The Shawshank Redemption
If there were any justice (and Shawshank knows about justice!), this terrific prison pic would have picked up an Academy Award at the 1995 ceremony. It was nominated for seven, including Best Picture (awarded to Forrest Gump), but went home empty handed. Nineteen years later—coincidentally, the same amount of time banker Andy Dufresne (Tim Robbins) spends behind bars—this superbly crafted drama still resonates with its powerful tribute to the indomitable human spirit.
Brokeback Mountain
Yup, we're still upset about Brokeback losing to Crash in 2006. Ang Lee's achingly beautiful love story, about the decades-long relationship between cowboys Jack Twist (Jake Gyllenhaal) and Ennis Del Mar (Heath Ledger), deservedly picked up every major award that season. But then it lost the Best Picture Oscar, reportedly because the Academy's out-of-touch members voted their prejudices and fears. Which further proves the necessity and importance of this groundbreaking film.
GoodFellas
One of the greatest gangster films ever made, GoodFellas got massacred on Oscar night by Kevin Costner's Dances With Wolves. (Only Joe Pesci picked up a statue for his "funny like a clown" supporting turn.) Based on Nicholas Pileggi's nonfiction book, GoodFellas follows the rise and fall of mobster Henry Hill (Ray Liotta). But the real star is director/co-writer Martin Scorsese, who blends violence, drugs, black humor, and kinetic visuals into a sumptuous Italian feast.
Network
We're "as mad as hell" that Paddy Chayefsky's brilliant, biting satire of the TV industry was beaten by underdog fairytale Rocky (though fellow contenders Taxi Driver and All the President's Men were no slouches). Directed by Sidney Lumet and starring William Holden, Faye Dunaway and Peter Finch (who won a posthumous acting Oscar), Network proves even more relevant today, with the rise of media conglomeration and the increasingly blurry lines between reality, news and entertainment.
The Graduate
Who wouldn't be seduced by Mrs. Robinson (Anne Bancroft) and this seminal 1967 release? Mike Nichols' post-college, generation-gap comedy, featuring a hit soundtrack by Simon & Garfunkel, made a star of Dustin Hoffman and became the top-grossing film of the year. The movie also received seven Oscar noms, including Best Picture, which it lost to In the Heat of the Night. Without the gold prize, this Graduate should remember one word: "plastics."
2001: A Space Odyssey
Space-set sagas from Star Wars to Alien to current nominee Gravity owe an astronomical debt to Stanley Kubrick's mind-blowing masterpiece from 1968. Yet, 2001 wasn't even nominated for Best Picture (Oliver! took the prize). Its only Oscar win was for Visual Effects, duh, which are still dazzling in this digital age. Gorgeous, surreal, poetic, and scary (don't mess with a murderous supercomputer!), 2001 was light-years ahead of its time.
Psycho
Horror movies are rarely nominated for Best Picture, and Hitchcock's 1960 shocker was no exception (The Exorcist was a notable anomaly). On Oscar night, The Apartment nabbed Best Picture, while Psycho lost its four noms for Art Direction, Cinematography, Directing and Supporting Actress (Janet Leigh). But this mother of modern horror ("Mother, what have you done?!") has made a frightfully huge cultural and cinematic impact, inspiring numerous imitations—and countless nightmares.
The Wizard of Oz
What a whiz of a wiz The Wizard of Oz is! You don't need a brain, heart or courage to know this 1939 classic is one of the most beloved movies of all time (and probably the one flick on this list everybody has seen). MGM's glorious Technicolor trip down the yellow-brick road may have lost the golden statue to Gone With the Wind, but Dorothy and friends remain as indelible as Scarlett and Rhett, if not more so.
Singin' in the Rain
Several musicals have sung and danced their way to Best Picture glory, including The Sound of Music and Chicago. But Singin' in the Rain, one the greatest musicals ever—heck, one of the greatest movies ever—failed to receive a Best Picture nom. (The Greatest Show on Earth won for 1952.) Exuberant from start to finish, this Gene Kelly classic features an irresistible cast and infectious musical numbers. If you've never seen Singin', don't get left out in the rain!
Citizen Kane
Orson Welles' 1941 masterwork is widely considered the best film ever made and consistently tops the American Film Institute's Greatest Movies list. But Kane lost the Oscar to How Green Was My Valley, partly due to a smear campaign launched by newspaper magnate William Randolph Hearst, on whom the titular character was based. Welles and his film were even booed at the 1942 Oscars ceremony. Kane may have been underappreciated at the time, but its brilliant innovations in cinematic techniques and storytelling would forever change the way movies were made.