From Vietnam‑era dramas and gritty crime thrillers to sweeping biopics and intimate family stories, the Best Picture winners of the 1970s and 1980s trace Hollywood’s shift from New Hollywood experimentation to big‑studio prestige.
This era produced some of the Academy’s most beloved films, including The Godfather, Rocky, Gandhi and Rain Man. Below is a year‑by‑year guide to every Best Picture winner from 1970 to 1989, with key facts, records and context for each film.
Patton (1970) is an epic biographical war film about U.S. General George S. Patton during World War II, directed by Franklin J. Schaffner. George C. Scott stars as Patton, with Karl Malden as General Omar Bradley and a screenplay by Francis Ford Coppola and Edmund H. North, drawn from Ladislas Farago’s Patton: Ordeal and Triumph and Bradley’s memoir A Soldier’s Story.
The film received ten Academy Award nominations and won seven, including Best Picture, Best Director and Best Original Screenplay; Scott also won Best Actor but famously refused the Oscar, calling the ceremony a “meat parade.”
Its opening scene—Patton delivering a blunt, patriotic speech in front of a massive American flag—has become one of the most iconic images in war‑movie and Oscar history.
The French Connection (1971) is a neo‑noir action thriller directed by William Friedkin and starring Gene Hackman, Roy Scheider and Fernando Rey. Adapted by Ernest Tidyman from Robin Moore’s nonfiction book, it follows New York narcotics detectives Jimmy “Popeye” Doyle and Buddy “Cloudy” Russo as they try to dismantle a French heroin smuggling ring.
The film earned eight Oscar nominations and won five—Best Picture, Best Director, Best Actor (Hackman), Best Adapted Screenplay and Best Film Editing—while also picking up major technical awards from other bodies.
Its gritty location shooting and legendary car‑and‑train chase sequence helped redefine 1970s crime cinema and influenced countless thrillers that followed.
The Godfather (1972), directed by Francis Ford Coppola from a script he co‑wrote with Mario Puzo, adapts Puzo’s best‑selling 1969 novel about the Corleone Mafia family. Widely regarded as one of the greatest and most influential films ever made, it reshaped both the gangster genre and modern American filmmaking.
The story chronicles Don Vito Corleone (Marlon Brando) and the moral descent of his youngest son, Michael (Al Pacino), from reluctant family outsider to ruthless crime boss.
The film became the highest‑grossing movie of 1972 and, for a time, the highest‑grossing film in history, earning over 240 million dollars worldwide. At the 45th Academy Awards, it won Best Picture, Best Actor (Brando) and Best Adapted Screenplay, with additional nominations for Pacino, James Caan, Robert Duvall and Coppola.
The Sting (1973) is a caper film directed by George Roy Hill that reunites Paul Newman and Robert Redford after Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid. Set in 1936, it follows two con men who team up to execute an elaborate revenge scam on a Chicago mob boss played by Robert Shaw.
Written by David S. Ward and loosely inspired by real‑life grifters Fred and Charley Gondorff, the film mixes intricate plotting with ragtime‑infused style and period detail.
Released at Christmas 1973, The Sting became a critical and commercial hit, earning ten Oscar nominations and winning seven, including Best Picture, Best Director, Best Original Screenplay, Art Direction, Costume Design, Film Editing and Scoring. Its success revitalized Newman’s star status and later inspired the sequel The Sting II (1983).
The Godfather Part II (1974) is an epic crime drama produced and directed by Francis Ford Coppola, co‑written with Mario Puzo and loosely based on remaining elements of Puzo’s novel. It intercuts two parallel narratives: Michael Corleone (Al Pacino) tightening his grip on the family empire in the late 1950s, and a young Vito Corleone (Robert De Niro) rising from Sicilian immigrant to New York crime boss.
Made for about 13 million dollars, the film grossed roughly 93 million worldwide and deepened the original’s themes of power, legacy and corruption.
