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The coveted Best Picture category at The Oscars has defined countless cultural moments throughout cinema history. As the category has evolved from including five films to 10 in 2009, more films have had their chance to be crowned the most influential film of the year by the Academy. The Best Picture Selections have significantly ranged over the years, encompassing a variety of genres and stories that reflect the media and culture of their time.

In the almost 100 years that have passed since the first Oscars ceremony in 1929, the Best Picture award has remained just as powerful in cementing a lasting legacy for a film. As the 2025 Oscars approach, it's fascinating to examine this year's lineup in association with other Best Picture winners.

The Sound of Music Is an Uplifting and Poignant Musical Winner of Best Picture in 1966 at the 38th Academy Awards

One of the most famous musicals in theater history, The Sound of Music...

With the elections less than two months away and the highly anticipated debate between former President Donald Trump and current vice president Kamala Harris on Sept 10, it’s time to revisit classic political movies. TCM is currently presenting a nine-week series “Making Change: The Most Significant Political Films of All Time.” Political films run the gamut from thrillers, to dramas (“Mr. Smith Goes to Washington”), to the historical, to satirical comedies.

Speaking of satires, Preston Sturges received his one and only Oscar for his screenplay for 1940’s “The Great McGinty,” his smart, funny comedy about a hobo (Brian Donlevy) who rises to governor only to lose it all. Sturges had originally written a piece “The Story of Man” in 1933 with Spencer Tracy in mind. Tracy had just starred in 1933’s “The Power and the Glory,” which marked Sturges’ first film script. He attempted to sell it to Universal which also turned the story down; so,...

Theodore Bikel. Theodore Bikel dead at 91: Oscar-nominated actor and folk singer best known for stage musicals 'The Sound of Music,' 'Fiddler on the Roof' Folk singer, social and union activist, and stage, film, and television actor Theodore Bikel, best remembered for starring in the Broadway musical The Sound of Music and, throughout the U.S., in Fiddler on the Roof, died Monday morning (July 20, '15) of "natural causes" at the UCLA Medical Center in Los Angeles. The Austrian-born Bikel – as Theodore Meir Bikel on May 2, 1924, in Vienna, to Yiddish-speaking Eastern European parents – was 91. Fled Hitler Thanks to his well-connected Zionist father, six months after the German annexation of Austria in March 1938 ("they were greeted with jubilation by the local populace," he would recall in 2012), the 14-year-old Bikel and his family fled to Palestine, at the time a British protectorate. While there, the teenager began acting on stage,...

Teresa Wright movies: Actress made Oscar history Teresa Wright, best remembered for her Oscar-winning performance in the World War II melodrama Mrs. Miniver and for her deceptively fragile, small-town heroine in Alfred Hitchcock's mystery-drama Shadow of a Doubt, died at age 86 ten years ago – on March 6, 2005. Throughout her nearly six-decade show business career, Wright was featured in nearly 30 films, dozens of television series and made-for-tv movies, and a whole array of stage productions. On the big screen, she played opposite some of the most important stars of the '40s and '50s. It's a long list, including Bette Davis, Greer Garson, Gary Cooper, Myrna Loy, Ray Milland, Fredric March, Jean Simmons, Marlon Brando, Dana Andrews, Lew Ayres, Cornel Wilde, Robert Mitchum, Spencer Tracy, Joseph Cotten, and David Niven. Also of note, Teresa Wright made Oscar history in the early '40s, when she was nominated for each of her first three movie roles.

Maria von Trapp dead at 99: ‘The Sound of Music’ character played by Heather Menzies was last surviving member of the singing von Trapp family (photo: The singing von Trapp family) Maria von Trapp, the last surviving member of the singing von Trapp family portrayed in The Sound of Music, died in her sleep at her Vermont home on Wednesday, February 19, 2014. Baron Georg von Trapp’s second-eldest daughter, Maria Franziska (born in Zell am See, Salzburg, Austria, in 1914) was 99. Heather Menzies played Baron von Trapp’s second-eldest daughter, renamed Louisa von Trapp, in 20th Century Fox’s 1965 blockbuster directed by Robert Wise, and starring Julie Andrews as singing nun-to-be Maria Kutschera (later Baroness Maria von Trapp) and Christopher Plummer as the Baron. (See Heather Menzies, Charmian Carr, Kym Karath, and Angela Cartwright at 2008 event.) Financially ruined during the Great Depression, Baron von Trapp and his family began performing as a...

