Each year, the Academy Awards serve as a way to honor the best films that came out during the year immediately before. In particular, the Best Picture Oscar is one of the most celebrated categories as it represents the overall quality of the movie, not just any one aspect as many of the categories do. Thus, in general, the Best Picture winners are some of the most critically well-received movies of the year.
This is largely true with over half of the Oscars’ Best Picture winners holding a 90% approval or higher rating on Rotten Tomatoes. Likewise, many of the predicted nominees for the 2025 Oscars are similarly highly rated. Currently, Anora looks like the frontrunner, with Conclave as the top competition after Emilia Perez and The Brutalist have come under fire for using AI. Despite the setbacks and controversy surrounding some of the 2025 hopefuls, each of them is notably highly rated. However, three past Best Picture winners are below the 60% “Rotten” mark.
3 Cimarron (1931)
The 1931 Film Holds A 52% On Rotten Tomatoes
Cimarron is a 1931 historical epic film that spans several decades in the lives of Yancey and Sabra Cravat. The young couple move to Oklahoma in 1889 to take part in the land rush, but ultimately end up in Osage, where Yancey establishes a local newspaper. Throughout the years, their family grows, but Yancey leaves them several times for different reasons. Without him, Sabra continues running his business and caring for their children. By the movie’s end, Sabra has become the first woman in Oklahoma to be a member of Congress and is briefly reunited with her husband before his death.
Interestingly, at the time of its release, Cimarron was very highly regarded by critics. Despite being made during the Great Depression, RKO Pictures invested over $1.5 million in the film, and, unsurprisingly, Cimarron did not make that money back. Though many audiences could not afford to see the movie, critics felt that it was well-directed and well-acted, so it is not too surprising that Cimarron won Best Picture.
Beyond the very obvious criticism of the film’s depiction of Indigenous Americans, modern audiences dislike the somewhat nonsensical plot which sees Sabra stay with her husband despite his constant disappearances.
The reason that Cimarron’s critics’ score is so low on Rotten Tomatoes is due to modern reassessment of the film. Modern critics and audiences have stated that Cimarron is both racist and does not make sense. Beyond the very obvious criticism of the film’s depiction of Indigenous Americans, modern audiences dislike the somewhat nonsensical plot which sees Sabra stay with her husband despite his constant disappearances. Overall, Cimarron has not aged well.
2 The Greatest Show On Earth (1952)
The Movie Also Won The Oscar For Best Story
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The second-lowest rated Best Picture winner is 1952’s The Greatest Show on Earth at 50%. The movie follows Ringling Bros. Circus and the lives of some of the performers in the show, notably the manager, two trapeze artists, and a clown. Confusingly, Jimmy Stewart plays Buttons the clown who is also a doctor wanted for mercy killing one of his patients. However, his medical skills do come in handy throughout the movie when several characters are injured, meaning he ultimately saves the day.
The Greatest Show on Earth was also nominated for three Golden Globes: Best Motion Picture – Drama, Best Director – Motion Picture, and Best Cinematography – Color, and it won all three.
Unsurprisingly, some critics at the time felt the plot was not very strong, but in general, it was fairly well received due to its grandiose sets and the performances of real circus members, which enhanced the film’s authenticity. The film likely won Best Picture because of the positive aspects of the performances and scale of the production rather than its questionable plot, though unrest in Hollywood due to McCarthyism may have also played a role.
Related 10 Greatest Best Picture Oscar Nominees That Didn’t Win Though the Oscars can be a good indicator of the best movies of the year, plenty of fantastic films shouldn’t have lost for Best Picture.
As the scale for movies has become grander and the effects used enable even greater spectacle, The Greatest Show on Earth has naturally fallen out of favor among viewers. Modern critics who are responsible for the movie’s low Rotten Tomatoes rating highlight the disastrous plot while still praising the bright colors and fun circus sequences. While there are aspects of The Greatest Show on Earth that are certainly still entertaining, it is pretty clear why it would not be regarded as Best Picture worthy today.
1 The Broadway Melody (1929)
The Musical Was Surprisingly Impressive At The Time Of Its Release
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The Broadway Melody primarily focuses on two sisters, Hank and Queenie, and their attempts to make it on Broadway. The sisters join a revue but do not find what they were hoping for. Additionally, the film also details their romantic lives and includes several musical numbers. Out of all the Oscar Best Picture winners, The Broadway Melody holds the lowest approval rating at just 42% for critics and 21% for audiences.
The film was the first sound movie to win the award and one of the first movies to include a sequence in color, making The Broadway Melody a pretty significant achievement in film for 1929.
Despite its low rating among modern critics, it is actually easy to see why The Broadway Melody won Best Picture at the 1930 Oscars. The film was the first sound movie to win the award and one of the first movies to include a sequence in color, making The Broadway Melody a pretty significant achievement in film for 1929. However, even critics of the time noted that the acting and dialogue were not great.
Related The 2025 Oscars Best Picture Race Just Got A Lot More Clear A new development in the 2024-2025 awards season offers clarity as to which 2024 movies might be nominated for the Oscar for Best Picture.
While The Broadway Melody should still be considered a formative moment in the musical film genre, the current consensus is that its importance in some respects does not negate its bland plot and performances. Other early Hollywood musicals are better, both in their use of the updated technology that The Broadway Melody exhibits and in their narrative. Despite the low rating of the Best Picture winner, The Broadway Melody still marks an important moment in Oscars history that should be recognized going into the 2025 ceremony.