Casablanca tops movie script poll

I'd have voted for Casablanca as tops. But I do agree that the Chinatown script is head and shoulders above Godfather.

"Chinatown" is still my favorite script with "All About Eve" a close second. I think it is the individual lines which are so mated up with the stars that perform them -- the test is to read the script itself. "Pulp Fiction" is also a favorite.

100 Best Adapted Feature Film Screenplays of All Time
American Screenwriters Association (ASA)

BEST FEATURE FILM
ADAPTED
SCREENPLAY RANKING SCRIPT TITLE SCRIPT YEAR
1 To Kill a Mockingbird 1962
2 Gone With the Wind 1939
3 The Wizard of Oz 1939
4 The Shawshank Redemption 1994
5 Schindler's List 1993
6 It's A Wonderful Life 1946
7 Patton 1970
8 Bridge on the River Kwai 1957
9 Rear Window 1954
10 The Sound of Music 1965
11 All Quiet on the Western Front 1930
12 Forrest Gump 1994
13 The Godfather 1972
14 Lawrence of Arabia 1962
15 The Graduate 1967
16 On The Waterfront 1954
17 The African Queen 1951
18 One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest 1975
19 Psycho 1960
20 The Grapes of Wrath 1940
21 Dr. Strangelove 1964
22 West Side Story 1961
23 Double Indemnity 1944
24 All the President's Men 1976
25 Young Frankenstein 1974
26 The War of the Worlds 1953
27 Twelve Angry Men 1957
28 Mary Poppins 1964
29 M*A*S*H 1970
30 Kramer vs. Kramer 1979
31 Fiddler on the Roof 1971
32 Driving Miss Daisy 1989
33 Mutiny on the Bounty 1935
34 Doctor Zhivago 1965
35 A Streetcar Named Desire 1951
36 From Here to Eternity 1953
37 Amadeus 1984
38 Rebel Without a Cause 1955
39 Vertigo 1958
40 The Maltese Falcon 1941
41 Midnight Cowboy 1969
42 A Place in the Sun 1951
43 My Fair Lady 1964
44 The French Connection 1971
45 Raging Bull 1980
46 Apocalypse Now 1979
47 Treasure of the Sierra Madre 1948
48 The Birth of a Nation 1915
49 Stagecoach 1939
50 Dances with Wolves 1990
51 High Noon 1952
52 It Happened One Night 1934
53 The Philadelphia Story 1940
54 The Best Years of our Lives 1946
55 A Clockwork Orange 1971
56 Sling Blade 1996
57 The Silence of the Lambs 1991
58 Terms of Endearment 1983
59 A Beautiful Mind 2001
60 Farewell, My Concubine 1993
61 Goodfellas 1990
62 Das Boot 1981
63 Ben Hur 1959
64 The Lion in Winter 1968
65 The Pianist 2002
66 East of Eden 1955
67 Inherit the Wind 1960
68 The Lord of the Rings 2001
69 The Caine Mutiny 1954
70 Judgment at Nuremberg 1961
71 In the Heat of the Night 1967
72 The Last Picture Show 1971
73 Mrs. Miniver 1942
74 Remains of the Day 1993
75 My Left Foot 1989
76 The Diary of Anne Frank 1959
77 Field of Dreams 1989
78 The Last Emperor 1987
79 Stand By Me 1986
80 The Color Purple 1985
81 Marty 1955
82 The Trip to Bountiful 1985
83 The Killing Fields 1984
84 Ordinary People 1980
85 Midnight Express 1978
86 Julia 1977
87 The Exorcist 1973
88 Paper Moon 1973
89 Blackboard Jungle 1955
90 A Man for All Seasons 1966
91 The Odd Couple 1968
92 Some Like it Hot 1959
93 Cool Hand Luke 1967
94 Spartacus 1960
95 Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf? 1966
96 Gigi 1958
97 Mystic River 2003
98 The Miracle Worker 1962
99 Million Dollar Baby 2004
100 Fried Green Tomatoes 1991


100 Best Original Feature Film Screenplays of All Time

BEST ORIGINAL FEATURE FILM
SCREENPLAY RANKING SCRIPT TITLE SCRIPT YEAR
1 Casablanca* 1943
2 Mr. Smith Goes to Washington 1939
3 North By Northwest 1959
4 Guess Who's Coming to Dinner 1967
5 Sunset Boulevard 1950
6 Chinatown 1974
7 Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid 1969
8 Close Encounters of the Third Kind 1977
9 Citizen Kane 1941
10 Rain Man 1988
11 All About Eve 1950
12 2001: A Space Odyssey 1968
13 Bonnie and Clyde 1967
14 Blazing Saddles 1974
15 Rocky 1976
16 Taxi Driver 1976
17 American Graffiti 1973
18 Annie Hall 1977
19 Fargo 1996
20 Network 1976
21 Easy Rider 1969
22 Gandhi 1982
23 Dog Day Afternoon 1975
24 The Sting 1973
25 The Producers 1968
26 Splendor in the Grass 1961
27 The Greatest Show on Earth 1952
28 Big 1988
29 Life is Beautiful 1997
30 Groundhog Day 1994
31 Amelie 2002
32 Braveheart 1995
33 Singin' in the Rain 1952
34 Lifeboat 1944
35 The Seventh Veil 1946
36 The Great Dictator 1940
37 The Fortune Cookie 1966
38 The Third Man 1949
39 The Usual Suspects 1995
40 Miracle on 34th Street 1947
41 Philadelphia 1993
42 Do The Right Thing 1989
43 Back to the Future 1985
44 Diner 1982
45 Five Easy Pieces 1970
46 The China Syndrome 1979
47 Places in the Heart 1984
48 Lady Sings the Blues 1972
49 The Apartment 1960
50 Going My Way 1945
51 Breaking Away 1979
52 Sabrina 1954
53 The Bachelor and the Bobby Soxer 1947
54 Titanic 1953
55 Houseboat 1958
56 Interrupted Melody 1955
57 The Defiant Ones 1958
58 The Pride of St. Louis 1952
59 Hannah and Her Sisters 1986
60 An American in Paris 1951
61 The Sixth Sense 1999
62 The Search 1948
63 American Beauty 1999
64 Roman Holiday 1953
65 E. T. The Extra-Terrestrial 1982
66 Duck Soup 1933
67 Good Will Hunting 1997
68 Here Comes Mr. Jordan 1941
69 Vacation From Marriage 1946
70 Being John Malkovich 1999
71 Boys Town 1938
72 The Crying Game 1992
73 Deconstructing Harry 1997
74 Heavenly Creatures 1994
75 Monster's Ball 2001
76 The Red Balloon 1956
77 The Stratton Story 1949
78 Platoon 1986
79 Designing Women 1957
80 Pillow Talk 1959
81 Father Goose 1964
82 How the West Was Won 1963
83 The Deer Hunter 1978
84 Shakespeare in Love 1998
85 Broadcast News 1987
86 Boyz N the Hood 1991
87 Crimes and Misdemeanors 1989
88 Road to Morocco 1942
89 Memento 2001
90 Almost Famous 2000
91 Saving Private Ryan 1998
92 Toy Story 1995
93 When Harry Met Sally 1989
94 Gosford Park 2001
95 Tender Mercies 1983
96 Talk to Her 2002
97 Dead Poets Society 1989
98 Star Wars 1977
99 Moonstruck 1987
100 Shine 1996

I would have fit "Milagro Beanfield War" into the best adapted catagory, myself.

I'm sure we all have our addendums to any list. The Screenwriters Guild section of AMPAS does make nominations for the Oscar but, of course, all of the voting body determines the winner.

A link to Filmsite's Academy Award pages on best screenplays:

http://www.filmsite.org/bestscreenplays.html

The complete list of Oscar nominees and winners (adapted):

First of each list is the winner.



1920's
1927/1928 Seventh Heaven - Benjamin Glazer from a play by Austin Stong
Glorious Betsy - Anthony Coldeway from a play by Rida Johnson Young
The Jazz Singer - Alfred A. Cohn from the play Day of Atonement by Samson Raphaelson
In the 2nd and 3rd years there was only a single writing award for Writing Achievement with no distinction between original works and adaptations.

1928/1929
The Patriot - Hanns Kräly from a play by Ashley Dukes translated from the play Der Patriot by Alfred Neumann derived from the story Paul I by Dmitri Merezhkovsky
The Cop - William Taylor Garnett from a story by Elliott Judd Clawson
In Old Arizona - Tom Barry from the story The Caballero's Way by O. Henry
The Last of Mrs. Cheyney - Hanns Kräly from a play by Frederick Lonsdale
The Leatherneck - Elliott Judd Clawson original
Our Dancing Daughters - Josephine Lovett original
Sal of Singapore - Elliott Judd Clawson from the story The Sentimentalists by Dale Collins
Skyscraper - Elliott Judd Clawson, William Taylor Garnett from a story by Dudley Murphy
The Valiant - Tom Barry, John Hunter Booth from a play by Halworthy Hall and Robert Middlemass
A Woman of Affairs - Bess Meredyth from the novel The Green Hat by Michael Arlen
Wonder of Women - Bess Meredyth from the novel Die Frau des Steffen Tromholt by Hermann Sudermann

1929/1930
The Big House - Joseph Farnham, Martin Flavin, Frances Marion, Lennox Marion original
All Quiet on the Western Front - Maxwell Anderson, George Abbott, Del Andrews from a novel by Erich Maria Remarque
Disraeli - Julien Josephson from a play by Louis N. Parker
The Divorcee - John Meehan from the novel Ex-Wife by Ursula Parrott
Street of Chance - Lenore J. Coffee, Howard Estabrook from the story by Oliver H. P. Garrett

1930s
For the 1930/31 production year the award was again subdivided, and this one was once again Best Writing, Adaptation.

