage Door	The Awful Truth2
1938	You Can't Take It With you	The Adventures of Robin Hood	The Adventures of Robin Hood
1939	Gone With the Wind	The Wizard of Oz	The Wizard of Oz3
1940	Rebecca	The Grapes of Wrath	The Phila. Story/  His Girl Friday4
1941	How Green Was My Valley	Citizen Kane	Citizen Kane
1942	Mrs. Miniver	Sullivan's Travels	Sullivan's  Travels
1943	Casablanca	Casablanca	Casablanca5
1944	Going My Way	Double Indemnity	Double Indemnity
1945	The Lost Weekend	They Were Expendable	None6
1946	The Best Years of Our Lives	It's a Wonderful Life	It's a Wonderful Life7
1947	Gentleman's Agreement	Monsieur Verdoux	Great Expectations8
1948	Hamlet	The Treasure of the Sierra Madre	The Treasure of the Sierra  Madre9
1949	All the King's Men	Gun Crazy	On the Town10
1950	All About Eve	Sunset Boulevard	Sunset Boulevard
1951	An American in Paris	Strangers on a Train	Strangers on a Train
1952	The Greatest Show on Earth	Singin' in the Rain	Singin' in the Rain10
1953	From Here to Eternity	Shane	From Here to Eternity
1954	On the Waterfront	Salt of the Earth	Rear Window11
1955	Marty	The Night of the Hunter	The Night of the Hunter/East of Eden12
1956	Around the World in 80 Days	The Searchers	The Searchers
1957	The Bridge on the River Kwai	Paths of Glory	Paths of Glory
1958	Gigi	Touch of Evil	Touch of Evil13
1959	Ben-Hur	Some Like It Hot	Some Like It Hot14
1960	The Apartment	Psycho	Psycho
1961	West Side Story	West Side Story	West Side Story
1962	Lawrence of Arabia	Ride the High Country	Lawrence of Arabia
1963	Tom Jones	none	Hud
1964	My Fair Lady	Dr. Strangelove	Dr. Strangelove
1965	The Sound of Music	Repulsion	Darling15
1966	A Man For All Seasons	Cul-de-Sac	Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?
1967	In the Heat of the Night	Bonnie and Clyde	The President's Analyst16
1968	Oliver!	2001: A Space Odyssey	2001: A Space Odyssey
1969	Midnight Cowboy	Once Upon a Time in the West	Easy Rider
1970	Patton	Five Easy Pieces	Five Easy Pieces17
1971	The French Connection	McCabe and Mrs. Miller	A Clockwork Orange
1972	The Godfather	The Godfather	Play It Again, Sam18
1973	The Sting	American Graffiti	The Sting
1974	The Godfather, Part II	Chinatown	Chinatown
1975	One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest	The Man Who Would Be King	One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest
1976	Rocky	The Front	Network
1977	Annie Hall	Annie Hall	Annie Hall
1978	The Deer Hunter	Coming Home	The Deer Hunter
1979	Kramer vs. Kramer	Manhattan	Manhattan
1980	Ordinary People	Raging Bull	Monty Python's Life of Brian19
1981	Chariots of Fire	Reds	Raiders of the Lost Ark20
1982	Gandhi	E.T.	E.T.21
1983	Terms of Endearment	The Right Stuff	The Right Stuff22
1984	Amadeus	The Killing Fields	Amadeus
1985	Out of Africa	Brazil	The Purple Rose of Cairo23
1986	Platoon	Platoon	Ruthless People24
1987	The Last Emperor	Empire of the Sun	Planes, Trains and Automobiles25
1988	Rain Man	A World Apart	A Fish Called Wanda
1989	Driving Miss Daisy	Henry V	Crimes and Misdemeanors26
1990	Dances With Wolves	Miller's Crossing	Goodfellas
1991	The Silence of the Lambs	An Angel at My Table	My Own Private Idaho27
1992	Unforgiven	N/A	Reservoir Dogs28
1993	Schindler's List	N/A	Schindler's List
1994	Forrest Gump	N/A	Hoop Dreams29
1995	Braveheart	N/A	None30
1996	The English Patient	N/A	Fargo31

 
* This silent film, rarely screened outside art house circles, is truly deserving of all its high critical praise.  Sunrise is a wonderful introduction to F.W. Murnau and the grand gothic Weimar style.  Rent it and you'll want to see all of the great U.F.A. silents of the twenties.

