7 Unforgettable Best Picture Winners To Watch Before Oscar Night

One thing I love about Oscar night is that there are inevitably future Oscar winners out there watching, imagining the day that they get to address the world after winning an award. I’ll admit, I used to sketch my future Oscar dress instead of paying attention in class. It could still happen!

While I haven’t seen every Best Picture winner ever, I’ve seen a few movies in my life and these are my favorite films that have taken home the coveted award of the night in the past. These films all tell an amazing story and for the most part, they’re of the feel-good variety.

Obviously I’m hoping I can add La La Land to this list on Monday, but we’ll see!

So if you find yourself with a little extra time on your hands before Sunday and that chilly weather keeps you indoors, here are 7 films I hands-down recommend you watch, in order of the year they won.

1. Gone With the Wind

I can’t think about that right now. If I do, I’ll go crazy. I’ll think about that tomorrow…

This film and the one below it are two of my earliest cinematic memories. Gone With the Wind used to air every year on TV on Easter. I have no idea why, but I admired Scarlett O’Hara’s joie de vivre even when I was super young. Another thing that always stood out to me on an extreme level was the transformation that we see in the film’s Georgia setting, as well as the contrast before, during and after the war. Disneyland, apocalypse, restored grandeur.

Like The Godfather, it’s super long and super epic, spanning over a decade. If you’re skeptical, I promise you won’t be bored!

2. West Side Story

When you’re a jet, you’re a jet all the way from your first cigarette till your last dyin’ day…

Take Shakespeare’s Romeo & Juliet, set it to 1960s Manhattan (on the West Side, of course) and add two rival gangs called the Jets and the Sharks. Cue drama.

I’ve watched this movie enough to know all kinds of random things about this – like there’s a character who looks freakishly like Joey Tribianni from Friends, and Amber Tamblyn’s dad plays Riff, the initial leader of the Jets.

It changes from dramatic to funny to grim every five minutes, and I have a feeling “America” will get stuck in your head…

3. The Godfather

In Sicily, women are more dangerous than shotguns…

The Godfather packs a lot into its 3-hour running time. In it, we go from New York to Sicily and back. Michael Corleone goes from anti-mob to mafia head. And there are still two films left after that!

It’s not so much a mafia film as it is a family film. It’s about history, loyalty and tradition.

4. Terms of Endearment

You’re gonna realize that you love me. And maybe you’re gonna feel badly, because you never told me. But don’t – I know that you love me. So don’t ever do that to yourself, all right?

Terms of Endearment kind of starts off as the original Gilmore Girls, a witty mother-daughter comedy with an extra dose of tension.  Three-quarters in it pulls the rug out from under you and becomes a flat-out tearjerker. Steel Magnolias was definitely my gateway into this film, and I love both.

Jack Nicholson is an amusing bonus to the cast of this film, as the sleazy dirtbag astronaut next door.

5. Forrest Gump

From that day on, we was always together. Jenny and me was like peas and carrots…

Forrest Gump haters are one of my biggest pet peeves in life. I can’t, and honestly kind of hope I never will, comprehend how anyone can dislike this film. Not only is it quotable AF, it does a brilliant job of incorporating history and humor into its narrative.

6. Titanic

You must promise me that you’ll survive, that you won’t give up, no matter what happens, no matter how hopeless…

This may be just me, but I literally don’t think any other film I see for the rest of my life will ever live up to the hype I have in my head about Titanic. There’s just something about Leo’s Jack Dawson that makes him unforgettable, and his awesomeness is only highlighted by his banter with Kate Winslet’s Rose. It makes it pretty believable that she’d go her entire life without getting over him.

7. American Beauty

Both my wife and daughter think I’m this gigantic loser. And they’re right. I have lost something. I’m not exactly sure what it is, but I know I didn’t always feel this sedated. But you know what? It’s never too late to get it back.

This movie definitely errs a little on the weird side, but it says so much about the way most of us go about our lives. On the one hand, the movie seems to be about boredom. The kind of self-induced boredom people often inflict on themselves in the name of security and new cars.

When a narcissistic teenage girl kicks his midlife crisis into first gear, Lester Burnham starts responding to things he’d neglected for decades for reasons unknown. He works out, smokes weed, rebels against his boss and buys his dream car.

We see how the people around him respond to this change, and it’s somehow just as depressing as it is inspiring.

What’s your favorite Oscar buzz film of the past? Share in the comments!