Oscars: Every Best Picture Winner Ever Ranked From Worst To Best

29. Rocky (1976)

Rocky 1
MGM

Probably the strongest of the card-carrying "crowd pleaser" Best Picture winners, Rocky is far more than the straight-laced sports movie its myriad sequels boiled it down to over the years.

With a keen sense of time and place, and a narrative focused less on victory and more on proving worth to oneself, Rocky was an inspirational sports romp of a different kind, boosted by an easy career-best performance from the inimitable Sylvester Stallone.

As a Best Picture winner, though, it was a pretty soft win against the astounding triple threat of All the President's Men, Network and Taxi Driver, but the movie is at least great enough that the Academy didn't seem overly misguided for picking it. It is a thoroughly persuasive classic any way you slice it.

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Stay at home dad who spends as much time teaching his kids the merits of Martin Scorsese as possible (against the missus' wishes). General video game, TV and film nut. Occasional sports fan. Full time loon.