★ = recommended, ♥ = personal favorite

Oliver! (1968)

• starring Ron Moody, Oliver Reed, Harry Secombe, Shani Wallis, Mark Lester, Jack Wild, Hugh Griffith
• directed by Carol Reed
• 153 minutes, color
• Won 5/11 Oscars, including Best Director
  • Both the first film with an MPAA rating to win Best Picture, and the last G-rated film to be nominated for Best Picture.

Midnight Cowboy (1969) ★

• starring Dustin Hoffman, Jon Voight, Sylvia Miles, Brenda Vaccaro
• directed by John Schlesinger
• 113 minutes, color
• Won 3/7 Oscars, including Best Director and Best Screenplay
  • The film was rated X (no one under 17 admitted) upon its original release. The film was given a new R rating (children under 17 must be accompanied by a parent or legal guardian) in 1971, without having anything changed or removed. It remains the only X-Rated film ever to win the Best Picture.

Patton (1970)

• starring George C. Scott, Karl Malden
• directed by Franklin J. Schaffner
• 170-172 minutes, color
• Won 7/10 Oscars, including Best Actor (Scott), Best Director and Best Screenplay
  • George C. Scott won Best Actor and famously refused to accept it, claiming that competition between actors was unfair and a "meat parade."

The French Connection (1971) ★

• starring Gene Hackman, Fernando Rey, Roy Scheider, Tony Lo Bianco, Marcel Bozzuffi
• directed by William Friedkin
• 104 minutes, color
• Won 5/8 Oscars, including Best Actor (Hackman), Best Director and Best Screenplay

The Godfather (1972) ♥

• starring Marlon Brando, Al Pacino, James Caan, Richard Castellano, Robert Duvall, Sterling Hayden, John Marley, Richard Conte, Diane Keaton
• directed by Francis Ford Coppola
• 175 minutes, color
• Won 3/11 Oscars, including Best Actor (Brando) and Best Screenplay
  • The first Best Picture winner to be even partially set in Los Angeles, the first to depict the film industry, and the first in which an Oscar statuette is visible.

The Sting (1973) ♥

• starring Paul Newman, Robert Redford, Robert Shaw
• directed by George Roy Hill
• 129 minutes, color
• Won 7/10 Oscars, including Best Director and Best Screenplay
  • Edith Head won her 8th and final Best Costume Design Academy Award for this film. "Just imagine," she said during her acceptance speech, "Dressing the two handsomest men in the world and then getting this."
  • Julia Phillips, one of the film's producers, became the first woman to be nominated for and to win the Academy Award for Best Picture. It became a historical milestone for the acceptance of women doing greater positions in film productions.
  • Robert Redford didn't see the film until June 2004.

The Godfather: Part II (1974) ♥

• starring Al Pacino, Robert Duvall, Diane Keaton, Robert De Niro, Talia Shire, Morgana King, John Cazale, Marianna Hill, Lee Strasberg
• directed by Francis Ford Coppola
• 200 minutes, color
• Won 6/11 Oscars, including Best Supporting Actor (De Niro), Best Director and Best Screenplay
  • The first sequel to win Best Picture.
  • Marlon Brando and Robert De Niro are the only two actors to ever win separate Oscars for playing the same character. Brando won Best Actor for The Godfather and De Niro won Best Supporting Actor for this film, both in the role of Vito Corleone.
  • Robert De Niro is one of only five actors to win an Academy Award for a role primarily in a language other than English since almost all of his dialogue in this film is in Italian.

One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest (1975) ♥

• starring Jack Nicholson, Louise Fletcher, Will Sampson, William Redfield, Brad Dourif, Danny DeVito, Christopher Lloyd, Scatman Crothers
• directed by Miloš Forman
• 133 minutes, color
• Won 5/9 Oscars, including Best Actor (Nicholson), Best Actress (Fletcher), Best Director and Best Screenplay
  • This was the second film to win the Oscar grand slam (Best Picture, Best Actor, Best Actress, Best Director, Best Screenplay).
  • Many extras were authentic mental patients.

Rocky (1976) ♥

• starring Sylvester Stallone, Talia Shire, Burt Young, Carl Weathers, Burgess Meredith
• directed by John G. Avildsen
• 119 minutes, color
• Won 3/10 Oscars, including Best Director
  • The first sports film to win Best Picture.
  • Sylvester Stallone became the third person to be nominated for both acting and writing awards in the same year.

Annie Hall (1977) ♥

• starring Woody Allen, Diane Keaton, Tony Roberts, Carol Kane, Paul Simon, Janet Margolin, Shelley Duvall, Christopher Walken, Colleen Dewhurst
• directed by Woody Allen
• 93 minutes, color
• Won 4/9 Oscars, including Best Actress (Keaton), Best Director and Best Screenplay
  • Diane Keaton's real name is Diane Hall and her nickname is Annie.