Top 10: Legendary Screenwriters!!!

Here's a tricky task, even for you movie buffs: Try naming your favorite screenwriter. Stumped? You're likely not alone. Though everyone seems to have written one (even Ben Affleck), screenwriters generally rate somewhere between key grips and best boys on the Hollywood recognition scale. The obvious reason for this is the unglamorous nature of the job — not many of us fantasize about hunching laboriously over a keyboard for months at a time.

There’s also the issue of creative control to consider. Just as a great director and cast can elevate a mediocre script, a not-so-adept director and Keanu Reeves can distort a screenplay that works well on paper. Therefore, it can be tough to gauge the value of any given screenwriter when their work is so dependent on the decisions and talents of actors, directors and editors. Witness Akiva Goldsman; lavished with an Oscar forA Beautiful Mind (2001), Goldsman was slammed by critics for his snore of a screenplay for The Da Vinci Code (2006).

In tribute to the ink-stained grunts who toil in the shadows (along with the control freak directors who also write screenplays for their movies), I bring you a list of the top 10 legendary screenwriters. Those on this list made it because they have been able to buck the vagaries of a fickle trade and consistently produce scripts that end up being great movies.

Number 10

Robert Benton

Bonnie and Clyde (1967), Superman (1978), Kramer vs. Kramer (1979),Places in the Heart (1984), Nobody’s Fool (1994)

The Texan writer/director successfully reinvents himself every few years by tackling a new genre with aplomb. After finding success with the shoot 'em up classic Bonnie and Clyde, Benton moved on with the surprisingly witty Superman script, which was followed almost immediately by the admirably restrained family weeper, Kramer vs. Kramer, which won him an Oscar. Benton was at home in many formats, but was most notable for bringing an authentic southern and rural sensibility to his best work. He continues to write screenplays to this day, but hasn’t tasted critical success since writing Paul Newman’s great role in Nobody’s Fool.

Crowning achievement: Bonnie and Clyde

The great director Arthur Penn made this Oscar-winning film crackle with his kinetic action scenes, but Benton’s screenplay was the dealmaker, capturing the spirited charm of the infamous couple without glorifying their exploits.

Number 9

William Goldman

Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid (1969), All the President’s Men(1976), A Bridge Too Far (1977),  The Princess Bride (1987), Misery (1990)

Goldman is as versatile as Benton, but more prolific. Goldman is one of the few screenwriters that have been able to maintain a healthy balance of both critical and commercial success in a number of genres for more than 30 years of writing. It’s hard to fathom that the same guy who wrote sober political and military fare like All The President's Men and A Bridge Too Faralso created the screenplay for the darkly humorous Misery and the silly western Maverick (1994). Goldman continues to write major screenplays into the 21st century, although like many on this list, he has hit a bit of a weak spell.

Crowning achievement: Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid

Goldman may have tackled more serious subjects in other scripts, but the jewel on his crown remains his wisecracking screenplay for arguably the greatest "buddy" movie of all-time.

A character master, a playwright and a war god…

Number 8

Paul Schrader

Taxi Driver (1976), American Gigolo (1980), Raging Bull (1980), The Last Temptation of Christ (1988), Affliction (1997)

Schrader was the perfect foil for Martin Scorsese’s rebel genius. Schrader's list of writing achievements indicates his brilliant knack for capturing sympathetic angles of generally unlikable characters. Many of Schrader’s best anti-heroes were also inarticulate, which made it all the more impressive that he was able to make such disaffected mumblers and uneducated goons seem so vividly real and heartfelt. Paralleling Scorsese, Schrader's work has gained stature and weight over the years after being initially underappreciated. Still, the fact that he has never received an Oscar nomination is yet another example of the Academy’s poor taste.

Crowning achievement:  Taxi Driver

Number 7

David Mamet

The Postman Always Rings Twice (1981), The Untouchables (1987), The Verdict (1982), Glengarry Glen Ross (1992), Wag the Dog (1997)

The prolific Mamet is first and foremost a playwright, and he has never strayed far from the wordy, actor-reliant sensibility of stage scripts. But Mamet is more than a dialogue addict — he’s a modern master of the moral dilemma. Although fairly diverse in subject matter, Mamet's films always seem to pivot on a character's navigation of a moral question or decision, like Paul Newman's conflicted, down-on-his-luck lawyer in The Verdict. The fact that Mamet manages the screenplay with a restrained detachment and without resorting to heavy-handed emotional tactics makes him one of the best storytellers around.

Crowning achievement:  Glengarry Glen Ross

It’s a tribute to the toughness of the dialogue in this adaptation of Mamet’s own play that a story about real-estate salesmen, predominantly set in an office and a restaurant, is as gripping and exciting as most action movies.

Number 6

Francis Ford Coppola

Coppola comes with a few caveats. First, he concentrated almost all of his important work into a single decade. Second, he is a great director, which makes it difficult to know how much of his brilliance to attribute to his — often shared — writing duties. On closer examination, nobody can deny the rhetorical power and craft of his greatest scripts. From the blazingly innovative opening scenes in The Godfather and Patton to Robert Duvall’s frightening “I love the smell of napalm in the morning” speech inApocalypse Now, Coppola has created as many legendary, iconic moments as anyone else on this list.

