The Best Movie Screenplays of All Time: Is The Godfather the Greatest?

The screenplay for The Godfather is frequently cited as one of the most influential and high-quality scripts in cinematic history. A recent analysis from Collider suggests that very few films possess a screenplay superior to that of the crime epic, identifying only three movies that arguably surpass it: Casablanca, The Princess Bride, and Seven Samurai.

This assessment aligns with broader industry recognition, specifically the 101 Greatest Screenplays list released by the Writers Guild of America (WGA). The list was a joint celebration of timeless works announced by the Writers Guild of America West (WGAW) and the Writers Guild of America East (WGAE) on April 7, 2006.

Writers Guild of America Rankings

In the WGA’s definitive ranking, The Godfather is positioned as the second greatest screenplay of all time. The script was written by Mario Puzo and Francis Ford Coppola and was based on the novel authored by Mario Puzo.

The top position on the WGA list is held by Casablanca. Its screenplay was written by Julius J. Epstein, Philip G. Epstein, and Howard Koch, and was based on the play Everybody Comes to Rick’s by Murray Burnett and Joan Alison.

Following The Godfather in the rankings are Chinatown, written by Robert Towne, and Citizen Kane, written by Herman Mankiewicz and Orson Welles.

The WGA’s top ten also includes several other acclaimed works, including:

• All About Eve, with a screenplay by Joseph L. Mankiewicz based on the short story and radio play The Wisdom of Eve by Mary Orr.
• Annie Hall, written by Woody Allen and Marshall Brickman.
• Sunset Blvd., written by Charles Brackett, Billy Wilder, and D.M. Marshman, Jr.

Additional Highly Ranked Screenplays

The list further recognizes a wide array of influential scripts, including Network by Paddy Chayefsky and Some Like It Hot, written by Billy Wilder and I.A.L. Diamond. The latter was based on the German film Fanfare of Love written by Robert Thoeren and M. Logan.

The legacy of the Corleone family is represented twice in the WGA’s top selections, as The Godfather II, written by Francis Ford Coppola and Mario Puzo based on Puzo’s novel, also appears on the list.

Other notable screenplays cited by the WGA include Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid by William Goldman and Dr. Strangelove. The script for Dr. Strangelove was written by Stanley Kubrick, Peter George, and Terry Southern, and was based on the novel Red Alert by Peter George.

The WGA also highlighted The Graduate, written by Calder Willingham and Buck Henry based on the novel by Charles Webb, and Lawrence of Arabia, written by Robert Bolt and Michael Wilson based on the life and writings of Col. T.E. Lawrence.

Further entries in the celebrated list include:

• The Apartment, written by Billy Wilder and I.A.L. Diamond.
• Pulp Fiction, written by Quentin Tarantino, with stories by Tarantino and Roger Avary.
• Tootsie, with a screenplay by Larry Gelbart and Murray Schisgal and a story by Don McGuire and Larry Gelbart.
• On the Waterfront, with a story and screenplay by Budd Schulberg based on Crime on the Waterfront articles by Malcolm Johnson.
• To Kill a Mockingbird, written by Horton Foote based on the novel by Harper Lee.
• It’s a Wonderful Life, written by Frances Goodrich, Albert Hackett, and Frank Capra.