Nominated for 11 Oscars, it became the first sequel ever to win Best Picture, ultimately taking six awards including Best Picture, Best Director, Best Supporting Actor (De Niro) and Best Adapted Screenplay. It is often cited as one of the greatest sequels—and greatest films—in cinema history.
One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest (1975) is a psychological comedy‑drama directed by Miloš Forman, based on Ken Kesey’s novel. Jack Nicholson plays Randle McMurphy, a convict who fakes insanity to serve his sentence in a mental hospital, where he clashes with the controlling Nurse Ratched (Louise Fletcher).
The project lingered in development for over a decade after an initial 1960s attempt with Kirk Douglas before finally reaching the screen in the mid‑’70s.
The film earned widespread acclaim and became only the second movie to sweep the “Big Five” Oscars—Best Picture, Director, Actor, Actress and Screenplay—after It Happened One Night, a feat later matched only by The Silence of the Lambs. It also collected major Golden Globe and BAFTA awards and is frequently ranked among the greatest films ever made.
Rocky (1976) is an independent sports drama directed by John G. Avildsen, written by and starring Sylvester Stallone. It introduces Rocky Balboa, a small‑time Philadelphia boxer who gets an improbable shot at the heavyweight title and treats it as a chance to prove his worth to himself and the world.
Stallone famously wrote the script in just a few days and insisted on playing Rocky, turning down a large offer that would have recast the lead. Produced for under one million dollars, the film became the highest‑grossing movie of 1976, earning about 225 million worldwide.
Rocky received ten Oscar nominations and won three—Best Picture, Best Director and Best Film Editing—launching a long‑running franchise and becoming one of cinema’s definitive underdog sports stories.
Annie Hall (1977) is a satirical romantic comedy‑drama directed by Woody Allen, co‑written with Marshall Brickman. Allen plays Alvy Singer, a neurotic New York comedian reflecting on his failed relationship with aspiring singer Annie Hall, played by Diane Keaton in a role written specifically for her voice and persona.
The film’s mix of non‑linear structure, fourth‑wall breaks and deeply personal humor is often credited with redefining the modern romantic comedy and influencing later character‑driven indies.
Annie Hall was nominated for the Big Five Oscars and won four—Best Picture, Best Director, Best Actress (Keaton) and Best Original Screenplay—along with multiple BAFTAs and a Golden Globe for Keaton. It frequently appears on lists of the greatest American films and screen comedies.
The Deer Hunter (1978) is an epic war drama co‑written and directed by Michael Cimino, following three Pennsylvania steelworkers whose lives are devastated by their service in the Vietnam War. The script evolved from an unproduced screenplay titled The Man Who Came to Play, originally set in Las Vegas and focused on Russian roulette.
Though the production ran over budget to about 15 million dollars, the film grossed roughly 49 million and drew strong reactions for its intense performances, long structure and harrowing portrayal of trauma.
It received nine Oscar nominations and won five, including Best Picture, Best Director, Best Supporting Actor (Christopher Walken), Best Sound and Best Film Editing, and also brought Meryl Streep her first Academy Award nomination.
Kramer vs. Kramer (1979) is a legal and family drama written and directed by Robert Benton, adapted from Avery Corman’s novel. Starring Dustin Hoffman and Meryl Streep, it examines a couple’s divorce, their custody battle over their son and changing ideas about fatherhood, work and caregiving.
The film became a major box‑office success, earning more than 173 million dollars on an 8‑million budget and ranking as the highest‑grossing film of 1979 in the U.S. and Canada.
It led the Oscars with nine nominations and won five—Best Picture, Best Director, Best Actor (Hoffman), Best Supporting Actress (Streep) and Best Adapted Screenplay—along with multiple Golden Globes including Best Motion Picture – Drama.
