The WGA’s list of the 101 Greatest Screenplays
- 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 - THE GODFATHER
Screenplay by Mario Puzo and Francis Ford Coppola. Based on the novel by Mario Puzo - CHINATOWN
Written by Robert Towne - CITIZEN KANE
Written by Herman Mankiewicz and Orson Welles - ALL ABOUT EVE
Screenplay by Joseph L. Mankiewicz. Based on “The Wisdom of Eve,” a short story and radio play by Mary Orr - ANNIE HALL
Written by Woody Allen and Marshall Brickman - SUNSET BLVD.
Written by Charles Brackett & Billy Wilder and D.M. Marshman, Jr. - NETWORK
Written by Paddy Chayefsky - 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 - THE GODFATHER II
Screenplay by Francis Ford Coppola and Mario Puzo. Based on Mario Puzo’s novel “The Godfather” - BUTCH CASSIDY AND THE SUNDANCE KID
Written by William Goldman - STRANGELOVE
Screenplay by Stanley Kubrick and Peter George and Terry Southern. Based on novel “Red Alert” by Peter George - THE GRADUATE
Screenplay by Calder Willingham and Buck Henry. Based on the novel by Charles Webb - LAWRENCE OF ARABIA
Screenplay by Robert Bolt and Michael Wilson. Based on the life and writings of Col. T.E. Lawrence - THE APARTMENT
Written by Billy Wilder & I.A.L. Diamond - PULP FICTION
Written by Quentin Tarantino. Stories by Quentin Tarantino & Roger Avary - TOOTSIE
Screenplay by Larry Gelbart and Murray Schisgal. Story by Don McGuire and Larry Gelbart - ON THE WATERFRONT
Screen Story and Screenplay by Budd Schulberg. Based on “Crime on the Waterfront” articles by Malcolm Johnson - TO KILL A MOCKINGBIRD
Screenplay by Horton Foote. Based on the novel by Harper Lee - 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 - NORTH BY NORTHWEST
Written by Ernest Lehman - THE SHAWSHANK REDEMPTION
Screenplay by Frank Darabont. Based on the short story “Rita Hayworth and the Shawshank Redemption” by Stephen King - GONE WITH THE WIND
Screenplay by Sidney Howard. Based on the novel by Margaret Mitchell - ETERNAL SUNSHINE OF THE SPOTLESS MIND
Screenplay by Charlie Kaufman. Story by Charlie Kaufman & Michel Gondry & Pierre Bismuth - 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 - DOUBLE INDEMNITY
Screenplay by Billy Wilder and Raymond Chandler. Based on the novel by James M. Cain - GROUNDHOG DAY
Screenplay by Danny Rubin and Harold Ramis. Story by Danny Rubin - SHAKESPEARE IN LOVE
Written by Marc Norman and Tom Stoppard - SULLIVAN’S TRAVELS
Written by Preston Sturges - UNFORGIVEN
Written by David Webb Peoples - HIS GIRL FRIDAY
Screenplay by Charles Lederer. Based on the play “The Front Page” by Ben Hecht & Charles MacArthur - FARGO
Written by Joel Coen & Ethan Coen - THE THIRD MAN
Screenplay by Graham Greene. Story by Graham Greene. Based on the short story by Graham Greene - THE SWEET SMELL OF SUCCESS
Screenplay by Clifford Odets and Ernest Lehman. From a novelette by Ernest Lehman - THE USUAL SUSPECTS
Written by Christopher McQuarrie - MIDNIGHT COWBOY
Screenplay by Waldo Salt. Based on the novel by James Leo Herlihy - THE PHILADELPHIA STORY
Screenplay by Donald Ogden Stewart. Based on the play by Philip Barry - AMERICAN BEAUTY
Written by Alan Ball - THE STING
Written by David S. Ward - WHEN HARRY MET SALLY
Written by Nora Ephron - GOODFELLAS
Screenplay by Nicholas Pileggi & Martin Scorsese. Based on book “Wise Guy” by Nicholas Pileggi - RAIDERS OF THE LOST ARK
Screenplay by Lawrence Kasdan. Story by George Lucas and Philip Kaufman - TAXI DRIVER
Written by Paul Schrader - THE BEST YEARS OF OUR LIVES
Screenplay by Robert E. Sherwood. Based on novel “Glory For Me” by MacKinley Kantor - ONE FLEW OVER THE CUCKOO’S NEST
Screenplay by Lawrence Hauben and Bo Goldman. Based on the novel by Ken Kesey - THE TREASURE OF THE SIERRA MADRE
Screenplay by John Huston. Based on the novel by B. Traven - THE MALTESE FALCON
Screenplay by John Huston. Based on the novel by Dashiell Hammett - THE BRIDGE ON THE RIVER KWAI
Screenplay by Carl Foreman and Michael Wilson. Based on the novel by Pierre Boulle - SCHINDLER’S LIST
