Every 1990s Best Picture Winner, Ranked

The ’90s produced many brilliant films, and some even won an Oscar for their troubles. Here are the decade’s Best Picture winners, ranked.

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The ’90s were an exciting time for the world of film. Technology had advanced to a point that filmmakers began incorporating computer-generated effects into their work, leading to many of the decade’s biggest films being ambitious and visually sumptuous affairs. The decade became integral to the growth of experimental filmmaking, both in the independent and blockbuster realms, with the likes of Quentin Tarantino, James Cameron, and Kathryn Bigelow being prominent directors.

Many of the Best Picture winners represent an attempt by the industry to incorporate these modern techniques with classic Hollywood formulas to create exciting new variations on age-old templates.

Disclaimer: This article will consider the 10 films that won an Oscar during the ’90s, so the dates of the ceremonies will be used as a reference. Consequently, 1999’s American Beauty will not be included as it did not win its award until 2000.

10 The English Patient (Won — 1997)

Perhaps thanks to a timely episode of Seinfeld, Anthony Minghella’s sweeping old-school style three-hour romantic epic was as culturally revered as it was detested. Whether it was completely due to the episode or the film’s glacial pacing and unabashed melodrama, The English Patient is the most divisive winner of the decade, and many people would say the worst.

The film’s heroic lead turn by Ralph Fiennes is a great piece of acting, but The English Patient is something of an endurance test. One thing universally acclaimed is the rich and beautiful cinematography, which certainly contributed to the film’s win.

9 Shakespeare in Love (Won — 1999)

The film that made Shakespeare cool again. Much like Amadeus did to its titular character in the previous decade, Shakespeare in Love cast the previously stuffy writer as a suave and tortured genius who is in the midst of a creative drought. As the film’s titular romance unfurls throughout the film, Shakespeare finds his imaginative mojo again.

The film’s lush scenery and immaculate costume design pop off the screen, it is undeniably a gorgeously shot picture. Shakespeare in Love did, however, beat out Saving Private Ryan, a film whose legacy has arguably surpassed the winning film.

8 Dances with Wolves (Won — 1991)

Before Kevin Costner helmed a series of box-office blunders (Wyatt Earp, The Postman), he found major directorial success with this grand three-hour opus about a Union army officer who slowly integrates into the local Lakota tribe. The film’s mix of exciting set pieces and intimate drama with a dose of social commentary makes it natural Academy fodder.

The film’s scale and spectacle hold up today, especially amazing shots of the wide prairies and plains. Dances with Wolves represents one of Kevin Costner’s best on-screen performances and without a doubt his greatest behind-the-camera effort.

7 Braveheart (Won — 1996)

Mel Gibson joined Kevin Costner as an actor-turned-director who found major critical success with a historical epic. Gibson’s film, Braveheart, tells the (somewhat accurate) story of Scottish revolutionary William Wallace.

Many of the defining traits of a ‘Mel Gibson film’ appear in Braveheart, such as his penchant for bloody violence, broad statements about faith, and the nature of martyrdom’s relationship to patriotism. Gibson is stoic and sturdy in the lead role, and he’s backed by a great ensemble cast and even better technical achievements in service of bringing the world of the film to life.

6 Forrest Gump (Won — 1995)

Perhaps controversial to put such a beloved movie relatively low in the rankings, but Forrest Gump is an average film elevated to new heights by an incredible and nuanced lead performance from Tom Hanks.

Iconic doesn’t even begin to describe the way Hanks’ Gump has become ingrained in the modern lexicon. Forrest Gump’s script tends to frequently veer into maudlin territory, and the sheer air of “Oscar bait” is on full display in the film’s lesser moments. It’s a hard argument to make that this film should’ve won The Big Prize over The Shawshank Redemption or Pulp Fiction.

5 Titanic (Won — 1998)

For over a decade, James Cameron’s mega-movie was the highest-grossing film of all time. There is hardly a person born before 2000 that hasn’t seen Titanic. The sheer saturation of the film into the public’s consciousness could be mistaken for Titanic being looked down upon, like when a song gets played to death on the radio.

Titanic is simply a technical achievement, a milestone in the craft of filmmaking matched with pitch-perfect casting and a fast and smartly paced script. It’s a film with such popularity that it transcends its form to become a cultural event.

4 Driving Miss Daisy (Won — 1990)

Compared to the magnitude, length, and budgetary scale of the rest of the decade’s winners, Driving Miss Daisy is a very small and intimate affair. A film that exhibits the possibilities of when a great script is matched by equally great performances, Driving Miss Daisy is the quiet and frequently hilarious story of the unorthodox relationship between an old woman and her chauffeur.

Stars Jessica Tandy and Morgan Freeman have excellent chemistry that keeps the viewer engaged in the decades-long chronicle of the way the two’s lives intertwine with each other.

3 Unforgiven (Won — 1993)

Clint Eastwood’s neo-traditionalist take on the western genre was a huge success with critics and audiences alike. One of the very best in the entire genre, Unforgiven garnered acclaim from unlikely sources such as David Foster Wallace.

Unforgiven’s revisionist take on the movies that Eastwood helped popularize years before makes for a highly entertaining and oddly philosophically potent experience. Screen legend Gene Hackman makes the biggest onscreen impact in the film as the antagonist who is both charming and frighteningly sadistic.

2 Silence of the Lambs (Won — 1992)

One of the only horror films to win Best Picture, let alone the coveted “full sweet,” Silence of the Lambs just might be the most suspenseful film of all time. One could go on and on about Jodie Foster’s performance, the claustrophobic camera work, the crackling and pulpy screenplay, and all other facets of the film, but Silence of the Lambs’ most iconic presence is also its greatest cinematic asset — Hannibal Lecter.

Anthony Hopkins, known for his period pieces and stage work, managed to terrify the nation for three decades with a mere 16 minutes of screentime. An accomplishment in every sense of the word.

1 Schindler’s List (Won — 1994)

Steven Spielberg began making truly serious films in the decade after making some of the biggest blockbusters of all time during the previous two. Within such a stacked filmography, it takes a truly remarkable and special piece of work to stand above the rest.

Over its expansive runtime, Spielberg is able to simultaneously craft a technically ambitious but intensely personal film that makes for intelligent and emotionally harrowing viewing. Schindler’s List is a masterpiece that deserves every ounce of acclaim it gets and is as important now as it was almost twenty years ago.

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