Friday, April 07, 2006

101 Greatest Screenplays

The WGA just announced its list of the 101 Greatest Screenplays of all time. The top five:

1. CASABLANCA
2. THE GODFATHER
3. CHINATOWN
4. CITIZEN KANE
5. ALL ABOUT EVE

Hard to argue with any of those. EVE in particular is one of my very favorites.

The list includes all sorts of genres (RAIDERS OF THE LOST ARK! WHEN HARRY MET SALLY! Yay!), focusing mainly on American films from the 30s to the present. Among contemporary honorees, Charlie Kaufman scores the hat trick with ETERNAL SUNSHINE OF THE SPOTLESS MIND, BEING JOHN MALKOVICH, and ADAPTATION all appearing.

There are about a dozen on the list I haven't seen. Time to hit Netflix!

2 comments:

Shawna said...

What's interesting is the number of people who have three or more screenplays on this list. Further adding to the 'auteur' mystique is how many of them were the directors of the films they wrote or co-wrote (Coppola, Wilder, Huston, and Allen). Still, glad to see Goldman get three on there as well as Kaufman.

Reel Fanatic said...

It's an interesting, and mostly right in my opinion list .. nice to see that Woody's personal life hasn't diminished the much-deserved love for Annie Hall and Manhattan