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BEST SCREENPLAYS EVER

Slugwriter

Slugwriter

I am planning on making a list of best screenplays of all time.... According to Indie Talk.com

So, tell me your top ten, or top five. I will post the list in about a week and a half.
 
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Are you asking about the scripts of completed films or
just the scripts?

I ask because I would like to know the criteria. Do we
have to have read the screenplay or can we nominate
based on seeing the movie and not reading the script?
 
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These scripts can be an orginal or Adapted Screenplay; thats been put onto the big screen. But, you have to had read the script in order to post it. So, tell me your top fav's.
 
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Really enjoyed These

"The Days Before" - A man trying to warn people of an attack travels back in time a day ahead of an alien race who keeps destroying us one day before the next. Really great script.

"Bessie" - A twisted story by Richard Kelly about a walking talking cow and it's effect on society.

"Passenger" - A man wakes up on a transport shuttle 80 years before he was supposed to. Everyone else on the shuttle is still in hyper sleep.
 
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My ten in no order:
Lethal Weapon - Shane Black
The Empire Strikes Back - Lawrence Kasdan/Leigh Brackett
The Killing - Stanley Kubrick/Jim Thompson
The Shawshank Redemption - Frank Darabont
Singin’ in the Rain - Betty Comden/Adolph Green
Crimes and Misdemeanors - Woody Allen
The Palm Beach Story - Preston Sturges
Chinatown - Robert Towne
The Stunt Man - Richard Rush/Lawrence Marcus
Laura - Jay Dratler/Samuel Hoffenstein/Elizabeth Reinhardt
 
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Marathon Man - William Goldman (adaptation of his own novel)

Blade Runner - Hampton Fancher and David Webb Peoples (adapt)

Lion in Winter - James Goldman (adapt of his play)

A Man for All Seasons - Robert Bolt (adapt of his play)
 
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My favorites in no particular order

Pulp Fiction - Quentin Tarantino/Roger Avery
Inglourious Basterds - Quentin Tarantino
The Godfather - Mario Puzo/Francis Ford Coppola
A Serious Man - Joel Cohen/Ethan Cohen
The Shawshank Redemption - Frank Darabont
(Don't judge me for this next one, but I did have fun reading it)
500 Days of Summer - Scott Neustadter/Michael H. Weber
 
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Good topic. Here are my personal top five perfect screenplays. Not to be confused for my favourite screenplays, which are completely different.

1. Tootsie
2. Stand By Me
3. Singin' In The Rain
4. Forrest Gump
5. Die Hard

All perfect examples of the craft.
 
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THE SHAWSHANK REDEMPTION by Frank Darabont, a study in perfection of writing, adapting the long winded Stephen King into an economy of words that was actually better than the source material.

BACK TO THE FUTURE by Bob Gale and Robert Zemeckis, a study in minutiae that matters. A script about near-incest and yet made it family friendly.

NATURAL BORN KILLERS, the Quentin Tarantino draft only! the original is a work of art that will never be made. If you can put your mindset into RESERVIOR DOGS and PULP FICTION, then read Quentin's draft, you'll get a great idea what a masterpiece this movie could have been, but wasn't.

MEMENTO by Christopher and Jonathan Nolan, a very inventive and well written script, with all the editorial choices made in the script stage.

TEQUILA SUNRISE by Robert Towne, one of the most underrated movies with some of the best quotes I've ever read from characters.
 
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