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In 2005, the Writer’s Guild of America asked its members to submit their lists of top ten screenplays. The results were compiled into the list below.
1. Casablanca (1942)
2. The Godfather (1972)
3. Chinatown (1974)
4. Citizen Kane (1941)
5. All About Eve (1950)
6. Annie Hall (1977)
7. Sunset Boulevard (1950)
8. Network (1976)
9. Some Like It Hot (1959)
10. The Godfather Part II (1974)
11. Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid (1969)
12. Dr. Strangelove or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb (1964)
13. The Graduate (1967)
14. Lawrence of Arabia (1962)
15. The Apartment (1960)
16. Pulp Fiction (1994)
17. Tootsie (1982)
18. On the Waterfront (1954)
19. To Kill a Mockingbird (1962)
20. It’s a Wonderful Life (1946)
21. North by Northwest (1959)
22. The Shawshank Redemption (1994)
23. Gone with the Wind (1939)
24. Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind (2004)
25. The Wizard of Oz (1939)
26. Double Indemnity (1944)
27. Groundhog Day (1993)
28. Shakespeare in Love (1998)
29. Sullivan’s Travels (1941)
30. Unforgiven (1992)
31. His Girl Friday (1940)
32. Fargo (1996)
33. The Third Man (1949)
34. The Sweet Smell of Success (1957)
35. The Usual Suspects (1995)
36. Midnight Cowboy (1969)
37. The Philadelphia Story (1940)
38. American Beauty (1999)
39. The Sting (1973)
40. When Harry Met Sally… (1989)
41. Goodfellas (1990)
42. Raiders of the Lost Ark (1981)
43. Taxi Driver (1976)
44. The Best Years of Our Lives (1946)
45. One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest (1975)
46. The Treasure of Sierra Madre (1948)
47. The Maltese Falcon (1941)
48. The Bridge on the River Kwai (1957)
49. Schindler’s List (1993)
50. The Sixth Sense (1999)
51. Broadcast News (1987)
52. The Lady Eve (1941)
53. All the President’s Men (1976)
54. Manhattan (1979)
55. Apocalypse Now (1979)
56. Back to the Future (1985)
57. Crimes and Misdemeanors (1989)
58. Ordinary People (1980)
59. It Happened One Night (1984)
60. L.A. Confidential (1997)
61. The Silence of the Lambs (1991)
62. Moonstruck (1987)
63. Jaws (1975)
64. Terms of Endearment (1983)
65. Singin’ in the Rain (1952)
66. Jerry Maguire (1996)
67. E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial (1982)
68. Star Wars – Episode IV: A New Hope (1977)
69. Dog Day Afternoon (1975)
70. The African Queen (1951)
71. The Lion in Winter (1968)
72. Thelma & Louise (1991)
73. Amadeus (1984)
74. Being John Malkovich (1999)
75. High Noon (1952)
76. Raging Bull (1980)
77. Adaptation (2002)
78. Rocky (1976)
79. The Producers (1968)
80. Witness (1985)
81. Being There (1979)
82. Cool Hand Luke (1967)
83. Rear Window (1954)
84. The Princess Bride (1987)
85. Grand Illusion (La Grande Illusion) (1937)
86. Harold and Maude (1971)
87. 8 ½ (Otto e Mezzo) (1963)
88. Field of Dreams (1988)
89. Forrest Gump (1994)
90. Sideways (2004)
91. The Verdict (1982)
92. Psycho (1960)
93. Do the Right Thing (1989)
94. Patton (1970)
95. Hannah and Her Sisters (1986)
96. The Hustler (1961)
97. The Searchers (1956)
98. The Grapes of Wrath (1940)
99. The Wild Bunch (1969)
100. Memento (2001)
101. Notorious (1946)
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Originally posted 8/20/2019; last updated 5/28/2023. | 