1930/1931
Cimarron - Howard Estabrook from the novel by Edna Ferber
The Criminal Code - Seton I. Miller, Fred Niblo Jr. from a play by Martin Flavin
Holiday - Horace Jackson from the play by Philip Barry
Little Caesar - Francis Edward Faragoli, Robert N. Lee, Robert Lord, Darryl F. Zanuck from the novel by William R. Burnett
Skippy - Joseph L. Mankiewicz, Don Marquis, Norman Z. McLeod, Sam Mintz from the comic strip by Percy Crosby

1931/1932
Bad Girl - Edwin J. Burke from the novel and play by Viña Delmar
Arrowsmith - Sidney Howard from the novel by Sinclair Lewis
Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde - Samuel Hoffenstein, Percy Heath from the novel by Robert Louis Stevenson

1932/1933
Little Women - Victor Heerman, Sarah Y. Mason from the novel by Louisa May Alcott
Lady for a Day - Robert Riskin from the story Madame la Gimp by Damon Runyon
State Fair - Paul Green, Sonya Levien from the novel by Philip Stong

1934
It Happened One Night - Robert Riskin from the story Night Bus by Samuel Hopkins Adams
The Thin Man - Albert Hackett, Frances Goodrich from a novel by Dashiell Hammett
Viva Villa! - Ben Hecht from the book by Edgecumb Pinchon and O. B. Stade
For 1935 the award became Best Writing, Screenplay

1935
The Informer - Dudley Nichols from the novel by Liam O'Flaherty. This was the first Academy Award ever to be declined.
Captain Blood - write-in candidate Casey Robinson from the novel by Rafael Sabatini
The Lives of a Bengal Lancer - Waldemar Young, John L. Balderston, Achmed Abdullah, Grover Jones, William Slavens McNutt from the novel by Francis Yeats-Brown
Mutiny on the Bounty - Talbot Jennings, Jules Furthman, Carey Wilson from the novel by Charles Nordhoff and James Norman Hall

1936
The Story of Louis Pasteur - Pierre Collings, Sheridan Gibney from their own story
After the Thin Man - Frances Goodrich, Albert Hackett from a story by Dashiell Hammett
Dodsworth - Sidney Howard from the novel by Sinclair Lewis
Mr. Deeds Goes to Town - Robert Riskin from the story Opera Hat by Clarence Budington Kelland
My Man Godfrey - Morrie Ryskind, Eric Hatch from the novel by Eric Hatch

1937
The Life of Emile Zola - Heinz Herald, Geza Herczag, Norman Raine from the book Zola and His Time by Matthew Josephson
The Awful Truth - Viña Delmar from the play by Arthur Richman
Captains Courageous - Marc Connelly, John Lee Mahin, Dale Van Every from the novel by Rudyard Kipling
Stage Door - Morrie Ryskind, Anthony Veiller from the play by Edna Ferber and George S. Kaufman
A Star Is Born - Dorothy Parker, Alan Campbell, Robert Carson from a story by William A. Wellman and Robert Carson

1938
Pygmalion - Ian Dalrymple, Cecil Lewis, W.P. Lipscomb, George Bernard Shaw from the play by George Bernard Shaw
Boys Town - John Meehan, Dore Schary from the story by Dore Schary and Eleanore Griffin
The Citadel - Ian Dalrymple, Frank Wead, Elizabeth Hill from the novel by A. J. Cronin
Four Daughters - Lenore J. Coffee, Julius J. Epstein from the novel Sister Act by Fannie Hurst
You Can't Take It with You - Robert Riskin from the play by George S. Kaufman and Moss Hart

1939
Gone with the Wind - Sidney Howard from the novel by Margaret Mitchell
Goodbye, Mr. Chips - R. C. Sherriff, Claudine West, Eric Maschwitz from the novel by James Hilton
Mr. Smith Goes to Washington - Sidney Buchman from the story by Lewis R. Foster
Ninotchka - Charles Brackett, Billy Wilder, Walter Reisch from the story by Melchior Lengyel
Wuthering Heights - Charles MacArthur, Ben Hecht from the novel by Emily Brontë

1940s
1940
The Philadelphia Story - Donald Ogden Stewart from the play by Philip Barry
The Grapes of Wrath - Nunnally Johnson from the novel by John Steinbeck
Kitty Foyle: The Natural History of a Woman - Donald Ogden Stewart, Dalton Trumbo from the novel by Christopher Morley
The Long Voyage Home - Dudley Nichols from a composite of the short plays The Moon of the Caribees, In the Zone, Bound East for Cardiff and The Long Voyage Home by Eugene O'Neill
Rebecca - Philip MacDonald, Michael Hogan from the novel by Daphne Du Maurier

1941
Here Comes Mr. Jordan - Sidney Buchman, Seton Miller from the play Heaven Can Wait by Harry Segall
Hold Back the Dawn - Charles Brackett, Billy Wilder from the book by Ketti Frings
How Green Was My Valley - Philip Dunne (writer) from the novel by Richard Llewellyn
The Little Foxes - Lillian Hellman from her own play
The Maltese Falcon - John Huston from the novel by Dashiell Hammett

1942
Mrs. Miniver - George Froeschel, James Hilton, Claudine West, Arthur Wimperis based on the novel by Jan Struther
Forty-Ninth Parallel - Rodney Ackland, Emeric Pressburger from the story by Emeric Pressburger
The Pride of the Yankees - Herman J. Mankiewicz, Jo Swerling from the story by Paul Gallico
Random Harvest - George Froeschel, Claudine West, Arthur Wimperis from the novel by James Hilton
The Talk of the Town - Sidney Buchman, Irwin Shaw from the story by Sidney Harmon

1943
Casablanca - Philip Epstein, Julius J. Epstein, Howard Koch from the play Everybody Comes to Rick's by Murray Burnett and Joan Alison
Holy Matrimony - Nunally Johnson from the novel Buried Alive by Arnold Bennett
The More the Merrier - Richard Flournoy, Lewis R. Foster, Frank Ross, Robert Russell from the story by Frank Ross and Robert Russell
The Song of Bernadette - George Seaton from the novel by Franz Werfel
Watch on the Rhine - Dashiell Hammett from the play by Lillian Hellman

1944
Going My Way - Frank Butler, Frank Cavett from the story by Leo McCarey
Double Indemnity - Billy Wilder, Raymond Chandler from the novel Double Indemnity in Three of a Kind by James M. Cain
Gaslight - John Van Druten, Walter Reisch, John L. Balderston from the play Angel Street by Patrick Hamilton
Laura - Jay Dratler, Samuel Hoffenstein, Betty Reinhardt from the novel by Vera Caspary
Meet Me in St. Louis - Irving Brecher, Fred F. Finklehoffe from the novel by Sally Benson

1945
The Lost Weekend - Charles Brackett, Billy Wilder from the novel by Charles R. Jackson
Mildred Pierce - Ranald MacDougall from the novel by James M. Cain
The Pride of the Marines - Albert Maltz from the book by Roger Butterfield
Story of G.I. Joe - Leopold Atlas, Guy Endore, Philip Stevenson from the books Brave Men and Here Is Your War by Ernie Pyle
A Tree Grows in Brooklyn - Frank Davis, Tess Slesinger from the novel by Betty Smith

1946
The Best Years of Our Lives - Robert Sherwood from the novel Glory for Me by MacKinlay Kantor
Anna and the King of Siam - Sally Benson, Talbot Jennings from book by Margaret Landon
Brief Encounter - Anthony Havelock-Allan, David Lean, Ronald Neame from the play Still Life by Noel Coward
The Killers - Anthony Veiller from the short story by Ernest Hemingway
Open City - Sergio Amidei, Federico Fellini from the story by Sergio Amidei, Alberto Consiglio

1947
Miracle on 34th Street - George Seaton from the story by Valentine Davies
Boomerang - Richard Murphy based on the article by Anthony Abbot (pseudonym of Fulton Oursler)
Crossfire (1947 film) - John Paxton from the novel The Brick Foxhole by Richard Brooks
Gentleman's Agreement - Moss Hart from the novel by Laura Z. Hobson
Great Expectations - David Lean, Ronald Neame, Anthony Havelock-Allan from the novel by Charles Dickens

1948
The Treasure of the Sierra Madre - John Huston from the novel by B. Traven
A Foreign Affair - Charles Brackett, Billy Wilder, Richard L. Breen from the story by David Shaw
Johnny Belinda - Irmgard von Cube, Allen Vincent from the play by Elmer Blaney Harris
The Search - Richard Schweizer, David Wechsler from their story
The Snake Pit - Frank Partos, Millen Brand from the novel by Mary Jane Ward

1949
A Letter to Three Wives - Joseph Mankiewicz from the novel Letter to Five Wives by John Klempner
All the King's Men - Robert Rossen from the novel by Robert Penn Warren
The Bicycle Thief - Cesare Zavattini from the novel by Luigi Bartolini
Champion - Carl Foreman from the short story by Ring Lardner
The Fallen Idol - Graham Greene from his short story The Basement Room

1950s
1950
All About Eve - Joseph Mankiewicz from the short story The Wisdom of Eve by Mary Orr
The Asphalt Jungle - Ben Maddow, John Huston from the novel by W.R. Burnett
Born Yesterday - Albert Mannheimer, from the play by Garson Kanin
Broken Arrow (1950 film) - Albert Maltz (front: Michael Blankfort) from the novel Blood Brother by Elliott Arnold
Father of the Bride - Frances Goodrich, Albert Hackett from the novel by Edward Streeter

