The Oscars: Every Best Picture Winner from the 1970s, Ranked by Rotten Tomatoes

Throughout the last century of film history, there have been few decades as crucially transformative as the 1970s. The pastime of going to the movies had already been long-established throughout the golden age of Hollywood, but after that era came to an end in the 1960s, it was clear that the industry needed new ideas, new voices and new approaches. The ‘70s brought all of these necessary changes and more. The blockbuster was born through films like Jaws and Star Wars, while a new class of directors fundamentally shifted what kinds of stories were being told through film. These directors, ranging from Martin Scorsese to Steven Spielberg and Francis Ford Coppola, are still considered some of the most talented and influential filmmakers of all time.

With all of this change, it’s only natural that the ‘70s produced many of the most famous and beloved films in history. While the Oscars may not always get it right in terms of the films to which they award Best Picture, it’s hard to argue with many of the winners that came from the ‘70s. We’ve recently been revisiting all the films that have won Best Picture, decade by decade, and viewing them through the modern lens of Rotten Tomatoes. That endeavor has now brought us to the ‘70s, which features some of the highest scores of any films in this series so far.

10 The Deer Hunter (1978) – 86%

The Deer Hunter

Release Date

March 9, 1978

Director

Michael Cimino

Cast

Robert De Niro, John Cazale, John Savage, Christopher Walken, Meryl Streep, George Dzundza

Rating

R

Main Genre

Drama

There are only a couple of films on this list that we expect you might not have heard of, and 1978’s The Deer Hunter is one of them. Directed by Michael Cimino, the film was a major early success in the career of actor Robert De Niro. After exploding onto the scene with his performances in films from Scorsese and Coppola, De Niro quickly became one of the biggest names in Hollywood. He starred in The Deer Hunter alongside Christopher Walken, Meryl Streep (in her first breakout role), John Savage, and John Cazale, though much of the film’s success was driven by De Niro’s star power at the time.

How it Got Here

The Deer Hunter was nominated for nine Oscars at the 1979 ceremony. It ultimately ended up winning five of them – Best Picture, Best Director, Best Supporting Actor (Walken), Best Film Editing and Best Sound. It was competing against other famous films such as Heaven Can Wait, Midnight Express, Superman, The Buddy Holly Story, Grease and The Wiz. With an 86% approval on Rotten Tomatoes, it lands in the bottom spot on this list. Though, with 131 reviews counted, that’s still a really solid score that any movie today would love to have.

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9 Kramer vs. Kramer (1979) – 89%

Columbia Pictures

Next on the list is the final film of the ‘70s to win Best Picture, 1979’s Kramer vs. Kramer. After Meryl Streep had gained immense acclaim for her work in The Deer Hunter the year before, it was her performance in Kramer vs. Kramer that showed her to be one of the best actors of her generation. She starred in the film alongside Dustin Hoffman, with the two depicting a divorcing couple throughout the legal dramas of their separation and many of the events that follow. The film is directed by Robert Benton, and it is still considered to be one of the best movies in both Streep and Hoffman’s careers.

How it Got Here

Kramer vs. Kramer was released in an immensely stacked year for the Oscars. It had to compete against many powerhouse films, such as Apocalypse Now, All That Jazz, Norma Rae, Alien, Breaking Away and, clearly and most importantly, The Muppet Movie. Despite the immense competition, Kramer vs. Kramer still won five awards. Streep and Hoffman won Oscars for their performances, the first time that either of them had won the award, while Benton also won Best Director and Best Screenplay. Today, the film holds an 89% approval rating based on 101 reviews.

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8 Patton (1970) – 91%

Patton

Release Date

January 25, 1970

Director

Franklin J. Schaffner

Cast

George C. Scott, Karl Malden, Stephen Young, Michael Strong, Carey Loftin, Albert Dumortier

Rating

PG

Main Genre

Biography

From the last film of the ‘70s to win Best Picture to the first, the next film on the list is Franklin J. Schaffner’s Patton. The movie is a three-hour long wartime biopic of the US General George S. Patton. The screenplay for the film was co-written by Francis Ford Coppola and Edmund H. North, and it stars George C. Scott as the eponymous general. His performance in the film is widely considered to be one of the best of the ‘70s, and it’s one that almost never happened, as many stars like John Wayne and Robert Mitchum were offered the role before Scott.

How it Got Here

Patton is the first film on this list to have its approval rating enter the ‘90s, which once again goes to show how outstanding the decade was for cinema. For context, not a single Best Picture winner from the ‘80s managed to cross that line. Patton holds a 91% approval based on 54 reviews. It won seven of the 10 Oscars it was nominated for that year, including the trio of Best Picture, Best Director, and Best Actor (Scott). Coppola and North also won Best Screenplay, marking the first occasion in which Coppola won an Oscar. However, Scott famously became the first actor to decline his Oscar, as he disliked the voting process and the general idea of acting competitions.