NBC’s live version of The Sound of Music — starring Carrie Underwood — is turning into quite the Tony affair.

The network announced today that TV and stage vets Audra McDonald (Private Practice), Laura Benanti (Go On) and Christian Borle (Smash) — Tony Award winners all of ‘em! — have been added to the cast of the musical, which is slated to air Dec. 5.

Photos | Fall TV Spoiler Spectacular: Exclusive Pics and Scoops on 45 Returning Favorites

Five-time Tony-winner McDonald will portray Mother Abbess, Benanti has been cast as Elsa Schrader and Borle is set to play Max Dettweiler.

Six-time Grammy Award winner Underwood was previously announced as Maria,...

A three-hour live staging of the The Sound Of Music will premiere on NBC on Thursday, December 5, the network announced during its upfront presentation today. The project is executive produced by Craig Zadan and Neil Meron, with Carrie Underwood cast as the lead Maria. NBC entertainment chairman Bob Greenblatt noted that such big family-oriented productions are rarely mounted these days, “but we are doing it anyway.” Based on the original Broadway musical, The Sound Of Music is set in pre-wwii Austria and based on the romantic true story of Maria von Trapp (Underwood), an aspiring nun who leaves the abbey to become a governess for the widower Captain von Trapp’s seven children and finds herself falling in love with her employer and questioning her religious calling. It premiered on Broadway in 1959, where it broke box office records and won the Tony for Best Musical. The Sound Of Music features...

The York Theatre Company James Morgan, Producing Artistic Director Andrew Levine, Executive Director continues the Winter 2013 Musicals in Mufti Series with the 1956 musical hit, Happy Hunting, with book by Howard Lindsay and Russell Crouse, lyrics by Matt Dubey and music by Harold Karr. Directed by David Glenn Armstrong and with music direction by David Andrews Rogers, the cast stars Klea Blackhurst, and will feature Janine Divita, Joy Franz, Jessica Grove, Sean Martin Hingston, Michael McCormick, Heather Parcells, Andrew Samonsky, Eric Sciotto, Michael Sharon and Lynne Wintersteller.

Despite its potentially dry subject matter, Steven Spielberg’s “Lincoln” is creeping towards $200 million domestic box office, while Netflix’s “House of Cards” is just about the most talked about television show right now, which suggests that political dramas are in vogue. What better to give a shiny new big screen remake to than Frank Capra’s 1948 film “State of the Union,” in which Spencer Tracy’s industrialist ran for President, backed by Angela Lansbury’s wealthy newspaper magnate. 65 years after Frank Capra adapted Howard Lindsay and Russel Crouse’s Pulitzer Prize-winning play, Identity Films and Flat Penny Films are developing a new feature version of the iconic movie. They’re currently seeking writers for the new project, which we imagine will be a modernized retelling – because, let’s face it, it’s not going to be that hard to draw parallels between the politics and media influence of seven...

Frank Capra's 1948 classic State of the Union will get a remake via Identity Films and Flat Penny Films. According to Variety, the companies have picked up rights right the play, a political drama written by Russel Crouse and Howard Lindsay, which won a Pulitzer prize. Spencer Tracy, Katharine Hepburn and Angela Lansbury starred in the film where Tracy played a Republican presidential candidate supported by Lansbury's newspaper magnate character. Tracy portrayed a Republican candidate for president backed by a female newspaper magnate, played by Lansbury. Hepburn played Tracy's estranged wife.

Frank Capra's 1948 classic State of the Union will get a remake via Identity Films and Flat Penny Films. According to Variety, the companies have picked up rights right the play, a political drama written by Russel Crouse and Howard Lindsay, which won a Pulitzer prize. Spencer Tracy, Katharine Hepburn and Angela Lansbury starred in the film where Tracy played a Republican presidential candidate supported by Lansbury's newspaper magnate character. Tracy portrayed a Republican candidate for president backed by a female newspaper magnate, played by Lansbury. Hepburn played Tracy's estranged wife.

Identity Films and Flat Penny Films are developing a new film adaptation of the Pulitzer Prize-winning 1945 political drama play "State of the Union".

Howard Lindsay and Russel Crouse penned the original stage show which was previously adapted by filmmaker Frank Capra into a 1948 feature starring Spencer Tracy, Katharine Hepburn and Angela Lansbury.

The story followed a Republican candidate for president, a man backed by a female newspaper magnate who intends to deadlock the Republican convention and put forward her candidate as a compromise.

Anthony Mastromauro and Amy Lanier will produce, with writers currently being sought.

