The Academy Awards predate most people alive today, given the first ceremony was held all the way back in 1929. 90+ years of the show giving out yearly awards has naturally led to 90+ movies winning the top prize of each respective awards night, Best Picture. Some types ofmovies, like sci-fi, fantasy, and horror, don’t often get this top prize, while others -notably, the musical genre- have varied over time popularity-wise with Oscar voters. But the epic genre has always seemed popular with Academy voters, with 15 epics winning Best Picture at Oscar ceremonies from 1929 to 2004.
Epic movies are defined bylarge-scale production values, long runtimes, and often (but not always) telling stories that are either based on historical events or inspired by them. They’re larger-than-life movies, and when they’re done well, they prove hard to resist. The following epic movies all impressed and awed Academy voters enough to win the top prize at the Oscars. All are at the very least good, but some prove more compelling than others, with all these gargantuan movies ranked below, from great to greatest.
15’Gone with the Wind' (1939)
Director: Victor Fleming
Gone with the Windplays out over almost four hours, and uses this runtime to tell a story about the American Civil War, its aftermath, anda tumultuous romance between two peoplecaught up in it all. It’s a film with afair amount of controversy attached to it,but it was one of the most definitive of all early Hollywood epics, and laid the foundation that many mammoth productions of the 1950s and ’60s would follow, at least to some extent.
It’s a film that, when watched today, can feel flawed. Beyond thoseaspects that haven’t aged well, it does also feel as though it drags at times, and the kind of melodrama at its heart definitely feels old-fashioned and won’t appeal to all modern-day viewers. But there are qualities toGone with the Windthat still impress, and from a technical perspective, it’s a staggering achievement by the standards of the 1930s. It’s a complicated film with a complex legacy, and though later epics are better (and less uncomfortable to watch today), it’s still an important release from a historical perspective.
Gone with the Wind
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14’The English Patient' (1996)
Director: Anthony Minghella
An Oscar winner that doesn’t get talked about too often 25+ years on from release,The English Patientis a sweeping and melodramatic epic that kind of works, but does still have its flaws. It spans numerous years and has many of its scenes play out in flashback, with a dying patient retelling various events from his life, particularly those from the 1930s and 1940s regarding a past romance and his involvement with World War II.
The English Patientwas memorably mockedin an episode ofthe legendary sitcomSeinfeld, but maybe it deserves a little better. Like many imperfect epics, there is a certain amount of fatigue that sets in with the length, and one could also argue that it falls victim to manytrappings of dreaded “Oscar bait” movies. But the performances are good,it’s all very well-presented, and it’s not too hard to see why some people (and indeed, Oscar voters) got swept up by its good qualities.
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13’Wings’ (1927)
Director: William A. Wellman
1927 was a wild year in cinema history, given it’s when talkies first made their mark on the industry in a significant way, and because it was the first year that was recognized at the Academy Awards. The first ceremony was in 1929, and it was held to honor films releasedin 1927 and the first half of 1928. Notably, this ceremony also gave outtwo rough equivalents to Best Picture:Wingswon “Outstanding Picture,” andSunrise: A Song of Two Humanswon “Unique and Artistic Picture.”
The latter was only given out once, and Outstanding Picture was thereafter renamed “Best Picture,” soWingsis technically - and usually - regarded as the first true Best Picture winner. And it’s an epic, showing how, right from the start, Oscar voters loved themselves some big movies. It’s a little slow-going, and though it tells a love triangle-centered story decently well,it’s the staggering action/war sequences depicting World War I dogfights that stands as the main reason whyWingsis still worth watching.
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12’Dances with Wolves' (1990)
Director: Kevin Costner
A large-scale Western that showedKevin Costner’scapacity to act in and directa film simultaneously,Dances with Wolvescertainly qualifies as an epic and then some. It takes place during the American Civil War, following a Lieutenant from the Union Army who finds unexpected purpose in life after he meets the members of a Sioux tribe and becomes involved in their lives.
Dances with Wolvesis unapologetically long and can suffer from telling what some consider to bea white savior narrative, but again,the technical qualities and overall scope of the film impress. It’s a well-made Western epic that ultimately rewards those who are willing to dedicate three hours of their lives to watching it (it’s closer to four hoursif you watch the extended cut).
Dances With Wolves
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11’The Last Emperor' (1987)
Director: Bernardo Bertolucci
An Italian filmmaker whofound success in the 1970swith provocative and challenging films likeThe ConformistandLast Tango in Paris,Bernardo Bertoluccialso found Oscar success in the 1980s with the release ofThe Last Emperor.This is a huge biopicthat spans almost an entire century, given its earliest scenes (chronologically speaking) take place in 1908, and the epilogue is set in 1987.
