Best Original Screenplay

This page lists all Oscar nominees for Best Original Screenplay. Reviews of films on the original 1001 Films list are linked here.
As I finish each set of films for a given year and category, I will revisit those films and determine which film I think should have won and why. Those posts will be linked here as well.

Best Screenplay
1940: What should have won?
Angels Over Broadway
Dr. Ehrich’s Magic Bullet
Foreign Correspondent
The Great Dictator
The Great McGinty (winner)

1941: What should have won?
Citizen Kane (winner)
The Devil and Miss Jones
Sergeant York
Tall, Dark and Handsome
Tom, Dick and Harry

1942: What should have won?
One of Our Aircraft is Missing
Road to Morocco
Wake Island
The War Against Mrs. Hadley
Woman of the Year (winner)

1943: What should have won?
Air Force
In Which We Serve
The North Star
Princess O’Rourke (winner)
So Proudly We Hail!

1944: What should have won?
Hail the Conquering Hero
The Miracle of Morgan’s Creek
Two Girls and a Sailor
Wilson (winner)
Wing and a Prayer

1945: What should have won?
Dillinger
Marie-Louise (winner)
Music for Millions
Salty O’Rourke
What Next, Corporal Hargrove?

1946: What should have won?
The Blue Dahlia
Children of Paradise
Notorious
Road to Utopia
The Seventh Veil (winner)

1947: What should have won?
The Bachelor and the Bobby-Soxer (winner)
Body and Soul
A Double Life
Monsieur Verdoux
Shoeshine

1948
No Award Given

1949: What should have won?
Battleground (winner)
Jolson Sings Again
Paisa
Passport to Pimlico
The Quiet One

1950: What should have won?
Adam’s Rib
Caged
The Men
No Way Out
Sunset Boulevard (winner)

1951: What should have won?
An American in Paris (winner)
The Big Carnival
David and Bathsheba
Go for Broke!
The Well

1952: What should have won?
The Atomic City
The Lavender Hill Mob (winner)
Pat and Mike
The Sound Barrier
Viva Zapata!

1953: What should have won?
The Band Wagon
The Desert Rats
The Naked Spur
Take the High Ground!
Titanic (winner)

1954: What should have won?
The Barefoot Contessa
Genevieve
The Glenn Miller Story
Knock on Wood
On the Waterfront (winner)

1955: What should have won?>
The Court-Martial of Billy Mitchell
Interrupted Melody (winner)
It’s Always Fair Weather
Mr. Hulot’s Holiday
The Seven Little Foys

1956: What should have won?
The Bold and the Brave
Julie
The Ladykillers
The Red Balloon (winner)
La Strada

1957: What should have won?
Designing Women (winner)
Funny Face
I Vitelloni
Man of a Thousand Faces
The Tin Star

1958: What should have won?
The Defiant Ones (winner)
The Goddess
Houseboat
The Sheepman
Teacher’s Pet

1959: What should have won?
The 400 Blows
North by Northwest
Operation Petticoat
Pillow Talk (winner)
Wild Strawberries

1960: What should have won?
The Angry Silence
The Apartment (winner)
The Facts of Life
Hiroshima Mon Amour
Never on Sunday

1961: What should have won?
Ballad of a Soldier
La Dolce Vita
General della Rovere
Lover Come Back
Splendor in the Grass (winner)

1962: What should have won?
Divorce, Italian Style (winner)
Freud
Last Year at Marienbad
That Touch of Mink
Through a Glass Darkly

1963: What should have won?
8 ½
America, America
The Four Days of Naples
How the West was Won (winner)
Love with the Proper Stranger

1964: What should have won?
Father Goose (winner)
A Hard Day’s Night
One Potato, Two Potato
The Organizer
That Man from Rio

1965: What should have won?
Cassanova 70
Darling (winner)
Those Magnificent Men in Their Flying Machines
The Train
The Umbrellas of Cherbourg

1966: What should have won?
Blowup
The Fortune Cookie
Khartoum
A Man and a Woman (winner)
The Naked Prey

1967: What should have won?
Bonnie and Clyde
Divorce American Style
La Guerre est Finie
Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner (winner)
Two for the Road

1968: What should have won?
2001: A Space Odyssey
The Battle of Algiers
Faces
Hot Millions
The Producers (winner)

1969: What should have won?
Bob & Carol & Ted & Alice
Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid (winner)
The Damned
Easy Rider
The Wild Bunch

1970: What should have won?
Five Easy Pieces
Joe
Love Story
My Night at Maud’s
Patton (winner)

1971: What should have won?
The Hospital (winner)
Investigation of a Citizen Above Suspicion
Klute
Summer of ‘42
Sunday Bloody Sunday

1972: What should have won?
The Candidate (winner)
The Discreet Charm of the Bourgeoisie
Lady Sings the Blues
Murmur of the Heart
Young Winston

1973: What should have won?
American Graffiti
Cries and Whispers
Save the Tiger
The Sting (winner)
A Touch of Class

1974: What should have won?
Alice Doesn’t Live Here Anymore
Chinatown (winner)
The Conversation
Day for Night
Harry and Tonto

1975: What should have won?
Amarcord
And Now My Love
Dog Day Afternoon (winner)
Lies My Father Told Me
Shampoo

1976: What should have won?
Cousin, Cousine
The Front
Network (winner)
Rocky
Seven Beauties

1977: What should have won?
Annie Hall (winner)
The Goodbye Girl
The Late Show
Star Wars
The Turning Point

1978: What should have won?
Autumn Sonata
Coming Home (winner)
The Deer Hunter
Interiors
An Unmarried Woman

