I’m like Ford Prefect – somehow I’ve never managed to catch all of Casablanca. However most of the films in the top 30 are on my Netflix queue 
Star Wars is the only sci-fi flick on the entire list? hi Blade Runner.
wow some of that list sucks arse. and theres a hell of a lot on it I have never even heard of. which seems kinda weird considering my group of movie buff friends.
No – E.T. is there, too.
Actually, I think both are science fantasy. As I noted above, The Day the Earth Stood Still had better script.
I know I’ll get arguments about it, but I think **Forbidden Planet[/B[ has a good script, too. It’s not stupid, and it tells as much through implication as it says directly.
for what it does, 2001 has an excellent script. Unfortunately, what it’s supposed to do is to be functional and to subordinate people to the technology. It’s pretty sparse and technical, and that will keep people from calling it a good script. But I think it’s overall the best functioning script for a science fiction movie, and by far the most realistic and believable.
If you like lots of human interaction in your SF scripts, have a look at Creator, by Jeremy Levin from his novel. Pretty good stuff.
Chinatown
Citizen Kane
Sunset Boulevard
Vertigo
Last Tango in Paris
Godfather
Citizen Cane
Casablanca
African Queen
Godfather II
Here we go (with about 4 minutes’ thought):
Pulp Fiction
Something by Charlie Kaufman
Network
Citizen Kane (obligatory)
Casablanca (semi-obligatory)
3, 4, 7, Strike, Strike
Hmm. I’m not sure I can respect a list that includes L.A. Confidential, but not Miller’s Crossing. Personal preference, I’m sure.
And The Wizard of Oz? Star Wars? Great Screenplays?
If you’ve been reading this thread you’ll have seen that there are several, including E.T. and Back to the Future. There are also fantasies including The Wizard of Oz, The Princess Bride, and It’s A Wonderful Life, and arguably Raiders of the Lost Ark. Not to mention horror films like Silence of the Lambs, Psycho, and Jaws.
And anyone who doesn’t consider Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, Being John Malkovich, Groundhog Day, and Dr. Strangelove to be exemplary science fiction has an entirely narrow-minded conception of the field. Admittedly, “sci-fi” is the proper term for Star Wars, but you can’t use it as a synonym for science fiction. “Real” science fiction is about ideas, not merely spaceships. And in the same sense of idea fantasies what about Adaptation, Being There, and Field of Dreams.
If you go over the list carefully, in fact, a great many more could also be said to play with reality in several ways, and whenever you play with reality you’re in the realm of f&sf.
Eh, 2 out of 5, an 8, a 16, and a (weak) 24. A fair showing, I guess. I totally forgot about The Godfather. I just watched it the other night, too.
One of the first that came to mind was Memento (100) because it was so…knotty. Not classic enough, though.
No David Lynch movies. Hmph.
Well, I got number one.
I would have got number two, but I was snookered by the usual consensus into naming “Godfather II” instead of “The Godfather”. I’ve never been able to sit through the former, BTW.
My other choices came out at 18, 23, and 25.
Of my guesses, I personally think only Casablanca deserves to be in the top 5.
Casablanca
The Godfather
Gone with the Wind
The Shawshank Redemption
The Graduate
I got #'s 1 and 2. I just somehow forgot about Citizen Kane.
My other choices were at 13, 22, and 23.
The Shawshank Redemption was just a guess though, since I have never seen it. The Graduate was just one I picked out of several I was thinking of, including Dr. Strangelove and Pulp Fiction.