Silver Screen CollectionThe 86th Annual Academy Awards ceremony airs Sunday, March 2, and after several hours of speeches, fashions and musical numbers, presenters will finally award the Oscar of the evening, Best Picture of the Year. Will your pick join the pantheon of winners—or forever be labeled as "also nominated"? To help ease your potential letdown, we're paying tribute to Oscar history's greatest "losers" with 10 films that should've won best picture.
An Oscar doesn't guarantee lasting fame or affection. After all, how many of the past 85 Best Picture winners can you name (without cheating)? But we bet you're familiar with all or most of the flicks on our list, because these masterpieces have stood the test of time or even increased in stature.
Sometimes, a movie is just too progressive or unique to be fully appreciated—or suffers the misfortune of crazy-tough competition. Consider 1939, called "Hollywood's Greatest Year," which pitted such Best Picture nominees as Gone With the Wind, The Wizard of Oz, Wuthering Heights, Mr. Smith Goes to Washington, Stagecoach and other classics.
So this is not to take any love away from the movies that actually won—except in some cases (Crash over Brokeback Mountain? Really, Academy?). We just think these outstanding pics deserved the honor, too! See if you agree. Check our picks for movies that deserved to win a Best Picture Oscar but didn't. Then let us know your favorites or which others you would have included.