National Board of Review Award for Best Film

The National Board of Review Award for Best Film is one of the annual awards given since 1932 by the National Board of Review of Motion Pictures.[1]

Winners

1930s

Year Winner Director(s)
1932 I Am a Fugitive from a Chain Gang ‡ Mervyn LeRoy
1933 Topaze § Harry d'Abbadie d'Arrast
1934 It Happened One Night † Frank Capra
1935 The Informer ‡ John Ford
1936 Mr. Deeds Goes to Town ‡ Frank Capra
1937 Night Must Fall § Richard Thorpe
1938 The Citadel ‡ King Vidor
1939 Confessions of a Nazi Spy § Anatole Litvak

1940s

Year Winner Director(s)
1940 The Grapes of Wrath ‡ John Ford
1941 Citizen Kane ‡ Orson Welles
1942 In Which We Serve ‡ Noël Coward and David Lean
1943 The Ox-Bow Incident ‡ William A. Wellman
1944 None But the Lonely Heart § Clifford Odets
1945 The True Glory § Carol Reed
1946 Henry V ‡ Laurence Olivier
1947 Monsieur Verdoux § Charlie Chaplin
1948 Paisan (Paisà) Roberto Rossellini
1949 Bicycle Thieves (Ladri di biciclette) Vittorio De Sica

1950s

Year Winner Director(s)
1950 Sunset Boulevard ‡ Billy Wilder
1951 A Place in the Sun ‡ George Stevens
1952 The Quiet Man ‡ John Ford
1953 Julius Caesar ‡ Joseph L. Mankiewicz
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 The Old Man and the Sea § John Sturges
1959 The Nun's Story ‡ Fred Zinnemann

1960s

Year Winner Director(s)
1960 Sons and Lovers ‡ Jack Cardiff
1961 Question 7 § Stuart Rosenberg
1962 The Longest Day ‡ Ken Annakin, Andrew Marton, Gerd Oswald, and Bernhard Wicki
1963 Tom Jones † Tony Richardson
1964 Becket ‡ Peter Glenville
1965 The Eleanor Roosevelt Story § Rick Kaplan
1966 A Man for All Seasons † Fred Zinnemann
1967 Far from the Madding Crowd § John Schlesinger
1968 The Shoes of the Fisherman § Michael Anderson
1969 They Shoot Horses, Don't They? § Sydney Pollack

1970s

Year Winner Director(s)
1970 Patton † Franklin J. Schaffner
1971 Macbeth § Roman Polanski
1972 Cabaret ‡ Bob Fosse
1973 The Sting † George Roy Hill
1974 The Conversation ‡ Francis Ford Coppola
1975 Barry Lyndon ‡ Stanley Kubrick
Nashville ‡ Robert Altman
1976 All the President's Men ‡ Alan J. Pakula
1977 The Turning Point ‡ Herbert Ross
1978 Days of Heaven § Terrence Malick
1979 Manhattan § Woody Allen

1980s

Year Winner Director(s)
1980 Ordinary People † Robert Redford
1981 Chariots of Fire † Hugh Hudson
Reds ‡ Warren Beatty
1982 Gandhi † Richard Attenborough
1983 Betrayal § David Jones
Terms of Endearment † James L. Brooks
1984 A Passage to India ‡ David Lean
1985 The Color Purple ‡ Steven Spielberg
1986 A Room with a View ‡ James Ivory
1987 Empire of the Sun § Steven Spielberg
1988 Mississippi Burning ‡ Alan Parker
1989 Driving Miss Daisy † Bruce Beresford

1990s

Year Winner Director(s)
1990 Dances with Wolves † Kevin Costner
1991 The Silence of the Lambs † Jonathan Demme
1992 Howards End ‡ James Ivory
1993 Schindler's List † Steven Spielberg
1994 Forrest Gump † Robert Zemeckis
Pulp Fiction ‡ Quentin Tarantino
1995 Sense and Sensibility ‡ Ang Lee
1996 Shine ‡ Scott Hicks
1997 L.A. Confidential ‡ Curtis Hanson
1998 Gods and Monsters § Bill Condon
1999 American Beauty † Sam Mendes

2000s

Year Winner Director(s)
2000 Quills § Philip Kaufman
2001 Moulin Rouge! ‡ Baz Luhrmann
2002 The Hours ‡ Stephen Daldry
2003 Mystic River ‡ Clint Eastwood
2004 Finding Neverland ‡ Marc Forster
2005 Good Night, and Good Luck. ‡ George Clooney
2006 Letters from Iwo Jima ‡ Clint Eastwood
2007 No Country for Old Men † Joel Coen and Ethan Coen
2008 Slumdog Millionaire † Danny Boyle
2009 Up in the Air ‡ Jason Reitman

2010s

Year Winner Director(s)
2010 The Social Network ‡ David Fincher
2011 Hugo ‡ Martin Scorsese
2012 Zero Dark Thirty ‡ Kathryn Bigelow
2013 Her ‡ Spike Jonze
2014 A Most Violent Year § J. C. Chandor
2015 Mad Max: Fury Road ‡ George Miller
2016 Manchester by the Sea ‡ Kenneth Lonergan
2017 The Post ‡ Steven Spielberg
2018 Green Book † Peter Farrelly[2]
2019 The Irishman ‡ Martin Scorsese[3]

2020s

Year Winner Director(s)
2020 Da 5 Bloods[4] § Spike Lee
2021 Licorice Pizza ‡ [5] Paul Thomas Anderson
2022 Top Gun: Maverick ‡ [6] Joseph Kosinski
2023 Killers of the Flower Moon ‡ [7] Martin Scorsese
2024 Wicked [8] Jon M. Chu

Multiple winners (3 or more)

References

  1. ^ "Best Film Archives – National Board of Review". National Board of Review. Retrieved February 2, 2015.
  2. ^ National Board of Review Names 'Green Book' Best Film of 2018 - Variety
  3. ^ National Board of Review 2019 Winners|IndieWire
  4. ^ 2021 National Board of Review Winners and Analysis - Variety
  5. ^ 'Licorice Pizza' Wins Best Pictures At National Board Of Review — Deadline
  6. ^ Top Gun: Maverick Named Best Movie of 2022 by National Board of Review - The Hollywood Reporter
  7. ^ National Board of Review Names ‘Killers of the Flower Moon’ Best Film of 2023
  8. ^ Davis, Clayton (2024-12-04). "'Wicked' Named Best Picture by National Board of Review, Daniel Craig and Nicole Kidman Among Acting Winners". Variety. Retrieved 2024-12-04.