| What Won | What Should Have Won |
| 1928 | Wings | The Circus |
| 1929 | Broadway Melody | Steamboat Bill, Jr. |
| 1930 | All Quiet on the Western Front | All Quiet on the Western Front |
| 1931 | Cimarron | City Lights |
| 1932 | Grand Hotel | Scarface |
| 1933 | Calvacade | King Kong |
| 1934 | It Happened One Night | It Happened One Night |
| 1935 | Mutiny on the Bounty | Mutiny on the Bounty |
| 1936 | The Great Ziegfeld | Modern Times |
| 1937 | The Life of Emile Zola | Lost Horizon |
| 1938 | You Can't Take it With You | The Adventures of Robin Hood |
| 1939 | Gone With the Wind | The Wizard of Oz |
| 1940 | Rebecca | The Grapes of Wrath |
| 1941 | How Green Was My Valley | Citizen Kane |
| 1942 | Mrs. Miniver | Sullivan's Travels |
| 1943 | Casablanca | Casablanca |
| 1944 | Going My Way | Double Indemnity |
| 1945 | The Lost Weekend | Spellbound |
| 1946 | The Best Years of Our Lives | It's a Wonderful Life |
| 1947 | Gentleman's Agreement | Monsieur Verdoux |
| 1948 | Hamlet | The Treasure of the Sierra Madre |
| 1949 | All the King's Men | All the King's Men |
| 1950 | All About Eve | Sunset Boulevard |
| 1951 | An American in Paris | An American in Paris |
| 1952 | The Greatest Show on Earth | Singin' in the Rain |
| 1953 | From Here to Eternity | From Here to Eternity |
| 1954 | On the Waterfront | Rear Window |
| 1955 | Marty | Mister Roberts |
| 1956 | Around the World in 80 Days | The Searchers |
| 1957 | The Bridge on the River Kwai | Witness for the Prosecution |
| 1958 | Gigi | Touch of Evil |
| 1959 | Ben-Hur | Some Like it Hot |
| 1960 | The Apartment | Psycho |
| 1961 | West Side Story | Judgment at Nuremberg |
| 1962 | Lawrence of Arabia | Lawrence of Arabia |
| 1963 | Tom Jones | Tom Jones |
| 1964 | My Fair Lady | Dr. Strangelove |
| 1965 | The Sound of Music | The Sound of Music |
| 1966 | A Man for All Seasons | A Man for All Seasons |
| 1967 | In The Heat of the Night | Bonnie and Clyde |
| 1968 | Oliver | 2001: A Space Odyssey |
| 1969 | Midnight Cowboy | Butch Cassidy & The Sundance Kid |
| 1970 | Patton | M*A*S*H |
| 1971 | The French Connection | A Clockwork Orange |
| 1972 | The Godfather | The Godfather |
| 1973 | The Sting | American Graffiti |
| 1974 | The Godfather Part 2 | The Godfather Part 2 |
| 1975 | One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest | One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest |
| 1976 | Rocky | Taxi Driver |
| 1977 | Annie Hall | Annie Hall |
| 1978 | The Deer Hunter | The Deer Hunter |
| 1979 | Kramer verses Kramer | Apocalypse Now |
| 1980 | Ordinary People | The Empire Strikes Back |
| 1981 | Chariots of Fire | Raiders of the Lost Ark |
| 1982 | Gandhi | ET |
| 1983 | Terms of Endearment | The Right Stuff |
| 1984 | Amadeus | Amadeus |
| 1985 | Out of Africa | Brazil |
| 1986 | Platoon | Platoon |
| 1987 | The Last Emperor | Empire of the Sun |
| 1988 | Rain Man | Rain Man |
| 1989 | Driving Miss Daisy | Do The Right Thing |
| 1990 | Dances with Wolves | Goodfellas |
| 1991 | The Silence of the Lambs | The Silence of the Lambs |
| 1992 | Unforgiven | Malcolm X |
| 1993 | Schindler's List | Schindler's List |
| 1994 | Forrest Gump | Pulp Fiction |
| 1995 | Braveheart | The American President |
| 1996 | The English Patient | Fargo |
| 1997 | Titanic | Amistad |
| 1998 | Shakespeare in Love | Saving Private Ryan |
| 1999 | American Beauty | American Beauty |
| 2000 | Gladiator | Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon |
| 2001 | A Beautiful Mind | The Fellowship of the Ring |
| 2002 | Chicago | The Two Towers |
| 2003 | The Return of the King | The Rreturn of the King |
| 2004 | Million Dollar Baby | Kill Bill 2 |
| 2005 | Crash | Munich |
| 2006 | The Departed | The Departed |
| 2007 | No Country for Old Men | No Country For Old Men |
| 2008 | Slumdog Millionaire | The Dark Knight |
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