# Best screenplay ever? **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [April 13, 2000, 11:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-screenplay-ever/15943 "2000-04-13T23:19:00Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![yojimbo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/yojimbo/32/232_2.png) [@yojimbo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/yojimbo)\ **Post date:** [April 13, 2000, 11:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-screenplay-ever/15943/1 "2000-04-13T23:19:00Z")
While posting a reply to the “Cassablanca” tread ( [http://boards.straightdope.com/ubb/Forum4/HTML/007225.html](http://boards.straightdope.com/ubb/Forum4/HTML/007225.html) ) it got me thinking about great screenplays . My absolute favorite is Robert Bolts " A man for all seasons " . The use of language and the emotions put across , helped by amazing acting , is just astounding . Anybody agree or have their own favorites they’d like to share ? * * * _If you christians were more like your Christ the world would be a better place_ -Mahatma Gandhi ---
**Author:** ![Odieman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/a87d85/32.png) [@Odieman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Odieman)\ **Post date:** [April 13, 2000, 11:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-screenplay-ever/15943/2 "2000-04-13T23:24:00Z")
“The Princess Bride”. It’s just so quotable and memorable. Keith ---
**Author:** ![PunditLisa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/4af34b/32.png) [@PunditLisa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PunditLisa)\ **Post date:** [April 13, 2000, 11:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-screenplay-ever/15943/3 "2000-04-13T23:28:00Z")
I loved Emma Thompson’s treatment of “Sense and Sensibility.” Romance, humor, sarcasm. ---
**Author:** ![WallyM7](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/b5e925/32.png) [@WallyM7](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WallyM7)\ **Post date:** [April 13, 2000, 11:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-screenplay-ever/15943/4 "2000-04-13T23:35:00Z")
The “Becket” screenplay was brilliant. And it didn’t hurt to have O’Toole and Burton saying the words. ---
**Author:** ![Iguana\_Boy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/ed655f/32.png) [@Iguana\_Boy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Iguana_Boy)\ **Post date:** [April 13, 2000, 11:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-screenplay-ever/15943/5 "2000-04-13T23:41:00Z")
Difficult to separate best screenplay from best film, as the acting, cinematography etc can make such a difference. How a line is delivered can be as important as what’s said. Grosse Pointe Blank is pretty cool though * * * The Scots - never trust a race whose national dress includes a concealed knife. ---
**Author:** ![Max\_Torque](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/e9bcb4/32.png) [@Max\_Torque](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Max_Torque)\ **Post date:** [April 14, 2000, 12:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-screenplay-ever/15943/6 "2000-04-14T00:01:00Z")
I was very pleased when _The Usual Suspects_ got the Oscar for Best Original Screenplay a few years back. The writing was amazing. ---
**Author:** ![slaveone](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/6bbea6/32.png) [@slaveone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/slaveone)\ **Post date:** [April 14, 2000, 12:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-screenplay-ever/15943/7 "2000-04-14T00:11:00Z")
I’ve seen way too many movies to choose a one best screenplay… ## but recently, I thought \* Long Kiss Goodnight\* had a great screenplay, Samuel L. Jackson’s character had some great lines. “So kill them for me, bitch. What good are you?” ---
**Author:** ![AuntiePam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/f19dbf/32.png) [@AuntiePam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AuntiePam)\ **Post date:** [April 14, 2000, 2:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-screenplay-ever/15943/8 "2000-04-14T02:15:00Z")
I don’t have enough movie knowledge (by a long shot) to comment with any authority, but I thought the transition from book to movie of Silence of the Lambs was extremely well done. Whoever wrote that screenplay should keep on doing it. Only with a different book, you know, cuz it wouldn’t make sense to do Silence again, unless you were gonna re-cast it, or make it a musical or something. ---
**Author:** ![Breckinshire](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/71c47a/32.png) [@Breckinshire](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Breckinshire)\ **Post date:** [April 14, 2000, 2:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-screenplay-ever/15943/9 "2000-04-14T02:43:00Z")
Silence of the Lambs or The Shawshank Redemption ---
