Oscars - Best Picture Milestones
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Year of Awards (No.) Production Company
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Best Picture Winner/Year and Director
Number of Awards/Nominations and Milestones
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Film Poster
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1970 (43rd)
![](http://www.filmsite.org/titles/patton-title.jpg)
20th Century Fox
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Patton (1970)
d. Franklin J. Schaffner
Awards: 7
Nominations: 10
A
rousing biopic of the WWII general, a brilliant tactician sidelined by
his outspokenness.
- the first PG-rated film to win Best Picture since the institution of the MPAA rating system
- the big-budget film (at about $12 million) was the first war film to win Best Picture since 1962, when Lawrence of Arabia (1962) won the Best Picture award
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1971 (44th)
![](http://www.filmsite.org/titles/frenchconnection-title.jpg)
20th Century Fox
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The French Connection (1971)
d. William Friedkin
Awards: 5
Nominations: 8
The
fact-based story of two determined New York detectives who pursue a major
drug-smuggling operation.
- the first R-rated film to win Best Picture since the institution of the MPAA rating system
- following In
the Heat of the Night (1967), it was only the second Best Picture
in Academy history to showcase a police officer as its central character
- in the same year, the first science-fiction film to be nominated for Best Picture was Kubrick's A Clockwork Orange (1971) and it was the last X-rated film to be nominated for Best Picture
- in the same year, Nicholas and Alexandra (1971), the
most-recent PG-rated film to be nominated for Best Picture
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1972 (45th)
Paramount
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The Godfather (1972)
d. Francis Ford Coppola
Awards: 3
Nominations: 10
A
Mafia family struggles to reconcile old-country traditions and the realities
of doing business in America.
- one of The Godfather's original eleven nominations was removed, Best Music (Original Dramatic Score), when it was determined that Nino Rota's score had been used for a previous 1958 film
- all of its three nominees for Best Supporting Actor lost to Joel Grey in Cabaret (1972)
- in the same year, Cabaret (1972) set a record - it had the most Oscar wins (8) of any film without winning the Best Picture award
- in the same year, it was the only year in which a film, The Emigrants (1972) (Best Picture nominee) and its sequel, The New Land (1972) (Best Foreign Language film nominee) were both nominated
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1973 (46th)
![](http://www.filmsite.org/titles/sting-title.jpg)
Universal
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The Sting (1973)
d. George Roy Hill
Awards: 7
Nominations: 10
Two
charming grifters decide to work an elaborate con in thirties Chicago.
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1974 (47th)
![](http://www.filmsite.org/titles/godfather1974-title.jpg)
Paramount
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The Godfather, Part 2 (1974)
d. Francis Ford Coppola
Awards: 6
Nominations: 11
The
Corleone family's past is explored while its activities expand into Vegas
in the late 1950s.
- the only sequel to win a Best Picture Oscar at the time of its win [an earlier unsuccessful attempt at a sequel-Best Picture win was The Bells of St. Mary's (1945) - following the Best Picture winner of the previous year - Going My Way (1944)]
- its 'sequel' The Godfather, Part III (1990) was also nominated for Best Picture - and lost, and two sequel-installments of The Lord of the Rings (in 2002 and 2003) were also nominated, with the latter winning the top honor. Some might consider the Best Picture-winning The Silence of the Lambs (1991) as a sequel to Manhunter (1986), but that stretches the definition of a true sequel
- the first of only three partly foreign language films (English/Sicilian) to win Best Picture (the other two were in 1987 and 2008)
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1975 (48th)
![](http://www.filmsite.org/titles/oneflewovercuckoosnest-titl.jpg)
United Artists
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One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest (1975)
d. Milos Forman
Awards: 5
Nominations: 9
The
struggle between submission to authority and rebellion plays out in a mental
hospital.
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1976 (49th)
United Artists
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Rocky (1976)
d. John G. Avildsen
Awards: 3
Nominations: 10
An
unsuccessful boxer pins his hopes on a high-profile match against a champ.
- the first sports film to win Best Picture; the next sports film to win Best Picture was Chariots of Fire (1981), followed by Million Dollar Baby (2004)
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1977 (50th)
![](http://www.filmsite.org/titles/anniehall.jpg)
United Artists
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Annie Hall (1977)
d. Woody Allen
Awards: 4
Nominations: 5
A
neurotic New York Jew and a ditzy suburban WASP try to make their relationship
work.
- the first comedy to win the Best Picture Oscar since The Sting (1973), and before that, Tom Jones (1963); it would be another 21 years for the next romantic comedy to win Best Picture -- Shakespeare in Love (1998)
- in the same year, The Turning Point (1977) was the first of only two Best Picture nominees to receive the most nominations (11) without winning a single Academy Award; the other film was The Color Purple (1985)
- the win for United Artists made it the first studio to win three Best Pictures in a row (the second studio to duplicate this feat was DreamWorks (from 1999-2001))
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1978 (51st)
Universal
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The Deer Hunter (1978)
d. Michael Cimino
Awards: 5
Nominations: 9
Three
young men from small-town Pennsylvania are forever changed by their experience
in Vietnam.
- in the same year, Heaven Can Wait (1978), the second time that a duo-directing team was nominated for Best Picture, Warren Beatty and Buck Henry (the first instance was in 1961, and the third instance in 2007)
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1979 (52nd)
![](http://www.filmsite.org/filmfotos/kramer5.jpg)
Columbia
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Kramer vs. Kramer (1979)
d. Robert Benton
Awards: 5
Nominations: 9
A
divorced dad resents playing Mr. Mom, then fights for his son when his
ex-wife demands custody.
- two other family-related dramatic Best Pictures would follow in just a few years, Robert Redford's Ordinary People (1980) and Terms of Endearment (1983)
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