9. The Bridge On The River Kwai - 1957
Whoah, does David Lean make big movies or what? Minor spoiler alert: this won't be the last David Lean film on this list. The Bridge On The River Kwai won seven Oscars including directing for David Lean, Lead Actor for Sir Alec Guiness, Adapted Screenplay and of course, Best Picture. Based on a novel by Pierre Boulle, it tells the story of World War II POWs forced to to construct a railroad bridge for their Japanese captors. It's an interesting narrative because it examines the madness of war and what some men hold onto for the sake of their sanity. Big, majestic and suspenseful, there was no other movie like it. A film with a powerful message, a gut-wrenching and heartbreaking finale, The Bridge On The River Kwai is a war film that has stood the test of time. The closest competitor in 1957 was Sidney Lumet's, 12 Angry Men. An equally powerful film that held a vital message on race relations, especially in 1957, it unfortunately could not hold up against the grandeur of a production like The Bridge On The River Kwai. This was an easy decision for Academy voters.