Unofficial Academy Awards Discussion Board

Surprised nobody has voted for 1972 yet.

Now it gets tougher. A lot of these years have some great classics leading the nominees immediately followed by several forgettable and disappointing films.

It was a tough choice between 1971 and 1974, but I went with 1971, which has A Clockwork Orange, one of my absolute favorite films, and several other films that I like. Unfortunately it also has Nicholas and Alexandra, which I consider to be one of the worst Best Picture nominees ever.

I went with 1968. At the top, I had The Battle of Algiers, The Firemen's Ball, Oliver, Planet of the Apes, The Heart is a Lonely Hunter, Romeo and Juliet, Rosemary's Baby, and The Producers. There were also a lot of nice films after that with Bullitt, The Odd Couple, and others. 1971 and 1976 were also in the running before I made my final decision.

I think Damien wrote at some point that nobody in 1974 thought that they had lived through a vintage year. That might be the case but you wouldn't know it from this list. The top tier is insane: Chinatown, The Conversation, The Godfather: Part II... But let's say you don't love all three of them. Let's say you find one or two overrated. There's countless other films nominated that would make up the top tier any other year. I haven't seen Earthquake (4 nominations) or The Towering Inferno (8). Which means I can't testify to what it must have felt like on Oscar morning to see the Best Picture nomination that should have gone to Day for Night and A Woman Under the Influence (I don't know...) go astray, but please tell me if there's something I'm missing here. Or other years.

1971 seems like the runner up A Clockwork Orange, The Conformist, The Last Picture Show, and McCabe and Mrs. Miller in the top tier (I haven't seen Investigation of a Citizen Above Suspicion).

Very hard to choose a year. I ended up voting for 1975 because it includes my all time favorite film, Barry Lyndon, although the acting nominees are probably the weakest of the decade.

I could also easily pick 1976.

Edit: totally forgot about 1971. Sunday Bloody Sunday, A Clockwork Orange, McCabe & Mrs Miller, Klute, The Last Picture Show, The Go-Between, The French Connection…. Amazing set of films.

The strength of Midnight Cowboy, They Shoot Horses, Don't They?, The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie and Z in the nominations and the awards themselves over safer nominees like Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid and the absurd Anne of the Thousand Days was quite rewarding.

Based on the totality of nominations, which Oscar year within this decade is best?