Joey Magidson
Alright my friendly readers, it’s time for another one of these. Continuing a tradition I’ve been keen on for years, I’m ranking the new crop of Academy Award winners. For nearly all of the Oscar categories, you’ll see me list the top 25 recipients of that prize. Sometimes, our newest winner will appear. Other times, they’ll be relegated to the Honorable Mention category. Who knows, maybe one or two won’t even make the cut? It’s a list series that I’ll do each and every single year, in the weeks after the ceremony concludes. So, while this is a fun way to think about the Oscars in the aftermath of the latest telecast, it’s also a beginning for another column here on the site. Of course, definitely show us your own lists as well, in the comments section below. We’re definitely keen to know what you think!
This week, it’s another pretty big one…the Best Adapted Screenplay category. Often the spot for prestige fare to shine, it’s also a place where major Best Picture hopefuls (and winners) see their writers rewarded. The other screenplay category may seem “cooler” on the whole, but if you look at some of the scribes who have emerged victorious in Adapted Screenplay, they’re no slouches. This is also the spot where Spike Lee finally got his Academy Award, winning for BlacKkKlansman. For my money, Aaron Sorkin and The Social Network is tops here. Where does recent winner Sian Heder and CODA, rank? What about a new placement for last year’s winner in Sarah Polley and Women Talking? Of course, what of our newest winner, Cord Jefferson for American Fiction? Well, you’re in luck, as you can read on below to find out the answer…
Here now are what I consider to be the 25 best winners of the Best Adapted Screenplay Oscar, to date:
25. CODA (Sian Heder)
24. American Fiction (Cord Jefferson)
23. Sideways (Alexander Payne and Jim Taylor)
22. BlacKkKlansman (Spike Lee, David Rabinowitz, Charlie Wachtel & Kevin Willmott)
21. The Godfather (Francis Ford Coppola and Mario Puzo)
20. No Country for Old Men (Joel Coen and Ethan Coen)
19. The Godfather Part II (Francis Ford Coppola and Mario Puzo)
18. Traffic (Stephen Gaghan)
17. The Exorcist (William Peter Blatty)
16. Moonlight (Tarell Alvin McCraney and Barry Jenkins)
15. The Departed (William Monahan)
14. MASH (Ring Lardner Jr.)
13. Kramer vs. Kramer (Robert Benton)
12. Marty (Paddy Chayefsky)
11. Forrest Gump (Eric Roth)
10. Judgment at Nuremberg (Abby Mann)
9. Midnight Cowboy (Waldo Salt)
8. Argo (Chris Terrio)
7. To Kill a Mockingbird (Horton Foote)
6. The Silence of the Lambs (Ted Tally)
5. Schindler’s List (Steven Zaillian)
4. One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest (Bo Goldman and Lawrence Hauben)
3. All the President’s Men (William Goldman)
2. Casablanca (Philip G. Epstein, Julius J. Epstein and Howard Koch)
1. The Social Network (Aaron Sorkin)
Honorable Mentions: 12 Years a Slave (John Ridley), The Big Short (Adam McKay and Charles Randolph), Brokeback Mountain (Larry McMurtry and Diana Ossana), Ordinary People (Alvin Sargent), Sling Blade (Billy Bob Thornton), and Women Talking (Sarah Polley)
Stay tuned for another category early next week!
A vital category since so many best picture winners win adapted screenplay and sometimes the ones that don’t win both maybe they should have in some cases.
25.CODA
24.A Beautiful Mind
23.All The President’s Men
22.Prescious
21.No Country For Old Men
20.Ordiary People
19.In The Heat of The Night
18.The Social Network
17.American Fiction
16.The Exorcist
15.Moonlight
14.Brokeback Mountain
13.Jo Jo Rabbit
12.The Pianist
11.Dangerous Liasons
10.Miracle on 34th Street
9.The Silence of The Lambs
8.It Happened One Night
7.Schindler’s List
6.Women Talking
5.Casablanca
4.The Best Years of Our Lives
3.Sense and Sensibility
2.To Kill A Mockingbird
1.L.A. Confidential
HM
The Big Short
Blackkklansman
Slumdog Millionaire
Amadaus
Missing
12 Years A Slave
Truly a vital category!