The Last Emperortells a comprehensive life story ofPuyi, who was the titular last emperor of China, making thisfilm about the end of an erain the country’s history. It’s a movie that looks and sounds beautiful, is well-acted, and convincingly spans a large amount of time, making it feel like you really get to see a historical figure’s full life play out on screen. It might not be one of the very best epic movies to win Best Picture, but it’s arguably one of the more overlooked.
10’Braveheart' (1995)
Director: Mel Gibson
Perhaps one of themore action-packed (and brutal) epic moviesout there,BraveheartsawMel Gibsonpull a Kevin Costner by starring in and directing a movie that won big at the Oscars, similar to whatDances with Wolvesachieved five years earlier. Gibson portraysWilliam Wallace, a Scottish warrior who’s out for revenge against the English after the love of his life is murdered by English soldiers in the late 13th century.
Things start personal, but events transpire to make Wallace something of a figurehead in the rebellion against the English, leading to a series of increasingly large (and dramatic) battle sequences.Braveheartmightnot be for those who value historical accuracyin their historical epics, but those who want a simple yet well-told story that’s sufficiently exciting and emotional throughout might find the film to be a wholly satisfying watch.
Braveheart
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9’Ben-Hur' (1959)
Director: William Wyler
A late 1950s filmthat ticks all the boxes it needs to,Ben-Hurtells the kind of story that might be familiar to those who’ve seen many an epic, but at least it tells that story very well. The film is about the conflict between two men living during the time of Christ, with the titular hero getting betrayed by being sold into slavery - a fate that also befalls his family. He’s out for revenge for much of the film, and things end up coming to a head during a high-stakes and intense chariot race.
The film ends up running for well over three-and-a-half hours, but the pacing is surprisingly good; to the point where it even holds up and seldom feels boring when watched more than 60 years on from its release. Of all the epic movies released during the 1950s and 1960s,Ben-Huris debatably the biggest of them all, and can also claim to be one of the very best.
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8’Titanic' (1997)
Director: James Cameron
Beloved by some and mercilessly mocked by others, whichever camp you fall into when it comes to judging the quality ofTitanic,you do have to admire the scope andambition of James Cameron’s romantic epic. Across the span of 194 minutes, it manages to be an unapologetically sentimental and broad romance film (for much of its first half), and thena genuinely intense and quite horrifying disaster movie(principally in its second half).
It takes a real-life historical event and blends some real-life figures in with other characters who are fictional, meaning that some breaks from reality will be easier to swallow (hopefully) for those well-versed in the Titanic and its history.Titanicmight be too big, too long, and too broad for some, but it’s not the kind of movie made for cynical viewers, and approaching it with the right frame of mind can prove truly rewarding. As a crowd-pleasing blockbuster, it does more or less live up to the hype.
7’Gladiator' (2000)
Director: Ridley Scott
Celebrated filmmakerRidley Scottdoesn’t always hit it out of the park, but when he’s firing on all cylinders,the films he makes can be remarkably great. Thankfully, withGladiator, he got just about everything right, and the result is a fantastic epic movie filled with action and powerful performances. It’s a simple tale of betrayal and revenge, but whenRussell Croweis great as the hero, andJoaquin Phoenixis wonderfully hateable as the villain, it’s hard to complain too much.
Gladiatorplays out comparably to the aforementionedBen-HurandBraveheart, being about a man who’s wronged and fights back, both for revenge and because he believes in doing what’s just. Again, like many popular and Oscar-winning epics, it hits some familiar beats and plays things broadly, but the approach undeniably works when such a premise is in the right hands. Inevitably,Gladiatorstands as a shining example of crowd-pleasing spectacle done right.
6’The Bridge on the River Kwai' (1957)
Director: David Lean
David Leanusually knocked it out of the parkwhen it came to directing epics, andThe Bridge on the River Kwaiended up being one of his most successful, at least when judged by Oscar success.It’s a classic World War II movielargely centered around a group of English prisoners of war who are told to build the titular bridge by the Japanese soldiers who have captured them.
Things get complicated when Col. Nicholson, a member of the English forces who largely oversees the construction, gets engrossed with his task and ends up resisting an Allied plan to destroy the bridge.The Bridge on the River Kwaitakes an incredibly interesting approach to making an anti-war film, and the way it drives home the inherent madness and pointlessness of such conflict is exceptionally well done. It’s a slow-burn epic in the best way possible, and confidently builds to an unforgettable climax.