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7 Rocky (1976) – 92%

rocky

Release Date

November 21, 1976

Director

John G. Avildsen

Cast

Sylvester Stallone, Talia Shire, Burt Young, Carl Weathers, Burgess Meredith, Thayer David

Rating

PG

Main Genre

Drama

The most famous film on this list so far is undoubtedly 1976’s Rocky. There’s little that can be said about Rocky that hasn’t been said a million times before. It was one of the biggest breakout hits of the ‘70s, and it established Sylvester Stallone as the A-list star that he has been for the last 50 years. It also spawned an incredibly popular series, which spanned six Rocky films and has now successfully transitioned into a trilogy of Creed movies as well. Before all that, Rocky started out as a passion project for Stallone, which he managed to get made by a major studio when he was still just an aspiring filmmaker and actor. The film went on to become the highest-grossing movie of the year in North America.

How it Got Here

Rocky holds a 92% approval rating based on 72 ratings, making it the second-highest-rated film in its own series, only being beaten by 2015’s Creed with a 95% score. After its incredible success at the box office, Rocky also managed to continue that success into awards season. It was nominated for 10 Oscars, and it ultimately ended up winning three of them – Best Picture, Best Director (John G. Avildsen), and Best Film Editing. Stallone was also nominated for Best Actor and Best Screenplay. It had all this success in a year that also featured many classic films such as Network, Taxi Driver, All the President’s Men, Carrie, Logan’s Run and 1976’s A Star is Born.

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6 The Sting (1973) – 93%

The Sting

Release Date

December 25, 1973

Director

George Roy Hill

Cast

Paul Newman, Robert Redford, Robert Shaw, Charles Durning, Ray Walston, Eileen Brennan

Rating

PG

Main Genre

Comedy

In addition to The Deer Hunter, 1973’s The Sting is the other film on this list somebody is most likely to be unfamiliar with. Directed by George Roy Hill, the film stars Paul Newman, Robert Shaw, Robert Redford and Robert Earl Jones. It’s a mafia film that centers on two con men as they get too far in over their heads when dealing with a mob boss. Though it has been somewhat lost to time, The Sting was a massive success in 1973. It was the second-highest grossing film of that year, and it went on to sweep through that year’s awards season as well.

How it Got Here

The Sting was nominated for 10 Oscars, and it won seven of them, including Best Picture, Best Director and Best Screenplay. It did this in a year that was, once again, full of films that would go on to become iconic. Other films that were nominated that year include The Exorcist (which also had 10 nominations), American Graffiti, Last Tango in Paris, and Jesus Christ Superstar. The film currently holds a 93% approval rating based on 107 gathered reviews.

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5 One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest (1975) – 93%

One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Next

Release Date

November 18, 1975

Director

Milos Forman

Cast

Jack Nicholson, Louise Fletcher, Brad Dourif, Christopher Lloyd, Michael Berryman, Scatman Crothers

Rating

R

Main Genre

Drama

1975’s One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest is one of the most famous films of Jack Nicholson’s career. While he had already made a name for himself in the late ‘60s and early ‘70s, and secured four Oscar nominations for his acting in that time – 1969’s Easy Rider, 1970’s Five Easy Pieces, 1973’s The Last Detail, and 1974’s Chinatown – One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest wound up being the turning point that put him on the track to become the star he is today. Directed by Miloš Forman, the film is an adaptation of the famous 1962 novel, in which Nicholson plays a patient in a mental institution. The cast of the film also includes other talented performers like Louise Fletcher, Danny DeVito, Will Sampson, Christopher Lloyd and Sydney Lassick.

How it Got Here

One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest also holds a 93% approval, like The Sting, but we’ve placed it over that film because it has 120 reviews listed, rather than 107, giving it a wider positive consensus. The film won five Oscars, after being nominated for nine. However, the five that it won put it in special esteem. That’s because it won all five major categories – Best Picture, Best Director, Best Actor (Nicholson), Best Actress (Fletcher), and Best Screenplay. Only two other films have done this in the history of the Oscars, 1934’s It Happened One Night and 1991’s The Silence of the Lambs. It’s difficult enough to even receive nominations in all five categories – only four films have received nominations for all five in the 21st century, those being Million Dollar Baby, Silver Linings Playbook, American Hustle and La La Land – so to win all five is a truly incredible feat.

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4 The French Connection (1971) – 96%

the french connection

Release Date

October 9, 1971

Director

William Friedkin

Cast

Gene Hackman, Fernando Rey, Roy Scheider, Tony Lo Bianco, Marcel Bozzuffi, Frédéric de Pasquale

Rating

R

Main Genre

Action

The Best Picture winner from 1971 was William Friedkin’s The French Connection, starring Gene Hackman, Roy Scheider and Fernando Rey. It was based on the true events depicted in the 1969 book of the same name. When the film was released, Hackman was not yet the star that he would eventually become. Though he had been nominated for an Oscar once before, it was his work in The French Connection that really put him on the map. The film went on to spawn a sequel, which Hackman returned for, though it wasn’t nearly as successful as this first outing. Beyond that, The French Connection was also the center of headlines earlier this year, as the film had been censored for its streaming release on platforms like Apple TV and the Criterion Channel.