1951
A Place in the Sun - Harry Brown, Michael Wilson from the novel An American Tragedy by Theodore Dreiser and the play An American Tragedy by Patrick Kearney
The African Queen - James Agee, John Huston from the novel by C.S. Forester
Detective Story - Robert Wyler, Philip Yordan from the play by Sidney Kingsley
La Ronde - Jacques Natanson, Max Ophüls from the play Reigen by Arthur Schnitzler
A Streetcar Named Desire - Tennessee Williams, from his play

1952
The Bad and the Beautiful - Charles Schnee from the story Tribute to a Badman by Charles Bradshaw
Five Fingers - Michael Wilson from the novel Operation Cicero by L.C. Moyzisch
High Noon - Carl Foreman from the story The Tin Star by John W. Cunningham
The Man in the White Suit - John Dighton, Roger MacDougall, Alexander Mackendrick from the play by Roger MacDougall
The Quiet Man - Frank S. Nugent, from the story Green Rushes by Maurice Walsh

1953
From Here to Eternity - Daniel Taradash from the novel by James Jones
The Cruel Sea - Eric Ambler from the novel by Nicholas Monsarrat
Lilli - Helen Deutsch from the story Love of Seven Dolls by Paul Gallico
Roman Holiday - Ian McLellan Hunter, John Dighton from the story by Dalton Trumbo (front: Ian McLellan Hunter)
Shane - A.B. Guthrie Jr. from the novel by Jack Schaefer

1954
The Country Girl - George Seaton from the play by Clifford Odets
The Caine Mutiny - Stanley Roberts from the novel by Herman Wouk
Rear Window - John Michael Hayes from the story It Had to Be Murder by Cornell Woolrich
Sabrina - Billy Wilder, Samuel Taylor, Ernest Lehman from the novel Sabrina Fair by Samuel Taylor
Seven Brides for Seven Brothers - Albert Hackett, Frances Gooderich, Dorothy Kingsley from the story The Sobbin' Women by Stephen Vincent Benet

1955
Marty - Paddy Chayefsky based on his teleplay
Bad Day at Black Rock - Millard Kaufman from the story Bad Day at Hondo by Howard Breslin
The Blackboard Jungle - Richard Brooks from the novel by Evan Hunter
East of Eden - Paul Osborn from the novel by John Steinbeck
Love Me or Leave Me - Daniel Fuchs, Isobel Lennart from the story by Daniel Fuchs

For 1956 the Category was renamed Screenplay--Adapted:

1956
Around the World in Eighty Days - John Farrow, S. J. Perelman, James Poe from the novel by Jules Verne
Baby Doll - Tennessee Williams from his one act plays Twenty-seven Wagons Full of Cotton and The Unsatisfactory Supper
Friendly Persuasion - Michael Wilson from the novel by Jessamyn West Note: Originally was ineligible due to Academy bylaws
Giant - Fred Guiol, Ivan Moffat from the novel by Edna Ferber
Lust for Life - Norman Corwin from the novel by Irving Stone

For 1957 the category was renamed Screenplay Based on Material from Another Medium:

1957
The Bridge on the River Kwai - Carl Foreman, Michael Wilson (front: Pierre Boulle) based on the novel by Pierre Boulle
Heaven Knows, Mr. Allison - John Huston, John Lee Mahin from the novel by Charles Shaw
Peyton Place - John Michael Hayes from the novel by Grace Metalious
Sayonara - Paul Osborn from the novel by James Michener
Twelve Angry Men - Reginald Rose from his teleplay

1958
Gigi - Alan Jay Lerner based on the novel by Colette
Cat on a Hot Tin Roof - Richard Brooks, James Poe from the play by Tennessee Williams
The Horse's Mouth - Alec Guinness from the novel by Joyce Cary
I Want to Live! - Nelson Gidding, Don M. Mankiewicz from the letters by Barbara Graham and the articles by Ed Montgomery
Separate Tables - John Gay, Terence Rattigan from the play by Terence Rattigan

1959
Room at the Top - Neil Paterson from the novel by John Braine
Anatomy of a Murder - Wendell Mayes from the by Robert Traver (pseudonym of John D. Voelker
Ben-Hur - Karl Tunberg from the novel by Lew Wallace
The Nun's Story - Robert Anderson from the book by Kathryn Hulme
Some Like it Hot - Billy Wilder, I.A.L. Diamond from a story suggested by Robert Thoeren and M. Logan

1960s
1960
Elmer Gantry - Richard Brooks from the novel by Sinclair Lewis
Inherit the Wind - Nedrick Young (front: Nathan E. Douglas), Harold Jacob Smith from the play by Jerome Lawrence, Robert E. Lee
Sons and Lovers - Gavin Lambert, T.E.B. Clarke from the novel by D.H. Lawrence
The Sundowners - Isobel Lennart from the novel by Jon Cleary
Tunes of Glory - James Kennaway from his novel

1961
Judgment at Nuremberg - Abby Mann from his teleplay
Breakfast at Tiffany's - George Axelrod from the novel by Truman Capote
The Guns of Navarone - Carl Foreman from the novel by Alistair MacLean
The Hustler - Sydney Carroll, Robert Rossen from the novel by Walter Tevis
West Side Story - Ernest Lehman from the play by Arthur Laurents

1962
To Kill a Mockingbird - Horton Foote from the novel by Harper Lee
David and Lisa - Eleanor Perry from the novel by Theodore Isaac Rubin
Lawrence of Arabia - Robert Bolt, Michael Wilson (Note: originally the nomination was solely for Robert Bolt) from the writings of T.E. Lawrence
Lolita - Vladimir Nabokov from his novel
The Miracle Worker - William Gibson from his play

1963
Tom Jones - John Osborne from the novel The History of Tom Jones, a Foundling by Henry Fielding
Captain Newman, M.D. - Richard L. Breen, Henry Ephron, Phoebe Ephron from the novel by Leo Rosten
Hud - Irving Ravetch, Harriet Frank Jr. from the novel Horseman Pass By by Larry McMurtry
Lilies of the Field - James Poe from the novel by William E. Barrett
Sundays and Cybele - Serge Bourguignon, Bernard Eschassériaux from the novel Les Dimanches de Ville d'Avray by Bernard Eschassériaux

1964
Becket - Edward Anhalt from the play by Jean Anouilh
Dr. Strangelove or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb - Stanley Kubrick, Terry Southern, Peter George from the novel Red Alert by Peter George
Mary Poppins - Bill Walsh, Don DaGradi from the books by P.L. Travers
My Fair Lady - Alan Jay Lerner from his musical play and the play Pygmalion by George Bernard Shaw
Zorba the Greek - Michael Cacoyannis from the novel The Life of Alexis Zorba by Nikos Kazantzakis

1965
Doctor Zhivago - Robert Bolt from the novel by Boris Pasternak
Cat Ballou - Walter Newman, Frank Pierson from the novel The Ballad of Cat Ballou by Roy Chanslor
The Collector - Stanley Mann, John Kohn from the novel by John Fowles
Ship of Fools - Abby Mann from the novel by Katherine Anne Porter
A Thousand Clowns - Herb Gardner from his play

1966
A Man for All Seasons - Robert Bolt from his play
Alfie - Bill Naughton from his play
The Professionals - Richard Brooks from the novel A Mule for the Marquesa by Frank O'Rourke
The Russians Are Coming, the Russians Are Coming - William Rode from the novel Off-Islanders by Nathaniel Benchley
Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf? - Ernest Lehman from the play by Edward Albee

1967
In the Heat of the Night - Stirling Silliphant from the novel by John Ball
Cool Hand Luke - Donn Pearce, Frank Pierson from the novel by Donn Pearce
The Graduate - Calder Willingham, Buck Henry from the novel by Charles Webb
In Cold Blood - Richard Brooks from the novel by Truman Capote
Ulysses - Joseph Strick, Fred Haines from the novel by James Joyce

1968
The Lion in Winter - James Goldman from his play
The Odd Couple - Neil Simon from his play
Oliver! - Vernon Harris from the musical by Lionel Bart and the novel Oliver Twist by Charles Dickens
Rachel, Rachel - Stewart Stern from the novel A Jest of God by Margaret Laurence
Rosemary's Baby - Roman Polanski from the novel by Ira Levin

1969
Midnight Cowboy - Waldo Salt from the novel by James Leo Herlihy
Anne of the Thousand Days - John Hale, Bridget Boland, Richard Sokolove from the play by Maxwell Anderson
Goodbye, Columbus - Arnold Schulman from the novel by Philip Roth
They Shoot Horses, Don't They? - James Poe, Robert E. Thompson from the novel by Horace McCoy
Z - Jorge Semprún, Costa-Gavras from the novel by Vassilis Vassilikos
[edit]

1970s
1970
M*A*S*H - Ring Lardner Jr. from the novel by Richard Hooker
Airport - George Seaton from the novel by Arthur Hailey
I Never Sang for My Father - Robert Anderson from his play
Lovers and Other Strangers - Joseph Bologna, David Zelag Goodman Renée Taylor from the play by Joseph Bologna and Renée Taylor
Women in Love - Larry Kramer from the novel by D.H. Lawrence

