One coast casts a skeptical eye on the other - and finds itself, perhaps to its own surprise, to be in agreement with it much of the time. The New York Film Critics Circle was founded in 1935 in part to counteract the insider politics and provincialism of Hollywood, as reflected in the Academy Awards year in and year out. But as long as the powerful New York Times critic Bosley Crowther was in charge of the 13-member organization, the NYFCC's choices rarely deviated from Oscar's.

In 1969, though, Crowther retired and things, they were a-changin'. There are now about 30 members, writing for publications ranging from the NYT and The New Yorker to The Village Voice and The New York Press. Awards are announced in December and they used to be presented at Sardi's restaurant, then the World Trade Center. Since 9/11, the presentations have taken place in the Russian Tea Room.

2005
Brokeback Mountain

2004:
Sideways

2003:
The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King

2002:
Far From Heaven

2001:
Mulholland Drive

2000:
Traffic

1999:
Topsy-Turvy

1998:
Saving Private Ryan

1997:
L.A. Confidential

1996:
Fargo

1995:
Leaving Las Vegas

1994:
Pulp Fiction

1993:
Schindler's List

1992:
The Player

1991:
The Silence of the Lambs

1990:
GoodFellas

1989:
My Left Foot

1988:
The Accidental Tourist

1987:
Broadcast News

1986:
Hannah and her Sisters

1985:
Prizzi's Honor

1984:
A Passage to India

1983:
Terms of Endearment

1982:
Gandhi

1981:
Reds

1980:
Ordinary People

1979:
Kramer vs. Kramer

1978:
The Deer Hunter

1977:
Annie Hall

1976:
All the President's Men

1975:
Nashville

1974:
Amarcord

1973:
La nuit américaine (Day for Night)

1972:
Viskningar och rop (Cries and Whispers)

1971:
A Clockwork Orange

1970:
Five Easy Pieces

1969:
Z

1968:
The Lion in Winter

1967:
In the Heat of the Night

1966:
A Man for All Seasons

1965:
Darling

1964:
My Fair Lady

1963:
Tom Jones

1962:
Extra, extra!! Paper strike!! No awards!!

1961:
West Side Story

1960:
The Apartment

1959:
Ben-Hur

1958:
The Defiant Ones

1957:
Bridge on the River Kwai

1956:
Around the World in 80 Days

1955:
Marty

1954:
On the Waterfront

1953:
From Here to Eternity

1952:
High Noon

1951:
A Streetcar Named Desire

1950:
All About Eve

1949:
All the King's Men

1948:
The Treasure of the Sierra Madre

1947:
Gentlemen's Agreement

1946:
The Best Years of Our Lives

1945:
The Lost Weekend

1944:
Going My Way

1943:
Watch on the Rhine

1942:
In Which We Serve

1941:
Citizen Kane

1940:
The Grapes of Wrath

1939:
Wuthering Heights

1938:
The Citadel

1937:
The Life of Emile Zola

1936:
Mr. Deeds Goes to Town

1935:
The Informer