I just read this list and think it’s laughable that someone believes these are the ten best screenplays of all time. And this isn’t to say that the scripts they listed aren’t excellent. For example, I think one can easiily make a case that Pulp Fiction is a groundbreaking screenplay and is the only one on the Reddit list I agree with. In any case, these are choices for the ten best American film screenplays:
1) Chinatown by Robert Towne
2) The Godfather 1 and 2 by Mario Puzo and Francis Ford Coppola
3) Lawrence of Arabia by Robert Bolt and Michael Wilson
4) Citizen Kane by Herman Mankiewicz and Orson Welles
5) Jaws by Carl Gottlieb and Peter Benchley
6) Goodfellas Nicholas Pileggi*
7) Pulp Fiction by Quentin Tarantino
8) Annie Hall by Woody Allen
9) LA Confidential by Brian Helgeland and Curtis Hanson
10) *The *Apartment by I.A.L. Diamond and Billy Wilder
Here is the link to the Reddit article:
I would redo that list, Phillip E. Hardy, "The Real Deal". #1 should be one of my scripts. Haha Thanks for the list! I need to read the classics.
1 person likes this
Maurice Vaughan: Sorry. You have too many good ones. It would be unfair to the other hacks on the list.
Haha Thanks, but my scripts aren't on the "Chinatown," "The Godfather," etc. level. Yet.
2 people like this
I can see why people would say that these great. But of all time is funny. I would guess the person that out it together was just recycling what they have heard.
Pulp Fiction is a good read for how QT talks to the reader. If you have never read it, just go find the “foot massage” sequence.
Chinatown was great for its day. But if you want and city based classic “nightcrawler”.
For those that know me, to not list “Hell or High Water” is an obvious error.
I also think that this person may be confusing the film and the screenplay. Laurence of Arabia is good, but a great film.
Gottieb write JAWS and The Jerk at the same time. That fact makes him great in my eyes.
I would like to know the subjective standard used.
1 person likes this
Craig: Any list will be subjective, but I disagree with you on Chinatown only being great for its time. And Robert Bolt wrote some of the greatest films of all time, which start with a screenplay.Most of my picks are on the AFI 100 greatest films. I love Taylor Sheridan and think HAHW is great, and I like Wind River even better. However, I stand by my picks. But Taylor is one of the best guys around today.