1979: What should have won?
All That Jazz
…And Justice for All
Breaking Away (winner)
The China Syndrome
Manhattan

1980: What should have won?
Brubaker
Fame
Melvin and Howard (winner)
Mon Oncle d’Amerique
Private Benjamin

1981: What should have won?
Absence of Malice
Arthur
Atlantic City
Chariots of Fire (winner)
Reds

1982: What should have won?
Diner
E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial
Gandhi (winner)
An Officer and a Gentleman
Tootsie

1983: What should have won?
The Big Chill
Fanny and Alexander
Silkwood
Tender Mercies (winner)
WarGames

1984: What should have won?
Beverly Hills Cop
Broadway Danny Rose
El Norte
Places in the Heart (winner)
Splash

1985: What should have won?
Back to the Future
Brazil
The Official Story
The Purple Rose of Cairo
Witness (winner)

1986: What should have won?
Crocodile Dundee
Hannah and Her Sisters (winner)
My Beautiful Laundrette
Platoon
Salvador

1987: What should have won?
Au Revoir, Les Enfants
Broadcast News
Hope and Glory
Moonstruck (winner)
Radio Days

1988: What should have won?
Big
Bull Durham
A Fish Called Wanda
Rain Man (winner)
Running on Emtpy

1989: What should have won?
Crimes and Misdemeanors
Dead Poets Society (winner)
Do the Right Thing
Sex, Lies and Videotape
When Harry Met Sally

1990: What should have won?
Alice
Avalon
Ghost (winner)
Green Card
Metropolitan

1991: What should have won?
Boyz n the Hood
Bugsy
The Fisher King
Grand Canyon
Thelma & Louise (winner)

1992: What should have won?
The Crying Game (winner)
Husbands and Wives
Lorenzo’s Oil
Passion Fish
Unforgiven

1993: What should have won?
Dave
In the Line of Fire
Philadelphia
The Piano (winner)
Sleepless in Seattle

1994: What should have won?
Bullets Over Broadway
Four Weddings and a Funeral
Heavenly Creatures
Pulp Fiction (winner)
Three Colors: Red

1995: What should have won?
Braveheart
Mighty Aphrodite
Nixon
Toy Story
The Usual Suspects (winner)

1996: What should have won?
Fargo (winner)
Jerry Maguire
Lone Star
Secrets & Lies
Shine

1997: What should have won?
As Good as it Gets
Boogie Nights
Deconstructing Harry
The Full Monty
Good Will Hunting (winner)

1998: What should have won?
Bulworth
Life is Beautiful
Shakespeare in Love (winner)
Saving Private Ryan
The Truman Show

1999: What should have won?
American Beauty (winner)
Being John Malkovich
Magnolia
The Sixth Sense
Topsy-Turvy

2000: What should have won?
Almost Famous (winner)
Billy Elliot
Erin Brockovich
Gladiator
You Can Count on Me

2001: What should have won?
Amelie
Gosford Park (winner)
Memento
Monster’s Ball
The Royal Tenenbaums

2002: What should have won?
Far from Heaven
Gangs of New York
My Big Fat Greek Wedding
Talk to Her (winner)
Y tu Mama Tambien

2003: What should have won?
The Barbarian Invasions (Les Invasions Barbares)
Dirty Pretty Things
Finding Nemo
In America
Lost in Translation

2004: What should have won?
The Aviator
The Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind (winner)
Hotel Rwanda
The Incredibles
Vera Drake

2005: What should have won?
Crash (winner)
Good Night and Good Luck
Match Point
The Squid and the Whale
Syriana

2006: What should have won?
Babel
Letters from Iwo Jima
Little Miss Sunshine (winner)
Pan’s Labyrinth
The Queen

2007: What should have won?
Juno (winner)
Lars and the Real Girl
Michael Clayton
Ratatouille
The Savages

2008: What should have won?
Frozen River
Happy-Go-Lucky
In Bruges
Milk (winner)
WALL-E

2009: What should have won?
The Hurt Locker (winner)
Inglourious Basterds
The Messenger
A Serious Man
Up

2010: What should have won?
Another Year
The Fighter
Inception
The King’s Speech (winner)
The Kids are All Right

2011: What should have won?
The Artist
Bridesmaids
Margin Call
Midnight in Paris (winner)
A Separation

2012: What should have won?
Amour
Django Unchained (winner)
Flight
Moonrise Kingdom
Zero Dark Thirty

2013: What should have won?
American Hustle
Blue Jasmine
Dallas Buyers Club
Her (winner)
Nebraska

2014: What should have won?
Birdman (winner)
Boyhood
Foxcatcher
The Grand Budapest Hotel
Nightcrawler

2015: What should have won?
Bridge of Spies
Ex Machina
Inside Out
Spotlight (winner)
Straight Outta Compton

2016: What should have won?
20th Century Women
Hell or High Water
La la Land
The Lobster
Manchester by the Sea (winner)

2017: What should have won?
The Big Sick
Get Out (winner)
Lady Bird
The Shape of Water
Three Billboards Ouside Ebbing, Missouri

2018: What should have won?
The Favourite
First Reformed
Green Book
Roma
Vice

2019: What should have won?
1917
Knives Out
Marriage Story
Once Upon a Time...in Hollywood
Parasite (winner)

2020: What should have won?
Judas and the Black Messiah
Minari
Promising Young Woman (winner)
Sound of Metal
The Trial of the Chicago 7

2021: What should have won?
Belfast (winner)
Don't Look Up
King Richard
Licorice Pizza
The Worst Person in the World

2022
The Banshees of Inisherin
Everything Everywhere All at Once (winner)
The Fabelmans
TÁR
Triangle of Sadness