Best Picture Nominees: 1970s-1980s

For years in which I’ve seen every film nominated for Best Picture, they’re ranked from best to worst in its listing. Otherwise, films are listed in alphabetical order. Titles in bold are ones I’ve seen, and the ones in italics are personal favorites. Additionally, titles marked with an asterisk are the films that won Best Picture in their given year.

51st Academy Awards (1978):

  1. The Deer Hunter*
  2. An Unmarried Woman
  3. Coming Home
  4. Heaven Can Wait
  5. Midnight Express

52nd Academy Awards (1979):

  1. All That Jazz
  2. Kramer vs. Kramer*
  3. Apocalypse Now
  4. Breaking Away
  5. Norma Rae

53rd Academy Awards (1980):

  1. Raging Bull
  2. The Elephant Man
  3. Ordinary People*
  4. Coal Miner’s Daughter
  5. Tess

54th Academy Awards (1981):

  1. Raiders of the Lost Ark
  2. Reds
  3. On Golden Pond
  4. Atlantic City
  5. Chariots of Fire*

55th Academy Awards (1982):

  1. E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial
  2. Tootsie
  3. Missing
  4. The Verdict
  5. Gandhi*

56th Academy Awards (1983):

  1. The Right Stuff
  2. Terms of Endearment*
  3. The Big Chill
  4. Tender Mercies
  5. The Dresser

57th Academy Awards (1984):

  1. Amadeus*
  2. The Killing Fields
  3. A Soldier’s Story
  4. A Passage to India
  5. Places in the Heart

58th Academy Awards (1985):

  1. The Color Purple
  2. Witness
  3. Kiss of the Spider Woman
  4. Out of Africa*
  5. Prizzi’s Honor

59th Academy Awards (1986):

  1. Hannah and Her Sisters
  2. Platoon*
  3. The Mission
  4. A Room with a View
  5. Children of a Lesser God

60th Academy Awards (1987):

  1. Broadcast News
  2. Moonstruck
  3. The Last Emperor*
  4. Hope and Glory
  5. Fatal Attraction