The Biggest Oscars Sweeps of One Film
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The Biggest Oscars Sweeps of One Film
While winning one Academy Award is a momentous occasion for the cast and crew of a movie, winning multiple Academy Awards is truly a spectacular feat. It is not uncommon for a single film to pick up two or three awards, but then there are a handful of films that stand apart from the pack, racking up anywhere from five to ten awards in a single night.
Some of the greatest movies of all time have managed to sweep the Oscars, and three have even managed to win all five of the most coveted categories: Best Picture, Best Director, Best Screenplay, Best Actor, and Best Actress. These films will go down in cinema history not only for the number of Awards they brought home, but for the caliber of talent that contributed to their creation.
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It Happened One Night (1934)
Directed by Frank Capra, the romantic comedy It Happened One Night is the first film to bring home Academy Awards in the “Big Five” categories. It remains widely regarded as one of the greatest movies ever made.
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The Apartment (1960)
Billy Wilder’s The Apartment brought home five Oscars at the 1960 Academy Awards, including Best Picture, Best Director, Best Screenplay, Best Art Direction, and Best Film Editing.
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One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest 1975
Based on the 1962 book by Ken Kesey, One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest, directed by Miloš Forman was the second film to sweep the Big Five categories.
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The Silence of the Lambs (1991)
Directed by Jonathan Demme, The Silence of the Lambs is the most recent film to bring home Academy Awards in the “Big Five” categories. Anthony Hopkins brought home the Oscar for Best Actor, which is truly impressive considering he had only sixteen minutes of screen time.
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The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King (2003)
Three films currently hold the title for most Oscars collected by a single film, and one of them is The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King, directed by Peter Jackson. The film picked up 11 awards, including those for Best Picture, Best Director, and Best Adapted Screenplay, among others.
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Titanic (1997)
James Cameron’s Titanic is one of three films to bring home 11 trophies on Oscar night. Titanic won Best Picture, Best Director, Best Cinematography, and Best Score, as well as seven other awards.
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West Side Story (1961)
West Side Story brought home a whopping ten Academy Awards, winning in all but one category for which it was nominated. Awards include Best Picture, Best Director, Best Supporting Actor, and Best Supporting Actress.
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The English Patient (1998)
The English Patient, directed by Anthony Minghella, was nominated for twelve Academy Awards and won nine. The cast and crew took home Oscars for Best Picture, Best Director, Best Supporting Actress, and Best Cinematography in addition to five others.
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Slumdog Millionaire (2008)
Nominated in ten categories, Slumdog Millionaire brought home Academy Awards in eight of them, including awards for Best Picture, Best Director, Best Adapted Screenplay, and Best Cinematography.
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On the Waterfront (1954)
Hailed as one of the greatest films of all time, On The Waterfront, directed by Elia Kazan and starring Marlon Brando, was nominated for twelve Academy Awards and brought home eight. Wins include Best Picture, Best Director, Best Actor, and Best Supporting Actress.
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From Here to Eternity (1953)
Frank Sinatra co-starred alongside Donna Reed, Deborah Kerr, Burt Lancaster, and Montgomery Clift in From Here to Eternity, which received a total of thirteen Oscar nominations and eight wins.
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Gone with the Wind (1939)
One of the most quintessential films of all time, it is no surprise to modern audiences that Gone with the Wind was nominated for thirteen Academy Awards. The classic film won eight of its categories, including Best Picture, Best Director, Best Actress, and Best Screenplay.
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Ben-Hur (1959)
Ben Hur, directed by William Wyler, is one of three films that hold the record for most Academy Awards with 11 wins in categories that include Best Picture, Best Director, Best Actor, and Best Supporting Actor.
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The King's Speech
One of the most recent Academy Awards sweeps can be attributed to The King’s Speech, which brought home Oscars in four of the Big Five categories, including Best Picture, Best Director, Best Screenplay, and Best Actor.
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American Beauty (2000)
Directed by Sam Mendes, American Beauty brought home five Academy Awards in 2000, including the coveted awards for Best Picture, Best Director, Best Screenplay, and Best Actor.
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