1. C'mon, this is a no-brainer.  King Kong was epic, groundbreaking and deeply psychological.  Peary makes the excellent point that Kong is Denham's alter ego and they never appear in the same scene unless he is asleep or in shackles.  Who in the hell remembers Cavalcade?

2. All right, I'm one of those people who doesn't think all that much of Stage Door.  Must be a guy thing.

3. A tough choice in the greatest year for movies that included Gone With the Wind, Mr. Smith Goes to Washington, Ninotchka, Goodbye, Mr. Chips, Dark Victory, Destry Rides Again, Wuthering Heights, Stagecoach, Of Mice and Men, any of which could have won in any other year.

4. I can't decide which Cary Grant movie I like better so I picked them both.

5. I've seen it at least ten times and it improves with each viewing.  Even a broken clock is right twice a day and the Academy got it right that year.  The amazing thing is not much happens during the movie as far as action.  The film is all about lying and especially lying to oneself.  Lazlo is the only honest character and the most vulnerable.  Claude Rains is, as always, terrific in the role of the Vichy officer who needs Rick to fess up to his patriotism to give himself permission to be heroic.

6. It was a weak year for movies, but I admit I haven't seen They Were Expendable.  At least The Lost Weekend was better than the highly overrated Leaving Las Vegas.

7. This was actually a tough choice.  In any other year I would have given it to Notorious.  But IAWL is such a psychologically and spiritually  important movie and the Stewart performance so powerful, it edged out the Hitchcock classic.

8. This list will change when I see more films from that year.

9. I agree with Peary that this is a much more complete film than Hamlet and certainly one you'd rather rent.  Fifty years before the Bre-X gold scandal, art predicts life.

10. Gun Crazy is impossible to find.  This choice may change in time. Right now On the Town wins for '49 as does Singin' in the Rain for '52.  My list for '52 is: Director: Gene Kelly and Stanley Donen, Actor: Gene Kelly, Actress: Debbie Reynolds, Supporting Actor: Donald O'Connor, Supporting Actress: Jean Hagen.  Screenplay: Comden and Green. Notice a theme here?  Congratulations to Stanley Donen for his recent lifetime Oscar and thanks for the most entertaining movies ever made.

11. Sorry, the union films were great, but Rear Window is a perfect film in all respects.  Notice that there is not a moment of wasted screen time.  Peary reveals his Leftist bias in his choice and allows politics to distort his aesthetic.  OTW was clearly superior and more balanced.

12. 1955 is the year of James Dean, and the best year for film save 1939.  Both Dean films were phenomenal and it was difficult to choose between Rebel Without a Cause and East of Eden.  But I could not deny Night of the Hunter, probably the most frightening movie ever made.  Mister Roberts, The Rose Tattoo and The Blackboard Jungle came out that year.

13. Currently being reedited according to Welles instructions.  Famous for one of the best opening shots in history.  O.J. apologists and defenders, pay attention: you can be framed and still be guilty as hell.

14. Another great year for films.  Apologies to North by Northwest, Anatomy of a Murder and Rio Bravo.  SLIH is a nearly perfect film farce and the best Marilyn Monroe performance.

15. Choosing films from this era is nearly impossible.  If you pick SOM, you're too square, Repulsion, you're trying to hard to be hip.  I'll split the difference and pick Darling, which is both.

16. The first of my what the hell are you talking about choices.  James Coburn stars in a terrific satire of politics that stands the test of time, even if ATT is broken up.  The usual picks are The Graduate and Bonnie and Clyde and I can't argue with either one.  Two for the Road is a wonderful comedy and the most realistic portrayal I've ever seen of  modern romance.

17. The great films of Nicholson span the era of the great Rolling Stones albums.  Easy Rider, Five Easy Pieces, Carnal Knowledge, The Last Detail, Chinatown, One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest.  A winning streak that may never be duplicated.

18. Heretical, I know.  The Godfather films are very good, but a little too ceremonial for my taste.  I think the mob films of Howard Hawks and Scorcese are superior within that genre.  Woody's first great film.

19. My most radical choice in the year everyone fawned over Raging Bull.  Which film would you rent a second or third time?  Life of Brian is simply the funniest and most important satire of all time, and for that reason it deserves the accolades.  Absurdist comedy requires a certain genius and the Pythons are masters.