Ordinary People (1980) is a domestic drama directed by Robert Redford in his feature directing debut, from a script by Alvin Sargent based on Judith Guest’s novel. It focuses on a seemingly successful suburban family in Illinois dealing with the accidental death of their eldest son and the surviving brother’s suicide attempt.
Made for about 6.2 million dollars, it grossed roughly 90 million and was cited by critics’ groups as one of the year’s best films.
Ordinary People received six Oscar nominations and won four—Best Picture, Best Director, Best Adapted Screenplay and Best Supporting Actor (Timothy Hutton, then the youngest winner in that category)—and added five Golden Globes, including Best Motion Picture – Drama.
Chariots of Fire (1981) is a historical sports drama directed by Hugh Hudson and written by Colin Welland. It tells the intertwined true stories of two British runners at the 1924 Olympics: devout Scottish Christian Eric Liddell and English Jew Harold Abrahams, who is driven to succeed against prejudice.
The film’s blend of period detail, religious and cultural themes, and Vangelis’s now‑iconic electronic score gave it a distinctive identity among sports dramas.
It was nominated for seven Oscars and won four, including Best Picture, Best Original Screenplay, Best Original Score and Best Costume Design. At the BAFTAs it earned multiple wins, and the BFI later ranked it 19th on its list of top British films.
Gandhi (1982) is an epic biographical film about Mahatma Gandhi, directed and produced by Richard Attenborough from a script by John Briley. Ben Kingsley plays Gandhi, charting his journey from lawyer to leader of India’s nonviolent struggle for independence from the British Empire.
The film was praised for its scope, period recreation and Kingsley’s transformative performance, and it grossed about 127.8 million dollars worldwide on a 22‑million budget.
Gandhi led the 55th Academy Awards with 11 nominations and won eight, including Best Picture, Best Director, Best Actor, Best Original Screenplay and several craft categories. The BFI later ranked it among the greatest British films, and AFI listed it among the most inspiring American movies.
Terms of Endearment (1983) is a family tragicomedy written, produced and directed by James L. Brooks, adapted from Larry McMurtry’s novel. Spanning about three decades, it explores the volatile but deeply bonded relationship between strong‑willed mother Aurora Greenway (Shirley MacLaine) and her daughter Emma (Debra Winger).
The film balanced sharp humor with emotionally devastating drama and became the second highest‑grossing movie of 1983, behind Return of the Jedi, taking in roughly 165 million dollars.
At the 56th Academy Awards it earned 11 nominations and won five—Best Picture, Best Director, Best Adapted Screenplay, Best Actress (MacLaine) and Best Supporting Actor (Jack Nicholson). A follow‑up, The Evening Star, was released in 1996.
Amadeus (1984) is a period biographical drama directed by Miloš Forman, adapted by Peter Shaffer from his own stage play. Described by Shaffer as a “fantasia on a theme,” it dramatizes a fictionalized rivalry between Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (Tom Hulce) and court composer Antonio Salieri (F. Murray Abraham) in 18th‑century Vienna.
The film mixes opulent production design, extensive use of Mozart’s music and an unreliable‑narrator structure to create one of cinema’s most acclaimed portraits of genius and jealousy.
Amadeus became a major awards juggernaut, winning eight Oscars—including Best Picture, Best Director and Best Actor (Abraham)—along with BAFTAs, Golden Globes and the Directors Guild Award.
Out of Africa (1985) is an epic romantic drama directed and produced by Sydney Pollack, starring Meryl Streep and Robert Redford. Loosely based on Isak Dinesen’s memoir Out of Africa and other writings, it recounts her years running a coffee farm in colonial Kenya and her complicated relationship with hunter Denys Finch Hatton.
Filmed on location in Africa and Europe, the movie was praised for its cinematography, production design and John Barry’s sweeping score, even as some critics debated its approach to colonial history.
It became a significant box‑office success and won seven Academy Awards, including Best Picture, Best Director, Best Adapted Screenplay, Art Direction, Cinematography, Original Score and Sound.