1971
The French Connection - Ernest Tidyman from the novel by Robin Moore
A Clockwork Orange - Stanley Kubrick from the novel by Anthony Burgess
The Conformist - Bernardo Bertolucci from the novel Il Conformista by Alberto Moravia
The Garden of the Finzi-Continis - Ugo Pirro, Vittorio Bonicelli from the novel Giardino dei Finzi-Contini by Giorgio Bassani
The Last Picture Show - Larry McMurtry Peter Bogdanovich from the novel by Larry McMurtry

1972
The Godfather - Mario Puzo, Francis Coppola from the novel by Mario Puzo
Cabaret - Jay Preston Allen from the musical by Joe Masteroff, the play I Am a Camera by John Van Druten and the book Berlin Stories by Christopher Isherwood
The Emigrants - Bengt Forslund, Jan Troell from the novels Utvandrarna and Invandrarna by Vilhelm Moberg
Pete 'n' Tillie - Julius J. Epstein from the story Witch's Milk by Peter De Vries
Sounder - Lonne Elder III from the book by William H. Armstrong

1973
The Exorcist - William Blatty from his novel
The Last Detail - Robert Towne from the novel by Darryl Ponicsan
The Paper Chase - James Bridges from the novel by John Jay Osborn Jr.
Paper Moon - Alvin Sargent from the novel Addie Pray by Joe David Brown
Serpico - Waldo Salt, Norman Wexler from the book by Peter Maas
From 1974 the Category was renamed Screenplay Adapted From Other Material:

1974 The Godfather, Part II - Francis Coppola, Mario Puzo from the novel The Godfather by Mario Puzo
The Apprenticeship of Duddy Kravitz - Lionel Chetwynd, Mordecai Richler from the book by Mordecai Richler
Lenny - Julian Barry from his play
Murder on the Orient Express - Paul Dehn from the novel by Agatha Christie
Young Frankenstein - Gene Wilder, Mel Brooks from the novel Frankenstein by Mary Shelley

1975
One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest - Bo Goldman, Laurence Hauben from the novel by Ken Kesey
Barry Lyndon - Stanley Kubrick from the novel The Memoirs of Barry Lyndon, Esq. by William Makepeace Thackeray
The Man Who Would Be King - John Huston, Gladys Hill from the story by Rudyard Kipling
Scent of a Woman - Ruggero Maccari, Dino Risi from the novel Il buio e il mare by Giovanni Arpino
The Sunshine Boys - Neil Simon from his play
From 1976 the category was renamed Screenplay Based on Material from Another Medium

1976
All the President's Men - William Goldman from the book by Carl Bernstein and Bob Woodward
Bound for Glory - Robert Getchell from the book by Woody Guthrie
Fellini's Casanova - Federico Fellini, Bernardino Zapponi from the autobiography Histoire de ma vie by Giacomo Casanova
The Seven-Per-Cent Solution - Nicholas Meyer from his novel
Voyage of the Damned - David Butler, Steve Shagan from the book by Gordon Thomas; co-authored by Max Morgan Witts

1977
Julia - Alvin Sargent from the novel Pentimento by Lillian Hellman
Equus - Peter Shaffer from his play
I Never Promised You a Rose Garden - Gavin Lambert, Lewis John Carlino from the novel by Hannah Greene
Oh, God! - Larry Gelbart from the novel by Avery Corman
That Obscure Object of Desire - Luis Buñuel, Jean-Claude Carriere from the novel La femme et le pantin by Pierre Louÿs

1978
Midnight Express - Oliver Stone from the book by Billy Hayes and William Hoffer
Bloodbrothers - Walter Newman from the novel by Richard Price
California Suite - Neil Simon from his play
Heaven Can Wait - Elaine May, Warren Beatty from the play by Harry Seagal
Same Time, Next Year - Bernard Slade from his play

1979
Kramer vs. Kramer - Robert Benton from the novel by Avery Corman
Apocalypse Now - John Milius, Francis Ford Coppola from the novel Heart of Darkness by Joseph Conrad
La Cage aux folles - Marcello Danon, Edouard Molinaro, Jean Poiret, Francis Veber from the play by Jean Poiret
A Little Romance - Allan Burns from the novel E=MC2 mon amour by Patrick Cauvin (pseudonym of Claude Klotz)
Norma Rae - Harriet Frank Jr., Irving Ravetch

1980s
1980
Ordinary People - Alvin Sargent from the novel by Judith Guest
Breaker Morant - Jonathan Hardy, David Stevens, Bruce Beresford from the play by Kenneth Ross
Coal Miner's Daughter - Tom Rickman from the autobiography by Loretta Lynn and George Vecsey
The Elephant Man - Christopher De Vore, Eric Bergren, David Lynch from the book The Elephant Man and Other Reminiscences by Sir Frederick Treves and The Elephant Man: A Study in Human Dignity by Ashley Montagu
The Stunt Man - Lawrence B. Marcus, Richard Rush from the novel by Paul Brodeur

1981
On Golden Pond - Ernest Thompson from his play
The French Lieutenant's Woman - Harold Pinter from the novel by John Fowles
Pennies From Heaven - Dennis Potter from his miniseries
Prince of the City - Jay Presson Allen, Sidney Lumet from the book by Robert Daley
Ragtime - Michael Weller from the novel by E.L. Doctorow

1982
Missing - Constantin Costa-Gavras, Donald Stewart from the book by Thomas Hauser
Das Boot - Wolfgang Petersen from the novel by Lothar G. Buchheim
Sophie's Choice - Alan J. Pakula from the novel by William Styron
The Verdict - David Mamet from the novel by Barry Reed
Victor/Victoria - Blake Edwards from the earlier film screenplay by Reinhold Schünzel

1983
Terms of Endearment - James L. Brooks from the novel by Larry McMurtry
The Betrayal - Harold Pinter from his play
The Dresser - Ronald Harwood from his play
Educating Rita - Willy Russell from his play
Reuben, Reuben - Julius J. Epstein from the novel by Peter De Vries and the play Spoonford by Herman Shumlin

1984
Amadeus - Peter Shaffer from his play
Greystoke: The Legend of Tarzan, Lord of the Apes - P.H. Vazak, Michael Austin from the novel Tarzan of the Apes by Edgar Rice Burroughs
The Killing Fields - Bruce Robinson from the article The Death and Life of Dith Pran by Sydney Schanberg
A Passage to India - David Lean from the novel by E.M. Forster
A Soldier's Story - Charles Fuller from the his play A Soldier's Play

1985
Out of Africa - Kurt Luedtke from the memoirs of Isak Dinesen, the book Silence Will Speak by Errol Trzebinski and the book Isak Dinesen: The Life of a Storyteller by Judith Thurman
The Color Purple - Menno Meyjes from the novel by Alice Walker
Kiss of the Spider Woman - Leonard Schrader from the novel by Manuel Puig
Prizzi's Honor - Richard Condon, Janet Roach from the novel by Richard Condon
The Trip to Bountiful - Horton Foote from his play

1986
A Room with a View - Ruth Prawer Jhabvala from the novel by E.M. Forster
Children of a Lesser God - Hesper Anderson, Mark Medoff from the play by Mark Medoff
The Color of Money - Richard Price from the novel by Walter Tevis
Crimes of the Heart - Beth Henley from her play
Stand By Me - Raynold Gideon, Bruce A. Evans from the novella The Body by Stephen King

1987
The Last Emperor - Bernardo Bertolucci, Mark Peploe from the autobiography From Emperor to Citizen: The Autobiography of Aisin-Gioro Pu Yi by Henry Pu Yi
The Dead - Tony Huston from the story by James Joyce
Fatal Attraction - James Dearden from the screenplay by James Dearden (This film was a re-make of an earlier, made-for-tv British film)
Full Metal Jacket - Gustav Hasford, Michael Herr, Stanley Kubrick from the novel The Short Timers by Gustav Hasford
Mitt liv som hund - Brasse Brännström, Per Berglund, Lasse Hallström, Reidar Jönsson from the novel by Reidar Jönsson

1988
Dangerous Liaisons - Christopher Hampton from the novel by Choderlos de Laclos and the play by Christopher Hampton The Accidental Tourist - Frank Galati, Lawrence Kasdan from the novel by Anne Tyler
Gorillas in the Mist - Anna Hamilton Phelan from the article by Harold T.P. Hayes
Little Dorrit - Christine Edzard from the novel by Charles Dickens
The Unbearable Lightness of Being - Jean-Claude Carrière, Philip Kaufman from the novel by Milan Kundera

1989
Driving Miss Daisy - Alfred Uhry from the play by Alfred Uhry
Born on the Fourth of July - Ron Kovic, Oliver Stone from the autobiography by Ron Kovic
Enemies: A Love Story - Paul Mazursky, Roger L. Simon from the novel by Isaac Bashevis Singer
Field of Dreams - Phil Alden Robinson from the novel Shoeless Joe by W.P. Kinsella
My Left Foot - Shane Connaughton, Jim Sheridan from the autobiography by Christy Brown

1990s
1990
Dances with Wolves - Michael Blake from the novel by Michael Blake
Awakenings - Steven Zaillian from the book by Oliver Sacks M.D.
Goodfellas - Nicholas Pileggi, Martin Scorsese from the novel Wise Guy by Nicholas Pileggi
The Grifters - Donald E. Westlake from the novel by Jim Thompson
Reversal of Fortune - Nicholas Kazan from the novel by Alan M. Dershowitz

From 1991 the category became Screenplay Based on Material Previously Published or Produced:

