The Writers Guild of America (WGA)- i.e. the labor union for screenplay writers- just released their picks for the top 101 screenplays of all time as voted by members of the guild.

I can already hear the cynics among my readers blowing it off as just another list- to you I say, I agree. Except that the only purpose all of criticism, list making, award shows and the other moviespeak serves is to proved the average movie-watcher with rental suggestions. That’s it. No higher purpose.

Casablanca and The Godfather at #1 and #2 is perfect
A few asides:

• I’ve seen 27 of the top 30 and 65 over all (shame on me!).


• Sideways (#90) is the most recent film; which was also the biggest surprise for me on the list.


• Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind (#24)- one of my favorites from 2004 – is the most highly ranked recent film. Charlie Kauffman also figures on the list (#74) for Being John Malkovich.


• Woody Allen features 4 times: Annie Hall, Manhattan, Crimes and Misdemeanors (my fav of his) and Hannah and Her Sisters (my close second).


• Billy Wilder figures 4 times in the top 30.


• Coppola also figures 4 times: 2 Godfathers (#2 and #10), Apocalypse Now (#55) and Patton (#94).

This entry was posted on Sunday, April 23rd, 2006 at 12:34 am by Devanshu and is filed under News. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.