Platoon (1986) is a Vietnam War drama written and directed by Oliver Stone, based heavily on his own experiences as a U.S. Army infantryman. The film follows a young volunteer, Chris Taylor (Charlie Sheen), whose platoon is torn apart by a moral and personal conflict between two sergeants, played by Tom Berenger and Willem Dafoe.
Noted for its realism, chaos and refusal to romanticize combat, the movie helped shift popular depictions of the Vietnam War away from heroic myth toward trauma and ambiguity.
Produced for about 6 million dollars, it grossed roughly 138.5 million in the U.S. alone. Platoon received eight Oscar nominations and won four—Best Picture, Best Director, Best Film Editing and Best Sound—and became the first entry in Stone’s Vietnam trilogy, followed by Born on the Fourth of July and Heaven & Earth.
The Last Emperor (1987) is an epic biographical drama directed by Bernardo Bertolucci, based on the 1964 autobiography of Puyi, the last emperor of China. Starring John Lone as Puyi, it follows his life from being crowned as a child through his deposition, imprisonment and eventual political rehabilitation under the People’s Republic.
The film was shot extensively on location in China, including rare access to Beijing’s Forbidden City, and combined large‑scale spectacle with a reflective character study.
At the 60th Academy Awards, The Last Emperor achieved a rare 9‑for‑9 sweep, winning every category in which it was nominated—including Best Picture, Best Director and Best Adapted Screenplay. It also collected BAFTAs, Golden Globes, numerous international awards and a Grammy for its score.
Rain Man (1988) is a road comedy‑drama directed by Barry Levinson, written by Barry Morrow and Ronald Bass. Tom Cruise plays self‑centered car dealer Charlie Babbitt, who discovers his estranged father has left a fortune to Raymond (Dustin Hoffman), an autistic savant brother he never knew he had.
Inspired in part by real‑life savant Kim Peek and Morrow’s friend Bill Sackter, the film premiered at the Berlin International Film Festival, where it won the Golden Bear.
Rain Man grossed around 354 million dollars worldwide on a 25‑million budget, making it the highest‑grossing film of 1988. It earned eight Oscar nominations and won four—Best Picture, Best Director, Best Actor (Hoffman) and Best Original Screenplay—and remains the only film to win both Berlin’s top prize and the Best Picture Oscar in the same year.
Driving Miss Daisy (1989) is a comedy‑drama directed by Bruce Beresford and written by Alfred Uhry, based on Uhry’s Pulitzer Prize‑winning stage play. Spanning 25 years from the late 1940s to the early 1970s, it follows the evolving relationship between elderly Jewish widow Daisy Werthan (Jessica Tandy) and her Black chauffeur Hoke Colburn (Morgan Freeman) in Atlanta.
The film explores aging, independence, race and friendship through a series of gently observed vignettes and was praised for the performances of Tandy and Freeman.
Both a critical and commercial success, it earned nine Oscar nominations and won four: Best Picture, Best Actress (Tandy), Best Adapted Screenplay (Uhry) and Best Makeup. As of 2025, it remains the most recent PG‑rated film to win the Best Picture Oscar.
Across these two decades, Best Picture winners moved from New Hollywood grit—crime sagas, Vietnam dramas and daring character studies—to polished studio epics, music‑driven biographies and awards‑season crowd‑pleasers. The Academy embraced both radical storytelling, like Midnight Cowboy–era realism, and traditional prestige projects such as Gandhi, Out of Africa and The Last Emperor, reflecting Hollywood’s push‑and‑pull between risk and respectability.
By the end of the 1980s, Best Picture had become a showcase for emotionally accessible, globally marketable dramas—setting the stage for the blockbusters, historical epics and issue‑driven films that would dominate the 1990s. In Part 4, the story will continue through the 1990s and 2000s, as the Academy responds to the rise of franchises, independents and international cinema.
