Casablanca tops movie script poll

"Casablanca" has some extremely well done, hard to detect...well, golly -- special effects. Every movie has some special effects. If it's used for its own sake, the script is weak, the acting weak, it's a superflous art. It is an art. The computer geniuses are painting moving pictures using a computer. I can really appreciate the successful ones but too many are just a few good scenes and the rest disposable.

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If this link works, keep clicking : next page. The story is hard to believe. Nothing went right during the shooting. The director was not nice, most of the actors hated being there and were hoping to make a real movie soon after this one.

Yes, and the script was actually written as they made the movie! They just barely had a written script as an outline.

And out of that total mess emerges a cult movie. Heartwarming and heroic. I don't care if the American is the hard bitten anti-hero. It still turns me on everytime I see it.
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Another film that enchanted me was: L'odeur de la papaye verte. More of a long poem with wonderful photography.
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http://movies2.nytimes.com/gst/movies/movie.html?v_id=131132

I don't know if I'd classify "Casablanca" as a "cult" movie, that is, if we are on the same page.

Love 'The Smell of Green Papaya." It is in my DVD collection right next door to "Woman In the Dunes." Love to show a double bill of those two films.

In 1968 I saw 'Woman in the Dunes, but remember only vaguely. Funny how some films stick to you and others fade.
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'Le Conformiste' made a deep impression on me, so did 'Dede d'Anvers'. A British jewel of a film was 'Brief Encounter'. Only the Brits can act like that.
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I'll never forget Peter Falk explain to the judge why being a hitman is normal and an honest job. (Murder Inc.)
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1968 -- man you have to rent some films! That particular movie covers everything from sexuality to paranoia to, well, getting oneself out of a circumstance that one did not see coming.

"Brief Encounter" is a true classic. Haven't seen it in a while but one of the best of the Brit's endeavors.

Also, one of my favorites is "The Black Narcissus" about a nun who decides she actually has sexual feelings and no longer wants to be a nun. However, it's not that easy. Jack Cardiff was the cinematographer who passed away a few years back.

Wizard, a long time ago, some of us decided to introduce Winnipeg to good movies. It was a great success. We rented all these 'unknown' films for a song and membership was $8 a season.


Winnipeg Film Society.
Programs 1957 to 1969.

1957/58
Othello
Duck Soup
American Silent Comedies
Les Enfants du Paradis
La Kermesse Heroique
..........
1958/59
Umberto D.-Italy
Orphee-France
Safety Last-USA
Day of Wrath-Denmark
The Baker's Wife-France
Phantom of the Opera-USA
........................
1959/60
Don Quixote-Russian
The Last Laugh-Germany
Trouble in Paradise-USA
The General-USA
Marius-France
Salt of the Earth-USA
Friends for Life-Italy
A Time out of War-USA
...................
1960/61
Eva wants to sleep-Poland
He who must die-France/Italy
Silent Comedies-USA
Wolf Trap-Czechoslovakia
The Seven Samurai-Japan
10 days that shook the World-Russian
Smiles of a Summer Night-Sweden
..........................
1961/62
Porte de Lilas-France
A Generation-Poland
Evening of Silent Comedies
I Vitelloni-Italy
Paths of Glory-USA
Harp of Burma-Japan
Summer with Monika-Sweden
.....................
1962/63
Nights of Cabiria-Italy
La Notte-Italy
L'eau a la Bouche- France
Thou shalt not kill-France/Yougoslav
Lady with a little Dog-Russia
Fin de Fiesta-Argentine
Ballad of Nariyama-Japan
........................
1963/64
Jules et Jim-France
The White Sheik-Italy
Aren't we wonderful-Germany
The Knife-Holland
Ugetsu Monogatari-Japan
Story of small and big Kids-Japan
The last days of Summer-Poland
Cleo from 5 to 7- france
.................
1964/65
Zazie dans le Metro-France
Viridiana-Spain
Bandits of Orgosolo-Italy
A Chaplin Masterpiece
L'Eclipse-Italy
Forbidden Games-France
Golden Coach-France
Knife in the Water-Poland
.....................
1965/66
Il Posto-Italy
Fires on the Plain-Japan
Movie Crazy-Harald Lloyd
Passenger-Poland
Everybody go Home-Italy
Music Room-India
Bread of our early Years- Germany
A cold Wind in August-USA
.....................
1966/67
Moment of Truth-Italy
Fidanzati (Fiances)-Italy
M. Hulot's Holiday-France
Band of Outsiders-France
Exterminating Angel-Spain
Suddenly it's Murder-Italy
Kagi (Odd Obsession)-Japan
Long Day's Journee into Night-USA
.........................
1967/68
Skylark-Hungary
Woman of the Dunes-Japan
Harold Lloyd Evening-USA
Hamlet-Russia
The Connection-USA
Nothing but a Man-USA
La Peau Douce-France
................
1968/69
Barrier-Poland
Kwaidan-Japan
Shakespeare Wallah-India
Four in the Morning-England
The Married Woman-France
The Father-Yougoslavia
Shameless Old Lady-France
.....................