How it Got Here

The French Connection holds a 96% approval rating based on 93 reviews, and it was nominated for a total of eight Oscars. It ended up winning five of the awards, including Hackman’s first for Best Actor. Other films nominated that year included A Clockwork Orange, Fiddler on the Roof, The Last Picture Show, Shaft, Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory, and When Dinosaurs Ruled the Earth.

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3 The Godfather Part II (1974) – 96%

The Godfather: Part II

Release Date

December 20, 1974

Director

Francis Ford Coppola

Cast

Al Pacino, Robert Duvall, Diane Keaton, Robert De Niro, John Cazale, Talia Shire

Rating

R

Main Genre

Crime

It’s no surprise to see Coppola’s The Godfather Part II this high on the list. After the immense success and critical acclaim directed toward the first Godfather film, the director quickly followed it up with a sequel that many would argue is even better than the first. Part II brought back much of the extensive cast of the first film, including Al Pacino, Diane Keaton and Robert Duvall, in addition to bringing in new faces like Robert De Niro. De Niro’s inclusion in The Godfather Part II continued to expand upon his building star power in the early ‘70s.

How it Got Here

The Godfather Part II was the first sequel to ever win Best Picture, and only one other has achieved the same success (The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King); however, The Godfather remains as the only series to have two films win the top award at the Oscars. Part II was nominated for 11 Oscars, and it went on to win six of them. In addition to Best Picture, Coppola won Best Director and Best Screenplay. De Niro received his first Oscar nomination for the film, which he then went on to win. This also marked the first time that two actors had won an Oscar for the same role, as de Niro played a younger version of Marlon Brando’s Vito Corleone from the first film. The only other time this has happened is with the role of the Batman villain, the Joker, which both Heath Ledger and Joaquin Phoenix have won for. Part II also holds a 96% approval rating, based on 125 reviews, which gives it the edge over The French Connection.

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2 Annie Hall (1977) – 97%

Annie Hall

Release Date

April 19, 1977

Director

Woody Allen

Cast

Woody Allen, Diane Keaton, Tony Roberts, Carol Kane, Paul Simon, Shelley Duvall

Rating

PG

Main Genre

Comedy

The 50th Academy Awards were held in early 1978, and the award for Best Picture that year went to Woody Allen’s Annie Hall. The film is a romantic comedy of sorts, with an all-star cast that consists of Allen, Diane Keaton, Shelley Duvall, Christopher Walken, Tony Roberts, Carol Kan, Paul Simon, and more. There were also a handful of actors with small roles in the film long before they became famous, including Jeff Goldblum and Sigourney Weaver.

How it Got Here

There’s no denying the immense impact and quality of Annie Hall, though there’s also no denying that the film’s legacy has been significantly tainted by the myriad of abuse allegations directed toward Allen in the following decades. The film was nominated for five Oscars, of which it won four – Best Picture, Best Director, Best Actress (Keaton) and Best Screenplay. Its win was, at the time, somewhat of a surprise, as many people had expected the original Star Wars film to take the top honor. In addition to Star Wars and Annie Hall, other films nominated that year included Close Encounters of the Third Kind, The Goodbye Girl, Saturday Night Fever and Julia. Annie Hall currently holds a 97% approval based on 128 reviews.

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1 The Godfather (1972) – 97%

The Godfather

Release Date

March 14, 1972

Director

Francis Ford Coppola

Cast

Marlon Brando, Al Pacino, James Caan, Richard S. Castellano, Robert Duvall, Sterling Hayden

Rating

R

Main Genre

Crime

Finally, the last film on this list is the original Godfather film, which was released in 1972. Directed by Coppola, the story, impact and behind-the-scenes drama of The Godfather is all very well documented at this point. There’s even an entire miniseries on Paramount+, titled The Offer, which details the making of the film. It is one of the greatest films of all time, and its iconic status has continued to grow over the last half-century since its release. In addition to the famous lead performance from Marlon Brando, the film also introduced the world to Al Pacino, who had only made two other films prior to The Godfather.

How it Got Here

Today, The Godfather still upholds its immense reputation, and it has a 97% approval rating based on 151 reviews. Despite the immense reputation of The Godfather, the movie won a lot fewer Oscars than you would expect. Yes, it won Best Picture and was nominated for a total of 10 Oscars, but it only ended up winning three of them. In addition to Best Picture, Brando won for Best Actor, and Coppola and Mario Puzo won for Best Screenplay. After Brando’s win, however, came one of the most infamous moments in the history of the award, as Brando did not attend the ceremony and he declined the award in protest of the American film industry’s treatment of Native Americans. The activist Sacheen Littlefeather announced this decision on-stage, after which she was harassed by numerous attendees, including John Wayne.

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