From 2009..
The WGA selected the top 101 scripts of all time a couple of years ago, and not one by *two* Pauley Shore films, plus Carrot Top's movie made the cut!
Here are the top 25, with a link to the WGA page with the rest...
1. CASABLANCA
Screenplay by Julius J. & Philip G. Epstein and Howard Koch. Based on the play "Everybody Comes to Rick's" by Murray Burnett and Joan Alison
2. THE GODFATHER
Screenplay by Mario Puzo and Francis Ford Coppola. Based on the novel by Mario Puzo
3. CHINATOWN
Written by Robert Towne
4. CITIZEN KANE
Written by Herman Mankiewicz and Orson Welles
5. ALL ABOUT EVE
Screenplay by Joseph L. Mankiewicz. Based on "The Wisdom of Eve," a short story and radio play by Mary Orr
6. ANNIE HALL
Written by Woody Allen and Marshall Brickman
7. SUNSET BLVD.
Written by Charles Brackett & Billy Wilder and D.M. Marshman, Jr.
8. NETWORK
Written by Paddy Chayefsky
9. SOME LIKE IT HOT
Screenplay by Billy Wilder & I.A.L. Diamond. Based on "Fanfare of Love," a German film written by Robert Thoeren and M. Logan
10. THE GODFATHER II
Screenplay by Francis Ford Coppola and Mario Puzo. Based on Mario Puzo's novel "The Godfather"
11. BUTCH CASSIDY AND THE SUNDANCE KID
Written by William Goldman
12. DR. STRANGELOVE
Screenplay by Stanley Kubrick and Peter George and Terry Southern. Based on novel "Red Alert" by Peter George
13. THE GRADUATE
Screenplay by Calder Willingham and Buck Henry. Based on the novel by Charles Webb
14. LAWRENCE OF ARABIA
Screenplay by Robert Bolt and Michael Wilson. Based on the life and writings of Col. T.E. Lawrence
15. THE APARTMENT
Written by Billy Wilder & I.A.L. Diamond
16. PULP FICTION
Written by Quentin Tarantino. Stories by Quentin Tarantino & Roger Avary
17. TOOTSIE
Screenplay by Larry Gelbart and Murray Schisgal. Story by Don McGuire and Larry Gelbart
18. ON THE WATERFRONT
Screen Story and Screenplay by Budd Schulberg. Based on "Crime on the Waterfront" articles by Malcolm Johnson
19. TO KILL A MOCKINGBIRD
Screenplay by Horton Foote. Based on the novel by Harper Lee
20. IT'S A WONDERFUL LIFE
Screenplay by Frances Goodrich & Albert Hackett & Frank Capra. Based on short story "The Greatest Gift" by Philip Van Doren Stern. Contributions to screenplay Michael Wilson and Jo Swerling
21. NORTH BY NORTHWEST
Written by Ernest Lehman
22. THE SHAWSHANK REDEMPTION
Screenplay by Frank Darabont. Based on the short story "Rita Hayworth and the Shawshank Redemption" by Stephen King
23. GONE WITH THE WIND
Screenplay by Sidney Howard. Based on the novel by Margaret Mitchell
24. ETERNAL SUNSHINE OF THE SPOTLESS MIND
Screenplay by Charlie Kaufman. Story by Charlie Kaufman & Michel Gondry & Pierre Bismuth
25. THE WIZARD OF OZ
Screenplay by Noel Langley and Florence Ryerson and Edgar Allan Woolf Adaptation by Noel Langley. Based on the novel by L. Frank Baum
The next 76 in the big parade!
- Bill
7 comments:
These lists are always biased towards old "classic" films. Has anyone actually watched To Kill a Mockingbird recently? If you did, chances are that you wouldn't rank it the 19th best script of all time.
I watched it about a month ago - it belongs on the list. I've also used it in a new script tip about a year ago - because it does tricky things that apply to what we write now.
- Bill
PS: This list was not compiled by one guy, it was from *all* of the members of the WGA - a couple of years ago they sent in their nominations, and the scripts with the most votes made the list, in order of number of votes.
So this is what the majority of professional screenwriters believe to be the top 101 screenplays. Can not be bias in a secret ballot decision.
- Bill
did they do another one because I have seen that list off their site for way over a year
"To Kill a Mockingbird" is on the Encore rotation this month. Maybe even on demand. So, yeah, plenty of people have seen it recently. Maybe even more than once.
And sure, it's not like I own the DVD, but the movie doesn't have any flaws for the story it's telling. There's nothing that could have made it better. You can't really say, "If only they would have given Boo a hockey mask and a machete! Raised the stakes!" So, yeah, it's a great screenplay. (For some reason all my favorite movies have plenty of flaws and aren't anywhere near perfect. I'm not even blind to the the problems. Is that weird?)
If anything, the "bias" on lists like this (and the AFI, and the IMDB) goes to new, sexy stuff that's in the foreground of people's minds. The stuff that hasn't really withstood the test of time. I don't want to bash Charlie Kaufman, but do you really think all three of those movies will still be on a list in 2015? I don't. And I'll give 50/50 odds to "Memento" still being there. But I'd bet just about anything that "To Kill a Mockingbird" will still be on that list.
This is the old list... It was sitting in my "emergency blog entry" section for... well, over a year. I found it a couple of weeks ago, then someone else ran it on their blog, then I had nothing for yesterday...
Someday you will get the Variety Slang Dictionary and the other stuff I found in the "emergency blog entry" section.
- Bill
Hey, Bill, new flick coming out that is right up our collective "Action Movie" arses, looks good
Give em Hell Malone
http://www.traileraddict.com/trailer/give-em-hell/promo-trailer
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