Now that "The King's Speech" has officially beat out "The Social Netowrk" for Best Picture, it's time to add it to the age-old Best Picture bitch-fest that comes around every year: Is "Forrest Gump" really better that "Pulp Fiction?"   Is Chicago" really better than "Lord of the Rings?" And - my personal fave: Is "Shakespeare in Love" really better than "Saving Private Ryan?" (Answers? No, Maybe and hell yes) 

It seems a good time for whatever it's worth to suit all the Best Picture winners up in their bathing suits and offer one the sash and corwn, and send on on a bus back to Loser-ville (I'm looking at you, Ben Hur.  So, for what it's worth, from best to worst, deserving to unwatchable, and with little preparation or forethought, my rankings of the Best Picture Academy Award winners:

 

1984 - “Amadeus”

1955 - “Marty”

1943 - “Casablanca”

1949 - “All the Kings Men”

1991 - “The Silence of the Lambs”

1940 - “Rebecca”

1960 - “The Apartment”

1929/1930 - “All Quiet on the Western Front”

1950 - “All about Eve”

1934 - “It Happened One Night”

1980 - “Ordinary People”

1972 - “The Godfather”

1974 - “The Godfather Part II”

1946 - “The Best Years of Our Lives”

1954 - “On the Waterfront”

1939 - “Gone with the Wind”

1979 - “Kramer vs. Kramer”

1977 - “Annie Hall”

1973 - “The Sting”

1962 - “Lawrence of Arabia”

1948 - “Hamlet”

2001 - “A Beautiful Mind”

1961 - “West Side Story”

2002 - “Chicago”

1999 - “American Beauty”

1993 - “Schindler’s List”

1964 - “My Fair Lady”

1983 - “Terms of Endearment”

2007 - “No Country for Old Men”

1998 - “Shakespeare in Love”

1947 - “Gentleman's Agreement”

1938 - “You Can't Take It with You”

2006 - “The Departed”

1988 - “Rain Man”

2003 - “The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King”

1967 - “In the Heat of the Night”

2008 - “Slumdog Millionaire”

1982 - “Gandhi”

2010 – “The King’s Speech”

1969 - “Midnight Cowboy”

2009 - “The Hurt Locker”

1957 - “The Bridge on the River Kwai”

1935 - “Mutiny on the Bounty”

1994 - “Forrest Gump”

1965 - “The Sound of Music”

1975 - “One Flew over the Cuckoo's Nest”

1945 - “The Lost Weekend”

1986 - “Platoon”

1971 - “The French Connection”

1976 - “Rocky”

1944 - “Going My Way”

1953 - “From Here to Eternity”

1956 - “Around the World in 80 Days”

1996 - “The English Patient”

1942 - “Mrs. Miniver”

1937 - “The Life of Emile Zola”

1995 - “Braveheart”

1997 - “Titanic”

1990 - “Dances with Wolves”

1966 - “A Man for All Seasons”

1931/1932 - “Grand Hotel”

1936 - “The Great Ziegfeld”

1978 - “The Deer Hunter”

1989 - “Driving Miss Daisy”

1963 - “Tom Jones”

2000 - “Gladiator”

1930/1931 - “Cimarron”

1981 - “Chariots of Fire”

1970 - “Patton”

1941 - “How Green Was My Valley”

1927/1928 - “Wings”

1987 - “The Last Emperor”

1932/1933 - “Cavalcade”

1958 - “Gigi”

1985 - “Out of Africa”

1928/1929 - “The Broadway Melody”

1992 - “Unforgiven”

2004 - “Million Dollar Baby”

1968 - “Oliver!”

2005 - “Crash”

1952 - “The Greatest Show on Earth”

1951 - “An American in Paris”

1959 - “Ben-Hur”