1991
The Silence of the Lambs - Ted Tally from the novel by Thomas Harris
Europa Europa - Agnieszka Holland from the autobiography by Salomon Perel
Fried Green Tomatoes - Fannie Flagg, Carol Sobieski from the novel Fried Green Tomatoes at the Whistle Stop Cafe by Fannie Flagg
JFK - Oliver Stone, Zachary Sklar from the novel Crossfire: The Plot That Killed Kennedy by Jim Marrs and the novel On the Trail of the Assassins by Jim Garrison
The Prince of Tides - Pat Conroy, Becky Johnston from the novel by Pat Conroy

1992
Howards End - Ruth Prawer Jhabvala from the novel by E.M. Forster
Enchanted April - Peter Barnes from the novel by Elizabeth von Arnim
The Player - Michael Tolkin from the novel by Michael Tolkin
A River Runs Through It - Richard Friedenberg from the story by Norman Maclean
Scent of a Woman - Bo Goldman from the novel Il Buio E Il Miele by Giovanni Arpino

1993
Schindler's List - Steven Zaillian from the novel by Thomas Keneally
The Age of Innocence - Jay Cocks, Martin Scorsese from the novel by Edith Wharton
In the Name of the Father - Terry George, Jim Sheridan from the autobiography Proved Innocent by Gerry Conlon
The Remains of the Day - Ruth Prawer Jhabvala from the novel by Kazuo Ishiguro
Shadowlands - William Nicholson from the play by William Nicholson

1994
Forrest Gump - Eric Roth from the novel by Winston Groom
The Madness of King George - Alan Bennett from the play The Madness of George III by Alan Bennett
Nobody's Fool - Robert Benton from the novel by Richard Russo
Quiz Show - Paul Attanasio from the novel by Richard N. Goodwin
The Shawshank Redemption - Frank Darabont from the short story Rita Hayworth and Shawshank Redemption by Stephen King

1995
Sense and Sensibility - Emma Thompson from the novel by Jane Austen
Apollo 13 - William Broyles Jr., Al Reinert from the novel Lost Moon by Jim Lovell and Jeffrey Kluger
Babe - George Miller, Chris Noonan from the novel The Sheep Pig by Dick King-Smith
Leaving Las Vegas - Mike Figgis from the novel by John O'Brien
Il Postino - Anna Pavignano, Michael Radford, Furio Scarpelli, Giacomo Scarpelli, Massimo Troisi from the novel Ardiente Paciencia by Antonio Skármeta

1996
Sling Blade - Billy Bob Thornton from the play by Billy Bob Thornton
The Crucible - Arthur Miller from the play by Arthur Miller
The English Patient - Anthony Minghella from the novel by Michael Ondaatje
Hamlet - Kenneth Branagh from the play by William Shakespeare
Trainspotting - John Hodge from the novel by Irvine Welsh

1997
L.A. Confidential - Curtis Hanson, Brian Helgeland from the novel by James Ellroy
Donnie Brasco - Paul Attanasio from the novel Donnie Brasco: My Undercover Life in the Mafia by Joseph D. Pistone and Richard Woodley
The Sweet Hereafter - Atom Egoyan from the novel by Russell Banks
Wag the Dog - Hilary Henkin, David Mamet from the novel American Hero by Larry Beinhart
The Wings of the Dove - Hossein Amini from the novel by Henry James

1998
Gods and Monsters - Bill Condon from the novel Father of Frankenstein by Christopher Bram
Out of Sight - Scott Frank from the novel by Elmore Leonard
Primary Colors - Elaine May from the novel by Joe Klein
A Simple Plan - Scott B. Smith from the novel by Scott B. Smith
The Thin Red Line - Terrence Malick from the novel by James Jones

1999
The Cider House Rules - John Irving from the novel by John Irving
Election - Alexander Payne, Jim Taylor from the novel by Tom Perrotta
The Green Mile - Frank Darabont from the novel by Stephen King
The Insider - Eric Roth, Michael Mann from the article The Man Who Knew Too Much by Marie Brenner
The Talented Mr. Ripley - Anthony Minghella from the novel by Patricia Highsmith

2000s

2000
Traffic - Stephen Gaghan from the teleplay Traffik by Simon Moore
Chocolat - Robert Nelson Jacobs from the novel by Joanne Harris
O Brother, Where Art Thou? - Ethan and Joel Coen from the poem The Odyssey by Homer
Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon - Hui-Ling Wang, James Schamus and Kuo Jung Tsai from the novel by Du Lu Wang
Wonder Boys - Steven Kloves from the novel by Michael Chabon

2001
A Beautiful Mind - Akiva Goldsman from the biography by Sylvia Nasar
Ghost World - Daniel Clowes and Terry Zwigoff from several comic book stories by Daniel Clowes
In the Bedroom - Todd Field and Robert Festinger from the short story Killings by Andre Dubus
The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring - Fran Walsh, Philippa Boyens and Peter Jackson from the novel by J.R.R. Tolkien
Shrek - Ted Elliott, Terry Rossio, Joe Stillman and Roger S.H. Schulman from the children's book by William Steig

From 2002 the category was renamed Adapted Screenplay:

2002
The Pianist - Ronald Harwood from the book by Władysław Szpilman
About a Boy - Peter Hedges, Chris Weitz and Paul Weitz from the novel by Nick Hornby
Adaptation. - Charlie and Donald Kaufman from the book The Orchid Thief by Susan Orlean
Chicago - Bill Condon from the play by Maurine Dallas Watkins
The Hours - David Hare from the novel by Michael Cunningham

2003
The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King - Fran Walsh, Philippa Boyens and Peter Jackson from the novel by J. R. R. Tolkien
American Splendor - Robert Pulcini and Shari Springer Berman from the comic book series by Harvey Pekar and the comic book series Our Cancer Year by Joyce Brabner
City of God - Braulio Mantovani from the novel by Paulo Lins
Mystic River - Brian Helgeland from the novel by Dennis Lehane
Seabiscuit - Gary Ross from the book by Laura Hillenbrand

2004
Sideways - Alexander Payne and Jim Taylor from the novel by Rex Pickett
Before Sunset - Richard Linklater, Julie Delpy and Ethan Hawke from a story by Richard Linklater and Kim Krizan
Finding Neverland - David Magee from the play by Allan Knee
Million Dollar Baby - Paul Haggis from several stories by F. X. Toole
The Motorcycle Diaries - José Rivera from the books Con el Che por America Latina by Alberto Granado and Notas de viaje by Ernesto Guevara

2005
Brokeback Mountain - Larry McMurtry and Diana Ossana from the short story by E. Annie Proulx
A History of Violence - Josh Olson from the graphic novel by John Wagner and Vince Locke
Capote - Dan Futterman from the book by Gerald Clarke
The Constant Gardener - Jeffrey Caine from the novel by John le Carré
Munich - Tony Kushner and Eric Roth from the book Vengeance: The True Story of an Israeli Counter-Terrorist Team by George Jonas

Oscars nominations and award for Best Original Screenplay:

1940s

1940
The Great McGinty - Preston Sturges
Angels over Broadway - Ben Hecht
Dr. Ehrlich's Magic Bullet - Norman Burnside, Heinz Herald, John Huston
Foreign Correspondent - Charles Bennett, Joan Harrison
The Great Dictator - Charlie Chaplin

1941
Citizen Kane - Herman Mankiewicz, Orson Welles
The Devil and Miss Jones - Norman Krasna
Sergeant York - Harry Chandlee, Abem Finkel, John Huston, Howard Koch
Tall, Dark and Handsome - Karl Tunberg, Darrell Ware
Tom, Dick and Harry - Paul Jarrico

1942
Woman of the Year - Michael Kanin, Ring Lardner Jr
One of Our Aircraft Is Missing - Micheal Powell, Emeric Pressburger
The Road to Morocco - Frank Butler, Don Hartman
Wake Island - W. R. Burnett, Frank Butler
The War Against Mrs. Hadley - George Oppenheimer

1943
Princess O'Rourke - Norman Krasna
Air Force - Dudley Nichols
In Which We Serve - Noel Coward
The North Star - Lillian Hellman
So Proudly We Hail - Alan Scott

1944
Wilson - Lamar Trotti
Hail the Conquering Hero - Preston Surges
The Miracle of Morgan's Creek - Preston Surges
Two Girls and a Sailor - Richard Connell, Glays Lehman
Wing and a Prayer - Jerome Cady

1945
Marie-Louise - Richard Schweizer
Dillinger - Philp Yordon
Music for Millions - Myles Connolly
Salty O'Rourke - Milton Holmes
What Next, Corporal Hargrove? - Harry Kurnitz

1946
The Seventh Veil - Muriel Box, Sydney Box
The Blue Dahlia - Raymond Chandler
Children of Paradise - Jacques Prévert
Notorius - Ben Hecht
The Road to Utopia - Norman Panama, Melvin Frank

1947
The Bachelor and the Bobby-Soxer - Sidney Sheldon
Body and Soul - Abraham Polonsky
A Double Life - Ruth Gordon, Garson Kanin
Monsieur Verdoux - Charlie Chaplin
Shoeshine - Sergio Amidei, Adolfo Franci, C. G. Viola, Cesare Zavattini

1948 none given

1949
Battleground - Robert Pirosh
Jolson Sings Again - Sidney Buchman
Paisà - Alfred Hayes, Federico Fellini, Sergio Amidei, Marcello Pagliero, Roberto Rossellini
Passport To Pimlico - T. E. B. Clarke
The Quiet One - Helen Levitt, Janice Loeb, Sidney Meyers


1950
Sunset Boulevard - Charles Brackett, D.M. Marshman, Billy Wilder
Adam's Rib - Ruth Gordon, Garson Kanin
Caged - Virginia Kellogg, Bernard C. Schoenfeld
The Men - Carl Foreman
No Way Out - Joseph L. Mankiewicz, Lesser Samuels