**Author:** ![Typo\_Negative](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/typo_negative/32/484_2.png) [@Typo\_Negative](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Typo_Negative)\ **Post date:** [April 14, 2000, 4:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-screenplay-ever/15943/10 "2000-04-14T04:46:00Z")
‘Fight Club’ and ‘Field of Dreams’ ---
**Author:** ![Cervaise](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cervaise/32/16693_2.png) [@Cervaise](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cervaise)\ **Post date:** [April 14, 2000, 5:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-screenplay-ever/15943/11 "2000-04-14T05:24:00Z")
I’m a screenwriter, so let me toss in a couple of comments here. A “screenplay” is commonly misunderstood to represent the dialogue, and not much more. When someone says the writing was good, they often follow up by saying the characters had some good lines; and when people say the screenplay was bad, they really mean the dialogue was bad. Important concept #1: The screenplay does not equal the dialogue. The dialogue is, in fact, the least significant element of a script. The writer determines the arc of the story, divides it into beats, sequences the scenes, figures out the revelations that drive the story, and so on and so forth. And then, when the whole story is in place, the writer creates the dialogue. And on the set, the actors and director frequently rewrite the dialogue, coming up with new ways to say things. A well-known modern example is from _The Fugitive_, where Sam Gerard (Tommy Lee Jones) catches up to Richard Kimble (Harrison Ford) in the dam tunnel. The original script had about a page of dialogue between the two, verbal jousting over whether Kimble would surrender, Gerard’s position of power, etc., etc. Ford and Jones looked at the script on set, read it back and forth a couple of times, and reduced it to the classic exchange you see in the film: “I didn’t kill my wife!” …“I don’t care!” HOWEVER: The overall arc of the story, the bus crash followed by running followed by sneaking into the hospital for self-care followed by a return to Chicago etc etc… That’s the meat of the screenplay, and that’s the kind of stuff that can’t be changed on-set, because it affects too much other stuff. It’s okay if the actor says, “Hey, instead of saying, ‘Get the cannolis, leave the gun,’ I think it would be funnier if I switched that around, to ‘Leave the gun, take the cannolis.’ All right?” But it’s not okay if the actor says, “Hey, instead of shooting him, what if we run away together…?” So, that said, the conventionally agreed “best screenplay ever” is _Chinatown_, by Robert Towne. It’s readable in script form, and isn’t just a template for a film. (Read an action-movie script sometime. Boooooring.) There’s tremendous economy in the language; Towne gives the director lots of material to work with, but doesn’t try to restrict the story or presentation. He creates indelible characters on the page, but doesn’t make them so specific that actors won’t have fun and make discoveries playing them. And of course, under the supervision of a hell of a director, the script made one hell of a movie. From another perspective, I think the screenplay for _Singing in the Rain_ is a remarkable achievement. The two writers were given a dozen songs, to which the studio had the rights, and were instructed to build a movie around them. That’s it, that’s all. The songs didn’t really hang together; some of them were from the older _Broadway Melody_ movies around 1930, some of them were just lounge standards, and some were just random songs the studio happened to have. The fact that the writers were able to craft a story incorporating these songs, let alone a classic that’s regarded by many as the best screen musical ever written, is little short of miraculous. Great question. I hope the thread continues; I look forward to seeing what other people nominate. * * * **Movie Geek Central** – Reviews, news, analysis, and more! [http://moviegeek.homestead.com](http://moviegeek.homestead.com) ---
**Author:** ![dpr](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/8797f3/32.png) [@dpr](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dpr)\ **Post date:** [April 14, 2000, 5:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-screenplay-ever/15943/12 "2000-04-14T05:53:00Z")
Damn! Someone stole my answer. I’ve always considered Singing In The Rain as a great movie and mainly because of what the writers were given. The Princess Bride is probably a close second, but so many others lose the plot (pardon the pun) in translation. How often do we lament that? * * * The future belongs to those who believe in the beauty of their dreams. ---