Source: Variety...

The Town Halls Broadway by the Year's 12th Season continues with The Broadway Musicals of 1950 on Monday, March 19th at 8Pm. 1950 was a year that brought us famous shows by musical theater icons including Frank Loesser, Guys and Dolls, Howard Lindsay and Russel Crouse Call Me Madam, and Cole Porter Out of This World, among others. Produced by The Town Hall, The Broadway Musicals of 1950 is created, written and hosted by Scott Siegel.

The second rialto revival of "Anything Goes" received rapturous reviews. Leading this remounting of the 1934 Cole Porter tuner is 2002 Tony champ Sutton Foster ("Thoroughly Modern Millie"). With gusto, she tackles the role of tough-talking Reno Sweeney -- a part first played by Ethel Merman -- and should be rewarded with her fifth Best Musical Actress bid. And this new edition will be a strong contender for Best Musical Revival against the second Broadway remounting of "How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying" that features Daniel Radcliffe in his musical theater debut. In 1987, Lincoln Center staged the first revival of "Anything Goes." The original book -- by Guy Bolton and P.G. Wodehouse, with revisions by Howard Lindsay and Russel Crouse -- was revamped by John Weidman and Timothy Crouse. Additional Porter tunes from other shows were added to the mix. All of these efforts were rewarded with 10 Tony nominations and the producti.

DVD Playhouse—April 2011

By

Allen Gardner

Hereafter (Warner Bros.) Clint Eastwood’s spiritual thriller follows a trio of characters whose seemingly disparate paths converge: Matt Damon as a blue collar Joe who tries to fight against his psychic powers that see “the other side,” Cecile de France as a journalist who somehow survives the tsunami that crushed Indonesia, and a London schoolboy (Frankie and George McLaren) who seeks answers after losing his twin brother. Like all of Eastwood’s films, the narrative construction is tight as a drum, with solid work by all involved. That said, “solid” would have to be the operative word to describe the proceedings here, as well as “unremarkable” and “uninvolving” on an emotional level. Perhaps we expect too much when we see Clint’s name on a film these days, but that’s the flip side of being one of the best. Blu-ray/DVD combo pack.

DVD Playhouse—April 2011

By

Allen Gardner

Hereafter (Warner Bros.) Clint Eastwood’s spiritual thriller follows a trio of characters whose seemingly disparate paths converge: Matt Damon as a blue collar Joe who tries to fight against his psychic powers that see “the other side,” Cecile de France as a journalist who somehow survives the tsunami that crushed Indonesia, and a London schoolboy (Frankie and George McLaren) who seeks answers after losing his twin brother. Like all of Eastwood’s films, the narrative construction is tight as a drum, with solid work by all involved. That said, “solid” would have to be the operative word to describe the proceedings here, as well as “unremarkable” and “uninvolving” on an emotional level. Perhaps we expect too much when we see Clint’s name on a film these days, but that’s the flip side of being one of the best. Blu-ray/DVD combo pack.

Production Weekly is reporting Richard Gere and Annette Bening will star opposite one another in State of the Union, a remake of Frank Capra's 1948 film starring Spencer Tracy and Katharine Hepburn. Garry Marshall (Pretty Woman) will direct from a script by Rod Lurie (The Last Castle). The political-themed film is based on the Pulitzer Prize winning play by Howard Lindsay and Russell Crouse. In the original Tracy starred as an idealistic industrialist who is drafted to run for the presidency. As a candidate, Tracy is caught between the ruthless ambition of newspaper heiress (Angela Lansbury), who pulls the strings of his campaign, and the integrity of his wife (Hepburn), who believes in the man behind the political facade. It was originally reported by French magazine Tout le Cine that Julia Roberts would be starring in the film offering up a complete Pretty Woman reunion, but independent banner Identity Films...

By George Productions presents the Los Angeles premiere of Cole Porter's 1936 hit musical comedy, "Red, Hot and Blue!" With a book by Howard Lindsay and Russel Crouse, this was the team's follow-up to "Anything Goes." This Depression era screwball comedy deals with a National Lottery offering a first prize to anyone who finds a long-lost love with a rare identification mark.

By George Productions presents the Los Angeles premiere of Cole Porter's 1936 hit musical comedy, "Red, Hot and Blue!" With a book by Howard Lindsay and Russel Crouse, this was the team's follow-up to "Anything Goes." This Depression era screwball comedy deals with a National Lottery offering a first prize to anyone who finds a long-lost love with a rare identification mark.