1951
An American in Paris - Alan Jay Lerner
The Big Carnival - Billy Wilder, Lesser Samuels, Walter Newman
David and Bathsheba - Philip Dunne
Go for Broke! - Robert Pirosh
The Well - Clarence Greene, Russell Rouse

1952
The Lavender Hill Mob - T.E.B. Clarke
The Atomic City - Sydney Boehm
Breaking the Sound Barrier - Terence Rattigan
Pat and Mike - Ruth Gordon, Garson Kanin
Viva Zapata! - John Steinbeck

1953
Titanic - Charles Brackett, Richard Breen, Walter Reisch
The Band Wagon - Betty Comden, Adolph Green
The Desert Rats - Richard Murphy
The Naked Spur - Sam Rolfe, Harold Jack Bloom
Take the High Ground - Millard Kaufman

1954
On the Waterfront - Budd Schulberg
The Barefoot Contessa - Joseph L. Mankiewicz
Genevieve - William Rose
The Glenn Miller Story - Valentine Davies, Oscar Brodney
Knock on Wood - Norman Panama, Melvin Frank

1955
Interrupted Melody - Sonya Levien, William Ludwig
The Court-Martial of Billy Mitchell - Milton Sperling, Emmet Lavery
It's Always Fair Weather - Betty Comden, Adolph Green
Mr. Hulot's Holiday - Jacques Tati, Henri Marquet
The Seven Little Foys - Melville Shavelson, Jack Rose

1956
The Red Balloon - Albert Lamorisse
The Bold and the Brave - Robert Lewin
Julie - Andrew L. Stone
La Strada - Federico Fellini, Tullio Pinelli
The Lady Killers - William Rose

1957
Designing Women - George Wells
Funny Face - Leonard Gershe
Man of a Thousand Faces - Ralph Wheelwright, R. Wright Campbell, Ivan Goff, Ben Roberts
The Tin Star - Barney Slater, Joel Kane, Dudley Nichols
Vitelloni - Frederico Fellini, Ennio Flaiano, Tullio Pinelli

1958
The Defiant Ones - Nathan Douglas, Harold Jacob Smith
The Goddess - Paddy Chayefsky
The Houseboat - Melville Shavelson, Jack Rose
The Sheepman - James Edward Grant, William Bowers
Teacher's Pet - Fay Kanin, Michael Kanin

1959
Pillow Talk - Clarence Greene, Maurice Richlin, Russell Rouse, Stanley Shapiro
The 400 Blows - François Truffaut, Marcel Moussy
North by Northwest - Ernest Lehman
Operation Petticoat - Paul King, Joseph Stone, Stanely Shapiro, Maurice Richlin
Wild Strawberries - Ingmar Bergman

1960s

1960
The Apartment - I.A.L. Diamond, Billy Wilder
The Angry Silence - Richard Gregson, Michael Craig, Bryan Forbes
The Facts of Life - Norman Panama, Melvin Frank
Hiroshima Mon Amour - Marguerite Duras
Never on Sunday - Jules Dassin

1961
Splendor in the Grass - William Inge
Ballad of a Soldier - Valentin Yoshov, Grigori Chukhrai
La Dolce Vita - Federico Fellini, Tullio Pinelli, Ennio Flaiano, Brunello Rondi
General Della Rovere - Sergio Amidei, Diego Fabbi, Indro Montanelli
Lover Come Back - Stanley Shapiro, Paul Henning

1962
Divorce, Italian Style - Ennio de Concini, Pietro Germi, Alfredo Giannetti
Freud - Charles Kaufman, Wolfgang Reinhardt
Last Year at Marienbad - Alain Robbe-Grillet
That Touch of Mink - Stanley Shapiro, Nate Monaster
Through a Glass Darkly - Ingmar Bergman

1963
How the West Was Won - James Webb
8½ - Federico Fellini, Ennio Flaiano, Tullio Pinelli, Brunello Rondi
America, America - Elia Kazan
The Four Days of Naples - Carlo Bernari, Pasquale Festa Campanile, Massimo Franciosa, Nanni Loy, Vasco Pratolini
Love with the Proper Stranger - Arnold Schulman

1964
Father Goose - Peter Stone, Frank Tarloff
A Hard Day's Night - Alun Owen
One Potato, Two Potato - Raphael Hayes, Orville H. Hampton
The Organizer - Age Monicelli, Scarpelli Monicelli, Mario Monicelli
That Man from Rio - Jean-Paul Rappeneau, Ariane Mnouchkine, Daniel Boulanger, Philippe de Broca

1965
Darling - Frederic Raphael
Casanova '70 - Age Monicelli, Scarpelli Monicelli, Mario Monicelli, Tonino Guerra, Giorgio Salvioni, Suso Cecchi D'Amico
Those Magnificent Men in Their Flying Machines - Jack Davies, Ken Annakin
The Train - Franklin Coen, Frank Davis
The Umbrellas of Cherbourg - Jacques Demy

1966
A Man and a Woman - Claude Lelouch, Pierre Uytterhoeven
Blowup - Michelangelo Antonioni, Tonino Guerra, Edward Bond
The Fortune Cookie - Billy Wilder, I.A.L. Diamond
Khartoum - Robert Ardrey
The Naked Prey - Clinkt Johnston, Don Peters

1967
Guess Who's Coming to Dinner - William Rose
Bonnie and Clyde - David Newman, Robert Benton
Divorce, American Style - Robert Kaufman, Norman Lear
La Guerre Est Finie - Jorge Semprún
Two for the Road - Frederic Raphael

1968
The Producers - Mel Brooks
2001: A Space Odyssey - Stanley Kubrick, Arthur C. Clarke
The Battle of Algiers - Franco Solinas, Gillo Pontecorvo
Faces - John Cassavetes
Hot Millions - Iro Wallach, Peter Ustinov

1969
Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid - William Goldman
Bob & Carol & Ted & Alice - Paul Mazursky, Larry Tucker
The Damned - Nicola Badalucco, Enrico Medioli, Luchino Visconti
Easy Rider - Peter Fonda, Dennis Hopper, Terry Southern
The Wild Bunch - Walon Green, Roy N. Sickner, Sam Peckinpah

1970s

1970
Patton - Francis Ford Coppola, Edmund North
Five Easy Pieces - Adrien Joyce, Bob Rafelson
Joe - Norman Wexler
Love Story - Enrich Segal
My Night at Maud's - Éric Rohmer

1971
The Hospital - Paddy Chayefsky
Investigation of a Citizen Above Suspicion - Elio Petri, Ugo Pirro
Klute - Andy and Dave Lewis
Summer of '42 - Herman Raucher
Sunday Bloody Sunday - Penelope Gilliatt

1972
The Candidate - Jeremy Larner
The Discreet Charm of the Bourgeoisie - Luis Buñuel, Jean-Claude Carrière
Lady Sings the Blues - Terrence McCloy, Chris Clark, Suzanne de Passe
Murmur of the Heart - Louis Malle
Young Winston - Carl Foreman

1973
The Sting - David Ward
American Graffiti - George Lucas, Gloria Katz, Willard Huyck
Cries and Whispers - Ingmar Bergman
Save the Tiger - Steve Shagan
A Touch of Class - Melvin Frank, Jack Rose

1974
Chinatown - Robert Towne
Alice Doesn't Live Here Anymore - Robert Getchell
The Conversation - Francis Ford Coppola
Day for Night - François Truffaut, Jean-Louis Richard, Suzanne Schiffman
Harry and Tonto - Paul Mazursky, Josh Greenfeld

1975
Dog Day Afternoon - Frank Pierson
Amarcord - Federico Fellini, Tonino Guerra
And Now My Love - Claude LeLouch, Pierre Uytterhoeven
Lies My Father Told Me - Ted Allan
Shampoo - Robert Towne, Warren Beatty

1976
Network - Paddy Chayefsky
Cousin, cousine - Jean-Charles Tacchella, Daniele Thompson
The Front - Walter Bernstein
Rocky - Sylvester Stallone
Seven Beauties - Lina Wertmüller

1977
Annie Hall - Woody Allen, Marshall Brickman
The Goodbye Girl - Neil Simon
The Late Show - Robert Benton
Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope - George Lucas
The Turning Point - Arthur Laurents

1978
Coming Home - Robert Jones, Waldo Salt
Autumn Sonata - Ingmar Bergman
The Deer Hunter - Michael Cimino, Deric Washburn, Louis Garfinkle, Quinn K. Redeker
Interiors - Woody Allen
An Unmarried Woman - Paul Mazursky

1979
Breaking Away - Steve Tesich
All That Jazz - Robert Alan Aurthur, Bob Fosse
...And Justice for All - Valerie Curtin, Barry Levinson
The China Syndrome - Mike Gray, T.S. Cook, James Bridges
Manhattan - Woody Allen, Marshall Brickman

1980s

1980
Melvin and Howard - Bo Goldman
Brubaker - W. D. Richter, Arthur Ross
Fame - Christopher Gore
Mon oncle d'Amérique - Jean Gruault, Henri Laborit
Private Benjamin - Nancy Meyers, Charles Shyer, Harvey Miller

1981
Chariots of Fire - Colin Welland
Absence of Malice - Kurt Luedtke
Arthur - Steve Gordon
Atlantic City - John Guare
Reds - Warren Beatty, Trevor Griffiths

1982
Gandhi - John Briley
Diner - Barry Levinson
E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial - Melissa Mathison
An Officer and a Gentleman - Douglas Day Stewart
Tootsie - Larry Gelbart, Murray Schisgal, Don McGuire

