Throwback Thursday: Best Picture Winners

3 Days to go until Hollywood’s big night – the 83rd annual Academy Awards. With THE KING’S SPEECH as the presumed front-runner and THE SOCIAL NETWORK hot on its heels, the race still may be too close to call. In a special Oscar edition of Throwback Thursday, we decided to have a look back at some of the previous Best Picture winners. Here are some of the highlights to what the WAMG crew considers to be among the Academy’s Best Picture winners. Tell us below what your favorite Best Picture is.

Jim: MUTINY ON THE BOUNTY (1935) “There have been several movies based on this historical incident, but 1935’s MUTINY ON THE BOUNTY is the superior version thanks to the lavish MGM production values and a cast anchored by Clark Gable’s noble Fletcher Christian and Charles Laughton’s despicably cruel Captain Bligh.”

Travis: THE HURT LOCKER (2009) “It may be a bit long, but that’s like getting to ride the best roller coaster twice in a row without waiting in line a second time. Kathryn Bigelow’s direction reveals her passion for detail and Jeremy Renner’s performance teeters on the edge of insanity.”

Melissa T: BRAVEHEART (1995) “Say what you want about Mel Gibson, but this awesome epic got him a set of bookends made of Oscar gold.”

Tom: UNFORGIVEN (1992) “Served by uniformly strong acting and by Clint Eastwood’s wonderfully understated direction in the grand tradition of Hollywood golden era directors such as John Ford or Howard Hawks, UNFORGIVEN was a powerful coda to the western genre and Eastwood’s definitive masterpiece.”

Travis: MILLION DOLLAR BABY (2004) “It flourished on controversy — a film in two parts — both tackling topics of difficult “fights,” creating a ripple of social debate and helping the film take it’s place in cinematic history.”

Michelle: CHARIOTS OF FIRE (1981) “The British Are Coming was the victory cry heard round the world by night’s end of the 54th Academy Awards.”

Jim: THE STING (1973) “It’s a terrifically entertaining con-game comedy and a loving homage to all that’s wonderful about the movies produced during Hollywood’s golden age in the 1930’s.”

Travis: NO COUNTRY FOR OLD MEN (2007) “It hits a nerve, bringing the darkly pessimistic writing of Cormac McCarthy together with the quirky intensity of the Coen brothers’ direction. Javier Bardem’s performance is just freaky and frighteningly good!”

Tom: MIDNIGHT COWBOY (1969) “It’s the story of two losers who find each other and the hostile, uncaring environment that surrounds them. The only film rated X to win the best picture Oscar, MIDNIGHT COWBOY becomes stranger, sleazier, and more heartbreaking as it ages.”

Academy Awards for outstanding film achievements of 2010 will be presented on Sunday, February 27, 2011, at the Kodak Theatre at Hollywood & Highland Center®, and televised live by the ABC Television Network beginning at 5 p.m. PT/8 p.m. ET.  The Oscar presentation also will be televised live in more than 200 countries worldwide.

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