Since the establishment of the Best Foreign-Language Picture, only a few foreign movies have been nominated for Best Picture. Costa-Gavras' political thriller Z, a French-Algerian co-production starring Yves Montand and Jean-Louis Trintignant, enjoyed a special position in 1969. Z won the Best Foreign Language Picture and it was also nominated in the general competitive category of Best Picture.

Franklin Schaffner's “Nicholas and Alexandra” did not deserve to be nominated for Best Picture, and in the end, won only two awards, for art direction and costume design.

In 1959, “The Nun's Story” competed for the best Picture Oscar with “Anatomy of Murder,” “Ben-Hur,” which swept most of the Oscars, “The Diary of Anne Frank,” and “Room at the Top.”

“How the West Was Won” was inexplicably nominated for eight Oscars, including Best Picture, winning three: Story and Screenplay,
Sound, and Film Editing.

“Sayonara” was nominated for 10 Oscars, including Best Picture and Actor for Brando, winning four awards, two of which for the supporting players Red Buttons and Miyoshi Umeki, the first Asian to win the Oscar.