**Author:** ![RealityChuck](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/realitychuck/32/195_2.png) [@RealityChuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RealityChuck)\ **Post date:** [April 14, 2000, 12:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-screenplay-ever/15943/13 "2000-04-14T12:41:00Z")
_Shakespeare in Love_ Primarily because it works on all levels: Great story, great dialog ("The show must . … " “Go on!”), multilayered situations (the scene when Will is in the boat is absolutely brilliant, with the resonances of reality, heterosexual love, homosexual love, and Shakespearian conventions). Tom Stoppard (who evidently rewrote the entire script from the other writer’s much weaker draft) was a genius. It is a script that reveals more and more complexity the more you see it and think about it, and is a level far above anything else. * * * “What we have here is failure to communicate.” – Strother Martin, anticipating the Internet. [www.sff.net/people/rothman](http://www.sff.net/people/rothman) ---
**Author:** ![Eve](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/9e8a1a/32.png) [@Eve](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eve)\ **Post date:** [April 14, 2000, 1:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-screenplay-ever/15943/14 "2000-04-14T13:42:00Z")
Yikes! So many choices . . . Dinner at Eight . . . Now, Voyager . . . Singing in the Rain . . . Brief Encounter . . . Airplane! . . . The Women . . . Palm Beach Story . . . Some Like It Hot . . . I could go on all day, but I have to at least LOOK like I’m working. ---
**Author:** ![Spoke](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a88e57/32.png) [@Spoke](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spoke)\ **Post date:** [April 14, 2000, 2:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-screenplay-ever/15943/15 "2000-04-14T14:28:00Z")
Lone Star * * * –In France I’m considered a genius. ---
**Author:** ![Munch](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/munch/32/5281_2.png) [@Munch](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Munch)\ **Post date:** [April 14, 2000, 2:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-screenplay-ever/15943/16 "2000-04-14T14:33:00Z")
I’d have to say the one where the little guy is stuck on the island and spends most of his time throwing bottles into the ocean and building a fire. I think its called “Castaway Johnny”. Oh…wait…screenPLAY…I thought you said screenSAVER… * * * Sala, can’t you count?!? I said NO camels! That’s FIVE camels! ---
**Author:** ![Ukulele\_Ike](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/df788c/32.png) [@Ukulele\_Ike](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ukulele_Ike)\ **Post date:** [April 14, 2000, 2:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-screenplay-ever/15943/17 "2000-04-14T14:48:00Z")
KISS HER GOODBYE (1958). The swing-set scene, the constantly expanding and contracting town, the Mexican maidservant, the totally unexpected climax…MAN, I wish I’d written that one! * * * Uke ---
**Author:** ![Eve](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/9e8a1a/32.png) [@Eve](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eve)\ **Post date:** [April 14, 2000, 8:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-screenplay-ever/15943/18 "2000-04-14T20:47:00Z")
. . . You mean you DID’T write that one, dear heart? It sure had your stamp . . . —Eve [rushing for the ladies’ room] ---
**Author:** ![ThisYearsGirl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/73ab20/32.png) [@ThisYearsGirl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ThisYearsGirl)\ **Post date:** [April 14, 2000, 9:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-screenplay-ever/15943/19 "2000-04-14T21:24:00Z")
I’ve read the Good Will Hunting script and thought it was just great (and really quotable), but I never liked the movie that much. * * * “I need the biggest seed bell you have. . . no, that’s too big.”–Hans Moleman ---
**Author:** ![LBJay](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/ecae2f/32.png) [@LBJay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LBJay)\ **Post date:** [April 14, 2000, 10:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-screenplay-ever/15943/20 "2000-04-14T22:27:00Z")
The late, great Mario Puzo had a story: His first screenplay was the adaptation to his book, “The Godfather.” He had never done any screenwriting before and was unsure of himself; and with the success of the movie he decided he’d better learn the mechanics of screenplays if he was going to make more movies. So he went out and bought a book on how to write the perfect screenplay. The first chapter said: To see an example of the perfect screenplay, see “The Godfather.” And he threw the book away. My nomination - “The Godfather.” [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-screenplay-ever/15943.md?page=2)