1983
Tender Mercies - Horton Foote
The Big Chill - Lawrence Kasdan, Barbara Benedek
Fanny and Alexander - Ingmar Bergman
Silkwood - Nora Ephron, Alice Arlen
WarGames - Lawrence Lasker, Walter F. Parkes

1984
Places in the Heart - Robert Benton
Beverly Hills Cop - Daniel Petrie, Jr., Danilo Bach
Broadway Danny Rose - Woody Allen
El Norte - Gregory Nava, Anna Thomas
Splash - Lowell Ganz, Babaloo Mandel, Bruce Jay Friedman, Brian Grazer

1985
Witness - William Kelley, Pamela Wallace, Earl Wallace
Back to the Future - Robert Zemeckis, Bob Gale
Brazil - Terry Gilliam, Tom Stoppard, Charles McKeown
The Official Story - Luis Puenzo, Aida Bortnik
The Purple Rose of Cairo - Woody Allen

1986
Hannah and Her Sisters - Woody Allen
Crocodile Dundee - Paul Hogan, Ken Shadie, John Cornell
My Beautiful Laundrette - Hanif Kureishi
Platoon - Oliver Stone
Salvador - Oliver Stone, Richard Boyle

1987
Moonstruck - John Patrick Shanley
Au revoir, les enfants - Louis Malle
Broadcast News - James L. Brooks
Hope and Glory - John Boorman
Radio Days - Woody Allen

1988
Rain Man - Ronald Bass, Barry Morrow
Big - Gary Ross, Anne Spielberg
Bull Durham - Ron Shelton
A Fish Called Wanda - John Cleese, Charles Crichton
Running on Empty - Naomi Foner

1989
Dead Poets Society - Tom Schulman
Crimes and Misdemeanors - Woody Allen
Do the Right Thing - Spike Lee
Sex, Lies, and Videotape - Steven Soderbergh
When Harry Met Sally... - Nora Ephron

1990s

1990
Ghost - Bruce Rubin
Alice - Woody Allen
Avalon - Barry Levinson
Green Card - Peter Weir
Metropolitan - Whit Stillman

1991
Thelma and Louise - Callie Khouri
Boyz N the Hood - John Singleton
Bugsy - James Toback
The Fisher King - Richard LaGravenese
Grand Canyon - Lawrence Kasdan, Meg Kasdan

1992
The Crying Game - Neil Jordan
Husbands and Wives - Woody Allen
Lorenzo's Oil - George Miller, Nick Enright
Passion Fish - John Sayles
Unforgiven - David Peoples

1993
The Piano - Jane Campion
Dave - Gary Ross
In the Line of Fire - Jeff Maguire
Philadelphia - Ron Nyswaner
Sleepless in Seattle - Nora Ephron, David S. Ward, Jeff Arch

1994
Pulp Fiction - Roger Avary, Quentin Tarantino
Bullets Over Broadway - Woody Allen, Douglas McGrath
Four Weddings and a Funeral - Richard Curtis
Heavenly Creatures - Fran Walsh, Peter Jackson
Red - Krzysztof Piesiewicz, Krzysztof Kieślowski

1995
The Usual Suspects - Christopher McQuarrie
Braveheart - Randall Wallace
Mighty Aphrodite - Woody Allen
Nixon - Stephen J. Rivele, Christopher Wilkinson, Oliver Stone
Toy Story - Joss Whedon, Andrew Stanton, Joel Cohen, Alec Sokolow, John Lasseter, Peter Docter, Joe Ranft

1996
Fargo - Ethan Coen, Joel Coen
Jerry Maguire - Cameron Crowe
Lone Star - John Sayles
Secrets & Lies - Mike Leigh
Shine - Jan Sardi, Scott Hicks

1997
Good Will Hunting - Ben Affleck, Matt Damon
As Good as It Gets - Mark Andrus, James L. Brooks
Boogie Nights - Paul Thomas Anderson
Deconstructing Harry - Woody Allen
The Full Monty - Simon Beaufoy

1998
Shakespeare in Love - Marc Norman, Tom Stoppard
Bulworth - Warren Beatty, Jeremy Pikser
Life Is Beautiful - Vincenzo Cerami, Roberto Benigni
Saving Private Ryan - Robert Rodat
The Truman Show - Andrew Niccol

1999
American Beauty - Alan Ball
Being John Malkovich - Charlie Kaufman
Magnolia - Paul Thomas Anderson
The Sixth Sense - M. Night Shyamalan
Topsy-Turvy - Mike Leigh

2000s

2000
Almost Famous - Cameron Crowe
Billy Elliot - Lee Hall
Erin Brockovich - Susannah Grant
Gladiator - David Franzoni, John Logan, William Nicholson
You Can Count on Me - Kenneth Lonergan

2001
Gosford Park - Julian Fellowes
Amélie - Guillaume Laurant, Jean-Pierre Jeunet
Memento - Christopher Nolan, Jonathan Nolan
Monster's Ball - Milo Addica, Will Rokos
The Royal Tenenbaums - Wes Anderson, Owen Wilson

2002
Hable con ella (Talk to Her) - Pedro Almodóvar
Far from Heaven - Todd Haynes
Gangs of New York - Jay Cocks, Steven Zaillian, Kenneth Lonergan
My Big Fat Greek Wedding - Nia Vardalos
Y tu mamá también - Carlos Cuarón, Alfonso Cuarón

2003
Lost in Translation - Sofia Coppola
The Barbarian Invasions - Denys Arcand
Dirty Pretty Things - Steven Knight
Finding Nemo - Andrew Stanton, Bob Peterson, David Reynolds
In America - Jim Sheridan, Naomi Sheridan, Kirsten Sheridan

2004
Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind - Charlie Kaufman, Michel Gondry, Pierre Bismuth
The Aviator - John Logan
Hotel Rwanda - Keir Pearson, Terry George
The Incredibles - Brad Bird
Vera Drake - Mike Leigh

2005
Crash - Paul Haggis, Robert Moresco
Syriana - Stephen Gaghan
Good Night, and Good Luck. - George Clooney, Grant Heslov
Match Point - Woody Allen
The Squid and the Whale - Noah Baumbach

This is the latest that detano inipo has cited the ten, the entire WGA list of 101 best film scripts from their site:




