Only 3 Movies Have Better Screenplays Than ‘The Godfather’

Much has been written about the importance of writing, but also, it can be summarized pretty succinctly. If you want a movie to have a good story, interesting things happening, a sound structure, and good dialogue for the actors (which, in turn, should lead to better performances), then you need a good screenplay. A good screenplay is more than just good dialogue, too, even if dialogue is a big part of it, and the most obvious part of a screenplay that can be appreciated if you just watch the movie, and don’t sit down to read the actual script itself. As for quintessential screenplays, The Godfather (1972) is a contender for greatest of all time status (The GOATfather?), as it’s got everything you could want from a screenplay if you’re aiming to make an all-time great movie. The Godfather is also phenomenal in all the other ways a movie can be phenomenal, but its writing is being highlighted here (adapted from the novel by Mario Puzo, and credited to both Puzo and Francis Ford Coppola, the latter also being the film’s director).

Looking for movies with screenplays that are superior to The Godfather’s, though, gets a bit tricky. The easiest one to single out would be The Godfather Part II, since it deservedly has a reputation for being just as good as – or maybe even a little better than – the first movie. There was certainly more that needed to be written there, given it was a longer film, and much of it was original material, as there was only a little by way of scenes in Puzo’s original novel that hadn’t been adapted in The Godfather (1972) (mostly the stuff with Vito’s early life). So, The Godfather Part II isn’t going to be included here. It was too easy. These three movies, though, belong to different genres than The Godfather, which keeps things interesting, and none really came out around the same time as The Godfather; they don’t belong to the New Hollywood movement, at least. They’re a few from different points in history, and each of them was written for/within a different genre. Most importantly, the three screenplays below are absolutely perfect, and the kind you get a lot out of revisiting and maybe even studying. The Godfather had a perfect screenplay, and so too do these. If some of the following are somehow “more perfect” (if that’s even possible) than The Godfather’s screenplay, then so be it. Also, this isn’t necessarily the same thing as saying these movies are outright better than The Godfather, so don’t freak out too aggressively, capeesh?

3

‘Casablanca’ (1942)

Casablanca was written about World War II while World War II was being fought, but then again, it’s also about more than just the war. It’s the kind of thing you’ve either seen or know from pop culture at this point, but basically, it’s about a romance that ended when the war broke out. The man, Rick, becomes despondent and cynical, and owns a nightclub where he just drinks and says sometimes witty things while being generally bitter. The nightclub is in the titular city, and the war has crept into both Casablanca and the club, which Rick tries to ignore, until his past love, Ilsa, re-emerges, and she has a new partner who’s a war hero on the run. To cut things a little short, Rick has the chance to help Ilsa and her new partner, which could help the war effort against Nazi Germany, but that would also mean staying apart from Ilsa for good, and that’s the central moral dilemma that causes much of Casablanca’s drama.

There’s also a lot more, and a surprisingly large number of characters who are balanced – and each given moments to shine – across a fairly slim runtime, all things considered. Casablanca is jam-packed, since it’s only 102 minutes long, and other than the dialogue, the efficiency of the Oscar-winning screenplay as a whole (credited to Julius J. Epstein, Philip G. Epstein, and Howard Koch) is probably its most admirable quality. Everything’s snappy and each new shot adds something to the overall movie (or, more often than not, a few things). Casablanca is paced in a way that makes it very easy to watch, appreciate, and be genuinely entertained by, even now, more than 80 years on from its release. Also, the screenplay of Casablanca contains what’s easily one of the best endings in cinema history, where everything that’s been set up is paid off naturally, and you’re hit with one iconic line after another. Further, there’s a real assortment of emotions inspired by the quality of the writing here, since Casablanca is romantic, tense, bittersweet, sometimes dramatic, and even quite funny at times, too, all without ever running the risk of feeling scattershot.

2

‘The Princess Bride’ (1987)

Image via 20th Century Studios

If there’s going to be a little pushback against this much love being shown toward the screenplay of The Princess Bride, then so be it. Push away. The Princess Bride is phenomenally well written, as you might expect from William Goldman operating at the height of his powers. He wrote the novel upon which the movie was based, the full title (owing to it being a work of metafiction) being The Princess Bride: S. Morgenstern’s Classic Tale of True Love and High Adventure, The “Good Parts” Version, with Goldman “credited” with “abridging” the novel. So, the source material is already layered, and then The Princess Bride (1987) keeps that energy going, with the novel appearing in the film and being read by an old man to his grandson, so, more layers. Like an onion. Or an ogre. Speaking of, Shrek (2001) feels like it owes a lot to The Princess Bride. But to stick with The Princess Bride, it was adapted by Goldman himself, and one gets the sense no one else could’ve done so quite as effectively.

The screenplay is comparable to Casablanca’s in the sense that it tackles a lot tonally, and does so quite fast, since The Princess Bride is also far from long runtime-wise (at 98 minutes). It goes further in the sense that The Princess Bride tackles more genres, and it’s also done in a way where you can laugh at it while still finding it heartfelt and even romantic at times. There’s a balancing act here, in terms of making fun of some fantasy and fairy tale conventions, but not getting too mean or cynical with it, and it’s easiest to credit the screenplay with making all that possible, somehow. If there are problems with other aspects of this fantasy movie, then they’re minimal for sure, but what’s not in doubt is the notion that this film’s screenplay is absolutely perfect. The Princess Bride shows how much you can do, as a writer, in under two hours, should you be blessed with a knack for the craft to the extent that Goldman had. And hey, that’s not many people. But if you strove for – and succeeded in – writing something even a fraction as great as The Princess Bride’s screenplay, then you’d probably have something pretty darn good in your hands.

1

‘Seven Samurai’ (1954)

Image via Toho

What was achieved within a single screenplay, in the instance of Seven Samurai, is kind of mind-blowing, when you step back and try to process it all. The film’s director, Akira Kurosawa, was one of three co-writers, and most people know his name because of all the legendary films he made, but if we’re talking screenplays, the other writers – Shinobu Hashimoto and Hideo Oguni – shouldn’t be overlooked. Maybe three writers were needed to script what was almost three movies in one. Seven Samurai is big enough to feel almost like an entire trilogy, with one part of the story involving the building of a team, the second part involving preparations for battle, and the third part being the battle (plus a little time spent on the aftermath). The team is made up of warriors, and they’re hired by desperate townspeople who fear an incoming bandit attack, thinking their only hope of not losing everything lies in fighting back, with the assistance of seven samurai (well, six samurai, and then a guy who kind of tags along but knows his stuff, so he might as well be the seventh).

There are many more things to Seven Samurai beyond how it’s structured and written that play a part in making it an all-time great epic, but movies start with the screenplay, and the screenplay was great enough here to make so many other elements start to fall into place. For its time, the story felt like something a bit different, because while other movies before 1954 had action scenes (not as often as you might expect), and the epic genre had certainly existed before then, there hadn’t really been something that so successfully combined action/excitement and the sort of grand drama you’d expect in an epic. If you’re a fan of action movies made on an epic scale (and some of the best of all time have indeed had runtimes that go over the 2.5-hour mark), then Seven Samurai can, to some extent, probably be thanked for them. Its influence is undeniable, even beyond the times it’s been officially remade, and it is one of the best screenplays to break down/study/analyze if you want to gain an understanding of how best to write an action and/or epic movie.