Now that is a distinguished list of films every film buff should see.

My Netflix queue just got filled up with more goodies!

Well, these lists are supposed to generate discussion, so here are my thoughts:


I didn't know Patton was adapted. What was the original?


Outrageous! This should be in the top ten.


This is an adapted screenplay? How?


Inconceivable that this piece of dreck is on the list and The Big Sleep isn't.


Sorry: great play, mediocre film.


Ditto.


As much as I love silent films, I can't see any of them listed among the great screenplays of all time, especially not Birth of a Nation.


This should be higher.


This should be lower. Much lower.


Just a reminder of how many good movies were made in the '70s.


Where's Rebecca, My Man Godfrey, The Natural or Catch-22?



No argument there.


The performances definitely enhanced the screenplay.


Stallone had screenwriters? Who knew?


How did this sneak into the list?


How did this sneak into the list?


A very bad choice for screenplay.


This should be much higher.


This must just be a typo.


Of all the "Titanic" films they pick this one?


Surely there must have been some mistake.


So where's A Night at the Opera?


Sentiment over intellect.


Somebody must really love obscure baseball films. What about Fear Strikes Out?


A very worthy choice. I'm surprised it slipped in there.


Surely there's a place in this list for Manhattan, Monty Python and the Holy Grail, and Animal House.

Certainly pointed out some glaring inconsistencies, making one wonder if peers are really the best judges of their own field.

For just this once, Joe, I agree with you 100%.

Without looking back, which list is Joe criticizing?

I can see where "Young Frankenstein" would be an adapted screenplay from the novel even if it is a spoof. It certainly wouldn't qualify as being very original. They even used all the goofy low tech equipment from the original James Whale film.

Paul Haggis, the Canadian Oscar winner, is primarily a writer. He has done some good TV work. I saw him interviewed and he is so honest and intelligent; a real pleasure.
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He said that any other nominated film could have won. Matters of taste are always questioned. Any list of 'best' something or other are biased, period.
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http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0353673/

Joe makes many good points. But, I don't agree with his every assessment. Catch 22, for instance, is, in my view, an inferior adaptation of the novel.

Just to clear it up, this is the Writer's Guild of America from which the press release of the top ten came from:




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

Let's make sure that never happens again.

The ASA lists that you posted on the first page of this thread -- the ones that are divided into adapted and original screenplays. I have fewer criticisms of the Writer's Guild list, but then that's a combined list of 100 rather than separate lists.


Well, I don't know what Mary Shelley would have thought of Young Frankenstein, but it bears only the faintest resemblance to her novel. It's a spoof of the Universal movies of the 1930s, which themselves were only marginally linked to Shelley's gothic masterpiece. Indeed, the film drew most heavily on Son of Frankenstein, which had nothing in common with Shelley's original (except for sharing the same monster). To say, then, that Young Frankenstein is an adapted screenplay is a bit like saying that Steamboat Willie is adapted from Mark Twain's "Life on the Mississippi."

I get a bit frustrated with people who say that "the novel was so much better than the movie." It's rather like saying that a bicycle is better than a banana. Novels and movies are fundamentally different. A movie cannot possibly go into the kind of depth that is found in a novel. But then you can't read a novel in two hours in a darkened theater while eating popcorn.

It would have been impossible to translate "Catch-22" onto the screen without some serious compromises. Major characters in the novel were trimmed (e.g. Hungry Joe) or omitted entirely (e.g. Capt. Dunbar, Chief White Halfoat) from the movie -- that was regrettable, but inevitable. Scenes were changed to fit the narrative arc of the movie (e.g. Nately dies in the attack on the airfield in the movie, in a mid-air collision in the book). On the whole, though, I think the movie does a very good job of adapting the novel to the limitations of the screen. Buck Henry, the screenwriter, noted that Joseph Heller himself said that he wished he had written this dialogue between Yossarian and Milo:

Milo Minderbinder: Nately died a wealthy man, Yossarian. He had over sixty shares in the syndicate. Yossarian: What difference does that make? He's dead. Milo Minderbinder: Then his family will get it. Yossarian: He didn't have time to have a family. Milo Minderbinder: Then his parents will get it. Yossarian: They don't need it, they're rich. Milo Minderbinder: Then they'll understand.

In my opinion, Catch-22 works very well as a movie, which is about all that anyone can or should expect of it, and it's about as true to the original source material as most movies and more so than a few.