I have very particular criteria for what is a great, good, or even semi-successful adapted screenplay. Because they’re lifting from a pre-existing work, I’ve always believed they should be evaluated not just on their success solely in reference to merits of the narrative of the completed films, but also what kind of challenge the process of adaptation was and how the transition to a different narrative medium was carried out.
25) 12 Years a Slave – John Ridley, adapted from the memoir by Solomon Northup
24) Traffic – Stephen Gaghan, adapted from the British Channel 4 television series Traffik by Simon Moore
23) Brokeback Mountain – Larry McMurtry and Diana Ossana, adapted from the short story by Annie Proulx
22) The Departed – William Monahan, adapted from the film Infernal Affairs written by Alan Mak and Felix Chong
21) Sideways – Alexander Payne and Jim Taylor, adapted from the novel by Rex Pickett
20) Moonlight – Barry Jenkins and Tarell Alvin McCraney, adapted from Tarell Alvin McCraney’s unproduced stage play In Moonlight Black Boys Look Blue
19) The Father – Florian Zeller and Christopher Hampton, adapted from the play Le Père by Florian Zeller
18) The Bridge on the River Kwai – Carl Foreman and Michael Wilson, adapted from the novel by Pierre Boulle
17) The Silence of the Lambs – Ted Tally, adapted from the novel by Thomas Harris
16) The Informer – Dudley Nichols, adapted from the novel by Liam O’Flaherty
15) No Country for Old Men – Joel Coen and Ethan Coen, adapted from the novel by Cormac McCarthy
14) The Social Network – Aaron Sorkin, adapted from the book The Accidental Billionaires by Ben Mezrich
13) Schindler’s List – Steven Zaillian, adapted from the novel Schindler’s Ark by Thomas Keneally
12) Amadeus – Peter Shaffer, adapted from his stage play
11) The Best Years of Our Lives – Robert E. Sherwood, adapted from the novella Glory for Me by MacKinlay Kantor
10) The Philadelphia Story – Donald Ogden Stewart, adapted from the Broadway play by Philip Barry
9) It Happened One Night – Robert Riskin, adapted from the short story “Night Bus” by Samuel Hopkins Adams
8) A Place in the Sun – Michael Wilson and Harry Brown, adapted from the novel and stage play An American Tragedy by Theodore Dreiser and Patrick Kearney, respectively
7) Howards End – Ruth Prawer Jhabvala, adapted from the novel by E. M. Forster
6) Casablanca – Julius J. Epstein, Philip G. Epstein, and Howard Koch, adapted from the unproduced stage play Everybody Comes to Rick’s by Murray Burnett and Joan Alison
5) The Godfather – Francis Ford Coppola and Mario Puzo, adapted from the novel by Mario Puzo
4) A Letter to Three Wives – Joseph L. Mankiewicz, adapted from a Cosmopolitan short story that was later expanded into the novel A Letter to Five Wives by John Klempner
3) All About Eve – Joseph L. Mankiewicz, adapted from the short story “The Wisdom of Eve” by Mary Orr
2) L.A. Confidential – Brian Helgeland and Curtis Hanson, adapted from the novel by James Ellroy
1) All the President’s Men – William Goldman, adapted from the book by Carl Bernstein and Bob Woodward
Love this list as well!
1. LA Confidential
2. One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest
3. Casablanca
4. Silence of the Lambs, The
5. Godfather, The
6. No Country for Old Men
7. Social Network, The
8. Godfather Part II
9. All About Eve
10. Exorcist, The
11. All the President’s Men
12. Ordinary People
13. Midnight Cowboy
14. Amadeus
15. Departed, The
16. BlacKkKlansman
17. French Connection, The
18. To Kill a Mockingbird
19. Sideways
20. Mash
21. Women Talking
22. In the Heat of the Night
23. 12 Years a Slave
24. Coda
25. Moonlight
H/M – Argo, Bridge on the River Kwai, Dangerous Liaisons, Gone with the Wind, Lion in the Winter, The, Lost Weekend, The, On Golden Pond, Philadelphia Story, Terms of Endearment
Interesting list!