Greatest Screenplays

Thanks to Michael at the Neverending Rainbow blog (see the link in my what I’m reading list in the right column), I found the Writers Guild of America website and their list of the 101 greatest screenplays as judged by WGA members. There are a lot of great movies on the list – some that we have on DVD and many we love to watch again and again. For me, a good story is an important foundation for a good movie (although Dianne might disagree with that given some of the “garbage” I like to watch).

I’m a big John Huston fan and was glad to see The African Queen, The Treasure of the Sierra Madre, and The Maltese Falcon all made the list. Being a Bogart fan, it was good to see Casablanca on the list as well.

We just recently saw Lawrence of Arabia. Not only is the story good, the cinematography is beautiful. I learned that almost all the travel scenes in that film show things moving left to right to emphasize the journey aspect of his life. Another David Lean directed movie, the Bridge on the River Kwai, also made the list.

Some great Hitchcock movies made the list: Psycho, Rear Window, and North by Northwest. Those are probably my favorites.

Other notables I saw were The Best Years of Our Lives, Patton, Dr. Strangelove, Cool Hand Luke, The Grapes of Wrath, The Wild Bunch, and Groundhog Day.

There are even a few of Dianne’s favorites including The Sixth Sense and Silence of the Lambs. Check out the complete list.