20. What the hell were they thinking?

21. Ditto. The public had it right and the critics wrong two years in a row.  On the pilot for "Dawson's Creek", two bright teenagers pointed out that Gandhi is a movie you can't even sit through.

22. I have no idea why Phillip Kaufmann's cinematically stunning film about the Mercury astronauts did not become a huge hit.  The Right Stuff is not just a patriotic astronaut movie.  It is a complex story based upon a brilliant novel by Tom Wolfe about the politics of heroism. Apollo 13 is not even the best astronaut movie featuring Ed Harris.

23. A great semi-remake of a Buster Keaton movie entitled Sherlock Jr. (1924)  A movie lover's movie and Jeff Daniels and Mia Farrow have never been better.

24. OK, I'm taking a stand here.  And I suppose you'd rather dwell in the mire of Oliver Stone's self-pity than rerent a brilliantly funny version of "Ransom of Red Chief".  This is the best work of DeVito, Midler (save "The Rose"), Reinhold, Slater.  The comedies of the eighties are as underrated as the dramas are overrated, something Comedy Central has figured out.

25. Be honest.  Have you seen either Chinese-themed film more often than the great John Hughes' buddy comedy about the Sissyphean travails of modern transportation that is slowly becoming a Thanksgiving classic?  John Candy delivered an astounding performance of a complex character  and is certainly more deserving of an Oscar than Michael Douglas' cartoonish Gordon Gekko.  This was the culmination of a series of critically underappreciated eighties comedies directed by Hughes (Sixteen Candles, the Breakfast Club, Ferris Bueller's Day Off) that seem to be standing the test of time better than stale eighties dramas like Wall Street or Out of Africa.   The Last Temptation of Christ is an underrated film of that year and also a worthwhile choice.

26. For some reason, most filmmakers have trouble dealing with religion other than in stereotypes.  This brilliant Woody Allen film plunges headfirst into important moral and existential issues, yet manages to be funny at the same time.  Martin Landau is astounding in the role of an married ophthalmologist who asks his brother to whack his girlfriend. The parallel story script is genius, and intersects at just the right moment.  There is nothing like it in the history of film. Gus Van Sant's "Drugstore Cowboy" from that year is a far better film than "Driving Miss Daisy" and the best thing Matt Dillon and Kelly Lynch have ever done

27. Van Sant wins the Oscar here for a brilliant retelling of Henry IV Part II. The pinnacle of River Phoenix' brief career.  Silence of the Lambs was a monster movie and not nearly as good as the book.  (I'm not dissing it because a psychiatrist is portrayed as an evil monster because evil shrinks do exist and one of them is running Serbia.  My objection is that the Hopkins character is ridiculous.  I don't like movies that portray psychiatrists as psychics, because we're not.  There is nothing I would enjoy less than getting into someone's head in my free time.)  Certainly it was not worthy of an Oscar sweep.

28. This was a tough choice, but Reservoir Dogs was a groundbreaking film in many ways.  I like it better than Pulp Fiction.  I have no argument with Unforgiven or the underrated Deep Cover, both great films.

29. Technically ineligible as a documentary, it was still the best movie of the year.  Probably Pulp Fiction was the best of the eligible films. Nothing in Forrest Gump, Pulp Fiction, Shawshank Redemption and Ed Wood could top the real tragedies of  Arthur Agee's expulsion from St. Joes and on-camera interview while his Dad buys crack in the background.

30. I am reserving judgment until I see more films from 1995. The best film I've seen so far from that year was Kurt Vonnegut's Harrison Bergeron, which was never released but played on Showtime and is now on video.  It is a blistering black comedy about radical egalitarianism that improves upon the original short story and is a must-see sleeper. That TV Movies can now compete on merit with cinematic screen releases bodes well for the future of TV but is not a healthy trend for film as an art.

31. I was tempted to go for Big Night, because the Academy tends to neglect small, intimate films.  But Fargo is full of great performances, the deserving Frances McDormand, and the brilliant William H. Macy and Steve Buscemi as scumbags for whom we actually feel pity.  (Either one deserved Best Supporting against the over-the-top Cuba Gooding who was better in Boys in the Hood)   Cinematically stunning, a brilliant script, bizarre characters, tragic and funny at the same time--one of the best films of the modern era and a culmination of the Coen's careers.  The English Patient is good, but I cared more about the romance of the nurse and the Sikh than about the self-indulgent main characters.   The Academy was bowled over by the cinematography and ignored substance.
 
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