1927-28: “Wings,” William A. Wellman
1928-29: “Broadway Melody,” Harry Beaumont
1929-30: “All Quiet on the Western Front,” Lewis Milestone
1930-31: “Cimarron,” Wesley Ruggles
1931-32: “Grand Hotel,” Edmund Goulding
1932-33: “Cavalcade,” Frank Lloyd
1934: “It Happened One Night,” Frank Capra
1935: “Mutiny on the Bounty,” Frank Lloyd
1936: “The Great Ziegfeld,” Robert Z. Leonard
1937: “The Life of Emile Zola,” William Dieterle
1938: “You Can’t Take It With You,” Frank Capra
1939: “Gone With the Wind,” Victor Fleming
1940: “Rebecca,” Alfred Hitchcock
1941: “How Green Was My Valley,” John Ford
1942: “Mrs. Miniver,” William Wyler
1943: “Casablanca,” Michael Curtiz
1944: “Going My Way,” Leo McCarey
1945: “The Lost Weekend,” Billy Wilder
1946: “The Best Years of Our Lives,” William Wyler
1947: “Gentleman’s Agreement,” Elia Kazan
1948: “Hamlet,” Laurence Olivier
1949: “All the King’s Men,” Robert Rossen
1950: “All About Eve,” Joseph L. Mankiewicz
1951: “An American in Paris,” Vincente Minnelli
1952: “The Greatest Show on Earth,” Cecil B. DeMille
1953: “From Here to Eternity,” Fred Zinnemann
1954: “On the Waterfront,” Elia Kazan
1955: “Marty,” Delbert Mann
1956: “Around the World in 80 Days,” Michael Anderson
1957: “The Bridge on the River Kwai,” David Lean
1958: “Gigi,” Vincente Minnelli
1959: “Ben-Hur,” Fred Niblo
1960: “The Apartment,” Billy Wilder
1961: “West Side Story,” Robert Wise
1962: “Lawrence of Arabia,” David Lean
1963: “Tom Jones,” Tony Richardson
1964: “My Fair Lady,” George Cukor
1965: “The Sound of Music,” Robert Wise
1966: “A Man for All Seasons,” Fred Zinnemann
1967: “In the Heat of the Night,” Norman Jewison
1968: “Oliver!,” Carol Reed
1969: “Midnight Cowboy,” John Schlesinger
1970: “Patton,” Franklin Schaffner
1971: “The French Connection,” William Friedkin
1972: “The Godfather,” Francis Ford Coppola
1973: “The Sting,” George Roy Hill
1974: “The Godfather Part II,” Francis Ford Coppola
1975: “One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest,” Milos Forman
1976: “Rocky,” John G. Avildsen
1977: “Annie Hall,” Woody Allen
1978: “The Deer Hunter,” Michael Cimino
1979: “Kramer vs. Kramer,” Robert Benton
1980: “Ordinary People,” Robert Redford
1981: “Chariots of Fire,” Hugh Hudson
1982: “Gandhi,” Richard Attenborough
1983: “Terms of Endearment,” James L. Brooks
1984: “Amadeus,” Milos Forman
1985: “Out of Africa,” Sydney Pollack
1986: “Platoon,” Oliver Stone
1987: “The Last Emperor,” Bernardo Bertolucci
1988: “Rain Man,” Barry Levinson
1989: “Driving Miss Daisy,” Bruce Beresford
1990: “Dances With Wolves,” Kevin Costner
1991: “The Silence of the Lambs,” Jonathan Demme
1992: “Unforgiven,” Clint Eastwood
1993: “Schindler’s List,” Steven Spielberg