Screenplay by Steven Zaillian. Based on the novel by Thomas Keneally - THE SIXTH SENSE
Written by M. Night Shyamalan - BROADCAST NEWS
Written by James L. Brooks - THE LADY EVE
Screenplay by Preston Sturges. Story by Monckton Hoffe - ALL THE PRESIDENT’S MEN
Screenplay by William Goldman. Based on the book by Carl Bernstein & Bob Woodward - MANHATTAN
Written by Woody Allen & Marshall Brickman - APOCALYPSE NOW
Written by John Milius and Francis Coppola. Narration by Michael Herr - BACK TO THE FUTURE
Written by Robert Zemeckis & Bob Gale - CRIMES AND MISDEMEANORS
Written by Woody Allen - ORDINARY PEOPLE
Screenplay by Alvin Sargent. Based on the novel by Judith Guest - IT HAPPENED ONE NIGHT
Screenplay by Robert Riskin. Based on the story “Night Bus” by Samuel Hopkins Adams - L.A. CONFIDENTIAL
Screenplay by Brian Helgeland & Curtis Hanson. Based on the novel by James Ellroy - THE SILENCE OF THE LAMBS
Screenplay by Ted Tally. Based on the novel by Thomas Harris - MOONSTRUCK
Written by John Patrick Shanley - JAWS
Screenplay by Peter Benchley and Carl Gottlieb. Based on the novel by Peter Benchley - TERMS OF ENDEARMENT
Screenplay by James L. Brooks. Based on the novel by Larry McMurtry - SINGIN’ IN THE RAIN
Screen Story and Screenplay by Betty Comden & Adolph Green. Based on the song by Arthur Freed and Nacio Herb Brown - JERRY MAGUIRE
Written by Cameron Crowe - E.T. THE EXTRA-TERRESTRIAL
Written by Melissa Mathison - STAR WARS
Written by George Lucas - DOG DAY AFTERNOON
Screenplay by Frank Pierson. Based on a magazine article by P.F. Kluge and Thomas Moore - THE AFRICAN QUEEN
Screenplay by James Agee and John Huston. Based on the novel by C.S. Forester - THE LION IN WINTER
Screenplay by James Goldman. Based on the play by James Goldman - THELMA & LOUISE
Written by Callie Khouri - AMADEUS
Screenplay by Peter Shaffer. Based on his play - BEING JOHN MALKOVICH
Written by Charlie Kaufman - HIGH NOON
Screenplay by Carl Foreman. Based on short story “The Tin Star” by John W. Cunningham - RAGING BULL
Screenplay by Paul Schrader and Mardik Martin. Based on the book by Jake La Motta with Joseph Carter and Peter Savage - ADAPTATION
Screenplay by Charlie Kaufman and Donald Kaufman. Based on the book “The Orchid Thief” by Susan Orlean - ROCKY
Written by Sylvester Stallone - THE PRODUCERS
Written by Mel Brooks - WITNESS
Screenplay by Earl W. Wallace & William Kelley. Story by William Kelley and Pamela Wallace & Earl W. Wallace - BEING THERE
Screenplay by Jerzy Kosinski. Inspired by the novel by Jerzy Kosinski - COOL HAND LUKE
Screenplay by Donn Pearce and Frank Pierson. Based on the novel by Donn Pearce - REAR WINDOW
Screenplay by John Michael Hayes. Based on the short story by Cornell Woolrich - THE PRINCESS BRIDE
Screenplay by William Goldman. Based on his novel - LA GRANDE ILLUSION
Written by Jean Renoir and Charles Spaak - HAROLD & MAUDE
Written by Colin Higgins - 8 1/2
Screenplay by Federico Fellini, Tullio Pinelli, Ennio Flaiano, Brunello Rond. Story by Fellini, Flaiano - FIELD OF DREAMS
Screenplay by Phil Alden Robinson. Based on the book by W.P. Kinsella - FORREST GUMP
Screenplay by Eric Roth. Based on the novel by Winston Groom - SIDEWAYS
Screenplay by Alexander Payne & Jim Taylor. Based on the novel by Rex Pickett - THE VERDICT
Screenplay by David Mamet. Based on the novel by Barry Reed - PSYCHO
Screenplay by Joseph Stefano. Based on the novel by Robert Bloch - DO THE RIGHT THING
Written by Spike Lee - 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 - HANNAH AND HER SISTERS
Written by Woody Allen - THE HUSTLER
Screenplay by Sidney Carroll & Robert Rossen. Based on the novel by Walter Tevis - THE SEARCHERS
Screenplay by Frank S. Nugent. Based on the novel by Alan Le May - THE GRAPES OF WRATH
Screenplay by Nunnally Johnson. Based on the novel by John Steinbeck - THE WILD BUNCH
Screenplay by Walon Green and Sam Peckinpah. Story by Walon Green and Roy Sickner - MEMENTO
Screenplay by Christopher Nolan. Based on the short story “Memento Mori” by Jonathan Nolan - NOTORIOUS
Written by Ben Hecht