A Random Pop Culture List

The Writers Guild of America has compiled their list of the 101 Greatest Screenplays (as voted by their membership of film and television writers.) Woody Allen, Francis Ford Coppola, and Billy Wilder each have four efforts on the overall list; Charlie Kaufman (Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind), John Huston (The Maltese Falcon), and William Goldman (Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid) each have three screenplays on the list.

Their top 10 selections (all filled with wonderful, vivid and memorable, writing) are:

1) Casablanca written by Julius J. Epstein, Philip G. Epstein, and Howard Koch (based on the play Everybody Comes to Rick’s by Murray Burnett & Joan Alison)

2) The Godfather by Mario Puzo & Francis Ford Coppola (based on Puzo’s novel)

3) Chinatown by Robert Towne

4) Citizen Kane by Howard Mankiewicz & Orson Welles

5) All About Eve by Joseph L. Mankiewicz (based on the short story and radio play The Wisdom of Eve by Mary Orr)

6) Annie Hall by Woody Allen & Marshall Brickman

7) Sunset Boulevard by Charles Brackett, Billy Wilder, and D.M. Marshman, Jr.

8) Network by Paddy Chayefsky

9) Some Like it Hot by Billy Wilder & I.A.L. Diamond (based on the German film Fanfare of Love written by Robert Thoeren & M. Logan)

10) The Godfather, Part 2 by Puzo & Coppola (based on Puzo’s novel The Godfather)

Other screenplays on the list include: Dr. Strangelove, Fargo, The Usual Suspects, The Graduate, Do the Right Thing, Star Wars, 8 ½, Goodfellas, The Philadelphia Story, The Sixth Sense, High Noon, and Momento.