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.

Winners † = Winner of the Academy Award for Best Picture ‡ = Nominated for the Academy Award for Best Picture

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 Roberto Rossellini 1949 Bicycle Thieves 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 FarrellyNational Board of Review Names 'Green Book' Best Film of 2018 - Variety 2019 The Irishman ‡ Martin ScorseseNational Board of Review 2019 Winners|IndieWire

2020s Year Winner Director(s) 2020 Da 5 Bloods 2021 National Board of Review Winners and Analysis - Variety Spike Lee 2021 Licorice Pizza ‡ 'Licorice Pizza' Wins Best Pictures At National Board Of Review — Deadline Paul Thomas Anderson 2022 Top Gun: Maverick ‡ Top Gun: Maverick Named Best Movie of 2022 by National Board of Review - The Hollywood Reporter Joseph Kosinski 2023 Killers of the Flower Moon ‡ National Board of Review Names ‘Killers of the Flower Moon’ Best Film of 2023 Martin Scorsese 2024 Wicked ‡ Jon M. Chu2025One Battle After Another † Paul Thomas Anderson

Multiple winners (3 or more) Steven Spielberg – 4 John Ford – 3 David Lean – 3 (one as co-director) Martin Scorsese – 3

References