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
FACTS ABOUT THE FILM
2. THE GODFATHER
Screenplay by Mario Puzo and Francis Ford Coppola. Based on the novel by Mario Puzo
FACTS ABOUT THE FILM
3. CHINATOWN
Written by Robert Towne
FACTS ABOUT THE FILM
4. CITIZEN KANE
Written by Herman Mankiewicz and Orson Welles
FACTS ABOUT THE FILM
5. ALL ABOUT EVE
Screenplay by Joseph L. Mankiewicz. Based on "The Wisdom of Eve," a short story and radio play by Mary Orr
FACTS ABOUT THE FILM
6. ANNIE HALL
Written by Woody Allen and Marshall Brickman
FACTS ABOUT THE FILM
7. SUNSET BLVD.
Written by Charles Brackett & Billy Wilder and D.M. Marshman, Jr.
FACTS ABOUT THE FILM
8. NETWORK
Written by Paddy Chayefsky
FACTS ABOUT THE FILM
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
FACTS ABOUT THE FILM
10. THE GODFATHER II
Screenplay by Francis Ford Coppola and Mario Puzo. Based on Mario Puzo's novel "The Godfather"
FACTS ABOUT THE FILM
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
26. DOUBLE INDEMNITY
Screenplay by Billy Wilder and Raymond Chandler. Based on the novel by James M. Cain
27. GROUNDHOG DAY
Screenplay by Danny Rubin and Harold Ramis. Story by Danny Rubin
28. SHAKESPEARE IN LOVE
Written by Marc Norman and Tom Stoppard
29. SULLIVAN'S TRAVELS
Written by Preston Sturges
30. UNFORGIVEN
Written by David Webb Peoples
31. HIS GIRL FRIDAY
Screenplay by Charles Lederer. Based on the play "The Front Page" by Ben Hecht & Charles MacArthur
32. FARGO
Written by Joel Coen & Ethan Coen
33. THE THIRD MAN
Screenplay by Graham Greene. Story by Graham Greene. Based on the short story by Graham Greene
34. THE SWEET SMELL OF SUCCESS
Screenplay by Clifford Odets and Ernest Lehman. From a novelette by Ernest Lehman
35. THE USUAL SUSPECTS
Written by Christopher McQuarrie
36. MIDNIGHT COWBOY
Screenplay by Waldo Salt. Based on the novel by James Leo Herlihy
37. THE PHILADELPHIA STORY
Screenplay by Donald Ogden Stewart. Based on the play by Philip Barry
38. AMERICAN BEAUTY
Written by Alan Ball
39. THE STING
Written by David S. Ward
40. WHEN HARRY MET SALLY
Written by Nora Ephron
41. GOODFELLAS
Screenplay by Nicholas Pileggi & Martin Scorsese. Based on book "Wise Guy" by Nicholas Pileggi
42. RAIDERS OF THE LOST ARK
Screenplay by Lawrence Kasdan. Story by George Lucas and Philip Kaufman
43. TAXI DRIVER
Written by Paul Schrader
44. THE BEST YEARS OF OUR LIVES
Screenplay by Robert E. Sherwood. Based on novel "Glory For Me" by MacKinley Kantor
45. ONE FLEW OVER THE CUCKOO'S NEST
Screenplay by Lawrence Hauben and Bo Goldman. Based on the novel by Ken Kesey
46. THE TREASURE OF THE SIERRA MADRE
Screenplay by John Huston. Based on the novel by B. Traven
47. THE MALTESE FALCON
Screenplay by John Huston. Based on the novel by Dashiell Hammett
48. THE BRIDGE ON THE RIVER KWAI
Screenplay by Carl Foreman and Michael Wilson. Based on the novel by Pierre Boulle
49. SCHINDLER'S LIST
Screenplay by Steven Zaillian. Based on the novel by Thomas Keneally
50. THE SIXTH SENSE
Written by M. Night Shyamalan
51. BROADCAST NEWS
Written by James L. Brooks
52. THE LADY EVE
Screenplay by Preston Sturges. Story by Monckton Hoffe
53. ALL THE PRESIDENT'S MEN
Screenplay by William Goldman. Based on the book by Carl Bernstein & Bob Woodward
54. MANHATTAN
Written by Woody Allen & Marshall Brickman
55. APOCALYPSE NOW
Written by John Milius and Francis Coppola. Narration by Michael Herr
56. BACK TO THE FUTURE
Written by Robert Zemeckis & Bob Gale
57. CRIMES AND MISDEMEANORS
Written by Woody Allen
58. ORDINARY PEOPLE
Screenplay by Alvin Sargent. Based on the novel by Judith Guest
59. IT HAPPENED ONE NIGHT
Screenplay by Robert Riskin. Based on the story "Night Bus" by Samuel Hopkins Adams
60. L.A. CONFIDENTIAL
Screenplay by Brian Helgeland & Curtis Hanson. Based on the novel by James Ellroy
61. THE SILENCE OF THE LAMBS
Screenplay by Ted Tally. Based on the novel by Thomas Harris
62. MOONSTRUCK
Written by John Patrick Shanley
63. JAWS
Screenplay by Peter Benchley and Carl Gottlieb. Based on the novel by Peter Benchley
64. TERMS OF ENDEARMENT
Screenplay by James L. Brooks. Based on the novel by Larry McMurtry
65. SINGIN' IN THE RAIN
Screen Story and Screenplay by Betty Comden & Adolph Green. Based on the song by Arthur Freed and Nacio Herb Brown
66. JERRY MAGUIRE
Written by Cameron Crowe
67. E.T. THE EXTRA-TERRESTRIAL
Written by Melissa Mathison
68. STAR WARS
Written by George Lucasn
69. DOG DAY AFTERNOON
Screenplay by Frank Pierson. Based on a magazine article by P.F. Kluge and Thomas Moore
70. THE AFRICAN QUEEN
Screenplay by James Agee and John Huston. Based on the novel by C.S. Forester
71. THE LION IN WINTER
Screenplay by James Goldman. Based on the play by James Goldman
72. THELMA & LOUISE
Written by Callie Khouri
73. AMADEUS
Screenplay by Peter Shaffer. Based on his play
74. BEING JOHN MALKOVICH
Written by Charlie Kaufman
75. HIGH NOON
Screenplay by Carl Foreman. Based on short story "The Tin Star" by John W. Cunningham
76. RAGING BULL
Screenplay by Paul Schrader and Mardik Martin. Based on the book by Jake La Motta with Joseph Carter and Peter Savage
77. ADAPTATION
Screenplay by Charlie Kaufman and Donald Kaufman. Based on the book "The Orchid Thief" by Susan Orlean
78. ROCKY
Written by Sylvester Stallone
79. THE PRODUCERS
Written by Mel Brooks
80. WITNESS
Screenplay by Earl W. Wallace & William Kelley. Story by William Kelley and Pamela Wallace & Earl W. Wallace
81. BEING THERE
Screenplay by Jerzy Kosinski. Inspired by the novel by Jerzy Kosinski
82. COOL HAND LUKE
Screenplay by Donn Pearce and Frank Pierson. Based on the novel by Donn Pearce
83. REAR WINDOW
Screenplay by John Michael Hayes. Based on the short story by Cornell Woolrich
84. THE PRINCESS BRIDE
Screenplay by William Goldman. Based on his novel
85. LA GRANDE ILLUSION
Written by Jean Renoir and Charles Spaak
86. HAROLD & MAUDE
Written by Colin Higgins
87. 8 1/2
Screenplay by Federico Fellini, Tullio Pinelli, Ennio Flaiano, Brunello Rond. Story by Fellini, Flaiano
88. FIELD OF DREAMS
Screenplay by Phil Alden Robinson. Based on the book by W.P. Kinsella
89. FORREST GUMP
Screenplay by Eric Roth. Based on the novel by Winston Groom
90. SIDEWAYS
Screenplay by Alexander Payne & Jim Taylor. Based on the novel by Rex Pickett
91. THE VERDICT
Screenplay by David Mamet. Based on the novel by Barry Reed
92. PSYCHO
Screenplay by Joseph Stefano. Based on the novel by Robert Bloch
93. DO THE RIGHT THING
Written by Spike Lee
94. PATTON
Screen Story and Screenplay by Francis Ford Coppola and Edmund H. North. Based on "A Soldier's Story" by Omar H. Bradley and "Patton: Ordeal and Triumph" by Ladislas Farago
95. HANNAH AND HER SISTERS
Written by Woody Allen
96. THE HUSTLER
Screenplay by Sidney Carroll & Robert Rossen. Based on the novel by Walter Tevis
97. THE SEARCHERS
Screenplay by Frank S. Nugent. Based on the novel by Alan Le May
98. THE GRAPES OF WRATH
Screenplay by Nunnally Johnson. Based on the novel by John Steinbeck
99. THE WILD BUNCH
Screenplay by Walon Green and Sam Peckinpah. Story by Walon Green and Roy Sickner
100. MEMENTO
Screenplay by Christopher Nolan. Based on the short story "Memento Mori" by Jonathan Nolan
101. NOTORIOUS
Written by Ben Hecht

A link to the WGA site which will have the active links to the "FACTS ABOUT THE FILM" on the top ten:

http://www.wga.org/subpage_newsevents.aspx?id=1684

Thanks to detano inipo for posting this thread (it's been featured, det, so don't let me do all the talking!) As a matter of fact, I apologize for monopolizing this thread but wanted to elaborate on det's idea for the thread. Come Back, Little Det!

This thread is about movie scripts. I love movies but I am not educated enough to compare scripts. I admire people who write them and feel strongly about the black list era. America was in the dark ages during that time, thanks to one corrupt man.
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As you know, I love European or 'foreign' films. Most Americans hardly know that they exist. When the German and Austrian intelligentsia left because of Hitler, Hollywood benefitted greatly.
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Anyway, todays blockbusters are often 90% action or special effects, dialogue is non-existant. I don't like them.
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http://www.spartacus.schoolnet.co.uk/USAlardner.htm
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http://www.temple.edu/tempress/chapters_1400/1543_ch1.pdf

I don't believe that last year American films were 90% special effects (nor, to the chagrin of theaters owners were they blockbusters). Look again at what films were up for the Oscar and how many were right behind it. There are also bad foreign films -- the French cinema has been sorely lacking in good films for three decades.

(Great links, BTW)

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We were talking about 'blockbusters' and movies with casts of thousands. I never go and see them; they remind me too much of Cecil B. deMille.
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French cinema is not what it used to be, but is still very good. I remember seeing the film: La Haine. (we saw it played out on the burning streets a few years later)
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Too bad I don't live in Toronto, where one can see more European films.

http://www.film-philosophy.com/vol6-2002/n28hainge
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http://www.4to40.com/discoverindia/topgrossmovies.htm

We have two multiplex theaters that are art theater houses showing foreign and independent films and one on the Newport Peninsula, The Lido Theater which shows mostly indepedents. There really aren't any blockbusters any more with "casts of thousands," as the thousands are CGI generated.
What particular blockbusters have you avoided? I'm interested as what this has to do with the topic of the discussion -- scripts. The Independent Spirit Award is growing and I was glad to see it the day before the Oscars. We also have two film festivals in our area every year where a lot of foreign films are screened. The Newport Beach Film Festival is the largest.

My point about the special effects was that it no longer makes a blockbuster. It should be the profit made by a film that makes it a blockbuster but it's still considered that it breaks $100M in domestic box office. The box office phenomena of the year was "Brokeback Mountain."

Special effects don't turn me on, sorry. Anyway, I prefer films like: The Prisoner to Spiderman or some Bruce Willis flick.
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Oldies are still inviting to see again and again. (Chinatown)
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http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/prisoner/

I've seen Casablanca over 100 times, both on the tube and in the theater (a far superior experience, imo) and it just never gets old. Watching the delightful character actors makes for something new in each viewing.

"This place is full of vultures. Vultures everywhere!"

I found "The Prisoner," unless one is specifically interested in the subject academically, to be a really tedious drama.

"Chinatown" I have seen many times and I'm sure the next time I see it, I will love it all over again. What a magnificent script.

Bruce Willis has made some really bad movies that got their comeupance at the box office and failed. It don't know what is happening to his career but he needs a role like in "Pulp Fiction" to inject some new energy into his acting.

"Spiderman" and "Spiderman II" were great in their genre but not films I would return to necessarily. "Batman Begins" is far superior and does not depend on special effects. Ditto LOTR and even the new "King Kong."

I wouldn't avoid a film simply because it uses CGI, it's if it uses CGI well ("Narnia" is another good example) and to the benefit of the story. Sci-fi and fantasy have to depend on it for an authentic look.

So, sorry, special effects just for the sake of special effects are not my bag either.

(I liked the new "King Kong" because it had a good heart at its center -- just the one scene of the dawn in the final Empire State Building is worth the price of a ticket).