Crowning achievement:  Godfather Part II

It’s tough to choose between the first two Godfathers, but the epic, complicated dual storyline of Godfather Part II was an ambitious triumph that could have easily belly-flopped in less capable hands.

The original Scarface writer and the man who survived marrying his wife’s adopted daughter…

Number 5

Ben Hecht

Scarface (1983), His Girl Friday (1940), Underworld (1927), The Scoundrel(1935), Wuthering Heights (1939)

Caustically cynical about the Hollywood system, the legendary Hecht would often brag about hammering out scripts in weeks, even days. Hecht was quoted as saying that he got paid “tremendous sums of money for work that required no more effort than a game of pinochle.” But if he didn't put much effort into his scripts, it certainly doesn't show. Hecht wrote dozens of screenplays over five decades in the business, and was an unaccredited script doctor on countless other projects, including a little period piece called Gone with the Wind (1939). The finest screenwriter of the silver screen's adolescent period, Hecht aptly won the first screenwriting Oscar ever handed out in 1927 for his gangster dramaUnderworld.

Crowning achievement:  His Girl Friday

You can thank or blame Hecht for Julia Roberts’ entire career. His Girl Friday is an adaptation of Hecht’s stage play The Front Page,  and is the original (and perhaps, still the best) romantic comedy.

Number 4

Woody Allen

Take the Money and Run (1969), Annie Hall (1977), Manhattan (1979),Hannah and Her Sisters (1986), Crimes and Misdemeanors (1989)

Marrying your wife's adopted daughter will do nothing to raise appreciation of your work. It tells you something, then, about the strength of Allen's back catalogue that he's still ranked as an all-time great. Allen's best screenplays, which have landed him a record 13 Oscars nominations, ranged wildly from slapstick farce (Take the Money and Run) to haunting morality tales (Crimes and Misdemeanors) to fake documentaries (Zelig, 1983), but all were characterized by Allen's ruthless self-awareness — or self-mockery — and trademark neurotic humor. Allen suffered a serious late career/post-scandal slump, but bounced back in 2005 with the strongMatch Point.

Crowning achievement:  Annie Hall

Some might argue that the darker Manhattan is better, but the Oscar-winning Annie Hall remains the perfect Allen screenplay — poignant and hilarious. Diane Keaton's great turn as Annie underscores one of Allen's hidden strengths — writing unique, believable and funny female characters.

Number 3

Oliver Stone

Midnight Express (1978), Scarface (1983), Platoon (1986), Wall Street(1987), Born on the Fourth of July (1989), JFK (1991)

Stone is known as a bit of an infant terrible, but controversy and tyranny can't detract from the uninterrupted string of great films he wrote from the late ‘70s to the early ‘90s. From the intensely personal grit of Platoon to the fabulously entertaining paranoia of JFK, Stone's vicious wit is always front and center. He spews lines and pursues angles that other screenwriters are too timid to write. It was probably inevitable that his restless ambition would eventually overtake his judgment — his most recent films have either been moderately ridiculous (Any Given Sunday, 1999) or utterly preposterous (Alexander, 2004). But the talent is still there, and Stone may rebound with his upcoming film about the September 11th tragedy.

Crowning achievement:  Scarface

A list of firsts: Hollywood’s first rebel screenwriter and Oscar’s first Lifetime Achievement Award to a writer…

Number 2

Ernest Lehman

The King and I (1956), North by Northwest (1959), West Side Story (1961),The Sound of Music (1965), Who’s Afraid of Virginia Wolfe? (1966)

Crowning achievement:  North by Northwest

Number 1

Billy Wilder

Double Indemnity (1944), The Lost Weekend (1945), Sunset Boulevard(1950), Some Like It Hot (1959), The Apartment (1960)

Crowning achievement:  Sunset Boulevard

The first cynical swipe at the hypocrisy of Hollywood, Sunset Boulevard is alternately a dark comedy, a horror movie and a compelling drama. It’s also one of the greatest films ever made.

honorable mention

Cameron Crowe

Fast Times at Ridgemont High (1982), Say Anything (1989),  Jerry Maguire(1996), Almost Famous (2000)

Crowe has distinguished himself through his canny use of pop music in his scripts. He has uniquely managed to weave music into the narrative of his films. His most famous example of this was when John Cusack blared Peter Gabriel's "In Your Eyes” in Say Anything, which was supposed to be “Within Your Reach” by The Replacements. Crowe has been able to fuse the plight of the characters with the soul of the music so well that even grown men could be forgiven for getting a little choked up.

Crowning achievement: Fast Times at Ridgemont High

Crowe spent time “undercover” at an actual high school to do research for his first screenplay, and it paid off. Fast Times remains a rare and enduring teen classic because the characters actually sound and look like real high school students.

writing credit

Screenwriting remains an underappreciated skill in the film industry. Creating a script that is fresh, flowing and translates off the page is exceedingly hard. Industry complaints rarely concern a dearth of quality actors or production talent, but everyone always seems to be in desperate need of a good script. Perhaps, then, an extra tip of the cap is owed to these screenwriters, who managed the miraculous feat of succeeding with great consistency in a decidedly inconsistent environment.