Screenplays with Good Writing

By: Greg

This is a list of scripts that I think are particularly well written. Sure other films have well-written screenplays, but these are the films that make me think “Wow, I wish I could have written that.” I like dialogue that crackles. I like scripts that give actors a chance to flex their (acting) muscles without silly displays of emotion. I like good stories.

Screen Still from Adaptation

My list are all films in English. I can appreciate story and dialogue in non-English films, but I can’t verify the subtleties.

• 01
  Marty
  Delbert Mann
• 02
  Charade
  Stanley Donen
• 03
  The Hospital
  Arthur Hiller
• 04
  Network
  Sidney Lumet
• 05
  The Thin Man
  W.S. Van Dyke
• 06
  The Thin Red Line
  Terrence Malick
• 07
  Shakespeare in Love
  John Madden
• 08
  Hannah and Her Sisters
  Woody Allen
• 09
  Annie Hall
  Woody Allen
• 10
  Being John Malkovich
  Spike Jonze
• 11
  Adaptation.
  Spike Jonze
• 12
  Amadeus
  Miloš Forman
• 13
  The Magnificent Ambersons
  Orson Welles
• 14
  Citizen Kane
  Orson Welles
• 15
  Tunes of Glory
  Ronald Neame
• 16
  Metropolitan
  Whit Stillman
• 17
  Barcelona
  Whit Stillman
• 18
  The Royal Tenenbaums
  Wes Anderson
• 19
  I Heart Huckabees
  David O. Russell
• 20
  The Usual Suspects
  Bryan Singer
• 21
  Glengarry Glen Ross
  James Foley
• 22
  The Night of the Hunter
  Charles Laughton
• 23
  Sullivan's Travels
  Preston Sturges
• 24
  O Brother, Where Art Thou?
  Joel Coen
• 25
  Barton Fink
  Joel Coen
• 26
  All About Eve
  Joseph L. Mankiewicz
• 27
  His Girl Friday
  Howard Hawks