We're Back: With a List of Our Favorite Oscar-Winning Films

Here are our ten favorite Oscar-winning films:

1) The Godfather (1972; see image one)

2) On the Waterfront (1954)

3) Midnight Cowboy (1969; see image two)

4) Schindler's List (1993)

5) The Apartment (1960)

6) One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest (1975; see image three)

7) The French Connection (1971)

8) All Quiet on the Western Front (1929)

9) Annie Hall (1977)

10) Lawrence of Arabia (1962)

http://www.oscars.go.com

The 20 Best Films to Win Best Picture (in our view)

Here is our list of our 20 favorite films to ever win Best Picture Oscars. The Oscars will be televised on ABC tv here in America on Sunday night. So far, we have seen five of the nine nominated films, so it may be slightly premature to predict the future, but it seems ok to reflect on the past.

We should point out that we have not seen each film that has won Best Picture since "Wings" (one of the films we haven't seen) was named the best film of 1927, but we have seen every winner since 1960:

1. "The Godfather" (1972)

2. "All Quiet on the Western Front" (1932)

3. "The French Connection" (1971; reason for the first image of the French comic book character Obelix from the "Asterix" series)

4. "Midnight Cowboy" (1969)

5. "The Apartment" (1960; reason for the second image of an apartment complex in Chicago)

6. "On the Waterfront" (1954)

7. "One Flew over the Cuckoo's Nest" (1975, reason for the third image of a German cuckoo clock)

8. "Annie Hall" (1977)

9. "Schindler's List" (1993)

10. "The Godfather, Part 2" (1974)

11. "Lawrence of Arabia" (1962)

12. "The Last Emperor" (1987)

13. "The Deer Hunter" (1978)

14. "West Side Story" (1961)

15. "Casablanca" (1943)

16, "Unforgiven" (1992)

17. "The Departed" (2006)

18. "From Here to Eternity" (1953)

19. "Silence of the Lambs" (1991)

20. "American Beauty" (1999)

http://www.oscar.go.com

Oscar Quote of the Week- Dustin Hoffman

Since we are against capital punishment, this quote is quite poignant. Dustin Hoffman, who is now obviously a much older man (I think he is around 70) finally won a Best Actor Oscar for his performance (many people think he should have won earlier for "Midnight Cowboy" or "The Graduate) in the 1979 divorce drama "Kramer vs. Kramer."

Here is the quip:

"A good review from the critics is just another stay of execution."

The Last Ten Films I've Seen (As of Last Night)

I will do this a bit differently this time as I have in previous "Last Ten Films I've Seen" entries, by listing the films first and then commenting on (most of) them:

1. "Midnight Cowboy" (1969. d-John Schlesinger)
2. "My Best Girl (1927. d-Sam Taylor. Film starred Mary Pickford)
3. "To Be and To Have" (2002. doc. France. d-Nicolas Philibert)
4. "Bonjour Monsieur Shlomi" (2003. Israel. d-Shemi Zarhin)
5. "You Don't Know Jack" (2010. d-Barry Levinson. Film made for HBO).
6. "Greenberg" (2010. d-Noah Baumbach)
7. "Zatoichi: The Festival of Fire" (1970. Japan. d-Kenji Misumi).
8. "The Mouse on the Moon" (1963. d-Richard Lester).
9. "Panic in the Streets" (1950. d-Elia Kazan)
10. "His Girl Friday" (1940. d-Howard Hawks)

As one might have noticed, none of these films feature b-western star Hopalong Cassidy (pictured here), but I thought I would feature his image with this list because my friend Gary who runs a vintage small-town cinema near Greensboro, NC, once told me that folks came to the movie theatre to see "Midnight Cowboy" in 1969 thinking (by the title) that it was a western!

It is in fact a movie about a gay street hustler from Texas (played by Jon Voight) who comes to New York where he meets a city drifter (played by Dustin Hoffman) and befriends him. For many who have seen the iconic film, which is the only X-rated film to ever win a Best Picture Oscar, and were familiar with Voight's very left-of-center politics, it is indeed shocking that he is now a fringe right-winger who even speaks at Tea Party rallies.

But, what I found to be more startling while researching "Midnight Cowboy" for this piece was that the film's openly gay director John Schlesinger (1926-2003) himself reverted to political conservatism! He allegedly said that "Midnight Cowboy," which portrays homosexuality in a negative manner, would not get made today because of political correctness. Of course, one would also think that the rise of '80s Reagansim and the religious right in recent years would make it difficult for a major studio ("Midnight Cowboy" was made by MGM) to back such a film either.

"My Best Girl" is a delightful late-period silent film (by 1927, most films were incorporating sound) which is said to feature the best performance of screen darling Mary Pickford, once dubbed 'America's Sweetheart.' She won an Oscar the following year for "Coquette" and she lived into her eighties until her death in 1979.

"Bonjour Monsieur Shlomi" may sound like a French film from the title, but it is actually an Israeli film which has nothing to do with the Palestinian-Israeli political rift. It is actually a startling examanition of teenage sexuality which is surprisingly frank. The film comes across as a cross between John Hughes' "Sixteen Candles" and Larry Clark's highly controversial film "Kids."

"You Don't Know Jack" is about the famous (or infamous depending on your perspective) Armenian-American assisted suicide doctor Jack Kevorkian which features a stellar performance from Al Pacino in the lead role. The moving film is being shown just weeks after a controversial article about assisted suicide appeared in "The Atlantic."

"Greenberg" shows a very different side of lead actor Ben Stiller. It is a surprisingly sexually overt film, even by indy standards. Stiller is great, though I felt this film which I saw at the Grandin Theatre in Roanoke, Va., lacked a satisfying resolution.

"Zatoichi: The Festival of Fire" is a Japanese samurai-themed b-movie which has a cult following. It came out about the same time as the countless Godzilla-Mothra sequels did.

"The Mouse on the Moon" may seem slightly dated, but it is a biting Cold War satire from Richard Lester, who is one of my favorite directors, though I think it is unfortunate that he is best-known for his two Beatles films ("A Hard Day's Night" and "Help") when he made many other vintage films- my personal favorite being the 1965 film "The Knack--Or How to Get It). Lester is still alive and in his late seventies, but he no longer makes films.

"Panic in the Streets" is unique for being a film noir directed by Elia Kazan (not a genre he is known for) and a great performance from a very young Jack Palace.

"His Girl Friday" is said to be Howard Hawks' best comedy, and it is amazing that Rosalind Russell's amazing performance alongside Cary Grant was completely overlooked by the Academy Awards (she wasn't even nominated!).