Ranking the Best Picture Winners (1960s)

If you stack all of the best picture winners side to side there is one that sticks out like a sore thumb for all the wrong reasons. I mean c'mon, just look at that poster. Tom Jones tells the story of a medievalish English playboy and does so in an incredibly grating and annoying way. Aggravating narration, obnoxious characters are not elements that belong alongside epics like Ben-Hur.

The song and danciest of the song and danciestest decade of Best Picture winners ever. This, however, doesn't make it particularly good. Robert Wise made masterpieces but this one just didn't do it for me. Dancing knife fights just aren't my style.

It starts off well enough and is very appealing for about the first 20 or so minutes. However, the characters and story quickly become a drag set to music.

Underrated and probably underseen this is a solid political quasi-thriller from one of our most unrecognized great directors.

Lawrence of Arabia is epically photographed has interesting characters and fascinating locales and tells a mostly intriguing story of a dude going "native". Its biggest drawback is its appropriately epic running time. Eventually even the hardiest desert warriors grows tired of seeing sand. Still, it is one of the great epic films.

Less happy but much more consistent then Wise's other Oscar winning film of the 60s. Almost anyone can name two or three songs from the sound of music. That is a testament to its timeless staying power.

For some reason Rob Steiger gets a ton of credit for his performance in this film. Not to take anything away from Steiger's acting ability but it almost seems as if he steals the spotlight from co-star Sidney Poitier who, to be honest, is a complete tour de force in this film. He rocks it and makes the film a classic. Strange that two Poitier films were nominated in the acting categories this year but Poitier received zero noms.

A classic old style comedy. Billy Wilder was one of the greats and this is one of his best.

The only musical that won for this decade that had great songs, great acting and a memorably touching story.

This is the greatest epic film ever made. A masterpiece of its genre who's set pieces still tower about those of its lowly subordinates. Say what you will about the story but those sumptuous sets will stick in your mind and the excitement and tension of the boat sinking and chariot race have rarely been equaled.