Oscars: Every Best Picture Winner Ever Ranked From Worst To Best
86. The Greatest Show On Earth (1952)
One of Cecil B. DeMille's very worst efforts near the end of a storied 50-year career, this felt like a bit of a pity party for DeMille as he entered his seventies, especially as The Greatest Show on Earth ludicrously beat out both High Noon and The Quiet Man for Best Picture. Singin' in the Rain, meanwhile, wasn't even nominated.
Though the heft of DeMille's immense production shouldn't be discounted, that makes the sheer boredom that quickly sets in that much more mystifying, in a 152-minute aimless odyssey that's best only watched if you're an especially devoted, masochistic Best Picture completionist.
It takes a special effort to make Charlton Heston and Jimmy Stewart deliver embarrassing performances in the same movie, which might be its biggest crime, really.